Zania Castell (brokendoll) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-04-09 21:07:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | #october 2017, lem, zania |
Who: Zan and Lem
When: Monday, Oct 16, late morning
Where: their backyards
Status: Complete
It had been an up and down night, the first night in a dead woman’s house. They’d broken a lot of trinkets, Vex had been up and down, and the bed had been decently comfortable. Mixed bag. Lem had woken up before her partner in crime and life, and climbed out of bed without disturbing him. He was sleeping heavy, that was good. She wandered downstairs to fish out some granola bars and bottled water from their stash. While she gnawed on one of the bars, Lem walked through the house again, her feet whispering over bare carpet. It looked different in the daylight. It was musty inside, having been shut up for months, so she opened windows as she went. She sat for a while looking out of one of them and eating her breakfast.
After that though, she got restless. Lem padded back upstairs to stare at Vex for a while, but he didn’t wake up, so she put on some clothes and descended to the first level again. She went through the door into the mud room, only vaguely noticing how the back door was trashed and the linoleum was stained with badly-cleaned blood. Lem just wanted to go outside. She walked through the tall grass of the backyard, kicking at it here and there, then went to the shed that stood in the back corner. It wasn’t even locked, because this was a tiny, dumb town. Lem rummaged around inside until she found what she was looking for with an enthused “fuck yeah!”
She took the weedeater out into the yard again. Lem loved anything that resembled a power tool, and while she was bored, maybe she could be useful and tame their wild grass forest. She checked to make sure there was gas in it, then tugged hard on the starter cord. Nothing. Lem did it again. And again. And several more times until she was cursing loudly at it, commanding it to work, goddammit! Ugh, she needed something to do.
Zania had been up half the night making junk for the festival. Every year it came around and every year she wanted to top what she’d done the year before. It was a challenge and that was why she looked forward to it. As one of the few real witches selling shit, she figured people deserved a little something. A curse here, a charm there. This year she’d outdone herself. She always did get a kick out of love potions.
Nic was already gone when she woke, but had been kind enough to leave the coffee pot on for her. She poured herself a cup, adding sugar and cream to the point that it was more milk than anything else, then walked out onto the back porch. The cool autumn air chilled her skin, but the coffee warmed her through. Normally at this time of day, or really any time of day, their street was quiet. But today there was a commotion coming from next door that she couldn’t ignore. She walked down into the grass, not caring that she was barefoot as she crossed the yard, and watched a woman make every attempt to start a weedeater. Power tools weren’t her thing. She let Nic mow the lawn, which was probably why it was constantly overgrown, but she was pretty sure yelling at it wasn’t going to get it to start.
“You need some gas?” Zania called out, leaning on the fence. She’d never been good at minding her own business.
Lem had been completely oblivious to anybody walking out of the house next door, focused as she was on telling off the weed eater. Sarah probably hadn’t used it in years anyay, she seemed like the type of woman who had neighborhood kids take care of her yard for five bucks or whatever. The voice made Lem’s buzzed head whip around, and she squinted at the redhead now lounging against the fence. Where had she come from? The yard on their side looked much better, so maybe she could actually be of some help. Lem knew she had to be solid and on this plane, Vex was asleep and she thankfully never got pulled into his dreams. “I don’t know,” she called back, turning and walking toward the other woman. Lem’s young-looking face was pulled into a scowl as she dropped the weed eater down right in front of the fence. “There’s gas in it, but it won’t start.”
“It could be old gas,” Zania suggested. “I think if gas sits in something a really long time it won’t start. Like a car, you know?” Definitely not her thing, but she thought she’d picked it up somewhere. Zania took a sip of coffee as she watched the girl for a moment, then looked towards the house. “You bought the house?” After the attack, Zania had expected the house to sit empty for eternity. People didn’t buy murder houses, and she’d been fine with that. It added to the creep factor, possibly added more magical energy to the neighborhood, and, best of all, it was one less neighbor snooping in her shit. The greenhouse in their yard stored all kinds of things, from pot to nightshade to exotic ingredients that she needed for the shop. If she had new neighbors, Zania needed to know. She needed to make sure the wards were up properly and that Nic checked his glamours. It was best to be cautious.
