𝕟𝕒𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕘.

Aida left the Fire Department after another long shift, and adjusted the pointed witches hat on her head. She’d hot glued a head band to the base in order to get it to stay on over her hair, but that just meant it started to pinch her head if she wore it too long.

She’d thought it would be kind of funny if she dressed up as a witch for Halloween. She’d gone all out, getting a long black cape and gluing autumnal flowers onto the rim of her hat. She had elected out of bringing goblin- her black cat- with her though, he was way to mischevuous to let loose.

She walked along the sidewalk, stepping on any fallen leaves that happened across her path- she felt like a kid again whenever she heard them crunch. Hearing oncoming footsteps, she looked up.

“Hey!” She greeted the person walking towards her. “Nice costume!”

THEY  SUPPOSED  THAT  it  was  true  that  when  you  start  noticing  someone,  you  start  noticing  them  all  the  time.  or  you  simply  just  start  crossing  paths  with  them  more,  probably.  either  way,  nayoung,  dressed  in  a  gryffindor  hogwarts  uniform,  —  a  last  minute  costume  —  furrowed  their  brows  when  they  realized  it  was  aida  boone  coming  from  the  opposite  direction.  fancy  meeting  her  again.

“I’m afraid Halloween isn’t as fun when you’re too old for trick or treating.” Victoria sighed, twirling one of her curls around her pointer finger. “And we didn’t have trick or treating when I was a child. We put out the jack-o-lanterns to ward off the wicked. Which turned out wonderfully as you can see.” She spoke the last sentence with an ironic smirk.

“Champagne sounds lovely, dear. Thank you.”

HALLOWEEN  WASN’T  SOMETHING  that  they  celebrated  the  same  way  many  in  the  town  did  either,  but  nayoung  didn’t  say  this.  instead,  they  watched  victoria  in  part  fascinating  and  part  amusement,  wondering  if  this  was  usual  behavior  from  a  city  council  member.  she  waved  the  bartender  over,  gesturing  them  to  victoria  so  that  the  woman  could  by  a  drink  of  her  own,  before  turning  to  face  her.  “ i  mean,  you  don’t  have  to  trick  or  treat  to  have  fun, ”  nayoung  started.  “ isn’t  it  amusing  just  to  watch  people  wander  around  scaring  each  other  —  even  now  that  they’re  aware  of  us?”

date: october 31, 07:43 pm. location: rosehill ( or anywhere else in town ).

THE  NIGHT  OF  HALLOWEEN  was  a  night  no  different  than  many  others  for  witches  like  her.  honestly,  nayoung  hadn’t  even  bother  dressing  up  for  halloween  other  than  donning  a  pointy  witch  hat.  it  made  her  look  more  the  part  than  she  usually  did.  but  unlike  most  nights,  —  or  most  halloween  nights  for  the  past  four  years,  for  that  matters  —  she  made  a  point  to  stop  at  the  astor’s  residence.  it  seemed  like  a  good  time  to  invite  pandora  out,  after  all.  it’d  be  their  first  halloween  together  in  years.

but  of  course,  just  their  luck.  it  was  persephone  astor  that  she  ran  into  even  before  they  reached  the  astor  household.  even  years  past  their  childhood  already,  persephone  still  unsettled  them.  maybe  it  was  their  loyalty  to  pandora.  regardless,  nayoung  turned  her  face  away  at  the  sight  of  persephone,  but  she  wasn’t  fast  enough.  the  two  had  crossed  paths.  she  scowled.  “ celebrating  halloween,  seph? ”

 AN   ABRUPT   FEELING   OF   awkwardness   settled   over   pandora,   smothering   her   in   its   grip   as   they   stood   still   in   the   doorway   of   the   coffee   shop.   what   could   nayoung   be   feeling?   betrayal?   shock?   possibly,   even   resentment?   it   was   infeasibly   hard   to   tell  —  emotions   had   never   been   her   strong   suit   and   pandora    was   certain   it   was   a   hereditary   trait.   of   course,   nayoung   had   changed   in   the   four   years   pandora   had   been   away;   they   both   had.   even   if   she   had   been   skilled   at   picking   up   on   others   emotions   and   social   queues,   she   could   never   definitively   say   that   she’d   be    able   to   decipher   what   sentiments   the   other   was   experiencing   in   that   moment. 

