Artistic brewer (OPEN)

[emmeline]

From the moment you open the door, a most unpleasant odor greets your nose, a mixture of spoiled eggs and rotten cabbage Emmeline wasn't sure where the smell was coming from, it had been there when she first came to view the shop and now it was officially hers the smell still refused to leave. She had tried everything but still the odor remained, she was happy to note that the smell didn't seem to cling to her robes like so many other potion smells, or maybe she was getting used to it.
Despite the smell, Emmeline thought the shop fascinating even from her point and she hoped the displays in the windows would draw her a nice level of customers. The shop's shelves are lined with jars containing a variety of powders, herbs and in some cases suspicious looking goo and things floating in pickle juices. There were cases of, feathers of every colour and size from birds who lived only in the desert to the common black bird; fangs, and claws had been suspended from the ceiling by the slight woman as she had always imagined they would be. Standing behind the counter, her potions robescurrently stain free though she knew it wouldn't last long as she had 5 potions currently brewing in the back room and she could only hope for more to be ordered throughout the day.

She was in the process of stocking the pre-brewed potions shelves to her left, she had already partially stocked the healing potions up that she planned to sell pre-made, for now she was working on the burn salves. Glancing down at the poster she was working on while she waited for her potions to be ready for the next step Emmeline smiled to herself as she dotted a few i's before grabbed the small pile of parchment posters she had made and moving around the counter toward the door.

She planned to stick up the posters in all her shops, though she had only managed to set up two so far she hoped to have the shop in Hogsmeade up and running before the end of the week.

Comment: POSTER INFORMATION
one was for a renter to moving into the flat she had empty above the store, a small two bedroom flat with an open plan kitchen living room and separate bathroom.
and the other
The next poster was a price list of current Sale Items
CLICK FOR PRICE LIST

Attachments:

[waldemar]

Actually, Waldemar had just been shopping. He hadn't been looking for a job very actively, to be honest, and his parents hadn't cut his allowance so that hadn't motivated him much either so, yes, shopping. He hadn't bought anything useless, that wasn't in his nature, but he had happily been spending his time in wizard London, exploring Diagon Alley and its wherabouts.
He had just finished his strawberry-sundae when he passed the apothecary and stopped, glancing in through the clean, glass windows. Hm. He could use some ingredients. Well, not that he had any projects he was working on, but it would be good to keep up his potioneering skills. He had been rather good at potions in school, he enjoyed doing it too, and would maybe like to do something with potions if he ever needed to get a job. As said before: he might as well keep up his skill and he had more than enough time on his hands to brew things, really. Maybe an anti-hangover potion for Dorcas? After all, she tended to drink a lot. Waldemar knew a basic recipe, of course, but now he had seen her drink a few times and the morning after occasionally, he might be able to tweak the basic formula especially for her.

He couldn't help but grimace as he pushed the door open and almost turned around to leave, but then told himself to man up and walked in a few paces. It smelled bad, but the shop looked clean and ordered and (delightfully) new. It looked promising and Waldemar was curious.
There were jars and pots everywhere, translucent or dark depending on the sensitivity of the contents, and all of them were labeled. Waldemar glanced around for the owner briefly, found her behind the counter, and felt a little stupid he hadn't noticed her before. "Excuse me?" He walked over. "I'm looking for a few things, and I suppose you know where everything is - could you help me, I suppose?" Waldemar expected the answer to be 'yes', actually. There were no other customers in the shop and she didn't seem to be really very busy.

As he waited for an answer, his eyes were caught by a piece of parchment on the counter, similar to the posters the shopkeeper had been putting up a moment ago. An advert for an apartment over the shop. That didn't sound so bad, well.. depending on the smell in there, of course. Not that Waldemar needed an apartment, per se, and he wasn't sure that he wanted one, because he still wanted to leave for Finland at some point, but then again he was getting pretty sick of living at home with his parents, who seemed to expect him to marry and find a respectable job in the next few weeks, apparently. Maybe he needed some freedom, and it wasn't like he had a lack of funds.
Still, he would wait for the lady to respond first. Maybe she wasn't as nice as she looked, and he was not in the mood to live above a terrible sort of landlady.

[emmeline]

It was like people said, if you tried to do something useful in your free time the next thing you know your free time will be gone and you will have a list the length of your arm of things to do; of course in this case her 'list of things to do the length of her arm' happened to be just one customer, who for sure was longer than her arm.

