Multimedia Monday · 4:22am Oct 22nd, 2019
For your listening pleasure, we have a delayed plug for Pony and Wolf Productions reading of Twilight Sparkle Lays an Egg, and a current plug for my Barcast interview on Twitch (currently under most recent videos).
On another subject, I’m planning on putting my first eight ten chapters of Sweetie Belle - Hogwarts Exchange Student up starting on November 1, since it is the National Novel Writing Month project I’ve hammered on for about two years now. The cover art has been a concern. I’m planning on using the picture below, but if anybody has any better suggestions…?
And shopping in the sneak peek for the curious. Just be careful. Curiosity can be dangerous.
* * *
“Eww!” declared Sweetie Belle, peering into a tub of leeches. “We won’t need any of these, right?”
“No.” Wycliffe poked his glasses, which had begun sliding down his nose the minute they had walked into the shop. “Hogwarts will have all the fresh leeches you need. Mr. Mulpepper is the rational source for materials which they do not supply and do not make it onto the Hogwarts First Year supplies list. You will each need a potion towel—” he placed a stack of three fluffy orange cloths into Sweetie’s hands “ — and a spares kit for your potions classes, an inert stirring rod in case you break one, a dozen empty crystal phials for any potions you create that you wish to keep, although I would not advise it. One bottle of Inkwells Glass Marking Stain so your writing on the outside of the phials does not wear off, one bottle of Inkwells Glass Marking Solvent so the marks can be removed, a package of Inkwells Clear Goggle Wipes so you will be able to see through the gunk that collects on your protective eyewear, an eyedropper and a bottle of Acid Hole Be-Gone for the inevitable splatters that leave holes in your clothes, and two bottles of Sleekeazy’s Hair Potion.”
“Is it mane conditioner?” asked Sweetie, peering at the instructions written in a crabbed script on the side of the bottle.
“It’s not for you.” Wycliffe jabbed a finger at Sparrow, who was trying her best to pick up a flobberworm with a set of heavy tweezers, only to be thwarted by the worm’s thick slime coat. Sparrow’s tangled curls were hanging down around her face, which combined with the humidity of the flobberworm enclosure made her head look like some sort of reddish snarl of vines with a pert little nose sticking out.
“Good point.” Sweetie slipped the bottles into their wicker shopping basket.
* * *
“It seems odd for a shop to just sell one thing,” said Sweetie Belle, looking at the front of Potage’s Cauldron Shop.
“I’m used to stores selling all kinds of things,” said Sparrow.
“We only need one thing here,” cautioned Missus Selkirk, who was starting to look a little ragged from following them around. “A size two pewter cauldron.”
* * *
“Brass scales,” chided Missus Selkirk. “Now help me pick up all the weights that you knocked off— And those weights too. You need to be more careful.”
* * *
“No,” said Missus Selkirk. One sturdy hand reached out and Sparrow by the scruff of her jacket as she darted past. “No! We’re not stopping at Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes to get things for you to get into trouble!”
“But…” Sparrow pointed into the shop. “Sweetie Belle just went in. And she’s got loads more money with her than I do.”
Wycliffe’s eyes went wide. “You told her to buy an assortment of quills before. What if she buys an assortment of— that?” he added, pointing to a whole wall full of Puking Pustules and Vomit Chews.
* * *
“I caught the telescope that Sparrow knocked over!” protested Sweetie Belle.
“And knocked over three more,” said Wycliffe. “It’s a good thing they reacted well to the repairing spell.”
“You break it, you repair it, you buy it anyway,” sighed Sweetie Belle, although she brightened up almost immediately. “I know, I can send the extra one to Twilight! She’s always needing new telescopes. Where do we need to go next?”
“The bookstore,” declared Missus Selkirk.
Things went downhill from there.
Yay!
:unsurewseetie: "Shouldn't they also sell one other thing? Like kitchen knives? Or legal advice?"
I smiled at seeing a Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes Diagon Alley storefront... but then I remembered the reason for the singular possessive and now I'm getting Book 7 flashbacks. At least MLP ended without killing off half the cast.
In any case, looking forward to the full story!
AH YUSSS. I've been waiting for this one!