tɦɛ iɳquiรitѳʀ (freemarched) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-06-16 20:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, maxwell trevelyan (the inquisitor), morrigan |
Who: Morrigan & Trevelyan
What: Crafting potions, and Max fangirling over the Thedosian herbs in Morrigan's greenhouse
When: Last week sometime?
Where: Morrigan's home-run herbal remedy sanctuary
Rating/Warnings: Fairly low!
Status: Complete
Max was an intriguing character. Morrigan didn’t know him yet, at least dream-wise, but she was curious to know more. He didn’t aggravate her like some people from Thedas did. Though the fact that she’d been downright civil to both Leliana and Alistair when she’d run into them had been a miracle. Nevertheless, at least Max wasn’t as exasperating as Hawke could be at times. Plus she welcomed another who was adept at making potions. It meant they had something to talk about, especially when it came to Thedosian herbs. Morrigan had tidied up her house a bit, not that it was ever messy, but she still did some cleaning. Her greenhouse was in the backyard, and she had a lab inside the house where she actually made potions and her other herbal remedies. Morrigan waited for Max to arrive. She was dressed quite differently from her dreams. She currently wore a white blouse and a black skirt, though her hairstyle was the same as it was in the dreams. She had a bit more style sense in this life. She had the rags she wore in the dreams here, but she tended to only wear them when Maia was around, and when they weren’t going out in public. Crafting potions was something Max wanted more practice at - he’d done it quite a bit in Thedas, traveling with the Inquisition on their missions to gain influence, navigate treacherous political seas, and close rifts. On these journeys he tended to find the right ingredients, either from merchants and various vendors, or growing in the wild, or even by looting the bodies of the ones they killed. A crude method, perhaps, but effective. Here, he’d made a few potions while in Regina’s crypt, and he brought those along to the address Morrigan gave him - a couple regeneration potion samples, tonics that granted resistance to fire and cold, and also grenades that exploded in a sticky and literally hot mess. He hadn’t quite mastered the potion which summoned bees yet, but maybe that could come eventually. Everything was in a pouch, bottles tucked neatly in there in their separate compartments. Eager to see what wonders Morrigan had in her greenhouse (while at the same time trying not to spoil her about the events of the dreams too much), he arrived and rang the bell. Just once. Politely. One thing Morrigan always enjoyed was intelligent people. Max seemed to be intelligent, and perhaps they could learn from each other regarding potions. Knowledge was something that Morrigan always treasured, though she tended to study ancient lore and knowledge and attempt to preserve it. Hearing the bell ring, she gave a glance to her cats, ensuring that Bastet wasn’t about to run out the door when she opened it. Noting that, she moved to the door and opened it, a smile on her face. “Hello, please do come in,” she invited, stepping aside. Morrigan wasn’t what one may call a people-person, but she was perfectly sociable and courteous when she wanted to be. Max returned the smile, intrigued on his end because he’d just dreamed of her and the happenings in the beauty of the Arbor Wilds - felt that way, to him, and then things had evolved quickly in those very clear memories. He wasn’t certain if they were finished or not, but they did feel a little...complete. Bittersweet too, though he hadn’t really been expecting much of a happy ending. Those didn’t quite exist, for the ones who built their lives in the likes of Thedas. “It’s good to see you,” he said as he stepped inside the house. There was a cat, two of them as Morrigan had stated, and he stooped to pet one when the furry feline came to circle his legs and put her scent all over the new human property - miiiiiiine. “I brought a few potions I made already - thought it might be good as we go over things.” Then he stood up straight, ready to follow. “I’m looking forward to seeing the selection you have - herbs are bits of home that I wouldn’t mind working with.” Much better than getting the Anchor, for one thing - he dreaded that, quite a bit. The cat that greeted Max was a red Abyssinian. Bastet. She determined he was was good people, possibly because of the pets. She liked pets, and even purred. Persephone, the black and silver Bengal, was hanging back, more cautious and skeptical. “Indeed, they are a more welcome gift of the dreams.” Morrigan said once the door was closed. While she