multimuse blog

where: green thumb nursery

jibril took comfort in having houseplants in their apartment, it made them feel like the space was a little more "alive", in their opinion. there was just something a little dreary to him about living in a place with white walls and no greenery. they probably had enough already, as their place already had at least one sprout in every room, but that didn't stop them from browsing.

since he'd moved to cardinal hill, the local plant nursery had been his go-to for these purchases. sometimes they didn't even buy anything, but just came in to see if there were any new arrivals. he picks up a venus flytrap as he peruses the store, examining it carefully.

"interesting how even plants can be carnivorous, don't you think?" they muse, the question not addressed to anyone in particular. "it's almost unexpected, you'd think that they can survive off of water and sunlight alone. i guess it just goes to show that life will always find a way."

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Haruki winced, laughing as he rubbed the back of his neck when she mistook the sunflower for a fried egg. “Ouch. That bad, huh?” He questioned, though his tone remained warm. “Honestly, I think I’m flattered you thought it was food. That’s… a start. You could have assumed it was a blob of nothingness,” the Witch sighed and leaned back on his stool, studying the blotchy petals like they might rearrange themselves if he stared long enough. 

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ “Yeah, Olive’s pretty good. Very serious about it too. She’s got a whole system–base coat, glitter options, little stickers. I just sit there and get lectured on color theory by a child,” he added with a fond smile.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ At the mention of her button, he perked up. “Hey, that’s impressive. Buttons are deceptively evil. It’s hard to sew them back on.” When she said she was doing better, he nodded slowly.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ “Yeah… weird is one word for it,” he murmured. His eyes dropped to the canvas again, but his expression had hardened. “It’s like there’s something hiding just under the town’s skin, you know? You can’t see it, but you can feel it.”

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ He shook his head quickly, realizing how that might’ve sounded. “Sorry. That’s probably not helpful to say out loud.” After a beat, he continued, "I don't think I'll bring Olive there next year." She's already been through... he didn't finish his thought, instead shaking his head. "Yeah, I don't think I'll bring her. She was scared to death when we left."

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Though, he couldn't help but ask... "What do you think happened? About the sabotage, I mean."

"Well, yeah, glitter is a very important step." she muses, "it's messy, though." Bowie is having flashbacks of spilling a container of glitter at work once, followed by weeks of finding little specks of it anywhere and everywhere. Some donations were best left with the donors. "I usually go for black nail polish. Easy to cover up mistakes."

"I sewed it on a little crooked but you'd have to really be looking to notice. Or people have just been too nice to say anything." Better than holding it together by a safety pin, though she did rock that for a bit until she found a replacement button.

"It doesn't help," Bowie agrees, a slight smile emerging as she tries to distance herself from his words. Whether it's true or not, it scares her more than she's willing to admit. She chews the inside of her cheek, her thoughts drifting to the night of the carnival. "Yeah, I get that, " Bowie can't relate to being a parent, destined to only be a cool aunt one day, she understands why he would keep her away from the carnival.

"I want to believe that it was sabotage," she says, honestly. Bowie gets that like humans, witches aren't always full of good intentions, but she's never given it much thought as to what would happen if the balance between good and evil shifted.

Their face scrunched at the image created in their mind, already seeing the vision far too clearly. "No, no, he didn't," they denied knowing very well the stranger did exactly that. "How did he not notice? Like..." The laughter was flowing freely now. Maybe the other patrons glanced over at the duo cackling in the corner, but they couldn't be bothered. In these recent times, feeling this light was difficult, and they soaked up every moment. "You're such a good Samaritan, Bowie," Elle confessed as the laughter lightened up into a bright smile. "I can only imagine how many people passed him like that and didn't say anything. Poor guy, stupid, but that's rough."

There was no possible way that Dorothy could keep herself from sharing the news with her best friend, though in all honesty, nerves were bubbling underneath the surface leading up to the moment. She hoped that the happy news would bring joy to her friend, particularly after everything that she had been through as of late. Bowie deserved all of the best in life, and it caused an intense ache in Dorothy's heart to think of all of the times that she hadn't had just that. So hoped almost desperately that Bowie would feel at least temporary happiness from this moment.

"Pregnant?" Her eyebrows raised, and she laughed. "No, no, not yet. Could you imagine?" Dorothy wanted to have children with Elias, and it would likely happen sooner rather than later, but she couldn't imagine having more little Prior girls running around until after she had had her big day in her white dress - an event that would definitely be happening soon, now that they were engaged.

Bowie takes her friend's hands into her own, her gaze landing on Dorothy's latest manicure. Her nails are pretty, of course, but she's immediately distracted by the piece of jewelry on Dorothy's ring finger. "Wait," she pulls her hands back, placing one across her mouth in disbelief. She's fricking engaged? There's times where Bowie's optimism can be a bit grating to others, especially those who think she doesn't take things seriously enough, but it's moments like this where her personality shines. She's genuinely happy for Dot, her face gleaming with excitement, "tell me everything!"

