October 28th, 1895 - Diagon Alley Apothecary

It wasn't often Tabitha found herself brewing potions outside of work, but her father had come down with something, a hacking cough and possibly pneumonia, so she was making sure she had a good stock of treatments at home for him. She didn't feel right taking anything from the hospital, despite the fact that she was the one often brewing the potions at work. She had a couple stops to make, the Plunketts' general store, the flower shop, to gather the things she needed. The Apothecary would obviously have the things she needed, but sometimes there was no substitution for fresh florals or herbs like she could get elsewhere. She would have to ensure the cook made some hearty soup, the broth would be good for him while he was stuck in bed and having a hard time keeping anything down.

She hummed to herself quietly as she meandered the aisles, unphased by the smells emanating from the stocked vials and canisters on the shelves. Tabi had gotten used to such things a long time ago; working at the hospital did not leave much room for having a sensitive nose. She stopped at a particular spot, looking up and down for the needed ingredient, but realized it was just a bit out of her reach. Would it be rude to summon it with her wand? Would she be able to do it without breaking anything? These hesitations kept her from attempting the feat, momentarily pausing her list to make a note. She could come back to it when she found the shopkeeper to assist her. That was until somebody taller than her turned down the narrow aisle and she had a new option. Of course, she dithered about asking, would it be rude? But she was likely to forget it if she didn't get it now.

Sighing she steeled herself, as the gentleman approached, she stepped closer to the shelving, still wavering over asking or not. Tabitha chastised herself mentally, the worst he could say was no, and she would just go ask an employee. Honestly. "Pardon me?" She squeaked quietly. "Do you think you could help me reach something?" It was two whole shelves above where her fingertips could reach, there was no getting it down without help. It was wild how the shelves seemed to go from floor to ceiling and things were pack everywhere. It was somewhat organized and she was used to it, but sometimes she was still amazed how much they managed to cram in.

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Taesu Jeong

  

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Barnaby Wye has blanket permission to interrupt Tabi's threads, please reach out if you do NOT want this to happen!

They had been in Britain for almost two months now, and Taesu hadn’t been allowed to take polyjuice once. He didn’t understand why – Abeoji always sold a night with a Veela wearing a face of their choosing, and suddenly it had been ripped away from him. Taesu loathed wearing his own face; it felt like people were picking him apart every time they looked at him, not knowing what he was. They’d figure it out soon enough, and then everyone in Britain would be afraid of him… and probably hate him for what he was.

That was why Taesu had decided, despite his complete lack of education in the subject, to attempt to brew his own polyjuice potion. It was risky – he’d be thoroughly punished if he was found out, but to him, it was worth it. His first set of polyjuice hadn’t gone well; the lace wing flies he’d ah… borrowed from Carrow had gone missing (stolen, but Taesu couldn’t exactly prove it nor point fingers at anyone without outing himself), and because of that, the potion had been ruined. It had been frustrating because the potion took so long to brew, but he was ready to try again.

This time around, Taesu had a list of all the ingredients he needed to brew the potion, but he planned on buying double just in case something went missing. He was also going to purchase another cauldron to brew another potion, although he hadn’t decided which one that would be yet. Maybe a wide eye potion, so he could be awake day and night. (Taesu had never made one of those either, but it couldn’t be too hard, could it?) He found that he enjoyed making potions, even if he wasn’t great at it. Maybe he should have made a list of what he needed for that too…

Taesu was wondering if the shop had a list of potions he might browse from ingredients when a voice reached him. At first he didn’t realize it was directed at him; women often sought him out, and seeing as the voice sounded feminine, Tae suddenly found himself very uncomfortable. He lifted his gaze until it landed on the woman, half turned toward the shelves like she had attempted to reach something but couldn’t. It didn’t seem like an excuse to approach him, which for some odd reason made this whole interaction a bit better for him.

“Ah, of course,” Taesu said as he stepped forward. His voice was low but polite, the one that Abeoji had trained him to use when dealing with people in public. “Which one?” Taesu followed her gaze upward, and then reached up to easily curl his fingers around a small jar balanced near the top shelf; even if he couldn’t reach the ones further up. He turned it over in his hand to make sure it was what she wanted before offering it to her. “This?” His mouth quirked faintly. “The shopkeeper has a habit of hiding the good stock up high. Keeps us all humble.” Taesu had been in the apothecary more often than he should have been asking for this and that, so he was pretty familiar where some of the ingredients were kept; it would be bad news once the shop owner started to recognize him.

