[Asclepius's] in the eye of the beholder. [rose]

June 2003
Asclepius's Apothecary & Greenhouse

"Rosaline are you here?"

The dark witch called out confidently as she browsed the rows of interesting items at her friend and business partner's. The other witch may have been a couple years her junior but she was in every way her peer when it came to potioneering. The young witch was in command of her own cauldron and she had an Apothecary to show it off and Nessa gave that the respect it deserved. Nessa was the type who didn't treat anyone with an ounce of respect unless they'd earned it and Rose had in the last few months. They were nearly ready to announce the magical makeup line they'd been working on for some time and Nessa was anxious to unveil it. It was a mix of potions and enchantments and she was pretty sure it was going to make them quite a bit of sickles.

Moving fluidly down the aisle she kept her dark black witch's cloak tugged closely to her, not wanting to accidentally knock anything over. Her graceful movements were announced with the hard clacking of her high heeled black boots. They reached nearly up to her thighs which just served to make her extremely short black lace dress look that much shorter but Nessa was never one to be shy. She exhaled confidence, she basically swarmed with it. Flipping soft brown tendrils of hair off of her shoulder with pointed black nails she approached the counter and ignored any other workers if they weren't Rose.

She was her to see the boss.

@Rosaline Bane

Rosaline heard her name as she was standing in the greenhouse with Callum, discussing what plants they may need to import for their respective new potion lines. She had been collaborating with Nessa Regan on a magical makeup line for what seemed an eternity and had also released a hair potion line on her own earlier in the year. Callum had been working on covering the mens' market. They weren't in charge on paperwork, but their parents typically left them to their own devices since she was no longer working at the Ministry and Callum had finally seemed to get his act together for the most part.

"Excuse me, that would be Nessa. If you could please confirm that shipment?" She smiled at his nod and gave a quick, "Thank you." before returning to the lobby.

Rose's smile widened at the sight of her friend and now business partner. "Nessa, how good to see you! What do you think?" She gestured around to the updated cabinets and the new displays. "Cal and I have been updating the place a little." Right. Back to business.

"If you will just follow me upstairs, I can show you my new office and we can talk business in there." Her green eyes fell on the cashier woman that shift, Bianca. "If you would be a dear and get us both something to drink? --Nessa, what would you like? She doesn't mind, really." Rosaline thought for a moment before deciding. "Bianca, dear, if you could just get those for us and bring them upstairs when you have them ready, I would really appreciate it? I'd like a nice, hot cup of tea. You know how I take my tea, don't you? Good." Rose only hoped that the idiot wouldn't mess it up. Blair had certainly not hired the woman for her brains, which was probably why Callum had been chatting with her so frequently. She had no remaining feelings for her ex, but she'd be lying if she said that she wasn't treating Bianca this way because of that. Thankfully, she was very comfortable with lying.

With that, Rosaline led the way upstairs and to her office. "Please, have a seat."

The dark witch turned about to inspect the updates Rose had mentioned, nodding in approval. "The shop is looking good." She said softly. It was far better than all of it's competitors that was for sure. Nessa hated going into most apothecary's because they were always so dusty, so disheveled. She couldn't shop at a place when she could barely find her hand in front of her face. Rosaline's place was far tidier, and now it was more modern, and Nessa didn't hate that either. "Nice work." She said, turning back to face the other witch before following her gaze to the cashier. Nessa smirked at the way Rose was speaking to the girl, it was entertaining to say the least. "Coffee, black." She said quickly and sternly. The Irish witch had taking a liking to the strong caffeinated beverage that was bordering on obsession these days. She was far more impressed by it than the teas she had grown up with.

Following the shop's owner to her new office Nessa stepped across the threshold lightly. She was half expecting there to be some sort of boundary spell on the whole place. Nessa wasn't really a big part of the dark world, she was their doctor, but she knew enough to know who the players were. The Banes had been a part of the game long enough for Nessa to expect nothing less than perfection from Rose. It was part of the reason why the otherwise fiercely independent witch had agreed to a partnership.

And it was a partnership that was about to pay out ten-fold.

