[Apothecary] creepy crawlies [Tree]

Potions was one of the classes that he was looking forward to the most. He liked the idea of how methodical and structured it was. You followed the recipe, to the letter, and it just worked. Easy. He also found the various ingredients absolutely fascinating. His eyes swept across the shelves that lined the small, vaulted room, taking in the rows and rows of labelled jars and boxes. Things in water, bobbing and swirling, things stacked in impossibly high piles, disembodied eyes and dried-out frog-like creatures. In some ways he felt disappointed that he was only getting the 'first years' ingredients bundle'. He'd already been introduced to many of these ingredients with his home Potions kit, and had been hoping that something more interesting might have featured on the list. He was just debating spending some of his pocket money on a few odd items anyway, when some loud voices caught his attention.

At first, he turned that way in disgust, the disdain for the rowdy behaviour obvious in his pale features. But then, he noted that the boys looked his age. Maybe they were also soon-to-be-first-years? Maybe this was his chance to meet his new classmates and maybe make some friends? Instantly, the disdain vanished from his face and he hesitantly headed in their direction. They were playing and shoving each other - two boys teasing one other one. Maybe they were all friends, or maybe this was bullying. If it was the latter, then J.J. certainly wanted to make friends with the ones doing the pushing. But what did he say? Hi? Introduce himself? Make some witty comment? His mind went horribly blank. He had zero experience with this. Surely making friends was meant to be easy? The one being teased was being threatened with a familiar vibrant purple beetle with acid-green spots. J.J. took the opportunity. "It's not actually poisonous, but when engaged in a mating ritual, they do excrete mucus that causes boils..." J.J. spoke up. Three pairs of eyes shot in his direction and for a moment he felt hopeful. Then they frowned. "Beat it, geek," one of them said. "engaged in a mating ritual...!" the other taunted in a high pitched voice that was obviously intended to be a mocking impression of J.J. The third laughed and stepped forwards, giving J.J. a shove.

He wasn't prepared for that. With a gasp, he stumbled backwards, tumbling into the shelf behind him and knocking a few boxes to the floor as he fell back to land on his backside with a "oof." With hyena-like laughter the boys were gone... and then there was a creeping, crawling sensation over his arms... his legs... up his back...

J.J closed his eyes to let out an exasperated sigh. When he opened them again, he could see bright purple beetles crawling across every inch of the stone floor of the Apothecary. Bugger. He didn't want to move, because doing so would certainly crush any beetles beside him, so he remained in place, turning slightly to try and scoop up as many as he could with two hands and drop them back into the box they'd escaped from.

@Tree Loveall

The things that were in this shop were a mix of amazing and disgusting. Tree walked to a jar of what seemed like pigs ears floating in an odd smelling liquid. Her mother would have hated this shop, she was strictly vegan and would have made a big fuss about using animal parts for magic. Tree could care less about what they used, as long as the magic worked, but she was none the less happy to be having a mom free shopping day.

Tree took out her list of ingredients that she needed for first year poisons and started to walk around the shop. She had most of what she needed when she rounded a corner to find some boys messing about with a bug. Her eyes narrowed at this sight, in Tree's expert opinion most if not all boys her age where total gits. Acctuly most males in general were gits. Tree was about to walk past them when one of them pushed one into a shelf knocking bugs everywhere, especially on the boy who was pushed. He acted surprisingly calm under the circumstances, it took a lot of willpower to not have a total freak out when coveted in bugs. The three other boys ran as fast as they could heading for the door. The shopkeeper started to chance them out of the store, one of the boys started knocking a few more things off the shelf as they ran. The shopkeeper chanced them out the door leaving just Tree and the bug covered boy in the shop.

Tree glance around to see if anyone was watching and found she was clear, she smoothly pocketed a few of the more expensive items on her list. She had gone a bit overboard at the book shop and here was her chance to save a bit of money. She was about to leave with her new items when she glanced back at bug boy, he looked pitiful. He was just standing there to moving an inch with its dejected look on his face.

