witchoftheflesh: Colin O'Donoghue as Hook from OUaT (Laughing - Sideways)
Adrian Blackwood ([personal profile] witchoftheflesh) wrote in [community profile] fandomtownies2024-10-05 02:25 pm

Pick Your Poison, Saturday Afternoon

They might be here to visit, but no force in the world could stop a Blackwood witch from being industrious. So after a stop at the park for a bit, the Blackwoods had headed over to town, carrying the boxes of cosmetics and consumables that the Old Wives had brought with them to start trying to fill the empty shelves that Pam's weeding out had left behind.

There were cleansers, there were bath bombs, bubble baths, body sprays. There were lotions, there were soaps, showers gels, scrubs, and shampoos (with conditioners of course). Massage oils, hair care products, solid perfumes, lotions, even candles. It was like someone had gone through the Lush website and used it as a checklist for production.

"Okay, even I'm impressed," Adrian admitted, looking around at everything they were unpacking and shelving. "How did you all get this done in such little time?"

"Foresight," Muriel deadpanned.

"Wait, really?"

Lydia thumped Adrian in the ear. "Mundane foresight," she told him. "Some of this we've pulled off of shipments to go to the Anchor Markets, so they'd better sell."

"And we reached out to the other covens for help," Agatha said, dreamily. She was in a particularly good mood today. "Your cousin Nora, from the Gulf coven, has been sending us her shower jellies."

"Shower jellies?" Adrian asked. Muriel was already tossing him a box that contained a pair of them. He pulled one out and and laughed as it wobbled in his palm. "Amazing," he said. "Nora is clearly a genius."

Had he met Nora? He couldn't remember, but if you gave him a minute or so, he could probably recite where in the family tree she was.

"We've also started making products without magic, just for your store," Lydia added, holding up a box that was lightly shaded gray instead of their normal white. There were far more gray boxes than white, actually. "Most of the magical cosmetics you sell here are bought as novelties, as opposed to magic being a requirement to sell to the Holy City. Making purely mundane versions means less we'll be diverting from the Holy City to you, but also let us make your items faster and can be sold for cheaper."

"Without having to skimp on the quality in other areas," Muriel added. "Not that we ever would mind."

"But you'll still get some, along with whatever stuff you personally make," Muriel reassured him, amused by whatever expression she saw on his face.

Briefly, Adrian worried what Pam would say if he told her he was now selling some stuff that wasn't magical. And then he figured that so long as he swore that the stuff he was still selling remained free of plastics, parabens, and unethically-sourced mica, he was probably all set.

[Open]
mustbevisiting: (Georgiana side eye)

[personal profile] mustbevisiting 2024-10-05 09:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Georgiana had looked up with a vague little, "Hmm?" at Lydia's comment, and at Agatha's she asked stiffly, "I do beg your pardon?"
oldwifeoftheflesh: Nadia Nassib Njeim (Talk to Mama)

[personal profile] oldwifeoftheflesh 2024-10-05 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh you don't have to beg, sweetheart," Agatha assure her because, you know, this was who she was. "I'm looking at your curse. It's exquisite! Even moreso when you consider that it looks like it was once two different effects entirely. A shame, almost to ruin such a working."
mustbevisiting: (Georgiana side eye)

[personal profile] mustbevisiting 2024-10-05 09:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh," Georgiana said. "Yes. That is, it is two different spells. They got stuck together and this is the best that could be done with them if I wanted to keep my mind intact, which I did." She had experienced what the alternative would feel like while they were trying to figure out how to fix the spell, and she had not liked it at all.
oldwifeoftheflesh: Nadia Nassib Njeim (Do Go On Darling)

[personal profile] oldwifeoftheflesh 2024-10-05 10:19 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, you must tell me all about them," Agatha gushed. "It's lovely and horrifying by turns." She sounded equally enthused by both. "A spell of grand violence and a spell of stalwart bulwark, mated together to create something else entirely."
mustbevisiting: (Georgiana smiles)

[personal profile] mustbevisiting 2024-10-05 10:52 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's not so bad," Georgiana said. "I do turn into an owl every night now, of course, but that means Fitz has quite given up on finding me a husband. There's a madness in my family, you see, and so the first spell was meant to protect my mind. It was put on when I was a baby. And then Lydia removed a curse I was struck with when we happened to be together, so the way Maria--" Lydia gave Georgiana an odd look from across the shop at hearing her call Miss Lambe Maria. "--explained it, Mrs. Forster made the next curse rather...stickier. Well. It stuck, all right, but to the spell, not to me. And then the whole thing went wrong."
oldwifeoftheflesh: Nadia Nassib Njeim (Looking Behind)

[personal profile] oldwifeoftheflesh 2024-10-06 12:25 am (UTC)(link)
"Magical madness?" Agatha asked. "Or...?" It would be rude to ask if it was inbreeding, sadly. But so many families had missed the memo that you needed outside stock to keep the breed strong.
mustbevisiting: (Georgiana neutral)

[personal profile] mustbevisiting 2024-10-06 12:36 am (UTC)(link)
"Just the usual sort, I think," Georgiana said. "It only seems to happen to girls, from what I know. Lydia scryed before our niece was born, and little Jane hasn't got it, but she's going to be a witch so I don't know if she would even if it was magic."
oldwifeoftheflesh: Nadia Nassib Njeim (Talk to Mama)

[personal profile] oldwifeoftheflesh 2024-10-06 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
"Some disorders are passed down that way, especially without an infusion of new...blood."

You were welcome, Georgiana, for that second, substituted word choice.

"Tell me, sweet. How do you feel about this curse?"
mustbevisiting: (Georgiana neutral)

[personal profile] mustbevisiting 2024-10-06 02:06 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't mind it," Georgiana assured her. "Sometimes it's nice, being an owl. And no one tries to make me go to dances or talk to eligible gentlemen any more, so I have more time to focus on my work," even if most of those people thought Georgiana was just painfully shy, Darcy's word that she was not to be pressured was law. "And I do much prefer it to being mad."
oldwifeoftheflesh: Nadia Nassib Njeim (Default)

[personal profile] oldwifeoftheflesh 2024-10-06 02:22 am (UTC)(link)
Agatha scoffed. "Sweet, if I broke your curse, I'd hardly do so so clumsily as to leave you in danger of madness."

She'd probably take steps to fix that while she was in there anyway.

"If you'd rather it stay, that's fine. I don't see any hints of instability or a tendency to warp, so it should be safe for the rest of your life, assuming that you don't get more curses laid on you. Or I could remove it, though it would take some time."
mustbevisiting: (Georgiana side eye)

[personal profile] mustbevisiting 2024-10-06 02:29 am (UTC)(link)
"Everyone who's ever looked at it has believed it was impossible to remove without risking damage to the spell protecting my mind," Georgiana told her. "They're so very stuck together, you see. I'm sure you're very good at what you do, but if it's all the same to you, I prefer not to take the risk."

It was possible that Georgiana did not fully comprehend who she was talking to here, but you could hardly blame her being cautious, could you?
oldwifeoftheflesh: Nadia Nassib Njeim (Thoughtful)

[personal profile] oldwifeoftheflesh 2024-10-06 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
Well, it certainly couldn't be to a Great Power or anything! Just ask Adrian!

"Of course, sweet," Agatha said. Why would she ever argue with someone's autonomy? "If you ever change your mind, just tell Lydia to tell Adrian. And even if you don't, if you have some spare time, do pop by our Blackwood. I would love to study it."