[Soho, London] Mr. Fell's Books & Mr. Crowley's Greens

[and bailey!]

The small back garden had its own plants, too, once that Bailey knew Mr. Crowley would drag inside whenever the weather got too bad for them. Of course, he would do it while grumbling to the plants and explaining to them just how lucky they were he was here for them. Bailey had helped the man drag them in a few times. Though a wizard, Mr. Crowley, didn’t like using too much magic when it came to his plants. Not even warming spells.

“You asked how I remembered all of this when we were inside,” Bailey said, returning to a question he had asked earlier. She gave a shrug of her shoulders, trying not to wince at how it hurt. She was getting the aches again. Sometimes she felt older than dirt since her injuries. Magic could only fix so much. The body had to do the rest. The body had to maintain, and she needed to better remember what she had learned in physical therapy and probably go back again.

“It’s something I love and have always loved. There’s something about plants and working with them… they are easier to understand than humans. Their motives are a lot more fucking pure, at any rate. Pure…that isn’t exactly the right word, but it is easier to understand why plants do or need anything. It’s all about survival. And, they can help us survive too. They never ask for anything from us. And it’s just… cool how different each one can be. Some can be tricky, but..” Bailey trailed off. “When you are passionate about something, it’s easy to remember things about it.” Bailey finished, feeling like she had more to say on the topic but realizing Ralph probably didn’t want to hear it.

She nodded as Ralph situated himself and got ready. She then removed her wand and picked up a Thimblegrass.

“Now, it is better to slowly dry leaves indoors. Hanging them upside down in bundles from the ceiling or spreading them out on a screen of some sort. You don’t want to lose all the moisture, you see? Some moisture helps make for a smoother smoke. But, since we aren’t going the slow way… I’ll show you a better fast way. Some people use ovens or Muggle food dehydrators... But those ways, I worry you’ll just suck out too much of the moisture. Here’s a little spell I use, but you need to pay attention to what you are doing.” Bailey explained, “because again, you want some moisture retained, you know?”

She paused, waiting to see if Ralph had any questions.

[prince heavenly]

”You asked how I remembered all of this when we were inside.”

Ralph nodded, intrigued. He felt relatively foolish for having asked at all, but he was genuinely curious as to how Bernie was able to spout off her herbology knowledge. School had never been Ralph’s forte, and that had involved retaining information that didn’t particularly interest him. Like sports, dancing involved muscle memory and very little actual thinking. But, if it involved some pain relief, Ralph was more than willing to learn something new.

Ralph noticed then as Bernie went on to describe how plants were way better than humans in almost all respect that her body seemed to ache tenfold more than his own. He listened as she pointed out how as a result, she was very passionate and had little to no trouble remembering the facts she spewed. “That makes sense,” Ralph replied. “It’s really cool that you’ve been able to find something that keeps your attention so well.”

Now it was time to get down to something that required a little less thought… maybe. Ralph did his best to keep up as Bernie once again easily discussed the steps they needed to take. He felt slightly impatient, mostly because of how tight his leg still felt. Based on how Bernie had also seemed physically uncomfortable a few moments ago, he figured she was just as eager as he was. But Ralph did his best to pay attention, especially since there were some risks involved with not doing so.

“Don’t want to dry it out too much,” Ralph replied when she paused. “So pay close attention to what you’re doing.” He nodded once, doing his best to focus. “Got it.”

[and bailey!]

Passion made a lot of things in life more interesting. Easier to remember. Easier to deal with, too, in some ways. She was glad that plants and herbs still held sway over her life. A lot of things felt different these days; duller than they used to. She wasn’t the same Bailey she used to be before her kidnapping. She tried to tap into the Bailey of the old, of being gentler and chatty. But it was hard and bloody exhausting and a lot of times just not worth the effort. But the plants in her life — while they took effort to maintain — were easy. They were the same, and that didn’t bother her.

She knew not everyone would be changed because of something she had experienced, but things that used to slide past her now grated on her and she wished some people were changed. Then she would feel momentarily bad about that wish. Then annoyed at herself for feeling bad about her thoughts. It was a stupid and endless cycle. 

“Good,” she said when Ralph said he got it, and repeated some of what she had said back to her.

“Now watch closely,” she said. “A lot of this spell is in the movement. Your wrist needs to be fluid, not stiff. Relaxed, but strong. I’ll show you the movement before doing the actual spell,” she said. And she did. Ralph probably thought she was being a stickler for this, but she knew what could go wrong if you did the movements wrong with spell work. It had as much to do with how you moved the wand as knowing the incantation. This movement was smooth. She did it slowly, twice. Then sped it up so Ralph could see what it looked like when you were doing the spell properly.

“Once the spell is going, you need to keep moving your wand over the plants you are drying. Pick one end to start from and work out and then work back in. Ready to see it in action?” She asked.

When Ralph said he was ready, she spoke the incantation out loud. She couldn’t remember the last time she had said it out loud. Usually, she did this nonverbally. “Sicco”, she said as she did the wand movements.

A small light emitted from her wand, and it was a warm light. She then moved the wand slowly over the herbs she wanted to dry. All the way in one direction and then all the way back. She did this maybe five or six times before she ended the spell.

The herbs were dried. It was an interesting process. A bit like watching something on a time-lapse camera. One could see the herbs drying out as they did the spell.

“Now you try,” she said, nodding to the pile in front of Ralph. They could easily smoke what she had dried, but she’d be a shitty teacher if she didn’t have Ralph try in front of her.

[prince heavenly]

Ralph was nervous, there was no doubt about it. It was stupid, he knew it. This was just a little lesson to help him out, but it was bringing back some memories. He was back ten and some years ago, a young wizard in Hogwarts in his hand-me-down robes, gripping his wand in a shaky hand as Flitwick instructed the class. He tried his best to keep up with the rest, but he was always somehow one step behind everyone else. And sometimes when that occurred with magic, Ralph could mess things up big time.

