Potion Cat: A Special Brew
#18 of Potion Cat(Reboot)
The morning brings the sweet bliss of awakening next to someone cared for, and someone to think about. Layne understands that her cousin doesn't want to go back but that he must because he has a duty to their family. Layne has no such duty and still harbors old scars and in talking to her cousin she has to wonder whether or not he carries some of his own. She wonder and wonders and decides not to press on it too much but regardless she has a gift in mind.
Warm sunshine filtered through a frost-kissed window and into the potion maker's room. Layne awoke just as the light of the morning sun touched her face which poked out from beneath the covers. She could feel a warm spot on her eye telling her that it was time to get up for the day. With a sigh, the black-furred feline brought both arms forward and stretched, opening her eyes with her face pressed firmly onto the pillow before shifting onto her side to look out the window. The sun was just coming over the leafless trees, a deep orange filling the air. She took in the sight of the morning coming alive with the wild orange kissing the sapphire blue of her eyes while she decided to bask in the sun's glow rather than get up immediately. Turning over she moved a paw to push back the covers a bit so she could get a clear look at her guest lying next to her. Nicolas had his eyes closed, her white-furred cousin resting soundly despite the fact he had been waking her up every day since she had come back to her store. It had been a while since she had been up before her guest. That simple fact meant that she was getting used to being back at home again and she was more than well-rested after her little adventure. She thought about waking him up now to start the day but instead, she decided to let him rest while she felt the sun warming her back. Having Nicolas around had been great for her store and good for her mood. She had gotten to catch up with her cousin and actually learn how his life had been going in a deeper manner rather than through the occasional letter. Mentions of their family only seemed to make Nicolas almost as nervous as it made her and she could only wonder what he had been through growing up around them. Layne had been able to escape thanks to her cousin and for the longest time, she thought that he had been perfectly fine among them but maybe that was naive. Prying him for information would just sour the mood further and possibly push him away a bit and besides, she already knew a few of the things that stressed him back at home in the present day. Every single restriction put on him despite the fact that they expected so much of him and a few other things. Seeing him falter, sad or in any sort of duress made her want to help him. She understood that she didn't owe her cousin, that any debt between them had been a fabrication of her own anxieties and with that understanding, she could realize she only wanted to make him happy because she cared about her cousin. For now, at the very least, it was time to wake up.
With a small smile, the potion maker leaned in closer to plant a gentle kiss on her cousin's nose. She watched as he scrunched his nose but remained asleep. It was hard to disturb that peaceful look on his face and the closer she got the more she found herself growing tired thanks to the warmth coming off of his body. Layne figured that soft kisses would be the right way to go about things but she felt something hot and firm poking her leg that paved the way to another idea. Without looking, the feline reached down with one paw to take hold of her cousin's cock that she felt brushing against her legs. She pressed close enough that her lips were on his neck and she began to stroke his shaft gingerly. Up and down her digits moved while she planted gentle pecks against his neck. Her cousin still didn't rouse but she could hear a soft purr coming from his mouth that made her giggle quietly. Perhaps she needed something more than just a simple handjob.
Layne slid down the bed while pushing the rest of the covers off of her cousin. When he was fully exposed she brought herself between his legs to lean down all the way and plant gentle kisses on his stomach, both of her paws at his hips. Lower and lower her mouth went leaving a trail of soft pecks until her mouth reached his crotch. She kissed around his member, digits sliding down to his thighs to spread them before she raised his hips just a bit to start kissing at the base of his shaft where her lips met both his cock and balls at the same time. Layne heard a light mumbling coming from her cousin and she doubled her efforts, her lips moving across each orb to let her tongue drag against both of them before she settled on moving her tongue from the center of his balls all the way to the tip of his cock. At the tip of his cock, she planted a loving kiss at the tip and looked up to see that his eyes were half-open, ruby spheres staring down at her with such groggy hunger.
With a big smile, she brought one of her paws to take hold of his cock, stroking it gently while she moved her mouth back against his balls where she dipped underneath them to let her tongue slide against the bottom. Her tongue occasionally graced his taint while her paw continued to pass up and down his cock gently. She made sure to cradle each of his balls, giving them equal attention with her tongue before she lavished the center with her love again, pulling her tongue away only to nuzzle each orb that had become sticky with her spittle, the scent of his arousal passing against her senses causing her to shudder. At this point, she could hear little sighs and moans passing down from his mouth, sounds which brought shivers down her spine as she continued giving all her mouth's attention to his balls. The feline passed a thumb across the tip of his cock as she stroked up, feeling a drop of pre grace her digit before she brought her paw down to the base gently. Feeling that slick warmth dripping from the tip of his shaft urged her mouth away from his balls to press against the head of his cock, eyes shut as she opened her mouth slowly to dip down all the way until her nose was at his crotch. Her tongue pressed against the bottom of his member and she purred as she heard him suck in a breath. Slowly, she pulled back up while taking hold of the portion of his cock being left behind. She squeezed and pumped what she could while bobbing her head up and down. A sudden throbbing pulsed through her cousin's cock and she felt a sudden surge of cum pour out onto her tongue. Layne remained still, purring as rope after rope of thick seed coated her tongue. Each twitch of her cousin's cock caused the other feline to groan aloud and when every drop was drained from his shaft, she drank it down happily.
