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 Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 11:05 am
Amerald sat within his basement workshop yet another time. It was a time of contemplation for him. He just sat, looking at the crystals in which he had prepared about a week ago. He picked each one up, looked it over, and placed it back on the desk. He was quite unsure of how today would play out. Was it going to be just another boring day? Probably...in his mind everyday was a boring one.
He sat straighter in the chair as he glanced over at the shelf containing miscellaneous items that he had collected. "Oh how I wish I could find a few volunteers for a few more experiments I would love to try out. Ever since Annabelle returned with the feathers...I've been so tempted to create." he said to himself aloud. He often did talk to himself, for he didn't always have someone to talk to. He didn't dislike it that way, but he was quite lonely at times.
He got up from his seat and made his way over to the shelf, picking up two beautiful feathers he had acquired from Annabelle. He then glanced down the shelf at the many other feathers and crystals he had lying there, as well as potions he created for the alchemy shop he ran.
He took the two feathers back to his desk and twirled them, one in each hand. "I wonder..." he said to himself. He then began to think, for he didn't speak another word. He kept his mouth quiet and twirled the two feathers in his hands. He decided to think about a new concept; one that could possibly change the lives of two people, forever.
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 10:20 pm
Rosalie Black, a woman with long, straight red hair and piercing gray eyes walked along the streets of Nuan. She was there for a reason, to get some information on a rumor she heard. The rumor was rather odd and a bit out there. She had to figure out whether or not it was true.
Rosalie flipped through her notes. "Aaachoo!" escaped her mouth. Yes, she had a feeling that a cold was on its way, she had a headache, and she didn't even feel like being there. Her boss was stupid in her opinion, sending her all the way here for a stupid rumor that the papers wanted to discuss.
She didn't take her job lightly, but today she just felt like a visit to the nearby alchemist was in order for some medication. She couldn't stand the sight of light and since it was still early afternoon, she wasn't extremely happy. She wiped her nose with a handkerchief and placed it back into the bag with which she brought. She scribbled down some notes about the town. She couldn't return back to Aerr with nothing, so she had to at least make an effort. She had a full five days stay in Nuan before she had to return back to Aerr and give her report to the editor.
She luckily was given some money to do with as she pleased for going on this little journey, so she had already checked into a little inn on the other side of Nuan and made her way down towards the outskirts where she finally came across what she had been hoping for, medicine. "Oh my...it's about time I find this place. It was like a wild goose chase tracking this place down. That stupid inn manager obviously doesn't know his way out of a paper bag." she mocked.
Obviously she was a bit cranky, not her usual self, for she was feeling a bit under the weather. She made her way to the door, viewing the sign that said, Amerald's Alchemy on the top of the door done in an exquisite wooden tablet. She opened the door and heard the little bell ring. Walking in to take a look, it seemed as though no one was here. Well, had she come all the way down here for nothing? She hoped not, because her headache was getting worse and worse by the minute.
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YourDirtyLaundry Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 11:31 pm
Through the open door of Nuan's sole fabric store stepped a tall slender woman. She grasped a bloated bag to her side, the rims of which spilled over with cloth.
Candice would have been pretty, but her skin showed signs of an overindulgent sun and her hair the wrath of excessive bleach. So, to the modest world of Levintol, her look was more eccentric than what was commonly accepted as "pretty". But her 'off' appearance didn't affect her stride. She walked with unwavering confidence, each step making a loud click as heels met solid ground.
She had achieved something today- a trivial feat that filled her up with pride. She had shopped and spent under her budget. For a notorious spendthrift who had the misfortune of being frequently unemployed and therefore poor, today was a day worth celebration.
Normally, she would have preferred the loud hustle and bustle of the City of Aerr over the quietness of Nuan streets. However, she found certain stores in Aerr often pretentious and their prices reflected as such. The prices in the Nuan fabric store were much more humble.
As much as she opposed it, like a drug addict suffering withdrawls, the extra money in her pocket made her twitch. She gripped her bag tighter, reasoning with herself that saving money today would mean more money to spend tomorrow. But Candice was never good at listening to reason...
With a gusto worth admiring, the shopaholic in her sprinted for the closest store- which, coincidentally, was Amerald's Alchemy. The door's small bell rung gaily in her wake.