Sliding her posters aside Emmeline offered the man her sales smile; she had seen it in a book and if the author was right it would make her seem welcoming, she was anyway but she didn't think a textbook smile would hurt.
"Of course" She moved around her desk "Do you have a list?" She asked, the few people she had served in the shop so far had been potions masters so she hadn't had to help them much, she was looking forward to having the chance to talk to someone today even if it was a customer

Comment: Short but I had the feeling I had left this to long before I noticed it. Sorry

[waldemar]

Waldemar smiled back at the woman. She really did seem rather nice. Which was good; the world needed more nice people. Patiently, he waited for her to finish with the potions. He had nowhere to be, he had time.
"Do you have a list?" Waldemar blinked a moment. A..? Oh. He smiled a little apologetically and ran a hand through his hair. "Oh, no, should I have?" he asked. He had never bought his own ingredients before, the family usually contacted their usual supplier. "I hadn't expected to come across an apothecary, I happened to pass by." He smiled a little. "I suppose I sort of know what I need, though, I just don't know where everything is." He smiled and glanced around a moment.

"I'll need.." He thought for a moment, running through the routine of making the potions he wanted to produce in his head. "Bat spleen - if they're not fresh I'd prefer them dried rather than smoked? Goose grass, and lion fish spine, wormwood - but I suppose the essence would also work if you have that?"
There followed a pretty long list, from the top of Waldemar's silly head: octopus powder, starthistle, horklump juice, snakeweed, tubeworm, sulphur vive, eal eyes, grated erumpent horns.. THe list just went on as Waldemar came up with things he was planning to brew in the near future and it wasn't like he had any money to spare.
After he'd finally stopped listing things, he glanced at the shopmistress with a bit of a smile. "I'm sorry for being chaotic."


[No worries about it (: Also, eh, I don't know the slightest things about potions, so if Emmeline wants to comment on his choices, you can happily make something up! P: All I had in mind for sure was a hangover potion for Dorcas (specifically tweaked to restore fluids in the body and not primarily to detox the liver) and maybe some cosmetic things because Waldemar is such a rainbowboy xD]

[emmeline]

Smiling at the mans expression, she never used to be one who needed lists either but running two shops and still trying to keep up with finds back in Egypt she found that having a list handy meant that she got things that needed doing done.

Standing before the man now she waved her hand toward a pile of wooden trays, form the sound of the list she would need something to help her carry all the bottles and jars for her customer.
"Right" She grinned as she turned toward her shelves of ingredients "Lets get started then" Armed with her tray Emmeline headed into the ingredients; it wouldn't take her long to find everything since she had not long ago finished stocking everything

"What is it your brewing?" She asked over her shoulder as she reached for a jar of harklump; she would have to juice them at the counter. They lost their magical properties after 3 days if you juiced them so she only juiced to order for now, she would proper more when she started getting more customers but for now it was better and it saved her money. "Some kind of hangover cure slash anti blemish draught?" She added in the mans silence.

She knew all the ingredients and their potions but she had never had anyone buy the ingredients all together since most of them reacted violently with the others. Then again this was her first customer so maybe it was normal in an apothecary.
Wondering further down the rows of jars and bottles Emmeline grabbed then ones the man had mentioned until the tray she had with her was piled with every ingredient but one. She hadn't wanted to keep it in the shop in case of an accident so she kept it in the empty flat upstairs.

Her robes floating around her she stepped back into the main part of the shop, the tray following behind her obediently to the desk where it floated gently to the desk top " Okay sir here we go" She began unloading the ingredients for the man to check " I have everything you mentioned but one" She looked up "Runespoor venom" She paused " I do have a jar upstairs but I'm afraid it might take me a while to find the right box" She flushed a little at the admittance.

[waldemar]

He smiled back as she smile. Waldemar wasn't sure if she was smiling at him because she thought it was a little stupid, but adorably so, that he had not brought a list (or any jars or flasks to carry the ingredients in to begin with), or if she was being genuinely nice. Not that he doubted Emmeline, just his own observational skills. These English people were hard to interpret sometimes, with their own silly, particular brand of ironic humour that seemed to mock everything (Dorcas had shown him Monty Python and since then Waldemar hadn't been sure of anything anymore!).
Either way, she seemed helpful and pleasant, not merely professional, and that was nice. Waldemar mentally chided himself for thinking the worst of people. He really needed to stop doing that. Then again, with the war going on - maybe he shouldn't stop doing that. Ugh, social things were confusing.

