Work Text:
Seoho winces as he stares at the black smoke coming out of the unattended pot he'd left on the little stove in the back of the shop. This is going to be an absolute horror to clean. Immediately running to go open the windows in the back to let out the acrid smell of burnt oranges and herbs. His little experiment ruined what with him having to go help out a customer who had unexpectedly taken longer with describing her problem to be remedied. She had been a college student having trouble focusing but particularly when night time came which made it difficult to do work. Seoho had prescribed a charmed amulet, stored in a lavender silk pouch with lavender and orange peels, but induced with the power of the moon. Dongju's amulets as a moon witch, were often perfect for those with problems during the night and only required Seoho to weave a little of his own magic to activate it particularly with intentions related to whatever his customers needed.
Reminding himself he needed to ask Dongju and Dongmyeong for more of their amulets since he was running low and they were popular items for both young and old patrons that came in. Maybe he'd make a trip of it since it'd been a few weeks since he'd seen the twins. Not since he had made Hwanwoong test his new potion. An experiment which had left the poor tiger a sickly swamp green and hadn't gone over well with Dongmyeong who after laughing brightly realized his familiar wasn't changing back anytime soon. Dongju had only laughed harder over his twin's misery at having to make house calls for two weeks with a vomit green tiger. The sun witch didn't even have the luxury of having Hwanwoong in his human forms for those visits since the familiar's powers were often stronger in his animal form.
Seoho looks back to the blackened pot and sighs as he goes to toss it out. He might as well go shop for a new pot now rather than attempt to get it clean enough that it wouldn't contaminate any future potions. Dumping the pot in the bin, he senses the aura before hearing the soft sounds of paws hitting the window sill. The witch turns to look already knowing exactly what image he'd see. Sure enough perched gracefully on the light blue fixture was his beautiful familiar. The black cat looked at him with a face that could only be described as a smirk.
"Oh laugh it up, Youngjo. Why weren't you checking up on my potion? If you aren't gonna do your duty of manning the front for me at least don't let me accidentally burn down our livelihood and home."
The cat arched one of his eyebrows. Hopping from the open window onto the counter, he trots over to where he can peer into their trash bin and survey the damage for himself. Youngjo sits back on his haunches and looks up at his witch with a gaze that can only be read as 'the only reason it didn't catch on fire is because of me, dumbass'. Only then Seoho remembered that it had been Youngjo who had set up charms so that nothing in the kitchen could set on fire other than the burners.
"Ok, fine. Not quite your fault. But why weren't you in front like usual?"
Youngjo yawns as he settles in further to a comfortable position on the counter, already looking bored with the conversation. And if Seoho hadn't spent over 5 centuries with his familiar, he'd actually be offended. But knowing the cat, he was less bored and just in a neutral state of mind. As Seoho reached out to get a feel through their bond, he felt only a sense of fondness and warmth.
"Change, will you? Or I'll use my plant mister to annoy you til you do."
The feline sighs, leaping off to the clean and worn wooden floors. As his form arches, the air around him starts to ripples like the heat above the ground on a hot summer's day. In seconds, the lithe black body is replaced with the tall and lean form of a man dressed casually in simple blue jeans and a short-sleeve yellow button up. Youngjo ruffles his fluffed midnight hair from where he's leaned up against the countertop. The corner of his lip quirks up seeing the huffy face of his witch.
"I was busy Seoho-ya. I needed to go check on the wards you put on the garden."
The green witch snorts, "You're suddenly so responsible. More like you were taking a cat nap in the flower beds again, you lazy ass." Seeing the taller lightly shrug at getting caught, he sighs again while glancing at the trash bin once more. Pout once again appearing on his lip, "We're gonna need to go stop by that shop in the town center to get more since the old one is beyond saving now. Come with me since you always get us a good deal at the store since the owner has her eyes set on matchmaking you with her daughter. I remembering hearing her thoughts about it when we bought this pot two weeks ago."
The green witch turns towards the door, not even waiting to hear if his familiar will agree to joining. After the centuries, despite being unable to read his own familiar's mind, he's come to be more than aware that Youngjo rarely refuses when it comes to joining him on any kind of errands in town. Even if it meant having to deal with the stares and whispers from out-of-towners, and the flirting from the local girls. Not that the feline ever even remotely indulged their advances beyond a kind smile.