hadn’t received any horrible gifts yet, just knowing the state of the Blight and just having Flemeth as her mother, she could have gotten any number of unpleasant gifts from the dreams. “Excellent, I do look forward to seeing those potions. I have been crafting a few of my own as well. Weak lyrium potions, considering I have no actual lyrium, but I have the other herbs that go into making them.” Weak lyrium potions were better than none, especially if Orange County came under siege again like with the Stormtroopers and the like. Sometimes a mage needed a boost in battle. “If you wish to come straight to the point, I shall show you to the greenhouse. Or perhaps I should rephrase and say if Bastet would allow you to do so,” Morrigan said with bemusement as she looked down at her cat. Ah, Bastet. It seemed like Max had found a new best friend on his end as well - she was unique-looking, with that cinnamon-colored fur of hers. He’d never seen a cat like that, but then again, he wasn’t overly familiar with the breeds. It figured that Morrigan would have animals in her sanctuary, though - even in the dreams, she seemed to be ‘one with nature.’ Humans themselves were complicated. “Sounds good, lead the way,” he laughed, giving Bastet a few more scritches behind the ears. All that rumbling and purring was actually kind of cute. “Oh, and yeah, lyrium potions - I hadn’t considered those, but they’d be helpful, definitely. Did you say you had any black lotus in your collection too?” It was a rare herb, but beautiful in appearance he thought, something that grew along the Storm Coast - but one of the potential ingredients in lyrium potions. Elfroot and deep mushrooms, others, were plentiful here at least. Bastest was the friendly and social one of Morrigan’s cats. Morrigan did feel more at home amongst animals and plants. People were exhausting and irritating, and she didn’t exactly have good people skills. She could be civil towards most, and nice to the few she liked, but she was more often than not stand-off-ish and a bitch. Though she didn’t precisely care about that part. No wonder she was a shapeshifter. When she tired of people, she could shift into an animal and run, or fly, free for a while. “The lyrium potions would be more effective with actual lyrium, though considering there are no dwarves about to refine it, tis for the best that we have none.” The last thing they needed was for a raw lyrium mine to show up without anyone to properly mine the stuff. She then led the way down the hall, through the kitchen and out the back door. “No, I have blood lotus, not black lotus. Though hopefully in the future I shall have some black lotus to add to the collection.” She then opened the door of the greenhouse and stepped inside. It was well stocked. Many different kinds of herbs growing. She moved passed the native Earth ones and moved to the ones from Thedas. They were all clearly labeled, even though she knew what they were by sight. She also had a plant labeled Dreamshade that was sitting in the same area, though still mostly on its own. “This is my growing collection of herbs from Thedas.” The plants were certainly growing well. A couple were obviously more recently planted than others, evidence of what she’d used for some potion making. “Actually...” Trevelyan paused, because he wasn’t sure how to bring up that there was a lyrium vein, the raw stuff present in the Deep Roads - or at least, he’d seen the spiraling, electric blue branches that looked like teeth in the depths of the Earth. “There’s a park with an entrance to the Deep Roads - meaning, the OC’s version of the Deep Roads. No darkspawn, but I saw raw lyrium there. I’ve been meaning to research whether inhumans would have the same immunity dwarves in Thedas do, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.” Still, it would be a useful thing to acquire, if they could get their hands on some processed lyrium. No one but the dwarves knew how to process it, was the thing. Maybe some science genius could figure it out; anything was possible here. Then he was sufficiently intrigued by Morrigan’s collection of Thedosian herbs - he went to the blood lotus, admiring its deep purple and red hues, chuckling a little at the memory of the gossip from Val Royeaux. “I haven’t exactly tried it in the hallucinogenic way, but I hear it’s pretty powerful.” Even had one woman attempting to take a bite out of a marble statue mistaken for cake? Both of Morrigan’s eyebrows rose. “Truly? Now that is something to know. Though perhaps tis best that we approach the raw lyrium cautiously until we are able to know who may not be as affected by it.” Then came the little problem of refining the lyrium, but that was probably