He was sort of glad the pharmacist lady decided to chat a little as she sought out his ingredients. Waldemar was quite sure that at some point the silent tension would've become unbearable. "What is it your brewing? Some kind of hangover cure slash anti blemish draught?" Waldemar's eyebrows shot up. That was not a bad idea. "Oh - I have this friend who likes to party," he said with a bit of a laugh, "and I need to keep up my skills. I'd been planning to brew two separate draughts, but I suppose I could try a combination. After all, detoxing the liver and cleansing the skin is not that far apart.." he mused, happily pensive. This was going to be a fun challenge. "I'll have to see how that works out, I'll probably be back to pick up more ingredients soon, the first batch is bound to be imperfect." And who was he going to test it on? Dorcas seemed an obvious candidate, as he was sure she wouldn't mind drinking too much just to test this. Waldemar didn't expect her to object much and besides, after she'd had a glass too many, she probably wouldn't mind drinking it, as long as it was liquid and he told her it was alcohol. The end justifies the means. She'd thank him later.

Watching Emmeline picking up his ingredients, he guessed she probably had a pretty good memory. After all, he had only mentioned the ingredients he needed once, and he knew them by heart because he'd brewed the two separate potions before, but there she was, as far as he could judge picking out every single ingredient he'd mentioned without him having to repeat his mental 'list'. She really did seem like a nice intelligent woman and Waldemar decided to 'casually' bring up the empty flat while paying.

"Okay sir here we go." For a moment he was confused. His father always checked the potion ingredients at home, he'd never really done so, and suddenly felt it would maybe seem insulting if he checked the quality - as if he didn't expect this to be a proper shop! Instead, Waldemar just decided to see if everything was there, not opening the jars and things yet, he didn't want to seem disrespectful, really. Luckily, Emmeline broke the silence, and his insecurity with it. "Runespoor venom - I do have a jar upstairs but I'm afraid it might take me a while to find the right box."
Impolite as it may seem, Waldemar actually felt better as she blushed. It was somehow good to know she wasn't a 100% confident either, it eased his tension, and Waldemar smiled reassuringly. "Oh, that's fine. I can wait, or- eh, help you look?" ..did that sound inappropriate, just going upstairs with some woman he'd met five minutes ago? Maybe now was a good time to- "I was wondering about the empty flat above the shop anyway," Waldemar said, coming off more certain of himself than he felt, as though he was enquiring what she thought of the weather. "If you don't mind?"

[emmeline]

Great. She knew this would happen. Someone wants to see the flat that she has been using to hide boxes in until she has more order here. There was nothing for it; if he wanted to see the flat he would have to help her. Hopefully while they were moving boxes they would find the runespoor venom.
"That would be ok" As she agreed she pulled out a bunch off keys from the hidden pocket in her robes, the key was on there...somewhere.

"If you don't mind moving a few boxes with me" She added, looking up at the man again she hoped on one hand that he wouldn't mind the physical work since she needed to get the boxes moved if she was going to advertise the flat then on the other hand she didn't want to appear to be taking advantage of him. He seemed like a laid back kind of guy but he was still a customer.

"I haven't been here long so I haven't managed to do much to the place" The place was still full of the old furniture from the old owners. Some of it was nice solid oak antique stuff but things like the bed and the kitchen needed redoing. "I had planned on tidying it up a bit before I showed anyone around but I don't see any reason why you can't see it now" She could get the work done by the next week it was just a matter of finding the right units and getting a new bed.

COMMENT: Sorry its a short one. I'll post a longer one next time

[waldemar]

Waldemar cocked his head slightly as he thought he could sense a certain reluctance. Still, she said it 'would be okay', so he nodded slightly and stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets, waiting for her to find the right key.
"If you don't mind moving a few boxes with me." He looked up. "Oh, no, not at all, really," he assured her. Waldemar wasn't a physically very strong guy. In fact, he was very apt at doing levitation spells and accio's to make up for it, though he probably should use an accio to locate the ingredient they needed. Accio tended to be a little too violent of a pull sometimes, after all, and as Waldemar wasn't sure what other things Emmeline had stored up there and he didn't want the place to go up in flames or anything.. No, despite his lack of muscles, he could handle a few boxes, surely.

He listened to Emmeline in silence as he followed her upstairs. About how she'd been planning to do up the place a little, but that she hadn't been here long. "Oh, I don't need much," he said with a smile. "I've just graduated and my parents are driving me positively insane-" he laughed a little dryly "-it's time I moved out, found a job, started a life - you know?"
Did he really not need much? It sounded so easy to say such a thing, but was it true? Waldemar had never been on his own before. Not really, anyway. Better yet - he hardly knew how to cook! Then again, he could brew potions from books, he could probably try cooking, he just needed a cook book. It couldn't be that difficult. Waldemar was sure he would pick things up as he moved along.