Tree sighed and walked over to him grabbing an empty jar on the way. Picking up bugs started to clear a path to him. One by one she picked up bugs dropping them in the jar and soon found herself standing next to bug boy. She grabbed a bug that was currently crawling on the top of his head dropped it in the jar and said, "those three were total idiots." She grabbed another bug off his back. "I hope they aren't friends of yours, because if they are I would ditch them." She snatched another bug off the boy, "name's Tree." another bug plopped into the jar, "I'm just starting school this year. You?"

He didn't really care about the bugs crawling over him. J.J had been studying and collecting beetles for a while now and was perfectly ok with them. Sure it itched, and he reeeaaally hoped that none of them were excreting that boil-producing mucus, but that wasn't the thing at the forefront of his mind. No, as he watched the shopkeeper chase the boys out into the alley, he felt a familiar pang of rejection in the pit of his stomach. They'd called him a geek. They'd mocked him. He picked up a bug, holding it by its shiny shell and watching the legs wiggle back and forth. He'd never heard the term 'geek' before, but it sounded like a bad thing. A thing that he shouldn't be if he wanted to make friends at Hogwarts. Was a geek someone who knew about bugs? Maybe next time he wouldn't speak out. He'd pretend he didn't know anything about them. He popped the beetle back into the box, watching it scurry over the others to try and re-escape. He could have said all sorts of things in that moment... why had he picked the wrong thing? If he'd said something else, then maybe he'd have some friends by now. Maybe they'd be on their way to another shop to... buy things.. together... or whatever it was friends actually did. Pushed each other a lot apparently.

He felt the presence of someone else and looked up with a frown, dark green eyes settling on the approaching blonde girl. She was helping to collect the beetles, which J.J found a little odd, as it really wasn't anything to do with her... and his cheeks began to heat with embarrassment. She'd witnessed the whole thing, of course. So now there were four people out there who thought that he was completely pathetic. "Hmm," he murmured, flinching a little as her hand reached out towards him, but it was only to pick a beetle off of him. "Yeah.. idiots," he finally agreed, a little lackluster. Obviously this girl wasn't the kind of person who was in need of friends. She didn't seem to understand his loss.

"Tree?!" he asked with a frown, carefully getting to his feet, trying to squash as few beetles as possible as he did. "Is that your real name? Like the plant?" That was peculiar. He hadn't heard that before, but maybe it was foreign. "Yes, I'm starting this year too," he replied absently, brushing bugs from his shoulders and arms, trying to let them fall into the box. It didn't occur to him to respond with his own name. The oddness of the situation had distracted him from social etiquette somewhat.

This wasn't the first time someone found her name odd, it wasn't even the first time today someone commented on it, "yes like the plant." She grumbled grabbing some more bugs. She hated her name, "my parents are the biggest hippie burn outs you'll ever meet, so of course they thought Tree was a very good name." She explained, then realizing that non muggles may not know what a hippie burn out was she added, "they think nature is the best thing in the universe to the point of wondering around in it naked. They also take a lot of mind altering substances to quote commune with nature and have a good time. They have taken so much in fact their brains have suffered permanent damage."

She sighed, what she wouldn't give to have different parents, "I hate them, all they do now is follow this stupid band around the world and leave me at home with their random idiot friends. And when they are home they just do nothing but take more-" Tree stopped herself, she was getting herself upset. There was a good reason she didn't talk about this, "Anyway that's why I have the stupid name."

Tree glanced at the boy now mostly bug free, there may be one or two on him, but a good shake of his robes. He would get he rest off, "that's looking better, I think we've de-bugged you." Tree took her now almost full jar and emptied it into the box where bug boy was placing his capture beetles, "I say we let the ones on the floor go free. It seems like a total choir trying to get them all." Tree didn't much fancy spending her afternoon bug hunting.

She looked at his face and he still looked miserable, maybe he needed a nice gesture to make him feel better. But what could she do to be nice? She hadn't had much experience with people her own age, what did they do to make one another feel better? She could only think of one thing, she knew what she did when she needed a pick me up. She took off her bag rummaged around in it for a moment and pulled out a jar of pickles.  She took one and held it out to the boy, "pickle? I made this batch myself."

