InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Not the butter"

ʙᴇᴇᴘ ʙᴇᴇᴘ, ʀɪᴄʜɪᴇ (trashing) wrote in valloic,
@ 2022-06-24 10:03:00

Entry tags:

!: action/thread/log, ₴ inactive: rasalas black, ₴ inactive: richie tozier (2)

Richie & Rasalas

WHAT: Ras officially teaches Richie how to make the vision-boosting potion, in prep for a demonstration at the Outlander magic event thing
WHERE: Ras's greenhouse spot, then the clinic
WHEN: Recently?? Idk
WARNINGS: Not really
STATUS: Complete

Outside of Quidditch and the Death Eaters, she couldn’t say she’d ever really considered herself being a ‘team’ person or really someone that anyone would want on their team.

Richie had been to the greenhouses at Ras’s fuck off castle (well, he guessed it wasn’t her castle, technically) many times - he knew the ways of these lands by now, anyway, and the ins and the outs as best he could, even if he likely wouldn’t ever know it as well as she did. But he actually looked forward to coming here to help her out - it was a verdant sprawl and smelled woodsy, rain and earth and pine, and the air was damp and felt like a childhood memory, in the oddest way. Maybe because Maine, or New England in general, had these weird unreasonably warm days in February on occasion. Just no explanation as to why it wasn’t cold as balls, and then it never lasted - but after he’d gotten his childhood memories back, well. Richie recalled. Certain aspects of his youth were triggered with specific sights and aromas and sensations, and there were a couple in the greenhouse.

He showed up to check on her like he always did (but he didn’t actually call it that - otherwise she might roll her eyes) and give her the chance to boss him around, which he never minded. Wearing jeans and a graphic t-shirt printed with ‘Omelet That Slide’ (so clever) with Converse sneakers, he entered the lady wizard’s domicile, having texted her beforehand to make sure now was a good time to meet up. They had some new vision-boosting potions to make for whatever this new Outlander outreach shit was (felt like there was always something going on with that, and Richie knew Max would be involved because this was his thing so of course he’d support his husbando) and he fully planned to demonstrate the effectiveness of the potion by drinking one and then scrying at the event.

But he also thought it was tit-for-tat if he helped with the potions too, and helped out here in general - so he wandered inside and called out, “Heeeeey my favorite Rasalsa,” before swiping a watering can to fill it at one of the spigots, and begin the usual rounds.

Ras was more used to Richie now than she had been at the beginning, but that was the nature of having someone come around so often. There were still random things that flustered her, but that came with the territory of things. Sirius would have been happy to know she didn’t shut herself off and never talk to anyone again. Sometimes she wished her sister would show up, but it would likely be a lot more awkward than she wanted.

So she let herself focus on making more potions. This one in particular would be for the purposes of showing off its ability to enhance visions and psychic powers. She chewed the corner of her mouth as she made sure that everything she needed was there. Some of it was things from home, while other things were things from Vallo itself. She’d found a way to make them work together and not kill anyone. She just casually never mentioned while she was testing it that she was the one making sure no one would die.

When Richie walked in, she rolled her eyes, both at his shirt and his greeting. “That corner,” she motioned to her right. “Doesn’t need more water for right now. But that one,” she pointed to the left. “Has been waiting for you.” She casually plaited her hair over one shoulder, tying it with a green ribbon at the end. Since they were officially working now. “I am going to need to visit Silniara again after this to get a few more clippings.”

“To the left,” Richie agreed, giving Ras a salute before heading off in that direction. He was careful when he did his watering, not wanting to drown the poor plants and herbs - but it was also soothing, in a sense, quenching the thirst of the parched soil. He liked watching things grow and knowing that he had sort of helped that process along - maybe that was why Ras was so into gardening too. It was a constant cycle of rebirth and starting anew, you know, second chances and all of that.

He pushed his glasses up on his nose, and soon he’d start sweating because the greenhouse was toasty - but he never minded. The place felt like a tropical rainforest and was so whimsical to boot - where else could you find a spot to pull plants from pots, and those plants emitted a human-like cry that was so piercing it could deafen people so you needed to wear earmuffs to touch the things?

Amazing. And yes, Richie knew not to touch specific deadly and dangerous plants by now - he was goofy, not stupid.

“Prigany’s mainly stocked up on seer potions but I guess they could use a few more,” he added. “Especially for this thing coming up. I’ll be sure to get some practice time in - or we can. You can be my spotter, as usual.” He hadn’t experienced a bad reaction to the potion yet but who knew. It was Vallo. That said it all.