Ralph suppressed a shiver, doing his best to follow along with what Bernie said next. Okay, fluid movements he could manage. He was a dancer, after all. At least, he hoped he could. If he got too nervous, there was a chance that Ralph would stiffen up and freeze. Bernie was smart to demonstrate the move before speaking the spell, allowing him to practice without involving magic just yet. He would definitely set everything on alight if he even knew what word they would be using.

Ralph’s movements initially were jerky, but once he took a moment to adjust his wand grip and focus he was able to match Bernie. So far, so good. Lowering his wand again, he listened as she next discussed how they were going to complete the process of actually drying the herbs. At this point, he was very eager to get this done in order to both stop feeling like a student and dull the ache in his knee. “Let’s do this,” Ralph said with a nod.

He raised his wand again. He spoke the spell after Bernie, doing his best to continue to match her movements once more. To his relief, he only managed to crisp the very edges of his plants, and even then not enough to ruin them. Ralph was finally able to release the breath he had been holding, a smile breaking out on his lips as he surveyed their work. “Awesome,” he chuckled. “And now… we smoke?”

[and bailey!]

Bailey watched Ralph and his movements closely. He seemed fluid with them, and it didn’t take him too long to figure out how to move his wand. He looked nervous; she thought, but he didn’t seem to let that stop him. He also wasn’t impatient. He waited, watched, and learned before doing it on his own.

The edges of his got a little burnt, but overall, it impressed Bailey. Then he asked if it was time to smoke what they had just dried. She couldn’t help herself as she laughed at the question and rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, go for it.” She said, and she gathered up some of her own herbs that she had dried. She may as well smoke some of her own, too. This way, if Mr. Crowley or Mr. Fell found them, it wouldn’t just be Ralph smoking. She figured the shop owners would be a little less mad at her for doing it, and therefore, maybe extend that less-mad to Ralph.

She took a hit and leaned back in her chair. Closing her eyes before exhaling. Then she opened her eyes, her head tilting to the side.

“Is that an older injury you have?”

The question was out of her mouth before she really gave it a thought. It wasn’t her business, and she hoped it wouldn’t open the doors for Ralph to ask about her injuries and scars — but, oh well. It wasn’t like she had asked how he had gotten injured, only if it was old. He didn’t have to answer, anyway. She wouldn’t pout or pester.

[prince heavenly]

”Yeah, go for it.”

Bernie laughed at Ralph’s inquiry, but it was not in a mean way. For all he had known, there were more things they had to do first, which was why he had asked. But no, they were good to go. Ralph felt himself relax a little bit, pocketing his wand again before settling back into his seat to enjoy the fruits of his labor.

The first hit was a touch too rough, scratching the edges of his throat on the way down. But Ralph was able to ease into the next inhale, savoring the smoke that filled his lungs and sinuses. Already he felt his muscles release, the tension that had built in even his aching leg loosening as the dried herbs did their work. Ralph definitely needed to buy some of this stuff to have around even when he wasn’t injured. He felt as if he couldn’t have any care in the world, barely bothered by the things that usually irked him.

Ralph hadn’t realized he had closed his eyes until he heard Bernie speak. He cracked one open as he glanced back over at her, giving a small irritated snort while considering his predicament. “Nah,” Ralph replied with a shake of his head. “I slipped on a patch of ice a couple of days ago and messed up some muscles around my knee.” He rubbed the affected area with a hand for emphasis before taking another hit. “I was stupid and didn’t say or do anything about it right away either, so it’s probably more jacked up than it should be.

“But at least this shit’s making me feel better about not being about to work for a little while.” Ralph leaned his head back, exhaling smoke slowly up towards the ceiling. “What about you? What does this stuff help you with?”

[and bailey!]

Bailey listened as Ralph explained how he had slipped on a patch of ice, and then didn’t say or do anything about it. She assumed he probably had a fairly physical job. Or they he worked out a lot, she supposed. He looked fit. She gave a shrug of her shoulders, and even shrugging could be a bitch sometimes for her these days. With what she was smoking, though, she felt tension move away from her muscles. She was getting about as relaxed as she could.

“That’s the thing about being healthy, isn’t it?” Bernie mused, “you think every injury you get is minor or will stay minor. Until it doesn’t.”

Her heart, battered and hardened as it was since her own situation, went out to Ralph some. She knew what it was like to not be able to work for a while. And how frustrating and angry-making it could be when all you wanted to do was ignore the world around you and drown yourself in work. Because even if her job could be unpredictable with the experiments she did — there was predictability to it all the same, and people left her alone. No one pried.

“This helps me not want to burn the world to the ground,” Bailey said, a little surprised by her own honesty. She was just so angry these days. She stared off, not looking at Ralph. “Something happened, and… I got hurt, lots of broken bones and some burns… this just takes the edge off.”

The kidnapping was always just under the surface. She didn’t live in fear of another one, not exactly. It wasn’t like what had happened to her was random. She had chased after her boyfriend, who had chased after some terrible people, and she had gotten caught in the crosshairs. What happened to her wasn’t her fault, she knew that. It wasn’t Declan’s either, and she wished he would figure that out too. No, stupid decisions lead to a situation. And that situation was born out of two insane people who wanted to hurt others.

Bailey just hated how much the… situation… clung to her. How there was no real hiding what happened. How it was always just below the surface. An itch that she couldn’t quite scratch. Or maybe a weight that was always pressing down on her. Smothering her. Sinking everything she thought she knew about herself and her relationship and life.

Maybe she needed to smoke more.