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Post by Curse Kameren on May 2, 2011 22:05:44 GMT -5
Concentrate...
Though classes were over for the night, the Potions classroom in the dungeons was bubbling with activity. Literally: Professor Kameren had two cauldrons simmering, darting between the two as he prepared ingredients and read spells. A large violet root sat on the table between the two cauldrons, lightly groaning. As the Professor went between the cauldrons, he would tap the root with his wooden spoon, his substitute for a wand when he made potions. The groaning would briefly stop, then continue.
The Professor put down the spoon, instead picking up a small knife with a thick glass blade. He bit his lip as he dragged the blade across his own palm, dark pink blood gushing out of the split in his skin. He caught the drops with magic before they hit the dungeon floor, suspending them in mid-air.
knock-knock-knock.
He cursed as a knock sounded on the heavy wooden doors to the dungeon. He put the knife handle in his mouth, holding it there so he could use his hands to perform a spell. "Hrrld rrn, dn't cme rrn!" He spoke around the knife, his emerald eyes focussed on the blood droplets as he cupped his hands underneath them, bringing them apart slowly. As he moved his hands, the blood separated from another substance in the mixture, returning his pink blood to red as he subtracted the white, powdery substance. He quickly tipped the powder into its respective cauldron before taking the knife out of his mouth and calling out to whoever was behind the door. "Alright, its safe! Come in."
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Post by Nuriko Elsywth on May 9, 2011 19:11:07 GMT -5
"Alright, its safe! Come in."
“Hey Prof!” Nuri said, poking her head around the door. “Phew, what’s that you’re stewing, a dead skunk?” She wrinkled her nose, looking at the set up with dubious eyes. “That reeks.” She informed her teacher as she fully entered the classroom, her bright hair (Yellow and dark orange today) bringing some light to the dim room. “Y’all really need to improve the décor in here.” She drawled at her best Southern.
“Well!” She hitched her book bag up on her shoulders, looking around. “What is it tonight? Cleaning cauldrons? Alphabetatizing the ingredients? Sorting out the bookshelves? Reading Max a bedtime story?” She added the last part to test if Curse was actually paying attention, for he seemed distracted. “Houston to Curse, are you there?” She tried again. "Its Nuriko, your most fabulous student, here for detention?"
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Post by Curse Kameren on May 9, 2011 22:39:47 GMT -5
Curse's mind wasn't available for whoever had entered the dungeon. He worked, carefully stirring the cauldron on his left, then crossing to his desk and checking his drawers for something. He found it, a bottle of grey dust, and measured off what he needed and emptied an equal amount into both cauldrons. He finally glanced up as the voice got a little louder, his emerald eyes lingering on the student only for a second.
"Its Nuriko, your most fabulous student, here for detention?"
"Oh, hello Nuriko," He smiled up at her before he set his attention once again to the cauldron, stirring the other one now. "Detention, you say? Oh yes, I forgot." He bit his lip, his green eyes rolling towards the ceiling as he thought about it. "What to punish you with... hmm. Well, I suppose you could help me with this antidote," He glanced down at it, then back up at the Ravenclaw student.
"I'm sure you know about my poison antidote," He glanced up at her over his work, hurrying back to the desk to look for another ingredient. "Well, I'm re-doing it. I've been using the same antidote since I first took the poison, and I've been talking with some other potions masters to try to come up with a better version." He tapped the root again as it started to moan, its moaning stopping right at the touch.
"The antidote uses my poison as an ingredient, however, so the only way I can test it is on myself. It would kill anyone else," his eyes met Nuri's, wondering if she caught onto what he needed her to do. "When this is finished, you're on suicide watch. After I test it, if something happens you need to get me to Mungo's. It shouldn't be too bad, however. And you may have to babysit Max." He smirked up at her, interested in her reaction as he started to stir the potion once again.
"For now, tap that root whenever it starts to moan."
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Post by Nuriko Elsywth on May 15, 2011 22:51:29 GMT -5
"Oh, hello Nuriko," He smiled up at her before he set his attention once again to the cauldron, stirring the other one now. "Detention, you say? Oh yes, I forgot."
“Really?” Riko said, her eyes lighting up playfully. “Weellll… ” she took an exaggerated step towards the door. “Since you’re obviously busy, I won’t bother you further…”
"What to punish you with... hmm. Well, I suppose you could help me with this antidote," He glanced down at it, then back up at the Ravenclaw student.
Dang. She returned, looking only slightly dejected. And then she looked very interested, peering into the cauldrons. Very interesting. Antidote? For what? She supposed he would tell her if she waited, so she settled back on her feet, having risen on her toes to look into the large cauldrons.
"I'm sure you know about my poison antidote," He glanced up at her over his work, hurrying back to the desk to look for another ingredient. "Well, I'm re-doing it. I've been using the same antidote since I first took the poison, and I've been talking with some other potions masters to try to come up with a better version."
