Lunar Child || Lucian ||

A little bell above the door signaled the arrival or departure of one of the customers, drawing Lucian’s attention from the stock book he was reading over. Marking his place with the tip of a quill, Lucian closed the book and placed it on a shelf beneath the counter amid rolls of register tape and extra stoppers of various sizes in case any vials appeared to be leaking. His assistant, well trained to manage the day to day while Lucian and his bride had been away on holiday for their honeymoon, poked his head through the curtain that separated the front of the shop from the employee areas. Lucian nodded to the man and raised his hand, signaling he would take on the new customer so that the younger wizard could focus on his work brewing additional potions

“Good morning,” Lucian said to the woman out of habit as he moved to step around the counter. He gave a small shake of his head. “Afternoon, sorry. The day is slipping quickly.” He smiled politely at the woman, not recognizing her as one of his regular customers. She wasn’t completely unknown to him, however, but as Lucian’s shop was nestled in the middle of a very busy alley, it wasn’t uncommon for him to recognize several faces a day despite not knowing who they belonged to. “Is there something I can help you find?” he asked her, noting the expensive fabric of her dress and sizing her up to be a woman who could afford to spend a little more for a good high.

She was attractive, but her mannerisms conveyed an ignorance of that fact. The woman’s eyes turned toward the floor and she gave a short, airy laugh of nervousness as Lucian approached her. His greeting was returned, a clipped but polite ‘hi’ before she began to explain what she was looking for. Lucian waited, expecting more details to follow but when it became clear that there was nothing else coming, a perceived understanding dawned on him. “I see,” he said softly, his eyes lighting up in a knowing fashion. Her timidness now became clear, or so he thought. She had the same coy look as so many who were looking to get high for the first time, or dabble with something a little stronger than what their friends peddled in the clubs. “Why don’t we step over here,” he suggested, gesturing gently toward an alcove typically used for private consultations with patrons who had an affinity for a certain type of potion.

The alcove was a circular space, cut into the wall off the shop floor, set away from the heavier trafficked areas of the shop. He pulled a navy blue curtain shut behind them to afford them more privacy and then sat in one of the three chairs available, opposite the remaining two which were separated by a spindly legged table. Thinking the woman was looking for something that wasn’t completely legal, Lucian dropped his voice. “Do you know the name of what you’re looking for, or are you shopping by effect? We stock a few over-the-counter potions but if you’re looking for something more potent, I’d be happy to create a personalized experience for you. Special orders can take up to two weeks to fulfill, depending on the potion.” Lucian was not a stranger to the types of elixirs the elite favored. He was of the mindset that everyone, of every walk of life, deserved a little relief from their life and he could offer a high like no one else.

Wolfsbane potion. This was certainly an interesting turn of events and something Lucian had not been anticipating. It was not the first time someone had come into his shop asking for the potion but it also wasn’t a regular occurrence. The potion, along with its ingredients, was very expensive and while effective it was rarely used simply because of the price tag attached to it. The few times he had been asked to brew the potion, the order had come from wealthy parents looking to hide their child’s shame a little easier. He could not say whether their plans were ever effective, but he knew his potion had been. “I see,” he remarked, sitting back a little in his chair and evaluating the young woman before him. Was she, like the customers before her, requesting the potion for a loved one or was she the one in need of her senses on a monthly basis?

There was a long moment of silence as Lucian weighed the witch in front of him. He would have been more comfortable with her had she just been looking to get stoned but she was a paying customer and there was no sense in turning away her money. “The potion you’re asking for; its rather expensive, you know. And despite the rumors, there is no potion that will actually cure the disease. It only keeps one’s wits about them. Are you aware?” Ignorant buffoons looking for a cure to lycanthropy often spout the healing powers of the wolfsbane potion but in reality it did nothing to stop the transformation. The potion would allow the beast to retain their human mind and consciousness but the pain of bones cracking and body morphing would all remain. It was a lot of money one would have to pay, just to be aware of the disgusting creature they’d become.

She stammered a response and Lucian nodded decidedly. “Very well then,” he said, reaching into his pocket and withdrawing his wand. Gripped firmly in his right hand, Lucian flourished it delicately, a pad of parchment and a self-inking quill appearing on the spindly-legged table in front of him. “One cauldron should be enough for a full week, for one person.” There was a slight pause before he said the word ‘person’, not long enough to be obvious to any onlookers had any been present in the tiny alcove where they sat, which there weren’t, but enough that the nervous woman sitting across from him might pick up on it. A customer was a customer, but a werewolf made things a tad more complicated. “The next full moon is…” Lucian turned in his seat and pointed his wand at the wall behind him where a lunar calendar appeared, a beautiful painted woman in Grecian robes and surrounded by stars held a crescent moon in the palm of her hand with the year 1979 printed in thick, swirling print at the top. “Next Wednesday,” he said, finishing his sentence with a dismayed air to his voice. He turned back to the woman, sure that she would have known his next words were coming. “There would be an extra fee for a rushed order if you want it before then.” Of course she did, that was why she was here.

