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A Proper Witch

Tue Nov 18, 2014 7:26 pm

If you stuck her in a room filled with over a hundred other people, Melanie Tabard would persist in standing out, regardless of whether or not that was her intention.

And more often than not, it wasn't.

This may have had something to do with the fact that she was a walking stereotype; her ancient pointed hat and the broom she carried wherever she went certainly lent to her more unforgettable presence.

And the hedgehog.

Said creature blinked slowly as he watched his mistress trying to corral twenty-eight bullfrogs back into their cage with little success. He wasn't entirely sure what to make of the spectacle, partly because he was more than accustomed to things of this nature since having become bonded with her as a familiar, but mostly because he wasn't the sharpest quill in the bunch. He cocked his tiny head and, deciding that the world around him looked more interesting at an angle, rolled over entirely with a huff.

"Don't just sit there!" the girl hissed, trying to keep her voice below a whisper. This seemed pointless considering the cacophony of rumbling croaks issued from the frogs. She managed to grab one and pop it into the waiting mouth of the cage, a battle won in a war that raged on. "If Mrs. H finds out about this, we can kiss our room goodbye!"

The boarding house that the two of them stayed in was owned by one Madame Halgar, a middle-aged women with a no-nonsense approach to life under her roof. A hearty breakfast was served at eight each morning and cleared away at nine-thirty, and laundry service was provided with the rent, paid upfront every two weeks. In return, the men and women who rented her rooms were expected to stay out of trouble and keep up with the keys to their rooms.

To say that the woman's first encounter with Melanie had been less than ideal was an understatement. Not only had the novice witch taken out a number of shingles during her crash landing on the roof that glorious Summer day, but she had shortly thereafter produced a rodent from her pocket that had elicited a bout of hysteria from the woman, who had immediately taken matters into her own hands using a nearby broom.

Several minutes of discord and one hyperventilating hedgehog later, Melanie had calmed the woman enough to inform her that she had enough money to pay for the first three months of her stay all at once. The atmosphere in the room had changed drastically as the woman processed this, climbing down from the dining chair she stood on and gingerly patting her disheveled hair back into place. With a wary glance at the girl's pet, peering at her from the safety of his owner's pocket, she had offered to show them to their room.

The first couple of months had been mostly uneventful, with only a handful of fires and no more than two cauldrons lost to her experiments. With the exception of the laundry incident, in which a faulty incantation had resulted in the neighbors' freshly washed clothing detaching itself from the line and flying away like a flock of birds, she hadn't caused anyone too much grief.

Though there was still no word from the guild, her reason for being there in the first place, but she supposed that the paperwork concerning assignments such as hers took a while to process, even if through magical means.

She plucked the last frog from her windowsill before it could leap to its death and dropped it into the cage, drawing the latch tightly. She set the container at her feet, quickly drew an arcane symbol with her pointer finger, and chanted the fey word for "silence". The croaking abruptly stopped, and she slumped down next to the hedgehog, who was unable to right himself, his tiny feet kicking madly at the air. With a sigh, she helped him.

"What are we gonna do, Reggie? We need work or we won't be able to keep staying here."

Reggie grunteded sympathetically, pressing his cold, wet nose against her thigh. She smiled, scratching his chin.

"I'll think of something. A proper witch can make the most out of any situation."
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