| Details for Wonder Twins Unite |
| Summary: | Keenan accidentally wakes up Niamh and Sorcha while trying to puzzle out Rhyeline's case, and Niamh's brainstorming helps him come up with an answer to part of his quandary. |
| Date: | 9 January, 1938 |
| Location: | — |
| Related: | Will add later |
| Characters |
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Well past midnight, but before the sun is starting to lighten there's a clink in the apothecary, and an oath in Irish. There's a couple minutes silence, the shuffle of a couple of hops, then a dim light. With some more muttered curses under his breath, Keenan makes his way to the counter, and braces himself by his palms, head bowed. "Right, then. Blasted curse has moved…" his elbows bend, sinking him slightly towards the counter.
Niamh's learned how to be a lighter sleeper.. though she's not as light as Inspector Gideon. He, however, is out working.. leaving the proprietress to take things as they come, as it were. With wand in hand, there's barefooted foot-falls on the stairs, and once again, there's the calling out, "It's late," in soft chastizement before she looks to see exactly who it is in the dim light of the gaslights. "Oh.." then she approaches, the robe wrapped about her. "Keen?"
Not that she was still up reading magazines listening to wireless because that would be foolish at this time of night… But somehow Sorcha is still wide eyed and bushytailed as she comes down sneaking behind Niamh when she hears her come through the living room. She's got her flannel dressing gown and sheepskin slippers on, auburn hair in a long red braid over her shoulder as she holds her wand on the other side of Niamh's shoulder with a creep creep creep down the steps. When she sees it's her brother as well, she rolls her eyes and then casts a light charm on the lantern nearest the cash register, "Lumos."
"Ye should be sleepin' lass," Keenan says softly without turning around, although his arms push up straight again, his head remains bowed. When Sorcha lights another lamp, he holds his hand up against the extra light, his eyes barely accustomed to the ones he had already lit. "An' ye, as well," he adds, realizing that both sisters have discovered him.
"Aye.. but the last time I had something walkin' round down here, it was a man who'd been .. quite thoroughly killed. "Last thing I want is t'hear bumps in the night an' not know who it was." Niamh looks at Sorcha at the lighting and chuffs a chuckle. At least they can all see.. sort of. "But I'll say the same for ye. I havnae heard your feet on the stairs. Either I'm a heavier sleeper than I realize, or ye actually havenae been trudging up those stairs?" She's very aware of her brother's habits.. and there is the strong suspicion there's something amiss.
"I can stay up as late as I like, thank you." Sorcha says, leaning against the railing on the stairs behind her sister, "And if we're supposed to be abed, shouldn't you be, too? It seems as though if you're up and all then we have every reason to be up." When her sister mentions that Keen hasn't been going up to his room at all she stops to listen, her expression the nosey curious one that normally comes right before she gets into all kinds of information that probably isn't any of her concern.
"Aye, sorry. I was tryin' nae tae wake ye. Stubbed my toe on tha shelves." He must have come from upstairs, because he's in his stocking feet, the thick wool socks that their mother knits every year for Christmas. "I've been apparatin' straight home, or stayin' at Rue's. Clover an' I have been workin' on a case… I've been stayin' late after work, an' didnae want ta bother ye." Or else he was just too tired to walk.
Niamh's brows rise, and she comes to lean on the counter, her attention fixed. "Anything we can help wi'? We always used t'work t'gether on things. At least as a soundin' board, bouncin' ideas off." They were a team, which is why the shop is.. was(?) ideal for the Irish twins. "This'd be no bother. Ye screamin' booga-booga or somesuch up the stairs'd be botherin' me." She glances at Sorcha and nods, "An' ye have another sister with whom t'discuss things."
Following down, Sorcha goes over to the fire and says, "I can put on a cuppa if you like?" She ties her robe up a bit tighter against the winter chill, "And of course, we can see if there's anything we can come up with? I'm not nearly as versed in healing as you are, obviously, but I've worked with different potions a fair bit? Might be that I'e heard of something or tried it out that might at least be enough to try something else?"
Keenan shakes his head slowly. "Thank ye, Sorcha. That'd be grand. I don' know. We thought we had it goin' in reverse, that we were gettin' somewhere with tha blood potions Clover'n'I were workin' on. But now tha curse has moved, an' it's attackin' tha nerves that make her heart beat… I've spelled her tae stimulate those nerves." He lifts a hand and pushes it through his hair. "So, if it's nae a spell that's routed in her blood, then, where has it latched on that it could affect both her nerves an' her blood?"
