And then on Monday Jaune was a potion guy

[short_n_sweet]

[Another job fair job taken, another disappointment. But, maybe Jaune could learn things. The only thing he really did was put up some postings around Genessia - just pieces of paper stapled to things.]

[They read:

NEW APPRENTICE POTION GUY

Looking to work one solid eight hours. Preferably working under someone who knows how to make potions.

- Call Jaune Arc

[Included is of course Jaune's comm number. All he had to do was wait! What was being a potion brewer all about, anyway? Well, if someone was gonna teach him the basics, he'd eventually find out.]

Comments

[no_love_potions]

[He's not sure at all.]

Yeah. Sure.

[The inside of the office looks pretty much like a basic police station, nothing fancy. There's Harry's desk, the big nice one in the back with the stack of papers and notepads and a couple others to the side, reserved for his employees, and a little counter with a coffee machine, a half-full box of donuts, and a stack of empty boxes of donuts.

There's also what looks like a drunk tank with heavy duty magic circles etched into the floor. Perfectly normal.]

That's an especially easy commute around here. [Harry sets his pen down when Jaune shows up, standing up and walking around the desk to greet him.] So, uh, how much do you know about making potions?

[short_n_sweet]

[Looks normal enough, except the magic circles... Jaune didn't get much more than a squint on on those though as Harry approached him. The guy's so tall, he pretty much demands attention.]

I don't know anything about making potions. But I have about another seven hours and a bit before I can go back to the job fair and spin for another job. [Jaune shrugs.] Last time, I got groundskeeper. I got chased off though... Did you read there's zombies around here? I so, so did not read the paper the week I should've. So, now I'm here. And the shield's staying on the belt.

[He gives his sheath a pat, which spring it open again, but only on his hip, so no harm done. After he rights the thing, he looks back up at Harry.] But, like, I've played video games that had stuff like potion crafting in them. Basically find a buncha plants and weird stuff and brew them up, right? [He doesn't honestly believe it's that easy.]

[no_love_potions]

[It comes in handy sometimes, human instinct to be intimidated by people taller than them, but it sure made blending into a crowd rough.]

I heard something about a zombie problem, yeah. [His ribs are still sore from where that big one socked him. He gives that shield a sour look when it pops open. He could appreciate Jaune wanting to keep his weapons at hand, and as long as it doesn't break anything he's welcome to keep doing so.]

Something like that. [he nods his head toward the back and starts toward a locked door, fishing around in his pocket for a set of keys.] Your basic potion comes in eight parts. A liquid base and one ingredient for each of the five senses, plus two more for the mind and the spirit. The trick is getting the right ingredients and in the right measurements.

[And he unlocks the door. And then takes another key and starts on the two padlocks also securing it shut.]

For now, I just need you to mix together some pre-measured ingredients. If you do good and decide you want to stick with it, we'll move on to the harder stuff. Sound good?

[short_n_sweet]

[Brewing potions is a lot more complicated than he thought it was. Eight whole ingredients? Sounds rough. But when he hears that what he'd be working on is pre-measured, that puts Jaune at ease. If there's instructions for him to follow, he can totally do that! After all, he was a little clumsy, but not completely incompetent.]

Well, okay. [Jaune quirks a brow as he follows Harry towards the lab. Man, that's a lot of locks.] ... Didn't your flier say something about love potions? Are those really a thing?

[no_love_potions]

[The tricky part of potions wasn't so much the mixing, it was working out what ingredients to use and how much. The wrong ingredient in the wrong quantity could give you something completely different than what you'd intended to make.

As for the locks, there was good reason for that. On top of the materials Harry had reproduced and gathered, it was a sort of evidence lockup for sorcery. Inside were shelves lined with heavy lockboxes holding books and scrolls of nasty little spells, both from serious practitioners and dumb kids, and way in the back is a glass case containing a porcelain doll and absolutely plastered with those evil-sealing ofuda of Raye's.

Now there was a story.]

Yeah, and it specifically says that we don't do them. [He gives Jaune a look.] Don't even get the idea in your head, kid. Nothing good ever started with a love potion. It's just not something you want to mess around with.

[short_n_sweet]

Whoa... [Stepping into that locked room was something entirely different, for sure. So much stuff! Better not touch anything. Jaune folded his hands behind his back to utterly and completely resist any temptation to poke around. The love potion thing is forgotten pretty quick, too. Rather an drill Harry for questions, Jaune feels it's best just to take the guy's word for it.]

Allllright then, so... what am I gonna work on then? A healing potion? Invisibility potion?