• Solo • Balm For A Frozen Heart

[Nicholas Erobern]

5th Trial of Cylus, Arc 721

It was just another cold trial in Scalvoris. Nicholas was nursing a mug of hot tea, the fifth in a row, while manning the front desk of Serpent's Remedies. In the last couple of trials, it has been mind-numbing work as there have been only a few customers. Apparently, in the cold seasons, there are far fewer people coming for remedies, ointments, and other products they offered, which leaves the boy with little to do on daily basis. The boy knew he should be lucky that he had a job at all, hearing how many of his course mates had a forced break from theirs. And, maybe, he would be glad, if not for the terrible commute. Nicholas didn't do cold.

You see, before moving to Scalvoris the youngest of Eroberns would spend all cold seasons indoors, it being almost impossible for anyone to get him outside. Similar to a cat, the boy would find warm corners throughout the property to nap, read, or something along those lines. His family had already gotten used to it and while they did make fun of the youngest, no one really bothered him. Now, though, living all alone forced the boy to leave the house even in the coldest of times. Which, to make it clear, he hated. There weren't enough layers in the world to keep him warm.

As he sat behind the front desk, tea in hand, he heard footsteps coming down from the second-floor lab. It was Mark who seemed to be recently woken up from his nap as the man's hair was even messier than usual. The red-haired student made a grumbling noise while speaking,
"I doubt you should be sleeping on the clock. I saw you already napping toxicology lesson." The blond just shrugged, dramatically stretching his limbs and allowing his stiff joints to pop.
"Oh, please, Mr. Inkwell doesn't care while everything is done on time and...Well, we did everything already yesterday. If I make any more ointment for frostbites we will need 60 trial long Cylus to sell it all. Don't be a grump!" That said he snagged Nicholas's mug from his hands, making the red-head pout as he buried himself deeper in the oversized sweater he was wearing. "Make your own! I'm cold."

His colleague just smirked, taking a large gulp before passing the mug back, "Oh please, I can bet that at this point half of your blood is replaced by tea. It's not THAT cold. Especially, here." Nicholas really wanted to object, but it felt like too much work. Plus, it felt like Mark was just using how easy it was to annoy his co-worker at the moment.
"I guess...Still...Cold while getting here..."
To that, there was no answer but a low hum as he slowly walked around the lowly lit room.
"If you say so. You know Mr. Inkwell would be okay if you had taken off during the season. People have done that before." Erobern in reply raised his eyebrows, slowly getting up to put another kettle for tea. "It would be great if I didn't need the money. I have too many interests to be poor." Mark pulled out another mug, setting it next to Erobern's.
"What happened to that rich guy who took you out the last arc? He seemed like a rich cutie." Those were memories Nicholas wished he didn't need to re-visit. Especially, now, when he finally had plenty of spare time.
"Nothing, really. We had a date. I told him I will let the boy know when I'm free...But then I realized I don't have time for cute boys and their dastardly ways, so...Meh! Plus, you have no idea how impressive the guy was. I rather wait for when I have some stable footing. Less panicky." What Nicholas didn't expect was the blond laughing out loud, lightly punching his shoulder. "You're walking gay panic. I doubt it will ever change."

[Nicholas Erobern]

5th Trial of Cylus, Arc 721

In a mature fashion, Nicholas stuck his tongue out at the blond as he was putting the dried rose hips in their mugs. The red-head then poured the hot water, both boys taking their seats afterward.
"But no, really, you should try dating again. Cylus and most of Ashan will be pretty lax for the pharmacy, plus, I'm pretty sure that Mr. Inkwell will kick you out for a vacation if you don't take one willingly. When was the last time you had an actual day off?" Mark raised his eyebrows in question, loudly sipping his tea. The other boy, though, was left squirming in his seat from being called out, Nicholas, a fully grown man, trying to hide as much as possible in his oversized sweater.
"I...Had one...Ummm...Don't know..." His ears were burning in shame, nose scrunching up as he took a sip of the too sour tea. Yuck, no sugar. He got back up from his chair to hunt down some honey in the backroom.
"I'm just saying that you would want to take off on your own terms, rather than have your boss force you. Less embarrassing and all that." To that Nicholas simply rolled his eyes as if the boy wasn't right. Maybe he will consider it if he survives Cylus. The cold was no joking matter.

As he was stirring his tea and watching the dried rose hips swirling in the hot water something came to the boy's mind. Something that could alleviate the boy's boredom for the day. He took his mug, passing the blond and up to the second floor, speaking to Mark without turning.
"Going up to make some rosehip oil. We bought way too much anyway and I can make candles out of it later. While here you can also finally figure out how you will ask out the beefcake in the Scholar's Nook if you're so wise regarding my own dating life." Pleased smile formed on the red-heads face, hearing his friend choking on his tea. Nicholas 10: Mark...You know what, he always cheats anyway and it's stupid keeping count.

