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witchofthefleshThe past few days of socialization had been fun, but Adrian was glad to get back to work on creating his grove. There was only one last thing to take care of before he could create a heart tree, and that was getting rid of whatever the weird, magical effect was that littered the topsoil. Yesterday had been spent verifying that that spell wasn't hurting the earth at all and that removing it would not either, and so today, he and Boston were going to get rid of it entirely.
It wasn't easy work; a mixture of a purification ritual and a nullification spell, mixed together in exactly the right amount so neither the purification nor nullification could go overboard and start affecting anything else in the woodland. Ironically, this was something that would be much easier to do if his grove had already been established - Blackwoods were excellent at removing things that were unwanted and the demarcation between 'mine' and 'not mine' were very clear - but Adrian didn't want to risk anything interfering with the creation of the heart tree. It wasn't like he had a second one just hanging around.
What happened next probably didn't look much like magic to anyone expecting a lot of handwaving and chanting in foreign languages. That was the province of sorcerers and you could tell Adrian wasn't one of those by the fact he had self-respect. Honestly, it looked a lot like yardwork when you got down to it; there was a lot of digging, and holding up handfuls of soil before letting it trickle out of his hands and back down to the ground, and stomping down circles of different sizes into the ground below. Whole armfuls from different parts of his property got scooped up and carried into the pit he'd dug, as well as different bits of bark and rocks and bits of plants, and then he was laying firewood in another one of the holes he'd dug and, once the fire had properly caught, lugged out a medium-sized cauldron from his house, filling it with jugs of water he'd sourced from both the nearby lake and also the onsen. This was his secondary cauldron; the first one too big to be moved easily from his fireplace inside the house. This, he filled with various herbs, flowers, and, most importantly, a mushroom the size of his chest, cradled in a mat of its own mycelium, from his glass-in greenhouse patio. While he did start muttering then, it was him going over the instructions step-by-step. Not the most dignified, but he wasn't about to let ego cause him to misstep in his work.
Forty minutes later the bubbling mixture was ready and he lifted the cauldron up off the fire and dumped the contents into the pit, then went and shoveled the coals and ask into the pit as well - Boston's idea, since charcoal was also a purifier. He took out a knife and a moment later blood welled and was flicked into the pit as well, spattering over the greenery within, and as he did, he sent a silent message into the woods. Great forest, hear me. There is something here, some magic within that is not of your woods. I would remove it from you, negate it and purify, and leave you be once more.
A breeze came from nowhere, cool and refreshing against his sweating skin, redolent with the scent of pine and oak and birch. Adrian smiled at that and snapped his fingers; the sound far louder than it should have been and echoing over the whole of the territory he'd claimed for himself. It was followed by a whumph more felt than heard and the entire contents of the pit burst into flames that burned a brilliant, dazzling white.
"Well done!" Boston called from the porch, away the the fire's heat. "It feels like the bulk of that spell is gone and the rest is fading as the mycelial network chases it below the surface. Let the fire burn itself out, it should all be gone by then."
"Great," Adrian said. "Will do." And then sat down heavily in place and resolved not to move for a good five minutes.
Working magic could take a lot out of a witch.
[Open!]
It wasn't easy work; a mixture of a purification ritual and a nullification spell, mixed together in exactly the right amount so neither the purification nor nullification could go overboard and start affecting anything else in the woodland. Ironically, this was something that would be much easier to do if his grove had already been established - Blackwoods were excellent at removing things that were unwanted and the demarcation between 'mine' and 'not mine' were very clear - but Adrian didn't want to risk anything interfering with the creation of the heart tree. It wasn't like he had a second one just hanging around.
What happened next probably didn't look much like magic to anyone expecting a lot of handwaving and chanting in foreign languages. That was the province of sorcerers and you could tell Adrian wasn't one of those by the fact he had self-respect. Honestly, it looked a lot like yardwork when you got down to it; there was a lot of digging, and holding up handfuls of soil before letting it trickle out of his hands and back down to the ground, and stomping down circles of different sizes into the ground below. Whole armfuls from different parts of his property got scooped up and carried into the pit he'd dug, as well as different bits of bark and rocks and bits of plants, and then he was laying firewood in another one of the holes he'd dug and, once the fire had properly caught, lugged out a medium-sized cauldron from his house, filling it with jugs of water he'd sourced from both the nearby lake and also the onsen. This was his secondary cauldron; the first one too big to be moved easily from his fireplace inside the house. This, he filled with various herbs, flowers, and, most importantly, a mushroom the size of his chest, cradled in a mat of its own mycelium, from his glass-in greenhouse patio. While he did start muttering then, it was him going over the instructions step-by-step. Not the most dignified, but he wasn't about to let ego cause him to misstep in his work.
