InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Humbug!"

Lisa M. Turpin (ex_affirming668) wrote in wished,
@ 2009-10-14 17:38:00

Entry tags:

!1997: 10, !incomplete, lisa turpin, michael corner

October 14, 1997
Characters: Lisa Turpin, Michael Corner & Open
Setting: Wednesday Afternoon. Ravenclaw Commons.
Summary: Lisa is doing some research on this acne business and takes a break with....
Status: TBD

The afternoon was slow and Lisa was done with her classes for the day. To pass the time the Ravenclaw had set up a private research session in the common room on the plush sofa by the fire. Given the fact that a number of younger years were still in lessons the common room was a decent place to work. Not too loud and certainly more homey than the library. Lisa had always preferred getting her work done here on the comfortable furniture allotted the children of Rowena Ravenclaw.

With the books she'd picked up a few days prior laid out systematically on the coffee table and two opened in her lap the girl skimmed various pages with ease. Making notes from time to time on a small personalized tablet of stationary with the Turpin family crest on it the girl was making progress.

The Everlasting Acne charm had been written as a header to her notes and she was gradually deducting it's original origin and magical properties. Though she had yet to perform the jinx she was growing more confident at the idea of doing so in the near future. She was debating whether it'd be better to practice on a lawn gnome that could easily be plucked from the ground or maybe one of those pigs that was seen roaming about Professor Hagrid's old hut. Decisions, decisions!

As she decided a gnome would be a better option she scribbled '- Collect gnome for testing' just as she recognized that eerie feeling of someone standing behind her - reading over her shoulder. She turned quickly with a pinched brow to the person in question.

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mike_corner
2009-10-14 12:56 am UTC (link)

As amusing as Michael found it to just sit in his room and read the journals, comment and go over his homework it didn't stop the boredom from creeping up. He could only reread his homework so many times to make sure it said everything he wanted it to say and that it answered all the questions before he had to sit it aside and that was where he was getting now. And reading about people talking about the squid or Quidditch or entries like his that tried to stay away from the squid was all well and good... for a little while. Now it was just all getting really old and he needed to find something else to do.

Shutting all his books that were spread around on his bed Michael collected them and put them where they belonged. Then his homework quickly followed as he made sure that each parchment was dry and put them in sequential order of the classes he attended and slid them into a muggle folder for safe keeping and then into his satchel for school. Satisfied that his area was in order he picked up his journal and dropped it on his trunk before leaving his room and heading down toward the common room, easily recognizing Lisa sitting on the sofa by the fire and making his way over. He knew he shouldn't read over her shoulder, but he didn't think she'd get too mad.

"Collect a gnome, Lisa? What nefarious schemes are you coming up with now?" Michael questioned with a friendly grin as he came around the sofa she was sitting on before sitting next to her without waiting for an invite. After all, in Michael's mind Lisa would always invite him to sit so he didn't see this as being any different then any other time.

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ex_affirming668
2009-10-14 03:48 am UTC (link)

Lisa didn't particularly mind that Michael invited himself to join her. Though slightly irritated he took it upon himself to read over her shoulder the girl didn't lash out at him immediately for it. Instead she seemed entirely comfortable explaining it to him as the new comer helped himself to a seat.

"I'm thinking about revamping my blemish-be-gone cream," she said simply. Expecting Michael to know full well what she was talking about. Looking over her notes she said with a smirk, "And considering Padma had a fit the last time I tried to pay a second year to test my products on...a gnome will have to do." Looking to Michael she added with a grin, "Unless you want to volunteer?"

She'd distinctly left out the information regarding the curious little hex she'd found in the library a few days ago. She figured at that point in time... it wasn't exactly important.

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mike_corner
2009-10-14 04:27 am UTC (link)

While Michael knew he probably shouldn’t have been reading over her shoulder he really couldn’t bring himself to feel bad about doing it. In the end he was actually kind of disappointed that he didn’t read more. But he knew that if Lisa wanted him to know what it was she’d tell and she proved it when she started talking about it to him. That solved the mystery for the most part then and he was content enough.

“Oh yeah... Your little beauty product line. From what you’ve said it seems to be going well. Are you revamping just to push sales up more?” He was used to seeing muggles do the same thing to sell their items. All they did was just barely change anything to their product, introduce it as new and improved and hike the price and that seemed to do the trick. He’d never really understood why people always wanted the new one even when they couldn’t explain what the difference between the old one and new one were.

He had to laugh at her explanation of the need for the gnome. “Definitely don’t want Padma on your case again. I doubt you’d hear the end of it and who knows if she’d try to get you in trouble for it.” He eyed her strangely when she asked if he wanted to volunteer. “Um... Let’s see.. I’m thinking that is a definite no. Thanks for asking though.”

He honestly had to wonder if anyone would volunteer to be a subject for her experiment. He guessed that she could probably do it in secret if no one volunteered... Not that he was going to mention that because knowing Lisa she’d either thought of it already or would eventually and would end up doing just that.

