MCYT RANDOMNESS 2

Potions Pt 1

Pov: Scar

I don't speak.

Every step is silent down the stairs, the briefest flicker of vex magic to open the door, stepping into the room. The target's facing away, concentrating. They haven't noticed me. I step closer, sneaking forwards before-

'Hey Scar!' Cub turns, smiling.

'Dang it! How'd you even know I was here?!' Cub holds up his vex necklace, glowing as bright as mine. 

'You know we can't sneak up on each other, Scar...'

'Yeah...' I sigh, perching on the edge of the table where Cub's working with some complicated potion equipment. 'What're you working on?'

'I overheard someone talking about nightmares and... decided to make something to help.'

'Wait, there's a potion for that?!' I shuffle closer, seeing the instructions in front of Cub are in his own handwriting. 'You... invented it?'

'It's just a mix of sleeping and amnesia potions.' I look over the complicated system Cub's casually adjusting mid-conversation. 'Though I'm trying to make it more effective with each batch...' He raises his hand, signalling for a moment of concentration, getting some exact number of pale yellow potion drops into the swirling greyish one before removing it. There's a puff of smoke, but Cub stoppers it.

'So... What's does all this Cub-magic do?' Cub laughs.

'You see that glass there?' He points to some part of the mechanism. 'That's where you put potion ingredients. And... you see how the tubes meet up there?' I listen to his explanation, not really understanding but still enjoying his enthusiasm.

'Oooh! And what's this for?' I hold up a small metal instrument.

'Stirring.'

'Ah.'

I watch Cub as he finds some purple solution among his cabinet of ingredients and, to my surprise, hands it to me.

'Wanna help?'

'Wait, really?'

'Yeah, if you want. Just pour that into...' He finds another solution, this one silver and clearly labelled 'NSS!' — not Scar safe.

'Am I allowed to... handle this?'

'I trust you.'

'How much of this do I need?'

'Just a splash.'

I pour in the purple solution. Immediately, the potion becomes iridescent purply silver.

'That's perfect!'

'Really?!'

'Yeah, man. You're a natural.'

'Thanks! What do I do with it now?'

'I'll start heating it over here... Can you find the purple mushrooms for me?'

'Where are they?'

'Up there. Second shelf down... They're bright pinky-purple... Yeah, them.'

I hand a glass of them over, sitting back on the table, watching Cub mix everything together before holding up the finished shimmery deep purple potion for me to see.

'Woah...'

'Cool, right?'

'I never realised you were so good at this.'

'I dabble,' Cub shakes off my compliment with, finding some smaller bottles and measuring out a set amount into each.

'What are those?'