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Post by Tiger on Sept 7, 2015 19:01:39 GMT -5
Leif set the huge spoon in the notch on the rim of the cauldron and reached for what felt like the hundredth time for a rag to wipe the sweat from his face. He didn’t understand how the potion-mistress did this - no wonder she was in such an irritable mood most of the time, if she was constantly sweating over a steaming hot pot of liquid. Even if her irritation was with Leif personally - which was admittedly also understandable, he was the one most often depleting her stocks, although he was also getting better about remembering to replace the ingredients - Leif wished she were here now and brewing this potion instead. It was few weeks after the chaos of the Accipiters' visit to Medieville, and as it was wont to do in late summer, the heat had only climbed since their departure. Despite that, construction on the new watermill that had brought Leif's family north in the first place was continuing on as-planned. And For reasons Leif honestly couldn’t quite fathom, his help had been requested once again in getting the new structure upright. It made a little more sense once he understood the issue - though some of the non-magical methods of construction had improved over the past few years, they still required more heavy lifting and brute force than seemed wise to exert in this heat. Standing mages around to cast Woogardium Leviosa spells, however, wasn’t much better, and so Leif had offered a different solution - a potion to lighten the weight of the things being carried, or levitated, or however the city planners decided to go about it. At the time he had assumed the potion-mistress would be making the actual potion - but no, apparently she had a sister, said sister was having a baby, and the potion-mistress had gotten a two-week leave from the Marsons to go...do whatever people did for their baby-having sisters, Leif supposed. Good for her and her sister - less good for Leif, and the people who were going to be getting potions the next two weeks. Potion-brewing was not Leif’s forte. He’d been trained in it, of course; there had been lessons since his teens and then the teachings of the priests at Our Woo of Charity - but it didn’t come to him as easily as something like casting spells or learning about birds, nor was it as interesting. He couldn’t precisely explain the difference - spellcasting involved similar precision and care and study and caution, but something about it was just… different.Or maybe it was just that casting a spell didn’t involve standing over a bubbling, often-stinky cauldron that caused one’s body to expunge all the water it had ever absorbed all down their face. Maybe that was the difference. The liquid in the cauldron had turned a bright yellow, and Leif was trying to determine if that meant there was a problem, or if the book’s description of goldenrod was just overly pedantic. He had gone back to the brewing list, but if he’d mismeasured anything, he’d forgotten the incorrect measurement. There was nothing for it but to test the mixture. Leif sighed, scooping up a flask and drawing his wand to guide the potion into the bottle - one generally didn’t scoop up potions. A knock on the door interrupted him before he could start - better than a few seconds later, but all the same Leif had to keep himself from huffing in annoyance. “Yes?” One of the servants pulled the door open. “Master Leif - the locksmith is here to see you?" Leif looked up, confused for a few seconds. “... Oh - Mrs. Braham, right?” That was certainly unusual - Leif was usually the one visiting her, since Morgaine’s working hours and location weren’t quite as flexible as Leif’s, there wasn’t so ceremony to stand on with servants when Leif visited the shop, and because it was obviously impolite at best to make an elderly, one-eyed woman walk across the city when Leif had a perfectly functional set of legs. He wondered what had brought her here. Maybe she was just checking in on him; Morgaine had seen Leif pretty...rattled after his attempt at dinner with the Accipiters, and that had probably been a less-than-reassuring display. “You can send her in,” Leif told the servant. “...Or, uhm, if she’d rather wait somewhere that’s not hotter than a metal roof on a Solis tower, I can meet her in the drawing room in just a few minutes? Thanks.” A few weeks after the events of Birds of a Feather/Accipiter-fic, Leif finally continues the epic saga of the watermill construction subplot, and is brewing a potion to help out with that Because Reasons, when a servant tells him Morgaine has arrived at the manor, to Leiflet’s surprise.
