The Adventures And Mishaps of a Half-Plant Apothecary - Febuwhump 2024

Day 20 - Truth Serum

AN: I have a version of this that I like way more but it's not angsty at all

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"Hey y'all, look what I got!"

Emery turns her head towards where Nyxie is standing in the doorway, carrying what looks like a bag of various potion materials. She hears Calixto laugh from beside her. "Nyx," it says, "We fight. We don't potion. Explain?"

Nyxie puts the bag down on a side bench before flopping onto the couch beside Emery, instantly starting to fiddle with her hair. Emery would complain, if she isn't a bit tired as well. "Oh, yeah," Nyxie says, "It's the ingredients for a... low-effect truth serum-potion-thing, I guess is the best way to put it."

Calixto raises an eyebrow. "Well? So what?" It picks out a sprig of... something. Emery has already forgotten what Nyxie told her in her excited plant rambles. "You can find this, like, everywhere. I'm not seein' what's so cool about this."

Nyxie waves her hand a little, almost hitting Emery. "It's this." Nyxie pulls out a box that looks older than Emery and opens it a little. Inside, a colony of what looks like tiny purple toadstools is growing inside.

Calixto steps back a little, and the other two's eyes snap to it, concerned. "Calio?" she says, "You good?"

Calixto blinks, then relaxes a little. Emery didn't even realise that it was tense in the first place. Calixto shrugs, frowning a bit. "Well, yeah," it says quickly, then, after a short pause, "Doesn't chorus teleport you?"

Emery opens her mouth, about to ask what in the world chorus was, when Nyxie spoke first. "Not if it's small— wait, you know what chorus is? How do you know?"

Calixto stiffens slightly and straightens up. "None of your business," it says, more gruffly than usual, "It doesn't matter. Continue?"

Nyxie, a little bit defeated, starts to talk again, albeit more hesitantly. "It only teleports when it's about half a metre tall, which is also about when it starts to become a bit of a problem if it grows too much. It usually takes at least 6 months to get to that state, and trimming it will, obviously, make it take longer to get to that state. That's because at that age, it starts producing trastcirou, the same thing that makes ender pearls work. It's pretty cool, actually. I'm not sure entirely how it works, but I'm guessing that you need a certain amount of magic for it to work. Which begs the question, do other mobs, when given pearls or something that can teleport players, teleport too when they're thrown?"

Nyxie stops, looking around to find that the others are looking at her with a blank smile on their faces. "Sorry."

Emery is quick to reassure her. "No, no, it's a'right."

Nyxie relaxes a bit, then, after a second, remembers to close the box of what Emery now knows as chorus. There's an awkward pause. Calixto starts to inch towards the door to its bedroom. "Sorry," it mumbles in a voice that is very unlike it, "I'm just tired. I'll be seein' you guys tomorrow, I guess?"

Nyxie almost makes a noise as if to stop it, but sighs. "Sure," she says instead, "Good night. I'm sorry about that."

Calixto just shrugs, and disappears into its room.

Emery turns to Nyxie slowly. "And then there were two," she says, lowering her voice and waving her hands in a way that is probably supposed to be eerie but ends up looking more like a limp seaweed than anything. Nyxie laughs. "Em," she says, "Em, you should stop dancing."

Emery grins, trying to make her voice sound less strained. "I'm not dancing," she says, the stubborness in her tone obviously fake, "Just—"

"Just trying to dance." Nyxie laughs again, before patting Emery on the head lightly. "Don't worry, Em, we still love you."

Emery rolls her eyes, batting her friend's hand away. "Thanks for the reminder," she says in a sing-song voice.

Nyxie smiles, then yawns. "Sorry," she says, "Uh, I'm kinda tired too. I'll see you tomorrow, I guess?"

Emery blinks, surprised at the sudden topic change, before catching up to what Nyxie had just said and nodding. "Uhm, yeah," she says, "I might as well sleep too. I don't really have anything to do right now that can't be done tomorrow, anyways."

They just stand there for a moment, before starting to walk back to their rooms in silence.