Nightmares Vs Magic

It was well past three in the afternoon when Dove awoke, or more, startled herself awake. Her reflexes caused her to almost launch herself off the couch, ready to stand up as soon as her brain registered the scene of waking up not in her room. 

Her stomach bumped hard against the tables, almost knocking over her mug and making the laptop bounce. A gentle hand eased her back down by the shoulder, and a comforting voice caught her attention. 

"Are you alright?" He asked. 

Dove turned to her left to see Laurence, sitting beside her, just as she remembered before falling asleep. 

He had woken up awhile ago, too much caffein in his system to let him rest any longer, but he did continue to stay in the room with her as his laptop was still there at the table. Still on, evidencing that he was in the middle of doing research for a new case before she woke up. It was probably the most peaceful hour or two of work he's had since this summer began.

Dove's heart, however, was beating stressfully inside her chest, taking in everything and beginning to remember the prior events, feeling her face and how dry her face felt. There was sweat on the back of her neck, but she didn't feel hot, she was sitting under the AC. Still, she had a decorative blanket wrapped around her, still on her shoulders even after she jerked herself awake.

"What time is it?" She asked in a hoarse voice as she put a hand up to touch her throat, patting it, then beginning to pat down her body, checking the seams of her clothes. 

"It's only half past three, well a little more, but there' still plenty of hours in the day." Laurence answered just as quickly as she asked and read her behavior as she began waking up fully.

The girl sighed after patting herself down. 

She took a look at the cup beside the laptop in front of her, picked up and looked inside, it was still full of now room-temperature chocolate milk. 

She finally brought her full attention the blanket wrapped over her shoulders like a shawl. It was a very comfortable blanket, with tassels on the edges, with both the smell and color of vanilla. 

"Are you alright?" Laurence asked again. 

She nodded, quickly brushing all the alarmed signs off her face. He didn't buy it, and she knew it. 

He gestured to her mug. 

"Want a new cup? You must be feeling parched. Not a nap-lover?"

She shook her head. 

"I never felt good after naps, so I rarely take them. Is there anything else in my cup?" She pointed to her mug as she began gingerly taking off the blanket. 

Laurence helped take the blanket from her, standing up to drape the vanilla scented fabric back over the edge of the sofa's back. 

"There is nothing in your mug aside from a bit of black coffee, now mixed with some chocolate milk, and possibly lint, seeing as it's been sitting for a couple hours." He answered directly.

"I can promise you, there is nothing else inside your mug, but, I will admit that I at one point also fell asleep while sitting beside you, for likely an hour. If you want to pour that old liquid down the drain, you can if you want you."

"No. I don't want to waste anything. I'll finish it and put the cup in the sink." 

She reached for the cup, but Laurence stopped her, gently, just a flat, open hand, moved in front of the mug to prevent her from picking it up immediately. Not touching her. 

"Don't worry about wasting anything if you don't feel right about it. Not saying there actually might be something in your drink, I promise, no one here will hurt you. I'm just saying that you don't have to make yourself do anything you don't like."

She had never heard those words before, at least not in that order, and not with the full intention, genuineness, and gentleness that Laurence's tone had. Suddenly quiet, she only nods, hand now stiff over her mug, not sure what to do. 

On one hand, it's chocolate milk and coffee, not too bad even when room-temperature, but on the other, he did tell her that while he watched her drink, he also drifted to sleep for an hour beside her. Many things can happen in an hour. 

Dove instead opted to observe Laurence's actions for a bit. She watched him pick up his laptop, and then his cup of coffee.

He took a sip of his without much of a glance, gave her another gentle smile that seemed to say "you're ok", before making his way out of the breakroom. 

"Bence put a sign on this room earlier to make sure no one caused any disturbance. Since we're both awake, there's no need for it now. But I'll leave you to take down the sign whenever you're ready. You can keep working in the breakroom." He told her before leaving. 

"Alright. Thank you." She replied as he left. 

She opened her laptop and turned it back on, then checked the work phone for any missed calls. There was still a stack of papers on her desk, she'll get to those last. She took another glance at her mug. 