All aspects of potion-making involved understanding the ingredients that went into a potion. So having a good knowledge of herbology was a must. She was careful to care for the plants the way she was meant to. Even if it hadn’t really been her strongest, there was no point in letting things die for it. She had the library at Hogwarts to help her when things weren’t working how she remembered and she also had other covens around to ask. She usually leaned on Bonnie or Richie for introductions and help in that regard. But she’d gotten a little more familiar. She kept herself outside of the covens mostly to make herself available to any of them just in case.

“It can’t hurt to have some extra around just in case. I’m making sure that all of my notes and everything for things others from home might not be able to make are in journals from Vallo. So they don’t disappear if I do.” She also had a bag she’d gotten from one of the shops here to make it easier to keep things. She had important potions with spells to keep them from breaking, various books, and extra clothes. Not that one could tell. It seemed fairly small, but she’d added an undetectable extension spell on the inside along with a spell to keep the bag light enough to carry around.

“I’m happy to spot and make sure nothing terrible happens. Probably not inside the greenhouses, though. Definitely somewhere else.”

Richie glanced up. “Yeah, I guess being prepared like that is a good idea,” he noted, though the whole thing of it made him frown. He didn’t want Ras to disappear even if he knew it was always a possibility - it was a possibility he or Max could disappear too, and he already had that conversation with his husbando as well. A depressing conversation, yes, but a necessary one - they made an appointment with a local lawyer and got their shit sorted as a ‘just in case,’ because they both wanted El to be able to have whatever she needed and to thrive even if her two guardians were gone from this world. That’s what a good parent did, he guessed - prepared for Life and was smart about it, rather than burying their heads in the sand.

“Can you show me how to make them too?” he asked, clenching the handle of the watering can and moving closer. He also had some weeding to do, probably, but he’d get to that. It was always his least favorite part - though he helped Prigany weed all the time, out by their caravans and forest dwellings. “I mean, right now. Just a quick overview. That way if I see your notes, it’ll make more sense to me.”

Ras didn’t want to disappear either, but it was best to be safe. But it was one of those things. She could never be certain what would happen. This place constantly showed her that. “I do my best to leave things set up so that things will be around. I hope the castle will stay.”

There was a pause at his question and she nodded. “I can show you, yes. This may be easier than the other potions from my world. You have psychic powers, but not so much magic. So those would be hard if you don’t already have magic. But if you have someone with you with magic, that shouldn’t be an issue.” Since she was here, it would probably be fine. She made a mental note of where everything she needed was. “We’d need to get my cauldron or a cauldron anyway. Hogwarts probably has a few in there.”

A cauldron, that worked. Richie would feel like he was one of the double, double, toil and trouble witches - but that definitely wasn’t a bad thing. “Nope, no magical prowess,” he confirmed with a grin. “Prigany offered to work with me on enchantment or transmutation or whatever, but...meh.” He just didn’t think he had the knack for that and wasn’t sure if he wanted to open that can of worms, you know? It seemed like a lot of work, a lot of focus and training and discipline - and he already had enough of that shit to worry about when it came to honing his psychic skills (which he’d done pretty well by now, he thought).

But other people being magic? Go off. And if he could make the same vision-boosting potion as a ‘just in case,’ he’d be a happy clam - especially since he already knew that potion worked for him.

“You want me to grab whatever clippings we need and then we can gather around a cauldron?” he asked. He knew Ras gathered her necessary herbs and things from the greenhouse, but she seemed to mostly concoct her potions at the clinic or someplace else that wasn’t here.

Ras quickly copied the list in her book and handed it to him. She’d need a little wormwood essence, which she had at the clinic and a few other things she had there as well. But the plants from Silniara were there and a few other things from her world. She admittedly had used a few things from the wide eye potion to make into a makeshift wide third eye sort of potion. She felt it was quite useful. She carefully pulled a few necessary things out of her bag so that the clippings could be separated in little containers until they got to the clinic and handed them to Richie.

“It’s nice of them to offer all the same. I’ll have to ask if transmutation is anything like transfiguration sometime. I’m still getting used to the different magics in that regard. I have learned some things, but nothing like that.”

“We can probably go to the clinic. No one will question it and at least the twins and the dogs won’t be around to be distracting.” To either of them, but she felt she could focus either way.

Richie took the book, studying the list - he was familiar with the greenhouse enough by now (and could read, hey, points for him) and knew where to find what was necessary. It was all pretty cool, and he realized he hadn’t ever really observed Ras making potions before - he just knew it happened. And that she was some kind of potion fairy. So seeing something new? Yeah, that was neat. He was all for it.

