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 Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2025 1:41 pm
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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2025 1:57 pm
The nice thing about having her own garden was that Maleficarum needed to rely on no one else for the various plants used in her spellwork. It had been something of a nightmare when she'd first started out, trying to source things like mugwort for sleep spells or yarrow for cleansing and warding her home. Sometimes she'd spend hours looking, only to discover the last patch she'd recalled seeing already picked clean! In her younger years, she'd nearly resorted to placing hexes on any who dared frequent her favorite spots for herb gathering, and then had decided perhaps that might be going just a tad bit too far when she could just as well start her own garden.
Which is how her garden had started. Years of meticulously searching out her favorite plants and oh so carefully transplanting them to her chosen spot, always careful to leave enough behind to not disrupt the natural balance of where she'd harvested from. It had taken some time for everything to start to propogate on its own, but nowadays she needed to do much less. The occasional spell to ward off any pests, watering when the rain wasn't enough to keep things healthy, and managing each plant to make sure one didn't start to dominate the rest. The work was easy enough. Fulfilling even. Almost as much as her spellwork.
And it just so happened she needed to tend to the mint in her garden. As always, the cheeky little plant was just determined to choke out the whole garden. Inconvenient, to be sure, but the frequent harvests meant she had plenty of mint for tea.
Among other things.
Word Count: 276
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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2025 5:51 pm
The summer breeze was heady with humidity and the burgeoning scent of flowers. It was one of Vega's favourite times of the year, second only to spring. Spring, when everything was new and the soil was rich from its renewal from crisp winter snows. Worms 'woke' up, leaving the soil loamy, and they seemed to take their job very seriously throughout the months to come. She supposed it made sense they would, considering if they did not they would very surely perish. Her garden was a testament to her patience and diligence, always welcoming with a riot of colour and smells, and friendly to animals and insects alike...
...well, most of them, at least. Vega drew lines at those that would cause the plants harm and to die. Those she simply could not abide by. It was not quite reasonable of her to destroy lives for the sake of her garden, for all beings needed to eat, but...it was perhaps one of her few points of vanity.
Eli dug where she could not delicately do so in her full size. Her little rabbit companion was more than just handy to have around the garden, he was both spunky and a balm...and all too enthusiastic to help with her garden endeavours. Sometimes a little too enthusiastic. There had been more than once that she found upended flowers from her eager helper that she had to have him help her set them quickly to rights.
But for the most part? It was a lovely, wonderful partnership. She spent the majority of her time tending to her garden. And when it came time for pollination? Never was there anyone better than herself for the job. She could be found, shrunken to her smallest size, flitting from flower to flower, pollinating and cross-pollinating her own stock to ensure she would have seeds, fruit, and vegetables aplenty. It was surely amusing to watch her as a little ball of pollen with wings flutter, flap, and tumble through the air to accomplish her most delicate of tasks. And to watch the fruits of her labour bloom and move through their life cycles? Nothing could be better. It brought her immense joy, especially when it drew the eyes and adoration of others.
Vega had tumbled in on a breeze to what was a most unanticipated sight: another garden. Mint was the pungent smell, here. Not at all bad, but she could see it overreaching and encroaching on the rest of what was...hm, yes, mostly herbs, but plenty of other specimens. The little flutter flit to and fro, inspecting what was undoubtedly the handiwork of someone else. Flowers, herbs, and the like normally didn't grow in such neat arrangements. Even her own garden would be obviously something one tended to. She hummed to herself, just a little pipe of sound, as she landed on a sprig of mint. She tutted to herself, after. If whomever was tending this place wasn't careful, the mint would become even more of a monster than it already was. Surely they knew that.
And maybe she could barter for some in exchange for a cutting or two of her own. There were other curious specimens she was not overly familiar with as well. A curiosity.
542 words
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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2025 7:15 pm
If there were one advantage Maleficarum possessed compared to other soquili, it was her claws. The flexible digits enabled her to personally tend to her garden where those with hooves might have struggled, whether that be through digging properly sized holes for her seeds or delicately plucking weeds and harvesting overgrowth as she had set out to do today. Although perhaps it would have been wiser to wait until later in the day - between the beating sun and the humidity that clung to the air, her coat already shone with a satin sheen of sweat.
Unfortunate, but she'd already made the walk over, and it would be a waste of that precious energy to change her mind and turn back.
Although as she approached, she couldn't help but pick out the sight of something foreign in the overflowing section where her mint was planted - tiny little leaves and flowers and even a tree that certainly didn't belong there. Curious, she approached with caution - although surely even the delicate steps of her clawed feet would seem like heavy stomps to a being so very tiny. And as her milky white, pupilless eyes focused closer, she realized it was another soquili currently hovering over her mint. A shrunken down flutter, although it was hard to say at this size if she had anything else mixed in.
Maleficarum let out a soft breath, ducking her head down to come as close to eye level as she could with the tiny soquili, her voice soft so it didn't sound booming to such tiny ears. "Well hello. Was there something in my garden of particular interest to you?"
