Juniper Black

“Juniper Black!”

Eloise Goddard had a tendency to call people by their entire name. She was unsure of when or where she picked up that habit, but it often just slipped out. It wasn’t with everyone– some people just had names that rolled off the tongue nicely and June’s name fell into that category. 

Perched on a chair behind the circulation desk at the town library, she grinned broadly across the counter at one of the newest residents of her hometown. Rumors had circulated for weeks about the return of members of the Black Family to Fate, especially four sisters who no one really knew much about. There were no secrets in Fate (or, at least, that’s what Eloise believe).

“I have that map for you!” she exclaimed in her well practiced hushed librarian tone, sliding her chair to the side, grabbing a folder, and then sliding back to the original position. Flipping it opened, she revealed a rather detailed hand drawn map notating various locals in and around the town of Fate.

“I couldn’t find the original one I was thinking of from the town tourism board before it disbanded, so I just drew this one up for you,” she shifted the paper a quarter turn so it was facing the proper way for June to look at it. In Eloise’s opinion, it was much better (if not more crowded) that the tourism board’s original map.

“The star is Black House, of course. Anything of historical significance is marked in green, restaurants in red, and shopping is in blue. All other businesses are marked in purple. The orange lines are the best walking trails through the park and the dotted black line is the best way to get down to the beach,” she explained, pointing to each item as she spoke. 

“I also included a packet of information about all those historical locations for your perusal, hours for local businesses, and the top recommended meals at all restaurants,” she continued, flipping through the packet of papers. “In duplicate of course; one for each of your sisters as well! Oh!” she pulled out a white flyer. “And this Chinese food menu someone left on my front door. I’ve never been there so I can’t say anything about it and I also hate Chinese food, so…” she shrugged, replacing the menu before flipping closed the file folder and pushing it towards June.

As Eloise presented the map for her perusal, June gave an excited little gasp.  “How did I not know there was an inn right on the shore?  How awesome is that!”  She grinned, reaching out to trace her finger along the trail of the river that flowed through the woods and, eventually, out to sea.  

There was something so utterly romantic about this entire map which dovetailed beatifically, in Juniper’s mind, with the romance of a hand-drawn map.  It called out to her of days long gone by, testifying to the age of this town.  New York City was old, of course - wasn’t “New Amsterdam” one of the first claimed cities in “the New World?” - but everything about it was utterly new.  She’d lived in a ramshackle little apartment that was built in 1970s and was surrounded by a billion other apartment buildings of the same age.  This town, though?  Literally founded in the seventeenth century!  Every time that thought crossed her mind, she was filled with giddy butterflies like a schoolgirl catching sight of her crush’s smile.

“Oh my God!” exclaimed June, astonished.  “You didn’t need to do that!  That’s so sweet!”  Her grin brightened and her heart felt a touch warmer at Eloise’s kindness.  Yes, this was the place she belonged: June felt it in her bones.  She’d always known, deep down, that New York wasn’t her place.  Now she knew this was: these were her people.  “Eloise!  You have got a real and extraordinary skill here!  This is AH-MAZ-ING!  And, wow!  I speak for all my sisters when I say thank you so much!  This is gonna make our lives so much for fun and efficient!”

She cracked a bright grin, bouncing as she clapped her hands together.  “Ok, ok, I’m so pumped I don’t even know where to begin!  Ok, so, so, what’s your favorite view in all of Fate?  Like...what is the spot...I absolutely have to see straight off the bat?”

She laughed as Eloise handed over the Chinese menu, only to gasp at Eloise’s admission.  “What?  How can you not like Chinese food?  I didn’t think that was even possible!  There’s magic in every bite!  Or, you know, MSG I guess but...who’s to say that MSG isn’t magic?”  She was, she realized, chewing the inside of her lip.  She decided to brush that under the rug.  “But,” she said, quickly.  “I will absolutely sample this for you and let you know if it’s any good or not!”

omg kate these two are best friends!!!! I feel like they are both messes but in completely different ways haha 

so everyone around town likes to joke bridge is a witch and she loves to feed into that bUT I think as a real witch, she’s kind of a disaster??? Like, she doesn’t have enough patience to learn everything she needs to know to do certain spells haha and basically is a pro at curses but nothing else (#facepalm) also none of her incense/potions/whatever are labeled and it is probably kind of dangerous that way but #whoops bridge lives on the edge!!!! my point of this is that she’d be more than happy to show june the ropes but juniper may want someone else to do that haha!!! (meanwhile bridge doesn’t see anything wrong w/ her more chaotic way of managing magic!!) 

