Investigations

[therealpm]

*It has taken several days for Peter to finish cleaning up- both after the werewolf and John's children, but at last all of the above ground rooms are clean and tidy.  The bedlinen, musty after two months in a closet, has all been washed and dried.  Suits have been aired and mothballs replaced.  The windows have been wiped down- were it summer they would sparkle but today has been unrelentingly grey.

Peter settles into the sofa, cup of tea in hand and appreciates the view.  The house still feels empty, but not quite so desolate.  He sips th steaming brew and ponders the last of today' chores: the cellar.  He has a vague memory of some potion or other going awry before he left and doubts the mess has been improved by two months' absence.  Still.  It needs to be done.

He finishes his tea, squares his shoulders and picks up the bucket of industrial-strength cleaning products.*

Once more into the breach.

Comments

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

Text from 078## ######

Peter,

Are you busy? I would be most grateful for some help on the media managing front if you can spare the time to come round.

-John

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

*Peter pauses in scrubbing out the (ruined) cauldron and strips off his marigold. He frowns as he reads the text- now is really not the time.*

Text from 07### ######

John,

yes, I am. Sort it out yourself.

-Peter

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

Text from 078## ######

Peter,

...Please?

-John

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

*Peter scowls as his phone buzzes this time, and he has to go through the whole rigmarole of removing gloves again.*

Text from 07### ######

John,

I have what is potentially and extremely hazardous potion to dispose of. I am busy. Clear up your own media messes.

-Peter

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

Text from 078## ######

Peter,

I'll be round to help in a moment!

-John

*Before Peter can reply, John walks through Peter's fireplace.*

Peter? Are you down in the lab?

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

*Peter's got one glove off by the time he hears the fire roar in the hearth. He considers banging his head on the work surface, but there's a puddle of something organic and viscous on there which he hasn't cleaned up yet and which looks like it'd stick to his hair. He calls up.*

Yes. Don't touch anything.

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

*John goes to the lab, standing awkwardly in the doorway.*

What can I do to help?

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

*Peter, who has just put the dust mask back on over his nose and mouth, simply glares at John and makes a little shooing motion with one hand. He's cross-checked some samples of what remains of the potion with The Machine, and combined with his sketch of the original recipe, The Machine has been able to reconstruct not only what might have gone wrong, but the likely effects of both the liquid and gaseous phase of the potion would have, were it consumed.

The notion that he may have been responsible for causing his own loss of freedom and everything else the sudden onset of lycanthropy entailed does not sit well with Peter. He gives the broken cauldron an extra hard scrub, watching bits of crusted brew swirl down the drain into a chemical bath for later disposal. Normally he wouldn't bother, but the research council's guidelines on disposal of hazardous magical waste are stringent and after the experience with DEFRA, Peter doesn't want another potentially hostile run-in with the magical authorities ever again.*

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

*John rolls his eyes. It's clear Peter wants him out of way while he cleans up. Instead of bothering him for much longer, John goes and puts the kettle on to make tea for the two of them.*

*On the side in the kitchen is a pile of papers - printouts of some sort - with Peter's scribbles all over the pages. The top sheet is different, however. It seems to be a recipe of some sort. Curious, John picks it up as the kettle starts to boil. He's never been particularly good at potions, but even he recognizes some of the more common ingredients.*

Hmmm...

*From what little of his potions classes he can remember, all the ingredients he recognizes seem to be an aid to some sort of transfiguration solution. Peter's words at the top of the page catch his eye.*

"Possible cause"? Cause of what?

*There are reference notations - "see readout1 p20" and so on - but John doesn't go looking for the information. Instead, he returns the sheet to the top of the pile.*

Cause of what?

*The kettle clicks off, and John makes the tea, all the while turning the question over in his mind. He calls down to Peter.*

Peter, tea's done! Do you want it up here or shall I bring it down to you?

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

*Peter huffs and throws the scrubber into the cauldron in disgust. Some of the stuff is burnt on, and no about of scrubbing seems to shift it. He pours boiling water onto the crock, strips off the gloves and tugs down the fume hood to prevent any vapour making its way into the room and building up whilst he's away. He calls up.*

No eating or drinking in the laboratory!

...honestly. No wonder he nearly failed every year.

*He slams the door shut behind him and makes his way upstairs.*

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

*John is sitting at the kitchen table with his tea when Peter arrives.*

How goes the clean up? What is it you're sorting out, come to think of it?

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

*Peter washes both arms to the elbow and his face in the kitchen sink before dropping into a chair and pulling a cup of tea towards him.*

Just the remnents of a failed experiment.

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

*John sips at his tea, trying to work out how best to word his thoughts.*

Have you yet figured out what caused this uncharacteristic failure on your part?

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

Hmph.

Faulty heatplate.

*He stares into his cup, unwilling to pursue the subject further.*

I assume you haven't got round to hiring a better press officer.

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

I have been rather busy, you know, trying to reform Parliament and finding Sally a good lawyer. I haven't had time to search for a new media manager.

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

....what's she done now?

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

Something on twitter, apparently. Someone is looking at suing her libel, or so she says. No idea when or indeed if it will come to that, but it's best to be prepared.

...you wouldn't happen to know anyone particularly talented in that area of law, would you?

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

No. Try asking Ian Hislop.

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

Sound advice, as always, Peter.

*John takes a sip from his tea*

So what was this experiment then? A transfiguration potion of some description?

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

*How did he...

Peter narrows his eyes.*

Potentially, yes. It is, of course, as yet untested.

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

Another potential entry for the journals or was this one strictly a private endeavour?

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

All experiments are potential topics for a paper... until they fail, anyway.

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

*John laughs*

So no side effects from the failed potion? Other than the need for a new cauldron and ingredients, of course.

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

*...what do you know?*

No proven side effects, no. Mind you, I didn't drink the thing. It was clearly a failure.

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

If not proven, then perhaps suspected side effects?

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

Speculating about possible side effects without any data is useless at best, liable to spark a public panic at worst. Either way it is grossly irresponsible.

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

No data at all? Surely you've had The Machine run some diagnostics to ensure there's nothing still harmful in the house?

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

...the rements of the potion are two months old. Any diagnostics will be speculative- based primarily on a time reversed component decay model, a model which is very sensitive to certain input parameters and the results of which should be interpreted with extreme caution.

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

Peter, let me ask you a very simple question:

Did I put my children in danger by bringing them here to visit you?

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

No.

*He half shrugs and takes another gulp of tea at John's sceptical look.*

I would hardly build a laboratory under my house without measures to ensure any experiments did not... spill over, would I? You set up the wards to keep them in the living room and as far as I'm aware, not even Oliver can break through those yet. Not undetected, anyway.

[bamfbercow.livejournal.com]

I'd still feel more comfortable if The Machine gave them a once-over just to be sure.

With regard to the clean up operation - is there anything I can do to help, other than continue to make tea when needed?

[therealpm.livejournal.com]

Fine. I'm sure Freddie's hankering to see her again anyway.

*He drains the last of tea before it cools to being undrinkable.*

No.

*He stands up, grabs the papers off the side and folds them in half, hiding even the top sheet, then folds them over again so that they can be tucked into a pocket.*

Arrange a time for the children to visit. I have a lab to clear.