Lucian picked up the pad of parchment and quill and began to take note of the order, asking her questions to ensure the order would be satisfactory. “I’ll need your name – I don’t care if its your real one or not, and I require half the payment up front, the other half when you pick it up. There’s a discount for recurring customers,” he looked up from his notes and stared into her hazel eyes. “May I assume you’ll be wanting the relief ongoing?” They always thought so in the beginning. All of his wolfy customers, though they were sparce, had it set in their minds that they would want to use the potion for as long as they could afford it, but not everyone enjoyed being conscious as their body ripped itself apart. Loyal customers for the wolfsbane potion were even more rare than a werewolf who could afford the potion to begin with. It wasn’t as if any old wolf could whip up a batch on his own. It was difficult to make and even more difficult to acquire the ingredients if you didn’t have the connections people like Lucian had in the industry. His cousins, the Borgins, were a seedy lot with little respectability to their name before Lucian’s father came along and saved their failing family business with his money, but they knew people that could get things most others couldn’t, and they had been invaluable to Lucian as he expanded his business to more lucrative endeavors.

Amine Argent. Lucian wrote down what he suspected was a false name, not that it mattered, and then lifted his eyes to meet hers as she said she could pay for three months in advance. “If you wish,” he replied, his mind now wondering what a wolf like her was doing to have so much money on hand. Surely nothing legal but she didn’t look the sort to get mixed in with anything outright illegal. Although, he had thought the same of his own wife and only a week ago he’d discovered that she was part of an organization responsible for nearly half the crime and news reports in the Daily Prophet. The discovery had really shaken Lucian and he wasn’t sure now that he could trust his instincts about someone quiet as well as he had previously thought.

Standing from his seat, Lucian looked down at the woman. “Marcus will ring you up at the front counter. Give him this.” Lucian had scrawled a quick order form with the price listed at the bottom, the potion’s description said only “private” without any name, and handed it to her. A second form, the one Lucian had been writing on earlier, was kept with Lucian on his notepad, his personal log, and had the details that he needed in order to brew the potion she was requesting. “We close at seven, come back then and I’ll have your order ready.” He would need to get started right away if she was going to take the first dose a full week before the full moon.

The wolf girl seemed anxious as she took the purchase slip from Lucian’s hand and headed to the counter to pay for her order. Her nerves wouldn’t look out of place here. There were only two sorts of customers in his shop; the seasoned regulars and the wary goodie-goodies looking to get something wild for the first time. Anyone purchasing a traditional potion would fall under the first category and truly made up the bulk of his customers, but the second group were not an unfamiliar sight around these parts. Marcus would have no inclination of her order and Lucian didn’t hang around long enough to see if the witch gave herself away.

Tucking himself away in the back of the shop, Lucian began rummaging through his stores of ingredients, plucking the necessary jars and baskets from the shelves and setting up his workspace. Wolfsbane was perfectly legal and thus he had no qualms about making it in the shop. If an MLE officer had a look around they would find nothing untoward at the Elixirium. He brewed the illegal potions off-site, and sometimes would take home his more traditional work just to be away from the shop for a bit. Marcus was trustworthy enough to look after the shop in his absence and given the option Lucian would always prefer brewing in his own home. It was just more comfortable there, but there was no time to waste if he was to going to fill this order in time for closing tonight. He got to work and had quickly tuned out the bustle of the shop on the other side of the door.

Hours had passed and the customers dwindled, soon only Lucian and Marcus were left in the shop. “I’ll close up,” he told his assistant and excused the man for the day. Having just finished sweeping the storeroom floor, Marcus nodded and put the broom in the cupboard before saying farewell and heading off into the warm summer evening. The side door propped open so that he could monitor any noises coming from the shop, Lucian leaned against the doorframe, blowing smoke into the side alley as he pulled a cigarette from his lips. Bells chimed from inside and Lucian turned his head to look in, spying the front door shutting as the hem of a skirt disappeared behind the wall. Taking one last drag, Lucian flicked the cigarette onto the ground and snuffed it with the toe of his boot before stepping back into the shop and letting the side door close behind him.

The short hallway between the backdoor and storeroom blocked most of the shop from his view, sans the front door, and as he turned the corner he saw the pretty little werewolf who had been in earlier. He was unsurprised. “Thought you might have changed your mind,” he said, noting the time. She was only a few minutes later than he had been expecting her, and of no inconvenience at all, but she still seemed anxious. Bending behind the counter Lucian retrieved a heavy jar, the tag tied to the rim bearing the name Amine Argent. “Once per day, every day for a week leading to the full moon. It’s best to try to take it at the same time of day if you can.” He pulled a paper bag from a stash under the register that was much too small for the jar he was presenting her with. “Duplication charms will be of no use, so if you’d like to continue to keep your mind each month, I suggest you continue coming back. Nasty things have happened to wolves who try to cheat the system.” He didn’t mention whether those nasty things were as a side affect of trying to duplicate his potions or if they were more vigilante-style in nature but he’d leave it up to her likely over-active imagination. “This will be enough to get you through the next moon.” He pulled out his wand and shrunk the jar to a more manageable size, then placed it gently inside the bag.