CW: magic; cunnilingus; lesbian; group sex;
Based, with permission, on the story by Alina X
#~#~#~#~#
1 - Present Day
Marnie had been working, tirelessly, for months.
Her workshop, a small converted greenhouse at the back of the home she'd inherited from her parents, was a mess of overgrown plants; vines climbed the walls, twisting between smashed glass and twirling around metal frames; leaves thick and verdant blocked out patches of sun along one side, while flowers of every colour could be found in pots, or growing wildly from the cracks in the stone floor. It was a large space, but Marnie had filled it until it felt cramped, her books and research papers in piles between the plant pots; her desk, in the centre of the room, had her cauldron to the side, and was completely buried in research documents and magical tome alike.
Marnie was, herself, a bit of a busy mess, too. Her glasses were perched atop a slightly hooked nose, and she wasn't able to stop herself from smiling as she worked. Her energy was wild, and her clothing hung from her in flowing streams. Her scarf was tattered, her cardigan was second-hand, and the jacket atop that was dirtied from working the soil, just like her fingerless gloves which had certainly seen better days.
But none of the mess mattered - she was
so close
. It had been hard work, of course, finding the correct components, the best reagents, and the words to bind them in her magic in
just
the right way.
Magic, after all, was neither art nor science - it was the blend between.
The cauldron was smoking, the pink solution inside threatening to bubble over - after all, this was just the containment. A magical womb, so to speak, from which her creations could be birthed.
Over the cauldron, which was about a foot tall, and just a little wider there was a contraption made from metal clamps to hold something by a copper wire. Copper was one of the reagents, so it shouldn't interfere with the mixture at all, Marnie knew, but it
was
a delicate balancing act of materials, so it was important to keep
only
the amount of wire needed in the mixture. At the end of that wire, after all, was a specially-made lipstick, with a rune carved into the base.
The rune pulled the magic into the lipstick; the alchemical mixture curated the magic's effects; Marnie's words gave the magic power, and direction.
And, finally, after
three
failed attempts, she was feeling confident.
BRRRRRRING!
An egg timer in the shape of a chicken rang on her desk. Marnie smacked it, and crouched next to the cauldron. With a pencil, she lifted the copper wire out of the cauldron, until the lipstick lifted out of the pink mixture. Liquid slipped off it, and in seconds it appeared completely dry.
'
Void
,' Marnie said with a wave of her hand. A rune on the cauldron flashed, and all of a sudden, it was empty - and therefore safe.
Marnie grabbed some tongs off the table, and carefully took the lipstick with them. She took a shaky breath, and put the pencil down, before using her now-free hand to tug the copper wire off the lipstick. She turned the make-up in the tongs, and saw how it glittered in the pleasant midday sun.
'Boo-yah.'
2 - Attempt Number One
Six Months Ago.
'I still can't believe all of this stuff is real,' Travise said. He was a bit pig-headed about it all, but Marnie liked him well enough. He was harmless, not mean, and his disbelief came from a place of wonder, not suspicion. 'Like, when Ash told me you were a witch, at first I thought she meant like a new-age hippy, going to Cumbria on the weekends to make twig figures and all that. No offence, I mean.'
'Travis!' Ashley - Ash - laughed, slapping his arm. She reached across the dinner table and picked up the mustard, squirting onto the homemade burger Travis had made. It was Ash's second serving, not that her slim figure would imply this was a girl who ate burgers very often. Skinny as a rake.
'None taken,' Marnie said with a smile, tucking her hair behind her ear as she struggled to get it to obey. 'I think they're a little mad, too. Heart in the right place, but... they're like people who think they're soldiers because they spend all day playing
Call of Duty
.'
'Without the misogyny,' Ash said. 'I dated this one guy, Ben - you remember him, Marn? -
he
was a
CoD
lover. Insufferable prick, it turns out.'
Travis snorted, and bit into his burger. 'So - Ash says you make things, though. What kind of stuff? Like, hexes?'
Marnie ate a chip. 'Hexes?'
'You know, like,
curses
.' Travis hissed that last word, and it made Marnie smile a little.
'No - nothing like that.'
'She made me a coin,' Ash said, in that tone of a friend about to tell an
incredibly
embarrassing story. 'It was a silver collector's thing. She'd imbued it with a spell that was
supposed
to bring money and good monetary fortune.'
'One of my first, that one,' Marnie said, laughing as she took a drink of wine. 'You remember what it did?'
Ashley was laughing, now, too. 'I d- I do! Travis, it was
magnetic
. But only for coins! Other coins, they would
fly
at me across the room, like some evil little ghost was throttling them at me!'
They laughed, and ate their burgers in the warm comfort of Ashley's dining room, eating and telling stories, until dinner was finished, and the inevitable question came from the curious Travis.
'Could you make something for us?'
Marnie smiled. She was a little tipsy, and Ashley
knew
what she was like when she was drunk - though Travis was new to her more inebriated ways. He had
no
idea.
'Whatcha thinking?' she asked.
Travis faltered. 'I dunno - what do you have on you?'
Marnie fished about in her pockets, patting herself down. She gave a slightly more lingering touch to her chest than she needed to - and caught an eye from Ash - before producing a stick of lippy from her pocket.
'And what could you do with that?' Travis asked. Ashley gave him a look, and Marnie recognised it - she was a little surprised at how forward he was being, but in all honesty she was drunk enough to let things get weird.
'Well, let's think,' Marnie said, twirling it in her hand. 'You put it on your
lips
-'
And that was when Ash laughed, but tried to choke it back. She spluttered on her wine, and led Marnie and Travis into fits of laughter as well.
'Sorry! I'm so- I'm
so
sorry,' she laughed. 'You said
lips
, and my brain just-'
'Went to the dirtiest place possible?' Travis asked, laughing. 'What even makes that
funny
?!'
'I don't know!' Ashley giggled, wiping some spilled wine off her hand. 'I just - you said lips, and I just pictured it.'
'What?' Markie asked, half jokingly, half hoping to hear what
nonsense