 she   was   talking   with   a   stranger,   yet   she   was   not.   the   world   had   shifted   off   its   axis,   yet   everything   was   exactly   the   way   she   had   left   it.   right   and   wrong,   wrong   and   right  —  the   emotions   churned   in   her   stomach,   knots   tangling   and   untangling   the   moment   they’d   appear.   pandora   fiddled   with   her   ring   on   her   left   hand,   a   nervous   habit.   “ not   too   long   ago.   no   one   besides   my   father   really   knew   that   i   was   coming   back.    my   aunt   felt   like   it   was   time. ”   it   was   an   excuse   to   appease   them,   make   them   feel   more   at   ease   with   the   fact   that   she   hadn’t   known   about   pandora’s   arrival   back   into   fairview.

 eyes   drawn   to   the   paper   clutched   to   their   chest   pandora   cleared   her   throat   and   said,   “ that’s   cool.   i   could   see   you   working   here.   wanna   hang   out   later,   maybe? ”

MAYBE  PANDORA  WAS  RIGHT  to  act  like  nothing  between  them  had  changed. 

after  the  hurt  subsided,  after  she  stumbled  over  her  words,  they  were  taken  back  by  the  sudden  anger  that  was  threatening  to  erupt.  pandora  had  left  so  many  unanswered  questions  in  these  past  four  years,  and  nayoung  wanted  to  yell.  wanted  to  push  her  and  ask  her  why.

but  she  was  struck  by  how  familiar  this  girl  standing  before  her  was.  she  was  different,  older  now,  with  more  hard  edges  than  the  pandora  nayoung  remembered  from  four  years  ago,  but  there  was  something  achingly  familiar  about  the  way  she  was  acting.  her  heart  squeezed  at  the  way  her  old  friend  acted.  it  was  like  she  didn’t  know  what  to  make  of  nayoung,  and  what  to  do  now  that  they  were  both  here.  the  anger  that  had  threatened  to  take  over  and  burst  from  her  chest  faded  out  along  with  the  hurt  and  confusion.  it  was  never  her  strongest  suit  to  stay  angry  at  pandora.  anger  was  often  her  chosen  emotion,  but  she  never  knew  how  to  unleash  it  with  her  sisters.  never  with  her  sisters.  and  pandora,  as  much  as  seoyoung  was,  was  a  sister  of  nayoung’s  own.

humans were annoyingly tight arse when it came to their kids. already parents were glaring at zaira, shepherding the remaining children protectively out of the cafe. most adult humans knew enough about witches to realise that a spell that ends in ‘boo’ probably wasn’t real, but zaira still saw the undercurrent of fear. until 5 years ago, to them, witches were myths who ate children and turned princesses into frogs, so who’s to say that random latin words and ‘ boo ’ wasn’t a real spell? it wasn’t really doing zaira any favours to sully the name of witches even more by scaring children, but xe was fed up being stared at. at this point, if humans were foolish enough to believe the stereotypes, than the stereotype is what they would get.

the one human in particular to whom zaira’s comment was addressed – not one of the parents, thankfully, – was still staring at xem, lips pursed in damning judgment as eyes surveyed zaira with disdain. speaking loud enough for the human to hear, zaira turned to nayoung. “ a little scare never hurt anybody, right? besides, i’ve done these parents a favour, really. teaching their kiddos to behave when they won’t.” zara grinned at nayoung. “ i feel like you could literally just be holding a fancy looking bottle of water, flash a grin with a hint of evil and they’d run crying. even better if you wear all black and have a pointy hat. ”

IF  THEY  WERE  wearing  an  amused  look  earlier,  now  nayoung  was  full  on  laughing.  it  was  no  surprise  to  them  that  zaira  was  behaving  this  way,  but  it  didn’t  stop  them  from  gleefully  watching  the  scene  before  them  too.  if  this  were  them  getting  into  a  situation  like  this  one,  they  would  either  end  up  in  so  much  trouble  or  just  sulk  and  scowl  at  whoever  was  reprimanding  them,  or  perhaps  a  little  bit  of  both.  but  zaira  met  the  judgmental  stares  head  on,  and  xe  seemed  to  have  no  qualms  in  getting  into  a  bit  of  trouble  for  that.  nayoung  respected  that  about  xem.

