Rules:

She flew through a thunderstorm to arrive with her sister at the airport. The aunts greeted them with pockets full of sweets. With the passing of her father and her mother from a broken heart not too long after, she was an orphan. Sally walked hand in hand to the front steps of the large Victorian house her aunts lived in. It was a house that neighbours convinced themselves wasn't safe to walk past after dark, and only the most foolish would dare to peek over the spiked, black iron fence that surrounded the property.

Sally and Gillian shared the attic. The aunts didn't believe in the monotony of rules or preparing wholesome meals. Before Sally and Gilly arrived, they didn't even want children. You could eat Milky Ways and Snickers until your stomach was bubbling and sick. You could drink cold chocolate Yoohoos and Dr. Peppers for breakfast, if that was what your sweet tooth desired. They were never told to go to bed before midnight or comb their hair and brush their teeth. Sally, always having been responsible for her age, began to assume even more responsbilities. She took to dusting the shelves, ironing dresses, and taking care of the cats --- Cardinal, Crow, Raven, Goose, Magpie, and Dove. She cooked healthy foods from the time she was in third grade, taking recipes from out of a cook book called The Joys of Cooking. She became like a mother, despite only being thirteen months older than her sister, who was also her best and only friend.

While Sally demonstrated a take charge attitude at home, the same couldn't be said for outside of the house. Sally wore dark clothes and tried not to be noticed. She was bright, but she would sit in class as quiet as a mouse. She hid in plain sight as best as she was able. She found an open ant farm in her locker in the fourth grade; in the fifth grade she found a dead mouse in her desk, with her name glued on its back on a tag. Sally was a tender spirit with a great love for animals. She cried over a mouse's small, curled little body with its tiny paws and whiskers. Yet when asked by her teacher why she was crying, she shrugged like the power of speech was gone from her.

The Owens were ostracized, Gillian and Sally not excluded. No children would play with them, so they only had each other. And the aunts were never invited to potlock suppers or library fundraisers; but that didn't mean they didn't do business with the women in town. They would show up on their doorstep looking for special teas and herbs. Most of all, after twilight, they would be sought for their love spells. Sally and Gillian would sit on the staircase and watch from afar as these grown women from all different walks of life were reduced to simpering, begging for the love of a man, crying like babies and clenching their fists until fingernails broke skin in crescents. Sally swore she would never be like one of these women, blinded selfish by their passions. She would never be like her mother either, who died from a broken heart.

There was one incident that completely changed everything. A woman who worked at the drug store came in, wanting the love of a married man. She ended up stabbing a dove in the heart with a silver needle. This poor dove's cries haunted Sally, and she became a vegetarian. She stopped cooking and eating meat altogether. Then she summoned up a true love spell intended as an anti love spell known as Amas Veritas. After casting the petals, she watched as they were carried on the wind and away into the dark, midnight sky.

Years passed, both Gillian and Sally grew up to be beautiful young women who appeared and differed in demeanor as night and day. Sally never went on more than one date with the same person while her sister dated half the town. Gilly struck out on her own, preferring the dry heat of the Midwest compared to their house, the small town they grew up in. Not before she promised it would always be her and Sally and they would grow old together. Sally missed Gillian when she was gone. She loved and missed her so much.

One day while on a walk with the aunts down the street, she held gazes and smiled at a handsome, kind man named Michael. Jet and Francis noticed their attraction and cast a spell so Sally would go to him, and it worked. The pair married and shared years of marital bliss with two, beautiful girls to share their happiness and love with. He was so thoughtful and good natured he kissed the aunts the first time he met them and immediately asked them if they needed their trash to be taken out to the curb. Sally imagined it impossible to not be in love with Michael and exist in the same world he did. Even the aunts loved him. Sadly, Sally heard the eerie, omnious ticking of the death beetle spelling out doom for her husband...and he succumbed to the curse same as every other man who dared to love an Owens woman.

Sally left the home she built with her husband and took her daughters back with her to stay with the aunts in her childhood home. Depressed and grieving, she spent many, many days unable to get out of bed. All the color from the world had been taken with Michael. It wasn't until Gilly came back to encourage her and spend a night with Sally that she was able to start functioning again.

She gets to work setting up shop. Michael and her had planned to open up a botanical one together. She names it Verbena, where she hires two women as clerks. She acts as the manager: controlling the money, completing the paperwork for bills, putting in orders for supplies, along with bringing in her own organic and specially made products.

B A S I C S .

Name: sally irene owens

Name Meaning: princess; well born

Aliases: sal, mouse (by her bullies growing up), night (by her aunts)

Date of Birth: october 31st

Place of Birth: forrestville, california

Astrological Sign: scorpio

Age: early 30s

Species: a half human and bloodline witch

Sexuality: closeted bisexual stuck in the broom closet (verse dependent)

Relationship Status: a widow

Occupation: full time single mother and owner of a botanical shop called Verbena

Hometown: maria's island, named after her ancester and an island of massachusetts

Astrological Sign: scorpio

P H Y S I C A L .

Hair: black

Eyes: dark brown

Height: 5'7"

Noticeable Traits: her smile, unfettered laugh, the sweetness of her accented New England voice, her hair which is described to be as dark as the black cats that live in the house

Build: slender, healthy, with a modest sized chest

Fashion: sweet, simple, too normal for the taste of her aunts(or so she believes); her every day and work wear is comprised of modest and feminine articles of clothing like patterned sweaters, flowery dresses, long, swishy skirts, and soft cardigans

L I F E S T Y L E .

Family: jack (father), regina (mother), michael bailey (deceased husband), antonia (oldest daughter), kylie (youngest daughter), gillian (younger sister), jet (aunt), francis (aunt)

P E R S O N A L .

Phobias: thunderstorms (as a child), being alone, never having a second chance at love

Likes: getting an early morning start and relaxing in the evenings, drinking black coffee and herbal tea, working in the garden, emily dickinson, william butler yeats, reading books and poetry, kindness, the smell of the breeze from the ocean and creamy french vanilla, mint flavoring, eating strawberries and blackberries, listening to joni mitchell and fleetwood mac, sailing, going on long walks through nature, sangria and midnight margaritas, the ocean, cooking vegetarian dishes, macaroons, sea salt caramel gelato, writing old fashioned letters sealed with enchanted wax seals, taking care of her friends and loved ones

Dislikes: reckless uses of magic, irresponsibility, chaos, selfishness

Positive Traits: charistmatic, motherly, passionate, patient, tolerant, good at keeping secrets

Negative Traits: secretive, resentful, anxious, envious, hesitant (when it comes to romantic love)

Supernatural Powers: spell casting, telekinesis, avian calling, sensorial link, aerokinesis, levitation, technically resurrection

H E R S H O P .

Name: verbena

Its appearance: rows of white shelves and cabinets, natural sunlight flowing in from the glass of the windows, a fresh pick of flowers set in crystal vases on the counter every week, a cozy and modest sized shop filled with the bouquet of earthy herbs met by natural scents and blossoms

What it sells: some products are brought to her by suppliers, others made by herself in the comfort of the conservatory after being picked from the garden; shampoos, baths and washes, soaps and mud bars, shaving creams, floral roll on perfume oils, herbal infused oils, organic herbs and roots, creams for various purposes like rashes and for promoting hair growth, herbal capsules, body care blends

Most popular products: their line of milk and lavender lotions and bath set, mint oatmeal shaving cream, peppermint oil, avocado and horsetail hair growth serum, calendula salve, lemon balm, vanilla cardamon essential oils roll on perfume, chamamole and lemon verbena shampoo and conditioner

Verses

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