1st August, 1894 — Wherever Lorelei works on her potions nowadays

This could have been a letter, but Tess had a few too many questions about the potions she was interested in this time. She wanted to sound – casual about it, offhand. And she would feel guilty thinking about or talking about spending money on not-exact-necessities in the vicinity of home and the printshop, because she was managing just fine as it was. She didn’t need to waste resources on anything else.

But she had handed over her new list of potions for the printshop to Miss Owens, exchanged some chat – how’s business? and the like – and continued to linger, looking over the bottles and vials and ingredients around in interest. Musingly, then, she asked: “Do you brew any – appearance-changing potions?”

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Lorelei Owens/Henry Berkwood

  

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Setting off on her own potions career had been more nerve-wracking than Lorelei had anticipated--this wasn't her first time doing this, after all. But the apothecary had been steady, certain work, while her own potion-crafting business was more subject to the whims of her clients, and that was a scarier prospect in an unfamiliar land than it had been back home.

Still, things were off to a promising start, and Lorelei was optimistic. And she already had a couple of steady clients, which certainly helped. Lorelei had made a space for herself in the home she shared with her sister, a place to meet with people like Miss Whitby and to do her work. It was a bit tighter than Lorelei would have liked it, but eventually she would save up enough for a proper laboratory to work in. For the moment, it did well enough.

"I can," Lorelei answered. "I don't currently have any already brewed, but I can make something if you're looking for something specific?"

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Bee is actual magic

“I don’t know all the possibilities, with potions,” Tess confessed, because two years of Potions lessons at Hogwarts and the occasional trip to the Apothecary did not yield an all-encompassing knowledge – and she hadn’t wanted to get her hopes too far up, with what she could afford.

“But something that changes the colour of hair, or features, or – maybe something that alters your voice? Only temporarily,” she added quickly. Then, because she felt irrationally worried that Miss Owens would read her mind, and know why she wanted these things, Tess ventured an explanation. “One of my sisters,” she tried, with a shrug, “has a passion for acting.”

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"I'm sure I could brew something up," Lorelei said. If she thought anything was strange, she didn't comment on it. Certainly Lorelei didn't know anything about acting, except that she'd enjoyed the odd pantomime as an audience member. "Or possibly multiple somethings," she amended after a moment's thought. "But I'm sure I could get you something. When do you need it?"

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Bee is actual magic

She hadn’t questioned it. Perhaps it wasn’t any odder than her usual customer requests, after all? Either way, Tess’ shoulders relaxed as she let out an internal sigh of relief. “Oh, there’s – no rush. Whenever you can get it to me. I’m sure you have other things that take priority, and this is – just a silly indulgence, really.” Whether it was that or more necessary, Tess almost didn’t dare ask how hard they would be to brew or how much they might cost. She was already appropriately ashamed of her selfishness.

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"We all need our silly indulgences sometimes," Lorelei said with a smile. "I know I would go mad if I never had a break from work." Especially since nowadays she was working out of her home. When she'd worked at the apothecary, there had been an easy way to separate work from the rest of her life. It was a bit more of an effort now.

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Bee is actual magic

Tess smiled inwardly. She wanted to believe it, but silly indulgences still felt like a lot to ask for, when she ran a printshop that was treading water and sisters who were occasionally liable to fall off the deep end in one way or another. But Lorelei Owens was running her own business now, too, and did not seem to have much family besides her sister, so – she understood. And she was probably right, too.

“I’m always hanging a single thread away from madness, I think,” she admitted wryly. Or – a single print job away. One bad day. One frustrating hour. “What do you like to do?” she asked instead, genuinely curious. “To get away for a while?”

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"I rather like knitting." Lorelei said. "It began as a practical skill, of course, but I rather like doing things with my hands." She smiled ruefully, gesturing at her cauldron. "Perhaps unsurprisingly." A person in trades should probably have some affinity for that, after all, though Lorelei supposed the need varied depending on the trade.

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Bee is actual magic

Knitting. Tess grinned, though she wished she had ever had the patience (or the time) for something like that. Unlike Miss Owens, though, her wrists and fingers usually ached by the time she was finished with her work, so her hobbies mostly included snatching a couple hours of sleep or nagging her sisters. (Or sneaking out for a walk or a drink as someone else.)

“Oh, if you’re good with fiddly tasks like picking up stitches you’d be brilliant as a typesetter,” Tess joked, with a laugh. (She did not expect Lorelei to drop the potions business she had evidently just worked so hard to set up.) Putting metal letters into words into mirrored lines was a fiddly and frustrating job, much like Tess found knitting. “I don’t suppose you’re any good at reading backwards?” (If so, then she’d be a natural, and Tess would simply have to steal her.)

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"Can't say I've had much experience trying," Lorelei said. "But I could always try." Her tone was light, because of course she didn't think Miss Whitby was serious. And anyway, Lorelei quite liked what she was doing now, anyway. It was still fun to think of other possibilities sometimes. Though she'd had quite enough self-inflicted upheaval in her life in recent times.

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Bee is actual magic

Tess smiled wryly at her. She was beginning to realise her life, the printshop, had handed her a list of oddly-specific skills and not afforded her much in the way of hobbies beyond it. Reading: she did to proof things. Writing: she did to pen the occasional pamphlet on women’s rights. Her outings were work-related, or errands for her sisters and the flat. “Well, I make that a whole five minutes before I brought things back around to printing,” Tess said dryly, a little chagrined by herself. “I s’pose that means I really do need a hobby.”

(Was it strange, to think that dressing up as some other person felt like more fun than anything else in her life? Probably.)

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Lorelei smiled sympathetically. "I think such is probably the case for most businesswomen, unfortunately." There was always work to do, one had to be dedicated. One might even argue obsessively so, but Lorelei was trying to at least keep a hold of her own sanity.

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“Well,” Tess said grandly – definitely joking – “next time I see you perhaps I’ll have taken up leisure flying. Quidditch, even.” Miss Owens would not know, though she may be able to guess, that Tess was not a born flier. First year at Hogwarts had made that clear enough, and she had never corrected that deficiency. She preferred to keep both her feet on the ground.

“But I’ll let you get on,” she added quickly, flushing a little for realising she was still loitering in the potioneer’s makeshift workshop, just chatting. (She would have cursed anyone who had done as much in the printshop.) “But it’s nice to know another. Businesswoman, I mean.”

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Lorelei smiled in agreement. It was nice. "You're welcome anytime," she said. "I'll let you know when I've made something up for your request." Already, she had a few ideas for where to start.

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Bee is actual magic