Niamh shifts a couple of things over on the counter to hop up, barefoot, and her robe wrapped about her. She has a dressing gown beneath, so she's not in any danger of flashing anyone. And, this is an action that has been done countless of times, leaving her feet swinging. "Blood potions," she murmurs.. "That'd be just a carrier.. if it was somethin'.. live. Somethin' that was only goin' for the heart.. an' the nerves there. Once the blood took it there, o'course there'd be nothin' left for the blood t'do?" She exhales softly, her feet moving back and forth. "Are ye sure it's a curse an' nae something born of the devil?" Or a dark wizard. Both work. "A parasite, maybe?"
Bustling about, Sorcha goes through the process of making tea. She gets the water going over the fire and considers the varieties of tea available before selecting one and measuring it out for the brown betty sitting nearby. Once the water is the right temperature she warms the pot and then gets it to steeping before finding cups for the three of them, "What did you have in the potions that worked in the past? Maybe the key is that part of the ingredients were working on the right element but not totally dealing with the curse or the parasite?"
Keenan nods slowly. "It's a curse, aye. Healer Greengrass's notes were pretty thorough. His potion was adequate for keepin' her alive, but I want tae heal her, nae just keep her alive," he says. "If it's a parasite we'd have her in tha Creature Induced Injury ward, but, nae. I see no signs of it being more than a curse. Just… a very thorough curse, an' meant tae make sure tha target died. Rooted somewhere that would have been vulnerable… wait…" He closes his eyes and holds his palms to his temples. "She was nae tha target, I'm goin' about this all wrong… what would have been tha most vulnerable part of tha original target…"
"Mistakes can be made.. but assumin' it's nae a parasite, then.." Niamh watches her brother closely, very closely as he considers, speaking things out loud. This is what she's used to.. the give and take. She waits, then, for his ramblings to coalesce into something that he can understand, but when he comes to that other conclusion, she has to ask, "Depends upon who it was? Who was the original target?" Some have heart problems, some have blood problems, and even others have.. neurological issues. "An' what's wrong wit' her?"
With the mugs brought up, Ni smiles at her little sister, a soft 'thank ye' for the tea. At the her questions added to the mix, her brows rise and clucks, whispering, "Good question, tha'.."
Pouring tea into three cups she gets each ready as the owner of it likes, some with cream and others none, sugar lumps as measured. Then she artfully balances all three between her hands, wand tucked in the sash of her robe, bringing them over to the counter to pass out. Once that's done, she hops up on the other side of her brother with the nimble spring of youth but not nearly as much practice as her sister. That being done she settles in, picking up her tea for a sip without interrupting her brother now that he seems to be on a roll.
"Tis a man we know is capable o' usin' Unforgivable curses," Keenan replies with quiet venom, his eyes locking momentarily with Niamh's before he glances over and takes his tea with a smile for Sorcha. "It doesnae have tae be somethin' physical about a person, but somethin' that's… part o'them. Somethin' that is… important to their make up, an' in this case, they were aimin' fer somethin' that would be easy tae reach, an' that was such a large part o'him as tae make it spread quickly…" he sips his tea thoughtfully.
Niamh likes her tea with cream and sugar, yes please! She watches her sister as she alights, a tired smile on her face. "Don't ye ever get tired?" It comes as a chuckle, yes, but also a gentle admonishment.
At Keenan's answer, however, Niamh looks as if she's ready to fall off the counter, her face drops.. and she stares at Keenan for a long moment. Taking a deep breath, she nods and looks out into the shop. Now, her brother's words make sense to her. "Devil take him," she murmurs. "An'.." there's a long moment before she begins to shake her head, that .. look of almost helplessness coming. "I don't know, Keen.." Now she truly understands what her brother is up against. "The blood potion sounds.. like a fluke. If it's nae after her heart, it could go after her head. Or.." She presses her lips together and lowers her gaze, "What… what could be.."
Sliding off the counter again, it's a different way, now, that Niamh is going to try and work out that same problem, only by wandering around the shop, hazel eyes turning to the dusties on the top shelves. "Gran's things.. half I'm nae sure what they'd do anymore.."
"No. I don't think I'll be tired for ages." Sorcha says easily, sipping her tea again with bright alert eyes that come with being a young little thing. It also helps that when she does sleep she sleeps like the dead with nothing in the world able to really wake her most mornings. Also, the sleeping until noon unless she has to open the shop doesn't hurt. "So you know that she wasn't the original target? Do you know who it might have been?" She catches the odd look her sister gets as she looks between her two eldest siblings and raises her eyebrows, sipping again. She waits until her sister is well away in the dusty bins of potions ingredients before turning to look questioningly at her brother again.
Keenan gives a grim nod when Niamh puts together the person he's hinting at. His own fingers clench around the counter, and then he forces them loose when he comes under scrutiny from Sorcha. There's a curious tilt to his head as Niamh slides from the counter, and he takes a sip of his tea as his eyes follow her, although he does shake his head. "Oh, it's after her heart, aye," he assures. "It's tryin' tae shut it down any way it can… we prevent it from doin' it one way, it tries another…" but he subsides and turns to give Sorcha a shrug. "Grown up things," he tells her with a wink and a grin, using the age old excuse, even though it's no longer really applicable.
