Sunday's were slow after 3pm and I had decided to close up shop and head into town for some idle window shopping and to pay bills. In recent months I had managed to open up my nicer shop in the southern end of the city with the help of a benefactor who recognized the healing effects of my potions. The only downside was it was simply me creating potions so I spent way too much time focused on creating, duplicating, then selling them and being as I was the only one at the shop, my life consisted of work, work, work. I had little in the way of friends due to my constant working, my need to achieve greater heights, but also because it had distracted me from the darker paths that I had begun to go down two years prior. After my parents had been murdered in Scotland, I had seemingly found a trail back to Sacrosanct, but when I finally began delving into blood magic in order to track and find them, my life had become one crushing event after another. The shop I had managed in the west had been sacked, a warning sign for me to get the hell out of there, and I had been left bruised, battered, and frustrated.

I could have turned to my friends for help but I was stubborn to the point of suffering in silence. In fact, I had almost completely ghosted Dareios, Erik, and Carolina. The long hours and tireless brewing, editing, concocting, had left me with nothing in the way of life except to be at the shop or home, but it had made my shop a hive of activity. My potions were in demand and I had managed to gain new sets of eyes from the elite's of the city. Anti-wrinkle cream, anti-bruising lotion, potions that would temporarily boost endorphins, and so on and so forth. Occasionally a person would ask for a specific potion I didn't make and I would do my best to learn and accommodate, but I tried to steer clear of anything illegal or dangerous. Lucky for me, the southern part of the city wasn't as seedy as the East, and the requests for potions that did harm was minimal.

It was just my luck that as soon as I got off the tram on the east side, it began to rain. Pedestrians scattered into whatever shops were closest if they didn't have an umbrella. I wished for the millionth time that I had focused my studies on more practical things than potions - like a shield dome perhaps, that could deflect water and protect me from any physical damage. Unfortunately, that wasn't happening, and as I scurried along the edge of the buildings in search of a place to shelter, I spied a woman standing at the corner with guitar. She had an air of dejection as the rain pounded down on her curly hair and I felt a sort of recognition. I peered closer at her, suspecting she wasn't just a mere human trying to get some money, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

I wanted to turn away, to go back to doing whatever I would decide to do, but I was rooted to the spot. There was a heavy feeling emanating from the woman, the kind of feeling that I recognized because I felt it not too long ago. I frowned for a moment, torn, before finally sighing to myself and ambling closer. The rain coated my curly black hair, pasting it down across my cheeks and neck. "Hey," I called out as I got closer to her, offering her a kind smile. Kindness was sorely lacking from this world and it was only because of kindness that I hadn't fallen into my own pit of despair. "Tough time for a crowd," I say blithely. "I don't have any cash on me, just a card, but I do have this," I say, digging into my purse and pulling out a small brown glass bottle with an old-school cork stoppering it. I offer it to her on an outstretched arm. "It's a warming potion. I can't imagine you aren't cold as soaked as you are. I got my own here," I add, pulling back my arm for a moment in case she mistrusts that I might give her something dangerous. I reach back into my purse, pulling out an identical bottle, opening it and immediately swallowing back the contents before closing it and putting it back into my purse before offering her bottle again. "Promise it won't hurt you and it isn't alcohol. Just good old-fashion magic." Part of me suspected she was a witch - I tended to feel more of a connection to my kind than any other, but if she was a human I hoped she wasn't one of this anti-supernatural ones.