Nightmares Vs Magic

Since it was still morning hours, they were given more thorough instructions before the field agents for the case would arrive.

"Laurence technically isn't allowed on field missions?" Joon flat out asked, as they stood next to each other whilst he watched the alchemist, that he was shadowing, study the mobility of the mannequins taken from the doll house, as they decided to refer to it for simplicity's sake.

"Well, yeah. I guess the only reason he went on the field case of the doll house, was to show us the ropes since no one else was available."

Joon simply shrugged as most of his attention was pulled away when the alchemist began taking apart the third mannequin they were studying, seeing the elastic string as it was attached to this eye of a hook screwed into the inner part of the joint.

"Welp, I'm sure you can ask him about it later. I'm just glad that we get to go on another field case so soon. Usually, interns have to wait forever!"

Dove nodded to this, not knowing what else to respond with.

He was excited, who was I to be rude and be nervous and doubtful, killing his mood?

They were asked to go to the apothecary floor after one of the alchemists, a sincere looking man with this reddish hair, gave them these items called supporters. Had them both wear the supporters on their knees and elbows, oddly enough have more protection on the back of the knees, there were even some thicker ones for their ankles, before he finally gave them some gloves.

"I don't care if neither of you are going to have any chances of coming in contact with it, I don't care if the Sennentuntschi is revealed to be friendly or harmless. This is a physical entity, and one we can't predict. The second something happens that the backs of your knees or ankles are slit, you won't be able to walk, so be careful and just, observe." He strictly told them.

"Yeah, yeah trust me I know how to be careful; I had an incident of my own once." Joon nearly rolled his eyes as he pointed down to his fake leg, the only thing that didn't need any of the knee or ankle protection. 

It even had his name branded onto it, like he was prepared for it to one day be lost, or someone trying to steal it, which would not be surprising at all.

Dove watched them interact, while also looking the alchemist up and down, since Laurence had given her another task while shadowing the case.

"Think of this as a little game." She remembered him saying when they were at his desk.

He was printing out copies of the case file to give to her to study.

"I know you currently doubt yourself, so how about some practice. Try reading the people around you. It's a good start, and reading people will be a very important skill for detectives."

He printed the papers out and handed them to Dove, kept together with a paper clip.

"Try to read as much people as you can, tell me what you think their real identities are like. Think of it like a test for your doubt, or homework, since after the field case, you just have to write a report telling your perspective of the whole event and what happened, since Sienna and one other of her mates can't stand to sit still and write one damn report."

He grumbled on the last bit and almost ranted when thinking about the trio, but then cleared his throat and turned his attention back to the young woman.

"Does that sound alright with you?"

Dove nodded, fiddling with the cuffs of her sleeves. She didn't eagerly say yes for the fear of failure, but she also didn't say no, because she did want to try.

There was a time where I would've volunteered and brought the idea of that test up myself, but I know better now than to let my ego get to me.

Back to where they were now, Dove was currently making a mental note of the first new coworker she had just met. 

He didn't wear the traditional lab coat like I expected scientists would, nor did he wear anything similar to what engineers or technicians would wear, then again, they don't work on heavy machinery stuff her, just, magic? Stuff? He did however have glasses, and this red hair combed over. A kind of red salmon color. Black sleek pants that were wide around the ankles, and even going slightly past those, made me wonder whether the shoes he was wearing had some slight heel height to them. He didn't wear a button-up or polo shirt like the others, just this black, thin-looking, long-sleeve spandex of fabric for a top. I guess it was more appropriate for the summer than all the suits that me and some others would wear, his outfit looked more fitting for athletic purposes.

"Now, this will be your first time meeting Sienna and her friends, don't ask if she has any association with me, ok? I'm serious, I need you to promise me this." He asked them. 

He had these sad eyes when he said it. I nodded of course, and Joon did too. I noticed that while he can tend to be pretty sassy, but he's socially smart. He's mean and not afraid to speak his mind, not rude.