she  leaned  over  the  table,  as  if  listening  to  the  elder  witch  intently.  there  was  no  need  for  it,  as  xe  was  speaking  in  a  voice  loud  enough  for  everyone  around  them  to  hear  what  xe  was  saying,  but  acting  like  she  was  enraptured  by  what  zaira  was  telling  and  teaching  her  was  part  of  playing  the  part.  it’d  teach  these  humans  to  leave  witches  like  her  and  zaira  alone.  a  wicked  smile  rested  on  nayoung’s  lips.  “ mmm, ”  she  hummed  in  agreement,  nodding  her  head  vigorously.  “ you  really  were.  it’s  effective,  too.  a  little  magic  can  hurt  nobody. ”  the  words  parroted  zaira’s  earlier  ones,  and  she  nodded  again  for  the  effect.  “ it’s  the  beauty  of  being  a  witch.  everything  becomes  magic.  our  very  existence  is  magic,  you  know? ”

Victoria sighed, she would’ve thought a murder in one of the town’s most influential families would have brought more… drama. Instead, things carried on the same and she remained eternally bored.

She strolled into Elsewood’s and flung herself down on a bar stool.

“What would it take for a little bit of fun around here?” She asked outloud to no one in particular.

SHE  HAD  BUSINESS  HERE,  but  it  seemed  that  her  company  for  the  night  was  still  nowhere  to  be  seen.  it  was  the  evening  of  halloween,  and  she  desperately  wanted  to  get  this  over  with.  instead,  when  she  turned  her  head  to  see  if  they  had  finally  showed  up  for  the  night,  what  she  got  was  the  sight  of  a  city  council  member.  here  in  elswood’s.  not  that  it  should  surprise  her,  considering  that  victoria  was  one  of  abel’s  own  people.  she  held  back  a  grimace.

Aida bit her lip. She always was quick to jump to conclusions she supposed, and it was hard to figure out what people meant half the time. “Sorry,” she apologized “I must have misinterpreted you.”

She looked to the side. “We kept our magic a secret because our parents wanted to keep us safe, and didn’t want to cause a panic by revealing we were witches and accidentally endanger other witches. We couldn’t make those decisions for other people.” She tugged on a lock of hair, smiling ruefully. “I suppose it’s too late for that now.”

She gave Nayoung a considerate look, before sitting on the sidewalk beside them. “I was wondering,” she started slowly, before quickly launching into a barrage of questions. “How do covens celebrate the solstices? Do other witches celebrate them at all? Why are we called light witches and dark witches when that doesn’t really have anything to do with the sources of magic? Who chose those names?”

SHE  HADN’T  MEANT  TO  be  so  irritated  —  or  at  least,  to  not  show  it  this  obviously.  but  really,  she  really,  really  didn’t  know  how  to  deal  with  people  like  aida.  it  wasn’t  that  nayoung  didn’t  like  the  woman,  but  it  was  undeniable  that  their  personalities  clashed  harder  and  faster  than  either  of  them  expected.  this  conversation  wasn’t  something  nayoung  would  call  an  antagonistic  one,  per  se,  but  part  of  them  wondered  if  it  was  any  good  for  the  both  of  them.

but  —  the  words  tumbling  out  of  aida’s  lips  were  making  her  reconsider.  maybe  she  wasn’t  so  bad  after  all,  if  they could  look  past  the  fact  that  she  was  different  from  them  in  so  many  ways.  it  was  just  that  nayoung  wasn’t  used  to  people  like  aida.  she  shrugged.  “ ‘s  fine.  not  everyone  gets  the  coven  shit  and  stuff,  i  guess, ”  she  responded.  “ we  just  have  different  methods  of  doing  stuff. ”

then,  when  aida  sank  into  the  sidewalk  next  to  her,  nayoung  decided  that  maybe,  just  maybe,  this  woman  really  was  worth  her  skipping  classes  to  strike  up  one  weird  conversation.  she  had  to  laugh  at  all  the  questions  tumbling  out  of  the  other  witch’s  lips.  “ whoa, ”  they  interjected.  “ slow  down  a  bit.  solstice  is  cool,  though.  i  don’t  celebrate  it  with  the  coven,  but  i  do  with  my  sister.  and  don’t  ask  me  about  who  chose  to  call  us  what  we  are.  do  i  look  like  a  historian  to  you? ”  but  this  time,  the  words  came  without  malice,  and  surely  aida  couldn’t  misinterpret  the  amused  look  falling  onto  nayoung’s  features.