Pulling her mouth off of his cock slowly with a little pop, she looked up at her cousin and smiled, "Good morning."
Nicolas pushed himself up to sit, his eyes focused on the feline who had her chin resting on his thigh. Reaching down with one paw, he touched her cheek gently and mumbled, "I guess that's one way to wake me up." He then yawned and looked over at the window, the fresh sun still just coming up over the clouds, "At the same time, I feel like I might just wanna go back to sleep y'know? Just lie back and take a nap but we have customers today, right?"
The potion maker shook her head, "Nope! No customers today. Store is closed."
With a yawn, her cousin looked down at her before he stretched back onto the bed, "Oh...Okay, wake me up later then."
Layne giggled and with two claws she gently pinched the inside of her cousin's thigh to which he hopped back up with a yelp. Before he could complain, she began, "Now listen, just because I said we didn't have any customers doesn't mean we don't have things to do. We're running low on inventory we have to get some brewing done."
Nicolas grumbled but leaned down to plant a soft kiss on her head before sighing, "Fine fine. Let's get up then and get to work. I can sleep later after we're finished with whatever it is that we need to make."
Both felines got up and out of bed to get their clothes on for the day. Layne put on a simple dress of a lighter black than the fur on her body and place a pointed hat atop of her head with a crooked tip. Her cousin chose a brown serape to curl around his body and nothing else. From the room, they moved to the kitchen to grab a quick bite to eat, something small in the form of some bread with a bit of honey to keep them well-fed while at the same time not filling them too much. Both felines sat together in relative silence while they ate only occasionally breaking that silence for a yawn since the morning still weighed on them just a bit. The kitchen itself had a window near a washing basin where the sun was melting the frost off of the glass. She sat there watching the water drops fall down, mouth full of bread while the feline enjoyed the sight of the Winter white being washed away by the sun. Layne hated the cold but there was something magical about snow itself. Maybe she'd feel differently if she lived in a region that snowed all the time and then again, she had to wonder what people who had never seen snow felt like, how would they see the snow? Either way, Winter was passing and soon it would be Spring again and the time for new ingredients growing in the forest would be soon. It would be nice to walk out in something without sleeves without the need of a vial of warmth. Either way, sitting here eating breakfast with someone she cared about seemed like a fine way to start the morning.
A quick meal made the morning feel that much more approachable with something in her stomach. When they finished, Layne moved with a small bounce in her step from the kitchen and through the hall to head back to the front of the shop where the portal circle to her lab awaited them. There were things to do today, potions to brew for the store and a particular potion she wanted to make for her own reasons. Layne felt confident that everything would turn out just fine even if one of those potions was a bit of a tricky one. Well, it wasn't necessarily tricky but she had never really used that particular recipe for much. She figured that it would be worth it if it turned out fine and if not, she could just try again. It would be a pleasant gift for her cousin and that alone made her want to try her best to make sure it came out okay. Layne hopped onto the circle with a big smile and waited until her cousin was next to her before she whispered her words of power and felt the crack of energy take them to her lab.
The teleportation to her lab left neither of them ill as Layne had improved on the design several times and as she stepped out of the circle she sighed happily, "Still can't believe I got that to work without the teleportation sickness. Next, I'm going to have to try further distances or something even better, maybe even some aesthetic additions on entrance and exit."
Nicolas stepped out next to her with a small frown, "You told me you were bad with circles so I don't think experimenting with those is such a good idea unless you're teleporting things that aren't living."
"Bah! Don't drag me down with your negativity!" The potion maker said with a grin stretched across her face.
Both felines moved through the underground lab, their steps echoing against the stone walls and floors. Lanterns on the wall came alive with a flick of her wrist illuminating the large room she used for production and experimentation with warm light. There were multiple cauldrons set at the edges of the room along with tables that held various tools atop of them for mixing herbs and other things. It felt good to be in any place where she could work with what she understood and knew best. Alchemy was a beautiful art that could create potions of healing and potions that could do a variety of entertaining things that were at times beneficial and at times less so. Studying the arcane in order to produce interesting and unique effects was always a treasure and she didn't think she could ever abandon it. Layne moved to gather the ingredients for each concoction she would be making today, humming while she stopped by the shelves containing all the dried material she had.
"Layne." Her cousin said, "Can't we just use your workshop in your store? We can't be making that much can we?"