“Re…doing it.” She repeated slowly, her bright eyes following his movements, her quick mind picking apart his words and taking their own meaning from them. A new antidote… it could be quite dangerous. He was basically playing Russian roulette with his own life, to use an old term her father was fond of. Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to protest, but her professor spoke over her.
"The antidote uses my poison as an ingredient, however, so the only way I can test it is on myself. It would kill anyone else," his eyes met Nuri's, wondering if she caught onto what he needed her to do. "When this is finished, you're on suicide watch. After I test it, if something happens you need to get me to Mungo's. It shouldn't be too bad, however. And you may have to babysit Max."
She narrowed her eyes again. “That’s insane! You can’t do that to Max!” She protested, what if he died? Wasn’t his current antidote good enough? What would happen to Max if she couldn’t get him medical help in time? She doubted the hospital wing was equipped to handle anything like this.
This was not what she had been expecting at the beginning of the hour.
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Post by Curse Kameren on May 16, 2011 21:08:15 GMT -5
“That’s insane! You can’t do that to Max!”
Curse stopped what he was doing, sending Nuriko a skeptical look. She was being far too overdramatic; obviously he wasn't just testing blindly. He had done weeks of research, sending owls out to multiple colleagues for opinions on the method before he even started to construct it. The root Nuri was supposed to be tapping was exceedingly rare and expensive, and he had been doing research on it and trying to get ahold of it basically since he'd been poisoned in the first place. Either way, most of the ingredients would stay the same and do their jobs just like they always did. The worst it could do was make him violently ill, it wouldn't kill him. Well, at least not right away.
"I'm doing it for Max. If this works out and I can keep a steady supply of this thing--" He tapped the root again as he continued "--It could improve my strength, general health and possibly extend my prognosis. I could see fifty. Possibly." He shrugged, going back to his ingredients. He muttered latin incantations into one of the cauldrons, the contents flashing a bright green with each syllable he emphasized.
"To be frank, you're the only student I could trust with this." He glanced up at her, his eyes serious. He knew Nuriko had detention right now, that was why he had started the antidote. He needed someone to watch him, and she was the most capable person inside Hogwarts. "It won't kill me, but there might be side effects I haven't forseen. No matter what happens, though, this is important: you cannot touch the antidote. You can't breathe it, touch it, or get it near your face. Same thing if I start bleeding." He looked up at her from his cauldron. "If you don't think you're up to this, that's fine. I'll just send my brother a patronus. We can reschedule your detention."
He pointed at the root in the center of the room as it started groaning again. "Root. Tap it with your wand."
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Post by Nuriko Elsywth on May 21, 2011 1:04:25 GMT -5
She saw his sceptical look. Perhaps she was being dramatic, but the Ravenclaw didn’t see this as an issue-- she was usually dramatic and this simply fitted. Her first instinct was that Curse’s experiment was dangerous, that he could die. And she didn’t see something that could be deadly as beneficial… not if he was going to experiment on himself with untested potions!
"I'm doing it for Max. If this works out and I can keep a steady supply of this thing--" He tapped the root again as he continued "--It could improve my strength, general health and possibly extend my prognosis. I could see fifty. Possibly."
“Possibly. Maybe. What if you die tonight?” Riko asked in trepidation, unable to stop the question. She stared at him with uncommon seriousness for her. He was everywhere, always seeming to show up when a helping hand was needed, or when a nudge could send something tilting in the right direction. But things like that didn’t concern her right now. What she thought of was Max-- whom she’d grown very fond of over the last year. The poor kid already knew his dad was dying. Why take the chance that might come sooner?
"To be frank, you're the only student I could trust with this." He glanced up at her, his eyes serious. He knew Nuriko had detention right now, that was why he had started the antidote. He needed someone to watch him, and she was the most capable person inside Hogwarts. "It won't kill me, but there might be side effects I haven't forseen. No matter what happens, though, this is important: you cannot touch the antidote. You can't breathe it, touch it, or get it near your face. Same thing if I start bleeding." He looked up at her from his cauldron. "If you don't think you're up to this, that's fine. I'll just send my brother a patronus. We can reschedule your detention."
She paced around the classroom, looking for all the world as if she were having an argument with herself. Her spiky hair went from blue to orange to green to all the colors of the rainbow, and occasional snippets of her conversation could be heard. Finally she returned, standing stoutly in front of Curse, her head tilted far back to observe his face, more than a foot above her own. “Fine.” She said almost sternly, “But you’d better not die. I won’t let you. I’ll be severely displeased.” She warned.
"Root. Tap it with your wand."
She drew her wand, a stout rowan, and tapped the root. “What is it?” She asked, unable to suppress her curiosity.
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Post by Curse Kameren on May 31, 2011 0:28:01 GMT -5
“Fine.” She said almost sternly, “But you’d better not die. I won’t let you. I’ll be severely displeased.”
"I couldn't, then how could you finish out your detention?" Curse smirked at her as he cut a black fruit with his potions knife. He flinched as it shot green liquid up at him. Wasn't supposed to to do that, he was being too forceful with it. He wiped it off his face, wiping it back on the cutting board as he continued. He glanced up at the root, his eyes darting to the Ravenclaw as it started moaning. "Root. Tap it with your wand."