@drkwtch

“ it’s like some harry potter kinda shit. ” ivy grins, running her hand over the page where pencil strokes come to life, rolling waves crashing over graphite sand. it took her a while to get that particular spell right, but she can’t think of anything better than merging her two loves: art and magic. she flips to a blank page and roughly sketches out a polished gemstone in the middle. tapping it with the end of her pencil, she turns to nayoung, eyes gleaming. “ how powerful of a witch do you have to be to make this drawing real? imagine, you can draw anything and it’s yours. maybe there’s rules or it’s harder if it’s something living, like a dog or a rose, but… ”

THERE  WILL  NEVER  BE  A  DAY  where  nayoung  would  ever  admit  that  she  harbored  some  feelings  of  envy  towards  the  older  woman.  besides,  nayoung  did  admire  ivy  to  an  unbelievable  extent,  —  she  was  only,  after  all,  third  to  their  own  sister  and  pandora,  who  was  like  a  sister  to  them  too —  and  they  would  never  want  her  to  feel  like  she  was  a  source  of  resentment  in  their  life.  but  nayoung  did  wonder.  they  wondered  what  it  would  be  like  to  know  what  you  wanted  to  be,  to  know  where  your  place  was  in  the  world  and  what  good  you  were  for.

they  weren’t  blind.  it  may  have  only  been  a  short  time  since  they  had  gotten  to  know  the  other  witch,  but  there  was  an  inexplicable  darkness  that  the  woman  held.  they  knew  that  life  couldn’t  possibly  be  so  easy  for  ivy,  and  no  matter  what  talents  she  possessed,  there  was  something  in  ivy  that  resonated  with  nayoung.  still,  it  didn’t  stop  her  from  looking  at  ivy’s  sketches  with  a  mixture  of  awe  and  envy.  she  whistled.  “ damn,  ivy, ”  she  commented,  running  her  fingers  over  the  edge  of  the  page  where  ivy  displayed  her  sketch.  “ wish  i  was  that  talented.  imagine  what  you’d  be  able  to  do  if  you  ever  find  a  way  to  bring  them  to life. ”  a  mock  shudder  ran  through  nayoung’s  body  for  the  dramatic  effect  as  they  forced  their  envy  aside  to  grin  at  ivy.  then,  an  idea  formed  in  their  head.  “ hey,  what  if  we  work  together?  you  doing  the  sketching,  and  me  figuring  out  if  there  is  a  way.  we’d  be  so  powerful. ”

as much as zaira didn’t mind living in a town that had literally every type of species, sometimes it also drove xem literally insane. particularly on evenings like this when all zaira wanted to do was write xir article and all these little human brats wanted to do was stare. their beady eyes watched intently as zaira used xir magic to summon a glass of water, or flip the page of xir notebook without ceasing the endless tap tap tap on xir keyboard. their constant giggling and pointing was giving zaira a headache. 

whipping around in xir chair, zaira’s dark gaze settled on the mischievous brats, pinning them to their seat as the beginnings of a smirk forms on xir lips. zaira started muttering impressive sounding words in latin, utterly incoherent and translating to such random things like blue, star, grass, animals, coffee. the grins slid off the children’s faces, eyes widening as awareness hit that they were being cursed – at least, they thought they were.  “ BOO,” zaira finished xir fake spell dramatically, flinging xir hands outwards as if throwing the spell towards the children. they scrambled, chairs falling to the floor with a satisfying thunk. 

“ don’t look at me like that, ” zaira muttered, ignoring the judgemental frown of the person sitting next to xem. “ they were annoying.”