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ex_affirming668
2009-10-14 04:49 am UTC (link)

Lisa grinned at his response. She hardly expected Michael to take the bait. In fact she didn't expect anyone to willingly volunteer to help her in her endeavors considering the varying aspects and occasional dangers that came with it. In the early years she'd tested most of her products on herself - but the earlier the recipes and the more volatile the ingredients got the more she went to using other things as test subjects. Gnomes were close enough in skin texture...and much easier to hide in her dorm than a pig.

Sighing she leaned back into the sofa resting her head against it as she looked over to him. "I figure if I get rid of the hydration precautions and figure out how to keep the potency more people would be willing to buy it. Right now new clients seem turned off at the possibility of cracking skin..." She rolled her eyes at the thought, "they're all yellow bellied brats."

As it was made now Lisa's blemish-be-gone creme was exceptionally well structured and very effective. Unfortunately, it was required that the user drink eight ounces of water following application or else severe cracking of the skin occurred. Course, it was a simple additional step that Lisa honestly didn't see a problem with for such instant gratifications.

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mike_corner
2009-10-14 05:29 am UTC (link)

Michael honestly couldn’t imagine coming up with some of the things that Lisa did and he figured that if she continued on in this then she’d have a very promising career in more then just one field. Of course that was kind of a depressing thought too because then he had to think about what he wanted to do in the future and despite it being so close he seemed to have a big, gaping hole. That was going to suck a lot when he graduated though his mum was pushing him to try to get his muggle GED as well and look into the possibility of secondary schooling in the muggle world.

“But the possibility is only there if they don’t drink the required amount of water, right?” He was positive he’d read all about her products and heard about them when she’d started marketing them more and he remembered that it wasn’t that much. “I’m pretty sure the amount they have to drink isn’t anything insane, so I don’t see why they’re so worried. Have you had any issues of cracking skin if they do drink the water?”

He was pretty sure that had that been the case he would have heard about it. After all news traveled fast in Hogwarts and he was positive there wasn’t a such thing as a secret around here. Eventually everything was heard though in the end it might have ended up twisted. He could just imagine the type of twisted mess he would have heard had that ever honestly occurred. “Maybe you should a promotional deal? Like give a smaller amount of the cream out as a free sample so they can see how it works?” He saw places that did that all the time, so it must draw in new clientele.

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ex_affirming668
2009-10-14 06:09 am UTC (link)

Lisa scrunched her nose at the suggestion. The idea of giving away random free samples seemed counter productive and expensive. She ordered out for all of her ingredients - some not even Slughorn held in the school closet. The financing of all of it came out of her pocket, and frankly...she was getting rather frustrated with the entire thing. The last few years she'd relied on a number of older yearmates to buy her products. It seemed, however, that the longer they spent out of the school the less interested they were in ordering things from Hogwarts. And the newer students weren't as effectively involved in the rotation of the now older products...

It seemed that after the word-of-mouth marketing strategy died down...Lisa didn't particularly feel up for the challenge of keeping it going the way she should have. Things used to be a lot simpler.

"It's too expensive to be giving it all away," she explained with a sort of pout. "Plus, in the long run the product would be much more marketable if people's faces didn't face the alternative to not hydrating. Not that it really matters..." she continued as she closed the books in her lap and placed them to her side. "This is all just for some extra money..." A not so random thought popped into her head and she looked to Michael before he could respond to her last statement. An honest attempt at serious consideration present in her tone.

"How unethical exactly would it be to cause the acne on someone so that they'd buy the product?"

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mike_corner
2009-10-17 03:53 am UTC (link)

Michael shrugged, not sure how much it all cost Lisa. While not totally inept at potions he definitely wasn’t nearly as good at it as she was. He could get along in the class well enough, but he’d never be one to tinker with potions to see if he could make them better. More then likely he’d end up getting himself blown up or some such thing. He could only imagine how badly he could screw up and his mind was vivid enough to supply himself with pictures. It took a lot to actually keep him from visibly twitching just at the idea. “I know it’s just for extra money and that you don’t have to do it, I was just thinking. But if it costs that much then I can see why you wouldn’t want to.”

Her next question caused him to pause and snort quietly. Unfortunately he could honestly see Lisa doing something like that. He probably should play the voice of reason because he could see Lisa getting in trouble if she did it. Then again if she was sneaky enough she probably could get away with it... He really shouldn’t voice that thought or she might think he was giving her permission to go and try it. If she didn’t need the little side venture then he didn’t see a need for her to do something like that.

“It probably would be frowned upon heavily and considered by most to be rather unethical. I’m sure there are those that wouldn’t think that, but...” he trailed off, uncertain of just how he wanted to word this. “In the long wrong I guess it could potentially get you in some serious trouble if you got caught. I doubt that the professors would take kindly to student doing something like that to another.”

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