Work Text:
By rights, it should have been Ophelia Frump who had an affinity for garden magic; it was right there in her name. Instead, it was her younger sister who cultivated the plants, whispering “Rosemary for remembrance...there’s fennel for you, and columbines.” Morticia knew every word of every Shakespeare tragedy by heart, and in tending to her rosemary and fennel and columbine and rue, she knew the truth of the spell spoken in the play, and the curse its heroine had laid upon the royal family of Denmark with her combination of herbs. Carnivorous plants simply bloomed under Morticia’s care, and poisoned blossoms seemed to sprout wherever her hands touched soil.
Her mother and sister were pleased that she had found an affinity for a magical art, but not particularly interested. As far as her mother was concerned, Morticia’s worth was defined by her marriageability or lack thereof. As far as Ophelia was concerned- well, it was hard to say what Ophelia thought of her sister. The Frump girls loved each other, of course, and each would have fought to the death and beyond if the other had been threatened, but they would never truly understand each other. As previous generations of Frump children had been known to slaughter their siblings for inheritance or out of jealousy or simply because the mood struck them, a simple lack of friendship was of no concern.
A suitable match had already been made for Ophelia, and the girls were scheduled to meet her intended this very day. Still, as Morticia clipped roses from her precious thorns, she wondered whether her mother would find Ophelia harder to wed off than she reckoned. Certainly her sister had announced her interest in merging with the Addams household, but if she did not end up fancying the heir, there was little anyone could do to change her mind.
Their formidable wills were one quality the Frump sisters shared. If you raise daughters to be witches, secretive and passionate and sinister, sometimes that is exactly what you get. Spinsterhood seemed preferable to an unhappy marriage for Morticia, and she was sure Ophelia felt the same way.
Still, she wondered what the Addams boy looked like.