“What is it?”
"That," Curse glanced up at the root as he squeezed the black fruit into the cauldrons, "is a Bildenrungle Root. They're ice-age plants, only found in Northern Greenland in the frozen ground, and even there they're exceedingly rare. I've been trying to get ahold of that thing for four years." He smiled at Nuriko as he moved to his ingredients chest, digging around in it for something. "Hopefully, with it added to my antidote I can get better. That one root should last me the rest of my life, if I measure it correctly. It moans because I've let it thaw out. It prefers to stay frozen."
Curse smiled as he found what he was looking for; he pulled what looked like a small steel cheese grater out of his ingredients box, getting closer to Riko towards the root. He picked it up, holding a branch off the root steady. "Hold your hand under it please." He grated the root slowly, letting his student catch what he grated. The root moaned lightly in protest, but Curse stroked it with his thumb to soothe it. "That should be enough." He tenderly took the shavings from Riko's hand, blowing on the root. As his breath touched it, the root iced over. "Ah, there we are." He smiled as he lightly dusted the shavings equally into both cauldrons.
"Now we wait. It has to turn a silvery color before I can try it." He sat on top of his desk, resting his head on his hands as he looked the young Ravenclaw up and down. Nuriko Elswyth, Ravenclaw. He was a Ravenclaw, he remembered his days at school well. He had never really gotten to have a good conversation with the young girl before, he supposed now was the time. "What year are you Riko... Sixth, right? It gets tougher to tell when you students get older."
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Post by Nuriko Elsywth on May 31, 2011 0:51:25 GMT -5
"That," Curse glanced up at the root as he squeezed the black fruit into the cauldrons, "is a Bildenrungle Root. […] It moans because I've let it thaw out. It prefers to stay frozen."
Nuriko nodded thoughtfully, her eyes resting on the root as she absorbed this new information, her brain cheerfully taking it and storing it in the proper place in her very chaotic mind. The root moaned again and she tapped it, though she wasn’t using any spell, the root quieted immediately. Fascinating.
"Hold your hand under it please."
She dutifully captured the delicate shavings, wide blue eyes watching as he used silent, wandless magic to freeze the root once more. Now that was a tool she would have to learn. She instantly saw plenty of advantages, mostly tactical, some simply because she liked knowing what others did not (and if casting magic wandless and silently was not knowledge kept to oneself, what was?). She blamed her mother on that score.
"Now we wait. It has to turn a silvery color before I can try it."
“How do you know, if it’s a new potion?” She challenged her professor as he made himself comfortable for waiting.
"What year are you Riko... Sixth, right? It gets tougher to tell when you students get older."
“What, you mean the great Kameren can’t remember everything?” She quipped in a teasing tone.
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Post by Curse Kameren on May 31, 2011 1:15:09 GMT -5
“How do you know, if it’s a new potion?”
He smiled and shrugged. "I don't, but I know if it doesn't look at least a little like that, then the poison I put into it won't have broken down and it won't be safe for me to drink." He knew much more about potions than most, especially at his young age. Nuriko wasn't the first to question his judgement. Either way, he encouraged his students to question him. If they thought he was an idiot, it was better for him. It pushed him to teach them better, and they both got more out of his experience. That was why he loved the Hufflepuffs. All the Hufflepuffs hated him.
“What, you mean the great Kameren can’t remember everything?”
"Nope, I'm old and senile," He chuckled, stretching his neck where the scars pulled at him. "Ah, the ripe old age of twenty-seven. I've always been rubbish with names and ages, though. I'm surprised I don't forget my own name. Well, I suppose I sort of do. 'Curse' isn't actually my name." He laughed at himself, fidgeting as he glanced at the cauldrons. He hadn't had any other antidote all day, holding out for the new one, and now he was starting to feel it.
He pushed himself off the desk, standing over the cauldron to his left. He looked down into it with his green eyes, watching how it moved and bubbled. Though he knew it was dangerous and he shouldn't be childish about it, a part of him always got a bit giddy whenever he tested out a new potion. It was exploring, learning things the hard way. It was what he did best.
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Post by Nuriko Elsywth on Jul 14, 2011 11:42:54 GMT -5
"I don't, but I know if it doesn't look at least a little like that, then the poison I put into it won't have broken down and it won't be safe for me to drink."
“Fascinating.” She tugged thoughtfully on a length of blue hair, opting for a turn around the tables rather than a peek into the cauldrons, as she would have normally done. She was reckless, but not reckless enough to take a sniff of whatever brew her professor was concocting.
"Nope, I'm old and senile," He chuckled, stretching his neck where the scars pulled at him. "Ah, the ripe old age of twenty-seven. I've always been rubbish with names and ages, though. I'm surprised I don't forget my own name. Well, I suppose I sort of do. 'Curse' isn't actually my name."
She cocked her head, narrowing her eyes at Curse. “You’re positively ancient.” She pronounced, with a great seriousness. “Is it ready, oh ancient one?”
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