"Could we at least ask why? Do you and Sienna have beef or something?" Joon asked as he helped Dove adjust one of the supporter sleeves one her left arm before pulling her rolled up sleeve down. 

The red-haired alchemist only turned away, going to one of the worktables that were far different from the desks on the detective's office. Where those desks were clean and organized, kept tidy, presentable, and professional, these were messy, covered in sprawled blueprints, pencils and rulers, papers covered in mathematical and chemical equations scribbled on them. 

He went to the table where the other alchemist, the very handsome that Dove had met the other day and helped him prop the doll onto the table. 

"Sienna is a free spirit, as she deserves to be, I just don't want to hold her back is all."

Dove's eyes lit up as she looked up at the man. 

"She hates you, doesn't she?" She said before slapping a hand over her mouth again. 

You know, the 'tell no lies' Spell on this place is a real inconvenience to people like me who tend to say insensitive things.

The red-haired man turned around to them, looking at Dove, giving a sad grin paired with his eyes, before going back to them, handing them these baton-looking items, and showing their functions. 

It looked similar to the one he had strapped to his thigh, except his looked more dangerous and heavier somehow.

"I-I'm so sorry, I should talk less-"

"It's ok, I just have more difficulty hiding it these days." He said quietly.

The one he handed to Dove, he showed it could be shortened so that she can hide it up her sleeve, and the one for Joon, he gave him some leg straps, also shortening it so that Joon can strap it to his leg. The alchemist knelt down to assist and advised for him to strap it to his thigh for easy reach, but Joon strapped it to his prosthetic leg.

"Listen, I get distracted easily, you ask me to attach a distractable thing to myself, I'm placing it on the part where I won't feel it, aight?" He said with a cheeky thumbs up as the red-haired alchemist pursed his lips and gave the boy a blank stare from behind his glasses. 

"Adan, where is the supplies book? we need to prepare to make more of these." He told the busy alchemist behind him with a tired voice. 

"Dammit." Adan, the alchemist working on the doll, whispered quietly with a sigh.

"Thank you for this by the way, um.." Dove awkwardly fidgeted, but thankfully he understood.

"Enzo." He told her with a nod. 

"Thank you, Enzo. We will keep our promise."

He simply gave her a sad smile, like he was mourning someone, before he told them to go to one more floor before they would go meet the field agents, since it was on their way down anyway.

Apparently, they were also working on another type of item specifically designed for these cases where there are roaming entities that the Normals should not see, and had it sent down before being told of the two interns being assigned to the case as shadowers.

The magic store, where Dove was immediately met by the mysterious Lucia once more, when they had expected Liora. 

"Stalking a Sennentuntschi?" she asked rhetorically with a tease in her tone, staring them both down like the inexperienced pair they were. 

"Now, why would they assign this to you two? We already have field agents assigned to the task, or so I've heard from up above." 

Dove let Joon answer for them. 

I didn't notice before, as I was pretty dumb in the mornings- ugh, I can hear my mother's voice as I wrote that part-

But any who- I only noticed now how pale and white Lucia was, and how much taller she was than the average- well, human. It was like she was as tall as Leon, who also looked about as pale as her. They both even had nails, hers was sharper, and they both had fangs that I vaguely saw when looking back on my conversations with them. Leon appeared to have some sharper ones near the sides of his jaw, Lucia had all jagged teeth, like a shark, but in a row like a mammal. 

"I'm currently helping my superior study some doll specimens we found at a haunted house, and thanks to this gal here!" He snapped and pointed both fingers at Dove beside them, who was fiddling with the baton up her sleeve. "I get to be assigned on another case involving another type of doll, just with different functions. Tell her why Dove!" He enthusiastically hyped her. 

Dove, not one who wanted to end up disappointing anyone for any reason, forced some pep into herself and straightened up her back, facing the curious woman who laid her chin on her folded hands. 

