|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:56 pm
The light blue haired woman wandered the town she was now forced to call home. It had been something of an accident that brought her to live in Durem, and though that accident involved the near-destruction of several houses and when the authorities had asked what had happened she could only reply with "Oops?", it was an accident none the less. Which also explained the reason she was no longer allowed to work for a lab. At least they were nice enough to relocate her.
"Weeeelhp..." She said, stretching her arms above her before folding them behind her head. "Guess I gotta figure out what I want to do now. Something other than lab assistant...done that, blew up a few buildings...now its time for something new." She murmured to herself, feeling free to do so as the street was more or less vacant of human (or human-ish) life. Going silent then, green eyes merely surveyed the place. It was stuffy, and a lot of the town had this 'holier-than-thou' feel to it. I mean the buildings were grandoise, the shops were crazy expensive and that Von Helson mansion! Though she hadn't gotten to talk to Duremians yet, she had a feeling that they might take after their town and be haughty, better-than-you people.
As she mused she walked right past a rather pecular shop. One with great big windows and little beasts carved into some solid form. Of course it was the little beasts that caught her attention, and the woman was more than happy to walk backwards just as easily as she had walked forwards. Her arms slipped from behind her head and instead rested on her hips, her thumbs linking into the belt loops on her faded jeans.
"Whats this then? Thats pretty different..." Green eyes then wandered up towards the out-of-place wooden sign. Curiosities huh? Made sense, in some weird way; this building looked too outlandish to be part of Durem, and that was what prompted her to open the door and take her first step into the shop.
"Huh. The inside is weirder than the out." She mused, lightly scratching behind her ear while her gaze flittered from one object to the next. There certainly were an awful lot of things. Antique-like things, from the look of it. From all walks of life, too. From figurines to masks to books it looked like, one item having its own unique quirk that set it apart from the others.
"Hellloooo? Is anyone home?" Sure she was loud, but she liked to talk to people while she wandered strange shops while in strange towns. Besides, maybe she could get some must-see-or-do places to visit while being forced to live here!
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:15 pm
Marilyn had been downstairs near the door leading to her home when the young woman upstairs entered the shop. Her son, Erich, was currently having a meltdown and both herself and her teenage daughter were trying to figure out something to calm him down or to at least figure out what the problem was. Unfortunately, by the shrieks and wails floating upstairs into the main shop area, one could easily tell that it was not going well.
Nothing was really wrong with the boy, he just wasn't getting the attention he deserved, but to an outsider, it would probably sound like someone was being horribly tortured. But over the screaming, both Marilyn and Faline, at the same time, heard the little bell chime signaling that there was a customer. The two girls looked at each other, grey and periwinkle eyes locking. Now was the chance for freedom, but who would make it first?
Both made a run for the staircase, ditching the toddler behind, but Faline, with her superior speed, made it first. At the top of the stairs, the rabbit like teenager flashed her mother a brilliant smile and sauntered her way into the shop proper. Marilyn just grumbled and went back to attending to Erich. She felt a little bad for wanting him to just be quiet for ten minutes so that her headache might have a chance to go away, but when the child had been at it all morning, it was understandable that she was on her last nerve. Hopefully Faline would be quick with whoever it was upstairs because Marilyn had not had a chance to wrap the toddler's arm blades yet that day and didn't feel like losing something important, like an arm or a leg.
While the young woman was attending to the kid, or at least trying to, Faline smiled brightly at the blue haired woman in the shop, all perky and bubbly personality. She escaped death. That would make anyone happy. "Welcome to Balcombe Curiosities! Is there anything I can help you with today, miss?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:56 pm
"Naw, just looking. I wasn't sure if someone forgot to lock up or what..." Green eyes fell towards the floor, where the shrieks of some poor upset or possibly tortured child resonated. "But I guess its just a case of EUC - Extremely upset child." Her neice always had these rounds of unconsolable tantrums. EUC was a term coined by her sister to explain them. "Glad you got out, yeah?" She chuckled, then looked around some of the stranger objects...the masks definately caught her attention. The blue haired woman loved masks! You could hide anything behind them, and in some instances, even see the world from a different point of view.