Forty minutes later the bubbling mixture was ready and he lifted the cauldron up off the fire and dumped the contents into the pit, then went and shoveled the coals and ask into the pit as well - Boston's idea, since charcoal was also a purifier. He took out a knife and a moment later blood welled and was flicked into the pit as well, spattering over the greenery within, and as he did, he sent a silent message into the woods. Great forest, hear me. There is something here, some magic within that is not of your woods. I would remove it from you, negate it and purify, and leave you be once more.
A breeze came from nowhere, cool and refreshing against his sweating skin, redolent with the scent of pine and oak and birch. Adrian smiled at that and snapped his fingers; the sound far louder than it should have been and echoing over the whole of the territory he'd claimed for himself. It was followed by a whumph more felt than heard and the entire contents of the pit burst into flames that burned a brilliant, dazzling white.
"Well done!" Boston called from the porch, away the the fire's heat. "It feels like the bulk of that spell is gone and the rest is fading as the mycelial network chases it below the surface. Let the fire burn itself out, it should all be gone by then."
"Great," Adrian said. "Will do." And then sat down heavily in place and resolved not to move for a good five minutes.
Working magic could take a lot out of a witch.
[Open!]
no subject
Date: 2024-09-09 10:58 pm (UTC)"I actually did go to the town hall to ask about buying the land," Adrian said mildly. "And told them I'd be putting up a house here. Also--" He pointed. "There's a shack back that way with someone living on it, and a house over yonder with...something in it, and an onsen that way. With the kind of turnover I've heard the island has, someone moving into a place that was formerly uninhabited doesn't seem to be completely out of the realm of possibility."
He relaxed enough to lean forward on his porch railing, arms folding on it which was a gesture of peace whether she knew it or not. "Also, I've been told that sometimes people don't want squirrels talking about them and their business and can send the squirrels away with rum. I don't think it's as easy to do that with your soil. Furthermore, people also might engage in...certain activities...that while they don't mind getting reported after the fact, might still not appreciate knowing that someone else could be aware of it at the moment. What I did was find a spell laced with the soil on the land I've claimed for my home and removed it, and did so only after verifying that it wouldn't hurt the land to do so. No, I didn't go into the flower stores on the island, but that's because the flower stores, at least in my admittedly limited experience, get their stock from various gardens and nurseries and not the woods themselves. I did spend the better part of a week walking through these woods and the preserve and didn't see anything that struck me as a potential flower or plant farm. Furthermore, it didn't register to my magic as 'magic soil,' and so it seemed like a spell - quite clever, actually - that used the soil as a medium, not part of its intrinsic nature."
"And why would we ask around to see who was using magic to spy on people?" Boston asked, most of his fur smooth again, though his tail was still puffy.
"Boston." Adrian frowned down at his cat. "She said that wasn't her intention and I believe her."
"Intention and action are not the same," the cat sniffed.
"Which we are discussing," the witch replied. "And there's no reason to put things as rudely as possible just because you're still spooked."
Boston glared at Adrian a moment and then deliberately turned away from him and began washing his face.
Adrian sighed and looked back towards Nell. "Apologies, for his rudeness." But...cat. All cats had opinions and Boston had more than most--and the ability to make it known. "I am also sorry that my purification and nullification ritual hurt you--although I am glad it was taken care of before I made my heart tree." If a bit of blood could create that kind of response in her, what would a full blown living human heart do? "I disagree with your actions and methods - I think that it is inconsiderate to people to not inform them that you would have some level of knowledge of their actions whenever they choose to go into the woods, and irresponsible to not let them know that there was some potential danger in it. I'm not the only magic user on the island and therefore not the only person who has the possibility of triggering that from you." Lydia and her pins sprang immediately to mind. "But also, I'm new to the island and this happened before me and you're right, I should have made more of a concerted effort to find out who the soil belonged to - though, if nobody knew about it, I'm not sure how much I could have otherwise found out. Still the attempt should have been made and it wasn't, and I'll offer apologies for that, too. But this is my grove and I will protect it as I see fit, so long as it doesn't harm the land." He was very firm on that last line.
Another glance at the clearly-ignoring-him Boston and Adrian unfolded himself from the porch and walked over to Nell, offering his hand. "I'm Adrian Blackwood. As you might have guessed, I'm a witch." He gave her a smile at that. "But no, that's the last time I'll be doing anything like that, at least that I know of. I have no intentions of claiming any more of the woodlands more than I actually have and so have no reason to do so. If that changes, though, I absolutely will let you know. After all, I don't actually want to hurt anyone. Souls are more my Aunt Muriel's purview than mine, but that doesn't mean I want to harm anyone's." He looked at her. "Can I offer you a cup of tea? I have a blend that helps soothe magic shock that might help?"
no subject
Date: 2024-09-09 11:23 pm (UTC)"I know about all them places, and you might have noticed there's none of my soil - which isnot 'magic soil' or a spell by the by - is near any of that. It was just a way to help me connect to my home soil. Anything else is a side effect and just part of who I am. And were I to notice people here I'd just slip on past, just as I would if I was out in the woods myself and noticed people - not that it's happened often in the years I've been wandering them. I wouldn't think to warn them anymore than I'd think to announce that I've got really good hearing and might hear somebody as I wandered by them in the woods. If you'd like to announce it to the island feel free. You can disapprove all you'un want, but I'm not hurting anyone and I'm not beholden to you."
