Active Magic (TatlTails and othyrworld)

Silence hung over the room for a few moments after the conversation went sour, but Jacqueline eventually broke through it in an attempt to change the subject.

"Oh, by the way," She started, too polite to get straight to the point. "I've started designing a dress for you, Sequoia. I got inspired by what you said you wanted and comparing it with the flower Flora grew for me. I think it'll be lovely once it's made. And as for Flora, I've managed to alter one of the shirts I had on hand to fit your wings. A second one is half-finished on my table right now. So your new wardrobes are definitely underway."
 
"Thanks so much!" Sequoia squealed, raising her arms and accidentally splashing Flora and Luke. Flora gave her a dirty look, wiping off her wet arm with a towel. "Sorry!" Sequoia mumbled, grabbing Flora's towel and handing it over t0 Luke with an apologetic look on her face.

After a few moments, Flora gave Jaqueline a 'thank you' as well. She was happy that her simple flower had inspired Jaqueline and happy that Jaqueline had been able to turn the conversation onto a more pleasant track. "You really don't have to Jaqueline, but thank you so so much. It means a lot."
 
Luke just giggled at the splashing, and took the towel when S'oya handed it to him so he could wipe off the splashes. He didn't mind getting wet as much as Flora did, but he was already doing scrubbing too so maybe that was why. Mostly he was just happy they'd cheered up some.

Jacqueline jumped a bit at the sudden movement, but Luke's laughter managed to calm her down. By the time Flora thanked her, she was able to readily reply "Oh no, I'm happy to! It's the best use of my time that I have, after all. Making other people happy gives me a purpose, you know? But anyway, I should be able to get you both another decent outfit or two by tomorrow. The dress will take a bit longer, but I'll make sure you're both properly dressed before then."
 
"Thank you." Flora felt like she'd said thank you just a bit too much, but they were the only words that really did when she needed them to. You could only give gratitude in so many ways.

Sequoia scrubbed heartily at a dish, nodding when Flora thanked Jaqueline again to show she felt the same way. There wasn't much to say, so she reflected on the day, settling on the night before. "Hey Madi, do you have any potions that'll help with... nightmares?" A shudder ran down her spine. She only remembered snippets of the dream now, a green garden, coughing up black tar, watching without doing anything, but it still scared her.
 
"Mhm!" Madi replied immediately, straightening up in her seat. This wasn't a rare question from refugees, but it wasn't quite common either. "Not p-perfect, b-but someth-thing. D-deep sl-leep. No d-dreams, good or b-bad."

It wasn't even close to what she wished she could do for people, but it was the best potion she'd found so far. It was basically a magical tranquilizer, but it stopped nightmares without any mental side effects so Madi ran with it as best she could. She was still looking for better recipes, for most of her potions actually, but she would be damned if she didn't offer the best of what she had in the moment.
 
Sequoia smiled. "Great! Perfect! not like I was having good dreams anyways." She said the last part mostly to herself. "So can I get that now or...?" She let her voice trail off, feeling that she'd made her point. No more nightmares would be a dream come true. No more waking up screaming. She wondered if Flora would want some. "Flora, you want some?"

"No. I prefer my dreams." She made her tone apologetic, even though the thought of not dreaming disgusted her. Dreams were the place where she could see her mother. See the great forests and floating lights of her home. They always left her with a warm fuzzy feeling, as rare as they were. She couldn't give up what little remained of her pre-circus memories.
 
"T-tonight." Madi promised Sequoia, knowing better than to hand out sleeping potions in the middle of the day. "B-before you s-sleep."

She'd made the mistake of trusting someone with a potion and a timetable before, and after treating
the first concussion she knew better than to do it again. But at least only one of these two wanted the potion. She made sure to tell Flora "You d-don' have t-to use it."
 
Flora shrugged, fighting off the frown that was forcing its way onto her face. "As I said, I prefer my dreams. I do not want to be tempted to use one and miss something." Sequoia rinsed off a sudsy dish and handed to Flora who quietly dried it and set it on the counter beside her.

"Guess I'll be the only one sleeping soundly then," Sequoia said. She passed Flora another dish.

Flora laughed. "Please, you'll manage to kick me in the shins no matter how many options you drink. You're special that way, you little demon child." Sequoia giggled quietly, bumping Flora's hip with her own.
 
"Well, if that doesn't remind me of someone I know..." Dagger was unable to help muttering under his breath, sending an only-partially-serious accusatory glare in Madi's direction. Said Madi blushed red, and smacked him on the arm again.

"I d-don't d-do it that much, d-do I?" She asked, halfway between defensive and apologetic, because she knew she'd done it at least once before but she was also pretty darn sure it was a rarity!

"Three times in the last month." Was Dagger's deadpan reply, dry and sardonic yet holding no real animosity. There was even a hint of teasing to his tone as he added "You'd think a smaller target would attract less battery."
 
Flora laughed. "You think that's bad? I could totally sue her for assault and battery." She jerked her thumb at Sequoia who frowned playfully and whapped her on the shoulder.

"You're a dirty liar Flora Animus!" Sequoia exclaimed, throwing a hand over her forehead in dramatic fashion. "You're a dirty rotten liar and I could sue you for defamation! WE're getting a divorce and I'm keeping the children!"

"How dare!" Flora roared in response, placing a hand over her heart. "I raised those children while you wasted away our money in those... illegal strip clubs!" Sequoia doubled over laughing, covering her mouth to stifle the giggles. Flora chuckled as well, taking a few plates from the skink and drying them.
 