She wafted the scent into her nose, sloshed it around to find anything, even blew on it for some reason. Nothing. Still, she didn't want to drink it, even though it did look good, and even though she trusted Laurence and most of her coworkers. But she knows too well how easily trust is broken. 

Nothing personal, she went and poured the mixture down the sink, washing the mug thoroughly, and placing it on the clean dish rack. She then reached up and grabbed a new mug to pour a new cup of coffee. 

Then there was a pause. She doesn't remember taking a sip of chocolate milk before going to sleep, can't remember the taste on her tongue, then she looked in the fridge. There was a gallon of chocolate milk inside, more than half. 

I, admittedly, have not had chocolate milk in a while. And, I checked the expiration date and noticed the gallon still had a lot. I know the gallon's been opened before, but I trusted my workplace. And I didn't want any good milk to go bad. One cup wouldn't hurt. 

I ended up drinking 3 cups.

It was indeed a slow day as Laurence had told her earlier. Not many cases, most likely because Dove was currently going through all their requests and doing online customer service. It seems that with school now starting, there haven't been many new instances with nightmares or the supernatural. 

She also answered some text messages spammed to her phone by Annabelle, who had made a group chat and up and added her. She told them she was now awake and working. 

A few minutes later, Annabelle burst into her work area, with Vernon in tow.

"Yay! She really is wide awake!" Annabelle happily announced. 

Dove only rubbed her eyes and stayed seated at her desk, seeing as she had just moved herself there from the breakroom and beginning to deal with the stack of papers. Annabelle trotted over with Vernon, the boy was holding something in his hands, but it was covered by a small, opaque bag. 

"Joon is apparently busy because he's not allowed to stray from the labs until he's finished all his notes, so we came here to bother you."

"I made something edible and tasty. I grew too much fruit in my garden." Vernon said plainly as he and Annabelle took two seats to sit at Dove's desk. 

"I'm surprised to see both of you here. I thought Ursa and Liora would've also ended up giving you guys a penalty or something, seeing as you helped give me and Joon directions to follow you last night." 

Dove intended to keep working, but she cleared some space so that Vernon could put his baked good down and so Annabelle could have room. Dove took a stress ball on her desk that Laurence had given her awhile back and gently tossed it to Annabelle. 

"I too thought that Ursa would come in today, but then Malicka told me that Ursa called in saying she was taking the day off. Something about her daughter missing her, so she's making up for the hours she was gone." 

Dove arched a brow in mild surprise. 

"She has a daughter? - No, scratch that- she has a kid?"

The smiling girl nodded. Vernon began unwrapping what he brought. 

"Ursa? The woman I first met in the restroom, and she gave me advice, that I just immediately started following it because she just exuded such confidence? And her kid is one who can say she missed her mom, and Ursa, just, instead of trying to give the child a lecture about learning to be independent when she's not around, she just, spends more time with her child to make up for her not coming home on time?" The silver-haired girl asks in genuine bewilderment. 

Annabelle replies with a lighthearted chuckle, as if Dove just asked for confirmation that the sky was blue. 

"That's what she does as a mother. Was yours different."

".... I thought Ursa reminded me of my mother, but now with this new information, not so much."

"Well of course! Your mother probably wasn't a psychopath as well, was she?"

"I'm sorry, please repeat tha-" 

She was cut off when Vernon leaned over her desk, slowly pushing a fork into her view. It had a piece of the baked good on it. She looked down, inside the plastic wrapping was a raspberry tart, and on the fork was a small piece of it, with bits of the crust and deep red jam. Dove froze at the red sheen and the color of the crust. 

"I made a raspberry tart!" Vernon gently cheered with that same calm, monotone speech of his that expressed emotions very gently. 

"It was my first time, but Leon taught me, so it turned out good! I wanted you to be the first to try it."

Dove was frozen, staring at the red and the crust, like she was holding her breath. She could only will herself to act like a puppet, mindlessly opening her mouth, taking the bite, and swallowing hard. It was a small bite, safe to swallow. 

Vernon asked how it was. Dove continued to sit frozen in her seat, and only nodded her head and hummed, mimicking that sound people make when something is tasty, followed by a small grin.

