Archive of Our Own ^beta

 The first thing Maxim learned about VR-LA was that he wanted to learn how to make potions under a proper teacher and secondly that he had more money than any reasonable person should ever be willing to show in public. Thirdly, he was skilled but self taught in a way that made him very willing to things that risked his health without even thinking about it. Maxim had many a time yanked him away from leaning over a cauldron and just many times received an awkward apology. 

 This particular afternoon Maxim was engaged with making a cure for a client absolutely certain their daughter was under the effects of a love potion, VR-LA lingering and watching despite his actual lesson already being done. He sniffed the air a few times as he circled and Maxim almost reflexively reached out to stop him from leaning over, only stopping when VR-LA wafted it. Like he was supposed to.

 "It smells like lemons." VR-LA commented, tilting his head a bit.

 "Well, it does use lemon juice." Maxim answered, continuing to stir it. "To sour the love." 

 VR-LA made a face at that.

 "Not a pun on my part." Maxim clarified. "That is the literal use."

 "Almost everything with magic is a pun as it is, I'm not even surprised at this point." VR-LA said. "You added another liquid aside from water too, what was it?"

 "It was just rosehip tea that I'd made on a previous day, as rosehip or rose is often used in love potions. If you use one that isn't fresh in love potions without heating it and adding new rosehip, it works in the opposite way because..." Maxim trailed of to let VR-LA try to fill in the blanks.

 "A love that somebody doesn't intentionally try to maintain will eventually fade?" VR-LA guessed. 

 "I supposed that could be a way to phrase it. Many textbooks will phrase it as expecting love to stay the same without effort." Maxim stopped stirring, looking down in the mixture. "Now it needs salt."

 "This is going to taste disgusting."

 "Most potions do. It will also make a good scurvy cure. Perhaps the only use it will get, since that girl clearly isn't cursed." Maxim grumbled, retrieving his salt and measuring out a portion. He poured it in, watching it dissolve in the hot liquid. 

 "What would dried peppers do, if added?" VR-LA questioned. "As they're used to induce rages, I was wondering if they could be used in a cure for curses that make somebody happily in love."

 "A deeply unpleasant experience." Maxim said flatly. "Once you added magic, it would induce hatred just like a love potion induces love. Due to the salt and lemon juice primarily. The rosehip tea would be made useless as an ingredient unless in particularly high quantity. If the salt and lemon are too low, you'd get an ineffective potion of lust."

 VR-LA nodded along, pulling his small notebook out of his pocket to quickly jot down a note.

 "The production of lust potions is highly restricted, much like with love potions. Not fully illegal, but precautions are required before sale, and carrying more than a certain quantity can cause you trouble." Maxim said. "Any I sell are made with an intentionally foul taste, which is standard."

 "Why make them at all?"

 "People occasionally use them on themselves, love potions can become effective for self confidence and lust potions should be obvious. I do not judge what people do to themselves with their free will as long as I'm paid."

 "Ew." VR-LA muttered. 

 "Standard charm potions can also be used on animals, to befriend them temporarily, although they'll be defensive after." Maxim continued, raising a hand over the cauldron and starting to fill the potion with magic, watching the color slowly change.

 VR-LA went completely silent, watching with slightly wide eyes. Despite seeing this hundreds of times by now, he still always looked so fascinated by the process Maxim always felt was the most boring. 

 Maxim took a breath, feeling more tired than he did a few seconds prior. "Retrieve the bottles for me. I'll put out the rest of the batch for customers."

 VR-LA quickly retrieved the box of bottles, popping them open one by one for Maxim to fill up, closing them once they were full. "Want me to make the labels too?" VR-LA offered, moving the full bottles to a tray kept by the cauldron. 

 "If you wouldn't mind. You know where everything is, I'm going to start cleaning this up."

 VR-LA took the tray over to Maxim's desk, sitting down to get to work while Maxim gathered rags. He spared a brief glance at VR-LA, seeing how the man's brows were narrowed in focus as he began writing in beautiful script. His writing always made potions sell better, it was clear and refined. Perhaps it made them look more professional. 

 Maxim's glance stopped being brief as he watched VR-LA delicately tie the first label to a bottle, making a neat little bow. The next label received a fancier one, and the next a whole different style, something Maxim had seen on charms from a country across the continent, made up of many loops tied at the center. VR-LA let out a proud hum at his own work.

 Maxim forced his gaze away, returning to his work.