She made a face. "As for danger. Unless someone is hurting me or threatening me, you could bleed your ownself to death on the land and it wouldn't do a thing to me. I don't see the need to warn people that if they try to hurt or kill me that I can fight back.
"If you'd come looking into the flower shop or Plant Parenthood you'd have found me and I'd've told you'un whatever you wanted to know. It's not a secret and lots of people know about it. But that's neither here nor there. My main concern is that the woods are safe and well-cared for and as that seems to be your intention I'm very happy about that."
She took his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Blackwood. And now, I don't know much of anything 'bout witches, but I'm glad you won't be doing more of whatever you did."
The tea... she considered, but shook her head. "M'not sure what a witch tea for a magic thing would do, though I'd sure be interested in knowing what was in it and how it was made. I make and sell a good deal of teas and tinctures and such in my shop. Made 'most entirely from plants I've grown or carefully sourced myself - and you're welcome to come try some out."
Nell bent to pick up the glass of water, trying not to show just how exhausted she'd become. Weakness was a vulnerability and he was a strange man no matter how polite he was being now. Nell didn't trust easily.
"Water in this beautiful glass might do me for the moment. And I apologize for upsetting your cat as well. It was not my intention."
no subject
Date: 2024-09-10 12:54 am (UTC)"Thank you," Adrian said. "I made the set. That's the best one, I'll admit. The others...well, there was a learning curve." They were all usable, but uniform they were not.
"And it does seem like we're in a similar field; my coven has been making magical potions and cosmetics for centuries now." It was how they'd remained unmurdered! "But I'll be selling mine through Pick Your Poison, so I don't think there should be any kind of overlap between us. I'm not here to snipe your customers."
The shake over, Adrian once again retreated to his porch, sitting down on the bottom step. He idly pulled off his amulet and tucked it into his left pocket. "The wood and the land are of the utmost importance to me. We may not always agree on what that means, but I assure you, I respect the land and want it only to thrive." He glanced back at Boston, who still had his back ostentatiously to them both, his tail swishing. "Boston will get over it, I'm sure. Especially now that you are no longer a threat to me."
If Nell thought she'd heard something like a Hmph!, surely she understood it was only an errant wind, as anybody else within earshot Was Ignoring Them.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-10 01:02 am (UTC)She nodded at him and the woods around him. "As long as you're taking care of the land I'll have no problem with you. And as it's your land, I wouldn't involve myself regardlesss. Boston will have nothing to worry about from me.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-10 06:55 am (UTC)Either way, it seemed a hell of a lot like magic to him.
But if he wasn't in the mood to rehash arguments he'd already made, he definitely wasn't in the mood to try to argue with someone their own understanding of their self, especially since that was pretty much the height of audacity.
"I appreciate the offer," Adrian said. "I'm currently good on plants right now - my greenhouse came with me, too, and I've got plans for my garden." He glanced backwards at his house and smiled with pride at it. "I don't suppose you have any Lot's Salt, though, do you? Boston and I have been concerned about the water tables and possible need for desalinization with the ocean."
no subject
Date: 2024-09-10 11:41 am (UTC)Oh, her weakness! He had a greenhouse!
But his question... "I never hear of Lot's salt. Except for what Lot's wife turned into in the Bible and I surely wouldn't know how to put my hands on that. Why would you want to desalinize the ocean? Wouldn't that hurt all the fish and such there?"
no subject
Date: 2024-09-10 10:17 pm (UTC)"Not desalinating the ocean," Adrian said. "Potentially desalinating the water table because of the ocean. It's a key component for turning people into pillars of salt--" a favorite pastime for Gilgamesh and his flunkies, of course "--but I leave that to the sadists and the sorcerers."
Technically a separate, if widely overlapping, Venn diagram.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-11 12:50 am (UTC)Though... one or two of the church elders... no, that was beneath her. The headache was making her more unkind. Even if they might did deserve it.
"The island's kind of almost sentient, prob'ly is sentient, so might just let it know what you need. But there's lots of good big trees here, so I think the water table is pretty okay."
no subject
Date: 2024-09-11 10:40 am (UTC)Again, sorcerers and sadist behavior.
The island being sentient was new, he'd have to ask around about that.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-11 07:34 pm (UTC)Her speech pattern had slid mostly back out of church speak now that she was calmer."
no subject
Date: 2024-09-12 10:38 pm (UTC)