“I dunno - their transmutation is like, transferring energy and also changing matter, working with nature and stuff. Like it comes in handy with weeds and also when farms get damaged. Makes for easy cleanup,” Richie said. One large transmutation spell could turn debris into useful compost or something - it took a lot of effort and wasn’t some simple ‘snap your fingers and it happens’ shit, which was why he wasn’t sure if he could learn. The members of the Prigany coven had been in touch with their magic for awhile.

But alright, then he was off - he collected the right clippings, putting them into containers. There was a certain type of berries necessary, plus violet flower petals and something with sting in the name. “Alright, here we go,” he was cheerful when he returned. “We can probably waypoint to the clinic? You have a cauldron there and shit?”

Both yes and no, then. “We do turn things into other things, but not so much energy into other things. She was curious about that. Was it something similar to Edwin’s magic? She’d been casually aware of nature being able to be used for magic in his world and she was curious to know if it was something similar. She’d make a point to ask him about it later.

Once everything was collected, she put the containers into a specific pocket in the bag to keep them from falling all the way down to the bottom. No one wanted to hang halfway into their bag to get ahold of things they needed. “I think so, yeah. I know I can apparate, but it’s a loud sound in general for other people. Less so me.” And she wasn’t sure how Richie would handle side-along apparation.

He was familiar enough with the concept apparating (and how it sounded like a crack of thunder) to know that he’d probably puke - so a waypoint it was, and Richie used them for travel all of the time. Came in handy when there was a waypoint in Skyhold’s courtyard and he needed to get to the city quickly, considering his and Max’s own ‘fuck off’ castle in the forest was pretty far from civilization.

“Alright, let’s blow this popsicle stand,” he said, heading toward the closest glowing crystal. It only took one touch to bring them to the clinic through the network of waypoints, once the input as to where they were going was received. They ended up outside and Richie glanced at Ras to follow her head.

He wasn’t as acquainted with the clinic like other people were since he wouldn’t describe himself as the type to really jump headfirst into danger without thinking - usually when he did it was to follow Max, who tended to be the hero type through and through. “Show me your ways,” he bowed gracefully.

Ras still didn’t understand what a popsicle stand had to do with anything, but she understood it was just a phrase. A weird phrase. Still, she followed Richie out of the greenhouse and toward the waypoint. Thankfully traveling by waypoint was no less disorienting than apparating, so she’d adjusted fairly quickly.

“You’re weird,” she said before opening the doors to the clinic and leading the way back to her potions corner. She tried mostly to stay out of the way. Everything was neat and tidy and everything was in its own place. Even the books had their own little bookshelf up on the wall. She’d asked before putting it there. But it made the most sense. She set her bag down on the table, pulling her notebook out and her clippings, setting them all where she wanted them to be before bending down to bring her cauldron out. It was a brass cauldron, simple enough. It was only a step above the pewter, but it brewed faster. For things she wanted to go a little slower, she did use her pewter one, but this wasn’t as necessary for the current potion.

“This shouldn’t take too long.” She grabbed her kit and a few extra things from her supplies. “I need you to crush the flowers and billywig stings into a fine powder,” she said after a moment. “There’s a mortar and pestle in that drawer.” She pointed to her right. “Everything the notebook says has to be done how it’s written or it won’t turn out right. It won’t kill you, but it won’t work. Also it might explode. Just a little.”

“Oh, shit,” Richie snorted because - exploding just a little (even a little) seemed like something he didn’t want to happen at all. But he understood that the potions process was very delicate so he planned to do exactly what was asked of him - thus, he reached for the mortar and pestle and scooted to stand near Ras at the station so he could crush the right berries and bullywig stings. “I figured there were some kinda berries in the potions, I can taste those,” he said thoughtfully. Mostly he just knocked the potion back since it didn’t exactly taste like ambrosia - but it did the job very well, and taste was just secondary.

He remembered using a mortar and pestle in chemistry class in high school - ah, fond memories. The clink clink sound of scraping against heavy unpolished granite was actually kind of soothing too. “So you and the dogs doing okay? All set for Quidditch stuff?” he asked, since as he worked in the greenhouse he always made sure to do a check-in and now that they were in the clinic the check-in still wouldn’t fall by the wayside.

Because he was very diligent like that, especially when it came to his friends. Chaotic caring, or something, as Max often said.

Ras nodded as he spoke. She could taste the berries, too. It was certainly something. Perhaps if she tried enough, she would get to a point where she could have visions as well. She had a hard time believing that, but it was interesting to think about it.

She glanced over as he asked about the dogs. She wasn’t entirely unaware that this was part check-in. “The dogs are doing okay. Still four of them. A lot of walks.” She nods at the question about Quidditch. “As far as I know everything is still good with Quidditch. Hopefully no one goes home before my birthday. I’d have to come up with something quick.”

She shrugged. “How’s everything on your end?”

