Another One! Potions ChampionshipⅠThe Second Potion

Yolanda was blissfully unaware of the time that went by. Silva was reading during the breaks so Yolanda sometimes would take out her notebook - she always had a small notebook and attached pen and spare pen in her robe pocket- scribbling in her messy writing. She jotted down this and that thought, mostly about Potions and possible threats, at this moment, such as small little dwarve like creatures…

The notebook kept her from fidgeting too. Yolanda scribbled in her notebook.


Hmmm…. What else? Maybe a picture about Redcaps? She started scribbling.


Back to work, she mentally told herself, as the next potion started. Silva was busy grinding and doing lots of work. She stepped back for Yolanda giving encouraging words.

“For sure!” Yolanda said quickly.

Yolanda grabbed the Standard Ingredient and added 2 measures to the mortar to combine with the now Lovage-paste. She took a breath and added the mixture paste to the cauldron.

Yolanda stepped away for her teammate Avis to get in. She really looked focused and like she knew what she was doing… Yolanda wish she had that kind of confidence.

“We so can do this!” She chorused out – imitating her peers last words.

@Avis Marlong & @Silva Melinora

Avis rolled her eyes. She didn't really believe in encouragement. Nor did she like it. There are two types of ways to be motivated, through encouragement or through competition. Avis was 100% the second category. Having people working alongside her gave her more motivation than a "We can do this" from a teammate ever would. Being told that she wouldn't be able to lit a fire inside Avis and made her so much more determined to do so, while encouragement sort of drained that fire.

Thankfully, there were groups of competition just feet away, so Avis focused on the potions. She was happy she didn't have to do anything with the ingredients this time. Avis really hated some of them. Woodlouse. Spines of Lionfish. Salamandar Blood. All of which Avis had found at the apothecary shop, to her immense horror. The crazy part was that people actually willingly chose to drink those potions. Willingly! She shuddered a bit, and as Yolanda stepped away she stepped up and stirred the potion, five times clockwise, after which she waved her wand. Great. Now they waited, for 15 to 30 minutes. Again. This was getting pretty annoying. All the waiting was just another one of the reasons that Avis was by no means a potionist. Impatience was not a virtue, after all. She started humming a little tune while tapping her hands along her leg. If one were to look closely, they would see her fingers dancing about as if they were playing a piano, which Avis was doing in her mind. She paused occasionally, remembering a note or two, before resuming her song. She looked around at the other groups, wondering what they had all done to prevent boredom. Silva, the smart one it seemed, had brought a book, and even Yolanda had managed to produce a small notebook in which she was scribbling.

After the potion was done brewing, Avis turned up the heat to 250. She carefully watched the potion heat, high temperatures always necessitated extra care. Avis had learned that after making cookies with Maria one time. Cookies that were just a little bit overdone. Cookies that set off the fire alarm. Thankfully, there hadn't been a fire, but Avis and Maria had steered clear of the cooker for quite a while after that incident. After heating for 30 seconds, Avis quickly turned the heat back to medium, and looked to Silva. She really didn't want to do ingredient prep, she would leave that to the other girls.

@Silva Melinora, @Yolanda Yates

Silva watched as Yolanda continued working with the mortar. As soon as she was done Avis stepped in to brew it. She noticed that Avis didn't seem to like her and Yolanda's attempts at encouragement. As Avis got to work she sat down and pulled out her book. More waiting it seems.

Yolanda appeared to have a sketchbook out. Part of her wanted to go over and look over her shoulder but the other part just wanted to relax here. She pulled her book up and leafed through its pages. As she looked through them she stopped, in awe, on one animal. "The dodo!?!" She looked up at the others, eyes wide. "The dodo's been alive this entire time as a magical creature! The.." She checked her book again "Daricawl!"

Now that was awesome. She realized that Avis had stepped back so she closed her book, making sure to bookmark the page with the daricawl, and got ready to work. What was next?

Sneezewort. What kind of a name was sneezewort? Who would make a big discovery of a new kind of plant and name it sneezewort? She shook her head. They should be ashamed of themselves.

She grabbed the sneezewort and pulled it into rough pieces. She then threw it in the cauldron. She then stirred it once, anti-clockwise. Now it was time to use the mortar and pestle again. She grabbed one sprig of fluxweed into a paste. After she was done with that she scraped it into the cauldron and stepped back to let Yolanda finish the job.

@Avis Marlong and @Yolanda Yates

@Avis Marlong and @Silva Melinora