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 11:55 pm
The pitter and patter of feet could be heard throughout the housing section of the store. Amelia heard something in the shop and went to look through the peephole with which she could see who or what made the noise. As she looked, she saw two women within the store, and Amerald was no where to be found. She then figured that he was downstairs in his workshop. She scurried down the hall and knocked on the large wooden door the led to the basement. "Father...you have customers." she said in her usual happy tone. She then awaited his response.
"Alright, thank you Mia." he said, still seated at his desk spinning the two feathers in his hands. He placed them down on the table and stood up. He then realized that there was something he had to do. He grabbed a few of the potions from the shelf across the room and sighed as he walked up the stairs.
Amelia happily scurried back into the room where she normally stayed as Amerald walked through the basement door, potions still in hand.
He made his way out into the main shop, seeing the two beautiful women he smiled. "Hello to the both of you. Welcome to Amerald's Alchemy. How may I be of service?" he asked with a smile, leading the way over to some of the empty shelves, placing the potions into the different areas where they belonged before turning his attention to the two ladies before him.
He then had a thought. These two could have the potential to be guardian's of his latest experiments. His thought, of course, was silent and kept to himself, but he eyed the women as though he was taking mental notes of each of their characteristics. The thought was pushed to the side of his mind, for they were customers, but at the same time, he knew that the 'motherly' instinct must be in both of them somewhere.
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YourDirtyLaundry Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 11:55 pm
Rosalie spun around when she heard the door open. It was another woman, one that seemed quite different than herself. She hadn't seen another woman in this town like her before. She seemed as though she was a wild one, for sure. Rosalie gave her a soft smile and continued to look through the shelves of potions to find the perfect one for herself. "Hmmm..." she hummed to herself as she looked at the different ones around, she rubbed her temple with her index, middle and ring fingers before picking up a potion to read the label. When she realized it wasn't for headaches, she placed it back down where she found it and went to the next.
Suddenly, the door opened and out came a tall man with what seemed to be potions in his hands. She watched as he placed the different potions in their assigned areas and then she stepped closer to him. "Do you have any type of poultice for headaches and starting symptoms for colds?" she asked, rather quietly. She watched as the man eyed her up and down, it was as though he were checking her out or making sure she wasn't some kind of criminal. She just stood there, silently as she waited for a response.
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 12:24 am
Candice regarded the woman with a half-smile, nodding in acknowledgement. She was in the zone. Shopping took precedence over socializing at this time. Not even the shopkeeper with his analytical gaze could halt her sudden inspiration.
She addressed Amerald breathlessly, a little winded from her quick beeline to the store from the fabric shop, "Discounts. Do you- This shop, does it- Have any discounts right now?" She was aware of her horridly disjointed sentence, but couldn't bother to correct her verbal dyslexia. Candice tended to have problems focusing on more than one thing, and when she was this desperate to spend the money in her pocket, the words simply did not form properly in her head.
She waved off her own butchered sentence, taking a short moment to collect herself. "Are you having any sales right now?"
Candice only now noticed the interior of the shop, which she now regarded in awe: Shelves of potions and remedies. In all her excitement, she had failed to find out what exactly she was planning on buying before dedicating herself to buying it. Potions. That's... Different. She had never had much experience with potions besides the occasional cough syrup or cold medicine.
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 12:34 am
Having both of these women come to him at the same time was unnerving. He hadn't ever been the most outgoing with the ladies, but he was a shopkeeper and thus needed to make it open for any and all clients. He smiled at both women as he answered each of their questions.
"Actually, this shall answer both of your questions at once. Now, if you'd come with me please." he said, gesturing over to the corner of the shop where beautiful bottles were strewn across the five layers of shelves. He picked up two different bottles. "These are common cold remedies that also help with the occasional headache and/or other pain as well as ridding oneself of certain allergy symptoms. And they are both on sale. Other than that, we also have some other types of medication for heavier pain over there that is also on sale." he stated, finishing his sentence and placing both bottles on their designated shelves.
He smiled at them, stepping aside so they could have a look. "What exactly is it you're looking for? I am always open to haggle." he said, allowing the redhead to read the labels on the bottles he shown while talking directly to the other woman. He now eyed her over again, she seemed nice enough. But if she was just here for the sales he had, he wondered if she was really just a shopaholic and needed to spend a few bucks in the nearest store.