He listened as Tree started talking about her parents. He wasn't sure what some of her words meant - hippie burn out was a phrase he'd never heard before and while he figured 'mind altering substances' was a kind of potion, it also wasn't something that he'd heard about. Despite the fact that his entire family were buried deep in the criminal underworld, he'd managed to have a very sheltered life. But her talking about her parents - and her apparent hatred for them, made him think about his own. Part of him wanted to chime in with 'well at least your parents aren't in prison', but he managed to refrain. She'd figure that out soon enough as soon as she heard his name. It was all over the Daily Prophet when they were arrested and sentenced. Everyone knew.

He eyed the jar of pickles that had been offered his way and his face screwed up a little. "Mmhh no thanks," he muttered, the words tinged with disgust. Urgh, who could eat those things? They tasted purely of vinegar, and vinegar was one of his least favourite things. That jar of atrocities belonged on the shelves amongst the eyeballs and frogskins in his opinion. It was kind of cool that she'd made them herself - except for the finished product being a completely worthless endeavour, but he admired her effort anyway. "Do you make anything besides pickles?"

Even though she was trying to distract him, he couldn't get his mind off of the parents thing. She'd said she hated her parents. He didn't hate his... although he'd been finding over the last few months that he knew barely anything about their lives. They might as well be complete strangers. Strangers who apparently murdered a lot of people who didn't deserve it. Tree was being so nice to him, but she'd stop as soon as she knew. In fact, he might as well get that bit out of the way, seeing as it had to come at some point. The rejection, the accusations... it always came eventually.

"I'm J.J by the way. J.J Thorne." He found himself waiting for the realisation to cross her eyes... and the inevitable backlash.

When he refused her pickle Tree shrugged and took a bite out of it, 'your loss, this is one of my best batches.' Tree thought. Tree pondered for a moment about what else she made on a somewhat regular basis. She did know how to make a lot of random things, "I know how to make jam and jurky, I can garden, but mostly I pickle foods. You would be amazed all the different things you can pickle. You can do beets, cauliflower, green chili peppers, pineapple..." She trailed off, "long story short a ton of different stuff." Tree took another bite of her treat.

"I also make cartoons." She placed her pickle jar back in her bag and pulled out a notebook, "I'm not very good but I like doing it."  She thought about the moving illustrations in her books and added, "I hope they teach us how to make the drawings move in school." Tree really wanted to make the drawing see had done of that rich girl Gwen getting trampled by a horse come to life. A small evil smirk flashed on Tree's face for a moment then she went back to her default look of indifference.

Bug boy finally told her his name, good she could stop calling him bug boy, "Nice to meet you J.J." she stood there awkwardly for a bit then said, "so... how about that local sports team?" Apparently it was time to be sarcastic,  "sorry I'm not good at this small talk thing. Most kids I meet end up being total jerks to me as soon as they meet me so I haven't had much practice. Maybe you should take over this conversation before I start telling you how to tie dye clothing or something stupid."

He waited, almost with breath held for her reaction. But it didn't come. There was nothing. No realisation, no disgust or fear or curiousity. She just stood there staring blankly at him and then made some kind of weird comment about a sport's team. What sport? What team? Why was she changing the subject? He didn't understand. Did she not recognise his name? Surely she had to - everyone did. It had been in the papers, along with pictures of his parents, being dragged off in chains like animals... articles full of false allegations... well, probably-false allegations, no, definitely false allegations about what they'd done. He couldn't accept that they had done those things. The father and mother that loved and raised him wouldn't have murdered people for no reason. He simply couldn't believe that. And he'd been ready to defend their names to the hilt... but apparently there was nothing to defend them from.

"Oh," he said, softly as she started to talk about not having much small-talk practice and tying and killing clothes or something. He didn't know what that was about either. It was like most things out of her mouth were a foreign language. The way she talked about pickling, and the earlier words - burn-out, hippy... the desire to learn how to 'make pictures move' rather than saying to enchant or charm them...

