Closed Discussions of Love

[Stewart Maybank]

A year had passed. His shop had been running for a whole year. It had seemed impossible and certainly at the beginning even lasting a month would've felt impossible. But it wasn't, and the shop was doing okay a year in. They were making a tiny profit, but it was a profit and it was making things easier. The first thing he'd done was pay his assistant more, raising her wage, because really what he'd been paying her hadn't been enough. It was a little late in the day and he'd had an order for love potion and was trying to put it together. "I wonder what this potion would feel like," he said idly as he prepared the next ingredient for adding to the potion. Almost forgetting that Evan was next to him.

 

[Evan Whittaker]

Evan had fallen into a comfortable routine, and she liked to think she and Stewart were friends by now. She just focused on the shop- in turn, focusing on him, as well, and doing her best to keep the both up and going. The shop was doing fairly well, she thought. They were working on some new potions- she was getting pretty good at being an assistant, and was going over a few orders, sitting in the back with him before the shop opened for the day. "Probably like being drugged," She offered. Personally, she didn't believe in love potions. "Nothing real, I think."

 

[Stewart Maybank]

Stewie frowned a little, he didn't say anything immediately, he didn't know love at all, he didn't think he'd ever been in love or experienced love. Not that wasn't familial and strained because it was familial. The man sat back a little and looked at Evan, studied her for a moment. "What does real love feel like then?" he asked, wondering partly if she knew or if like him, she wouldn't be sure. Love and things of that sort had never been what he engaged with, always too busy and completely disinterested in stories about love.

 

[Evan Whittaker]

Evan shrugged, still doing her work. "I'm not sure," She replied honestly. "I'm not exactly a role model for working relationships." She thought back to the two she'd had. "I literally moved countries to escape one. And the other just didn't work, in the end." She shook her head. "Have you never been with anyone?"

 

[Stewart Maybank]

Stewie felt a little bad about asking given her response. He had known a little and should've maybe thought before he asked anything to her. But he hadn't. The man shook his head in response. "No, there was always something else to do," he said in response, he had never experienced love or a relationship, he wasn't sure he'd even ever experienced a crush. "Must be nice though..given that people do it often,"

 

[Evan Whittaker]

Evan shrugged. "I think people put more on it than it really is." She sighed. She'd stopped believing in that sort of thing a long time ago. "They always say that love makes everything right, makes it better. But really all it does is make you vulnerable. And most people are kinda horrible. And when they aren't, there's always something else more important that they'll choose instead." She sighed. "No one sticks around like that unless they want something. They need the money, or the intimacy, or they just don't want to be alone." She stood, giving him a small, almost bitter smile. "Trust me, you haven't missed out on anything." She walked a little bit away, looking over a few of their stores and taking down some notes.

 

[Stewart Maybank]

Stewie leaned back as she began speaking, talking about love and talking about what it did to people. He held his gaze on her for a moment, realising a little more about her. That she was fairly cynical about love and perhaps she didn't have the best opinion of it. Though he wasn't the best opinion of it either. He had never experienced romantic love, and certainly not enough to be able to disprove any of what she said. He knew his own complicated enough feelings about love were just because he didn't know it. Though he liked Evan. "I'll take your word for it," he said, "But if love is actually anything like friendship, like we kinda have, then it might not be that bad,"

 

[Evan Whittaker]

Evan gave a small smile. "Kinda?" She offered, only half paying attention. "I'd hope by now you'd consider us as for sure friends." She teased softly. "Keep talking like that and I'll have to send you to pick up dinner tonight." She was double-checking her work. "But I suppose you've got a bit of a point... if it was more like what we have, then I imagine it could be more worth it." She didn't want to compare, but she knew what she had with Stewie right now was different to what she had with her exes. The first one had been awful, something her parents had pressured her into, and the second... she imagined it had been more of a saviour sort of thing, the way he'd swooped in and protected her in a bad situation. It hadn't been enough to make the relationship last, that was for sure.

 

[Stewart Maybank]

Stewie blinked a little. Were they friends? He had said it was sort of like that, but hadn't actually realised that yes indeed they could very well be friends. THat they were probably friends. They did also live together and though he knew they didn't hang out as maybe friends might, it wasn't like he had a lot of friends to compare this to. "I haven't really had many friends," he said, a bit of a lie, since he hadn't had a single friend besides maybe his brothers, and they were not like that. "Are we friends?" he asked, clearly needing to be explicitly told by her.

 

[Evan Whittaker]

Evan paused in her work, turning to Stewie and smiling softly. "Of course, Stewie. We're friends." She tried to reassure him. She set her paperwork down and moved to sit next to him. "Here's a thought. Why don't we mix up an antidote for that? And we can take turns trying it. Just to see what its like?" She offered, thinking that might help to satisfy his curiousity.