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 12:42 am
Rosalie smirked as she overheard why the other woman was really here. She just wanted discounts. What a stereotypical womanly thing to say. Rosalie just followed the man over to where he held up the bottles.
She listened intently and nodded. "Thank you, sir." she said, huddling down to grab the bottles that the man had just placed on the shelf. She wanted something for this cold quite badly. She didn't want to go another few hours with the headache either. She hated being sick and couldn't stand the fact that she was starting to come down with cold symptoms.
Rosalie stood up after deciding what she wanted. She then began to just look around at the other pretty bottles and medications that this man had within his shop. She wasn't interested in buying anything else, but rather was just waiting for him and the other woman to finish talking so that she could pay for this and be on her way.
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YourDirtyLaundry Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:29 am
"Do you have anything that works with hangovers?" Candice treated the question very seriously. If there was any frequent pain she suffered, it was the sharp, relentless morning agony she suffered after a night of heavy drinking. She grabbed the medication Amerald had indicated was on sale anyways, not really one to argue with a good discount.
"Or maybe," she added cheekily, testing where the limits of alchemical wonders stopped, "Anything that might be called 'abnormal'?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:51 am
Amerald looked at the woman in shock, but instantly turned his gaze to the redhead across the way, wondering what she was up to. He began to glance back down the row of potions until his eye caught something.
He had brewed a few very heavy medicated potions a while back that were still good, and he instantly went to pick them up. "This would be amazing for hangovers. It will make you feel on top of the world, headache's gone, and the sickly feeling you're left with in the morning will dissipate. It's my 'happy drug' I call it, heheh." he said with a chuckle.
When the woman asked for something 'abnormal' that was his cue to do what he had been thinking of doing from the beginning. "Actually, I have just the thing." he began, with a smirk. He then went to the front of the store to get both women's attention. "See, I am doing these experiments, taking the DNA of some of the customers and creating a specialized mixture. This mixture may cause some torn feelings, but in the end, most people say it's quite worth it. It only takes about, oh...I'd say...a day or two to fully create, so if you'd like to be apart of the beta testing for it, I'll just need some of your hair or a swig of saliva on one of these cotton balls. Would either of you be interested? And I'll tell you now, it's free. I swear you won't regret it." he said, smiling. He didn't want to tell them what they were really getting into, but he definitely wasn't lying. The 'mixture' was needed to create the DNA replication and thus, the hraapea children were born.
He stood behind his counter, holding up a little basket for the strands of hair, or if they'd rather go the route of saliva, he had a different basket filled to the brim with cotton balls and q-tips to swab their mouthes. He knew that this request was quite eccentric, but he felt he explained it well enough to have them stumble in. He was quite unsure how either of them would react when the child was shown to them though. Either way he didn't make it known. After both of them would agree or disagree, he would just need to ask a few questions to see if they're really fit for he job of parenting. This woman coming in here to rid herself of hangovers was quite iffy, but Amerald had chosen worse guardians in the past, so why not. It was for science after all.
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YourDirtyLaundry Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:59 am
Rosalie chuckled when the woman asked for something to care for a hangover. It was quite unlikely that she herself would never be in that sort of mess, for she wasn't the partying type. She coughed a bit and felt the headache pain within her skull. It seemed to throb and it hurt. She had no idea what had caused it. Maybe it was the heat? She was still unsure, but nevertheless she waited for the man to allow her to buy this potion.
When the man had asked for a strand of her hair or a sample of her DNA, she cringed. What in the world kind of an experiment used a human's DNA strand to make into a poultice? She heard it was free, but she was still unsure and didn't know what exactly she would do. It would make her happy, but in the beginning make her have mixed feelings? That must have been a side-effect.
She then rolled her eyes, thinking, 'Oh, why not try for it. It's free, and I get something out of it. At least maybe a pretty bottle or something.' she thought.
She then walked up to the counter, running her hands through her hair she tightened up, pulling out a few strands and lying them in the basket. She still found it rather strange that he wanted her hair, what was this old man up to? Nevertheless, she did it, and didn't really care either way. She then backed up a tad, allowing the other woman to make a decision. "Can I please buy this now and go back to my hotel room?" she asked, rubbing her temple to try and make herself feel better.