"You should go offer this to Green. They've had a rough time, this can help make them feel better if they still aren't."

Vernon lit up more and nodded, taking the tart gingerly with both hands and eagerly going to the elevator down to the apothecary floor. 

"Thanks Dove!" He waved as the doors closed. 

Annabelle stayed put, elbow on the desk as she rested her cheek in her hand, turning slowly to Dove, who could already tell how well the half-fae was reading her. 

The silver-haired girl continued doing paperwork, looking over written request forms. Annabelle watched the way Dove's chest rose and fell, then to her eyes that were slowly beginning to gloss, and then her breathing stuttered. 

"Are you allergic to raspberries?" She asked with a squint. "If so, you must've really cared about Vernon's feelings." 

"No." Dove said in a hushed, whispered tone before getting up, and powerwalking away to the restrooms. 

The smiling girl followed far behind her. 

Dove entered a random stall and locked the door behind her. 

Annabelle just entered the restroom when she soon heard the sounds of vomiting. It was brief. then coughs and heaving, and a regretful sigh.

She leaned against the wall by the sinks, listening to the toilet flush and seeing Dove come out. Dove wasn't surprised to see her and acted normal, rolling up her sleeves and washing her hands and mouth. 

"Was the tart bad?"

The girl shook her head.

Annabelle crossed her arms over her chest. 

"So, you just didn't like it?"

"I don't like raspberry stuff."

"Do you hate eating anything red?"

"It's only raspberries. You've seen me eat that red sauce at that food court we went to." Dove replied, her voice sounding a bit raspy. 

She cupped her hands to splash water on her face.

"Just making sure." Annabelle fired back quietly with a smile and squint. 

"If you don't like raspberries, why didn't you just say so? Then you wouldn't have to try it, no one will make you."

"You don't know that. I don't fully believe that. Anyone who knows I hate raspberries might try to use it against me often, in a passive way." 

Dove shook the droplets off her hands and reached for the paper towel dispenser. 

"It's always safe to assume at least one person will do exactly what makes you uncomfortable just because."

"Someone's on edge." 

Dove gave her a side-eye as she dried her hands. She stepped forward and went up close into Annabelle's space. 

"Well, not everyone has the strength to casually smash a ribcage and smile through everything." She tilted her head, mimicking Annabelle's teasing mannerisms. 

She pulled away and stepped back. 

"Anyway. I can't entertain you as much you now." She adjusted her sleeves, rolling and smoothing them back into place. An action almost mirroring that of Bence whenever she wants to put herself back into professional work mode. 

"I've got a week's worth of paperwork as punishment for driving to the camp last night without permission. Go find Joon, I'm sure he's dying of boredom, and you just might help him get out of it." She told her, smoothly making her way out of the bathroom.

Annabelle clicked her tongue and shook her head, eyes half-lidded in thought as she tapped a finger to her cheek, still grinning. 

Annabelle would soon leave the floor to go play with Joon, Dove continued working as normal. Laurence passed by and pointed to her cup just as she was focused on reading a new request form.

"Want a refill?" 

She shook her head. 

"No, but I have a question."

"What is it?" He placed his cup down over at his desk before going back to hers. 

She showed his several of the papers from the stack that she looked over, then clicked on her computer to show and highlight some emails.

"These are all from the same man, and they are all regarding a bunch of large houses, warehouses, and other abandoned buildings. I did some research, and each of those places from each form is a building that were recently taken down from the market." She handed him the papers. 

"Hah." He sighed with an exasperated smile. 

"Yeah, this guy is an investor, and one our -my- frequent clients. I specialize in architecture, so when I'm not drawing up maps of the city, I help this guy and other real estate agents with requests to inspect their properties. If I confirm that they aren't haunted, then the agent can successfully put them up for sale. If they are haunted, I have to find a field agent available to go and take care of it." 

He flipped through each paper.

"Mr. Deon is a frequent client that has a schtick for investing in so called haunted properties. Good for tourism and Airbnb I guess."

"So, if he purposefully goes for haunted houses. What does he need from Macabre house?"