His shoulders stiffened once he realized how close she was to him. Even here, surrounded by perfectly legal ingredients and perfectly ordinary people, Taesu felt like he was about to be found out. Like she’d see the wrongness in him, the way everyone eventually did, if she looked too long. Well, he might as well try not to make this whole encounter awkward, so he opened his mouth to ask, “you brew often?” He meant it to sound polite, maybe even curious, but mostly it was a distraction, for her and for himself.

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Credit to Fox for this beautiful set!<3

Ah well, at least he'd been very polite about it. Tabitha was not usually in the habit of asking strangers for help, though had, more than she would like admit, found herself in some strange situations over the last couple of years. The garden gnome incident and the popcorn predicament came to mind first. At least Barnaby had only been present for one, so could only bring that one up. She had of course, told him about the popcorn flood, as she had very few friends and he seemed to be the most present. After the fact, once she was upright and the stains removed from her dress, it had been pretty funny.

"Thank you," she smiled shyly at him, looking up for the first time, used to keeping her eyes downcast in public. His comment about the stock reached her ears, but Tabitha was too distracted by some strange recognition in her chest. This man was obviously a stranger to her, but for some reason looked familiar. The features, the smoothness of his skin, something in the way he carried himself, even in her short glance, felt akin to something she recognized. It was a strange thought, at she shook herself from the reverie, blinking several times.

"I'm always afraid to summon something," she said, surprised by her own honesty. "In case it all comes falling down." The words were tumbling out, not in a rush, not awkwardly, but unusual for her. Tabitha was not the kind to say more than she needed to, especially when she didn't know the person.

After tucking the vial into the little basket she held with a few other things she'd already picked up. "I do, I work at the hospital, in the Potion and Plant Poisoning ward." She brewed potions every day, sometimes several, sometimes that's all she did if the ward was having a slow day. Tabitha liked to help make sure all of the other wards were stocked with what they needed too, general antidotes, salves and other things that helped in a multitude of situations. "And yourself?" The question fell out before she could stop herself. Why couldn't she stop talking!?

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Barnaby Wye has blanket permission to interrupt Tabi's threads, please reach out if you do NOT want this to happen!

Taesu nodded at her thanks. He didn’t often help people who asked, mostly because it got awkward quickly. Outside of them and the shopkeep the Apothecary was pretty much empty, so if something happened, there weren’t any witnesses to it. (It was the only reason he’d agree to help her in the first place.) She started speaking and Taesu found himself nodding, because there wasn’t much else that he could do, although at least he didn’t feel the desire to crawl out of his own skin at the attention she was giving him. It was unusual, but he figured that it would come.

Taesu cleared his throat lightly. He listened to her words spill out, and he blinked, trying to keep up. He’d had English lessons and understood it well enough, but sometimes fast talking still made his head spin. He caught enough of it though, that he didn’t have to ask her to repeat her. He didn’t stare, though he felt that soft tug of familiarity hovering at the edges of his senses.

“Afraid it’ll all fall down,” he echoed quietly before he nodded. “I get it. There’s a lot of things here, and who knows what it would hit on the way down. Taesu hadn’t gone to school and the only time he'd been trained with magic was when a tutor came over to show him simple spells using a wand. (It was disastrous and he was always uncomfortable using magic, but sometimes it couldn’t be helped.)

She mentioned the hospital, and that earned a small spark of actual surprise from him. He hadn’t expected a healer. “I haven’t visited the hospital yet,” Taesu said rather dumbly, because why would one visit without a reason? Plus he tended to avoid hospitals because of, well, the whole Veela thing. They were trying to hide that part, and the hospital had too many eyes and people to stay hidden forever. “But I imagine you do brew a lot in that department.”

Taesu shifted his weight. “Erm, no. Not really. I’m just starting out.” It wasn’t a complete lie. “My brother asked me to grab some ingredients for him. He’s going to help me.” That part was a lie though; no one knew what he was brewing in the closet and Taesu intended to keep it that way.

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Credit to Fox for this beautiful set!<3