 

[Stewart Maybank]

Stewie shook his head lightly, though it didn't seem like that bad an idea, he was also sure it wasn't a good idea. "Love potions are dangerous," he said softly. "I think it would be a mistake to experiment with them," he shrugged with a little smile. He didn't think it was an unfair suggestion, but more that the risks involved in that sort of thing wouldn't be worth it. "Though, in the back of the office, there's a love potion book, it might describe the effects?" It wouldn't be the same as feeling them, but it would tell them.

 

[Evan Whittaker]

Evan considered his answer, before nodding. "You do have a good point," She agreed, though she frowned. "That does make me wonder, though... is it really a good idea to sell it, then?" She looked to the potion he was making. "Something like this... it almost feels like it could be so easily misused." She looked to Stewie for guidance. "Are you sure no one will get hurt?"

 

[Stewart Maybank]

Stewie gave a little shrug, morally speaking he knew that there were potions he really ought to not sell, but they couldn't not sell certain things if they wanted to stay in business. "Well, we need to stay in business," he said with a little shrug. "But, we could phase it out?" he offered, not wanting her to feel uncomfortable with what they were making, and wanting too, like her to ensure no one got hurt from a potion he had made.

 

[Evan Whittaker]

Evan considered his words, before nodding slowly. "Sure, alright, I can live with that," She agreed. "Maybe just let some sort of authority know when we sell and to who?" She mused, thinking that would help a bit in the 'keep it safe' aspect of things. She moved to sit with him again. "Or would that be overstepping?"

 

[Stewart Maybank]

Stewie considered what she said before giving a little shrug. "Maybe we just keep a note of who we sell it to, require them to give us ID before they do so," he countered, not sure it would be great if they were known as the potion shop which sold people out, but they could just have better protections on it if something then did happen.

 

[Evan Whittaker]

Evan hummed, considering. "That could work... a lot of people won't use it for bad things if they think they can be traced," She offered, hoping that didn't seem too optimistic. She laughed lightly, shaking her head and giving Stewie a shy smile. "Sorry, I know it's a silly thing to get caught up on... I just can't help but think that my ex husband would have resorted to a potion like that if he'd found out before I was gone that I was leaving."

 

[Stewart Maybank]

Stewie nodded in agreement, they'd be able to claim some intervention from the aurors, or something else if people had issues with it, and he knew there would be many ways in which people could still use it for bad purposes, but he did get the impression that this was a matter which was dear to Evan. He looked away as she spoke, nodding, but unsure of if he should say anything about it. "Restricted love potion, that we can do," he agreed.

 

[Evan Whittaker]

Evan relaxed a little and moved to cross the room for her paperwork, pausing to squeeze Stewie's shoulder. "Thank you," She murmured, continuing about her work. She liked it here with Stewie. The work gave her purpose, he was kind and gentle- if not a bit absent minded and erratic. She hummed softly to her self. Finishing up her work, she moved and set the pages down beside him. "Here you are. All handled."

 

[Stewart Maybank]

Stewie had zero'ed on her hand on his shoulder, and the squeeze that she put there. He could spot her moving away from him, and moving to finish the work. He just kept staring at her, staring as she hummed to herself. It was an odd feeling in his chest as he watched her. Her being finished startled him, he looked away quickly and then back up after. "Thanks, thanks," he said. "erm..do you sing a lot?"

 

[Evan Whittaker]

Evan smiled easily at Stewie. "Just to myself, mostly. I don't like silence," She tucked her hair back. "I'm going to head out and go get some dinner. Any requests?" She asked, picking up her jacket and slipping it on, straightening it and pulling out the little notebook she kept in her pocket. She flipped it open, ready to write down his order.

 

[Stewart Maybank]

Stewie could figure that she was the sort of person to not enjoy silence. He didn't mind it really, but he could get used to the little hum of noise that she brought. He shook his head to begin with before nodding to the question. "No, just anything," he said, trying to play off that he felt weirdly flustered around her in that moment.

 

[Evan Whittaker]

Evan nodded, reaching out with the intention to squeeze his shoulder again. "Sure thing," She agreed, checking her jacket to make sure she had everything. "I should be back in about forty-five minutes, do you think you'll be done by then?" She asked, looking back to Stewie with an easy smile.

 

[Stewart Maybank]

Stewie couldn't help the little redness of his cheeks as she touched his shoulder again. He looked away from her, unable to hold her gaze and just nodded. "Yeah," he said, thinking that in theory he would be done by then. Not that his brain seemed to want to continue, it was just a little frozen.

 

[Evan Whittaker]

Evan nodded, and headed for the door, just focusing on what needed to be done right then. "Alright, Stewie, I'll be back in a bit, meet you upstairs," She told him. She tried to just focus on what to get for dinner that night, feeling relaxed, content. She was glad she'd taken this chance. She was comfortable with her life, with herself. She felt fulfilled, and she'd found a good friend in Stewie. She smiled softly at the thought. She was glad to have him.