Laurence shrugged. 

"Ways to avoid a lawsuit of course. He needs ghosts who will make the places creepy to spend nights at, not murder anyone. And that may also include demons. I already sent Bence to deal with a list of them, if you're wondering where Bence is right now."

Dove hummed as she skimmed through the highlighted emails. Then her eyes perked up with a frown, and she looked up at Laurence was leaning near her desk, now searching her stack of papers for any similar to the ones in his hand. 

"Bence is a necromancer, right?"

"And a mortician. We rarely get cases that involve having to research a corpse, but his knowledge comes in handy. Why?"

"I remember seeing him have Joon and I leave the area last night when he was helping the two kids. I didn't ask but I wonder why he did that? Does he honestly think Joon and would be surprised to see him talking to a demon?"

Laurence paused, and stepped away as he now hissed on thought, arms crossed with some papers still on his hands. Looks like he'd be taking those to deal with them early. 

"It's not that he thinks you two would've been surprised, there's just this thing about humans, haunted or not, and magically gifted or not, seeing a glimpse of a real demon."

Laurence stepped forward again and leaned down at eye level for Dove who was still sitting. He cupped a hand beside his mouth.

"Also, I'm sure you remembered the time he used holy water to fix the printer, right?"

She nodded, leaning in for more. 

"He told me he has other religious friends who can give him holy water."

"And he does, but what he doesn't want too many people, or certain interns to know is that he too can cast blessings, make holy water, and make seals of protection."

"But he works with the dead often." She whispered back with surprise. 

"Hey, a lot of dead people can't pass on until their deaths are acknowledged religiously, or if they have unfinished business that involves needing a priest, like to bless a baby or something. Bence isn't a priest, but you won't believe the stories he has that eventually led him to get some priest training." He said with a laugh, but it felt forced, since his smile looked sad. 

"Do you know about mylings?"

"No?"

"Let's hope you never have to meet them then. Search them up if you want. I've met plenty and it is not a good memory. Anyway!" He whispered and then suddenly spoke in a normal volume, waving the papers in his hand.

"Since I'm familiar with the client who submitted these forms, there's no need for you to look them over. I was gonna end up with them anyway. I hope you're ready to keep doing this for a week." 

"This is nothing. It's actually pretty peaceful."

"Don't let Bence know about that."

Dove's let out a small laugh as Laurence went to the conference room, which should really just be renamed to his thinking room. He took the papers, pulled over the newly cleaned whiteboard, and began with the first house from one of the papers. Dove could see him through the window pulling out his laptop, searching up something, and beginning to use whatever he found to draw out the first floorplan. 

After a couple hours, she decided to sit up and stretch. Somewhere around five pm it was, so she went to take a walk, and go visit her other coworkers for a change. She first went to the alchemy labs to see Joon. 

It was almost a bizarre sight, seeing him in a lab coat, safety goggles, and gloves, a clipboard with a thick notebook pinned to it, a pen in his hand and some whiteout in his pocket. He was silent and writing down the results of an experiment he was in the room observing. Adan was the one testing the experiment, but it wasn't even an explosive creation. 

Adan was testing out what appeared to be a compass, except instead of letters or an arrow permanently pointing North, there were hazard symbols, similar to those you find on warning signs during chemistry safety briefings or on road signs warning of danger. 

The man would gently pat and hold up Joon's head each time the boy was closing his eyes, and his head was lolling to the side. Enzo was passing by as Dove saw this, and he expressed to her how peaceful it was for him ever since Joon was banned from doing anything but taking notes and writing. He had a very gleeful smile and was even humming to himself as he left, which also looked bizarre as he was carrying a box with many long blades, no handles.

"How many times have you been faking going to sleep?" Dove said as she finally let them know of her presence. 

Adan chuckled as he continued looking through his magnifying glass where the compass was being worked under. He was working at a wide table, where there were certain elements surrounding nearly all sides of the compass except the one Adan was sitting at. He had some tweezers as he worked on the finer details.

"Ever since he had forgotten that I gave him a cup of cappuccino when he came in for work today."

