Testing time

[melodymagic]

Melody had called Maddy the next morning, after meeting Theresa in the coffee shop, and asked her if she was working that day. She really wanted to try the potion, and it had a half life of thirty six hours before it started losing its potency. She'd been checking the colour and giving the bottle the shake it needed every so often to prevent the ingredients from separating.

When Maddy said she was working the late shift Melody was glad, and asked her to meet her for an early lunch, as Melody was working that afternoon and evening at a function in the Skylark. She hurried along the sidewalk, turning into the plaza and glancing up at the clock displayed in the centre of the outdoor dining area. She was a little late and she scanned the area, looking for Maddy. A series of small cafes and restaurants clustered around the area, making the most of the lunchtime trade from the businesses located all around.

Comments

Testing time

[melodymagic]

Melody pulled her satchel up onto the table and pushed the flap back, the small vial of potion soon nestling in her hand. One of the things she had been careful of was the warning 'don't keep it in a pocket or near your body as body heat can make it lose potency quicker', so it was wrapped inside a scarf in between some of her smaller books.

"I did it!" she hissed, managing to remember to keep her voice down a little as she unwrapped the small silk kerchief and showing Maddy the bottle. "I finally managed to get it right, the colour is perfect, and I want to try it," she told her friend. The times she had failed, when the potion hadn't turned that colour, or had just basically exploded into a smelly mess in the beaker, she had gone in to Cool Beans for a commisatory cappuccino, and Maddy had consoled her, then kicked her ass and told her to keep trying.

"Thanks to you, I did it, and I want to try it, but I wanted you to be here, in case, I dunno, it doesn't work right?" She looked around, the early lunch crowd settling in and the orders being taken by waitstaff from the restaurants, numbers stuck on top of chrome spikes indicating where the meals should be delivered from the cafes.

"What if it doesn't work, or doesn't do what it's supposed to?" she said suddenly, slightly nervous.

And it was that nervousness, and the doubt in her abilities, that had been the main motivator for her to get this potion right. Her confidence, her whole demeanour had been frustrating, and she didn't understand why, until she'd been reading about this potion in one of the older books of spells Jazz had brought in from home one day, at Mel's request. That's when she'd started working on it, and she was finally able to test it, and Maddy was her 'safe' person, having heard the countless failed attempts at making it.

"Should I take it here?" she asked, nervously.

Re: Testing time

[maddy_ricks]

“If it doesn’t work, we…” Maddy trailed off and bit her lip. She was a natural risk-taker but knew that her friend was not. “We cast a spell to restore you to factory setting,” she stated simply but firmly. Was that even a thing? She didn’t know. “Listen… you should go into this spell calm and collected. Emotions probably muck with mystical energy. I once unlocked a door to Boston and wound up in a hell-verse version of it, just because I was menstrual.”

She shook that memory off and looked at the tiny bottle and its contents.

“I say take it here. But just… just do a little at first, that way you can modulate until you get the ideal effect.”

That sounded smart, right? Oh god. What if Melody took this stuff and became a raging bitch?

Maddy smiled to cover up the thought.

Re: Testing time

[melodymagic]

Nodding, her eyes wide with anticipation and no small amount of nerves, Melody looked at the small vial, and pressed her nail against the side. "Good idea, small amounts, can always take more if needed, can't untake it once it's down the hatch," she murmured, or at least she thought she murmured, she wasn't sure.

She looked around quickly, inhaled, and straightened her shoulders, lifting her chin as she pulled the stopper out, and looked at Maddy.

"Here goes, small swig coming up!" she said, forcing a smile and closing her eyes as she lifted the glass to her lips and tipped her head back quickly.

Re: Testing time

[maddy_ricks]

“Here’s to a new you!”

Maddy crossed both of her fingers and curled her toes. It was hard to watch, so she squeezed her eyes shut.

Re: Testing time

[brian_campo]

Brian spotted them from across the plaza. Brunch was most assuredly the wrong end of the day, but he was awake early to pop a gift in the mail for Angela and grab food before a shift at Tracks. His boss Billie had requested a specific type of yuppie sandwich that he could only get in a cheese shop down here. The brown paper sack dangled from his fingers as he jumped onto the seat of a bench and hopped over the back.

