Hope you've had your caffeine...

[magicministry]

Who : Everyone
When : September 28th, around 7:30AM
Where : Garden - dance floor.
Rating : TBA
Summary : Music starts to play...

Comments

[poisoned_quill]

"Better five minutes naked out here than freezing your bloody bits off overnight," she said, but by then he was already struggling to his feet and hopping inside. The sight might have been amusing, but she didn't really have the strength to laugh.

She paused on her way into the house. Why hadn't she thought of this before?

Rita didn't know much about plants, but there were a few she recognised. The weed, for example, but she also knew that passion fruit wasn't the only one in the garden. Found the plant she'd seen before and yanked a few pieces of fruit off it, following Neville into the house in time to watch him slop coffee on the kitchen table, then ask her to summon the tissue box.

"Wand's in my room," she said, but walked over and picked the box up and popped it onto the table before him.

"I noticed this in the garden while we were treasure hunting," she said, showing him the fruit in her hand. "And completely forgot about it until now." Moving into the kitchen, she found a sharp knife in the kitchen drawer and sliced the fruit down the middle, around the seed, then pulled the fruit off them. "I recognise this one because I saw it a lot when I was younger. A friend of mine used to do this;" using the knife to shell the seeds, then rising them in her hand under the tap. "Grind it up and then use it to cut pixie dust. But it'll be a nice boost to your coffee, as well." She used the flat side of the knife to crush the seeds, grinding until it was powdery.

"Journalist's trick, too," she smiled, walking back to the table and extending her open palm toward him. "Put some of that in your coffee. Great for staying awake until the next deadline, or until the crisis is over."

[nevilletherebel]

"Aha...I'm afraid my mind has been...sluggish since this week started." He appreciated Rita's cleverness though, pleased it had chosen to show itself just now. He reached out and snagged a tissue, blowing his nose, then vanishing the tissue, sinking down further into the chair when he was done.

"Key ingredient in concentration draughts...and the most addictive ingredient in it, too. Can kill you if you use it too often," he groused. "Your maximum concentration level decreases by half with every day's sleep that you miss...and eventually you set yourself on fire, or walk off the edge of a cliff, without realising that you're doing it."

He snuffled his way through the sentence, then went for another tissue, pouring his coffee when he'd blown his nose again. He offered the coffee cup towards her, letting her measure out how much he should have, quite content to try anything to get rid of his cold.

[poisoned_quill]

"Sluggish?" Rita smiled. "Ah, well. Better than me. I'm afraid I've reverted to 'cantankerous bitch' a few times this week."

Merlin, even half-asleep and apparently sick, Neville was an encyclopaedia of plants. Rita gave a tired little laugh and sprinkled some of the powdered guarana seed into his coffee, pouring herself a mug after and adding the rest to her own.

"Don't light any fires, then, or go near any cliffs." She collapsed into the chair opposite his, mug in hands. "I suppose I could blame lack of sleep on some of my more outrageous stories, though, if I really wanted to try."

She reached up and massaged her temples with the fingers of one hand. "Merlin. This is terrible. I can almost hear that damn music in my sleep. It's just... constant. Like living with a dragon egg and wondering what moment it's going to hatch. Or something. My command of simile isn't terribly great this morning."