swiminyourvanes (swiminyourvanes) wrote in 20somethings, @ 2022-01-08 18:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | c: cassandra vane, c: demo finnigan-thomas, d: 2027 12, ~ complete, Ω: rp |
RP: A Potionmaker and Her Reticent Assistant
Who: Cassandra + Demo
What: Catching up after a successful date
When: 12/21/2027 (Backdated)
Where: Cassandra and Molly’s House
Warnings: Childhood Trauma (Demo), Pot
Completion Status: Complete
Ever since the date Cassandra had been in a good mood. It was so rare that she ended up going on a date that she thoroughly enjoyed. Demo had been a gentleman, interesting, and downright stimulating in the best way.
She heard a roiling followed by a foul smell and realized that she had stopped stirring the potion in her cauldron. “Shite!” she quickly started stirring again before it could bubble over the rim.
With things under control she pulled out her phone and snapped a picture before attaching it to a message.
Text to Demo: I might need an assistant, are you free?
She hit send and tried to focus on the task at hand.
—
The pile of presents around Demo wasn’t big enough yet to say he’d covered everything for Christmas, but he was making a decent headway. He needed to make more lists and had just got up to find one of his many notebooks when his phone buzzed. He grabbed the notebook and bent over to pick up the phone.
He wasn’t totally sure what the potion was supposed to be, but something told him it was going a bit wrong. Beyond just the fact he’d had a text, the cauldron also looked wrong somehow that was ringing a bell.
Text to Cassandra: Give me ten minutes and an address?
It wasn’t quite how he’d expected to next see her, but he was happy to be a potions assistant. And he’d definitely enjoyed her company before.
—
Cassandra's phone buzzed as she tried to salvage the potion in the cauldron. She smiled before setting up voice to text: Here’s the address, I’ll try not to blow it up before you get here.
“Send.” She heard her phone give a satisfied beep. Returning to the potion, it had turned another shade and she realized she would have to start over. Waving her wand, she cleaned up the noxious liquid before returning to her potions book to see what happened. “I’m sure I just didn’t stir it quick enough but…”
—
The alarming text sped up Demo’s movements as he hurriedly hid away unwrapped gifts for people who might conceivably call in at his flat.
He wrapped himself up and apparated as close to the flat as he knew a good point for. He entered rapidly and sped up to the flat, knocking rapidly on the door. There was no terrible smell, and no fire or explosion sounds, so it seemed like Cassandra had caught it in time. But it didn’t stop his heart thundering in his chest, unable to ignore the link to his grandparents’ deaths. He jigged from foot to foot, waiting for some sort of indication that Cassandra was okay. He didn’t know her all that well yet, but he was still worried. He knew how rapidly potion making could go wrong. And how drastically.
“Cassandra?” he called with some urgency.
—-
“In here.” Cassandra called from her lab. “I ended up starting completely over.” She bit the bottom of her lip, annoyed at herself. It wasn’t often that she let a potion get away from her like that. Her eyes widened at her newfound friend's haggard expression.
“Are you alright?” The look made her worried as she gestured him over to her work table.
—-
Demo’s entry into the flat could be described as a burst if he was honest, glad that the door wasn’t locked against basic charms. He stood in the door of what appeared to be Cassandra’s lab with his chest heaving slightly because he’d sprinted to her door.
He nodded rapidly, working to get his breathing under control. “You worried me,” he said, puffing out a couple of breaths, his breathing beginning to slow again now he saw that she seemed to be absolutely fine. He gripped the doorway he was standing in with one hand and swallowed a couple times to affirm his own peace of mind.
He moved forward. “Sorry, you scared me,” he said. “I know you’re a professional and most potions accidents are minor, but I know things can go really wrong if you’re unlucky and experimental work is the worst for that.” He didn’t look at her as he explained the last part, the personal experience. “It’s actually how my maternal grandparents died.”
—-
Cassandra’s mouth dropped open at Demo’s revelation. “I am so sorry. I’ll be much clearer next time.”
She looked back at her ingredients and flourished her wand. The loose ingredients leapt back into their containers and the base of her potion vanished.
“I can work on this later. Have you eaten? Lunch is on me.”
—-
Crossing over to her he put a hand gently on her elbow and shook his head softly. “No, you didn't know, and everything is okay. But a little more clarity next time would be lovely,” he said and gave her a gentle smile. “I’m used to potions disasters these days being Papa ending up covered in badly mixed paint or some weird solution he needs turning to lumpy sludge, and I didn’t know what you were making.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to spring more of my complicated family history on you without warning,” he said. He’d mentioned on their date that he was adopted and had two dads, but had had some contact with people from his birth family during his life, but very few of the details. “Especially some of the traumatic bits.”
He shook his head. “No, I was busy trying to see how I was getting on with present buying,” he said. “Lunch would be lovely. But I really can be an assistant if you need one.”