Even Eat the Dishes

[Vera Rose]

Vera wasn't Quincey Honeyduke's mother but, Merlin, at times did she feel like she was! Huffing and putting more effort into her work so she wouldn't be tempted to scold him like she very much wanted to, she scrubbed away the sticky burnt sugar that was splattered on the walls of the shop's kitchen. It wasn't that it had been such an explosion, but that it had been the third explosion in the kitchen in a fortnight and Vera's wrists were beginning to hurt.

"You know, next time, I'm going to let you clean this up by yourself. Maybe then you'll never do it again," she commented wistfully, blowing some hair out of her eyes. She'd picked a fine day to come to work looking nice, with her hair loose and not frizzy. It was true that Quin was "helping" her clean, but candy-making was his forte, and he was a man, making it highly unlikely that he'd ever used a wet rag to clean something in his life before Vera had insisted it of him the first time he'd made a huge mess of the kitchen. (And there had been many times after.)

Hell, she wasn't even really mad at him, but her irritation at everything and anything was just boiling over into this situation. He didn't mean to make more work for her when he did, now did he? Internally counting to ten, Vera sighed and took deep breath, nearly choking on the sweet scent of the candy she was scrubbing off the walls. "What were you working on, anyways? Smells like strawberries."

for quincey - 265 words - notes
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[Quincey Honeyduke]

April Challenge words: folderol, higgledy-piggledy, lackadaisically, malarkey, kerfuffle

To say that Quin took advantage of Vera was a vast understatement. Like the bafoon that he was always getting up to some kind of folderol or another, but he meant it in good fun and he also unfortunately knew she didn't mind, not really, despite her constant facade of exasperation. In truth, Quin valued her as his saving grace, because otherwise, he'd be even more of a scatterbrain that anyone could admit to being.

He'd been throwing things all together in his usual higgledy-piggledy manner, thinking things would go well together with no real goal in mind. This was mostly how he worked lackadaisically throwing things into pots and mixing into a casual malarky. Unfortunately he'd done something wrong and the kerfuffle that followed resulted in an explosion all over himself and the walls.

"Vera! A moment please!" He called as he wiped the sugary mixture from his face, cleaning himself up with a charm that he's mastered long ago, because he got lots of practice. "I made a mess." He admitted when she appeared. He gave her an apologetic smile, like a child caught sneaking a treat from the cupboard, but he sincerely hope she was just used to it by now. "I love youuuuuu." He sang to her, grabbing a towel from the drawer and started mopping up blotches of this and that as best he could. He really was the world's biggest scatter brain.

"Dunno, just playing around, I did put strawberry in there somewhere." He doubted that was what had caused the explosion, but it did smell very strawberry-esqu and tasted pretty wonderful.

  

[Vera Rose]

OOC: Using for April challenge. Words were cantankerous and festooned.

She smirked as he started proclaiming his love for her in song, continuing to scrub away the concoction. Had it bonded to the wall, or was it just her imagination? Vera was putting effort both into breathing through her mouth and remove the mess and her arm was beginning to throb.

Sometimes she just thought that Quincey hid behind the childish facade for some reason or another. Today was just not one of those times. Quin was a manchild, and Vera was going to have to accept that. She loved him for it. Even though it meant that he was just about as cautious in the kitchen as a banshee at the opera. "Somewhere in there? What else is in this goop? Cement?[/b]"

Vera chuckled and rolled here eyes, dropping the rag. Despite her tendency to prefer manual labor versus magical labor, this mess was going to require some wandwork. As Quin's messes usually did. She found her wand in the pocket it was always in, tucked neatly into her skirts, and cast a heating charm to melt the cantankerous sugar off the walls. The girl could honestly say she'd used every charm she could to clean candy off the ceiling, walls, and floors of the shop, and found that creativity usually worked the best. It was a good thing that creativity was something her employer had in leaps and bounds, and that he used it at times to help her figure out just what would remove the splatters of gooey, hardening candy that festooned the kitchen.

for quincey - 257 words - sorry for suckiness
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[Quincey Honeyduke]

April Challenge Words : effluvium, doohickey, gobbledygook, flagitious

Quin grinned like a child when Vera asked if there was cement in his latest mixture. "You know how sugar likes to stick to things." He grinned sheepishly and shrugged, stepping back when she took out her wand. He knew he was in trouble when she decided to clean via magic. That meant he'd made a real mess and she wasn't in the mood to humor him. "I wanted it to have a caramel-esque consistency, clearly I didn't quite get there." Failure in Quin's book was never really an option, nor did it really happen. Even if he didn't create exactly what he meant to (though he very rarely had a clear goal in mind) whatever came of it more often than not was useful somehow.