"Theres a lot of really neat things here...where on Gaia did you get half of it? I've never seen anything like it!" As she spoke to the woman, she picked up one of the masks - it was Mayan she guessed, it was made of wood, two different kinds it looked like, one darker, one lighter. What had initally made her pick it up was the face on the mask...or so she would tell herself later. One half was a depiction of a skull, the other was a regular human; the skull half looked content while the other half looked miserable. Strange, but neat. There was a feeling then, a feeling of overwhelming possessiveness. She had to have this mask. Her eyes unfocused then, staring at it; the mouth of the mask didn't move, but she was fairly sure it was calling out to her.
Clearing her throat, she tore her eyes away from the mask but didn't put it down. Blinking her green orbs she looked back at the woman who had escaped the child. "Y-you know, I'm good with kids so if you want I could try to calm him down?" While the woman wasn't lying, she also kind of wanted a moment alone...it would probably take a minute or two to get the kid in here, and in the meantime she could attempt to sort out this overwhelming urge to keep this particular mask. "Sometimes kids respond better to strangers, for some reason." Shop keeps tended to jump on the opportunity to sell if you show any interest in an item...and she was sure she looked very much attached to the mask.
It sounded strange, but thats what she felt. Her hands clasped tighter around the mask, but she tried to make herself seem less attached to it. It was hard to do, but it was somewhat easier to do when she had the mask in her hands.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:09 pm
Faline laughed. Oh thank god this woman understood. "Yeah, it's just my little brother. He didn't want to put his shoes on so mom is downstairs right now trying to get him to do that." The girl almost added "and probably getting mauled, too" but didn't want to scare the woman. Her mother always told her not to scare the customers because you never knew if they were one of the chosen few that could bring the object to life or if they just wanted to buy something and, really, with the way objects were springing to life recently, her mother preferred the type that would buy.
The rabbit girl watched the woman, her long ears twitching a moment, almost as if in agitation -- the sound downstairs really wasn't getting any better and the woman was getting that look that Marilyn had described before. It actually rather pleased Faline and she hoped that those that received one of the living objects would at least come back to visit; she wanted to meet the little kids that they would turn into. Maybe swap them for her brother. That would be nice.
"A lot of the stuff my mom picked up from people around Gaia though a few were shipped in from other places. I think that one was one of this, but I'm not sure. Let me go ask mom, anyway. She might be up for the help, at least. I'll be right back..." With a last glance at the woman, Faline disappeared back downstairs to fetch Marilyn and Erich.
Marilyn was still fighting with the boy, a shoe in one hand, but at least at this point had his blades wrapped in bubble wrap, much to the boy's chargin (and she herself was sporting a few wounds from this endeavor). When her daughter returned, Marilyn turned grey eyes on her, dark eyebrows raised. "Who was it, rabbit?"
"A customer. She said she might be able to calm Erich down and she also seemed pretty interested interested in one of the masks we have." She almost made mention of that look, but she held her tongue on that. Her mother would find out soon enough when they got upstairs.
At this point, she was about ready to throw the kid at any stranger that would be willing to take him, whether they offered candy or not. Marilyn picked up the toddler and trooped upstairs without saying anything, Faline following closely at her heels.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:33 pm
"Oh, thats neat." She had said absently, mainly because her attention was on the mask. It was a pretty thing! Smiling as the girl disappeared, she turned and looked at the other masks, holding the wooden one in the crook of her arm. Now that she was alone, she looked at the other masks and scuttled around to look at anything else; and by the time the kid's shrieks got closer, she had already aquired a little arsenal of things. Most of them, admittedly, looked like they had historical value; there was an old fan decorated with flowers, a small statue of a geisha playing a musical instrument, and also a few books; a couple of them on Pompeii.
