Magic Box, Monday.

[harpy-daughter.livejournal.com]

Monday? Check. Surreal? Check.

...sounds coming from the back room that sounded suspiciously like cursing and the occasional combustion of materials as Surreal worked on mixing basic potions.

The Magic Box was open, but you'd need to follow the 'boom' to find the witch.

Comments

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara could follow boom. Spend any amount of time around Zedd and his pyromaniac tendencies, you got very used to following boom. "Everything alright back here?"

Not that she was actually worried, or anything, asking just gave her a bit longer to figure out a flimsy justification for being in the shop in the first place.

[harpy-daughter.livejournal.com]

"Fine!" Surreal called back before sticking her head out of the backroom, slightly smoky but otherwise whole. "Cara! Just experimenting. We don't have all the ingredients I usually use for my--" poisons "--potions here, so I'm substituting similar items."

"Not that I'm surprised there isn't witchblood available for import, because I'd have to wonder about whomever was farming it, but it is making things a bit annoying."

[wrongkindofsith]

"Do they usually explode?" Cara asked as she headed Surreal's way. "Or is it just one of those days?"

"Witchblood as in?" She mimed slicing a palm open.

[harpy-daughter.livejournal.com]

"Close," Surreal answered. "It only grows where a witch's blood has been shed with violence. Usually of the fatal sort."

"Pretty plant, but not one most people like in their gardens."

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara made a face that indicated she'd have been more comfortable with her answer being right. Not that she was particularly aware she was doing so.

"I can guess at the kind of person who'd farm that." It wasn't exactly much of a leap from slitting someone's throat just to jot down a message in a journey book.

[harpy-daughter.livejournal.com]

"Most think the bit about a witch's blood is just a story, if a gruesome one, but most stories have some root in facts." Surreal brushed some smudge off her leather pants and frowned. "But the story itself is usually enough to keep an honest herbalist from selling it."

"So far, my experiments in replacing it keep ending in explosions. Luckily, nothing big enough that will make Tara panic."

Yet. The word you are looking for, Surreal, is 'yet.'

"I may have to give up on mixing Earth magic and Blood magic...they don't seem very compatible." She waved one hand. "Boom."

[wrongkindofsith]

"It's not a total waste." Stop encouraging her, Cara, it can't end well. "Boom can be useful."

[harpy-daughter.livejournal.com]

"Controlled boom is useful," Surreal laughed. "Accidental boom singes my favorite leather pants, and all the leathers they sell around here just aren't right."

[wrongkindofsith]

"I know the feeling," Cara said, looking over the pants in question with maybe a touch more appreciation than sympathy. "It's hard enough finding the right kind of leather back in the Midlands, let alone here."

[harpy-daughter.livejournal.com]

"We have leathers-workers that can make you sing," Surreal sighed, shaking her head. "Tersa keeps threatening to bring me back for a weekend, just to make sure I'm fed. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I brought a second if you need to have your gear repaired."

[wrongkindofsith]

"They're fine...I mean, thank you, I... I wouldn't want to impose." Surreal may have gotten the impression that Cara didn't exactly know how to respond. That would be because she didn't, given how few people actually wanted a Mord'Sith hanging around. She ended up tugging off a glove and offering it to Surreal to examine. "It's durable, see?"