This one was interesting! The prompt I went with was “Write a story about a character in one of your WIPs (work in progress) and I choose to write a bit about Mauve.
My initial plan had been to write about Mauve’s backstory by taking a scene that is left out of my WIP where she is the teacher/sage for the protag and is dealing with the consequences of a magical attack that was the inciting incident within the WIPs context.
However, as I started writing, Mauve was no longer the coven elder and Callie’s mentor, but a younger woman dealing with the fall out of a similar incident that happened over 20 years before my current WIP! I definitely did not see that coming.
So I left the story flow over the last two days and honestly, I will probably continue working on this storyline. It may end up as like a prequel or even just a reader give away in the future. I don’t really know! But I am really pumped to see this background aspect to my WIP and how that plays into the reactions of the characters during this rather disturbing incident.
So without further ado: my day 3 and 4 story!
Hospitals always put Mauve on edge. Overhead, florescent lights thrummed, casting everything into a harsh white light. No matter how she adjusted. the hard plastic chair was unforgiving to Mauve’s arthritic joints. The coffee was tepid, the company abysmal. and the smell! How anyone could think straight through the antiseptic astringent smell was anyone’s guess.
Rapid footfalls approached, causing Mauve to look up from her knitting. Bustling towards her in a stream of efficient situational control, a diminutive woman with chin-length walnut hair and an air of authority caught her eye.
“Ah Millie!” relief washed over Mauve’s countenance. “how is he? The doctors won’t tell me a thing. And you know how I cant stand being in a place like this. We just didn’t see any other choice. Magical coma, would you believe?! This whole situation is so far outside of what our coven felt equipt to handle”
Amelia Van Woodsen smiled at her old friend and sat primly on the chair next to her.
Patting Mauve’s hand reassuringly, she leaned in conspiratorially. “really dear, you made the best choice possible. Bringing him here, it’s the third magical incident this week. Dr Bishop and Dr. Miller are about beside themselves. Thankfully they do know about these things up here, could you imagine the trouble we would have had explaining this situation to a hospital in New York City? It would be such a breach of protocol. Havening laws would be broken, not to mention that those big city doctors likely have never fathomed the kind of magical malady or injury that we get here. Do you have any idea what is causing these attacks? Are we the only Haven that has been impacted? What other covens have been placed on alert?”
Millie noticed the dazed look in Mauve’s eyes and ceased her rapid fire questions. Standing slowly, she tugged Mauve to her feet and guided her gently out a side door.
“Come on dear. Lets get you out under the moonlight, in the fresh breeze. There there”
Millie patted her friend’s back and dutifully steered her to an ancient looking hickory tree.
Mauve leaned against the old tree and allowed it to lend her strength. Closing her eyes, she took long, slow, deep breaths. The tree and the moonlit sky helping her ground herself and refind her footing. Connecting with the moon and the hickory allowed Mauve’s heart rate to slow, her breath became more steady and the tremble left her hands. The warm breeze washed away the smell of industrial cleaner and sterile equipment. Shaking her head as though to clear it, Mauve open her eyes and addressed her friend.
“Im sorry. I know that hospitals have their place in the world, but to me they feel so devoid of healing. They are a place to stabilize the truly bad off. I know that. Logically, I know that. Yet it feels so foreign and clinical.
As for your other questions, I simply do not know the answer to most of them. The last I heard the council of elders was meeting and old Rebecca Osborne was going to be the one to reach out through the emergency phone tree. I am grateful to not yet hold a position of elder within the council. This is a situation Haven’s have not seen in many decades and I hope that once we are past it, we shall not see it again. I fear though, that this is just the beginning.”
Meeting Millie’s eyes, Mauve could feel the weight of the situation settle around them both.
All Jazd Up 