"Um, the Sennentuntschi is believed to be connected to the case of the dollhouse, where we got the ball-jointed, life size mannequins from. I'm going so that I can gather intel for Laurence to further understand why, and I need Joon with me since he's been studying the ball-jointed mannequins, so that he can give me insight on the Sennentuntschi as we observe it from afar."

Lucia nodded, her drooped eyes only further matching with the punk-gothic fashion she had. Uncaring, laidback, intimidating. 

"Mhm. Mhm. and seeing as you're coming from the alchemist floor to here, do you know what you'll be needing from this floor?"

The two interns stared blank face, then turning to each other, to see if the other had an answer, to which they both realized Enzo sent them down without telling them what they were supposed to pick up. Lucia snickered to herself, before Liora popped in from the door leading to the back, lightly scolding the woman. 

"Lulu dear, stop teasing them, you know it's classified until they receive it." Liora softly scolded. 

Liora was equally beautiful, just a different shade, long hair of shiny blue, natural or not I didn't care. I just knew her blue hair paired too perfectly with her tanned skin, like she was an opposite of Lucia somehow.

Dove sighed with relief, it wasn't another incident of her not listening, Joon looked a tad bit annoyed. 

"Gee, way to mess with us- oh hey Vernon!" He began waving as soon as he saw the boy who had also stepped out of the backroom of the store, behind Liora, holding a box with a lock on it.

Vernon waved at him like a practiced response, and then also waved at Dove who returned the gesture, before going further into a direction in the store.

Lucia moved like air, dissipating and then reappearing in front of the cashier's desk, where Liora quickly took her place behind it as they switched, allowing the white-haired woman to push both the interns by the backs, over to where Vernon was walking to. 

The store lived up to its name, as it felt like it suddenly turned into a maze, where you can't get out until you search the isles thoroughly and finally find the item you're looking for. As for us, it was like a maze in the sense that it was for security reasons. The box Vernon was holding had some classified items inside that we weren't allowed to know of until receiving it, so Lucia had to guide us to a hidden location. 

There was a cozy looking area, darker than the rest of the store, where morning immediately felt like night. It looked like a place for fortune telling, what with the curtains they had to pass through, there was even a stack of tarot cards and a crystal ball sitting on the table in the middle of curtained corner room. 

When Vernon noticed they had arrived, he placed the box on the table and opened it after forming a key using these root-looking items he seemed to have in one of his pockets. 

A key with a pattern only he knew, and only he could make. His plant magic sure was, full of proven experience and precision. How long has he been able to do that? How long has he known about his magic?

Lucia closed the curtains behind them, and Vernon showed them these bottles inside, small enough to be held by hand, five, neat little perfume bottles sitting in the small case. 

"Atropa belladonna perfume but not meant as a regular perfume." Lucia stated as she seemed to float towards the table, gingerly picking one up. Her dress gave the illusion of such; it wasn't the same one she was wearing in the early morning.

"I plucked the black berries from the flowers, and the alchemists diluted them into the short-term memory erasing liquid just like you asked." Vernon said nonchalantly, and before dove or Joon could even ask, he looked straight at them, or more off into the space that just so happened to be where they were, with stars in his eyes, excitedly explaining already.

He seemed to almost bounce on his heels.

"Atropa belladonna, also known as Deadly Nightshade, violet flowers that have drooping heads, and they grow these black berries at some parts of the stems, the berries are poisonous. Atropa belladonna is an ornamental plant, and it's deadly because of its alkaloids that it produces, which can cause disorientation, short-term memory loss, coma and death."

They listened to him, and while Joon was processing the information, Dove got an epiphany and added in when Vernon was catching his breath. 

"So, would this be the same belladonna plant that Italian women in the 16th century used to use as eyedrops? Because it made their pupils bigger and that was thought to be beautiful. I mean the plant species in general, not like, these plants now."

Vernon eagerly nodded as Joon widened his eyes in disbelief. 

