Growing with the Dying :
Wywave was asked by Charlie one night while he was waiting for Elanye and their teens. Topic was butchering wild game when he noticed the overly marked cook book. Being held within her arms and recalling what his sister once told him what Charlie was doing.
"You're not doing a goose on account of your dad?" He asked her.
"Curses," She couldn't believe he asked, "No."
"Wanted to get that out of the way," He was relieved, "You up to making a trip to Troll Market?"
Before she could answer him, Elanye carried Chewy in her arms and Hoo Hoo perched on her shoulder. Came herding Corbin and Hepzibah with a leopard following in their direction. Half chewed ham bone was wedged between Chewy's teeth.
"Say goodbye to whoever," Elanye reminded Corbin and Hepzibah, "Then go to the motorized carriage."
"Ok." The two spoke.
Corbin was handed Chewy with careful instructions to keep an eye on the little sneak by Elanye. Prying the ham bone out of those pointy teeth worried Elamye about where it came from. Sticking a finger into his mouth before allowing the teens to walk again from her.
"What about the troll market?" Elanye asked her brother.
"Willing to take the Princess of hell with you?" He asked.
This was how a week later a speechless Charlie was in a bazaar frequented by magical creatures with Elanye. She was picking up a few things she couldn't come by in hell. Ona list she made out as sights and sounds were new to Charlie unlike Elayne. Few stalls and vendors they visited were where Elanye found a few things. Always paying in mermaid pearls while asking about one particular, that caught Charlie's attention.
"Why are you asking about a blue version of my brother's favorite flower?" Charlie had to ask.
"What do you get the Prince of Hell?" Elanye countered, "Curses we'll be here ll day."
"My brother can't be that difficult to shop for?" Charlie was a tad surprised.
"Castle full of first editions and rare grimoires, workshop full of magic equipment and relics, personal garden full of flora," Elanye dreamily listed, "Must I go on?"
Left Charlie to ponder until she came upon a sight that scared her to her core. Under a tattered tent we're carvings made from bones. They came in all shapes and sizes and could be held in hand. Left Elanye to ask about full skeletons of certain prehistoric animals. Got her shown a single saber tooth cat encased in fossilized mud. She went on to exchange for horns of butchered farm life and jar of shark demon teeth. Arranging to have the skeleton delivered to the edge of the woods for her brother.
"Sorry about that," Elanye apologized to Charlie, "Should have warned you."
"Now I know where you get your skeletons." Charlie was tad creeped out.
"We have other places we get them from," Elanye could name a few places, "Corners of the living world."
She spoke of black markets and how ANYTHING is sold there between the hands of mortals. Which angried Charlie for the rest of their visit to the other parts of the market. She quietly helped Elanye pick out spices to plant seeds in folded slips of paper. Food and random equipment was also picked up along the way. As Charlie learned of a running joke from each vendor how Elanye was a walking fairytale. Hooded capelet in a crimson coloring with a basket full of goodies.
"You don't seem to use currency around here?" Charlie asked Elanye.
"Money doesn't get you far in a place like this," Elanye put away a whetstone, "Our mermaid pearls work just as well."
Had Elanye finished her list early as lunch came and Elanye took Charlie to a food court area. A strange soup made from dissected parts of slayed monsters that didn't bother Charlie. Meat mainly from monster scorpion with walking Mushroom, Seaweed, Invertatoes, and other ingredients Elanye pointed out to her. Served in an earthward bowl and wooden spoon, a basic bread made from hell flour.
"Ready for the last stop?" Elanye asked Charlie.
8*8
A proper lesson or two in magia amorosa (love magic) and lust-related magic. Osmodai agreed to do so after informing the young man of her father's terms. Learning Corbin believed in natural attraction and wasn't one for love potions. What started the first lesson and told him to share what he wanted to learn.
"Not getting enough magical lessons from our prince?" Osmodai teased Corbin.
"Diversing." He sat with his eyes closed.
"Nice and I look forward to helping you learn." She cooed.
"I wait to see what I learn." She saw him smile.
Learning about aphrodisiacs and how orgies can fuel certain rituals. He learned 7 aphrodisiac foods he could brew into a tea and cook with. Unlike chemical made ones that humans made in the living world. Energy created during these group sex parties usually can recharge one's empty magical flow.
"During these themed parties my dad hosted was how my mom met him," Osmodai said to Corbin, "She was a demonic sexual companion/ chef and kept it casual until I was born."
"Where is she now?" Corbin asked.
"Died of natural causes," She pointed out the diamond she wore, "Wanted her body turned into a girl's best friend and worn by me."
She spoke of how her mother Went on to be cremated and carbon was extracted from ashes. Used to create a diamond she wore as a choker, she never took off.
"We have a similar tradition in my family as well," He pulled mourning jewelry from plackets of his waist coat, "Each pendant presents a family member we lost. I made these myself for my current family."
Each pendant came with a piece that had an oval gold frame with a black fossilized wood base. They had the family member's name and death date. Linked together like a chain, First one was a Triskele for Wywave, second was a black rose for Elanye, and third was a leopard paw print for Hepzibah.
"Don't you have other relatives?" She asked, counting only three.