She thinks back to when she was helping Elias with a birthday gift and wonders if he had already been planning to propose to Dot. Bowie's too caught up in the moment to worry about Elias keeping it from her. Quite frankly, she can't really blame him. As much as she'd like to think she is good at keeping secrets, and has kept Dot's biggest secret of them all, she'd probably give it away just by the look on her face. "Elias is such a little punk," she says, teasingly, "I bet he's had this planned for months."

She trailed off to gauge how her friend felt about this. Orla wasn't one to push people, especially when a needle was involved. "Do you wanna try it?"

Since the return of two people she thought she'd never see again, Matilda had been doing her best to figure out how they were able to find her in the first place. Where she ran away from had a reputation, and she was hoping that no one was after her, Haruki, or Olive. The library seemed like the best place to find answers; often, they'd have articles from newspapers, and she needed to know if there was something she had missed.

Had the group been dismantled? Was there actually no danger at all, and Matilda was just once again going straight into fight or flight mode? It was difficult for her to piece together by herself. For the most part, she had done her very best to steer clear of the library. The sound of children that echoed in the hallways made her instantly emotional every time, always catching her off guard, no matter how hard she tried to prepare. Since seeing Olive, that feeling would hopefully be manageable.

Walking through the entrance, she scanned the map near the doorway, hoping to find the archives, but she was so frantic that it was impossible to read it. Pinching in between her brows, Matilda took a deep breath and tried to calm herself before making her way to the first person she saw.

"Excuse me do you know where the archives are?"

"Are you talking about that machine that shows newspapers in it?" she asks, unsure if she's hitting the mark. With all that's been going on recently, Bowie wonders if there's any significant reason for her interest in the archives. "What are you looking for?" she asks, letting her nosiness get the best of her, "shit, sorry... if you don't mind."

When Bowie hinted at a ring Elias could only laugh. Part of him felt like telling her it was already in the works but he'd save it. While Elias liked Bowie quite a bit and considered her a friend of his now, he still saw her as Dorothy's friend first and he didn't want to rob his (hopefully) soon to be fiancée the opportunity to share the news with her herself. "A ring would make an awful birthday present," he told her and he believed that. Elias was actively trying to make more days in their lives special. It would feel selfish in Elias's mind if he turned Dorothy's birthday a day she already shared with a holiday into the day she also got engaged. There was more than enough to celebrate on October 31st without throwing a ring into the mix. Besides, he already planned to be engaged over a month before Dorothy's birthday this year and adding another, lesser ring to her life felt silly.

Elias approached the display next to the earrings at the counter that hung various crocheted keychains. Elias thumbed one of the handmade crafts before ultimately letting it go. None of them were drawing his attention especially since Dorothy hadn't pointed any out to him last time they were in. "This'll be my seventh year celebrating her birthday and I'll admit it's starting to get hard figuring out something new and exciting to get her," he explained. It didn't help that he was also constantly buying his partner gifts just because and spoiling her year round.

"I think you might just have to face the reality that you're an old boring couple now. Maybe you won't find an exciting gift." At the risk of sounding cheesy, she continues, "I don't want to make either of us barf, but my dude, I think she just likes having you around. I'm not saying you should show up empty handed, but the fact that you're out here looking for her gift already and it's not even a month out, that says a lot." Besides, the jacket was pretty damn cool and she was pretty sure Dot would like it too.

 ‎ ‎ ‎He laughed, a second before having had the same thought. "You know, with Olive painting my nails every Sunday, you would have thought that some of her artistic talent may have rubbed off of me. No such luck." As if to prove the point, he gestured lamely to the canvas in front of him, shoulders dropping.

 ‎ ‎ ‎"Knitting also doesn't translate well to painting. At least we're in good company," he laughed again, shaking his head at the sorry excuse of a sunflower. The distraction was well received, though. After the carnival, Haruki had started feeling more anxious about the seemingly welcome town. He hadn't been in Cardinal Hill for too long-long enough to make a few friends-and he was starting to see why there had been wards upon wards scattered throughout the town.

 ‎ ‎ ‎"How are you holding up?" There had been a few people who were hurt at the carnival, Bowie included, and he wanted to check in and see how she was doing.

"I'm doing better," she says, somewhat truthfully, "it's just kind of weird, right? Like someone sabotaged the carnival." As much as she's tried to push the night out of her mind, its lingering presence can still be felt throughout the town. "I think I'll skip next years. If we have one again, I guess." There's still flashes of the funhouse (of horror) in her mind when she's trying to fall asleep at night. Sleeping with the lights on has helped, but she knows it's not a permanent solution. "How about you?"