*Tiger reserves the right to change the title of this roleplay later, because Titles Are Hard >C
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Post by Shinko on Sept 7, 2015 19:39:40 GMT -5
Morgaine cracked her neck, causing the grey tabby perched on her shoulders to shift his weight slightly so he could stay balanced. She chuckled softly, reaching up a hand to give Mercury an affectionate stroke while she waited for the servant to return. Contrary to what Leif thought, she'd come with no particular purpose in mind. She'd simply been in the neighborhood, visiting Ilsa at the nearby King's Arms, and decided to see how Leif was faring since his family's departure. Her apprentice Ciara was presently under House-Arrest tending to the shop for the day after she'd been caught trying to sneak out- again- so the old locksmith was enjoying a day at liberty. "Madame?" the servant called, emerging from around the corner. "Master Leif says you may come in if you like, but seeing as he is presently in the stillroom preparing a potion and it is very warm, he also invites you to wait in the drawing room until he's finished." The old woman chuckled. "He forgets I'm a lock smith. I work around open flames all the time, I can handle a little heat. By all means, lead the way." The servant nodded, and Morgaine followed as they led the way down a flight of stairs and to a darkened room where sure enough Leif was waiting, standing over a simmering cauldron. "Master Leif, may I present Madame-" Morgaine coughed, shaking her head and flapping a hand with amusement. "He knows who I am and this is hardly a formal banquet, you don't have to introduce me." Grinning at the archmage as Mercury hopped down off her shoulder and started to explore the room she added, "Hullo Leif. What's that you're making? Not trying out a recipe for elven honey wine are you, I thought you got enough of seeing people sloshed out of their minds this past spring. Unless you changed your mind and want to get in on the action after all." The servant looked taken aback at Morgaine's casual attitude, glancing in confusion towards Leif as if worried how he'd react to being addressed so. Morgaine arrives and as one might presume, there is snark. Also Mercury is with her, since she does own cats though I tend to forget they exist a lot. Hi kitty!
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Post by Tiger on Sept 8, 2015 9:09:47 GMT -5
Leif had doused the flames under the cauldron and was just cutting off a stream of liquid from the cauldron’s contents and into a flask when the servant returned with Morgaine in tow. That wasn’t much of a surprise to Leif; Morgaine was definitely not the sort who sat around waiting for things, or archmages. Corking the bottle, Leif laughed and replied, “Not honey-wine, sorry to disappoint - I know you’d love to see me drunk so you can get some blackmail stories of your own, but I’m not giving you material to work with that easily.” The servant looked even more baffled than before, but seemed to decide his presence wasn’t needed and so he backed toward the door. Leif explained, “This is for lightening the stones on the new watermill - I don’t know why they’re so insistent on building it in this heat, but at least this should keep the workers from collapsing from heatstroke. ...I haven’t ever brewed this one before.” Leif swished the bottle around, holding it up to scrutinize the color. “From the sound of it, it looks like honey-wine - would you describe honey-wine as being particularly more goldenrod or yellow? Apparently some sort of colored illustration alongside the text would have been too pandering for the esteemed readers of - ah - “ Leif set his wand and the flask down on the table where he’d prepared the ingredients and heaved the open book on the pedestal partially closed so he could see the cover. “‘Potions for Alteration of Physical Properties’. Sounds absolutely fascinating, doesn’t it?” He let the book flop back open and turned to the locksmith. “So what brings you this way? Routine lock inspection to ensure we’re not in danger from anymore rebel factions, or something more specific?” Chatting and snark, hooray!
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Post by Shinko on Sept 8, 2015 14:41:57 GMT -5
As Leif spoke, Mercury continued to explore the room, sniffing curiously at the potion ingredients on a nearby shelf. " Leave those alone, Merc, they'll give you a bellyache,," Morgaine chided the cat in Elvish, before turning back to Leif. "I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop in and say hello if you weren't busy. I've been dealing with some headaches back at the shop from my darling apprentice and her ah... cosmopolitan ideas of what makes for a good boyfriend. Men who insist she sneak out in the wee hours of the morning because the guard are 'biased' against them, for example." Morgaine made a noise that was a cross between a growl and an annoyed huff. "Anyway I though I could do with a change of scenery from the shop to get my mind off of things. Sounds like you're having a blast yourself. To answer your question, I'd probably describe honey wine as being more yellow-ish gold than-" The locksmith jumped as a very loud clattering cut her off, followed almost immediately by a splash and a spluttering feline yowl of indignation. Morgaine spun around to see Mercury paddling frantically in the cauldron of Leif's lightening potion, the archmage's wand and a corked bottle of some sort of herb bobbing in the liquid beside him. The potion's stirring spoon was ricocheting off the floor, evidently having been swatted out of the cauldron by a too-curious cat. Morgaine started forwards, meaning to scoop Mercury out of the potion, but the cat had already scrabbled out of the cauldron and darted behind a nearby pantry with a furious hiss. "Come back!" she called to him, but his only response was another hiss. Morgaine sighed, rubbing her face. "Sorry Leif, I-" Before she could finish her sentence, Mercury yowled again. Morgaine quickly turned back to the cat, just in time to see him dash out from behind the pantry- hovering a good four feet off the ground. Morgaine makes small talk with Leif, but then oops! Mercury falls into Leif's potion.
