ᴘʀɪɴᴄᴇss ᴏғ ᴘʀᴇsᴛɪᴅɪɢɪᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ (cigam) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-02-05 16:11:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, magnus bane, zatanna zatara |
Who: Magnus & Zatanna
What: Making potions, for the sake of practice
When: Recently!
Where: Magic Guild HQ
Rating/Warnings: Nothing of note, it's tame!
Status: Complete
Magic flowed rampantly and wildly through the world, this world, a surge of it fuel and energy in Zatanna’s veins. It was in perfect symbiosis with reality, as she had come to learn the more she’d dreamed. And it was everywhere. That was why her trips to Guild HQ, hidden and secluded - quiet and safe - meant so much to her. There would never be any way she’d stop learning, and she especially loved working on the sects of magic that didn’t necessarily fall within the realm of her ‘expertise.’ It gave her a chance to stretch her wings, so to speak. Shelves of ingredients in glass jars, broomsticks (for rituals, mainly) hovering - the room meant for potion practice had so much. Gradually the collection grew and grew, but she didn’t even remember where most of this came from - everything from rattlesnake tails to mice skeletons, witch wart, four leaf clovers, a lucky rabbit’s foot, spray from a skunk? Whatever it was, the Guild likely had it. And she likely that she’d get some potion-making practice in when there wasn’t a county-wide crisis underway. So, she picked up some dusty books from the library, carried them to the right room, and cracked them open to begin working. Constantine was friends with an herbalist, Max, who brought by otherworldly selections to work with. She was eager to see what these were like. Magnus enjoyed going to The Guild for various reasons as well. He enjoyed talking to the other magic users and comparing abilities. He enjoyed the practice area where he could safely practice his defensive magic without worrying about accidentally breaking something or Chairman Meow getting in the way. And he enjoyed perusing the various magic books. It was while reading through a few of the spell and potion books that he began to think about practicing brewing a few potions. Nothing too crazy of course, but there were a few basic ones from his dreams that he recalled and so he decided to try them out. He had been scanning one of the shelves of ingredients when he heard someone else come into the room. Glancing over his shoulder he spotted Zatanna at a nearby table. “Doing a little light reading?” He asked, a smirk upon his lips as he moved to the end of the shelf so he would be visible to her instead of a disembodied voice from amongst the shelves. Not being a disembodied voice was appreciated - though Magnus could probably peer out with those yellow eyes of his and resemble the Cheshire cat. Zatanna grinned, turning another page carefully (these books were old - some from her Shadowcrest dream library that had made its way to this world, and before that, her father had an insane amount of books she’d inherited for her own magical sanctuary). “Potions are not typically my specialty but I like to practice here and there,” she explained. “I was just looking up some ones that might not be too difficult to make, and that we can stockpile next time there’s an emergency.” Like healing potions. Or ones that gave a burst of energy - though one could argue coffee was an effective way to do that as well. “What about you? It has been some time, my friend. I don’t think I’ve seen you since the wedding.” Which was beautiful, by the way. “What a coincidence. I’m also here for potions practice.” Magnus wished that some of his books from the dreams had shown up, especially the Book of the White, seeing as how he was it’s current owner, in the dreams, but so far it hadn’t made an appearance. He wasn’t giving up hope though, because things seemed to show up at random times. “I make them often in the dreams, for various things. Most of the time it's because someone is paying me for them, but I also make them to help Alec and his friends.” He smiled when Zatanna mentioned the wedding, “With Thanksgiving and Christmas being so soon after the wedding, there was a lot going on. Including my husband and his sister’s boyfriend getting mind whammied by some mistletoe.” Magnus had only told Dorian about that particular incident, but it wasn’t as if Alec had made him swear not to tell anyone. Besides, he assumed Simon and Isabelle had also told others about it. “Oh, that mistletoe,” Zatanna had to laugh, shaking her head. “Some of it found John too. He kissed a friend of his, and he felt horribly guilty about it afterward - but these things happen. It was kind of cute though, when he told me.” Constantine would never have called it that, but anyway. Not like Zee could do anything about it having occurred, or even that she minded much - she knew he didn’t just go around making out with his friends, especially when those friends had romantic partners of their own. Getting up from the table, she brought the book to one of the counters where she would lay out her ingredients, near the beakers and bottles and what looked like an arcane chemistry set. Potion-making was such fun, wasn’t it. So much potential for one thing to go wrong and offset the whole concoction. “What sorts of things did you make in your dreams?” she asked. “Maybe we could replicate them now. I could help you, and it’d be a good lesson for me too.” “Alexander was worried that he may have screwed things up, but honestly, how could I be mad when he had no control over it?” Besides, considering it had been Simon who Alec had kissed, it had only made it more amusing. He and Isabelle were very understanding people when it came to the sort of things Orange County made happen. “I ended up zapping the mistletoe out of the air. I put the pieces in a jar. Meant to bring it here then, but it slipped my mind since. I’ll have to bring it next time.” When Zatanna got up, he followed her to the potions table, “I would make a number of different potions. Some of them were for raising demons or things like that. And I don’t think we want to do that.” He thought for a moment, “Considering the things that happen here, we probably can’t go wrong with a little healing potion. Something we could keep on hand in case someone needs it the next time there’s a crisis.” When Magnus said he had saved some of the mistletoe, her eyes lit up, excitement in the bright blue velvet. “A good idea, to save some of it,” Zatanna could only imagine what they would find with a more in-depth analysis - it clearly was some type of magic, a bit of danger in there too considering how the effects took away your control and compelled you to do something. She could see John’s point; the possibilities of that didn’t settle well. “We’ll have to make a date to see what we can