Ms. Jones was a busy woman, she had to be. Moving to New Orleans was sudden but she still planned things out, move in the summer so Lily could become acquainted with the area, find a place with open jobs and affordable homes, etc.
Yet all of her planning didn't count on how many jobs she would need, she's working full time at Duke's cafe, and three other jobs part-time. When she gets home she falls asleep, only to be woken up by Lily for dinner, then falls asleep again till she has to go to work. It was tiring but she made it work, and Lily was always so helpful, cleaning the house, making dinner, cursing customers who were rude to her (not that Ms. Jones knew that).
She worried though because Tulip knew that she barely was home and never hung out with her daughter. She tried but whenever she did get a break Lily was somewhere else. She's heard rumors, rumors of witch doctors, and one of them sounds an awful lot like Lily. She pushed her concern down though, Lily would never do black magic, and she would never be running around with a boy. Or so she thought.
During a lunch break at Duke's Tulip Jones was eating outside, when she noticed two children dash past her. She snorted at them, both wore ridiculous costumes, but as one of the children gave a dried rabbit foot to a man she looked closer at them. To her horror, she realized one of them was her own daughter, Lily Jones, sweet precious Lily. Tulip's world broke.
She promptly got up and grabbed Lily's arm, Lily not recognizing who grabbed her threw another rabbit foot at Tulip's face, causing her to scream and Lily to run away. Hearing her mother's scream, however, Lily stopped and looked back.
"Mom?" Lily walked closer, with Facilier trailing behind. "What are you doing?"
Tulip straightened up to her most dignified pose. "What am I doing!? What are you doing!" Her face turned an awful shade of red. "I've been working days and nights for us, barely getting any sleep, and I worried that you would feel neglected." she shook her head melodramatically. "But NO, instead you've gone and corrupted yourself with black magic and HIM!" Tulip venomously points to Facilier.
"He's my friend, mother and I've not been corrupted." She said almost mockingly. "I've always had magic, now I'm just cultivating it."
Tulip didn't care. She grabbed Lily's arm again, without the rabbit foot being thrown, and marched down the street yelling angrily at Lily. Facilier stood watching in shock, then processing what happened ran after them both. Lily, seeing him quickly catch up, for she was struggling against her not-very-strong mother, shook her head and quickly mouthed 'I'll handle this.' Facilier nods and dashes to their shop.
Seeing Facilier runoff Lily stops struggling and lets her mother take her home. Tulip has stopped ranting and instead walks in silent fury, occasionally sending scathing glances to Lily. A feeling of dread wells up in her, if she couldn't find some way to calm her mother down what would happen? The rest of the walk was tense and quiet till finally, they entered their house.
Entering the kitchen Lily sits down on a chair, her mother grabs a pen and paper and starts writing.
"What are you doing?" Lily asked quietly.
"I'm writing to your father, clearly having you in New Orleans was a mistake."
Lily started shaking, leave New Orleans? Leave Facilier and magic? She couldn't. Trying to keep her voice steady she speaks again.
"Mother, why? I'm not doing anything wrong, I've been good and helpful." From her odd costumes to her scared face, Tulip looks at her daughter, sighing as she sits with Lily.
"Lily, yes you've been good and helpful but you're messing with black magic it's not healthy or good."
"Why," Lily begged, wishing to understand this hidden evil in magic.
"It's magic, Lily," Tulip said as if that explained everything. "Deals with devils and unsavory rituals."
"Devils!? Those exist?" Seeing the sudden terror on her mother's face she finishes quickly. "I'm not about to summon a devil mom! And really that's what you think Facilier and I are doing?" She snorted, that's why she almost left her best friend because her mom thought she was making deals with devils.
"Well, what else is magic supposed to be?" Tulip said defensively. Lily almost smirked.
"I'll show you."
AN:
UnnaVox: Alright! Ms. Jones has been officially introduced. I tried to portray her as a parent whose ideas stem from stereotypes and thus acting out on them, but once Lily shows her what is going on, she will hopefully become more agreeable. Thank you to all who have favorited, liked, and reviewed! It means a lot to us :)
DuoAnimi: If you like the chapters please favorite them! And thank you to all who have! XD