LIZZY!!!  I’m lauGHin bc I feel like June just ~assumes every other witch around here is like a super knowledgeable and then she’s like ‘yo, bridge, how do you do x spell????’ only to realize bridge is 100% winging it and I feel like that’s probs actually a super validating moment for June actually hahah  Also, them puzzling out what various grimoires mean lakdsjfkljdsf esp bc I feel like June, having 3 sisters, can be profoundly patient when she needs to be and obv she’s v used to consulting technical manuals and she’s like ‘sure this one might’ve been written in blood using an obscure latin dialect in iambic pentameter making it somewhat difficult to read but what’s that compared to the power of google?????’ jk jk...sort of ;DDDD  

June 100% wants to ambush Bridge someday with a label gun (probs stolen from Sage jk jk ;D) and enforce some order bc she’s like ‘if you die in a fire it won’t be bc we all just leT you’ ;DDD  (Cue Keira making some popcorn and staking out camp in the doorway to watch the fireworks lbr)  

Anyway, she loves the comraderie that comes from figuring it out together!!! (which probs ~actually means by the sounds of it June figuring it out, herself, and then teaching Bridge...but possibly accidentally teaching Bridge wrong bc June really does noT know what she’s doing so there ‘s that ;DDD)

sage loves all of her sisters so much!!!! <333 

So, I feel like Sage def has the problem of being a helicopter mom w/o actually being a mom (#facepalm). She just likes to make sure her sisters are okay and wants to know what they are all up to b/c she’s so proud!!!!! Honestly, I do think she sort of slipped out of that habit a little bit back in NYC and got sucked into her business and stopped keeping such close tabs on them. Not that they never talked or anything, but it definitely wasn’t like how it used to be, you know??? 

Anyway, I feel like she has always given Juniper the most ~freedom of the girls b/c Hazel is the baby and Jasmine is … Jasmine haha but she still keeps her eye on June b/c she’s so!!! trusting!!! and that def worried Sage back in NYC and honestly it worries her here even more since whoops! they are witches now and sage is supposed to head the coven now and sage can’t imagine that everyone is 100% on board with technically outsiders coming in and leading things when they didn’t even know they were witches until now!! Typically, Sage tends to consider everyone a friend until they prove otherwise, but I think she’s a little more guarded now than she once was and probably even more so on behalf of her sisters haha! 

Actually, I think, in a way, Sage going to college not seeing each other as much bc of that and then June going to college w the same effect and their careers doing that, while v sad for them both, might’ve been good for June in the long run bc now that they’re getting to reconnect, they’re closer in age, so to speak, and I think June is getting to see Sage more as a peer than an authority figure and getting to see that not even Sage is actually perfect and that, therefore, June can be imperfect too!!  That being said, I think June has been v lonely for awhile and its sucH a great thing to finally be w her siblings again and in a small town instead of another face in a sea of them etc!!

Ok, so obv some of this is gonna depend a lil on what we decide on the family-post (which is why I made it bc I was writing this and it was just lists of like ‘if x then y but if y then z’ and it was becoming a huGE mess hahaha)  Honestly, June probs just volunteers what she’s doing a loT alksdjfalkjsdf tho I’m laughin bc I feel like June is one of those ppl who borderline overshares a loT and I honestly feel like Sage always wanting to know where she was/what she was doing is probs part of why bc, if her parents were around, they were probs also asking and so she’s just like ‘everyone wants to know everything this is how social interaction worKS!’ when she was a really little kid and now that’s just part of who she is!! #whoops

Hahaha June is v much the middle child hahaha <3  I feel like their parents sort of did the same (I mean, we can extrapolate that they were alive at least as recently as Hazel’s conception/brith respectively hahaha) bc Sage was their first and Jasmine was a handful and Hazel was the baby and yeah!!  I think sometimes this made June feel left out, but alternately, I think it sometimes made her feel v free!! hahaha so it gives and it takes!!  That being said, I don’t think June ever felt like she couldn’t ask for advice or ignored or anything like that at all!!

Honestly it is a small miracle that June survived NYC lbr!!  Probs her witchy powers protecting her w/o her ever realizing or something bc its almost unnatural ;DDDD  jk jk but Sage def had reason to worry!  June really wasn’t cut out for that life at aLL hahaha  June is also, here, pr oblivious (at least atm) that anyone might wish them anything but good!  She’s like ‘we’re all a big loving community all trying to help each other be our best selves here!!! its just what ive always wanted!!!!’ rather than seeing that even Fate has its imperfections hahaha  All that being said, June is trusting, not stupid, and she’s not ~completely naive, she ~did live in NYC etc...she’s just looking for that stuff less here partially bc she is trying so hard to believe in things and she ~wants v much for it all to be true...and bc its in her nature to believe in others (yeah we got some contradictions going on that’s just how she is lakjsdlkfjsdkljf)

Okay, so first you kNOW Sage has already done that!!! Haha tbh she probably plans a housewide event every month to get people together and recruits all of her sisters into helping haha.