She catches all the different things going on there. The poor pinched counter and the watching Nia as she goes back to the back. Sorcha's gaze follows her, too, before she looks back to her brother again with the return of the curious expression. "Mmm… but was it after her heart to begin with? Or someone else's? I don't know if it makes a difference or not, but it could be enough of one to explain why your earlier potions didn't do the trick?" She sips her tea again with raised eyebrows at the wink and grin, "Mmm… so it won't effect me at all then, of course. Whatever it is that has to do with some dark wizard that casts unspeakable curses on people when they don't deserve them that happens to upset Nia enough that she goes to sniff herbs in the back of the shop?"
Keenan shakes his head, and finally turns to hop his rear up on the counter, something that doesn't take quite as much effort for him as it does his two shorter sisters. "Nae, Niamh's nae back there because there she's upset. I'll bet ye a fizzin' butter beer float that she's hatchin' an idea back there." The tea is raised to his lips again. "Tha purpose of tha curse was tae stop someone's heart, aye. Still is."
Sorcha does not seem convinced. She sips her tea. And gives her brother an oblique look. And then she moves on, perhaps a little too quickly for comfort… Normally there'd be more needling and prying, "Heart… Well, there are a lot of different herbs and concoctions that help strengthen the heart? But it sounds as though that wouldn't really deal with the actual curse, just the symptoms. And I know you said you wanted to find a true cure not just a temporary one."
Keenan nods, and has that unperturbed, relaxed posture that is his habit when he's not concerned about being found out. "Aye, Clover an' I have been workin' on potions. Since tha spell was weakenin' tha muscles o'her heart, we strengthened her heart. So, it had tae try something different, like tellin' tha nerves ta nae tell her heart tae beat. I charmed tha nerves tae keep up a regular rhythm." He lifts his tea to his lips. "Ye should open a tea house, lass. A nice, comfortable place, nae like that Tasseo that's all fancy food an' just fer uppity folks."
Niamh's on the ladder, pushing herself along, her face set in a grim frown; there's.. things up here that she doesn't recall. Dusty things, and checking the box labels, and one she pulls down, she means to check against her gran's books. "Aye," but now she sounds distracted. "Actually, ye should. A potions apprentice openin' up a real tea shop? That'd be amazin'. Your own herbs, an' I'll stop sellin' the tea packets here, an' make sure ye get the good stuff. For sleep, for muscle ache.. an' the like."
The thought is really bothering her, and her jaw is set, her gaze in that middle-distance. "Was for .. him. An' .." Niamh looks back at her brother as she descends the ladder. "If it's nae a parasite like ye said.. it wouldn't be chewin' on her physically.. aye? I know.. I know it is.. but.."
"A tea shop?" Sorcha says at the idea, considering as she sits on the counter in her dressing gown, "Hmmm… I suppose I'd never thought about it, really." When Nia jumps in she says, "Oh, that's a thought, too, certainly." She sips her own tea and then lets the conversation go back to the original topic at hand, "But do you think the curse is acting like a parasite, perhaps?" She looks between the two siblings, "Or something else?"
Keenan has tipped his head a bit to watch Niamh, and his eyes remain on her as she comes down. "Well, aye an'nae. A parasite /needs/ tae feed on its host. In this case, it doesnae need tae feed… it just needs t'accomplish its task. It needs tae kill its host. Most parasites nae want ta do that. It's just a spell, but any ongoin' spell has tae be attached somewhere. We thought it was attached in her blood stream. What're ye thinkin' Nia-lass?" He slides down from the counter and walks towards her.
"Aye, a tea shop. O'course, I'm nae sayin' that ye aren't welcome here.. an' that I don't want ye here, 'cause I do. But ye have a real knack at those teas." Niamh glances at her brother, that shared twin look.. And potions can be more dangerous than even I imagined.. before she looks back with that distracted, but warm smile. "Even if y'need the front money, I'd be glad t'put up some o'the shop for ye t'get your feet in." But, that's a conversation for later, on the couch, or over dinner.
Once Niamh's down, her feet on the floor, she begins the cross back towards the counter. "Aye," and her voice is low. "If it was meant for him, there's somethin' there .. they'd nae want him t'be able to survive it for this long. They'd want a sure thing, aye? So.. what's he have that your patient doesn't?" Even as she speaks, her gaze is set firmly on her brother, "He's an evil man, Keen.."
