bondsofsuffering | IC CONTACT; ASGARD [CLOSED]

So it is somethin' like chemistry.

[He'd wondered about that with the ink mix for the runes... Though with the invitation, he'll go along and follow her.]

Guess it was a real relief for you when they finally cleared the way back then.

It's exactly like chemistry, but with 'magic' instead of equations. I like thinking of it more like cooking honestly. Get the right combinations, right heat, stir it just so... that sort of thing.

And yeah, I needed access. We've got greenhouses in town, but they can only keep up so much. With a full out war, the supplies were running thin.

It sounded like we're on the brink of startin' somethin', too...

[Or so he would assume, after everything calmed down again.]

So what're you makin' today?

Right now, Night Oil. I'm almost out of stock to make it, until the last batch is ready for harvesting. I doubt I'll get another chance, so I want as much of it as I can.

Noxious stuff, but invisibility comes with a price, even if it doesn't last long.

[Just up ahead, the golem glanced over and then back to its post with a wave of her hand. The thing was big, blocky, stone and completely lacking in anything remotely like personality. She hadn't made it to be pretty after all.]

Invisibility huh...

[So many ways to sneak around this place. He makes note of the golem, even giving it a cheerful wave despite how unlikely it seemed to respond.]

What're we makin' it with?

Dubh Cosc mostly. It's that ugly looking black, gnarled thing there that looks like roots for seaweed if they had proper roots. Smells worst. If you're going to help out, I need you to grind up some of that into powder.

[Sneaking into her shop was on the one hand easy. There were two entrances and locks only worked so well. On the other hand, everything was locked and most of the special stuff was booby trapped. That and the golem made it dangerous.

The greenhouse in the backyard, however, was easier. It was still locked and booby trapped, but there was no golem and she wasn't there at all in the evenings.]

[How fortunate she is he never fancied himself a phantom thief. His nose wrinkles at the mention of the strong smelling plant.]

I don't suppose you've got a gas mask I can work with?

[He's only mostly joking.]

I'm used to the smell, but there's some cloths over by the desk if you want to take that. I'll get the salts boiling so we can leech the worst of the toxins out of this. Night Oil's nasty stuff if you don't clean t properly.

Most of these potions are.

[You know what, because she offered and all, he's just going to

go ahead and grab one, tying it around his face.]

Alright, that should do it! I'm ready to go!

Sorry about this. You came in one of the more complicated procedures. If this was just something like a stamina draught it wouldn't really be that difficult. Lot less interesting though.

[She didn't put a mask on as she gave him a mortal and pestle to help grinding those down. On her end, she was doing the same, though the salts broke down easily and were added to water one dose after another while it started to heat.]

Put gloves on. You don't really want this stuff on you too long.

[All in all it's pretty typical lab procedure, so gloves it is. He'll get right to work grinding it down.]

Just how interestin' are we talkin', here? Does it involve some kinda ritual too, while we're at it?

[Yep. Pretty much kiddy chemistry set with magic. She started getting a few apparati up, mostly glassware, while they were talking.]

I sacrifice a first born ferret from a litter on the night of the full moon while dancing naked in the woods.

[...people shouldn't say things like that in a dry, deadpan monotone. People might think they're serious.]

[He can do kiddy chemistry sets! And grown up chemistry, too, as it were. The sound of the plant being ground will pause ever so briefly:]

...Alone?

[She blinked. Well, that wasn't the reply she expected. Her eyebrow raised and she glanced over at him through the glassware.]

Only for the night oil. I need a partner for the pink stuff. Think I still have a bottle or two of tha...
...

You know I'm fucking with you, right? [Not that the pink stuff didn't exist. It really hadn't sold as well as she'd hoped, after all. Most of her stock stuck around.]

[Pfft.]

I was hopin' so.

[And back to work!]

[She snorted and laughed again.]

I can never quite tell when you're joking, you know. [She smirked over at him.] Hand the powder over when you're ready.

Out of curiosity, what sort of potions interested you?

Will do!

[He'd pause to mock a salute, but well, he's still occupied with the mortar and pestle.]

--Y'know, I didn't really think about it. That sleepin' draught sounds useful, but besides that, I was mostly lookin' for somethin' to do.

[Toxicology is something he knows far more about than one might expect, but he's since lost any reason to take an interest in it. Not exactly a great thing to mention with the image he's trying to keep up here, either.]

The sleeping draught? I'd say it's one of my most popular items, second to the actual poultices and such. Believe it or not, poisons, egg bombs, weaponry, those just don't see the kind of use you'd think in a war. People just need to sleep.

...and this place breeds bad dreams without help.

I'm startin' to notice. Maybe I'll ask you for a few before I go, just in case.

[Aaaand that should about do it. He'll bring it on over to her now that it's a fine powder.]

First one's on the house. With the sleeping draughts, I figure at this point they're not much good as a poison, after all.

[She took the powder and started to add it in, one quarter at a time. She motioned over to a bowl of mushrooms.]

While I get this cooking, take the tweezers next to that bowl and pluck the spores out of the mushrooms in there. It's tedious as hell, but it'll save a lot of time, and I can use the flesh for something else.

Been having nightmares still lately?

Call it a precaution.

[He's just waiting for them to inevitably hit.

He'll get to work with the mushrooms, his movements quick and accurate.]

Anythin' I should know about the dosage? Or is it just one a night?

Once before sleep. It will make your sleep dreamless and fast in coming. Be careful with it, though. Too often and it can be habit forming. There's worse habits out there, but you don't want to be dependent on it to sleep.

Sounds like the standard when it comes to sleepin' medicine. I think I can follow that!

[And he will. It would be a pretty awful way to repay Ayumu for sticking with him otherwise.]

If some of these are so tedious to make, though, which ones are the most excitin'?

Yeah, just sort of assume it's a little bit worse than the usual is all. [Once the last was in, she let it cook and leaned against the table.]

Probably the most exciting potion I ever make is one of the egg bombs, at least if you like the 'on the edge of your seat, don't screw this up' sort of excitement. If you're more in for the flash, that's probably the pink stuff. It's actually kind of ... fun, even if I don't sell it right now.

..."The pink stuff?"

[That's a... descriptive name.]

What's that for?

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