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 Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:38 pm
((Roleplay's Participants: shyanimegrl; Turbolizard))
Good, his job was close by according to the directions he read off the piece of paper in his hand and he had time to spare according to his watch; he decided to have a look around. Hayden's eyes casually scanned the area and his vision caught the wooden sign that read "Balcombe Curiositites." The six-foot, brown-haired, and green-eyed 23-year-old, placed the piece of paper he held in the left pocket of his pants, ambled over to the shop, and ventured inside.
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:46 pm
Marilyn was bustling about inside the shop, sorting items in a box and placing them up on shelves in some sort of artistic manner. And by some sort of artistic manner, it should be noted to mean that she has no artistic ability whatsoever and things were placed in such a way that it looked like someone threw up objects all over the shelf. Not that it mattered, anyway. If Faline ever ventured in during one of her shifts, she would straighten it all out and make it look pretty.
As the customer stepped inside, a bell above the door signaled his arrival and Marilyn glanced in his direction, quickly changing demeanor from harried shop worker to mysterious and alluring shop worker. Or at least she hoped so. She was still working on the mysterious bit. And the alluring bit. Heck, she was working on the entire attitude.
"Hello and welcome to Balcombe Curiosities. Is there anything I can help you with today?" She said serenely, smoothing her blouse. At this moment, she chose to give silent thanks that Faline was taking care of Erich downstairs in the house. If this guy was one of those people that got that weird look when they came near an object, she wasn't in the mood to explain the thing's switching act with a child.
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 7:17 pm
"Hey," Hayden returned brightly with a raised hand meant as a wave and he took several easy steps forward. He picked up a japanese top from the shelf near him, replying before examining it. He'd never been in an antique shop before, "Catchy name: Balcombe Curiosities." His features showed calm interest and then he returned the top to its place, giving the shop a sweeping glance again before continuing, "And you've got lots of interesting stuff here, mind if I look around a while?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 7:57 pm
"A family name," the young woman murmured. Oh, that was good. She made a mental note to herself to do that more often, the murmuring thing. That was definitely mysterious enough. At least mysterious if you didn't catch it because then she could have said all sort of fun things.
With a nod, Marilyn smiled. "Feel free to look around. Should you need me, I'll be restocking." She grabbed a pair of heavy duty gloves from behind the counter. One of the items she was restocking was not going to be a fun one and if she was going to get mauled by this biting teacup, she would rather have someone there that could identify her remains.
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 8:34 pm
"Okay, thank you," Hayden replied with his same easy tone, then walked to the shelves at the other end of the room. A porcupine figurine on the top shelf caught his eye as he neared it, but just then had lifted his watch to double check the time. Thus, the young man failed to notice the spines that raised themselves in warning; he now faced another direction and walked through that portion of the room.
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 9:44 pm
Marilyn glanced over at the man to make sure that he wasn't getting into trouble. While most of the curiosities in the shop were indeed ordinary objects, there were a couple that needed to be watched out for, the porcupine being one of them. She breathed a small sigh of relief as Hayden's hand missed the spines and called out to him, "Be careful. Some of them have a mind of their own." Eyebrows arched, she gave the figurine a pointed look.
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:05 pm
"Alright," came the man's good-natured reply, Hayden was slightly puzzled by what she meant, but soon came to the conclusion that he must have misunderstood something at some point and resulted to making sure he didn't bump into something and handled items carefully. He picked up a garnet brooch, identifying its shape as a beetle's. Pretty cool. After placing it back he said with a small grin, "Looks like you've got wares from every place imaginable."
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:08 pm
"You'd be surprised at what you find in old ladies' attics." By this point, she had dropped the pretense of the mysterious shopkeeper. She was far too engrossed in what her next task was and didn't really want to lose a limb, which was entirely possible.