Anyway! Darby is honestly all about it!!! He loves socializing and he’s v pro-Black sisters taking over the coven and he’s here to help show them the ropes!!! Also … he has a unconventional crush on Jasmine #whoops and I feel like he probably wanted to befriend Juniper to have more reason to casually be around Jasmine #facepalm but I think he’d actually end up loving hanging w/ Juniper. Also??? For some reason, I feel like Juniper may pick up on it???? idk???? But I can just see her being like, “If you like Jasmine, just ask her out.” and darby’s just like “haha me? like jasmine? haha how absurd.”  

Ok, so honestly, June is sooooo enthusiastically on top of helping Sage throw that party each month like that first one esp was only the like third most exciting day of her life ;DDD (which is admittedly a claim she probs makes a loT but I s2g she means it every time!!)  

Honestly, June is 100% thankful for his help at all times!!  And she has about a million questions and he’s probs like ‘chiLL’ bc she is like rattling things off and he’s probs forgotten what the first fifteen questions even were atp ;DDD but she’s just excited!!  HE HANGS OUT W HER TO GET TO KNOW HER SIS AND ACCIDENTALLY MAKES A FRIEND ALKSJDFLKJSDJKF IM! CRYIN!  It’s so real!!  Yknow, June grew up in NYC and I feel like Jasmine is probs the sort of person who like every other dude they ever met fell desperately in love w her so June sees him look at Jasmine that way™ one (1) time and she’s just like ‘oh you poor sap here we go again’ aklsdjfkldjsf hahaha  

Also since they’re friends now (you hang out w June more than twice and she’s like ‘ok we’re friends now’), she’s probs captain of this ship and like ‘make! a! move! make it!’ and def tries to bring him up to Jasmine who’s like ‘why’re you talking to be about a dude who’s still hung up on his ex’ probs hahahaha

So basically after she came to the library for the first time, this 100% happened? XD Being a life long resident, Eloise is totally going to be one of those who is also a one person welcome wagon, PLUS i’m sure the entire town was aware the Black sisters were coming, so she was ready and waiting to meet them!

OMG as soon as Eloise picks up on what June is interested in, she’s going to have a pile of books waiting for her to read whenever she comes in! she’s probably like “magic and mechanics, huh?” but honestly has seen weirder things plus there is not judgement at the library! (side note, eloise is so clueless about magic and has NO idea about all these supernatural beings. also side to the side note, she 100% has a mural in the library that is like “Reading in Magic!” or something kinda ironic XD)

eloise = does not have a single tool to her name so honestly any destruction June might accidentally create would just go over her head! it’d honestly be just like “this is part of the process!” to eloise XD XD XD

IM SCREAM KATE!!!!! klasdjflkjdsf  Not even exaggerating, June is 100% the sort of person to scream ‘DID WE JUST BECOME BEST FRIENDS’ and adopt Eloise immediately thereafter akjdflkasjdfjk hahaha <3  OMG tho Eloise showing June around!!!  And she was sooooo pumped to see and learn absolutely everything!!  June’s always wanted to live in a small town and she’s beyond excited about every single opportunity Fate presents!!  Pumpkin patches? yes pls!  Fundraiser dances? hit her up!  Random haunted buildings? OHHH YEAHHH!  ;DDDD  She’s also not used to ppl taking an interest bc she came from the big city where she was always just another anonymous face in the crowd and honestly I think she’s been pr lonely for awhile esp as her sisters had sort of drifted apart w their various lives etc and so getting to know ppl here is just the DREAM!!

I’m laughing, Kate, bc I feel like June is the woRST w secrets when she starts actually talking about them and so when Eloise is all, ‘magic and mechanics, huh?’ june’s cool as a cucumber like ‘yep! magic is just a harmless curiosity bc ITS OBV NOT REAL!!!’ and so there’s a good chance poor eloise is just like ‘o...kay so ~she obv thinks its real’ hahaha  But June’s 100% trying to keep it a secret bc I feel like she’s absolutely been briefed about the importance of that and she just wants to do the right thing!!

READING IS MAGIC alksdjflksjdfkj june like ‘does she know and that’s a pun or...does she NOT know?????’ for a long time probs hahaha