Work Text:
MORGANA LE FAY'S MAGICAL JOURNAL
→ If you see this book in Morgana's hands, please stay calm and head for the nearest exit.
→ Not funny, Gwen.
→ Tell me about it.
→ I said I was sorry!
→ Not nearly sorry enough.
21/09/20--: EXPERIMENT 049
SPELL TO CHANGE BURNT PIE INTO UNBURNT PIE
→ ACTUALLY SPELL TO TURN PEOPLE INTO TOADS. YOU'RE DOING THE DISHES FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE BITCH.
→ I kissed you better! And I think you gave me a wart!
→ YOU DESERVED IT. GO DO THE DISHES WOMAN THAT'S ALL YOU'RE GOOD FOR.
Note: Maybe this spell might work differently if not cast on a Toad-in-the-Hole. Does that actually count as a pie?
→ I'M TEARING THIS PAGE OUT IF YOU EVEN LOOK AT IT AGAIN, I SWEAR TO CTHUHLU
→ ok, ok, turning the page now.
13/12/20--: EXPERIMENT 121
SPELL TO WASH DISHES V9.1 → MAKE THE DISHWASHER EXPLODE ALL OVER THE KITCHEN AND FLOOD THE WHOLE APARTMENT WITH SOAPY WATER
→ ... oops?
→ DISHES. WASH THEM. BY HAND. I WILL BE WATCHING YOU. AND ALSO THE LAUNDRY.
→ I bought a new dishwasher and the washing machine stopped burping bubbles after the third wash! And I also cleaned up the soapy water!
→ UTHER BOUGHT YOU A NEW DISHWASHER AND WASHING MACHINE, I SAW THE RECEIPTS. AND MERLIN LET SLIP ABOUT HIM AND ARTHUR SPENDING THEIR WEEKEND CLEANING UP YOUR MESS.
→ Will you be less angry if I did the washing... naked?
→ ... Possibly?
It was times like this that made Gwen wonder why she stayed with Morgana. She'd told Morgana that she'd be coming home early to study for her mid-terms, and warned her that she needed peace and quiet and no ridiculous experiments. But the smell of burning sage that was filtering into the living room, along with an underlying honeyed scent from Morgana's favourite beeswax candles, made it clear that once again, Morgana had forgotten that Gwen was there and something that would undoubtedly prove disastrous was afoot as usual. But Gwen was in the middle of working out a complicated equation... she tapped her pencil on her lip irritably, then crossed out the first line of her working three times, and started over. Surely whatever it was could wait until she'd finished.
But this was Morgana. Never mind should have, Gwen did know her better than that.
As she jotted down the first proof, she felt a sort of tingling shiver run down her back. She tried to shrug off the sensation, and felt it ripple through her again. "Morg, are you trying out a new spell on me again?"
There was a yelp of "Gwen?" and a clunk and splash of a toppled glass from the kitchen, and Gwen gasped quietly as the tingle became an electric charge that zipped straight down through all her nerve endings and curled her toes. "Is it working?" Morgana called back. "I mean, oops! I was trying to cast it on myself, but did you feel something?"
Gwen looked down and flexed her tingling fingers. "What was it supposed to be? I feel like I stuck my finger in a socket."
"Shit. I'm sorry." Morgana poked her head out from the kitchen, frowned at Gwen rubbing her fingertips, then came out to take Gwen's hands in hers, raising them for a better look. "I really didn't mean to hit you with it. Does it hurt?"
The gentle touch of her warm hands on Gwen's still-sensitive fingers made Gwen squirm a little inside, like they were in the middle of something more intimate than discussing Morgana's failed spellwork. Gwen could feel her cheeks heating.
She laughed nervously, trying to distract herself and Morgana. "Not quite. They're just... tingly."
Morgana blew on her fingertips lightly, but she wasn't looking at Gwen's hands; she was watching Gwen with slightly pinked cheeks as Gwen shivered again and swallowed a moan. Busted, then. Morgana was always most perceptive when you didn't want her to be.