"The Italian girls put what in their eyes? To look like what? Anime girls? You telling me that Italians had the obsession of big-eyed girls before Japan??" He asked with an exasperated tone, to which Dove didn't know how to answer. 

Vernon nodded to her statement, not hearing the poor confused boy who quickly whipped out his phone to find out more for himself. 

"Yes, it's the same one, a good amount of the ladies went blind because of it. However, in this case, the alchemists who made these perfumes modified and diluted the alkaloid to only cause short term memory, you have to be careful with them, but they won't cause any of the other symptoms. See, I grew the belladonnas myself, so while they are more potent, the berries I plucked from the Atropa belladonnas were first peeled so that-"

"Vernon, sweetheart, we're getting sidetracked. Go tell the rest to Liora outside." Lucia patted his back, leading him out. 

Dove wanted to hear more but hid her disappointment as Lucia picked up a small bottle to show the two. 

I liked learning random facts, I used to read random articles in my spare time about interesting things, because I liked reading too. But, nowadays, less people enjoy reading, and the random facts I know, either nobody cares about or they're just useless to know and taking space in my brain when I could be learning more useful things, like math or business. I rarely had anyone to talk to about the things I read about so forgive me if I can't fight the urge to throw in some random facts too.

"Turn this head to unlock it, and simply spray it as you would any perfume bottle, keep in mind this is only to be used on Normals who may end up witnessing the Sennentuntschi, and no matter how good it smells, do not use it on yourselves, lest you also suddenly witnessed some things you'd rather forget."

She put the bottle back into the box with the others, then surprised them as she pulled down the flap of the top cover of the little case, revealing five more bottles that contrasted in color to the belladonna perfumes; where the memory-erasures were shades of this pale, mix of violet and blue, the bottles hidden on the top were a warm shade of pale lime. 

"However, if such an accident does occur where you end up using it on the wrong person, or at the wrong time, just use these to reverse the affect."

Joon chuckled as Lucia handed one to him to inspect, and he struck a pose, pretending to pull on his imaginary tie and taking an iconic stance. 

"Hey! Hey Dove look! We qualify for the MIB secret organization now!" He snickered while posing with the bottle in hand, to which Dove also couldn't help but snort a bit of laughter.

"What plants are these made of?" Dove asked on impulse, to which Lucia shushed her teasingly. 

"Unless you want to be able to meet Sienna and her mates in time, don't let Vernon hear that question, at least just yet. For now, just call them memory enhancers."

Joon put the bottle back after he was done playing with it, and Lucia closed the small box and took the molded root key out, handing it to Dove and then giving the box to Joon, before ushering them out the curtained corner, and into the brighter lit part of the store. There, the two interns could see three new faces talking to Liora at the check-out area. 

Vernon was kinda hiding behind Liora like a cat, and as with the 3 new faces, I could immediately begin to piece together more of Enzo's story thanks to one of them. 

The only woman in the group, the one I assumed- and would later confirm- is the so-called Sienna I've heard so much of. Red hair just like Enzo, that, slightly olive skin, both very handsome, although Sienna seemed more handsome, even more so with the two friends she had by her side. She wore a black, sleeveless crop top that showed off her abs and sleeve tattoos, the two boys beside her wore wildly different things but also had tattoos.

The shorter, pale guy looked like one of those summer vloggers, the taller one was wearing black jeans and what looked like fish net for a top, with just an easy slip-on/off coat. I later learned why.

And, when I say red hair, I mean a darker shade of red for Sienna, she has what Vernon later told me was a shade close to wine red. Also, while they did look similar, Sienna had her right eye covered by her hair, the hair that covered her eye was curled into like a rose.

"Who are these new little buggers you got here?" The handsome red-haired woman asked the two ladies.

"Sienna, these are the two interns who will be shadowing your team." Liora politely told her as Lucia pushed the two over to them, where suddenly even Joon was shy. 

"Joon and Dove. Kids, this is Sienna, and her teammates, Lucas and Mori. Normally they visit to recoup, but as you can tell, they're staying a bit longer for this occasion."