something for the scientists to work out. “Nor have I. Tis quite the plant, one must say. I do admire it in some ways. This is one of the plants that should not become popular in this world. Marijuana and other such drugs are more than enough. People need not come to use blood lotus.” Though she could undoubtedly make a fortune selling it in such a way, but she was not one to dabble in that type of thing. Max certainly put it on his to-do list - he thought he might know a couple of friends who weren’t exactly human, therefore, it would stand to reason that they wouldn’t be affected by the dangers of handling raw lyrium, but taking that risk was something to hash out with them first. He was just glad the entrance to the Deep Roads was fully concealed and blocked off - the last thing he wanted was for someone to accidentally end up there and not be able to get out. But anyway, that was a hairy problem for another time. “Right, and magic mushrooms are probably more than enough too,” he flashed a grin, moving down the line to see what else was in the greenhouse. Rashvine - use thick gloves and carry a sword when handling it, Max remembered. It was a prime ingredient in some grenades. Speaking of. He lifted the pouch up and over, taking it off so he could set it on one of the greenhouse tables and pull out the potions he’d made. “Here’s what I have so far,” he said. “Samples of each. Regeneration, Tears of the Dead, and Antivan Fire - though the latter would definitely be more effective with the proper Rashvine. We had to use poison ivy.” It was very useful to know that there was lyrium here. It meant good things for those of them who were mages. Though to those here who were Templars, it could potentially be something bad. Though that was the nature of lyrium, being both beneficial in some aspects, and highly addictive and mind-destroying in others. There was a reason some Templars went mad from using lyrium. Morrigan quickly turned her attention to the potions he had brought. And intriguing mix, but all helpful. “I have made some Regeneration potions as well. One may never have too many of those.” She then looked at the Antivan Fire one, lifting it to study the contents within. “Poison ivy? Certainly an excellent replacement, though obviously lacking in effectiveness to what we are used to in Thedas. Nevertheless, sometimes we must make do with the herbs at our disposal in this world. Sometimes it works out for the better, others it does not.” She lowered the Antivan Fire vial and looked at Max. “How eager are you to use rashvine and see how effective Antivan Fire can be outside of the dreams?” While she didn’t make grenades that often, it certainly wasn’t that difficult to make them. And she did like the idea of making more things from Thedas. How eager was he? Well. Max was pretty damn eager, believe it or not. “Sounds like something that needs to happen,” he responded, trying not to bounce on his toes like a little kid. But crafting potions was actually kind of fun - it was something he had a knack for, and he wanted to continue developing the skill in this world. Especially if it meant arming the people he cared about with ways to defend themselves, should shit hit the fan. And shit hit the fan pretty often here. “We also need...” the Inquisitor trailed off, pulling to the forefront of his memory the proper list of ingredients. It was like a test; Morrigan could give him a grade, hopefully he’d earn an A+ at herbalism today. “Deep mushroom? Blood lotus?” Anything else? A partridge in a pear tree, two turtle doves? Morrigan would not blame someone for being rather eager when it came to potion making. A bit of an amused look crossed her face. “Blood lotus. Unless you wish to go the more complicated route for which I lack the herbs required. Dragonthorn is not yet in my possession, among some other herbs. Though rashvine and blood lotus will be enough for the full effect.” She grabbed a pair of gloves and pulled them on, best for handling the rashvine, of course. She then grabbed a container and took some rashvine and some blood lotus to use to make the Antivan Fire. “Now, is there another potion you would like to work on? T’would save us coming out for some other herbs should we decide upon it.” Saving steps was always a good thing, especially when brewing potions. One never wanted to stray too far lest something go wrong. Another pair of gloves, Max took those too - he would heed the warnings he’d read about, when it came to handling rashvine, it would be stupid not to. “How about a couple healing mist grenades?” he suggested - since they were going to make the Antivan Fire grenade, why not make something that was basically the exact opposite? It was a switch for