Sitting on a shelf was a little metal cage which Marilyn had left opened and now, with her thick gloves on, she was prying apart a wooden box from which emitted a snarling noise. "You, er, may want to stand back. I've seen this thing jump and it isn't pretty."
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:27 pm
It took a moment for him to register that he was indeed hearing snarling noises, not having expected encountering such a sound in the establishment. Yet, he was not fazed, being that there were rare situations like this, such as being in the midst of a snarling entity, where he had reason to be in his 23 years. "Jump?" Hayden questioned, but complied, watching where he backed up to. The man apparently didn't pick up on extraordinary things around him quickly.
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:35 pm
Marilyn was used to this kind of thing. You wouldn't think, but some old ladies had the oddest of objects and heirlooms hanging around their houses. Not only that, but then there would be the rare shipment from other parts of Gaia with curiosities that brought about more curiosity than the regular items that she would carry in her store. This teacup was not one of this items, but something retrieved recently from an attic that had been cleared out. Something about some parts of the family dealing with witchcraft, if she recalled correctly.
Either way, it was proving to be one of those fun little teacups from some happy, song filled movie. With a deep breath, Marilyn pried apart the final top plank of wood keeping the object contained. The teacup looked ordinary -- white with swirls of gaudy flowers over its surface. You know, until it leaped at Marilyn's face, the inside of it revealing it to have rows of sharp, ceramic teeth.
With a triumphant "Ha!" Marilyn caught it by the handle and stuffed it none-too-gently into its new metal home, slamming the little door shut. "Jumps, see? I got it from someone down the street. Didn't want it around her kids or something."
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:06 pm
"I see," Hayden moved forward again. The man was not unaware of the curiositites Gaia held, but just for the most part spent much of his days dealing in his occupation that was very often for the most part without the action leaping teacups gave. His luck until now lead to little intimate experiences with such curiosities. Change was not something he was used to, not that he was completely closed to it, it was just a thing that certainly was a challenge to him. He was very inclined to what he was used to. But a challenge, he would soon have indeed.
His gaze rested on a gold locket, adorned by a rose. He'd picked it up, but for whatever reason, didn't put it back. Instead, he asked, "How much is this?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:12 pm
As soon she saw him take the locket, her eyes went wide. There was that zing again, that same one she got whenever someone picked up one of those curios, the ones that would become sentient. But she bit her tongue. Marilyn wouldn't breath a word unless she was confronted about it because she was afraid of what would happen should someone choose to leave the object behind after it had chosen its owner. Maybe nothing would, but the young woman didn't want to take a chance on that.
"Oh, that?" She replied, turning to casual, inspecting the locket from a distance. "For you, free."
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:46 pm
Hayden was slightly surprised, but smiled and said appreciatively, "Thank you." Catching a glimpse of the time on his watch he determined it was time to be on his way in accordance to his schedule, accustomed to keeping this easy pace of his. He placed the locket in his camera bag, then turned to Marilyn. "I've got to head over to my job now. I'm Hayden Jacobs. And you are?" Hayden extended a polite hand to shake.
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:48 pm
She watched as he tucked the locket away. She knew she would probably be seeing him soon, once the thing grew. It was something she was both looking forward to and dreading at the same time, also hoping that he would treat the object kindly.
When Hayden stretched out his hand, she took it and gave it a firm shake. Hayden Jacobs. She filed that away, along with what the object was. "I'm Marilyn Balcombe. Feel free to visit at any time. It was nice meeting you."
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Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:02 am
"Nice to meet you, Marilyn Balcombe," Hayden replied brightly, "Have a good afternoon." He raised his hand midway again in his wave, then turned and headed out of the shop, exiting the way he came.
Hayden pulled out the directions again, confirming his destination as he walked to it. The breeze was cool and the weather hadn't warmed up enough for him just yet, thus pulling up the collar of his coat for warmth as he navigated his way on the streets. Balcombe Curiosities. What had taken place there this day, he wasn't to forget, as it was the beginning.
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