“Well, I’m still here and looking forward to it - I don’t even fall off the broom, so that’s pretty awesome,” Richie said proudly. He’d been getting flying lessons here and there from Ras, so he could effectively referee - and it was so fucking cool. Even if he wasn’t magical himself (or rather, he just figured that whole lifestyle wasn’t for him) he could still soar on a broom and do twists and turns and just generally be awesome at it, despite how at first he got a little airsick.

He had a sensitive stomach, this one. But now it was fine. Just needed some getting used to, that’s all.

Passing over the potion ingredients, he’d ground up using the mortar and pestle, he was diligent about observing the next steps and checking the notebook since the whole goal was for him to learn how to do this. “I’m good though. Things have been chill, can’t complain. I guess we’re due some excitement soon,” he scrunched his nose. Excitement had varying definitions in Vallo.

Ras smiled at that. He didn’t fall off the broom. She was pleased with the way that things were going with flying lessons and Quidditch education in general. It had been a lot at the beginning, but she’d wanted something to distract her from everything else…and it had.

“You’re doing very well with flying,” she agreed. She took the potion ingredients and set them to the side before using magic to make a flame. “You can obviously find a way to make fire otherwise. It’s just easier sometimes to use magic.” She wondered, after a moment, if she shouldn’t just find a way to spell a jar to pull fire back into it or like a deluminator but for fire. Just in case.

She waited for the fire to get to the right temperature before adding the ingredients to the cauldron. She stirred counterclockwise three times before letting it sit for a few minutes. After ten minutes, she added the wormwood essence and stirred clockwise. “It has to sit for a little while.”

He grinned. “I can technically make fire with magic too,” he pointed out. It was true, Richie could create fire - that was the benefit of the totem he wore, the one that had bonded with him. Had stuck with him throughout everything too, even if some of the other totems found new homes over the course of the last few months - but no, him and fire, they were just meant to be. Or something.

“But alright, gotcha, I am with you,” he said, paying diligent attention and checking and rechecking the notebook to observe the steps unfolding in real time. Hey, he used to make pretty good grades in school - and he was smart (he was pretty sure he even got an A in chemistry, back in high school). It was just that paying attention was something that often fell by the wayside because - SQUIRREL.

Yeah. He had other things to focus on. ADHD was a real bitch sometimes.

However, he wouldn’t screw up something like this potion. It was too important. “And it looks good. Should we pour it into the glass vials once the ten minutes are up?”

Ras was still for a moment. “I did forget about that for a moment.” But it was probably just because she didn’t see it that often. “Then I guess I don’t need to bottle any magic fire for you.” She would have. She’d certainly have made sure it was in something that wouldn’t break. She didn’t want to be responsible for a house fire.

She let out a breath as she watched the potion, turning the fire down a little with her wand. She didn’t want it to get too hot. “Once it’s done, we can probably give it a couple minutes to cool down and then put it in the vials. Even if they are unbreakable, there’s no reason to make it so that we burn our hands just touching the vials.” Sure, she could use magic to cool the bottles down, but she’s not entirely certain if it would affect anything and she’s not trying to find out if it would.

“Safety first,” Richie agreed cheerfully. He probably wouldn’t have gotten burned since being able to summon fire meant that he was sort of immune to the blistering effects of holding a flame or anything super hot - but he wouldn’t push his luck. They’d be in a clinic though, so there was that at least.

Still The poor people that worked here had enough to worry about when it came to stupid-ass decisions made by people. Richie wouldn’t add to it.

He waited those required couple minutes once the potion was done, just kind of in awe of the whole process too - like, he’d made those (or he’d helped make those. He’d paid excellent attention). Created something. There was a whole beginning, middle, and end to it and it felt pretty damn satisfying. “Thanks for showing me, by the way,” he added. “I’m glad we’re a team.”

A very small team (more like a duo?) but still the best team to him and they were just awesome with their powers combined. “But yeah, that’s enough sentiment for now,” he promised, corking one of the vials. “Let’s find a space and test out one of these bad boys.”

Ras blinked when Richie called them a team. Outside of Quidditch and the Death Eaters, she couldn’t say she’d ever really considered herself being a ‘team’ person or really someone that anyone would want on their team. Maybe Sirius, but they were related, so there was that. And the team of godparents in case someone disappeared. But that was also different.

She shook it off, making sure that the potion didn’t spill out or on anything. “It’s no problem. At least someone will know what to do with the potions,” she said after a minute. “We should probably set some kind of back up to the back up eventually so Destiny can get the journal if neither of us are here.” She’d prefer it go directly to Destiny instead of through another Outlander. It seemed only right.

“We can go to Grimmauld Place. There’s a lot of empty rooms there.”