the learning experience, though he didn’t think making the healing mist was that complicated. When tossed, the grenade did as the name would suggest - released a fine mist that healed those in the immediate area, and it was a moderate amount of fixer-upper magic too. Nothing miracle-worthy, but enough. “I think mostly spindleweed is in that, and you have a pretty good supply here.” As for crafting the potions, Trevelyan was no officially in the zone - he would happily dive into Morrigan’s laboratory, and he didn’t plan to come out anytime soon. “I can grind the rashvine?” “An excellent choice considering the large-scale invasions that seem to occur at times in this place.” In Orange County, the invasions came without warning. At least in Thedas, similar events tended to have signs, at least as far as the Blights went. Darkspawn on the surface tended to signal a Blight was coming, for instance. Having some of these grenades to help heal larger groups of people would be far more efficient, and easier on the herb supply, than making large quantities of healing potions. “Embrium may be used as well, though I have plenty of that as well.” She harvested some spindleweed and embrium as well, simply to give the grenade a bit more kick to it. “That shall work. Let me show you to the lab. It shall be more comfortable than sitting in the greenhouse.” Morrigan didn’t necessarily mind it, but sometimes the heat and humidity, among other things, in the greenhouse got a bit much after a while. That was true, they’d be sweating like a pair of testicles in an Orlesian desert (Hawke was so crude sometimes) if they did most of the work where it was humid and like breathing in water. “Of course, please do,” he nodded, arming himself with plenty of the herbs to work with on his end - though admittedly, Max would be kind of disappointed to leave this place, despite the sauna feel; everything was so lush, and vibrant, it smelled like rainfall and like life itself - hard to not feel even a little refreshed (despite how after too much time in the heat you’d be slogging). “You run your whole business out of here, right?” Trevelyan asked. “Your lab, and your greenhouse, and you have a pretty large clientele?” He also slipped the vials back into their holdings, in the pouch he brought, preparing to transport them. Morrigan more than understood the love of the greenhouse. Her plants were all healthy and well cared for. Not to mention she had many different kinds growing there. Many of them were exotic ones. Or what most in this hemisphere might consider exotic. To her, they were normal, but she still admired every aspect of them. In a way, her plants, much like her cats, were children to her, and she ensured to give them the utmost care. “Indeed I do. My clientele is larger than one may expect. Though within that, there are the ones who are very dim-witted and uneducated about herbal remedies.” Such as all the men coming to her for remedies that did what viagra did back when Valentine’s Day was approaching. She always did loathe that time of year. Once she had her share of herbs to work with, she led the way back inside and to her lab. She had at least put away the Dreamshade antidote she was working on so that it would not be in their way. “This is where the magic happens.” She smirked a bit, obviously intending the pun. Potion was more chemistry than it was magic, but considering they were both mages, it was a well-placed pun. It was perhaps a bit of both? Magic and chemistry? Trevelyan laughed, a warm sound, and carefully set down the rashvine first. He’d keep the gloves on while grinding it up into a fine powder - wouldn’t want to turn those hands red and get them all stinging. “The uneducated ones are always a bane of existence,” he agreed, setting everything else down after, organizing it on one of the counter spaces in the lab. Everything looked very clean and professional, all the alchemical equipment needed to brew potions, bottles of liquid to be used as a base - so he was a little bit at home, even if he wasn’t used to such a modern setup. But potion brewing was like riding a bike, he’d discovered. One of the mortar and pestles was selected, the ceramic kind. “I work to try to educate people first and foremost, when it comes to mental health - but there’s ironically the same kind of stigma there as there is about magic, in Thedas.” He hadn’t missed the parallel, no - it made sense, when you thought about it. “I figure I’ll just...try to craft Antivan Fire as best I can, and if you notice something about to blow up, take my toys away?” “Indeed they are. Much of this line of work is attempting to educate people.” There was no cure-all, no magic medicine that would cure every illness