And then something clicked and a curious frown settled at his brow. "Are you a muggle?" he asked in an incredulous tone, somewhere between disbelief and intense curiosity. He'd never met a muggle before. He wanted to ask her everything at once. "I mean a muggle-born, obviously... you must be magical otherwise you wouldn't be here." He paused, thinking over the things that his parents had mentioned about muggles. They'd spoken about them as if they were lesser beings... somehow the girl in front of him didn't match the description. She didn't seem of inferior intelligence. She didn't look odd. He tilted his head slightly. Well maybe she looked a little odd, but not abnormally so. "You. Are Not. Wh-" he began, speaking in a deliberately slower, more pronounced fashion, like one might use for a very young child. Then he stopped himself. That was ridiculous, she'd been speaking perfectly normal so far. "You're not what I was expecting," he said, switching back to his normal tone. But then again, it wasn't like having everything he'd ever known challenged and trashed was a rare occurrence these days. "Sorry I've never met your kind... I mean, someone of your... uhm.. someone... like you," he stumbled over the words, not really sure how the best way of speaking about it was. "I won't tell anyone," he added, as if her background was most definitely a source of embarrassment for her and something she'd want to keep a secret.

Tree must be bad at this small talk thing, because after she had tried to pass the conversation off to him he had said one word and stood there. Note to self give a better topic to talk about in the future, she thought. His sudden exclamation that she was a muggle born made her raise an eyebrow. Was coming from a muggle family a big deal? She didn't think it would be because the lady from the ministry of magic that told her she was a witch said that a lot of witches and wizards came from non magic family's. She watched him as he stumbled over his words. Apparently it was a big deal because after his disjointed sentences he added the he wouldn't tell anyone that she was muggle born, "um, thanks?" she told him, "but why in the world would you need to keep it a secret?" this conversation was very perplexing to her.

"But yeah I'm a muggle born. My mom and dad both don't have a bit of magic in them." she took another bite from her pickle, "And I'm super surprised you haven't met a muggle before, I mean there are a few billion of us." she thought for a second then added, "of them. I guess I can't include myself with them anymore." That was an odd thought, it was almost like finding out you were a mutant and joining the x-men. Tree stood there for a moment thinking on her new tangent thought. Magneto called mutants homosuperior insted of homosapien, would magic users have something similar? What was the Latin word for magic? It was Magi- something, num, tes, no those weren't right... Magi- c, Magicae! She wasn't a homosapien anymore she was a homomagicae, "homomagicae."she mumbled to herself with  a smirk. Then Tree remembered she was in a conversation and her eyes snapped back to his, she hadn't relay noticed his eyes before now, Tree didn't often look at people's eyes because she hated making eye contact, his were a deep green and very intense, she quickly looked away from him not wanking to be to interment with this stranger.

"I've have had a crazy few weeks, I'm still trying to get a handle on all this magic stuff." Tree took another bite of her pickle, "First this lady comes to my house and tells me magic's a thing, then tells me I'm going to be trained as a witch. A few months ago I was shopping for star trek DVD's Now I'm a Apothecary shopping for Bat spleen and Leech juice, freaking nuts." She put her arms up for a second to emphasize her point, "I was just dreading going back to school, muggle school that is, but now I'm super excited because Hogwarts sounds amazing. I will miss my Television programs, Stargate left off on a cliffhanger this series and I'm disappointed that I won't know what happens till next summer once I'm home, but that's a small price to pay to get to use magic! Also that's why the gods made reruns." She stopped talking abruptly, Tree had two conversation styles she fluctuated in and out of awkward / shy and rambling crazy person. She was currently set to rambling mode.

Her reaction to his polite promise to keep her blood status a secret was not what he was expecting. "Oh.. uhm... " he mumbled. Why had he assumed that she'd want it to be secret? Because muggle-borns were less than those of magic blood? That was what he'd inferred from his parents. Muggles were dirty and stupid, like animals. To come from that would be shameful. But she didn't seem ashamed in the slightest. His pale face tinged pink as he struggled to come up with a good reason, or at least a reason that made sense when presented with the evidence in front of him. He hadn't had a lot of communication with other people his age besides the cousins he'd had to live with for very brief periods, but Tree seemed... perfectly normal. Apart from when she spoke about odd things that he didn't understand. But besides that, she seemed like a normal eleven year old. "I guess it's just because of what some people might think," he said finally, trying to keep it vague. Some people. Not him.