discover about the plant. In the meantime, we can make some healing potions though. I don’t think it’s ever a bad idea, to have something like that on hand.” She reached for a pad and a pencil, to write down the necessary ingredients so she could compile everything in one spot. No doubt Magnus’ recipe for the concoction was different than the ones she’d researched and worked on when otherworldly nasties were popping up out of rifts on the ground. “What do we need, potions master?” They could definitely do without the raising demons. They seemed to find their way to the OC without help or summoning. “I’ll be sure to bring it the next time,” The jar was currently in a drawer in his dresser so that nothing would happen to it. That and he didn’t think that Alec wanted it hanging around in the open to remind him of kissing Simon, not that there was anything wrong with kissing Simon, but Alec didn’t like thinking that he may have messed up, which Magnus has assured him, he hadn’t. “Maybe next year we can figure out a deterrent or something. Prevent it from actually affecting anyone,” It was a long shot, but with all the magic everyone in the Guild possessed, it was possible. Magnus smiled at the title of potions master and began ticking off the ingredients he would have used in the dreams for a healing potion. He knew that some of the items might not be ones they had, but once they moved on to the ingredients shelves, he would be able to decide what they could use as substitutes. An evil mistletoe deterrent. That would definitely sell like hotcakes around here, wouldn’t it? Not that Zatanna was planning to sell such a thing - but it would be nice to offer to people, since apparently the place where they lived liked to troll them. That, and a healing potion, would be widely used she was sure. The ingredients were not difficult to gather, and she pulled various bottles and herbs off the shelves - substitutes, since not everything was a perfect match, but she at least knew what it all was and presumably how it’d react. “Now we just need a base - probably alcohol would work? Vodka?” she suggested, and she had a flask of it here. She picked up on jar of herbs, unscrewing the canister and giving it a sniff. “This will be good - why is it that some healing potions taste terrible?” Like dirty socks or something. Not much incentive to keep it down. It was actually easier to figure out what ingredients could be substituted than he’d thought, but it made sense considering his knowledge of potions and ingredients from the dreams, “I think that’s how you know they’re the good ones. The worse they taste, the more potent they are.” He smirked and measured out one of the ingredients into a mortar and and began crushing it up, “Is this the first time you’ve ventured into potions?” Magnus had done more reading on potions lately then he’d done actual potions. Zatanna got the burners ready, lighting a fire with a bit of backward-speak. This would need to bubble and simmer, as potions did - when she was in this room, she felt a little bit like a witch at her cauldron. It was kind of amusing to her. “Not the first time,” she said, finding another mortar and pestle. Once the small iron pot was hot enough, she added a dash of vodka as a base, the result obviously fiery - alcohol was typically used in such a manner, when creating potions. You always needed a good base. “I made some with Merlin during that whole demon rift debacle during the summer,” she told Magnus. “It was very much like this, though his specialty isn’t making potions either so it was kind of like the blind leading the blind. Still, we made it work. I like to get the practice in anyway, you know?” “It’s funny, in my dreams, I still use a little cauldron and just…” He snapped his fingers and a spark of blue flames danced around his fingertips for a moment before he extinguished it. Magnus had learned to do potions in a time before bunsen burners or stoves and even in the twenty first century, he still preferred to do it the old fashioned way, “Maybe I’ll get one for at home. It might be interesting to see Alexander’s reaction when I bring one home.” Zatanna grinned at the idea of a cauldron. She did like those as well - and when you were a magic user, your tools and equipment were all just as important as the spells you wielded. It was why she always took extra good care of her tarot cards, her scrying mirrors, and even her wand, top hat and tails for stage shows. The Guild was maintained meticulously as well - no messy working spaces on her watch. “There are plenty of occult shops to find a cauldron, at least,” she nodded. “Just tell Alec that it’s all for the sake of authenticity. Now, let’s see - “ All the ingredients were laid out, the burners heated. “Guide me as you go, and I’ll watch you work some magic.” “He would likely give me a look and shake his head, but help me find a place to put it,” Considering Alec had items from the dreams, he didn’t think that his husband would think it too strange if Magnus came home with a cauldron, “I think I’ll look for one soon actually.” Looking over the ingredients, Magnus began walking Zatanna through the process, adding them each when the time was right and stirring when needed. “Now, we should leave this to simmer for a few minutes and it should be done.” The color and smell appeared right, from what he recalled from the dreams, so he didn’t think they had messed it up. Zatanna had no idea what these were supposed to smell or look like, but she trusted Magnus and she was careful as she went through the steps - one wrong move and they’d very likely blow up the whole place. That was the way of potion-making, she supposed, why it was always such a risk. But when it seemed all set to simmer, she gave the concoction one last pass-through with the stirring stick, and decided that she felt right about it too. There was a certain magical essence to potions as well, and she had the feeling that everything clicked into place well enough. “You’re a good teacher,” she smiled. “I have missed making magic with you, Magnus.” He was one of the first wielders of hocus pocus that she’d met, after all, and a very early member of the Guild - in fact, he helped inspire the idea in her. Magnus smiled, “Well, if you ever want to do anything magical, you can always give me a call.” He leaned against the table, “Unless I’ve already got plans or a shoot, I’m always up for magic.” The Guild had been a great idea and through it Magnus had met quite a few magic users that he hadn’t known before it and he was glad that he had helped to inspire Zatanna to start it. “I definitely will. Or I’ll just awkwardly pop up one day,” she teased, but no - she wouldn’t do that to the newlyweds. They needed to be in the honeymoon phase for as long as possible. Because in this place? That was time you should savor, and rightly so. |