Still watching Gwen's face, Morgana lifted her tingling fingers to her lips and sucked one in. Sensation rippled through Gwen's skin, then Gwen's skin, her body, everything rippled and burst open. "What in the name of--" she shrieked, as Morgana fell back and off the sofa in shock.
"Gwen!" Morgana scrambled backwards and pulled herself to her feet with the support of the armchair. "Oh god, what happened to you?"
"You're asking me? Seriously you're asking me?" Gwen screamed and waved her arms at Morgana, or tried to. Tentacles flailed in every direction and swept her homework and coffee off the coffee table, and took the reference books on the sofa down as well. "What did you do to me?"
"Calm down," Morgana said, approaching her carefully. "I'm sure I can fix this."
Gwen took a deep breath and calmed herself. Morgana had turned her into a toad once, and given Arthur wings, and made herself invisible, and trapped Merlin inside the television twice. She'd fixed everything somehow, all those times. That is, they had consulted the dragon who had told Morgana to kiss her to break the spell, and Arthur's wings had disappeared by themselves after about a week, though he complained about finding feathers in his bed about once a month for nearly a year afterwards, and Merlin had got himself out of the television... never mind, at least the cock-ups were eventually resolved, however they were managed. Gwen took several more deep breaths, and determined to keep her chin up. "All right, what do we do now?" Her tentacles flailed, apparently unconvinced.
"Let's just sit down and relax for a bit," Morgana said in soothing tones, like she was talking to a wild creature. She gathered up Gwen by the tentacles and guided her to the sofa, sitting down beside her. "I'm sure there's some way to reverse or end the spell, and anyway, it's supposed to wear off in a couple of hours even if I don't manage to figure it out. I really didn't realise you were home."
"I told you I was coming home early today. Seriously? All this trouble to avoid donning a pair of Marigolds?" Gwen tried out a tentative smile, though it turned out rather tentacly. Her tentacles were all over Morgana, stroking her hair and arms gently, like Gwen would have done if she had hands.
Morgana smiled a watery smile back at her. "I forgot. I really am sorry."
It felt strange. Gwen couldn't feel the warmth of Morgana's arms or body, though she had pressed her side to Gwen's and her arms were wrapped around where Gwen's shoulders should have been. She looked down at herself, at the tentacles extending from the openings in her nearly bursting shirt and skirt, curving gently outwards and upwards from her torso, her hips, her shoulders, twining unconsciously around Morgana's arms and waist. She couldn't tell the differences in texture between hair and skin and clothes, but the sense of slippery curls sliding through her grip, and the soft pulsing beneath Morgana's skin, muffled when felt through Morgana's shirt... it was hypnotic. She thought, and a tentacle gathered up a fistful of Morgana's hair, drawing her forward. Morgana inhaled deeply, pupils dilating.
"Gwen?" she asked.
"I can control them," Gwen marvelled. They were nearly nose to nose now, and Gwen was breathing deeply as well, but not to calm herself. A tentacle slipped down and coiled around Morgana's thigh. "Mostly," she said.
"Fascinating," Morgana breathed. "You want to experiment with it some more? I mean, before I try to undo this."
"Yeah, ok."
01/04/20--: EXPERIMENT 169
SPELL TO ALLOW ME TO DO SEVERAL CHORES AT THE SAME TIME → GIVE YOUR GIRLFRIEND TENTACLES
→ So, can we do that again sometime?
→ YOU MADE ME MISS MY MID-TERMS.
→ Apart from that bit, it wasn't that bad, right? Yes?
→ NOT UNLESS YOU CAN PROMISE TO REPLICATE THE EFFECTS EXACTLY AND ALSO REVERSE THEM AT WILL.
→ We'll need to experiment to be sure it works exactly as intended...
→ ... when?