I been done seen about everything When I see a kitty cat fly~
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Post by Tiger on Sept 8, 2015 19:17:12 GMT -5
Leif frowned at the reports of Ciara’s choice in boyfriends. “Hm. Do you need someone to scare him off? I’m good at scowling and coming out of the darkness with angry raptors on my shoulder, if you’re hiring.” The sudden burst of noise from by the potion table made Leif jerk in surprise - he twisted around and saw with horror that Mercury had fallen in - Oh 'Woo, no! - but before Leif had enough time to fully start panicking, Mercury had hauled himself out of the liquid and darted behind the pantry. Leif continued darting for the cauldron, his goal rapidly changing from "scoop out cat" to "grab wand" - they needed to get the cat dry before he had a chance to lick any of this stuff off, Leif had no idea what it would do to a cat if it drank it - he should have sealed the cauldron, why hadn’t he just sealed the cauldron!? It would have taken half a minute and if something happened to Mercury, Morgaine would be distraught, and - The cat floating out from behind the pantry might as well have smacked Leif in the face - his brain instantly went silent from sheer shock. "I - I don't -" ...Okay - you still need your wand, Leif! he managed after a moment, and hurried the rest of the way to the cauldron - only to falter as he reached the rim of the huge bowl. His wand was no longer floating on the potion’s surface. Neither was the bottle Mercury had dragged in with him. This was not because they’d sunk to the bottom - quite the opposite, in fact. Leif looked up toward the rafters of the stillery, where his wand and the jar of herbs were hovering a few feet out of reach. Leif spat a word he’d not had reason to use in quite a few weeks, and added, “I need a chair or - or something to get my wand - he should stop floating if - maybe if I get that off of him - can you grab him, I don’t know how high he'll be able to hover - blight, the potion wasn’t supposed to make things this light!” Mercury also knocked Leif’s wand into the potion 8D Predictably, this is not a good thing.
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Post by Shinko on Sept 8, 2015 19:38:18 GMT -5
Morgaine winced at the archmage's tone. "Right. Woo, I am so sorry Leif, I really shouldn't have brought him in here." She started towards the cat, reaching out to grab him, but Mercury gave a kick, almost seeming to swim through the thin air, and very quickly rose out of the short woman's reach. She called to him in Elvish, but he was clearly still unnerved after his dunk in the cauldron and ignored her. He darted across the room, dipping just low enough to slip through the door and out into the hall. Morgaine's desperate cry of " Mercury, come back!" was entirely ignored. "Great Feathered Lord on high," Morgaine muttered, burying her hands in her face. " That escalated quickly. I just hope there are no windows... open..." She looked up again sharply at the archmage- who was in fact in the habit of leaving the windows to his bedroom and office open to admit his beloved raptors. Mercury flees the stillery and escapes into Marson Manor, still floating! This can only end well.