WELL, WHAT ABOUT IT. it seemed like they walked into the little cafe at just exactly the right moment. there xe was, zaira chen being a total amusement and using her witchery for the better. nayoung had to stifle a laugh at the sight of xem waving xir hands as xe ‘cursed’ the children who had gathered around xem. still, a snort left their lips anyways, as they headed over to join zaira at xir table without so much as asking for permission. if xe minded, then she would scatter immediately too. she just wanted to commend xem on the amusement xe had brought her. and just as they joined xem there, they too joined xem in shooting the person at the table over a look. “don’t mind my witch friend here,” nayoung chimed in, grinning as they gestured at the elder witch. “those children will be fine. right, zaira?”

and even if they were, even if they were terrified just for the rest of the day to come crying home to their parents, it wasn’t like she could blame zaira. resentment towards humans wasn’t healthy, she knew, but the way some people poked and stared and acted like they were scientific specimens and objects got on her nerves. human parents perhaps should teach their children better than to gawk. she turned to zaira, paying no mind to the person staring and giving her attention to xem instead. “teach me the spell to shoo children away?” they teased.

date: october 30, 03:47 pm. location: heeyoung’s apartment.

THERE WAS SOMETHING FASCINATING about vampires. maybe dark witches were destined to work alongside vampires, or maybe they just harbored a fascination towards the dark, bloody immortal creatures, but it seemed like nayoung was completely incapable of staying away from them.

it was becoming a problem.

then again, on days like this one, it felt less of a problem and more an opportunity. there was no reason to think of her doubts when she was about to meet up with a vampire for something that could prove to be very beneficial to her. after all, vampires were allies, right?

resolve straightened, nayoung hitched her bag up higher onto her shoulder. in it were three vials of potions that she had been fooling around with the past week, an attempt to improve on her potions making thanks to zaira’s teachings and dion’s incentives. she needed to test if they were indeed successful potions, or if she would have to scrap them and start over again.

and what better way to test them than see if they worked on someone? and not just anyone, — it could cause a lot of harm, after all — but a vampire lady who healed faster than any healing potion or magic could fix. besides, heeyoung did still owe her a favor. buzzing the vampire’s intercom, she stuck her face close to the camera. “how do you feel about testing out some of my newest stuff?” no need for beating around the bushes.

date: october 30, 11:54 am. location: gloria’s.

NAYOUNG WAS NO STRANGER to town gossip. whether it was from the coven, from hanging about at the roasted bean for too long, or from her classmates at school, people knew things around here. and one of those things that were generally agreed upon around fairview was that dion branson was not a man to be trifled with. or involved with, in any matters. one of eclipse’s star dancers, too polished and smooth to be true.

but he paid her money and he encouraged her to explore the darker sides of her magic, and if that meant helping her sister pay the rent, nayoung wasn’t going to complain. she wondered if he perhaps needed another job to be done. she could, after all, use the money while she was waiting for yet another workplace to get back to her. nayoung eyed dion from across the table, trying to piece her words together. “so, they started. “anything interesting going on lately?”

there was a hint of cautiousness in their tone, one that they thought dion probably wouldn’t miss. but who could blame them? it had been roughly a month since the murder of christian vanderbilt, and while the vampire wasn’t an official police suspect for the case, many of her friends whispered about him all the same — him, and all the other vampires in town who looked like they had something up their sleeves. she bit back a grimace at her wariness. there was no reason he would hurt her. “i mean,” they amended, a grin slowly beginning to take shape across their features. “any.... halloween madness that you’d be up to that might involve a bit of witchy magic?”

Aida’s jovial attitude dropped at the other witches words. She seemed bitter to Aida, and that was all well and good but Aida wouldn’t be used as an outlet for someone else’s bad mood.

“What would you have my family do?” Aida asked. “Join a coven? You all are far too busy fighting each other, how is that going to do us any good? How is splitting ourselves into factions and detesting each other more helpful than just existing as a witch outside a coven? It’s not as if my family are the only ones who kept witchcraft a secret up until the unveiling! I don’t recall hearing any covens boldly declaring to the world who they are. Just because I have no interest in petty rivalries between doesn’t mean I won’t stand up for us when the need arises.”