Joon quickly snapped out of his act and pouted, gripping his clipboard, then turned to Dove, grabbed the pages he had filled with notes, and began flipping the pages to show her. 

"I clocked in at like one pm, One! They made me write, endlessly! This is twenty pages already!"

Dove looked up and did the math in her head.

"So... you wrote twenty pages within four hours? That is, honestly impressive."

"Because he's writing in like, fifteen-point Roman font." Another worker who was listening and passing by chuckled. 

She was the rainbow-haired scientist that Dove remembered seeing during her early days at this agency, speaking with Bence. The same slanted bangs and illuminating hair that leaned more towards bright hair that could basically reflect and separate the colors of light through her hair.

"His notes are written big, which is fine, helps to read without squinting, but it does take up more pages! Enzo only gave him a thick notebook to tease him, but he's really making use of those pages." She said as she looked over the boy's shoulder at his notes, pulling down her glasses to read them, and she didn't have to squint, emphasizing how easily she can read them due to the font size. 

"Please do not bring up Enzo around him, Ingrid. Joon is still upset with him, as you know." Adan said over his shoulder with a chuckle without taking his eyes off the strange compass. 

He noticed the arrow wasn't reacting when he pulled a certain beaker holding mystery liquid closer and opened it up again to tweak. 

The woman, Ingrid, chuckled and patted Joon's shoulder before walking away. 

"Yes. My apologies, but you did take his alchemy book without permission, and you could've gotten into deep trouble if you used any dangerous sigil combinations. This work isn't even equivalent to assignments that STEM majors have to do within a week." She replied with a smile.

Joon only groaned, knocking his face with the notebook. 

Dove hummed and grinned.

"You seem busy, I'll come back to bother you another time I suppose?"

"Don't." The boy replied, his voice muffled as he kept his face smooshed onto the notebook page. 

"I'll go bother you." 

She nodded and began making her way to the elevator. She could hear Adan telling Joon to get his face out of the paper and get to writing. The boy let out an audible groan. 

She was considering which button to press, thinking she should go and see Green, until Vernon sent her a text in private messages, asking her to come to the rooftop garden. 

The rooftop still looked as though the forest from Alice in Wonderland and little red riding hood merged into reality together. 

Vernon was waiting for her by the door this time. He said a quiet hello and grabbed a pinch of her sleeve to guide her to a place in the forest. He also informed her that Green was also at the garden, because Leon wanted him to give the newbie a tour of the place after they woke up. It's been a couple hours, and Green is still only familiar with the garden. They have no complaints, their training with Bence starts tomorrow anyway. 

She waved to Green when she saw them sketching Vernon's flowers at the edge of their notebook. Green waved back and went back to drawing. Let them be at peace for today.

Dove wonder where Vernon was taking her, until they came upon the section of the garden where he grew the raspberries he made, right next to a small rose bush.

"I don't really know why I grew them, I guess it's because raspberries are from the rose family of the edible plant world. I don't really like roses though, I just felt like they went with the raspberries."

Dove looked at the pink and purple-ness of the roses, not as red as she expected, especially considering how red the raspberries are.

"I can kinda tell. You usually go into more detail about these things. But, if it makes you feel any better, I'm not a big fan of roses either."

I hate roses. I hate raspberries, and strawberries, and beets.

Vernon squinted at his little rose bush. It still grew lots of very big and bright, pink roses, so big that they could be used as pom-poms. Take a closer look however, and you'll notice that many thorns have been meticulously snipped off. As many as he could find, but he could not get all of them.

Dove looked at the handle of his clippers sticking out from a leg pocket of his gardening pants. 

"Roses are used to represent love and romance, but I could never understand why until my mom explained their history to me. Still, even after that, I don't think they should be used to represent romance, especially not love."

"Why not?"

"Because roses hurt. They don't do it on purpose I know, they don't have prickles to hurt people, it's a defense mechanism from predators and support to occasionally act like hooks for clinging to things when they grow, because the stems are weak. I should still treat them respectfully as I do any other flower that I prefer more, because the roses didn't choose to make me dislike them." He spoke. Dove nodded, listening. Humming as a response.