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Post by Tiger on Sept 8, 2015 20:34:40 GMT -5
“It’s not your fault - I should’ve covered the cauldron.” Leif ran a hand over his face. “We’ll - we’ll get him back and get that stuff off him - I’m so sorry.” He snatched a chair from the corner and pushed it up next to the cauldron as Morgaine tried to catch Mercury - the wand had continued to float higher, it was just out of reach…He looked around, and spotted the spoon on the floor. That would do. Leif got down again as Mercury slipped out the door. ”I just hope there are no windows... open…” Morgaine gave him a sharp look, and Leif raised his hands. “I - there shouldn’t be, it just lets in more hot air - well, my windows are open, for Ayleth and Hadrian and Forth, but - but my bedroom door is definitely closed, my study should be, too.” He stooped and grabbed the spoon from the floor. “Follow him so we know where he is, in case he tries to hide again - I’ll be right there!” The archmage scrambled onto the chair again, and leaning very, very carefully so he didn’t fall - though it occurred to him that a dunk in the cauldron might make it easier to catch Mercury - Leif used the spoon to pull his wand into reach, and gripped it tightly. There was a slight push against his fingers, like someone was tugging at the wand with an invisible string, but Leif ignored it and cast a quick test-spell. Light flickered at his wandtip - the potion hadn’t done any damage to it beyond cosmetic, at least. He hopped off the chair, started for the door - then turned back toward the cauldron. “ Glacius!” The potion frozen solid and hopefully no more danger, Leif hurried in the direction he’d last seen Mercury. Leif admits he was dumb, but is able to retrieve his wand. Also he freezes the potion in case Rust/one of his birds/Nutmeg/a surprise Courdonian stumbles onto it. No more floating things >C
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Post by Shinko on Sept 9, 2015 7:12:38 GMT -5
Morgaine nodded, taking off after her erstwhile cat. It seemed that Mercury was still getting the hang of his newly airborn state because he hadn't mad it too far; his tail was just vanishing through an open door down the hall. "Mercury!" Morgaine called. "Come back please baby, you're not in trouble! We just want to get you down!" She trotted into the room, looking up to see Mercury lolling around a chandelier in some sort of formal dining room. No one else was in the room at the moment, which was both fortunate for avoiding awkward questions and unfortunate in that extra hands to help retrieve the cat might have been nice. "Mercury! Come down, please come down." If the cat heard he gave no indication. Instead he was drifting haphazardly, licking the top of his own muzzle over and over again. Something about the action set off alarm bells for the locksmith, but it wasn't until the cat moaned that she realized why. "Oh no, nononono, Mercury don't you dare!" But it was too late. The cat began to wheeze and gag, and just as Leif finally came around the corner the inevitable happened. All over the silk runner of the banquet table. "I think he got motion sick," Morgaine muttered. "I... I can pay for that? At least I think I can. I hope." Anyone who has ever owned a cat knows this joy.
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Post by Tiger on Sept 10, 2015 11:48:53 GMT -5
As Leif crossed the threshold, there was a terrible, awful sound from the cat - his first thought was that something in the potion had hurt him...but, no - Mercury was apparently just very dramatic about his nausea. “It’s fine,” Leif quickly assured the locksmith. “ Terwoogeo!” Mercury’s unpleasant addition to the table disappeared just the way blood or other bodily leavings would have - but just to be safe, Leif figured he’d gather it up and ask the servants to wash it. First things first, however. He looked up at the cat hovering near the chandelier and it occurred to him - not for the first time - that his life was weird. “Right - if he doesn’t want to come down on his own, I can give him a little tug.” Leif pointed his wand, which was still trying to rise through his fingers - very annoying. “ Carpe Wootractum!” A coil of green light shot out from his wand tip and wrapped around Mercury’s paw. In trying to keep from hurting the cat, however, Leif had been careful not to put too much force into the spell - Mercury apparently didn’t appreciate the concern, yanking his paw away and smacking at the light for good measure. Leif’s Carpe Wootractum spell had never missed its intended target, and for about two seconds, he was curious as to what would happen. Then the magic looped around one of the arms of the chandelier and started tugging the light fixture sideways. Leif hastily cut the spell, but that might have been a bad idea; now the chandelier had to sway back the direction it had come. Bits of hot wax dripped to the floor like a brief but rather dangerous rain; Leif quickly put up a shield to block the worst of it from hitting the carpet - or either of the people, or Mercury - but he was probably still going to be in trouble with the servants later tonight. Well, this wouldn’t be a problem if the chandelier didn’t sway ! Whose brilliant idea was it to dangle a bunch of burning candlesticks on an unsteady structure and then hang it over people’s heads, anyway?“Sorry - okay, I won’t try that again, not if he can dodge it - hrm, Wooguardium Leviosa isn’t going to help, especially if he’s struggling...Summoning charms don’t work on animals or people…” Leif glanced sideways at Morgaine, “So, I know he’s a cat, but...how do you usually convince him to come places?” In which Tiger goes “Why did I give Leif his wand back, now I have to invent new problems to counteract that DX “ but can’t find a way to get nerdmage to let go of his wand yet - so have mild chandelier antics and Leif asking questions that are going to get him laughed at 8D