She stopped herself, biting her lip out of concern. She really hasn’t planned on arguing today, it drained her energy and people were so fast to use any resistance she gave them as an excuse to hate her. She quickly answered Nayoung’s question to try and breeze past the conflict.

“I suppose it’s a little isolating being out of the loop. The downside to not having to deal with the drama is feeling like your sort of cut off from… I don’t, your culture?”

THIS WASN’T HOW nayoung expected a conversation over a puddle of water to go in the direction of. but then again, what was she expecting out of it? she hadn’t even expected to be splashed by water by a careless light witch on the way to class. and they were, they realized, probably now late to class. 

oh well.

they were here already, and clearly this conversation was far from over. besides, although they wouldn’t admit it, it really was more interesting than anything they could learn in class. they just had to be careful to not piss off the other witch too much.

that seemed to prove to be a difficult job with how cheery this witch was. nayoung had never been good with dealing with people who were all smiles and positivity. good for them, she supposed, if someone knew how to hold themselves with a bright smile on their face at all times. but that wasn’t something she knew how to do, nor did she know how to act around people who acted that way. 

she pursed her lips at the sudden outburst from the other witch. now that, she had certainly not expected, and she wasn’t quite sure what to do with it too. the way aida was talking about the covens and how they operated felt almost insulting to nayoung, and her first instinct was to shoot back and argue about how the woman didn’t understand how the covens worked. but clearly they’d hit a nerve too, with how the words aida was saying. so instead of jumping to argue, they rocked back on her heels and mused, “i never said that not being in a coven meant that you weren’t standing up for yourself. i was talking about your views on humans who hated us. on hiding your magic. that has nothing to do with covens, right?” 

the words came out a little irritated, but that couldn’t be helped. it wasn’t her fault that aida had misunderstood her. “and i never implied that you’re any less than us or decided to start an argument about who’s better,” they continued on. “which, i guess i’m sorry i made you feel that way, but that wasn’t what i was saying, you know?” against better judgment, they settled next to aida on the sidewalk, taking a seat. at this point, fuck class. “well?” they asked. “aren’t you gonna ask me about anything on the witchy community side of things? consider it a thank you for cleaning up my shirt.”

                   THE FEELING OF GRIEF STILL hung in the air of fairview, that much was clear. even to someone who was hardly close with the vanderbilt’s, lennon often found her mind slipping in the workplace. cup in hand, her eyes are glazed over with sleep deprivation as her mind runs a mile a minute.     ❝  four years of medical school just to transport pee in my residency,  ❞     the words are muttered so quietly under her breath as she sharply turns the next corner. perhaps it was her clouded mind or the mere fact that klutz is somehow in birth name but it’s seconds later that she finds herself knocking into someone, sending the remnants of the cup all over her.     ❝  oh, FUCK. now i smell like asparagus !  ❞

NO ONE WENT TO the hospital for a case of a scraped knee and bruises. in fact, if it were entirely up to nayoung, she wouldn’t go to the hospital for any case at all, really. but alas, the poorly bandaged cut on her knee seemed to want to say otherwise. it needed stitches — badly. and somehow she had managed to limp all the way to the hospital, only to freeze midway down the hallway when they realized that they weren’t exactly sure how to do this. hospital visits back in their childhood were always accompanied by either of their parents, and an impromptu visit like this only confused them even more.

but maybe their hesitation was a lucky occurrence too. well — maybe not so lucky considering that the hallway now smelled like pee, but close enough. she snorted at the doctor who had ungracefully spilled urine all over herself before going, “hey. favor for a favor? i’ll magic that shit off you if you take me somewhere where i can get stitches for this.”

if just healing magic came as easily.

⊰ YOO NAYOUNG. ⊱‌

@drkwtch

RATIONALLY, PANDORA KNEW that running into nayoung was inevitable — the sun still rose and the moon would sink, no matter how hard one prayed for an endless night. no one could truly avoid anyone in a town like fairview; it’s population was small and if the person you were trying to conceal yourself from was apart of the same coven as you were, it grew  noteworthily smaller. 

irrationally, pandora still tried. so far, twenty-four hours into her arrival back into town, she had been successful — that is, until she had decided she needed an iced coffee. she had walked into the roasted bean, just as nayoung had been attempting to walk out; awkward, to say the least. pandora cleared her throat, tensely going, “nayoung? i didn’t know you’d be here. i didn’t see you at the manor yesterday.” noticing the other was clutching a paper in their hand she added, “what’re you holding?” 

