genessia | Accidental Video | Action to ANYONE NEAR HIS SHITTY SHOP

[It's uncomfortable, hearing that wheeze from this channel. The communicator seems to have been carelessly swatted to the floor as he passed by it, considering that it caught the tail end of his retreating shape before it slumped heavily into a chair.

He's gray. Grayer than usual, pale blue in the lips and fingers and obviously cold and sick. Clearly, the steaming drink he has, too dark to be any normal blend of tea, isn't doing whatever job he expected it to.

Whatever is going on, his lips haven't stopped moving once, a shaking hand carefully thumbing each and every bead on the rosary. Prayers, probably.

He has some kind of tic. A constant jerk towards the window, as if he heard something from there, before he digs at an ear with his pinky. Tinnitus maybe? Whatever the issue is, the faded glare finally lands on the blinking light of the communicator, and he hurls a book sitting on the table at it, before struggling to get up and shut the stupid thing off]

Dúr, maith do rud ar bith, briste píosa truflais! Éist suas!

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[Soma's gotten pretty good with basic wards, thankfully. Sorry bout that top hinge, though. He'll pay for the repairs.]

I did. And from the look of you, it's a good thing I did. What the hell's happened to you?

Congenital illness. Some issue with me lungs. Tis easy for me to get sick. I've been treatin' it with herbs and old world remedies for as long as I've been 'round.

Tried alchemy? [And now Soma's looking around the shop, seeing instruments both familiar and arcane even by Dracula's standards.] Judging by the gear, I'd guess yes, but you know what they say about assumptions.

Aye, I've a bit of that, but tis hardly my specialty. Most alchemy is too risky for me.

Well. I've an old friend back home who gave me his little black book on the subject. [He pulls out said book, and if Cassian knows anything about the true masters of the art, he's likely to recognize the scrawled signature of Rinaldo Gandolfi on the cover. But maybe not? Depends on whether he existed in Lynch's home universe.] Mostly the stuff that'd be useful to a hunter, but the Belmont clan expanded on some of them a bit. One of the healing draughts ought to be able to help to some extent.

[Little does Soma realize that the curse antidote would probably have more immediate effects. Ah well.] I'm not what you'd call an expert, but I know how to make most of the stuff in here. Mind if I borrow your gear for an hour or two, to keep you from kicking the bucket?

I'll try it, but I hope ye don't mind me testin' it first before I do anythin' proactive with it.

[Can't be too careful, what works for one might hurt another. He takes the book, looks to the signature, notices it, perhaps... but doesn't say a thing of it. He just gently puts the book down next to him again]

Aye. Don't set anything ablaze or ye won't live through the night.

It'd take a fool not to test it first. [...granted he himself was one such fool, but that's neither here nor there. Needs must, when you're bleeding out from repeated impalement.] I'll try not to blow anything up without meaning to. Promise.

[For reasons that have mostly to do with the writer not having a functioning knowledge of alchemy beyond that of the general laygamer, the preparation process will be left vague. It incorporates several of the devices found in the shop, as well as one improvised from a copper condenser coil and several flasks. By the time he's done, a small vial of a softly glowing blue liquid has been produced. The process took roughly an hour, mostly owing to the state of preparation many of the required ingredients had been in to start with - a well-stocked larder indeed. This vial, as well as a glass of what looks suspiciously like orange juice, is presented to Cassian, as well as a pipette so he can test the potion.]

It's just the most basic one - I'd need some more esoteric ingredients for the stronger potions, and while you've got an excellent range of stock, these are pretty hard to come by. The juice is to kill the aftertaste.

[He's of course, still there when Soma returns, looking just as gray and ill as he had been before. He heard the entire process, and watched parts of it from what he could see from his chair, and when handed the pipette, he was quick to produce a vial and a small lighter, as well as a tiny pouch of unnamed powder.

He didn't explain what he was doing, just sampled some of the potion, placed it in the vial, and heated it, adding increments of the powder until the potion changed color. From blue, to red, to a soft pink. This reaction seemed to ease him somewhat, and while he didn't take what was in the vial he had used to test it, he did take the vial Soma had, and downed it without question, making a face and chugging the juice next]

Aye. Right then. I'll look into findin' the rarer things later, then.

[He watches the test with interest, raising a brow at the color changing - first to the red he more commonly associates with what he inevitable came to call mana potions, and then to a pink that was wholly absent from the spectrum of concoctions he'd yet encountered. Still, he's not going to outright ask - if Cassian wanted him to know what that was all about, he'd tell him.]

I've a line on some of them, assuming I haven't been barred entry to the castle yet. You can keep the book - I've a copy of my own, and the full volume remains secure in the Belmont clan library. Is there anything else I can do to help you tonight?

[Given Cassian's connection to Hastur, there's a solid chance he's realized by now that Soma is a fellow consumer of souls - Soma hasn't and won't make the same connection, because Soma himself only vaguely registers it when he does it. Interestingly, though, none of the ones he holds are human - but there are quite a lot of monster and demon souls in there.]

[If he has, he doesn't appear to make any outward note of it, save for a short glance.]

Ye were the one interested in helpin' around the shop, weren't ye?

Yeah. The bounty hunter gig just... doesn't cover things consistently enough. There are other reasons, but... [He shrugs.] They all boil down about the same way. What kind of help d'you still need, around here? [Aside from a nursemaid, that is.]

I need someone to mind the shop every Sunday. On days where I am here, I need someone to help with customers, restockin', general maintenance. I cannot make all the materials by myself in the quantities they're needed.

I'll need someone on hand to help create more.

Accidental Video | Action to ANYONE NEAR HIS SHITTY SHOP

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