((Shinko, if I went out-of-bounds with Mercury actions, lemme know and I'll edit accordingly ^^ ))
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Post by Shinko on Sept 10, 2015 14:13:00 GMT -5
Morgaine gave Leif a dry laugh, quirking an eyebrow at him. "Normally he's fairly cooperative as cats go, but when he decides to be contrary there are methods. None of them are foolproof and all depend on his mood but I suppose there's no harm in trying something." As she spoke, the cat hissed at the chandelier, swimming through the air towards the far end of the room. His attention seemed to be caught by something, and his head snapped around, following whatever it was. "Toys can sometimes get his attention- a bit of string, a shiny bauble, anything that rings like a bell. Food works too, assuming he's hungry, though he can be a bit of a finicky eater. There's also catnip, that usually gets his attention, but unless that's a potion ingredient for some reason I doubt you've any of that lying around." Morgaine finally saw what it was that her tabby was looking at- a moth, fluttering around the curtained window. The cat swatted at it, but his paw missed the mark and the moth flew a bit away. Mercury pursued it, making another wild swipe that missed by a wide margin. Not quite able to cancel his own inertia, the cat tumbled forwards through the air past the moth and into the curtains. Morgaine winced as his impact was heralded by a loud metallic clatter, and the curtain rods were dislodged from their holders on the wall to tumble to the floor, a very angry cat thrashing in the folds. The locksmith darted forwards to grab her cat while he was tangled, but unfortunately Mercury managed to get free and dart off through the air before she cleared the room. He vanished into an adjacent door just as a servant came in behind Leif, no doubt attracted by the noise. Morgaine ticks off some ways the might get Mercury's attention, but while they aren't paying close enough attention the naught cat knocks down a curtain rod, and the curtains, before bailing the room. Feel free to control the servant, Tiger!
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Post by Tiger on Sept 11, 2015 15:11:27 GMT -5
The servant looked from Leif to the toppled curtains to Morgaine. "Is everything all right, Master Leif? A spell hasn't gone awry, I hope?" Leif saw his gaze drift toward the wax spatters. "No, it was a potion," Leif grumbled, heading after Mercury. "... Then it was a spell - but that was on the chandelier, not the curtains." The servant, following them out of the room, didn't seem to find this too shocking - he only asked, "Will you need someone to clean the dining room?" "What we need is some help catching Morgaine's cat." "A cat did all this? He must be a talented jumper, those curtains are rather high of the ground. " "Well," Leif confessed, "he's sort of... floating, at the moment. So jumping is...not a problem for him." Now the servant looked surprised. "I...oh." Glancing at Morgaine, Leif asked the servant, "I don't suppose we have any cat toys or catnip lying around?" "Not unless Madam Verdana left some behind. Should I fetch a ladder?" "I don't think he'll stay still long enough." Leif poked his head into a room - a sitting room, empty of any visible floating cats, and with the fireplace fortunately grated so Leif felt reasonably sure Mercury wasn’t hovering up the chimney. He headed on to the next room, a scrollery and an office out of which the scribe usually worked. “Maybe we should try food like you suggested, Morgaine - if it works on my raptors - it usually does, anyway - it should work on a cat. ...As long as he’s not still motion-sick. What kind of food does he like, maybe we can send you,” here he glanced over Morgaine’s head at the servant, “to go get that instead of a ladder?” Evidently this is a longtime servant who had better not try to become a real character. Leif asks about Merc’s dinner preferences and continues looking for where said kitty floated off to. *lobs the servant back over to Shinko for controlling rights*
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Post by Shinko on Sept 12, 2015 3:17:01 GMT -5
"Meat mostly," Morgaine replied, trailing after Leif and keeping her good eye out for Mercury in any of his more likely hiding places. "Things like rodents, fish, and um..." she coughed. "Turkey or chicken. Sorry, they are cats." "There is some ham on ice in the kitchen for dinner tonight, if a bit of that would suffice?" the servant offered. "Or perhaps his lordship would have something suitable amidst his raptor treats? I think he keeps rabbit meat?" "I don't think I've ever fed them rabbit," Morgaine remarked, tilting her head. "They'd take ham, but it's not their favorite so might not be the best for luring Merc when he's in a contrary mood. She pursed her lips. "What even went wrong with your potion anyway, Leif? You said it wasn't supposed to make things this light, right? And I think you were talking about it being the wrong color, but you weren't sure." A small smirk flitted across her face and she remarked, "Or maybe this was on purpose. Wanted everything to fly like your birdies hm?" Figure was a good spot for a brief break in the action for small talk/banter.