"Uncle Jack had been banned from entering the afterlife," He tried to recall, "Grandfather has his reasons."
They moved onto an aura reading of couples when he took him to his factory and then his night club. Pointing out which colors mean what when Corbin was told to look upon the imps and hellborn demons. Sometimes they were mixed when different emotions were present and experienced. Red means love, Orange means joy, Yellow means mellow, Green means contentment, Blue means relief, Purple means pleasure, Pink means love, Brown means disgust, Black means sadness, Gray means sadness, and White means relief.
"Are you crazy?" Corbin asked Osmodai, "I am not risking my hand again to read Ragnild's aura."
"How about people at the hotel or Octavia?" Osmodai asked.
"Nope." He handed her a cup of bubble tea, "Vaggie and my aunt have strict rules about no experiments, some have serious consequences if I break them."
"Can't it be that bad?" She asked, placing the cup down.
"Can have my magic temporarily stripped to be forced to stay home for weeks." He listed.
He then stabbed the seal of her cup with her straw to make his point that startled her in one quick motion. He pulled his gloved hand away with an apology to her for what he did. Which relied on Cornelius' face when he stayed coiled around Corbin's neck. To her lips she brought her straw to start slurping her drink when he moved on. Watching him be greeted by Fizzarolli when holding over drinks he was sent out to get. Pointing out his aunt also dropped off a burger ordered, he begged Asmodeus to get him. He excitedly took it when the bag was handed over along with tea for Asmodeus.
"Where do you plan on going after this?" Asmodeus asked Corbin.
"Visit my grandfather in a wrath ring," Corbin figured, "Rediscover my Bloodmarch roots."
"I am going to miss having you around," Fizzarolli shared, "Free burger meals you bring from your uncle and that snake. Bab
Finding his daughter socializing with someone around her own age in and out of work was fun. Osmodai usually did all the work in the factory and at his nightclub. Barely showing any interest to follow children of the sins when asked to party. Wasn't until Corbin came along that she started to stop and smell the lilies.
8*8
Constantine was asked by Elanye to see his potion ingredient collection with her the last time, she visited him. Not understanding when she also asked who was his supplier and what he grew in his garden. How he came by his bottles alongside his sealing process. He thought it was amusing after the last two incidents that happened in his workshop. On an afternoon after lunch when he was open to show her. Into their workshop he took her and showed where he crafted his own potions and stored his ingredients.
"These are for me?" He asked her about an uncovered basket she gave him.
"Local ingredients," She held it up to him, "I personally gathered from my home or woods."
Mason jars with cloth tops or filled drawstring pouches littered the basket he would end up accepting. He sat down to look over the items that were neatly and carefully packed. Shed feathers, nail clippings, and egg shells were all from the harpies. Bottle or two of unfilter tree sap, wood shavings, saw dust, and leaves that carried the texture of human skin. Came from the woods her family and her called home. Tuffs of fur and nail clippings had to have come from the feral hellhounds. Lesser pearls in a pouch, rotten teeth from the demon kind and odd Opals beside dried coral. One of many items that Constantine didn't have in his collection of potion ingredients.
"Antlers from a horned snake and feathers from a feathered dragon," Elanye couldn't believe what she found, "We May have the same supplier as I get my shed skin or milked venom."
"I'll have to shock my records," He watched her, "Why this sudden interest in where I get my ingredients?"
"Mainly curiosity," She settled next to him, "Thought never crossed your mind why my family used in potions we sell?"
"On occasion after your brother restored us," He answered her, "Come. I still haven't shown you what I have in my garden."
He offered hand was accepted Iike always when he set the basket down. He planned to go through what she brought and figure out their magic usage. Would come later when he took her to a grand sight. One she already knew from sitting under one of his trees. Preserved under his magical influence for year round freshness.
"Your favorite flowers?" Elanye recalled what Charlie told her.
"You also wear it on most of your clothing." He pointed out.
"Different colors mean different meanings," She recalled, "Especially red and blue."
"Red spider lily is often linked to the death of a loved one," He shared, "Blue Spider Lily is associated with stability in life, freedom of doing something, and of inspiration."
"Now how do you get a black rose to naturally bloom?" She had to ask.
"Spell of my own invention since artificial ones never last long," He replied, "Now they grow here."
"My brother did the same thing when he got his garden started," He recalled, "Now they thrive beside his garden and what he grows."
He recalled wildly grown mandrake, feral herbs, and parts of man eating plants that filled the basket, left in his workshop. How she was able to extract the sticky fluid and latex in a fresh state. All perfectly bottled away in jars and clearly labeled with handwritten tags.
"What kind of water do you keep in your pond?" She asked about the indoor body of water at the foot of stairs.
"Regular rainwater." He couldn't understand her line of questioning.
"Does it still hold its acidity?" She asked further.
His answer came about why she was asking when they stopped at one last step and met the edge of the water. He had a servant imp bring an empty water basin from the kitchen. She gathered some water and asked him if he ever heard of a water mirror. Down beside the basin he would side with her when she asked him to touch the edge. Picture his mother when he last saw her as she casts a spell on water inside. In the calm surface the memory Of when he saw his mother. Played out for his eyes since she looked away to give him some privacy.
8*8