"Well I don't really go into muggle places," he explained in the silence that Tree left, "I used to be either at home or... well, the occasional trip here or Hogsmeade, and muggles don't go to either of those places. And now I live with... well, where I live now there aren't muggles in the house either and I don't know the area so I don't go out." He shrugged, he'd never felt much need for exploring muggle places. When he had the urge to get out and get away, he dreamed about empty places - windswept, deserted beaches and thick forests void of any other people.

Tree said another word which made no sense to J.J, and he realised that she hadn't really been listening. Ah well, it wasn't like he'd been saying anything interesting anyway. She was probably only being polite now. Maybe he should make an excuse and leave? But then she continued, talking about how difficult the few weeks had been after discovering she was magic and then... shifting into nonsense again. Star trek? What was a star trek? What was a deeveedee? Telly-vision? A  star gate? Reruns?

"You know.. we do have astronomy as well..." he said, making his own assumption what topic a trek amongst stars or a gate of stars came under. "It's a subject at Hogwarts. Maybe you'll be good at it if you study that in your muggle life?" He decided not to tell her that gods were simply mythology. That was probably something close to her heart, and who was he to ruin her beliefs? "Is tele-vision a type of telescope?" he asked curiously.

Tree's jaw almost dropped, but she stopped herself from doing so, he had never heard of star trek, stargate, or TV? TV was one of the only things that kept Tree sane it was an escape from her horrible home life. she couldn't imagine anyone not living with it, "No TV isn't a telescope." she finished off her pickle giving her a few moments to ponder how to explain TV as she chewed, "TV is a box with a screen that shows plays, like a little stage productions. They do this by people perform the plays and other people recording them doing said play. Then they send the recordings to your TV using radio waves. You can pick the plays you want to watch. Some plays are dramas, others are funny, some take place in the past and others are what people think the future will be like. Like Star trek, it's a show about a bunch of people on a spaceship flying around the universe meeting people from other worlds." It would be much easier just to show him, "If you like there is a TV in my hotel, I could show you."

The thought about taking the boy to the room where her mom was doing who knows what in there made her frown, maybe another venue would be best "Maybe not my hotel my mom is there, um, sleeping in there. If you would like to go get some lunch in a muggle restaurant, I know one that is close by that has a few TV's in it." The thought of more food was very appealing, it had been a good day of shopping and she could use some food that were more filling then pickles, "I mean if you feel like it. I'll pay." Tree blushed, she didn't often open herself up like this, every other time she had been nice to people they disappointed her or were downright mean to her. What was it about this boy that made her take this risk? Then she realized it was because of that look he had on his face when the other boys pushed him. She had had that same terrible feeling before when people treated her that way. She felt as if this boy needed a friend almost as much as she needed one.

"The food is good and you could tell me more about magic and whatever. Or we could talk about-" The sound of the door opening made her stop and look. The Shopkeeper was back grumbling about stupid kids. She watched him walk back to the counter and give J.J. and her a nasty look, "I don't know, talk about whatever." Tree looked down at her feet nervously, getting ready for him to reject her offer.

He frowned in concentration as she started to explain, trying to keep up. 'TV' was obviously the same thing as telly-vision. That he got. The idea of it displaying a miniature version of pre-recorded plays... like a mix between the radio and some kind of... crystal ball or advanced picture book or something, that he got. It sounded interesting and he wrinkled his nose. He'd seen something similar, he supposed, when someone had enchanted a tiny reflection of a quidditch match over a table, but he wasn't sure whether he liked the idea. Surely part of the enjoyment of going to the theatre was the atmosphere and experience. Wouldn't that be lost if you were just watching it in your own home?

He was intrigued and when she started to offer to show him, a big part of him wanted to say yes. Unfortunately, he couldn't. He couldn't wander off into muggle London with a complete stranger. She could be anyone! It wouldn't be safe. And besides, there was another reason that he couldn't, one that he really wished wasn't the case.