As they entered the apartment, he looked around briefly. Sure, it was smaller than what he was used to and it was a little messy, boxes everywhere, but as far as he could see, some of the furniture that had been left behind was of good enough quality. He smiled a little. Although he still didn't have a job (he didn't really doubt he would find one soon enough, though, and until then his parents still paid him a handsome allowance), he wouldn't mind funding part, or all, of the renovations she had in mind. In his eyes, it was a pretty perfect idea. He was good at potions, liked brewing a lot - why not live above a place that held ready-made supplies?
Still, he didn't say. He didn't want to seem too eager, he didn't want Emmeline to think he was some irresponsible teenager who had decided to leave his parents' house on a whim.
Looking around at the boxes, he sought eye contact with Emmeline for a moment. "Any idea which box would be best to start with?" He didn't mind going through boxes, not really.


[Haha, no worries ]

[emmeline]

Getting into the apartment wasn't to hard but then she knew what the wall that cut them off from seeing the main part of the apartment hid. About 3 years worth of research papers; she had been meaning to sort and file them, 12 unlabeled boxes of potentially dangerous slash corrosive slash explosive potions ingredients. It wasn't her fault for the lack of order; not really. She had trusted her old work colleagues to be able to pack her potions lab up, she wouldn't make the same mistake again since that trust had landed her with weeks worth of extra work that she couldn't fit into her timetable.

Walking around the bit of wall that hid the rest of the place Emmeline gestured toward the most likely boxes to hold the venom. "Those are our best bet" She informed him. Making her way though the labyrinth of boxes and old furniture Emmeline cast a glance over her shoulder as she dropped to her knees "Why don't you have a look around and I'll check these boxes.

When you have seen all you need to you can come and help me look" She offered, there was no need for them both to look int he same area, if he wondered around a bit he could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.
That was if he remember to keep an eye out for the venom. She couldn't be sure but she knew she had seen it a few days ago; and she had labelled the jar it was in so it couldn't be far.

Pulling at the top of the box in front of her she sent a silent curse towards the person who had decided ti was a good idea to nail the lids on. Sure it was safer but she had nothing to take the lids off with, not really since she couldn't use magic until she knew which of her ingredients were inside just in case they reacted badly.

She was in no rush to blow herself up. Then again, she couldn't complain. Her friends had taken time off work at the last minute to help her back up her old lab and the rest of her house in Egypt before the new muggle owners arrived.

Standing up again Emmeline tugged again at the boxes lid; she hoped the height would give her more strength, leverage if you wanted to put it that way. It worked, it a small groan as the nails slipped out of the wood Emmeline held the lid of the box in her hands. Grinning at her success she crouched once again and looked upon the slightly dusty bottles and small wooden boxes piled carefully in the huge crate/box.

COMMENT: I made a little picture of the flat so we knew what the other is talking about in regards to their location. Click!

[waldemar]

To be honest, Waldemar wasn't quite sure what degree of 'messy' to expect. Of course he had moved to the UK from Finland with his parents, but then again they'd had servants packing and unpacking their bags and there hadn't really been this 'moving mess' most people had at first. Of course, Waldemar had unpacked his own personal things and had moved around some items because he hadn't agreed with where the servants had put it, but I think it's safe to say that Wally has no idea what moving house actually implies.
As far as he could see, it was just a lot of unpacked crates. Then again, of course, he had no idea there was more to it than that.
He was about to follow Emmeline to help her open and search the boxes when she suggested he had a look around, that he could help her later.Waldemar didn't mind helping but then again she probably knew best. Or maybe there might be personal things in the boxes, too, and she didn't want him around - he could understand that, so he nodded and wandered off.

Walking across the livingroom, he entered the first door he came across, to his left, and entered the first bedroom. It seemed pretty normal sized to him - that was, comparing it to Dorcas' room at her house, because of course it would be madness to try and compare this apartment to his parents' home in Wales! No, it was comfortable enough, and he didn't have to put all his things in here, right? There was a living room, after all, and he could've sworn there was another room on the other side of the kitchen, though he wasn't sure about that.. and maybe Emmeline needed that as an office of some kind?
The bathroom was smaller than he was used to, but it was en suite, and it would be his (it somehow sounded strangely exciting, having some place of his own, though also pretty scary). He played with the taps for a moment, looked in the slightly stained mirror (nothing a good cleaning spell couldn't fix) and pulled a face at himself. He was being such an idiot. Of course he'd thought about living somewhere on his own and this was quite a perfect place and he'd take it in a heartbeat, but Waldemar had no idea what details to consider when looking at a property. Then again, Emmeline seemed a nice, honest young woman, and Waldemar was a well-mannered nearly eighteen-year-old - it woudn't be so bad, right? They could work things out if needed.
Waldemar walked back to the bedroom, opened and closed the wardrobes, sat down on the bed (and coughed as dust rose up from the unused mattress) before decided he'd seen enough of the bed- and bathroom, moving on to the dining area and kitchen.

