Another Saturday has come around, and while the nightmares have still been a regular occurrence for Mari, she’s glad to find that her brain decided to be nice to her this morning. Just like last weekend, there are several things she wants to get done to keep up her productive streak, but it would be remiss to ignore the fact that she’s already been quite busy throughout the last seven days.
One pleasant surprise that came about a lot faster than she expected was that her request to cut down her hours at work was approved and put into effect almost immediately, meaning she only had to work the equivalent of three days this week. They’re also willing to be extra flexible with her hours due to the nature of her job, so as long as she puts the hours in each week she gets to choose whether she works three full days, five shorter days, or anywhere in between. Needless to say, Mari was very eager to make the most of that extra time, and has been furthering her studies of witchcraft, thanks to both the spellbook, and advice from the other witches she’s been talking to online.
One particular goal she set for herself was to learn more about the enchantment spell that’s been keeping her lungs in good shape for several years now. It would be good to know how it works in case she needs to redo it herself at some point, or if she ever gets sick like that again and has to save a different organ. It also just seemed like something that would be good to know in general, the ability to save a failing organ could help a lot of people who are in the same situation she was.
She’s able to understand the theory behind the spell pretty easily, she already had a general idea of how it worked from learning to recharge it herself, after all, and starting a new enchantment from scratch is essentially just a more complex version of the same thing, but unfortunately she doesn’t have much to show for these studies in a practical sense. This isn’t just due to a lack of organs to test on, Mari decided that using it on an already healthy organ would be both excessive and dangerous, but because the book very clearly states that casting the spell successfully requires tons of energy all at once, far more than she’s capable of producing at the moment. Thinking back to how much she struggled to use that one spell to keep dust out of the house for just a few moments was all Mari needed to decide there’s not much point in trying any spells that require massive amounts of energy until she knows she can handle it.
She’s proud to say she’s made some progress in other areas though. The other witches gave her some useful information about the spell she had been using to command the feather duster, most notably that actively focusing on the spell instead of leaving it to passively carry out a command allows you to use it in new ways. With a little effort and concentration, you can directly control the flight path of the objects, although it’s harder to maintain when doing it like this. It took a while to figure out the proper technique, but Mari’s had some luck making lighter, and most importantly less breakable, objects float around her. At her current level it’s not likely she’ll find many uses for it beyond serving as a neat party trick, but being able to make one of the small figurines she recently bought online fly up from her desk and into her hand was enough to make Mari geek out regardless. Besides, who knows what she’ll be able to do with more practice?
The extra downtime also gave her a chance to check out parts of the spellbook that she’s only had a chance to skim through so far. In particular, she’s taken an interest in a section containing recipes for a variety of potions, salves, and other concoctions, including a few that seem to take the form of strange cakes. A lot of what’s written there went over her head before, but now that she recognises a number of the ingredients from her garden and her online research, she’s having a much easier time understanding the instructions.
The effects of each recipe is clearly listed at the top, and one that really grabbed her attention was a potion that claims to have the same effect as the medication she’s been using for close to a decade at this point, but the notes clearly state that this one in particular won’t have much of an effect, if any at all, on witches. While she doesn’t understand why this would be the case, it seems like even if it does work on her for the time being, it would stop working at some point if she continues to learn more about witchcraft, so she decides to stick with her patches for the time being. None of the others seem like anything she’d be interested in trying on herself anytime soon, but there are a couple that sound like they might help to alleviate Cassandra’s symptoms somewhat, so she makes a note to try making some of them before the next time she goes to her place.
All of this was in addition to doing some research into other spells she’d like to learn when she gets the chance, and not to mention keeping an eye on the dolls as they carry out their duties. Neither of them have had any major incidents in the past couple of weeks, but Mari’s not sure if that’s just because she’s checking in with them more often than she was before, meaning that neither one has been given a chance to spiral. Regardless, there’s been no end to the smaller messes and situations that Mair has had to clean up on their behalf, and she’s still trying to figure out what could have caused their emotional outbursts in the first place, so they’re certainly finding ways to keep her busy.
This brings us back to Saturday, and Mari’s got a special job planned for today thanks to a package that arrived in the mail the day before. She’s been feeling the itch to build another doll, and this time around she wants to try and make it specialise in making clothes in hopes of solving that problem before it gets too out of hand. There’s just one problem she’d like to take care of first, and it’s that the basement still isn’t the most pleasant place for her to spend time in. There’s nothing particularly repulsive about it, it’s just too bright, too clean, too… sterile…
None of those are bad qualities for a workshop to have, but something about it hits too close to home. It reminds Mari a bit too much of the doctor’s offices and hospital rooms that have plagued a lot of her bad memories, and the fact that this was also where the witch performed the spell that saved her life only creates more parallels with those locations. So with that in mind, she’s decided a bit of redecorating is in order so that the room can remind her of better things instead. She’s not quite cocky enough to try and mess with the wiring of a magical house in order to get new lights installed, however, so she’s decided to get a little creative in order to set the mood she wants.
She brings the package down to the basement, and opens it up to start sorting through the contents. She admits she may be overcompensating a bit here, but her goal is to replace the bad vibes with good ones, and she figured that nothing could provide happy vibes better than Christmas decorations! It helps that it was all so cheap thanks to it being out of season as well. Mari never used to be a fan of the holiday, it was very rarely a pleasant experience for her growing up, but the more recent years, the ones she got to spend with Cassandra and her family, are some of the happiest memories she has, and it’s gone a long way towards changing her stance.
She unpacks it all, tinsel, lights, ornaments, just about the only thing missing is an actual christmas tree, which she very wisely decided would have been a bit much, a real one wouldn’t be safe to have around Martin anyway. With help from the dolls, she gets to work setting it all up, and within an hour the workshop has already come a long way. Mari walks back to the stairway, and takes in their handiwork. Multicoloured, flashing lights hang along the ceiling, tinsel lines the backs of the benches where they meet the wall, little ceramic characters and animals are strewn all about, Naomi even lined up a bunch of the elves in a way that reminds Mari of that one browser game she used to play. Taking in the newer, fresher workshop in all its glory, it’s… it’s…
It’s pretty gaudy, actually.
But! It does feel at least slightly more welcoming than it did before! It’s not too bad once you turn the actual lights back on either.
Deciding that she’s satisfied with the fact that this very large step sideways is also a small step forward, Mari chooses to leave the room as is for the time being. She still needs to start building her next doll, after all, and that will likely take up the rest of the day if she doesn’t start soon. She had already asked Leona to gather the materials she’d need for the trade, so all Mari needs to do is place the order for the ingredients she can’t source herself, which as usual arrive mere moments after she hits the confirm order button.
She thanks the delivery doll and brings everything down to the workshop to get started, but… something is off…
Mari can hear a song playing, but she made a point not to buy any decorations that play music. The simple tune doesn’t really sound like a Christmas carol either, it’s far too melancholic. Where on earth could it be coming from? She places the ingredients on the bench she left clear for when she’s working and starts looking around when-
What.
Why… is that there?
There’s a door on the side of the room she can’t see while walking down the stairs.
…
That… wasn’t there before!
Welcome back!
Welcome back. it seems Mari is really embracing her new life as a witch.
I find the witches internet an amusing side story and a great way to fill in information.
Seems like this house is going to keep throwing surprises at Mari as her knowledge grows.