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Post by Tiger on Sept 12, 2015 17:04:05 GMT -5
Leif shrugged. "I can't get too offended about that - even other birds will eat turkey and chicken, if given the chance. ...Though yes, I do have rabbit. I guess there's no harm in trying to lure him with it; if he's never had it before, maybe he'll be curious to try, and we can grab him while he's distracted?" He snorted a laugh at Morgaine's question. " Please, Morgaine - if I wanted to make everything fly, I would have brewed a potion that gave them wings so they could do it properly, and give me more feathers to collect." His smirk faded as he answered the locksmith's original question about the potion, and looked around the room for Mercury. There were a lot of places for a cat to hide in here. "Most likely I made a mistake brewing the potion - it was supposed to make things light-weight, so they're easy to carry, not...anti-weighted. I added too much of an ingredient, most likely, though with a potion it could just as easily be too little of something, or me not combining things a certain way... I swear to 'Woo I followed the instructions in the book, but potions like this are finicky. That's why I was concerned about the color - sometimes that means there's a difference. But I guess that book is meant for people who've been brewing for so long that they have the experience to just know what the difference between yellow and goldenrod is?" Leif shook his head. "I was just going to test it, too, if Mercury could have waited five minutes..." "Cats are very good at being in the wrong place at the right time," the servant put in mildly. Leif hrmphed in agreement. "Shouldn't it have smelled bad to him? And I thought cats avoided water, so they would avoid giant vats of liquid. ...Oh, 'Woo, I hope a cleaning spell will work on this stuff, otherwise...there might be a bath in order." More chatting wheee!
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Post by Shinko on Sept 13, 2015 15:53:55 GMT -5
"He didn't jump in the potion on purpose, I don't think," Morgaine observed. "You saw the spoon go flying right? He was probably trying to play with it and lost his balance. Wait... why weren't the cauldron and the spoon floating? They both got that stuff on them, right?" She noticed and odd slurping noise from the corner of the room, and turned towards it's source with a frown. Coming around the corner of a bookcase, she saw Mercury hovering just out of her reach between the high shelves, licking enthusiastically at a half-finished needlework project. "If you ruin the Baroness' stitch work, I will tan you, Mercury," she informed the cat, who immediately jerked in surprise. He bit the embroidered piece with a possessive growl and continued licking. Looks like Merc found a toy after all.
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Post by Tiger on Sept 14, 2015 20:27:08 GMT -5
Leif nodded in reply to Morgaine's question about the spoon and cauldron. "Of course. They're covered in enchantments, though, so that they don't take the effects of potions we happen to be brewing. And just to be safe, we also put an enchantment on the cauldron and spoon to keep a small bit of empty space between the object and the potion itself. ...You know, just in case the resident archmage is brewing a potion that has unintended effects that the spoon and cauldron might not be properly warded against," he added with an abashed smirk. "...Which is definitely a good thing, imagine it that cauldron had toppled over onto us. Though I suppose we would have Mercury in hand more quickly." At Morgaine's threat, Leif hurried to join the locksmith. He was somewhat more accustomed to cats than he had been just a few years ago, thanks to many visits to Morgaine's shop - but finding that Mercury was licking the yarn instead of playing with it was a surprise. For once, though, Leif thought he might have a guess as to why the cat was doing something so odd. "Does he like the texture of it, is that why he's licking it?" ...That was really not the most important thing to be concerned about right now, however. Leif didn't particularly want to explain cat-spit-soaked stitchery to the Baroness, either. And Mercury was just out of Morgaine's reach, but Leif was taller...He holstered his wand and reached his hands out for the cat. "If you let me grab you," he offered, "I'll get you an entire ball of yarn to lick, okay?" Leif tries to yoink hover-Merc out of the air. You do that, Leiflet, I'm sure that's going to work, especially on page one of this roleplay 8D
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