The Alchemist Divided

It’s always good to acquaint yourself with the local apothecary and you must admit the curiosity is just too much to bear.

This is probably the first time you’ve ever seen a dual purpose building styled this way, it’s almost like a representation of the concept of Yin and Yang.

Pushing open the door centered on the border between the individual halves of the building.

A little bell above the door chimes as you step inside, immediately greeted by further division on its interior, it’s like a line has been drawn down the center of the store.

To the right is rows of bottles, tins and jars containing a variety of multicolored liquid, strange creams and perfumes, precisely what you’d expect from an apothecary.

And to its credit, there IS some decorative material adorning the otherwise blank and colorless walls, though it primarily consists of posters detailing the various ways that alchemical substances effect the mortal body.

And as expected the left side is as large a departure from the professional right side as you can get, the shelves are stocked with wicker baskets holding candies of all shapes and sizes, the counter holding various pastries and baked goods.

It’s walls are painted in bright, cheerful pastel colors and adorned with shelves that hold little toys and knickknacks, though while not for sale seem to have been frequently used.

Strangely enough, for it being the only alchemist available in town, the store is barren, not a customer in sight, aside from yourself of course.

You can’t imagine that the only alchemist in a town surrounding the most prestigious magic academy in existence would be subpar in quality.

It’s not long after your cursory glance at both sides that you are set upon by its respective proprietors, a pair of half elves that could pass for twins had they not seemingly tried to look as differently from each other as possible.

The young half elf to your right carries a prim and proper air about her, from the half glasses that a perched upon the bridge of her nose, hair coiled tightly in a bun a practical green dress, a simple pair of heels, topped off by a black apron, that appears spotless.

The girl to the left is far from ordinary, her hair is dyed nearly a dozen different colors and frames her face in frizzy, unkempt bunches.

She wears clothes you’d more likely find on a gnome, trousers, blouse and pea coat, all dyed with exaggerated pink and purple colors.

The girl to the left is the first to speak, smiling wide as she gleefully gestures to her side of the store.

“Welcome friend! I can spot a woman of taste, a mile off! Mayhaps I can interest you in one of my alchemical cupcakes? Freshly baked!”

“Franny, stop pestering the poor girl, she doesn’t want your poison, she came here to solve a problem and she won’t do it by packing on weight” the girl to the right says, narrowing her eyes at her sister.

This of course causes the oddly dressed girl to become unglued, she whips her head around at her sister, the friendly, upbeat tone she had addressed you with, now entirely gone.

“Well at least it’s ORIGINAL! You just keep churning out the same old recipes dad used to make, except worse!” She shouts.

This seems to have struck a nerve in the girl on the right as her cheeks flush, she takes a sharp inhale through her nose as her nostrils flare, though you can see she wants to engage in the screaming match, she finds it in herself to keep her voice at a reasonable octave.

“Giving all your customers diabetes isn’t original, it’s the mark of a shoddy alchemist who hides her inadequacies under sugar and fat” she says, her voice cold, before she affixes you with a slightly warmer look.

“If you want something of substance, come see me, I’m positive we can find something to solve nigh any problem you have” And with that she turns around and marches back to her side of the store.

The girl to the left, wanting to have the last word, shouts in a rather childish manner “DIABETES ISNT REAL!” Which is rather interesting because you could have sworn a few from your village had it.

Having cooled down a slight amount, she turns to you, brushing a few messy locks out of her face.

“Hey, sorry about that… if you need something that won’t make you wanna off yourself, check out what I got” she says before heading back to her side, leaving you alone, standing on the no mans land between the not-so-cold war between these two women.

Even from here you can see that both sides have various items of interest though it’s clear that both sides follows their own trend of potion craft.

You could also try to talk to one of them, sure you’re a stranger but sometimes that’s exactly the person you need to talk about these things.

Though of course, if you don’t have the money or the patience to listen to their bickering, you doubt they’ll hold it against you if you turn on your heels and walk out.