Most of the room was at least chuckling by the end of their little act, Luke being the last one to 'get it' and Dagger not being the type to laugh at anything. But he looked less grumpy, so it was something. Jacqueline was the first to speak once the room was clear to do so, and she attempted to join the fun by saying "Wow, you two could create your own soap opera at this rate!"
 
Flora blushed, but Sequoia took a grandiose bow. "Thank you, thank you. We'll be here a week." She waved to the room, a wide smile on her face. It felt nice, being loud. She hadn't been this boisterous in years. She rinsed a few more dishes and passed them over to Flora. "We'd be a terrible soap opera. I personally think a rom-com would suit us better."

Flora play gagged. "Please, I have much higher standards." Sequoia stuck her tongue out. "If we were anything we'd be one of those.... those cartoons that aren't for children. With all the crude jokes. You'd love to be the star of one of those."

Sequoia considered it, eventually shaking her head. "Maybe, I think a rom-com would be more fun. What do you think guys?" She asked, turning to address the rest of the room.
 
"Rom-com, rom-com!" Luke cheered, hopping up and down and raising his hand like back in school.

"You could be a crude cartoon with rom-com elements?" Jacqueline suggested, taking more consideration into her answer. "Combine both of your ideas."

Madi could only shrug, since she hardly ever watched TV and didn't really have a valid opinion on the subject.

All Dagger said was "As long as it's not anime."
 
"I vote Jaqueline. Does Jaqueline sound goo?" Sequoia asked, turning to Flora for the final say.

"Yeah, that could work," Flora answered, tucking a strand of hair behind her face. She reached into the sink to grab some more dishes, only to realize she had dried them all. "Luke, where should I put these dishes? And is there anything else I can help with?" She wanted to do something. She was...restless. It was odd. She'd never wanted to do so much before. Perhaps she could grow more flowers in her garden. Maybe try to meditate. She hadn't had time to meditate in months. It had been too long.
 
"Uhh..." Luke blanked at the question, then hurried over and started pulling open the right cupboards and drawers. "Here, here, an' here. All good, all these spots. I think we done affer that, then Flora can go do Flora stuff. Job all done."

"If-f you want," Madi offered after him, knowing the restless body language of someone who wanted distractions. "You c-could come down an' s-see my lab? The p-potions?"
 
"Thanks, Luke. And I think we'll take you up on that Madi," Flora said, carefully putting away the dishes. She wondered what Madi's lab would look like. Was it dank and dark and full of black wood and huge caldrons or clean and tidy, set up more like a workshop?

"Let's get going!" Sequoia cheered, grabbing Flora's hand and pulling her over to where Madi was standing. "Lead the way dude. I can't wait to learn how to make potions and stuff!"
 
Madi just smiled at Sequoia's enthusiasm, and led the two over to a closed door near the kitchen. She opened the door, revealing a dim but not frighteningly-dark staircase, and started walking down it. Dagger followed, after transforming so he could just zip past her.

The room at the bottom of the stairs was almost a mixture of Flora's two expectations. The walls were paneled with dark wood, though it was more a deep brown than a black, and along the cracks in the walls and across the ceiling, vines and bioluminescent plants grew and seemed to thrive, the latter lighting up the room just enough for everything to be seen clearly. There were shelves and a long shelf-desk hybrid built into the walls, with books and jars and dried plants organized neatly (for the most part) along them. In the middle was a large cauldron hanging above a fire pit, with a few comfortable stools strewn around it. Madi gestured to the stools when the girls arrived, before going over to some of the smaller jars and rooting through them for something.
 
When Sequoia entered the room she let out a gasp of pleased surprise. The room was beautiful, and she wanted to explore every neck and cranny for secrets and hidden jars of ingredients and tiny scraps of paper. She sat on the stool, still wonderstruck by how perfect this room seemed.

"Your room is quite lovely," Flora said, staring at the plants glowing around the room with a calculating eye. She knew there was a certain kind of plant that let off little glow in the dark spores at night, but she didn't know it quite well enough to pull it from the earth. Perhaps she could try to pull some bioluminescent mushrooms first and then work her way up from there.

Sequoia finally snapped out of her wonder, turning towards Madi with a child-like expression. "This place is magical. Thank you so much for teaching me here. Speaking of teaching, what are we going to do?" She cut herself off after the first question so she wouldn't drown Madi in all the questions that were swimming their way into her head.
 
Although the singular question was appreciated, Madi didn't answer it right away. Instead, she continued her little search until she pulled out a small vial of potion, and turned back to the girls with a somehow-wary smirk. Dagger saw that expression, combined with what she was holding, and immediately transformed back to ask her "Are you sure you want to use that right now?"

Her answer was an expression that said something along the lines of 'You got any better ideas?'

And his reply to that was an annoyed sigh, and a grumble of "Fine, but if you end up regretting it, don't come crying to me." before transforming back into cat form.

At which point, Madi's smirk became a properly defiant one, and she shook her head dismissively (to assure both the girls and Dagger that this really wasn't a big deal) before downing the dose of potion like an alcoholic shot. The post-taste reaction was pretty similar, but as soon as she recovered her wits, she finally looked directly at Sequoia to say "I've got two hours to teach you the basics of potion-making before my voice gives out, so let's get started."
 
Flora let out a gasp and Sequoia squealed in delight. "Cool!" She said, patting Flora on the back of the hand before she focused her attention fully on Madi. "Let's go. Let's do this." She wriggled into a more comfortable position, crossed her legs, and placed her hands palm-down on the table. She was so ready to get going. She was hyped as shit. She was ready to do this. Not nervous that she'd fail miserably at this at all. Nope. She could practically feel herself buzzing with manic energy.
 
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