The potion maker paused at the shelves before looking over her shoulder with a small smile, "Hm? Well! Today we'll be making a bulk amount of two potions that are brought fairly often at my store but more importantly, we'll be making something that I'm not used to making. I promise it won't blow up. Now, fill three cauldrons with water please."
Nicolas answered with a sigh, "Goodness. I really do hope that you know what you're doing. You can be so wild sometimes."
Layne giggled, "Now now! Wild is good! It produces strange results and wonderful things! But today is not a day of wild experimentation, it is simply just something that I'm not used to making and before you ask, you'll find out when the potion has been made."
A loud exaggerated sigh came from her cousin and she resisted the urge to giggle while she plucked the ingredients she would need, "I guess I can wait if you're really that intent on keeping it a secret. Unless you don't even know yourself, in which case, I'd like a warning just in case something horrible goes wrong."
Layne laughed as she brought the first batch of ingredients over to the table to crush them together, being very careful with the infusion of liquid mana while she answered her cousin, "Nothing bad will happen. At worst, we'll see a little puff of smoke if I do it wrong. Now, don't you trust your cousin?"
She could hear water being drawn and carried from the sprouts she had growing near some basins along with her cousin's words, "Of course I do but I also trust that experimentation and you are normally chaotic."
"Fun!" Layne corrected, "My experimentation is full of fun and like I said, this is just something that I don't make too often. No worries!"
With chatter finished, both felines set out to do their respective jobs. Layne took ingredients and mixed them together, crushing them if needed before dumping them into their respective cauldrons. Nicolas had finished filling each and without needing to be told he started a fire underneath each. The flames began to pop and crackle and rise, growing in strength until they settled on a steady flow against the black metal of the cauldrons that soon tinted orange with the heat of the flames. Layne started from left to right, checking each to make sure nothing undesirable was happening with the initial mix of ingredients before she began the process of charging each with magic. The first two were simple enough and the liquids began to turn their respective colors, each one glowing with the power she pressed into them. When those were done she moved onto the third and final cauldron where she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She focused and brought her paws out above the mixture, words whispering power and intent into the air as the mixture began to bubble violently. The sound of the fire crackling was nearly muted by the noise of liquid turning over and warping to her need. Such a violent reaction meant that she had been off in the ratio of her ingredients but she still pressed on until the liquid began to settle down. When she opened her eyes, the liquid had turned into a rich speckled blue. She hurried over to the table to take a small vial, bringing it back over to the cauldron to carefully dip it in and take some of that speckled blue liquid out.
Layne caught her cousin watched her as she swirled the liquid around in the small glass vial. She smiled at him and offered the vial over to him, "Here, try it."
Nicolas squinted his eyes and tilted his head but took the vial while asking, "What will this do to me."
The potion maker shrugged, "Probably something good. Promise nothing bad at least."
Her cousin shrugged before he dipped his head back to down the potion in one go. When his head came back he opened his mouth and a frost misty came through as a deep sigh while his entire body seemed to relax just a bit, "Oh...Oh, that feels nice. Feel like everything in my body is loosening up. Kind of cold but pleasant."
"Kiss of Winter." Layne said with a big smile, "A relaxant which is great in the Spring to ward off the heat and stress alike. A small bit of that should help with day to day worries and woes and a bit more can even help with sleep problems. I know you said that you were leaving soon enough and well, I didn't want you to leave without something from me. I can pack you a small bag with some vials and even ship you some if you're in need." Her tone then softened, "I know you said you came here because you needed to get away from the family and I wanted to do something to help remind you even when you're over there that I'm here if you ever need to come visit, that, and it should help by itself." Nicolas opened his mouth and she raised her paw to stop him, "I don't owe you anything. I get that. I just wanted to do this, that's all."
Nicolas shut his mouth tight and looked at the vial in his paw before looking at Layne, "Thank you. That's really sweet of you Layne. I don't know if you should be wasting materials on me, I'm--"
"Stuck in a place you don't necessarily want to be when at home and stressed. You don't have to go into details." She then stepped to give his shoulder a soft pat, "But you don't have to hide from me either. I understand."
For a moment, she swore she saw mist in his eyes but when he blinked Nicolas smiled and wrapped both his arms around her for a tight squeeze, "Thanks. I'll be sure to tell the family that you're doing great despite their stupidity."
Layne laughed, "So bluntly? That might be nice to hear their reactions. Now...We still have some work to do. All of this isn't just going to put itself into flasks and then on my shelves. Come come!"
The two felines parted from another and started getting to work. Nicolas had a small smile stuck to his face the entire time and Layne watched as he went through the work without complaint. It was nice to see him happy. Despite Nicolas not elaborating on how he was feeling about home, she could read the mood and tell that there was no need for him to say anything at all. Here he could relax for just a few more days before he had to go back. This relaxation and that gift were the least she could do for someone she cared about.