"Well, it sounds like it would be quite a bit of work…" Sorcha says thoughtfully as she looks between her very encouraging siblings. But, then they're back on the topic of the curse again and she's sipping her tea once more, noticing that her sister seems to be quite certain of the caster of said spell, and emphatic about it. But, she doesn't comment on that right this moment, either. That's something better saved for hot chocolate rather than tea. When she lands on the idea of thinking about the target rather than the patient, Sorcha says, "Oh, here." She flicks her wand and summons a large piece of parchment, hanging it in the air like a chart. On one side she magically scribes Target and on the other Victim.
Unfortunately for Sorcha, Keenan isn't paying much attention to her for the time being, or her piece of parchment. That Irish Twin bond kicks in, and the green eyes are locked with hazel in this moment. Suddenly he reaches out, and grabs Niamh's shoulders to pull her to him so he can plant a big kiss on her forehead. "Niamh, ye're brilliant," he crows. "It'd be a safe bet that anyone who wanted him dead would know that… an' it would ba tha quickest way tae drop him dead."
Sorry Sorcha.. but this is one of those 'twin' moments. For all the hell the eldest pair have gone through for the 'term', there are more times than not that the sibling bond's come to their mutual aid. This.. is one of those times. For those heartbeats, there's nothing in that shop but her brother, and taking a soft breath, she can see that light come forth; hhat moment when all manner of understanding is clear, and an answer is found.
A broad smile comes to her face, and for a moment, she's got a look of what? on her face, but it's wiped away by the broadly given kiss to her forehead, and she laughs in spite of the gravity of the problem faced. "Aye.. the devil would take 'im in the blink of an eye. But the poor thing that ye are carin' for?" She doesn't even know who it is!
Looking back and forth between the two of them, Sorcha raises her eyebrows, and… looks at Nia… and then Keen… and then Nia… and then Keen… and sips her tea again. They seem to be onto something, though, between the two of them. Her eyebrows go up at the kiss, since she's not in on the mental connection this time. Her paper still floats in the air for the moment in case it's needed, but she doesn't try to add anything to it at the moment.
Keenan nods a couple times, slowly. "An' it's all through him. If she does, she keeps it well hidden, an' that's why it was hidin' from me. She's nae one ye'd suspect…" he sighs and leans back again. "An' that'll be part o' tha problem. Tryin' tae root it out… but at least I have a place tae be lookin'." He gives a little whoop of triumph, and picks up Niamh in a hug to spin around before he sets her down. "Ye're tha best. Ye two lasses enjoy yer tea, I need tae get some sleep before work in tha mornin'. An' I'm goin' tae have tae send an owl tae ma patient. Ask her tae come by Mungo's if she can."
"An' what it's really lookin' for," Niamh grins. There's a relieved laugh that is underlying her tones, even though the battle hasn't yet been won. It's a genuine laugh, then, that comes when she's twirled around, and she gives her brother a hug, squeezing him for a moment before she's let go. "Ye.. go an' get what sleep ye may.. So when ye wake, ye will do best. You heal her, Keenan Nevan O'Shea. I'll.." and she pauses for a moment and reaches out to give her sister a hug, "Sorcha'll have a pot on for ye after.. and we'll have fresh bread an' clotted cream for ye on your table for when ye get home from it all."
Now, Niamh can't resist the siren's call for sleep either. It's darkest before the light, in all manner. "An' ye, Sorcha.. c'mon back up. Make me some of your relaxin' tea, an' we'll chat before we fall asleep on the couch.."
She grins as she gets a hug from her sister, leaning over to return it, "Yes, I'll have on a pot with cream and biscuits. But it doesn't mean that I'm running a tea shop for everybody else. Just you." She flicks her wand and rolls up the parchment, sending it back from whence it came. Hopping down off the counter she says, "I do wish I understand what happened? But I'm glad that you both seem so happy about working it out." She heads back up along with her siblings, "Yes, I'll make you some chamomile sleepy tea and pick your brain a bit."
Sorcha doesn't miss out on the big brother hugs, since Keenan shares the love before he goes towards the door. He even gives her a kiss on the forehead as well. "I may even walk up tha stairs tomorrow night, so ye'll know when I'm home," he tells Niamh with a wink. "No, I need tae get back up before I'm missed. Sleep well, lasses." Then, with a wave he's out the front door, pulling out his wand to charm it locked behind him, and then he can be seen jogging past the window to his own door.
Niamh grins, her expression happy as Sorcha gets some brother love, and as he makes his pronouncements, it gains a laugh in response. "Aye.. thank ye.." before she reaches to take hold of her sister's arm, ready to loop through. "Go t'bed, Keen," then, "C'mon, Sorcha, up.. some tea, an' we'll chat." Looking back at her brother's departing back, she can't help but laugh again before she's headed towards the stairs, turning the gaslights down again as she passes the switch.