It wasn't very large, but somehow it came off as cozy to him. Oh, sure, the colours of the tiles and the engravings on the doors of the kitchen cupboards were undoubtably old fashioned, but he could see past all that. In fact, if he tried hard enough, he could see himself and Dorcas trying to bake pancakes and making a mess of things. He was being a little romantic and foolish, surely, but no layers of dust nor old fashioned furniture could take the shine of the embodiment of freedom.
He could hear Emmeline in the living room, searching through one of the boxes she had just struggled with. Opening the kitchen drawers, Waldemar managed to find an old.. what was it anyway? He didn't know. It looked like a spoon, only flattened and.. not spoonish? Of course, Waldemar wouldn't know what a frosting spatula was, all he knew was that it would be easier to transfigure it into a small crowbar to help Emmeline open the boxes than any of the wooden, moldy spoons. As it was metal already, it only required a change of shape and not a change of material.
Walking back into the living room with his thus-transfigured-crowbar, he smiled at Emmeline slightly. "Can I help?"



[Yay for the map! ]

[emmeline]

Shifting though the bottles it didn't take long for Emmeline to spot a few out of place things. Balanced on the balls of her feet Emmeline carefully pulled out on of the small boxes from the crate, she already had a good idea that she wouldn't find any potions ingredients in here but she couldn't help her curiosity. She was expecting to see a collection of stones, not just any stone but stone shaped and colored by charms that have long been lost. She had been collecting things like this ever since she left the UK after school. They fascinated her even more so when she tried to make her own with the common charms of today.

She hadn't had much luck in getting the amount of detail into her own stone sculptors. In the end she had given up, it was clear that the charms used to make her carefully horded bits of history were much more precise than the charms in use today. She held the hope that somewhere in the hundreds of tombs around the world, there would be notes on those forgotten charms or at least a suggestion on how to do them.

Sliding the lid off the top box Emmeline felt a smile spread over her face as she was proved correct. There were no potions ingredients in here just her collection. Running her fingers over the carefully packed stones Emmeline felt the rumble of homesickness tug at her stomach, she missed Egypt. Her life there had been brilliant; dessert BBQ's under a full moon with every star visible for billions of miles. It was so relaxing, so freeing.

Sighing softly she slowly pulled her fingers away from the box, if she started going through the rest she would never find what she was looking for. Slipping the lid back on she pushed herself up away from the open crate. She would make sure to take that one home with her tonight.

As she turned to the next crate she hear her customer come back into the main room. Turning to look at him she felt a flush of relief as she saw the crowbar "Yes please" Stepping aside she gestured to the box she had been planning to open next. "Did you see the balcony? It only comes out as far as the bar window in the shop but you can easily get a couple of chairs out there"

[waldemar]

Waldemar was glad she looked relieved as he returned to help her, and opened the next crate carefully (and with some difficulty, but taking into account he hadn't done it before, he was doing a fine job!). Carefully lifting flasks and things and reading their labels, he put aside the ones they weren't looking for carefully.
"Do you want me to put the flasks back in if they don't contain runespoor venom?" he asked. "If we're unpacking anyway, I don't mind helping out?" He meant it, too. Waldemar didn't have anywhere else to be, in particular, and it would be a little silly to unpack everything and then pack up everything they didn't need at once. Besides, he had noticed a few names on the labels he was unfamiliar with, and planned to ask Emmeline about them - Ravenclaws and knowledge, you know what they're like.

"Did you see the balcony? It only comes out as far as the bar window in the shop but you can easily get a couple of chairs out there." Waldemar's eyes lit up. "Balcony?" No, he had missed that. He had already consoled himself that he was going to live in the city of London, as that would make it easier to find a job. The city wasn't as green as he'd like it to be, but a balcony would be pure bliss. Only a few square metres of bliss, but it would do (besides, London had 'Hyde Park', that was good - plus he could apparate to any sort of forest if he so pleased..). It was better than anything he could've hoped for.
"I haven't seen it, but a balcony sounds great," he replied, grinning boyishly. This felt good, this crazy sort of excited feeling. He couldn't wait to tell Dorcas - even if she'd probably laugh at him because she'd have to teach him how to cook. Could Dorcas even cook? He simply assumed she could, because she was a woman, maybe? How anti-feminist of him.