FOUR YEARS. it had been four years — give or take — since they last saw pandora. she didn’t even say goodbye, nayoung reminded herself.  it was as if pandora just vanished on that one day, and the weeks that followed. getting information out of anyone about her whereabouts and why she left had also been difficult, and it wasn’t until about a month in that nayoung found out the gist of it all. and even then, it had never been enough to explain why she left without a goodbye. weren’t they best friends?

but that was before. this was the after. after they hadn’t been in any sort of contact for the last four years. after nayoung spent forever missing pandora and trying to learn how to stand up on her own. she should be angry. she should be hurt. and yet, the turmoil of feelings that bubbled in her stomach evaporated the second pandora said her name. it was like nothing changed. nayoung swallowed. “i didn’t know— when did you get back?” they managed, grip tightening around the piece of paper they were carrying. “i can’t believe— are you, is this — are you back for good?” 

she was stumbling over her words, she knew. but what did pandora expect? for nothing to have changed at all? for them to casually talk about how nayoung was looking for a job when she hadn’t seen her best friend for four years? she swallowed again, holding the paper close to her chest. “i’m looking for a job. thought it was time for one, right?”

Aida’s smile faltered for a second. “Well, no but they did chase us out of our town for it.” She recovered quickly, shaking her head in response to the second question. “Nope! Just never really happened for us. Maybe an ancestor might have had a coven but honestly it never interested me, besides I wouldn’t know how to go about joining one at this point.”

NAYOUNG HAD TO admit, the way aida stood her ground was admirable. the grin plastered on the woman’s face barely faltered, and given, nayoung’s words that made it falter were grim. she couldn’t really blame her. still, it baffled her how one could have such a pacifist attitude towards the world that wanted them dead — and towards a rivalry that drove a edge between the dark and light witches. “true, but we could’ve fought back if we wanted to,” they argued. “but something tells me you and your family won’t.”

a redundant statement, maybe, because aida just pretty much admitted that she was a pacifist, and she took no part in the whole witch — or witches vs humans — politics. but still, it was weird to think about. “how does it feel to be so....i don’t know, out of the loop from all the witchery shit?” they blurted out.

Aida nodded “Yup! Though it’s mostly the basics, stuff that could be mistaken for modern paganism just in case a human got their hands on it. The really specific and more advanced stuff we just pass on through stories, there’s a few other witches who do it that way too. There’s too many potential power dynamics with covens really, it can go bad fast.” Her eyes went wide as she realized what she’d said and she rushed to amend her statement . “Not that there’s anything wrong with being a coven! It’s just not what I want for myself.”

EVEN BEFORE THE UNVEILING, nayoung had always been reckless with her magic. the idea of going so far with having to hide who she was was laughable at past. certainly, she didn’t go around to burn the citizens of fairview or anything that outrageous, but the idea of aida’s family having to cover up their magic made them furrow their brows. “why?” they asked. “humans can’t use our magic anyways. are you scared you’ll be hanged if they found out you’re a witch?” there was an underlining disbelief there, but the question was mostly posed out of curiosity. the way aida lived her life seemed on the opposite end of nayoung’s. then, she added, “none of your family are coven witches?” 

“And they thought I was too scared to throw the first punch.” Seoyoung almost snickered at the look on their face when she hit them in the face. It was all for the sake of exercise of course, but its not like she couldn’t patch them up again if it went too far. Wiping her face with the towel that hung loosely around her neck Seoyoung took big gulps of water. “Maybe they should venture into Frenchtown, see just how “scared” people are there.”

SHE WASN’T SURPRISED. not really. this was, after all, her sister that they were talking about. but the sharp grin curving over her lips quirked so suddenly too, as if she wasn’t really expecting the thrill that came from watching seoyoung did what she does best. nayoung brought her hands together into slow claps, stepping closer where her sister stood and drawled out, “you really did teach them a lesson, huh. makes me wonder if you went to study all the doctor-y shit just to learn which body parts are most vulnerable to punches.”