Word Count: 273
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Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2025 5:37 pm
The sprig of mint bobbed in the rustling breeze. That wasn't necessarily unusual. What was were the shimmery vibrations she could feel in her legs that told her a much larger creature was nearby. There was no sound of typical hoofbeats but that didn't stop the ground from rumbling with the presence of another. Vega had a brief moment of hope that it was not a Shifter, and then another that if it was a Shifter that at least they were charmed and cordial.
The breeze became breath which became sound as she was addressed.
Well, at least her sudden companion was cordial. The flutter's head moved first, followed by the bob and dip of her body perched on the green leaf. She made a soft sound that was partly to express her chagrin and amusement. She alit from the leaf and fluttered towards an open spot a little ways away, hindered just a little by her accessory she did not travel with. It might come in handy to sequester some mint away if they reached agreeable terms. She did not wish to shout in what would only be a high, squeaky, and ultimately soft voice in her shrunken form. Once she touched down on the grass and dirt - well away from the tended plants - she slowly began to grow. The change took a bit of time, but she felt it would ultimately lead to easier conversations.
She shook her head after, leafy mane rustling, and then took stock of her unwitting host. She was still smaller than the charcoal and ink Soquili before her, with her intricate white patterns. It didn't bother her.
"Hello~" She she chirped cordially. "You have a very lovely garden, first of all. Choosing a point of interest when one talks about plants and gardens is no more something I could do than choose a favourite star in the sky, honestly."
542+316= 858 words
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Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2025 5:52 pm
There was the briefest of moments, when the tiny flutter made a noise and began to move away, that Maleficarum thought she'd frightened the poor thing away. It would not have been unusual - there were far too many that considered her appearance to be particularly ghastly and feared her as a result. It was something of a mixed blessing. Those who found her the most terrifying often were the most superstitious, and many of them eventually sought out her spellwork in the end. Because surely the morbid looking soquili was an exemplary witch.
But she was pleasantly surprised when the flutter landed and began to grow back to size, mindful of the plants of her garden. It was enough to make Maleficarum smile as she rose back to her own height, the delicate silver chains woven into her mane swaying with the motion.
"I suppose you have the right of it. Each plants has their own unique charm points, after all." While she spoke, Maleficarum began what she'd come to do in the first place, using dextrous claws to carefully begin sectioning off the mint she needed to remove from her garden. She worked with clear experience, taking stock of how the plants grew and carefully digging her claws into the soil to uproot the more isolated plants with less established root systems. "I'm glad you enjoy my garden. I started it some years ago when I got tired of trying to find all the herbs I needed out in the wild. I've lost a good patch of yarrow to wild rabbits one too many times."
Word Count: 266
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Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2025 6:01 pm
Vega dipped her head in a nod, acknowledging the response but not interrupting. She watched the other move to start tending to the mint she'd thought was working on taking over the entire space. And it was not that she doubted the tender of this garden's expertise given how well it was laid out, but there was always something pleasant and surprising about watching one go about their own business in their own little plot of land.
"That certainly makes it easier to ensure you have all that you need." She paused, eyeing up some of the mint. "Would you be opposed to an exchange..? I was thinking your mint would make a lovely little addition to my own garden."
It was maybe foolish as she didn't know this particular Soquili, and their appearance was certainly intimidating if one was swayed by such things, but she was not hostile. That counted for something.
"You can come to see my own if you are not busy, after you finish tending to your garden."
542+316+172= 1030 words
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Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2025 6:14 pm
Being able to tend to her garden like this was particularly fulfilling, even if Maleficarum hadn't initially set out to start a garden of her own. She fancied herself a witch first and foremost, and gardening had only become something of a means to an end towards that. But at the end of the day, she couldn't say she didn't enjoy it, making sure her plants were all healthy and thriving no matter what misfortune of the weather might have befallen her home.
This summer had been particularly hot and brutal, with storms that had pushed the banks of old and new waterways alike. It was a small miracle her garden hadn't been drowned out - too little water she could help with, but too much was much more difficult.
But the mention of an exchange was enough to make her pause, her claws hovered near the next plant she'd started to dig up as she considering it. "I have been considering a rose bush or two, if you have roses in your garden that you could spare cuttings from?" Truthfully, she would have gladly given her new acquaintance however much mint she wanted with no expectation of anything in return, but the offer of an exchange was too good to pass up.
After all, it had been quite an ordeal tracking down all the plants she'd been hoping to grow in her garden. And a new friend who might be able to help her ease that burden was a welcome find indeed.
Without waiting for an answer she smiled, returning to her work uprooting the overgrown mint and delicately placing each plant in a neat pile. "I suppose I'll have to visit to decide. In the meantime, you're welcome to brose and see if there's anything else you'd like to exchange for. There's no reason to be stingy when my garden has been so productive this year - especially not with a new friend."
And if she used the other soquili perusing her garden as an excuse to pick her mind for techniques, well... That was just part of the exchange, at the end of the day.
Word Count: 356
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