"Very unique desk, where did you acquire it?" She asked, eyeballing the antique beauty with a bit too much interest. Desks like that always had secret compartments. Nessa wondered what kinds of trinkets Rose must have hidden away, not that she had any plans of finding out. Curiosity kept her moving forward as she took a seat when asked to and crossed her legs properly. "So down to business." She proposed. "How are things holding up on your end?"

"It belonged to my late grandfather." Rosaline frowned, playing the part of the grieving granddaughter. "We all miss him so."

Rosaline sat behind her desk. All of the necessary paperwork was already stacked neatly on her desk and she scooted in to get comfortable and to get a better look. "Business is looking very well. Our glass-blowers can absolutely handle these packaging designs that we discussed for the bottles. Now it's just a matter of finding a decent supplier for the outer packaging, though I'm sure that we'll make short work of that." Rose picked up a small stack of papers and presented those, in particular, to Nessa.

"If you'd just like to go over this proposal? And do let me know how things are looking on your end."

Nessa raised a perfect eyebrow at Rose's words about missing her grandfather. The way it was said made the Irish witch wonder if it was a genuine sentiment or if she was just saying what she thought would be expected of her. As much as the witch hated it, Nessa had grown up in the sort of world where those things were everyday life. Everyone had a role to play, and a lot of the people she knew, Rose included, played them so well it was hard to tell what was authentic. The woman didn't comment on it, just a simple nod to acknowledge the words. It wasn't like she had known Grandpappy Bane, she had no reason to mourn.

Receiving the pages from her business partner Nessa took a few minutes to pursue the lines. She traced a manicured nail along each of the clauses, each of the notes, and especially any sort of fine print before she returned her gaze to Rosaline. "Of course, I will need to go over this at length. Return them to you tomorrow?" She asked though it wasn't like she would take no for an answer. Nessa knew better than to side her name on anything she hadn't thoroughly examined.

She folded them up and placed them in her bag before sitting back in her chair. Placing her hands lightly in her lap, she began. "I've secured potential contracts with the local beauty shops and spas. The Regans have been in business with a lot of them for many years, so it wasn't too difficult. However, we still need to discuss how wide we want to go in the beginning. Just the British Isles or further?"

"Thoughts?"

"I will be here in the afternoon, as usual." Rosaline's days began early. Christoph was typically the first person that she spoke to in the mornings, after she got up and donned the athletic attire that he had suggested for her training. After that, she typically showered, ate breakfast, and then she would come here. She wouldn't see Michael until dinner time.

She was pleased that Bianca had not forgotten them after all as she heard a series of soft knocks at her office door and then heard the woman's voice. "Come in, thank you." Thankfully she was quicker about getting in and out of there than she had seemed to be in getting the drinks themselves. "That will be all." Good help was incredibly hard to find, it seemed.

Once they were alone again, Rosaline turned back to her business partner.

"I think it's probably wiser to begin in Europe. If things go well, we could always expand later." She gave Nessa a smile. "Different cultures may require different marketing strategies. Agreed?"

"Entirely," Nessa agreed with Rose as she took a faint sip of the beverage that had been brought to her. Despite being born and raised into this sort of society she hadn't taken to it as easily as many of her business partners, Rose included. Nessa had made plenty of sickles on her own, she had a nice home, controlling stock in Regan's ironworks, and her own business ventures, but she flaunted it differently. At least she felt like she did. Where others had twelve-course meals, a whole house full of staff, and assistants, she had seven hundred pairs of heels. Nessa didn't like being waited on, she never had, not because she preferred manual labor but because she was paranoid and a perfectionist. No one could do things as well as she could so why bother paying them to try? She had plenty of magic, she made up her own spells more often than not, so what use did she have for servants?

"We will need to take another look at the formula for the lip liners, it seems they are not conforming to different skin tones well enough." Perfectionist to a fault Nessa would settle for nothing less. The item she was talking about specifically was nearly ready, it had been bottled and packaged, but she'd noticed some things she wasn't satisfied with during testing. It was not unlike her to derail an entire project because of one small fault. "It becomes more purple than I'd like on paler skin tones." She commented, setting the drink down on the desk and pulling out some enchanting photos from her bag to show Rose.

"What do you think?"