House of Ivy

Onyx pushed her ice blonde wavy locks back over her shoulder and blinked her moss green eyes at the sunlight that poured through the glass roof of the green house. Her hands were covered in a dusting of soil and everywhere around her was the smell of fresh growing things. To her this was the best place she could be. House of Ivy was her Aunt and Uncles nursery and flower shop and she had spent most of her life here. She worked mostly with the plants letting her special talents flow and blossom. While she wasn't the most talented she did inherit the families powers. She was a witch. One that held an affinity with plants. As such she was a perfect addition to the nursery. Her skills kept the plants happy and healthy and her vast interest and knowledge made her a good employee for matching people to the plants that would work best with them.

However it was her other ability that the magic community depended on. Onyx was skilled using herbs and plants to create healing potions as well as small household charms. So she worked in the nursery and cared for a special set of plants and herbs just for her families potion making part time while she spent her nights meeting clients and creating herbal remedies for their clients. Her Aunt and Uncle handled the requests though she kept a large supply of common remedies for cough, fever, anxiety, and sleeplessness. She had very little to do with the world beyond House of Ivy and the nightly patients that she met, but she did not see a problem with that. Her Aunt did worry that she might never meet a suitable man and miss a chance for a family, but growing a family was the last thing that Onyx had in mind. Her Aunt and Uncle were great and she loved her two cousins who were just a few years younger then her, but her parents had shown her that not all families were kind and loving. She had been relieved to move in with her Aunt and Uncle after a particularly dark night had left her alone. Here she wasn't alone. She loved her family and they loved her and she was content with that. She wasn't sure her heart was open to anything more.

Aunt Clara popped her head in through the door her graying ash blond hair held in her signature French braid fell over her shoulder. "Hey there kitten," She said with a teasing smile. "Can you do me a favor and help cover the register for a little while Greta got called in to deal with one of the twin terrors at school again." Since Greta's husband traveled a lot for work she was basically a single mom at least with the day to day care of her kids and man were twin six year old boys trouble. Onyx was already standing before she nodded, "Give me a minute to clean up a bit and I'll be right out." She wasn't too dirty but working back with the plants was different then working with the customers coming to collect a flower arrangement. They didn't particularly care for hands coated in soil and aprons smeared with the same. Aunt Clara nodded and waved a hand before she left the small green house to head back to her customers.

Onyx soon followed after handing up her gardening apron on a hook near the door. She walked around the well groomed paths between different bushes and flower beds to enter the back door of the flower shop. There she used the employee bathroom to scrub her hands clean and make sure her hair wasn't too wild looking. Afterwards she slipped on a clean apron this time in a deep burgundy with the Shops name and logo across the front is a deep gold. She took a deep breath and stepped forward. Working with all the customers in the flower shop often made her uncomfortable and took her out of her comfort zone. However she tried to focus on the positives. Here she could use her talents to make a customer smile and maybe brighten their day. And anyway it wasn't like her Aunt had her in the shop all that often since she knew how overwhelming Onyx tended to find crowds and well just people in general.

The first fifteen minutes behind the counter passed rather uneventfully even with just Lillian, Aunt Clara's best friends since forever, and her it wasn't busy enough to keep her eyes from wondering. In quiet moments like this when she was tucked safely in her elements Onyx often found herself looking out at the rest of the world to people watch. She particularly liked imagining what those stranger might be out there doing. In her mind she tried to come up with rather happy endings for every story she imagined. She knew real life wasn't a fairy tale, but she couldn't seem to keep her mind from trying to pretend that it could be.

While Lillian helped their only customer put together a bouquet of flowers to take to her sick grandmother at the hospital, she was looking out the window when her breath caught in her throat and she felt her heart skip a beat before her pulse started racing. Walking in front of the shop window was the most handsome, most gorgeous, most drool worthy man she had ever seen. He was tall at somewhere close to six feet and he wore an impeccably tailored suit the seemed to highlight his lean but athletic build. He carried himself in a way that made others step aside to give him room. Not from fear (although with his bigger size and imposing manor he certainly could generate fear in some) but because his mere presence made you sit up and take notice. It was as if she was weaving a charm about causing you to be drawn to him. He had chestnut hair that hung just long enough that it looked slightly disheveled as several strands curled at the ends. Her face was strong and his lips were set in a strong thin line and he face was impassive as if he had no emotions to display at all. She wanted to see him up close to look into his eyes and search out answers. She didn't know why but it felt as if her heart might break if he simply walked away.

She was not crushed at the moment, because he did not keep moving forward, but instead turned and entered the store. She watched her heart pounding so loudly she thought it was a miracle that Lillian or even the man himself couldn't hear it. When the man looked up his grey blue eyes met hers and for an instant it seemed they shown pure silver and his lips parted to take in a startled breath. It lasted only moments before an unnatural blankness surged forwards to claim his eyes and his facial expression. Onyx swallowed hard a lump rising in her throat as he approached and she caught a whiff of dark magic around him. The acrid scent could only mean one thing. This man before her was cursed and cursed by a very powerful witch if she could smell the magic on him. Dark magic was not to be used lightly. Witches who practiced it were some of the cruelest and most ruthless beings around. She briefly wondered what this man could have done to earn him a curse. But her heart leapt to the mans defense, somehow she couldn't imagine that he had done anything to earn whatever curse hung over him. In that moment looking into his eyes she vowed that she would figure out a way to break his curse and free the handsome stranger before her.