Closed Made a mess

[Kaelan Borisyuk]

Kaelan Borisyuk was getting used to his new job. It was certainly different. Just a few weeks in and he had yet to really do anything too bad. So, he was in a potions lab on the floor that he worked on, and was mixing some different potions ahead of schedule. He needed to make sure to have plenty of antidotes for different poisons - which were more than even he knew. The only bad thing was that Kaelan was not the best in potions. That was Kieran's specialty, and then Killian that followed. Kaelan did not exactly expect to humiliate himself on the job, but his hand slipped with too much of an ingredient, and his cauldron exploded. He fell backward from the force, but he wasn't injured, thankfully. Only his pride. He waved some of the smoke away, and looked around to see what looked like something from a Ghostbuster's movie. Green goop everywhere. Well, there went that antidote. He brought a knee to his chest to put his elbow on it, and tapped the side of his head.

How did that happen? Which ingredient? Great. At least it was late in the evening, so it wasn't like he would get in too much trouble for messing something up. As long as he got the lab cleaned up before he left. His green eyes looked up to see some of the goop, slowly falling to the floor. Welp, if anyone came in, they would likely get slimed, that was for certain.​

 

[Arvel Ayers]

Work, work, work - these days, Arvel never did anything else. In some ways, he enjoyed the routine; it got him out of the house every day, paid his bills, and provided him some morbid entertainment in the form of guessing which end all the fluid came out of. But it was exhausting. By the time he got home, he was too tired to do anything except shower and go to bed. How did everybody do it? How did they keep themselves from going insane?

The laundry room and the potions lab were on the same floor, separated only by a closet. Often while Arvel folded sheets he could distantly hear the rattle of a stirring spoon against a cauldron, a sound that took him back to school, or detect a faint acidic scent commingling with the fresh linen. Today, the tang of acid was stronger than usual, and as Arvel worked he envisaged a faceless stranger on the opposite side of the closet, preoccupied in his or her own menial task, oblivious to his proximity.

Suddenly, there was a sharp explosion, followed by the sound of something heavy falling. Then there was silence.

Not my problem, Arvel told himself, and for a moment he resumed folding. But as the silence stretched on, his curiosity grew until it beckoned him down the corridor to the laboratory. He paused briefly by the closed door, then nudged it open and went inside.

Glop. Something thick and wet landed in his hair. He raised a hand automatically to investigate and drew it away with viscid green webbing between his fingers. The same substance, whatever it was, clung in various stages of descent to the ceiling, walls, and laboratory shelves; and amidst the chaos, with his back to a cabinet, was a man of such colossal stature that even sitting on the floor he was as tall as Arvel. All of this made for such a remarkable scene that it was several seconds before he found his voice. "What the hell happened in here?"

 

[Kaelan Borisyuk]

Kaelan definitely was not expecting someone to hear his mess, let alone come and investigate. So, when the door opened, his green eyes landed on the man that walked in, and not even seconds later, some of the goop landed right on the lad's head. Kaelan covered his mouth to try to keep from laughing too hard at the sight. It was one that he would remember, that was for certain. He looked around the lab as the man asked what happened. "Yeah, I'd like to know that too," Kaelan mused as he watched more rain down in various parts of the lab. His accent was still heavy with his Russian accent. He worked hard to be fluent in English, but sometimes, even he struggled. Kaelan slowly stood to his feet, and took out his wand. "I tried to make an antidote and something went amiss. I am normally a pro at this, so this is a personal offense to my pride." Kaelan waved his wand to clean up the mess, vanishing all traces of what happened. At least the place was clean. Last thing he wanted was someone to clean up after his own mess. "Didn't think anyone else would be working late, but this is a hospital, so what was I thinking..." Kaelan took off the robes that healer's wore so that he was in his normal clothes. "I'm Kaelan Borisyuk. I'm one of the newer healers around here."​

 

[Arvel Ayers]

Even Arvel, who was usually sensitive to embarrassment, could see the funny side of it all and quirked a smile. He watched as the part-giant got to his feet, a motion that made vials tremble in their racks, and cleaned up the laboratory with a wave of his wand. "It happens," said Arvel, glancing around. There were upsides to being a cleaner. Nobody relied on him to brew potions or save lives. He could never have coped with such crushing responsibility, and he often wondered how people like Kaelan could. "I'm Arvel. I'm a cleaner." He gestured to the walls, which were cleaner now than they'd been in months. "Not bad. I'll probably take the credit for that, if you don't mind."

 

[Kaelan Borisyuk]

Kaelan listened as the lad mentioned his name, and how he was a cleaner. So, he just did the other guy's job? "If I overstepped just now, let me know because I can always make your job interesting." Kaelan could possibly make things worse anytime he was working. He stepped over to the cauldron and made sure the flame was turned off, which he had to flip it himself. "You'll take credit for this?" He motioned at the walls and such, "Won't people expect more from you if that were the case? Or, we can just keep quiet and see if they notice anything." They being any of the higherups that might venture in here. "Out of all of the positions here, why a cleaner? A wave of a wand and job's done," Kaelan asked as he adjusted the collar of his shirt, with the other hand on his hip.​

 

[Arvel Ayers]

"It's quite interesting already," Arvel replied, picking up and empty vial to play with. He got to meet all sorts, for a start. But he didn't have an answer for Kaelan's next question that wouldn't make him sound sad. The truth was, nobody paid close attention to Arvel. As long as the hospital was clean and tidy, the healers ignored him, and he got paid. "Someone's got to do it," he said, with a shrug. "Folding sheets. Changing toilet rolls. The glamorous stuff. I could ask the same. Why a healer? Stressful, long hours, talking to people... Sounds like a nightmare."

 

[Kaelan Borisyuk]

Kaelan gave the lad a look, wondering how his job could be interesting - but then again, seeing someone like him in a mess... Kaelan knew that he had a point. Someone had to do it. "I suppose so. Help keep this place running because without all that, we'd have our a**es handed to us every day." Kaelan didn't think everyone else would have that sort of opinion, but when asked about his job, Kaelan paused. He did not want to really say the real reason why he was here. He reached around and scratched the back of his neck, chuckling, "Let's just say, I'm atoning for my sins. But I'm a people person. I smile and it just makes it easier to handle." Kaelan's vanity started to show but he looked at the time. "Since I made the mess and had a bit cover your hair, let's cut and get some drinks. If you say no, I can always carry you over my shoulder." He smirked as he cracked his knuckles, as if he would make good on his word.​