Magic Box, Sunday, 05/24

[not_every_mage]

One of these days, Anders was going to learn one very basic lesson: Don't go drinking with Edward Kenway. The basic lesson had an appendix now: Don't go drinking with Edward Kenway and a dwarf, you idiot mage. Anders believed he could handle his drink just fine, but of the three of them he was decidedly the lightweight. He had dim memories of singing dwarven songs (and he was almost certain that was the least of what had happened) and he wasn't completely certain how they'd gotten back to the island. He suspected some kind stranger who didn't want three strangely archaic high school students passed out on his stoop had intervened.

Really, he should have taken the day off to guzzle coffee and water and feel miserable. But he needed money, which meant he needed to be here. He'd just try not to puke on the clean floor or react to every noise as if it were shrieking right in his ear.

He polished off his breakfast sandwich, which helped a little, and tried to convince himself to do some work. There were always shelves to dust.

[OOC: Open shop, open post!]

Comments

[nuclear_snide]

Anders was only lucky Bob wasn't the type to whistle when he was in a good mood.

He walked through the door and nodded to Anders as he looked around. "Good afternoon." He stepped a bit closer and squinted at him. "Dear lord, what have you been up to?"

[not_every_mage]

Anders squinted at him. It looked wary, but it might have just been that he was having a hard time making his face look friendly just then.

(And this was after he healed as best he could.)

"Depends on whether you think I'm too young to drink or not," he said.

[nuclear_snide]

"If you can pick up a bottle, you're old enough to drink," Bob said. Honestly, modern rules got a little silly sometimes. He smirked. "Just a bit hungover, then?"

Hm...responsible teacher or utter troll? Decisions could be so difficult!

[not_every_mage]

"Tiny bit," Anders said, wincing a tiny bit at the effort of talking. "Not sure it can possibly all be down to the drink. Maybe a herd of rampaging druffalo ran me over somewhere along the way."

[nuclear_snide]

"What's a druffalo?" Bob asked. "And aren't you a healer?" He poked at a stone on a shelf that sparked as he went through it.

[not_every_mage]

"Big shaggy cow thing," Anders said. "And yes, but you try healing when there are a dozen stonemasons banging away on a project in your head. Not as easy as it sounds."

As an aside: "That's pretty, isn't it? Do you think it does anything?"

[nuclear_snide]

"Depends what you add it to," Bob answered. He frowned at Anders. "What about a potion? That wouldn't take much concentration."

[not_every_mage]

"I don't want to waste elfroot on something I did to myself and that water and time will cure," Anders shrugged,sounding a bit peevish. "Hard enough to get decent-quality shipments of the stuff here as it is."

[nuclear_snide]

"Elfroot?" Bob shook his head. "Never mind. There are a few using ingredients from this world, you know."

[not_every_mage]

"Why do you care so much?" Anders asked. "It's my head. I'll be fine. Really."

[nuclear_snide]

Because he was a teacher; it was what he did. Bob shrugged. "Suit yourself." He went back to poking around, glancing back over his shoulder at Anders. "Was it worth it, at least."

[not_every_mage]

How dare Bob be good at his job.

"Yes," Anders said, though he was far from certain of that. "I might have actually learned my lesson this time, though. No drinking with dwarves. Or with Edward Kenway. I swear the man's got an extra stomach for it."

[nuclear_snide]

"At least until next time." What? Bob had been a teenager once, too.

[not_every_mage]

Anders chuckled. "Maybe next time I'll remember to drink water," he conceded. "Or ... I don't know. At least not try to keep up."

[nuclear_snide]

"Or be sneaky." Bob looked thoughtful. "I wonder if there's a wine-to-water spell anywhere. I wouldn't be surprised."

[not_every_mage]

"Oooh. Or some kind of potion that would limit how much alcohol a body could absorb," Anders suggested. "That would be worth researching."

[nuclear_snide]

Bob lifted his finger for a moment, then snapped. "An anti-poison brew. That's what alcohol is anyway, more or less. And it has wider applications, of course. There are a few of those around..."

And if Anders didn't stop him, he'd probably be sketching them in the shop very shortly.

[not_every_mage]

Anders wasn't at all inclined to stop him, if anything, he was scrambling for a notebook and paper.

"Tell me about them?" he asked. "It would have all sorts of uses beyond hangover prevention."

[nuclear_snide]

Bob thought about it, closing his eyes to sift through his memories for one that was simple yet effective.

He rattled off a list of ingredients. "Would you have those in your world? Not that I can't teach you something for while you're here, but it'd be more practical if you could use it anywhere."

[not_every_mage]

"Most of them," Anders nodded. "There's an herb or two we don't have, but I already know their Thedan equivalents. This --this should work nicely. I'll try it and let you know."

[nuclear_snide]

"Perfect!" Bob started writing. "These are the proportions here. And...hm. You'll want to be careful what you use for a base and how long it sits at each stage..."

Anders hadn't thought it would be that easy, had he?

[not_every_mage]

Anders tapped at an ingredient on the list, feeling like he was back in a Tower classroom. "I know this one doesn't like vinegar much," he said. "Made a terrible smell when I tried."

[nuclear_snide]

"Any acid, really," Bob said. "Just make sure that these two," he was diagramming as he spoke, "have adequate time for their reaction first. When the bubbling calms, it's safe to add."

[not_every_mage]

"Any signs the bubbling's going wrong?" Anders asked, chewing on his pen. "It'd change color if it's working, yes?"

[nuclear_snide]

"Likely, but not necessarily," Bob answered. He smirked. "If it explodes in your face, it's gone wrong."

[not_every_mage]

"Well, that's handy," Anders sighed, but he couldn't stop himself from smiling.

[nuclear_snide]

Bob grinned. "Believe me, you get that stuff in your face once, you'll be more careful in future. Just as soon as you stop smelling."