By the time it sounded like they were on the same floor as her, the light blue haired woman was reaching up on a higher shelf, trying to get at what looked like a little stone sphinx. The sphinx was abandoned when the trio came into view, though the woman herself was still outstretched like she was reaching for it.
"Oh, Hullo." The woman had said, looking over her still outstretched arm. "I guess that little cutie is the one with the powerful lungs." Kind of useless to point that out, but she did anyway. "Uhh, my name is Switch." Finally she lowered herself down to stand properly, dusting herself off. "Switch Gear." Green eyes glanced over at the table where the mask stood surrounded by the little items she'd collected. "And yes my parents had a sick sense of humor. Everyone either calls me Switch or Riley...don't know why Riley, but Riley." She was babbling, but hey, it worked for her.
She wandered over to the trio, trying to get a better look at both women and the little screamer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:52 pm
Marilyn smiled, looking harried and worn, setting Erich carefully on the counter, keeping a hold around his waist so that the little banshee didn't decide squirm his way over the edge and end up on the floor. "Pleased to meet you Switch. I'm Marilyn Balcombe. I've believe you've met my daughter already, Faline," with that, she gave a nod to the rabbit teenager who smiled pleasantly with a wave over her mother's shoulder. "And the one with the amazing set of lungs is Erich."
Erich was still yelling at this point, but with less gusto than before. His voice was hoarse, but all be damned if he was going to give up at this point. The toddler did give Switch a death glare, though, which was something that wasn't odd for him. At the young age he was at, he was actually getting quite good at them, Marilyn had used to think with some twinge of pride. Might as well be proud of what you could.
As Marilyn spoke, Faline had nudged her mother in the small of her back, giving her pink head a jerk in the direction of the mask that the other woman had in her arms amongst the items. Marilyn shrugged, catching what was different about it, the feel. She was really getting good at identifying them now and she made a mental note not to charge for that particular item. The rest, however, were fair game.
"If there's anything you can do..." Marilyn bit her lip, almost wanting to cry at this point, but she reminded herself to be strong. Erich could smell weakness. He knew when to attack. Stay strong. "I'm sorry," the red haired woman added with a sigh. "It's... been a really long day."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:15 pm
Switch set the items down on a cleared off section of a table, manuvering around to go see the little one. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't grab your name earlier." She apologized to the girl, then nodded towards Marilyn before her green eyes went to the kid with the...arm...spikes? "Nice to meet you. Am I seeing those right?" Nodding to the spikes, Switch did step closer. "Kinda strange, but hey, its Gaia." She waved to the little boy, reaching out to pat him on the head.
Poor woman sounded desperate...Switch's heart went out to her. Not really fearing the knives (mainly because she didn't know they were knives yet), she reached out and took the boy from his mother, her hands on his waist. "Heya big man!" Grinning at him, she held him with one arm and sat him on her hip, her arm underneath his as to limit the contact with the spikes there. Now, what made her neice shut up? Well, there was chocolate...but Switch didn't want to part with what was left of the Kitkat bar in her bag...not yet anyway, that was her favourite kind! There were other ways to tame a brat.
"Wow, you got quite the lungs on you! Very good, you could grow up to be an announcer...you definitely wouldn't need a microphone." She applauded him as best as she could. "But hey, want to see a magic trick? I have a really cool one I think you'd like." Switch offered, showing him her free hand to prove that she was holding nothing; she was wearing short sleeves, so she couldn't hide anything there, either.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:28 pm
Marilyn laughed a little. "Yeah, you're seeing those correctly. They're blades, but with them wrapped like that, you should be alright." The woman was pleased to see that Erich hadn't tried to immediately disembowel Switch the moment he was picked up. He did try to bite her hand when she went to ruffle his hair, though, which was his only retaliation.
