I Know it Smells Great, but if You Drink it You Might Die... [Open!]

The Alchemy, also dubbed 'Potions', classroom was a nice and airy one. Long tables stood in neat rows; miniscule cauldrons and other potion making utensils were displayed neatly on them. One side of the room was lined with glass cabinets, each one was stocked full of canisters. Some held strange looking ooze, questionable items and colourful plants. The other side of the room was made up of nothing but windows. Light filtered in with ease, providing the needed light for the class. At the front of the room was a single table, a medium-size cauldron, blackboards and a young lady. She was dressed in a flowery summer dress, with white flats and a green apron tied snugly around her. Her chocolate hair was tied up into a neat pony tail, with stray curls framing her face.

Said young lady was currently stooped over an ancient looking book. Her brows were furrowed together in deep thought, lips moving as she read the words silently. With a quiet harrumph, Elizabeta straightened up and stalked towards the glass cabinets. Behind her, the black cauldron bubbled away, balancing on a stand while orange fire licked at it’s charred bottom. The Alchemy teacher knew that her classes wouldn’t be starting until later on, she had arrived early with her mind full of recipes she wanted the class to try. The only problem now was that she couldn’t quite make up her mind on what recipe she wanted to try.

She opened the cabinet and carefully picked out a canister, unlatched the metal latch, and pulled out a handful of pale green leaves. They were thorny and grew in an irregular shape. Wincing a bit when a sharp thorn grazed her fingertips, she closed the lid with one hand and slid the canister back onto the shelf. Hurrying to her cauldron, she let the leaves fall into the clear mixture, watching as the newly added items slowly broke down into smaller pieces before dissolving. Elizabeta hummed cheerfully, pushing a wooden spoon into the thickening mixture and stirring it lightly.

It was the sort of day when nothing really happened, when he would just wander the corridors in search of something to do. That type of day was most days, dodging teachers, talking to birds and drinking on the campus; it was all a way to pass time. Keith's uniform was un-tucked and he hadn't bothered doing his shoelaces up proporly either, his shirt was un-ironed and un-buttoned. He looked like he belong anywhere else but a boarding school. But this was where he lived, his only home and family. To him it wasn't just a school, it was his world...his street...his home. He didn't take care of it like a home though.

He heard noises coming from an unfamilar classroom, he peered in looking at the woman. He could have sworn he had never seen her before but he wouldn't say so, that would be risking too much. He looked around at the different potions remembering a few things about what each might be and their effects. He looked over at an old book flicking through a couple of pages trying to be as silent as possible. As he looked through the pages he looked over the words carefully trying to make sense of them, so many words were hard to understand with his limited knowlage. Maybe skipping all that school when he was younger wasn't a good idea. He kept flipping through the book for something he was familiar with, he found a few things he had heard about but nothing he overall recognised in great detail. Like seeing the same tree twice but forgetting where the branches and knot holes were.

It was probobly a bad move for him to go into the classroom, but he didn't care. If the teacher got mad at him he wouldn't mind, he'd bend his set of moral rules. He glanced over at the teacher taking in her appearance, her clothes were quite different to the females he had been used to seeing. Although then again most were. He gently closed the books cover placing it back down on the desk as quietly as he could as not to disturb her.

((Hi I hope you don't mind me jumping in!))

((Hello! No, no, not at all. ^w^))

"Oh, hello there."

Elizabeta hadn't noticed the student immediately as he had been so quiet, and the bubbling in the cauldron had been quite loud. She turned off the flame and gave the mixture a final stir. Straightening up, she looked over the student, taking in his haphazardly-looking uniform and raising a brow.

How did he manage to get away with that? With all the monitors prowling the hallways, she had to admit that he had some skill there. As a teacher though, she was supposed to enforce the rule and tell him to straighten up and such, but she didn't want to. After all, Elizabeta had been there once before, and she had certainly hated her uniform. So, she decided to pretend to not have noticed this and move on.

