Potion Brewing Session

  As Valentine watched the bouncing brunette several steps ahead of him he tried to recall exactly how he’d ended up here. Here meaning walking to the potion shop with Joey on the coldest fall day this year. He remembered getting a text from Diyan that morning inviting him to come over and hangout, and he remembered making his way there since he had nothing better to do, and he also remembered Alan half mumbling a request to keep an eye on Joey while he went to the store. But why on earth had he said okay? Sure Diyan and Joey together would probably just be a bigger mess and sure Alan had been in the middle of making dinner but still. Valentine sighed to himself, what else could he have said, he wasn’t that much of an asshole after all.

  “You feeling okay, Valentine?” Joey had dropped back a few steps to match the shorter ampha’s pace.

  “Fine.” Valentine assured him.

  “That’s good. Thanks again for coming with me, last time I tried to go alone and I knocked over a potion display and it was a big mess so now Alan’s all worried about me every time I want to go. I told him I would be fine but he wouldn’t budge, I don’t mind too much though, trips are always more fun with a friend.”

  Valentine didn’t even have time to respond as Joey noticed the store just ahead and dashed off, disappearing inside. Not wanting to have a repeat of Joey’s story, Valentine picked up his own pace a bit to catch back up with the other.

  Inside the potion shop was instantly warmer than the street had been and Valentine’s nose tingled with the change in temperature as it warmed. Valentine skimmed the area for signs of Joey. Bottles of all shapes and sizes glowed dimly in the lighting of the shop as he moved further into it, looking for the red of his sweater more than the teal glow of his markings which were so similar to several of the potion selections.

  Rounding a corner Valentine found Joey leaning so far over a counter that he was practically laying on top of it. “Valentine!” Joey chirped when he caught sight of him. “Have you seen the owner anywhere? I can’t find them anywhere, do you think they’re on break?”

  “It would be a tad odd to go to lunch and leave the shop open.” He scratched his chin thoughtfully. “I haven’t seen them either though. Should we head back to the apartment then? Diyan and Alan are probably-” Valentine paused as he watched Joey literally scramble over the top of the counter and collapse onto the other side. “What the heck are you doing?”

  “Well, I figure,” Joey hopped back to his feet and dusted himself off. “If the shop owner isn’t here then I’ll just make my own potion, leave the payment, and then we can be on our way. That way we don’t have to wait around but I still get my potion.”

  Valentine watched as he began pulling ingredients out and setting them on top of the counter. “You know how to make potions?”

  “Do video games count?”

  “No.”

  “Then not technically, but it can’t be too hard right? Everything here is already for potion making. I just have to choose the right combination.”

  “I don’t think that’s how that works.”

  Joey raised an eyebrow. “Do you know how to make potions?”

  “Not really I guess.”

  “Haha, so then I might be right!” Valentine didn’t bother reminding him that he might still be wrong as well, Joey was obviously set on this course of action, so the best thing to do now was simply to minimize damage.

  As Joey mixed and matched items and measurements, Valentine hovered nearby watching over the process, occasionally stopping ill fated combinations with the little bit of knowledge he did possess on the subject. Slowly the liquid changed to a purple color and streams of smoky vapors curled over the lip of the pot it was contained within.

  Valentine lifted his head from his chin, eyes a little wide. “I think you might be onto something here, that looks a lot like a smoke potion.”

  Joey frowned heavily at the liquid though, seemingly displeased. “Maybe that one’s just harder. Maybe I can do acid instead.” He murmured to himself as he ducked back down to get more ingredients.

  Valentine cocked an eyebrow and glanced back at the potion, that hadn’t been the response he’d been expecting from the usually excitable and upbeat ampha. Still he remained quiet as Joey went back to work until the potion began to shift again, the vapors becoming more ominous as they dripped in vaguely ghostly patterns. At that point he had to sit up again and grab an empty bottle from the shelf for the mixture.

  He took the handle of the pot and quickly but carefully poured the liquid into the glass bottle and stoppered it. “Pretty sure that’s at least close enough to a poison potion that we shouldn’t be just casually breathing it in.” He commented as he returned the pot to the little portable burner. When Valentine turned back to Joey he looked like he was holding back frustrated tears. “Alright, time to spill cause this,” Valentine gestured vaguely at Joey’s person. “Is weirding me out. I know we don’t know each other super well and all, but this still seems a little out of character. What's up?”

  Joey gave a deep sigh. “I just . . . I wanted to make a love dust potion at first.” Joey’s cheeks tinted just a touch with what Valentine thought might be a blush before he continued. “But I guess the shop owner only makes them on occasion because they’re pretty hard, all mine did was smoke. So I thought I’d make it into an acid potion instead, like ya know, Stry’s cuz it’s really cool and all. But that didn’t work either.”

  Valentine considered the now obvious blush as well as color of the potion on the counter, guy had a big fat ole crush didn’t he? Valentine glanced up at the clock on the wall and gave a light sigh. “Well, at least you made some pretty good other stuff right? Let’s head back for today, we’ve been out way longer than we should have, and I’ll come back with you another day and we can try and find the shop owner to make you a proper potion alright?”

  “You really mean it?! Thank you, Valentine!” Joey’s eyes instantly lit up and he practically launched himself across the counter to snatch Valentine up into a hug. The pink ampha stiffened violently and then wriggled himself out of the embrace.

  “Yeah, don’t mention it, and also please don’t hug me for it.”

  Joey climbed back over the top of the counter and only almost knocked into a stack of bottles. “No promises!” Joey chuckled and then trotted towards the door.

  “Hey, wait up a second, we gotta pay!” Valentine rolled his eyes, slapped some money onto the counter, and then snatched the potion Joey had made before dashing after the other.