"At least it smelled good, not effluvium. I should really invent some kind of doohickey specifically made for scraping sugar from the walls. I could be a millionaire." He joked. Quin was no good at inventing anything other than sweets, so that was unlikely but it was fun to think about.

"Alright, my gobbledygook is cleaned up, thank you m'dear." He bowed to Vera and came up with flagitious sort of smile. "You are just lovely, have I ever told you that? You should be making some many very happy." Quin moved across the kitchen to lay a smacker of a kiss on her cheek. "Fortunately you're all mine for now. What's on the agenda for today? No more messes, I promise." He crossed his fingers over his heart.

  

[Vera Rose]

OOC: Using for April Challenge. Words were ragamuffin, malarkey, and obsequious.

A few charms was all that the mess warranted, thank Merlin, and soon the kitchen was becoming to look more like it's ragamuffin-self. It was about time for the shop's spring cleaning and inventory, but Vera did not even want to begin with that mess. At least she knew she could count on Quin distracting her with his obsequiousness and antics.

"Yeah, this stuff made its way past caramel and into the gelatinous rock category.[/b]" she commented under her breath. It probably even tasted good, too; Quin had a way of making even the most odd things mouthwatering. Take the chocolate frogs, for example. Vera was ruined forever for normal candy, however, because only the concoctions sold at Honeyduke's soothed her sweet tooth. She blamed Quincey.

She snorted at his remark about a sugar-scraping invention, giving him a reproachful glance. While it would make her life easier, it would also mean prototypes and experiments and things that would not make spring cleaning any more feasible a concept. Her disapproval quickly turned into affection, as he bowed and thanked her.

"Oh, please, Quin. You're going to make me big-headed with that malarkey.[/b]" Vera rolled her eyes, giving him a peck on the cheek in return. He may have been adorable and endearing, but she couldn't think of him in a romantic way for long without remembering he was the man who actually pranced around the shop after hours humming to himself. "And as for the agenda, I could use your help with starting inventory, or spring cleaning. Both things I'm sure you will enjoy as much as I do.[/b]" she drawled with a smirk, knowing all the reasons why Quin typically left the more boring technical side of business to her, waiting for the impending but Veraaaaa that was his usual response.

for quincey - 301 words - i can't
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[Quincey Honeyduke]

April Challenge Words : comeuppance, farrago, hoodwink, perspicacious, whirligig

"But Veraaaaa," He whined, only because he knew she was expecting it. Honestly Quin hated both of those things, but he hated cleaning above all. Inventory wasn't all that bad. He was pretty good with numbers and considering he made most of the stock himself, Quin figured that was the easier of the tasks, however, he would leave it up to Vera which she wanted to do, simply because she'd bailed his ass out one mess already today, he should be kind. She would make sure he got his comeuppance of this he was sure.

"I suppooooooose we could do those, which would you like to do m'dear?" He asked, leaning back on the wooden island in the middle of the kitchen that served as his all purpose, catch-all for just about everything Quin could throw on there. Usually it was a farrago of random things, both candy-related and not. Most of the time it was where he threw and lost his keys to the store.

There was no point in trying to hoodwink Vera into letting him do what he wanted, she was awfully perspicacious, she knew how to read him and would in the end either give in, or make him feel guilty for acting like a child. Fortunately, most of the time she didn't seem to mind having an over-grown child for a boss. Thank goodness for small miracles. He knew not everybody could put up with his continuous state of being in a bit of a whirligig, here and there, doing five things at once, constantly moving and making noise. No he would drive most people bat shit crazy, so thank Merlin for Vera and her endless patience.