She wiped her hands on the front of her apron and put on a friendly smile, "Something the matter?"

Keith looked up, he had been found out, "Oh...g'day..."

He stepped back slightly trying to work out her persanality, was she a nice adult or a reguler adult? He scratched at the corner of his band aid nervously. He could tell by the look on her face she disapproved of the way he dressed, he didn't care though. He was used to it, and it was either that or no uniform at all. He suspected the faculty would be happier with the untucked uniform.

"No just wondering," he never really did anything else, he hadn't attended many classes other than Physical Education since coming to the school a while back.

He kept his answers short and they were going to stay this way until he figured this teacher out, "What's your name?" He asked trying to put something to the female in front of him.

Elizabeta noticed three things about the student.

The first being that he had an accent, an Australian one, most likely. And he seemed like he was trying to figure something out. He also seemed to have noticed her slight look of disapproval and was giving an air of defiance about it. Trouble student? She thought, Eh, whatever.

"Elizabeta Héderváry," She replied, half-wondering why he had a bandaid on his nose. "I'm the new teacher in the building, so you've probably haven't seen me before." She casted a look around the classroom.

"And my classroom's pretty isolated from the others, so..." She shrugged, trailing off. Reaching down, she opened a drawer from her desk and pulled out a box. She set it on the table and opened it while reaching to grab the ladle on her table.

"What's your name, oh dear student?"

She would have been right if she had said anything, Keith was from Australia and was defensive of himself.

He nodded taking in her name trying to remember, "Ah," he paused working out how to pronounce her name knowing it was going to come out sounding silly, "Miss Hedervary, it's nice to meet you...I guess." He gave her a polite nod as to not seem rude. He was truly trying his best but his answers came out nearly as not caring.

He nodded again, "I guess that is true but isolation is a good thing you know?" He gave a grin. If she asked about the band aid he was not sure what he would do. He was not sure at all.

"Keith Smith..." he grumbled out lightly, "it's not much of a name really I guess, a bit plain..." He started to walk closer still. It took alot to make Keith trust someone...Elizabeta was going to be no exception. He however gave him a sweet smile to her to show that he wasn't mad or upset.

Elizabeta was used to being mispronouncing her name, so she didn't mind it when he said it just slightly off. It was barely noticeable, really.

"It's not plain, names are never plain. Even a 'Bob' would be special for it's plain-ness," She paused, "If that made any sense." She later added with a light laugh.

Elizabeta set six glass beakers on the table. She scooped up some of the clear liquid with her ladle and poured it into the six beakers with ease. Once that was done, she put away the box and left the dirty ladle and stirring spoon in the empty cauldron. Grabbing her bag, she rummaged in it and brought out a few lemons. She looked up at Keith, "Would you like to try some?" She asked, opening another drawer and retrieving a spoon and a knife. "It's suppose to make sour things you eat sweet - a very fun potion."

She went on to slice the lemons into wedges while waiting for his answer.

"Mmm I guess so," he said sitting on a desk looking over at her, "but you're name is pretty cool~"

He stepped forward nodding watching her cut the lemon, even if it wouldn't make it sour he'd still eat the lemon and even if the potion was dangourous he'd try it. He was always up for a good challenge, he'd be happy to be gueinea pig for potions but he would just say he was drinking, he wouldn't call himself that in a million years. He re-positioned himself gently on a table in the front row crossing his legs, he started the fiddle with his sleeves pushing them up so they didn't hang over his wrists, he put his hand out for a wedge of the lemon.

"Let's try this!" He shouted eagerly.

Elizabeta dropped a wedge of lemon in his outstretched hand. She grinned at his eagerness, "Well, you're going to have to come up to get a spoon of the potion first," She told him, scooping some of the potion with the spoon she had taken out. "And don't worry, it doesn't taste like anything at all. If there's a taste...let's just say outcomes might not be so beautiful."