He recognized Melody’s profile. The last time he saw her, Brian stepped on her foot and smashed her into a wall. He thought it might be funny to startle her, in keeping with the trend, and see if she’d make that high-pitched squeaking sound again.

Through a haze of bushes he crept up behind the chattering brunettes, his headphones and a noisy track by New Order ensuring that he missed their conversation. Just as Maddy shut her eyes, Brian grabbed Melody by the shoulders and shook her, making a strange, “Blrrrrddddrrrrdahhhh!” sound.

Re: Testing time

[melodymagic]

Melody felt the grasp on her shoulders and before she had a chance to stop, swallowed the entire contents of the vial at the same times as letting out a loud gasp and cough. She stood up and swung around to see who'd grabbed her, and blinked a little as things went a little weird, and the people in her vision started to swim around, their heads all tilting one way and their mouths starting to gape. She tilted her own head to try and straighten everyone, and finally turned far enough to see behind her.

But her eyes were now blinking and each time she blinked her eyelids seemed to resist opening, and her vision went more blurry. There was a face, she thought she recognised it, but she also thought she hadn't been swimming in this sea before so she couldn't possibly know who it was, especially as his lips were now the size of the lower half of his face and made him look like a large grouper fish she hadn't known at one point... and then she started giggling, the vial still clutched in her fingers of one hand the other reaching out to grab the grouper's shoulder as she staggered a little.

"Youhavtagogivedemakissssstmakeupfthemallfalldown!"

Re: Testing time

[maddy_ricks]

“BRIAN!” Maddy lunged for the vial, but it was too late. As she stood up, her Coke can turned over and spilled foam in a cold stream down her bare leg. “You ass! That was a po— uhhhhh pretty fucked up thing to do!” She stole napkins off a neighboring table, but once in her hand, she didn’t know what to do with them. Swab the remaining liquid from Mel’s tongue?

Instead, she did a half-assed job of mopping up the mess on her leg, all the while watching her friend with a cautious expression. When she caught Brian’s eye again, she jabbed a finger at the tiny vessel, then at her mouth, then hissed ‘magic!’

Re: Testing time

[brian_campo]

His first thought was that Melody choked on a beverage. A really strong one. Jeez, was she tying one on this early in the day? Granted he was the last person to judge, but…

He flinched as she clutched his shoulder. Mel didn’t smell like booze but he’d seen that sloppy posture before, that utter lack of vocal coordination, so looked to Maddy for help. “What’s she saying?” The only word he picked out was ‘kiss’. It wasn’t a horrible thought, but he didn’t think it was a real invitation.

Jab, jab, magic.

Brian blanched white up to his hairline. “Oh…shhhhhhit.” He splayed his hands but didn’t know where to put them. The sandwich bag hit the ground. “Oh god. Can you—can you stick your finger down your throat?” he asked, employing the tried-and-true method of dodging alcohol poisoning.

“What’s it do?” he demanded.

Re: Testing time

[melodymagic]

"BIGGgertimescirclezandYOUaretoooocute!" Melody giggled, her hand now gripping Brian's shoulder. She blinked and blinked again, then tugged on his shoulder and pulled him against her, the hand with the vial now on the back of his head as she kissed him, hungrily, and without reservation of any description. The hand that had been on his shoulder slid down and grasped his ass and gave it a squeeze as she pulled him closer.

Re: Testing time

[maddy_ricks]

“Whoa!”

Maddy’s eyes bulged from the sockets as she watched Melody’s fingers squeeze Brian’s ass like a tube of playdough. “Uh…”

Frantic, she looked for a solution.

She grabbed a glass of ice water from a passing waitress and dumped it on her friends.

Re: Testing time

[brian_campo]

Brian’s eyes widened, he opened his mouth, and then Melody – shy, awkward, rule obeying Melody – had her tongue down his throat. “Mmphh—!” He stood stock-still, palms in the air as if to tell the world, ‘it wasn’t me, I didn’t do it!’ His earphones hung crookedly around his neck.

She’s a pretty good kisser, he thought randomly, right before she cupped his ass.

Man, she was really gripping.

In the space of a few seconds, he thought about Valerie, and whether standing here in shocked acceptance was considered cheating, and whether their flexible relationship had a concept of cheating, and whether Valerie would just wish she was here to partake, and then, what the hell, he’d kiss Melody back because after all, he did poison her, and just as he was angling his face and returning the gesture, COLD!