Mr. Inkwell had made sure that the second floor was better lit than the first just because lab work required its fair share of precision. Something that can be a problem in poor lightning. Nicholas left his mug on one of the lab tables even if he shouldn't, putting on a lab coat over all those layers of sweaters. Winter clothing was expensive and he rather not ruin his. You were able to tell that no one had done any work here today as the room was around the same temperature as the front desk, the air smelled clean, and all vials, beakers, and flasks were in their rightful places, as well as, clean. First, he prepared all the tools that will be needed (oversized mortar and pestle and a pot for boiling). It wasn't a lot, which was great for the cleanup process. The boy then got, both, the rosehips out of the storage, along with a bottle of hemp oil. He was definitely getting one flask for himself as this stuff made bath time even better. After checking that they still had enough wood for the fireplace, he will need to heat this up for eight breaks or so, Nicholas was ready to start.

With gloves on (rosehip seeds were quite irritating), the red-head used the mortar to grind them. While freshly picked ones had more water in them, dried ones were also good just because most of the beneficial things were stored in the seeds of the plant. It didn't take too long for this task, him sipping his tea in between and, maybe, snacking on one or two of the dried fruit. The ground rosehips were then moved to the pot and covered in a thick layer of oil. Now for the most important and time-consuming part, heating.

You see, Nicholas couldn't allow for the pot to boil, which means he needed to constantly watch over it. If it seemed that it was getting too hot he needed to remove it from the fire but put it back when it had cooled off enough. This was a bothersome task, but good to train patients and focus, two things needed if you wanted to work in science. Plus, this promised to keep him warm as the boy had to be quite close to the fireplace. A couple of times his feathers had caught fire like that but it never kept him away.

So, the next 8 breaks were passed monitoring the pot or asking Mark to take over so he could get a new mug of tea. They actually had some customers that were looking for medicine to relieve fever, as well as, treat frostbites. He might have also paid for one older lady's purchase as she didn't look that well off, and her son had a serious fever, frostbites, and problems with sleep due to pain. He might have also promised to go later and check up on them, even if seeing someone from The Order of the Adunih would have been more productive. In the worst case, he will go there afterward as well.

Asides from that small encounter, the breaks moved on slowly, Nicholas feeling almost hot at the end of the whole thing. After removing the pot he then got it off the fire with Mark's help, allowing the oil to cool off. Part of it was just stored in simple clay bottles with the date on them while part of it was filtered before. At the end of the trial (it felt like the end of the trial, though, with the lack of sunlight it felt like whole Cylus was just "end of trial") he much better mood and a nice "job well done" feeling. Now, only a promise to keep and the boy will be able to enjoy a nice, relaxing bath.

[Doran]

Nicholas:

Knowledge:
Chemistry: How to Make Rosehip Oil
Chemistry x2
Endurance x1
Medicine: First Aid for Frostbites
Medicine x1

Loot: -
Lost: -
Wealth: -
Injuries: -
Renown: -
Magic XP: -
Skill Review: Mostly appropriate to level. It would have been nice if Nicholas had struggled a little bit when it comes to making rosehip oil though. Apparently, you need to watch it for eight breaks to make sure it doesn’t get too hot, and Nicholas has Novice Chemistry and 0 Detection.
Points: 10

- - -

Comments: I have to admit, I was a little confused when I read the first paragraph. Why do fewer people visit the Serpent’s Remedies for remedies, ointments and so on in the cold season? Aren’t people more likely to fall ill and need medicine as a consequence in winter?

You even mentioned Mark making all that ointment for frostbite later in the thread …

That being said, I felt for Nicholas. You can almost feel how uncomfortable he is as a person who craved warmth. I really liked how you compared him to a cat, trying to find warm corners!

Mr. Inkwell sounds like a great employer, by the way. I like how he doesn’t care if people take a nap as long as they finish their work on time and wants them to take time off. I also found the interaction between Nicholas and his colleague Mark and their bickering quite entertaining. The scene where Mark tried to “steal” Nicholas’ mug was especially amusing!

I found it a bit questionable that it was “gay panic” rather than just “panic” when Nicholas was nervous about that cute guy he went out with the arc before though. I'm not sure why it's necessary to point that out. People don't have straight panic either, and Idalos is a world where people of all sexual orientations are treated the same, for the most part.

Furthermore, I adjusted one of your knowledges. “Chemistry: Rosehip Oil” seemed like an incomplete knowledge to me. For that reason, I changed it to “Chemistry: How to Make Rosehip Oil” as that was what Nicholas did in the thread. I appreciate in how much detail you described doing that, by the way!

That being said, enjoy your rewards and let me know if you have any questions!

P.S.: I might have added “Detection” to the list of skills used. You mentioned that the pot with the rosehip oil had to be monitored in order to make sure that it doesn’t get too hot which is something where “Detection” might have come into play.