Old gas? Who even knew that gas expired? That was bullshit. Frowning, Lem gave the weed eater a sullen kick. She’d wanted to do something, maybe show off to Vex that she wasn’t completely useless when it came to the mundane parts of their existence. She looked up at the girl across the fence again -- taller, but not by much, and her hair was cool. Lem wondered vaguely if she’d known Aunt Sarah very well. She didn’t look like the sort to make friends with an old cat lady, but who the fuck knew. “No,” she said, squinting a little at the redhead. There was a big glass building in the yard behind her, Lem assumed it was some kind of greenhouse, and that was interesting. “Sarah died and left Vex her house because they both hate the rest of the family. So we live here now.” Lem made a vague gesture behind her at the house, then realized this girl probably didn’t know who Vex was, especially if he’d left this town before she was even born. She looked younger than thirty. “She was his aunt. Do you have one of these?” Lem asked, pointing down at the useless machine.
“Oh,” Zania said, her mouth forming a little oh of surprise. She hadn’t counted on the girl being related to Sarah. Or whomever Vex was. Usually, when people died horrific deaths in their homes, their family tried to sell the house as quickly as possible. It usually wouldn’t sell, but that didn’t often prompt someone moving in. Usually. That didn’t seem to be the case here. “Why do they hate the rest of the family?” she asked. Sure, she was being nosey, but the girl put it out there, so why not? She looked down at the weedeater. “I think so. You’re welcome to borrow, but I don’t really know how to use it myself. I make my brother do the yardwork,” she smiled. “I’m Zan.”
Even though Sarah had been Vex’s favorite relative, selling the house had never crossed his mind as far as Lem knew. It wasn’t like they sat down and had conversations about that kind of real-world shit. Not often, anyway. They had been homeless, and now they weren’t anymore, for free, and if Aunt Sarah was haunting the place, then so be it. They would take care of her ghost. Lem shrugged at the question about Vex’s family -- she didn’t really know that either. But being hated by her own family, she could guess it was just because of who Vex was. “I know how to work it, if it works,” she said, brightening up a bit at the offer. “I’m Lem.” The girl’s name made Lem like her more -- another three-letter person! Right next door. It was a good sign. “Who’s your brother?”
“Well, there you go,” Zania grinned. “Come on around. It’s in the shed.” Not the greenhouse, though. She’d never let Nic keep anything with gas in it in her precious greenhouse. Some days she wished that her affinity had been earth, since it would make things even easier, but she got by well enough as it was. She could tap into the element when she needed to. “My brother’s Nic. Twin, but we look nothing alike. He’d be the tall, sandy-haired guy that might mow the lawn but is more likely to sit out here and stare at it while he smokes.” She opened the gate for Lem, letting her in. “Is Lem short for something?”
“Sounds reasonable. Grass is always growing, no matter what you want it to do. I just want to make more space for the snow when it comes.” Nic. Another three-letter person! It made sense if they were twins though, even if their meat suits didn’t match. Those didn’t matter anyway, what counted was on the inside. The guts and stuff. “No,” she lied about her name, because she didn’t want to give it away. She hated it, not least of all because her mother had loved it. “My parents were just weird. Is Zan short for something?” Lem walked to the gate and through it, tossing a glance back at their house. She hoped Vex stayed asleep and didn’t freak out if he woke up and she wasn’t there. It would be a quick trip, but still.
Zania wasn’t totally sure that logic was right-- wouldn’t the snow just smoosh the grass?-- but it seemed like a stupid thing to argue about. Nic was always telling her to drop the stupid arguments. They weren’t worth it. He tended to be right, but that was usually what she was arguing about, the chance to be right. She was about to point it out when Lem asked about her name and she grinned. “Yes, but our parents were just as weird. Zania and Nicodemus. But don’t call him that. He hates it.” She smiled in such a way that probably let on that she called him by his full name all the time, just to get on his nerves. As his sister, it was technically her job. “So where’re you and Vex from?” she asked as she led them over to the shed.
It tended to be easier to say some unrelated nonsense than the actual nonsense that was usually in her head, and having pure snow without a bunch of high grass fucking it up for playing in seemed like it made enough sense to Lem. She loved snow. The crazy names made her smile a bit -- both of them were better than ‘Clementine,’ ugh. Lem wanted to burn that name to ash, wipe it off the face of the earth, so she could relate to Zan’s twin brother. Her first thought at the girl’s question was another dimension, but she knew what kind of reactions she got from saying things like that out loud. To anybody who wasn’t Vex, anyway. “Baltimore,” she answered instead. That was where their bodies had come from. “But we’ve been all over lately.” She looked around as they walked, at Zan’s yard and the back of their house. It seemed nice. Different than next door. Probably because next door still felt like Aunt Sarah’s and not theirs, not yet. “Have you guys always lived here?”