Youngjo rolls his eyes already seeing the witch flipping the sign on the door to signal them being closed while they were out. Standing up straight, he follows Seoho out the door and into town. The walk isn't much longer than 10 minutes to the center of town. Though their plan was only to pick up a new pot, as per usual once Seoho came across the open marketplace he was quickly drawn into looking for more ingredients to experiment with. Youngjo silently trails behind, knowing he need not interfere or interject unless someone does something to trigger his protective senses.
It had only happened once or twice where Seoho had haggled too much to an already tense stall owner or clumsily tripped in his excitement and bumped into someone. Once it had been a man already deep into a bottle of booze despite it barely having reached noon, and Youngjo had to quickly interfere to protect his little witch. He knew Seoho disliked it when he did so, always proclaiming that he could defend himself just fine. And while Youngjo knew the other had plenty of muscle and strength hidden behind his more gentle outward appearance, he couldn't very well explain to the other without accidentally spilling his own secrets.
After watching the brunette haggle for new flowers, herbs and seeds, Youngjo turns into one of the shops to quickly pick out a new pot and thankfully the owner wasn't manning the front today but one of her workers. Exchanging small talk as he pays, Youngjo finishes up and heads back outside to relocate his witch. Knowing the other, he's likely already wandered off following his curiosity.
The advantages of his height in his human form helped him see that his witch had managed to come across an artisan stand selling trinkets and accessories and was currently deep in thought staring at the wares. The familiar slinks over silently hoping to get the jump on his witch and just as he gets within arms reach of Seoho, he speaks up,
“Just because I can’t read your mind doesn’t mean I’m not able to know when you’re trying to scare me.”
Youngjo sighs. It was worth a shot and he merely shrugs when Seoho turns around to look him in the eye before they both turn back to the table. The witch continues to look around at the various crystals as if his familiar wasn’t even there, his curiosity at potential new magic or new ideas to inspire his own spells and shop. Youngjo sees the way the younger’s hand lingers for a moment on a delicate earring made of a shimmering metal weaved and twisted to look like a branch of silvery white plum blossoms laden with blooms with a slightly larger blossom carved from a single piece of rosy quartz into the delicate shape of the flower, dangling from the bottom as if the flower was blown off in the breeze.
At that moment the cheery elderly vendor pipes in, having also picked up on the witch’s interest in her wares,
“Looking for love, young man, or even a gift? That one is blessed with a hybrid locator and divination spell to compliment the natural crystal’s intentions of love that makes it glow and resonate as it guides you towards a love destined by the universe. My amazing wife’s spellwork combined with my metalworking design.”
Seoho smiles but Youngjo notices that it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. If the cat had to guess, he thought he saw something like pain in the other’s eyes for just a moment before they settled back on a neutral look.
“I’m not all that interested in looking for love but I’d love to hear about that spell work. It sounds quite intricate for something so small,” the inquisitive nature of the witch rears its head once more and Youngjo tunes out the almost mathematical discussion the two start up regarding the magic in the earring.
He reaches out to run a slender finger over the petals of the crystal flower, the quartz so lightly tinted pink it almost looked white at first glance. A ‘love destined by the universe’, Youngjo thinks about what that would look like for his witch. It would probably be someone who was logical and curious, maybe even introverted like the younger. Someone that Seoho could have long theoretical talks about everything from magic to philosophy to cooking. The familiar can’t help but squash down the voice inside his heart that squeaks out how Seoho enjoyed talks like that with him. After centuries together, he knows that while his witch enjoyed those talks, that it wasn’t the same as Youngjo enjoyed listening more than participating. Best not to hope for something he knows will never be.
“..jo. Youngjo. YOUNGJO!”
Youngjo startles from his thoughts and looks up to see Seoho standing inches away from his face waving a hand in front of him.
“Finally with us? I still need to head to see the devil twins today. You coming with?”
The familiar shakes his head to clear his mind. He’s been good for the last few centuries, no need to start up unnecessary heartbreak now when nothing has ever changed.
“I’m gonna head over there now. You finish up with the groceries and supplies and I’ll meet you back at home later, ok?”, his witch states before turning and making his way back down the street to head to the other side of town, not even waiting to see if his familiar heard or planned on following. Their many years together now means his independent witch no longer expects him to follow in his shadows everywhere they go.
Youngjo watches the younger man turn a corner, disappearing from view. He turns back to look at the earring.
“I’ll take this one, please.”