"But you can't hold them without getting pricked. You can't casually give them to your loved ones without worrying about hurting them or embrace them like other flowers. They are not meant to be held or picked up or embraced. They can only look pretty and show the PH of the soil. Unless what my mom told me was incorrect, love isn't supposed to hurt you or worry you." 

"Oh, I never thought about it that way." 

Vernon nodded. Still, despite his dislike for them, he crouched down and gently tilts up a rose bud that was pointing towards the floor. 

"I'm glad that we both don't like roses. I mostly grow these so that Liora and Lucia can use the red petals to make lipstick or blush powder, but that's the only reason. It's why this bush is the only rose bush here now that I think about it.

Raspberries are the only good things I can think of when it comes to them, but,," He paused and turned to look up at her. 

She was caught off guard and decided to crouch down closer to the rose bush with him. 

I felt like a kid for the first time in a while. In a good way. Looking at flowers up close next to someone the same age as me. Technically. I later learned after sifting through some documents through pure boredom that he was born during the spring equinox, and I was born during the winter solstice, so, not exactly the same age.

"You don't like raspberries." He said blankly, catching her more off guard.

She had no words, stuttering mentally as she knew he was going to bring up the tart. 

"I don't really have any reasons to grow raspberries really, other than they are the only good things I can think of about roses. I'm not going to ask why you don't like raspberries since you didn't ask me why I dislike roses. But since I told you why anyway, I'd like to ask why you didn't give me a clear and honest answer about the raspberry tart I had you try, and I'd like an open and honest answer."

Dove turned away, staring at the pink roses, gently touching the petals, cupping one like a bird gently resting in her palm. The weight of the large bud and petals must be heavy if the stem is weak. 

"I don't have a good history with raspberries. I don't have good memories attached to them, especially when it's a baked good that is comprised of them. They taste good, I've never tasted a bad one, but each time I used to eat one, it was during a bad moment." 

Vernon hummed back at her. His hand hovered over some of the rose buds that were still closed. They bloomed open very slowly. 

"How did you find out that I didn't like the tart?"

"Annabelle told me soon after seeing you, and I when I told her that I should've heard it from you instead of her, she shook her head and said that you never told her she wasn't allowed to tell me." 

Dove cursed under her breath. 

"Should've expected that." 

They stood back up because Vernon then signaled that he wanted to show her something else, and they had Green come with them. 

There was a little beehive box, he kept it in the area she recognized where there were all sorts of flowers. It was only a single box with multiple honeycomb trays inside; the box looked more like a crate. 

Both Green and Dove stayed a good feet away, being wary of the bees. Vernon walked closer to the crate, waved a hand as if to greet them, and picked up the crate by its handles with no issue. The bees, all of a sudden, stopped flying around and just, followed him. Some even perched on his shoulder or in the curls of his hair. 

He showed the crate to Dove and Green, the two looked at him as if he had tamed a wildcat, all while looking like sunflower now with all the bees around him. 

"I got some new bees to take care of when I came back to work, but I had an issue on where specifically I should place them. Since I don't have much need for the raspberries, I'll place the bees by the roses."

Dove nodded mindlessly. Of course, she would help but she kept worrying she would upset the bees simply by existing somehow. Green was, hiding behind her but didn't look as worried. More like curious but unsure if they're allowed to touch. 

It was also later revealed that Annabelle also had a new responsibility, an HR job similar to Dove's, except Annabelle found it torturous. She looked like a depleted corporate slave at her desk. It didn't help that Jalal and Malicka continued to tease her by placing random sticky notes on the side of the desktop computer with random numbers and office jargon. 

It was a peaceful week for the senior workers.

...

That peaceful week would soon be missed when all four interns were completely free again, and the punishment week for Joon and Dove had passed. They received a case that was a little out of their level. 

A large box was delivered to the detective's floor. Inside was a laptop, a wireless mouse and receiver, and a mousepad, all carefully wrapped in bubble wrap. 

When opening the laptop, there wasn't even a password needed. 

There was a blank screen, no internet tab currently open. Just a little note when opening the little notepad icon, filled with short instructions.