He's not stupid, he gets things like lab safety, it's just he didn't think 'not being human' was in the realm of possibility and so it didn't cross his mind.

But whatever, he understands 'better safe than sorry'.

Lab safety occupies her until they reach her house. When they get in the front hall, she sticks her head around the corner into the living room where her mother's watching TV. "I'm home, I brought a friend."

"Oh, should I come say hello?" her mother asks, not looking terribly inclined to move.

"Nah, you haven't met. New kid. We're just going to do... chemistry homework." It's like chemistry. "When's dinner?"

"Oh, I've got a date with Tedd. You can just order pizza. Money's in the usual drawer," her mom says absently.

"Ooh, pizza. Thanks!" She ducks back into the hall and waves at the staircase. "C'mon, my stuff's upstairs."

Theo does pay attention to the lab safety, and tries to make a note of the most salient points. He plans on being super cautious when they get round to any actual practical work, because it seems to have lots of horrible opportunities to go wrong.

He nods at Alli's statement and follows her up the stairs.

Alli picks her way through what might generously be called the upstairs hallway but is more accurately just a small landing. It's not quite to the level of appallingly messy, but there's... piles. Lots of piles. Alli doesn't seem to notice, and walks through the last door into a cramped attic/storage space. She weaves through the stacks of boxes, following a path that may or may not be obvious without practice, until they get to a spot in the back that's slightly better cleared out than the rest. There's a little camping stove set up with a small iron pot balanced on top, and a haphazard collection of herbs and books scattered nearby and on a short, battered bookshelf. She plops herself onto a cushion and gestures to the one of the stove's far side for Theo before starting to organize ingredients.

Once Theo takes a seat, she tosses a book into his lap. "Congrats, Nails, more shit to read. But this one gets you magic!" She accompanies the word with jazz hands surrounded by a shower of sparkles. "First things first, though. No mystical potions of love and beauty yet. Baby potion is... basically bugspray" She holds out a mortar and pestle with a sprig of rosemary in it. "Chop chop!"

Theo follows her along, looking at his surroundings a bit bemusedly, then sits down as directed.

He takes the book – indeed, it does get him magic so he's a bit more excited about it – then starts grinding with the mortar and pestle, as seems to be expected.

Magic!

Alli had a magic buddy! Who can chop spices for her! Alli is delighted by both of these things. They pass the next half hour or so preparing ingredients while Alli regales him with anecdotes from her own potionmaking attempts. (A couple are by necessity second hand; it took her longer than she admits to manage her memory potion.) Every so often she'll float him an implement, just to enjoy the look on his face.

Once everything's added, Alli considers the resulting colors and nods proudly. "Looks good, Nails." And not just the potion, she snickers to herself. Smirking, she turns down the heat and leaves it to simmer. "I'd start you on another, but. Bit of a cauldron problem. So, cards or something while we wait? I can grab us a snack from the kitchen?" She grins suddenly. "Or a drink? Mom's shit at hiding the vodka."

He keeps forgetting about the fact that it's actual magic, so yeah, the floated objects definitely catch his attention.

"Eh, I'm not much of a big drinker personally, but a snack would be good. What sort of thing do you need for a cauldron, though – is it a specific metal in particular or a specific shape or does anything work so long as you can heat it up and stuff?"

"I don't think magic really gives a shit? I've seen a couple recipes that specify but I'm not buying a three foot red glass cauldron anyway, so meh, whatever." She peers at hers. "Jess left me hers, but I think they're pretty standard at the Magic Box." She rolls her eyes. "Maybe not cheap, I've had less expensive hobbies, but if you go enough they've got a discount for people who actually know their shit, it's the newagey hippies they overcharge."

"… The Magic Box is actually, y'know, magic? Or run by witches or something? I don't think you've mentioned that yet?"

"I don't think they do magic themselves. They just know it exists, and have a pretty good stock of supplies." She reflects for a second. "And also a few things that are actually worrying, seriously, those Do Not Touch signs are legit."

"Okay then, I will make sure to be careful when I go in there," he says, looking briefly worried. "Anyway – cards or something?"

"Yup! Hang tight, yell if shit explodes." Alli ducks out and returns a few minutes later with a deck of cards and a bowl of Cheez-its. "Magic fuel!" she proclaims, setting it down between them, then grimaces. "That came out wrong. They're not magic. They are fuel for us doing magic. Whatever, they're delicious." She eats a handful of Cheez-its rather defiantly before starting to shuffle. "Pick your poison?"

Theo raises an eyebrow. "How about snap?" he asks, smirking. "Nah, but I don't really know many card games. I'm more a phone-music-and-book sort of guy."

He takes a few Cheez-its too.

"If you think I will not go full force for snaps, you are about to be real unhappy," Alli warns him jokingly as she deals. "Some books are okay.? Usually I get bored and go find other shit to do. Music's good though." She grabs a handful of Cheez-its, looks mournfully between her salty hand and the cards, then wipes her hands on her jeans with a shrug and picks up her deck. "Let's do this."

Alli is not very good at snap, but Alli is dedicated. She tries not to leave bruises... when she remembers.

Theo is not amazing at snap either! But he's not too bad.

He seems to be enjoying himself, while they wait.

Alli does not need to win to enjoy herself; it's all about slapping the cards. Thankfully for Theo's hand, basically-bugspray doesn't take too long to brew. When the pot puffs a cloud of pink smoke, she hops up. "It worked!"

He gets up too! (Smoothly!)

"What sorts of bugs does it work on? Like, ant repellent or like, moth killer…?"

"I don't have a list...? I mostly use it for mosquitoes," Alli shrugs. "Mosquitoes are the worst shit ever and can fuck right off."

"Yeah," he agrees. "I seem to be pretty lucky and don't get them much."

"Ugh. Probably a weird Nails thing. That said, I hate you, you lucky asshole."

He laughs. "I hadn't actually thought of that but yeah, could be."

Alli packs him up a bottle of magic bugspray, muttering loftily under her breath the whole time about "non-human assholes cheating the bug system." She offers it to him. "Bottle back when you're done, yeah? I am not brewing gold and gemstones or shit like that, but. Magic shit is not cheap and I cannot pull bottles from hats."

He takes it. "Thanks – and have you looked into making money with magic? No convenient way to make diamonds from, like, glass?"

"Yeah, I looked for a bit. Fund the habit and all that. But magic books are a fucking mess. Dark magic and incomplete recipes and shit like that more often than not. Besides, selling half this shit would mean people know magic exists, and, nope!" She grins. "You're welcome to try selling magical bug spray, though. I will most generously allow this."

"Thanks," he laughs. "I have no idea how I'm meant to do that but I guess I'll look around."