"Oh, I... can't," he replied, disappointment and a little resentment in his voice, "I promised I'd meet with my fos-... my temporary guardians for lunch. They almost didn't allow me to do my shopping alone, but I bargained with them and meeting up with them after was the deal, I'm afraid." He pulled a face. He didn't really want to meet with the people who were certainly not his parents and yet acted as if they were. He didn't see the point in trying to spend any 'quality time' with them either, when they were bound to send him packing soon. Just like the others. He'd be moving on before he knew it. No point getting attached. "I wish I could though. It sounds... fun. Maybe another time?"

"Oh, okay..." Why had she put herself out there? She knew he would say no. Tree hated herself, every time she tried to make a friend it blew up in her face. "yeah, another time." She sighed. She was about to walk away when she saw one of the bugs climb up his sleeve. Tree grabbed it, "we missed one." She opened the box and plopped it in.

Tree was milling over his rejection for lunch in her head over and over, as if to punish her for trying to make a friend when something he said finally registered, 'temporary guardians' and he had said it in same way she talked about here mom and dad with a hint of disdain. Something had happened to his parents, she had wanted to ask him what had happened, but thought better of it, instead she stated, "I know how temporary guardians can be. My mom and dad dump me on family and friends all the time. When I was nine my parents left for ten months and hired some lady to watch me. Well there were a bunch of them, the first one quit when I set her wig on fire with magic when she wouldn't let me go to the cinema."

Maybe he did want to go out with her and he actually couldn't because of these guardians? That thought made Tree feel a bit better, "It sucks that they are making you go with them for lunch. I was enjoying hanging out with you." Tree Pulled out some paper and wrote down the hotel she was staying at and the room number, "Here's where I'm staying until school starts, if you want to do something just call..." did he know how use a phone? Chances were he didn't, "Or send an owl? Or hell you can just drop by. I'm going to be hiding out in there reading all my new magic books so chances are you'll catch me" She held out the paper for him to take. She desperately wanted him to take it and if he turned this kind act down she may just cry.

He nodded, again not understanding the word 'cinema' but deciding it wasn't important. She seemed upset. Genuinely upset. It seemed like he'd accidentally made a friend after all. He took the offered piece of paper, looking down at the address. Some muggle hotel in muggle London. Would his guardians let him go to hang out with a strange muggleborn girl there? Unlikely, but he could at least owl. It would be nice to know at least one person before term started. Maybe they could even sit together on the train then?

"Ok, I'll see if I can send an owl," he said, smiling at the other girl. "I should probably get going. Thanks for your help with the bugs... I... uh... I really appreciated it... and meeting you, nice, uhm..." Wow, he was bad at this. He felt awful for leaving. Could he just stay here and ignore his guardian's request? No. If he did that, he'd likely be grounded for the rest of the holidays, and they'd never give him any freedom to do his own thing again. "Sorry.. I really am. I hope to see you again soon, but if not I'm sure we'll see each other at Hogwarts."

He smiled and stood awkwardly for a moment, but eventually, he made himself give her a slight wave and reluctantly left the apothecary and started heading towards the Leaky Cauldron. Typical. His first friend and he'd already upset her. But... at least he did have a friend now... and that was a feeling that was lightening his step and filling him with a pleasant warmth. Things really would be better at Hogwarts. He could just sense it.

[out]

Sorry it took me so long, but here's the final post just to finish this scene off. =)

Tree waved to ham as he left, "talk soon!" She said trying to smile. Not bad she made two friends today. That crazy Brynn girl and and bug boy. that 2 more then she had made in all her 11 years on this earth. So far joining the magical world thing was paying off!

She grabbed some cheaper items on her list and walked to the shopkeeper and put them on the counter, "I'll take these." she said with a small smile, she had found the best way shoplift was to always buy something on your way out that way people wouldn't think it was odd you spent so much time in the store and got nothing, thus eliminating the suspicion that you are stealing something. After paying she thanked the shopkeeper for the cheaper items and thanking him for his time she walked out.

Now all she had to do was figure out what JJ meant by sending her an owl...

(out)