Though it really did take some skill to mess up on a potion like this. As far as she knew, the only consequences she's ever seen was a student getting a green tongue for a few days. That had ended up being more of a joke than anything.

Keith smiled as the lemon dropped into his hand, he stepped closer to the cauldron keeping his hand streeched out for some of the potion to be placed upon it. He found this quite fun, he loved magic and potions. This world was still new to him and even after a while at this school he was still amazed when he saw stuff like this, "Alright," he didn't mind if the taste was bad or good, he'd still eat it anyway.

As he watched the potion he only thought for a milli-second what a side-effect might be if there was one, but it was only for less than a second and excitement took hold of his body. He couldn't wait.

Elizabeta slid the spoon across the table and towards him, "Just scoop a spoonful or so," She instructed, "It'll be enough to last a few minutes."

Meanwhile, she grabbed another spoon for herself. She helped herself to a spoonful and swallowed it in one gulp. It felt a bit odd, even for her, to eat something that had absolutely no taste at all. She set the spoon down and clicked her tongue lightly. Picking up a wedge of lemon, she bit into it and smiled a little when sugar sweet juices flowed into her mouth. Taking a bite, she laughed a little, "Delicious."

Keith leaned over grabbing the spoon then dipped it into the liquid, he took it to his mouth pouting slightly when there was no taste. He then looked down at the lemon in his hand and put it in his mouth in one go, he chewed it slowly quite suprised at the sudden taste in his mouth but at the same time slightly disapointed. There was nothing that amazing about this but he tried to put it to the back of his mind, "Tastes good if sweet stuff is what you like," which was not him.

He wiped his hands off on his pants then grinned swallowing the rest of the lemon.

She raised a brow, "Not very impressed, hm? Well, no big surprise there, it is for the juniors after all." Elizabeta ate another wedge while she grabbed a cloth from the sink situated by her desk and started to clean up. "Either that, or you're not a sweets person. Either way." She shrugged, wiping up the spilled lemon juices and knife before rinsing the cloth in the sink.

"What would you consider extraordinary?" She asked him.

Keith shrugged watching her grab the cloth before moving back sitting up on the desk keeping his distance, "I don't like sweets that much, salty or smokey things are more up my alley but that was pretty cool," he said trying to keep from sounding rude which was prooving to be hard. He gave a small smile swaying lightly on the desk contently.

He then thought for a second, that was a hard question. He found alot of things extraordinary, like this school. "Invisibilaty potion?"

She felt like he was holding back a lot, and though she personally wasn't very picky about manners, she didn't say anything.

Elizabeta hung the cloth over the edge to dry before picking up her cauldron and setting it, as lightly as she could, into the sink. She flipped up the tap, squirted in some soap and let the water run. "Invisibility potions are quite advanced - and pretty dangerous too, with the wrong people." She paused, thinking, "Though I might let you a few minutes if you're willing to come back tomorrow."

She looked up at him with a half-smirk, "If you're willing, of course, to be my guinea pig."

Wrong hands, that was a laugh. Keith would use the potion to steal or commit vandalisim but he'd keep that hush hush, she wouldn't even have to know his plans for the potion. He was sure he could have found a spell but he was unsure of how to memorize, learn and cast spells other than the ones he had already learnt. It was quite a problem. "Sure I'd come back tomorrow..."

Then he paused turning his head slightly, "Call it anything else and I'm up for it," he guessed it was part of him now, wanting to be part of something.

"Though, don't expect it to last more than half a minute at most." Elizabeta told him, with a little bit of a disappointed air. "Invisibility potions need the most superb ingredients to last long periods of time. From what I can get though...it's controlled by the headmaster."

She shrugged, turning off the water and grabbing a sponge from beside the soap. She reached in and started to scrub around the insides. "He's a little wary of certain students." She added, with a knowing tone. Sure, Elizabeta was new to the school and didn't know much about the students. But she was observant enough to tell them apart, especially if they were being so blatantly obvious about it. She shook her head, trying to move her bangs out of her face.