As he was picked up, his wailing waned as the strange woman started talking to him. He still kept it up, though, as if to spite the room at large and everyone in it, but it was definitely not at the usual decibel and almost quiet now. Now she was talking to him and while he couldn't understand what she was saying, it seemed to be good and he was getting attention.
Erich watched as Switch lifted one of her hands up, tantrum stopping now, but eyes were narrowed in an almost dangerous manner. Magic tricks were okay. Grandpa Balcombe, when he came to visit, would do them on occasion and it usually seemed to placate the child. That and the stories. He enjoyed the stories when they weren't coming from anyone in the immediate family. Had to keep them all on their toes, you know.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 7:49 pm
If Switch had known he might have disemboweled her, she would have been pleased he hadn't as well. The woman ignored the potential bite with a good-natured air, and she smiled at Marilyn; she was asking about his magic trick at the same time it sunk in; those were blades on his arms. Well, she doubted he could reach her now, and according to Marilyn she was safe because he was wrapped up; lets hope it stayed that way.
When the toddler quieted down, Switch turned her hand to show him the back of it too. "See? Nothing near my hand at all. Now ready?" Pausing for effect, she slowly closed her hand into a fist. "One..." Her hand then opened for a moment before slowly closing again. "Two..." She opened and closed her hand again, though slightly faster. "Three..." Her hand closed fully. "And...Four!" Her hand flew open, but this time it wasn't empty; there, sitting on her palm, were two hershey's kiss chocolates, all wrapped up in nice blue foil paper. "Taa-daah! There you go Erich, for you for being such a good boy." She held the candy out to him, smiling.
"He's a cute little man, Marilyn...but yeah, I can see how he'd be a huuuge handful." And man did he look mean. Thank god he wasn't her kid...but she held Marilyn in higher respects.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 10:49 pm
The toddler eyed the two, shiny candies. Blue was not exactly his favorite colour, but the offering would do. For now. Placated, Erich snatched the two Hershey's kisses and shoved them both in his mouth at once, foil wrapped and all.
Marilyn had been in the middle of responding to Switch when she noticed, a look of exasperation crossing her face, "Yeah, he -- Oh god, honey! Don't do that!" Her request was largely ignored by the boy who happily munched on the two chocolates. His mother moved to take him back from Switch, wondering how she would be able to get him to spit them back out short of prying his mouth open with a crowbar.
Faline, in the meantime, was sidling her way back towards the stairs leading to the stock room. If she got out now, maybe she would miss the next epic tantrum.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 6:44 pm
Switch was grinning from ear to ear, it seemed. "Well, its a good thing he likes chocolate. I don't. I hate the stuff...but theres this thing called Easter and all of my ex-collegues kept giving me chocolate. So I have a lot to spare." The green eyed woman grumbled; chocolates were the work of the devil, but there was one chocolate that got out of that general hatred, and that was the Kit Kat Bar. It was the only kind of chocolate she could stand, and when asked she would blatantly reply 'Well, its more of a waifer than a chocolate bar.' and besides, even her body wasn't immune to that endorphine release that chocolate gives.
When Marilyn reacted to the eating the tinfoil thing, Switch waved it off. "Its only tin foil, it won't kill him." But the woman seemed adament about not letting Erich eat it and so Switch, thinking on the spot, offered an ultimatum to the boy. "Hey Big Man, tinfoil tastes reeeeeally gross eh? You're not going to taste the chocolate if you have the tin foil still on it! How about you spit out the foil and let me know what kind of candy you like best! I'll get it for you because I made the mistake of letting you eat that yucky tin foil. But you have to spit it out first, okay?"
Her hand was offered to the boy again, this time to accept whatever he decided to spit out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:47 pm
Marilyn nodded and stopped her advance, deciding to let Switch deal with it and see what happened. Faline had already fled the room and made her getaway, now back downstairs and happily doing her homework (how Marilyn ended up with such a sweet, responsible teenager, she never knew, but she constantly thanked her lucky stars).