Sienna turned to fully face them, pulling down her sunglasses to eye them up and down, standing in such a confident stance as her two friends introduced themselves.

She was a big city person, her accent almost sounded New York -ish.

The shorter, pale and more energetic guy extended both his hands for them to shake, while the bulkier guy simply waved.

"A new batch of interns, nice to meet ya!" Lucas said with a smile, showing off his sharp canines, before pointing behind him to the tall, pale woman who suddenly appeared next to Sienna, beginning to catch up with her. 

"Did this lady threaten to eat any of y'all yet?"

"What?!"

Joon seemed to be the only one having big reactions to everything so far, Dove keeps all her shock and surprise on the inside. 

Everyone keeps asking about her eating people apparently, now what kind of poltergeist does that remind me of? Lucas doesn't have the same teeth as her.

Sienna and her friends were revealed to have arrived in motorcycles, and after an odd introduction between all of them, Dove agreed to leave her car this time, begrudgingly, as it was only her and Joon, so they would be backpacking with them on the way to find the Sennentuntschi.

Dove sifted through her orange envelope, flipping through the printed papers after making sure to pocket the key, pulling out the printed photo of the area where Laurence calculated the moving doll to have headed, after doing some incredible math that Dove couldn't really understand but comprehended enough.

Sienna put the written coordinates into her phone, set up the Bluetooth of her earpiece, and had her friends check their earpieces before they all put on their helmets, pulling out some for the interns to wear as well.

"Shouldn't you guys be wearing leather? To avoid burning your skin while riding? Shouldn't we also be wearing leather too?" Dove suddenly asked after remembering. 

"You'll be fine, we've got our own safety gear." Sienna assured her as they all got on their bikes. She patted the extra seat behind her for Dove to take.  

Joon, who was backpacking behind Mori, nodded to Dove as they all got ready on the bikes, he put the box in a compartment underneath his seat. 

"Alright, we're ready to get skin burn." 

Lucas laughed out loud. 

"Relax, we've got you guys, and besides, your superiors would kill us if we couldn't guarantee the safety of the hair on either of y'all's head."

The two interns gave each other a doubtful look as they each put on their helmets. At that moment, Dove was ready to meet her end, Joon was prepared to scream at the top of his lungs at whatever pain he expected to receive from whatever may happen.

They didn't expect to enjoy the motorcycle ride so much that even Dove was tempted to loosen her grip on Sienna's waist to feel more freedom. 

It was different than when I was driving my car, scarier, when I look back, my memories keep fooling me into believing I almost slipped off, and it almost makes me really believe it. I might consider backpacking again if I get the chance.

The location they arrived at was as expected, a small, crowded part of the city, where there was a cheap motel just a couple more blocks away, along with some drugstores, and all and all a sketchy place. Fit for those who were going into hiding for cheap. 

The motorcycles were parked in an area hidden away and the wheels locked to the metal poles or bars using handcuffs. 

"We just have these, good for multiple uses." One of them told the interns.

They gave another shared look to each other, doubtful again. 

Joon took the box out, and Dove unlocked it to let the experienced ones take the bottles, one belladonna perfume, and one memory enhancer for each field agent. The remaining four, neither of the interns wanted to take out just yet and merely left them in the box. 

It didn't take long to find the entity, for Mori, who appeared to have sensitive hearing, carefully turned his head, locating the sounds of rustic movements, and the sound of old yarn rustling together. It was like he was a dog who was part pointer, sharply turning his head to a certain direction that we all began to follow. Since it was my first time seeing a Sennentuntschi, I was pretty surprised, but also a little underwhelmed. It just looked like any other nightmare resembling dolls that I used to see around my old home. Turns out seeing multiple silhouettes in the dark of short, small moving figures holding a weapon of scissors or something sharp, can really desensitize you when you first start seeing them from childhood, especially in the dark.