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

Day 24 - 'I'm doing this because I care about you'

CW: slight body horror (only mentioned), self-destruction, slight injury

AN: idek what to say I blanked and then this was done

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Nyxie sat on the counter, casually watching her friend cook dinner. She may be a great apothecary, after all, but if there's one thing to know about her, it's that she cannot cook to save her life.

"Hi Calixto," she says for about the millionth time.

Calixto sighs, turning around to face her, back to the stove. "Hiya Nyx," it says, decidedly unimpressed.

It turns back around, but as it does so, it hits the side of the pot it was cooking in, and the hot, boiling water splashes all over its arm. It hisses, letting the pot containing the remainder of the water fall to the floor, sidestepping the spill. "Shit," it says, "Shit."

Nyxie reddens a bit. "I'm so sorry," she mutters, already rushing off to get something to fix the mess, and also something to help with the burn.

She returns after only a few minutes with full arms. She plonks the potions down on the table, and the burn cream, and the towels to clean up the mess.

Calixto raises its eyebrow. "D'you think you're goin' a little overboard?" it asks, "That's a lot of potions you got there."

Nyxie shrugs. "I know," she says, "Just want to be prepared, 'sall."

Calixto hums, inspecting the potions. It picks one up, squinting at the colour. "What's even in these?" it asks, "Your moss hair, or something?"

Nyxie stiffens. It was obviously a joke, but it was actually right.

After a bit of experimenting, she had worked out that putting something like moss into the potions made them a bit more potent, and, after a while, had gone a little overboard.

Calixto frowns. "Wait what."

Nyxie shrugs a bit, playing it off. "Well, maybe I—"

"I know what you did," Calixto interrupts, "Really, Nyx, what?"

Nyxie sighs. "Really," she says, "It was only for, like, medicinal purposes, and apparently it's magic as well because—"

"No," Calixto says, "This is concernin' because you're getting rid of your hair, idiot."

Nyxie pauses. For some reason, she had forgotten that was a reasonable argument. "Uh," she says, "I'm doing this because... I care about you?"

Calixto huffs. "You really expectin' me to believe that?"

Nyxie ducks her head. "Honestly, not really."

Calixto mutters something under its breath, before turning back to its friend. "What does it even do?"

Nyxie lights up a bit, which is... concerning, but she starts to talk before Calixto can say anything about it. "So," she says, "The type of moss on my face already has medicinal properties, like, it is helpful for coughs and stuff, and people already drink it in teas and things, so I was thinking because I was magicked back to life, I was wondering if it made the moss magic as well." Nyxie stops to take a deep breath, and Calixto cuts in.

"So, you just cut off a bit and put it in? Isn't the moss, like, alive? Not like regular hair?"

"Yeah."

"So did it hurt?"

Nyxie tries to steer the conversation away. "I mean, it's not really part of my body—"

"In the same way that your flower isn't part of your body, but when you pull on it it still hurts."

Nyxie sighs, finally sitting down on the couch. "Okay, uh, yeah it hurts if you cut it." She glances up to see Calixto's worried expression, and quickly assures, "Dude, it's fine, it's like, paper-cut level. Not that bad."

Calixto shakes its head, exasperated. "Just... don't be goin' ahead and doing that again, you tell me? Don't do that."

Nyxie gives a strained smile. "No promises?"

Calixto then decides that this is the perfect time to turn Nyxie's head into an armrest. "Don't do that again."

Nyxie huffs, but finally obliges. "Fine," she says, "I won't do that again."

Calixto un-armrest-s Nyxie's head, before inspecting the burn on its other arm again. "So..." it starts, "Are you goin' to help with my arm? Or maybe the spillage?"

Nyxie practically leaps off the couch. "Right, fuck!"

Calixto just laughs.