Jinx had an idea, a wonderful idea. Such a wonderful idea she had closed shop for a few days to begin testing it. Her employees were less convinced.
"A new treat? Using one of those plants you got, you don't mean the ones that almost took over the basement do you?"
"Veda my darling that is exactly what I mean."
Several disbelieving noises followed that announcement.
"You kept those?! I thought you got rid of them." Vincent blurted
"When did I say that?" Jinx asked, confused.
"Well you didn't but I would have thought you would have gotten rid of them once you realize what they could do. It's what any sane person would do!"
"There's the problem you think I'm sane."
"I- what?"
"Vincent sweetie I would have never figured out half of the things I make without being a little insane. Can't tell you how many times a new recipe quite literally blew up in my face."
"Uhhhh…" Vincent started speechless. As were the rest of her employees as they were staring at her in disbelief.
"Right then, time to get to work." Jinx chirped, ignoring the concerned looks of her employees.
She made her way down the spiraling staircase as the lights dimmed and odd trinkets fluttered through the air. She ignored the whistling and hushed voices whispering in her ear descending farther down the staircase and into the dark. She swatted a whispering wisp away from her ear as it grew increasingly louder and therefore more annoying. She should probably call pest control to look into it.
She reached the level she used to quarantine troublesome plants and entered the first room. Passing the first few rooms and entering the one that held the void fern and void fungus. The fern wasn't that much of a problem so far, it had been the fungus causing the most problems. She placed the fern here as a precaution. She used some gloves to collect some of each before leaving to perform various tests. She should be able to learn the properties of the plant that way. Then she could theories how to apply it.
She began with a few simple tests. Testing to see how well the leaves stood up to light and how they reacted when placed in different environments. She also tested how they worked when submerged in water and some other liquids. From which she was able to discover that they could survive freezing temperatures that would kill most animals in minutes but would wilt in anything above ten degrees celsius. Meaning it could be used in ice cream but not much else
She found that the fern did have a bit of magic to it. When testing it in different environments open and closed she discovered that there was a bit too much fern in one of the small containers then what psychics would allow. She then placed the plant into a hot environment, finding that when the plant shriveled and died it didn't lose any mass.
The fungus on the other hand was a bit more of a mystery when placed in hot temperatures it would stop growing all together, before slowly dying. When placed in a liquid that would harden it eventually grew too large and cracked the crystal once it had cooled.
Since she had figured out the different properties of the fungus and fern it was about time to test them out on different animals to see if they were lethal. Taking a few more samples of each plant she ascended the staircase and excitedly went to the back of the shop. She then called over her employees seeing as she could use them for the next part.
"Right now that you're all here I will brief you on what you will be doing for the next while." Jinx started as she was about to feed the various animals in the nearby pen some mystery fungus. "I'm going to feed these three pigs," She pointed to three pigs of various shapes and colors, one had a horn growing on its head, "And you will be looking over them to notice any changes they go through, emotion, physical, or otherwise."
Vincent raised his hand.
"Yes Vincent, what do you need?"
"Is this… ethical?"
"Vincent, if this was ethical we wouldn't have half the amount of sweets that we do today, I've had more than one pig die horribly." Jinx said as Vincent became more horrified and Valerie wistled, "Your job is to simply observe, notice any changes and record how long they last."
Vincent brows furrowed slightly and his lips tugged into a frown but he didn't say anything. Valerie on the other hand had her cheeks puffed out slightly as she glanced down at the floor rocking side to side on her toes, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Seeing as this fungus really likes to grow, three thinks are likely to happen: one the pigs will grow, two they will explode, and three--"
Jinx was cut off by a concerned, "I'm sorry they'll WHAT?!" from Veda. Vincent's face paled significantly and his eyes widened. Jinx would be surprised if he passed out. Valerie's eyes bulged as well as she stared wild eyed at Jinx.
"Only on like a ⅓ chance. You'll be fine, just don't stand too close." Jinx replied wondering if she would still have employees tomorrow.
Some exasperated noises followed her words but Jinx paid them no mind, instead opting to feed the pigs in front of her a small piece of the fungus. She offered each a small piece in her hand and once they ate them she immediately backed away hopping the fence behind her. Her employees watched with bated breath horror still plastered to each other's faces. They began to relax after a few seconds of waiting once nothing happened.
That of course ended seconds later when the pigs began to swell and grow in confusion and fear as they tried to run around the pen. Vincent let out a short scream before dropping to the ground with a thod. Valerie's entire face was white and her jaw hangs open, she was frozen in her spot and looked ready to faint like Vincent did, staring at the growing pigs. Veda on the other hand was handling the entire situation a bit better. She was slightly paler than usual but she didn't look ready to faint quite yet.
The pigs growth began to reduce drastically a few seconds later, then stopped. Nodding to herself Jinx faced her employees, "Right, just observe them and tell me whether any more changes accrue, for how long, and when, here's a timer, have fun." She placed a phone with a timer counting up into Veda hands, patted her on the shoulder and then left.
Veda stood shell shocked as she watched the pig grow… grow… She was sure it was going to explode yet she couldn't look away. Her blood ran cold and her breath got caught in her throat for a moment. She barely registered the thud besides her and the fact the pig had stopped growing. She definitely didn't register that Jinx had (probably) placed a timer in her hands. As she shook herself out of the state of shock she looked around and noticed a wobbly Valerie beside her and the passed out form of Vincent on the ground. His eyes began to blink open again, his brows furrowed in confusion as he tried to make sense of the situation.