“In Point Pleasant, yes, but not always in this house,” Zania said, looking back at Lem. “This was my grandmother’s house. She left it to Nic when she died. She left me the shop. We run Castell Exotic Spices and Teas, if you’re a tea drinker. Or need exotic spices. Or just about anything else,” she added with a little smirk. Really, she’d make an attempt to procure anything that interested her for someone she liked, but they weren’t necessarily in the business of doing favors for anyone and everyone. She left the hex bag nonsense to Reagan Kelly. ‘Course, if someone wanted to make their own, she’d sell them the ingredients. “We like it here, though. There’s a fun vibe to the neighborhood, like it’s Halloween all year long.”
People always dying and leaving buildings to other people. It was a little weird if Lem thought about it too long. Like location memories could be handed down along with the physical wood and brick. But maybe they could, and a part of her suddenly worried that those memories would seep into Vex and he would change somehow. It wasn’t a good brain rabbit-hole to fall down into when she was interacting with somebody though, so Lem tried to shove it aside and focus on what Zan was saying. Spices, teas, neighborhood. “I love Halloween,” Lem said with a little grin. “Sounds like it’ll be fun.” Vex had said it was a dead spot, and that made him sound right ... which wasn’t really surprising, he was right about most things. “I don’t think I’ve ever drank exotic spice teas. Are they good?”
Zania opened up the door to the shed and peered inside. The lawnmower was front and center, but there were other tools around the she'd and it took her a moment before her eyes landed on the weedeater. “Me too,” Zania grinned. “The people around here really get into it.” So did the spirits, she thought, but didn’t say. She didn’t want to sound crazy. If people didn’t know what was really out there, they wouldn’t understand. Though she did wonder about the people that lived in Point Pleasant their whole lives and never picked up on it. “I think they’re good, but you’ve probably got to be a tea person,” she smiled, picking up the weedeater and handing it to Lem. “You know how to work this thing?”
If this was an evil town like Vex said, that didn’t surprise Lem much. Even if most of the people in it didn’t know or didn’t acknowledge the truth of what was around them, clueless people seemed to channel their cluelessness into Halloween. They subconsciously knew something was true, and they were drawn to the safe representation of the darkness that surrounded them. That was her theory anyway. She liked Halloween because so many lines got blurred and there was so much to See. Lem didn’t know if she was a tea person or not, so she didn’t comment on that one. Lem took the weedeater with a bright, dimpled grin. “Yesssss,” she said with relish, like she’d just been handed something more fun than a tool to do chores with. Lem bounced her way out of the shed and stopped in the yard to yank the pull cord. The weedeater whined to life, and it was all Lem could do not to immediately take it to Zania’s grass. She shut it off again and hugged the pole to her chest, looking around at Zan, still grinning. “I promise I won’t break it!” she declared. “And I’ll bring it back!”
Zania laughed quietly, amused at anyone who was that excited over yard work. Zania tended to work in the greenhouse, but her interest in botany laid completely in how it related to magic. Cutting the grass was something she just didn’t have time for, though she did appreciate it when the house looked nice. For a second Zania thought that Lem was going to go to town on her yard, which would’ve been fine, free labor and all, but then she shut it off. “Don’t worry, I know where you live,” Zania grinned. “I’ll hunt you down if you don’t bring it back. But no rush. We’re not exactly on top of our yard work.”
Zan’s grass was not nearly as bad as their own, but maybe Lem would cut it anyway, if she got bored enough. If Vex kept sleeping through all the noise. Using an actual lawn mower would make more sense next door, but there was a lot of tall stuff to cut down that had just gone wild since Aunt Sarah had died, so Lem would get it butchered with the weedeater for the first round, and they could figure it out from there. Maybe Zan and her brother wouldn’t mind sharing lawn equipment for a while if Lem did theirs too. All of that ran through her head but didn’t quite make it out of her mouth. She tossed Zan a sunny smile and darted back through the fence gate to get to work.
Zania smiled and gave Lem a wave as she ran back to her yard with the weedeater. She seemed nice. Pretty chill and different, and Zania had always liked different. It tended to mean that the person was open minded, which made her more likely to get along with them. Stepping back into the house, she decided to open the kitchen windows so she could hear Lem working on the yard. It was an oddly comforting noise that reminded her of when she was younger. It made it feel like a weekend, and she set to finishing the candy she’d started the night before, humming as she listened to the sound of the grass being cut.