and ailment. Even magic had its limitations in that respect. Morrigan set her herbs down, then grabbed a mortar and pestle for herself. She took great pride in having the best that she could afford. Even while she’d studied herbalism in rural China for a time, she still preferred a more modern set up when it came to making her herbal remedies and potions. “I do believe you are correct in that. One could also the same regarding sexuality that is anything other than heterosexuality. Not to mention one could make the parallel for most marginalized groups of people in such a fashion.” Anything that went against what was considered ‘normal’ tended to come with a stigma and tended to be met by fear and hate. But that was human nature, was it not? Fearing what was not understood or already accepted as normal? “I shall do my best to stop you from blowing us up. It is probably for the best that I have my magic in such a case.” In an emergency, a spell might work faster than running for safety equipment would. And Morrigan did have a fire extinguisher in the lab. Whether it had been there before Maia had accidentally set her curtains on fire was unclear. “Right, with sexuality too. Relationships that aren’t strictly heterosexual don’t seem to be as scandalous in Thedas - which is also ironic, because it’s a time period where we don’t even have electricity. And yet here we are now, in 2016, and it’s still a big deal if two men want to get married, or two women,” Max shook his head. Perhaps marriage equality was on the up and up, but there were still prejudices. There were still hate crimes. There were still homosexuals being denied basic rights. All of that was so deeply rooted. In Thedas perhaps it was different - overall society was more open about that sort of thing. Except if you were in Tevinter, apparently. But the discrimination wasn’t necessarily the preference for liking cock, more what being gay meant. Not having children and further enriching the bloodline for whatever reason was considered the worst offense. But at any rate, he stepped off his soap box while he worked on the grenade - soon, with strong alcohol as a base, he had mixtures bubbling and brewing, and was pouring some here and there from one flask into another, then into the mold that was best for making a grenade-shaped weapon. “How’s this so far?” “Tis most ironic indeed. Thedas is rather progressive in some of its views as opposed to things in this world. Though perhaps, at least as far as sexuality is concerned, is due to the fact there is a religious ideology, whether referenced by their holy texts or not, that homosexuality is a mortal sin. The Chantry does not seem to have such rhetoric to it, even in Tevinter.” Morrigan could go on for hours about the evils of religion, both here and in Thedas, but she’d leave that rant for another day. Overall, Morrigan found herself favoring this world to Thedas for living in. For one, her mother wasn’t here to try and possess her. For another, Blights and Archdemons didn’t exist here. And she far preferred having plenty of time to spend with Maia as opposed to putting her feelings on hold in order to fight a war. Just as Max worked, Morrigan worked on her potion. When she got things brewing, she may have had a passing Shakespearean thought of ‘double bubble toil and trouble’ that gave her some amusement. Many called her a witch, though it was typically by people that didn’t like her, so the quote fit. At his question, she turned her full attention to his concoction, coming over to inspect it. Antivan Fire was a grenade that needed to be made with care. It was explosive, but when treated with careful, steady hands it was fine. “Excellent. It is coming together nicely. You may keep your toys for the time being,” she said with a note of amusement to her voice. Hey, they had electricity in this world - and proper toilets, and toilet paper, and safe to say Trevelyan preferred it too - the Inquisitor was who he once was, and he’d made his choices, but here it really was nice to not have to worry about closing rifts, or giant assholes ripped in the sky with demons shitting out. He wouldn’t knock it, because that could change tomorrow. But being in the modern world also meant that crafting potions was a little easier, what with the equipment better suited for it - equipment that wasn’t so old-fashioned. “For the time being,” he grinned, pleased with the praise. Coming from Morrigan, that seemed like a lot so he would take it. And who knew, once this Antivan Fire was done there may be a very real reason to use it, along with the other potions they’d be crafting. He’d rather be prepared than not, especially with so much at stake. But oh, prepared they would be. |