"I should get hazard pay for this."
Should she turn in her two week notice?
Jinx rummaged through the various viles of liquids she held on a shelf. Spotting on the vile she wanted on the top shelf she grinned wickedly before jumping up and snatching it. On it was the label: coffee experiment vile. With luck she would be able to use this to engineer new coffee beans.
She began performing some tests on it. Combining the liquid with other liquids, extracting part of the liquid to get the desired effect, and so on. It had taken a few hours but eventually Jinx was able to make something that had the same effect of coffee, and wasn't as bitter. It wasn't as strong as normal coffee and had a creamy liquid consistency. It had potential. Seeing as she had made a breakthrough with it she placed her materials back and preserved her experiment.
She had cleaned up her workspace. Kinnda. She glanced over once more, noticing the test tubes and pipettes that were still covering the desk. Shrugging she turned and left the area heading up the staircase once more to check on how her employees were doing with the pigs.
She opened the back door that led to the pens. There she saw her three employees sitting on the ground. Veda had her legs crossed and held her chin up with her hand lazily gazing at the pigs which had shrunk considerably since Jinx left. Valerie laid on the ground with her hands on her chest looking up at the sky. Vincent sat against a nearby wall playing on his phone.
Jinx cut into the silence and comfortable atmosphere ruthlessly, "I see things have changed."
Vincent snapped his head up from his phone, Valerie turned her head to look up at Jinx and Veda turned to face her. Vincent looked pale again and like he was going to throw up his hands flew to cover his mouth at the sight of her.
"Rude, I know I'm not the prettiest but you don't have to throw up at the sight of me."
"I think he was just traumatized." Valerie said as she looked over at Vincent
"He'll get over it." Jinx said, waving them off, "Anyway tell me about the experiment."
"The pigs stayed the same size without noticeably growing or shrinking for around thirty minutes." Veda started getting up onto her feet, "They have been shrinking about three inches per 10 minutes after that."
"They're the same size as they were before you feed them the fungus." Valerie added from her spot on the floor.
"Oh! That's really good. Now I can start human experimentation seeing as the pigs didn't explode AND they ended up back at their original size. This doesn't happen very often."
Vincent passed out again.
"Well now that that's over we can rest for the rest of the day and tomorrow I'll test the fern on them."
Jinx was the first to leave the area humming softly to herself as she left, Veda helped Valerie to her feet after Jinx disappeared from there sight.
"Should we wake Vincent?"
"Probably, you wanna get the bucket?"
Valerie nodded before turning on her heel and heading towards the bucket that was thrown haphazardly on the ground. Vincent was given a rude awakening
The sun was well into the next day when Jinx finally woke up, her employees were wishing it had taken longer. Walking down the stairs she was greeted by an empty kitchen. Humming, she began making some breakfast for herself. One cup of coffee and a granola bar later she was ready to round up her employees. With a wicked grin she stalked up the steps.
Vincent was silently crying as he was dragged out to the pens.
"Oh chill, I'm not feeding them anything that will make them explode today… probably."
This did not comfort Vincent. Ignoring him Jinx walked toward the pigs again feeding each of them a piece of the fern. She exited the pen soon after.
"Right, same situation as yesterday, keep an eye on the pigs tell me if anything strange happens." Jinx said, facing her employees.
Veda and Valerie nodded while Vincent sniffled. Waving them goodbye she was about to leave before she caught the sight of a black cat with horns on its head, wings on its back, and a collar with the name Pandora written on it.
"Pandora! Baby, your back~" Jinx cheered scooping the kitty up in her arm petting her. Pandora meowed.
"You have a cat?" Valerie blurted.
"Yes of course! She was one originally a normal cat but she got into one of my experiments and turned into this."
"What kind of experiment were you doing that gave a cat wings and horns??" Veda asked, baffled.
"Not the wings and horns she's always had those," Jinx replied, "She gained higher intelligence."
"Oooh," was the reply she got.
Silence ranged for a few moments, "Well you three have fun im going to go experiment on the locals." Jinx announced, spinning on her heel, cries of concern following her.
It had been a productive day. Jinx had discovered the perfect amount of fungus it required to make an average person grow four inches for thirty minutes. She also discovered what it tasted like, not the best really, but she could make due. It wasn't a very strong taste and could very easily be masked. The fungus would make a good hot coffee. Once she was satisfied with her experimentation she went back to check on her employees and Pandora, who'd she'd left at the house.
She opened the door to almost the same scene she had seen yesterday, Vincent was by the wall, Veda was paying attention to the pigs, and Valerie was cloud watching.
"Anything happen?" Jinx asks.
"Yeah I noticed that some things went missing in the pen when the pigs touched them. Around three hours after you left all the items appeared on top of the pigs all of a sudden."
Jinx gasped, "I have an idea."
"Oh no."
She was able to test the idea quickly, simply having to get a few samples of the fern and fungus from down stairs feeding a bit of each to one pig. That pig grew and seemed to have an inventory. For the next pig Jinx crushed the two ingredients together, feeding it to the second pig. That also simply grew and had an inventory. For the last pig she crushed the ingredients together and then added a third, a type of nectar that binded two magics together. She fed it to the pig and the pig did not grow, instead it took out the entire fence with its inventory.
"Ah, I see my mistake now," Jinx said, scratching her cheek.
She did get her fence back and the pig that was stuck under it, however, the other two were long gone.