Keith grumbled, why did he expect anything but the headmaster watching him. "Oh," he said, his hopes were dashed, there was hardly anything he could do in a minute...perv on a girl? No even that would take atleast two minutes, why did everything in this world have to take so long?

He had failed again, it wasn't fair. He then wondered if she already knew about him, no there wwere lots of students here he was just another one wasn't he? "Wha do you mean by that?" He asked tapping his finger.

"Oh come on," She said, pausing from her vigorous cleaning to look up at him. She was up to her elbows in thick, white suds, but she didn't seem to mind. "You're telling me that the idea of being invisible for long periods of time didn't make you want to, you know," Elizabeta returned to cleaning, "Steal stuff, maybe do something to the school. You don't seem like the type who particularly enjoy schooling."

She set the sponge aside and flipped on the tap once again. "I know I have. Way back, it was too funny watching how puzzled the humans got." Elizabeta snorted a bit at the memory.

Keith nodded, "I used my powers when I was a kid to steal alot," he admitted although it was obvious, "And yeah I skip school most of the time...I don't like it...teachers have too much power." He jumped down from the desk, he didn't know why he was disapointed. He never really made a point of trying to look like he was attending class and a good student. He did the opposite in fact, he wanted everyone to know he didn't give a shit.

He gave a small laugh, "Humans...they are stupid," he roped himself in with that generalization. He had been raised as a human and didn't have that creature up bringing, "It's good to meet a fellow trouble maker I guess, ev eryone here is so uptight!"

"I think it's only the slightly older ones that are like that," She told him playfully, "But no, I have to be uptight during class times. It's a profession thing, you know. To keep a job and all that fun stuff." Elizabeta rinsed off the cauldron and other utensils before drying them quickly with the cloth and putting them away.

"What year are you in?" She had been wondering why he was here, other classes was going on after all. Truth be told though, she wasn't all too surprised to hear that he skipped school most of the time. She had guessed right after all.

"No, all teachers have the power to expell, give you detention and call home," he gave a small shiver before speaking again, "no matter how nice a teacher is if you act up you get in trouble," Keith's fear of punishment was starting to show so he quickly jumped over two rows of desks sitting a little further back, he couldn't forget she was a teacher. He had to be quiet.

"My year?: He had completely forgotten, the grades here were different to in his home of Australia, "I'm sixteen..." he tilted his head, it was probobly a bad idea he had no idea what classess he had. Everytime he met a teacher he liked he had to ask if he had their class. It was getting to be quite annoying for him.

"It's the way things work, isn't it?" She said, to his first comment. "I imagine you must hate it though."

She paused, listening to him move back and trying to remember his year. "I think you'd be in year eleven," Elizabeta told him after pausing a moment to count the years. She finished up putting the stuff away and wiped her hands on the front of her apron. She looked up at him, curious as to why he had retreated so far back. "Though I can't say for sure."

Turning towards the blackboard, she picked up a long piece of chalk and started to write down 'Taste Manipulation' in her large, bubbly writing.

"I do," he mumbled something about actually being scared of teachers but hopefully not loud enough for her to hear, it was somewhat embarrasing.

He nodded trying to think, he soon gave up though. He didn't feel like doing maths right now even if it was easy and he did know how to do it, he just wasn't that cared to do it, "Although it doesn't really matter I guess," he pulled his phone out putting a headphone in a single ear so he could still talk, he started to play music quietly into his left ear.

He watched her write, such neat handwriting as aposed to his messy rushed handwriting.

Elizabeta heard him mumble something but could only really catch bits and pieces. And even than, nothing she could make sense of. She paused to turn around and face him, "Of course it matters. It's supposed to matter anyway, since you're a student and all."

Walking to her desk, she flipped open her agenda, which had been lying idly in one corner. She pointed at something, nodded to herself and returned to the board. "And what did you say about trees and being smooched by them? I didn't quite get that one."