Erich stared at the hand that the woman offered. He stared for a good couple of minutes, absolutely still. Then, finally, he spit out two wads of blue tinfoil that were both completely devoid of chocolate into her outstretched hand. And grinned a big goofy, "ahaha, that's my spit, yes" grin.
His mother buried her tan face in her hands, hiding the red that was creeping up into her cheeks shaking her head in embarrassment. "I am so, so sorry about that." She reached behind the cash register counter and from its depths produced a handkerchief, offering to Switch, hoping it would help the situation some.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:25 pm
Switch waited for Erich to make his choice. She waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, there was movement! Movement and two spit-drenched balls of tin foil. Her first instinct was to shake her hand free of the disgusting human liquid, but that was quickly overcome by her second reaction; and that was to laugh until the disgust went away. Laugh she did, being convincing enough to sound like it was her first instinctual reaction and not her second one.
"Its okay! Boys will be boys." The light blue haired woman chuckled, taking the handkerchief and wiping off the boy's spit. "I kind of expected that from the little bugger." With her hand clean and rolled up the material and handed it back to Marilyn; at least she wouldn't be given a child-spit drench handkerchief. Kids were so gross with their mucusy faces and affinity for disgusting things. "Well, at least he did what he was asked to do. Guess that means I owe spit-boy some candy, huh?"
She chuckled, swallowing her disgust to pat the boy on the head.
"So, um..." Switch said after a few minutes, glancing back at the little pile of things she had aquired since she stepped into the place. "How much do I owe you for those, preemptively?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 10:30 pm
"It could have been worse?" Marilyn offered, still embarrassed, and took the waded up handkerchief and stuck it back behind the counter. The spit didn't bother her as much, it was her kid and she had definitely seen worse of his than spit, but the thought of folding it was definitely appreciated by the young woman.
Marilyn laughed about the bit with the candy, grinning. "If you don't have any more on you, I've got a couple of chocolate bars downstairs that I can give him. I just hope this doesn't become a habit of his, to scream in order to get candy." The thought actually made her shudder. Hopefully the little terror wouldn't become even more of a monster than he already was if he thought that screaming would get him more treats. If so, Marilyn would have to find a way to put an end to that fast.
But once the topic switched back to business, Marilyn sobered up and reached to take the toddler back, balancing him on her own hip. She glanced over the objects. One of them, and she wasn't entirely sure which, was one of those, one of the sentient ones, but she wasn't sure. At least the girl had a lot of stuff that she had picked out. Casually, Marilyn responded, "All of that? Ten dollars."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:00 pm
"Well, I have a half eaten Kitkat bar. He can have that if he wants, I doubt I'll finish it. I hardly ever do." Switch shrugged, pulling the neatly rolled KitKat bar from her pocket and offering it to the boy with the spikes on his arms. "There are ways to get him to stop screaming for candy." The woman shrugged; they trained dogs to stop doing bad things by slipping small amounts of chemicals that would turn them off of it. The chemicals were usually only vinigar or a strange vinigar mix...but it was still technically a chemical.
It could be used on kids to, theoretically.
Switch would make a horrible mother.
The woman was looking around again while Marilyn decided how much she wanted. She had been about to put her hand on the corner of a desk when the price was given and Switch, startled by the response, lost track of what she was doing with her hand and nearly did a faceplant after her hand didn't quite make it to the counter. "W-WHAT?!" Big green eyes stared at the shopkeep, her free hand rubbing her now throbbing palm.
"Only Ten?! Holy crap woman!" Switch couldn't believe her ears, but not like she was complaining. "I think I love you now, just so you know." Purring happily she brought ten dollars out from her back pocket, putting it on the counter and going back to her things, picking up the mask before anything else.
"You have the coolest stuff and for cheap prices too, its a wonder you haven't been cleared out." Her fingers lightly dusted over the old wooden mask, then set out to look over and claim the rest of the stuff she had picked out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