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 11:18 am
Candice clicked her tongue happily, "Fantastic." She picked up the bottle, surveyed its listed price carefully and, with a hint of remorse, placed one of the cold-medicine bottles back on its respective shelf. She wasn't poor, per say. She had recently finished a commission for a corseted dress, so her pocket had a reasonable amount of money. However, considering she had started shopping for fabric and miscellaneous items before she had shopped for food and necessities, spending all her cash was probably not a good idea. Her commissions were pricey, but sparse. She didn't know when the next time she would have cash in her pocket.
She half-listened to Amerald's spiel, not really concerned with the repercussions of giving out her DNA. What was the man going to do? Create a clone? As far as Candice was concerned, more Candices meant more fabulously dressed people and more to drink with.
She giggled at Rosalie's impatience but did not reprimand it. The woman was obviously sick, a reason for this behaviour that Candice quite understood. She winked at Amerald, picking up a q-tip and swirling it in the side of her mouth. She would never give out her hair- how fried it was would always be her little secret. She placed the q-tip into the emptier basket and gestured towards Rosalie. Candice was in no rush. She wouldn't mind Amerald tending to the other customer first.
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 11:34 am
"No need to buy them, you guys deserve them. Take them for free. On the house. But please, stay within the shop. I'm going to give you each...a...souvenir for helping me with my endeavors." he said, smiling. He then took the basked filled with q-tips and placed it back under the counter. Grabbing the basket with which had the DNA samples, he took that into the back room and smiled as he went through the large wooden door. "I'll be right back." he called before the door closed behind him.
He dashed down into the basement holding the basket of goods within his hand. He placed it onto the 'operating table' as it came to be called and happily skipped to his desk where the feathers were. Then...an idea struck him. He turned to the staircase and grinned. "Twins..." he said aloud. He then began to become extremely giddy with excitement. He couldn't hold in anymore of his happiness. He plucked a few of the feathers hairs from both feathers and on his way out, grabbed a second magpie feather which he had been stashing. He was quite excited to be getting back upstairs.
He burst through the door, not gone for more than a few minutes and smiled. "Here you both are. You get this feather, and you miss, get this. he said handing the feathers to their respective owners. Both women had gotten the feather of a black billed magpie. Of course, he didn't expect either woman to know what they were from, but they were just gifts and reminders. "I must ask that you keep these feathers as tokens of my appreciation for your participation. They are special to me, and allowing you to have them is my token to you. Keep them." he said, treating them as though they were the children he was going to create.
"Now, what are your names? I am Amerald Laraan, the owner and main alchemist of this shop. I've been running it for years." he said smiling. He was quite excited to begin work on the new experiments, but he at least needed their names.
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 11:42 am
Rosalie was shocked. But if they were free, she nodded, smiled and said, "Thank you so much. I need this now."
She opened the bottle and took a few drinks of it. It tasted rather funny, but she hoped that within a few moments her headache would be gone and her cold symptoms would dissipate soon after. She popped the lid back onto the bottle and rubbed her temple further as the man dashed into the back room. She gave Candice a few innocent smiles here and there, but mostly kept to herself.
When the man had returned, he handed her a feather, telling her that she needed to keep it as a keepsake of sorts and that they were special to him. She found it odd that in return for her DNA, she received a feather. She just smiled, nodded and placed the feather into her bag as her eyes widened with judgement.
"My name is Rosalie Black. I work for the newspaper in Aerr. I traveled here to get my hands on a story that my boss wants. It's just a rumor, but he needs a story by next week." she said, telling him her profession as well, though it wasn't asked. She looked at Candice and waited for her reply. She wondered what this woman did. She just imaged her saying, "My name is such and such, I am a partier and big spender of money." The thought made her giggle a little, but she kept her mouth shut. Oh, how this medication was already beginning to work.
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YourDirtyLaundry Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:44 pm
Candice grinned at his generosity, but couldn't help but feel a prickle of disappointment. She would have to deal with her aching to spend money a different way. No matter, she'd check the local liquor store and see what alcoholic gems she could purchase with her cash. Her throat purred in excitement.
"Absolutely", she responded to Amerald's request. Time was her luxury, a benefit of being unemployed.
But his return and gifts left Candice baffled. Feathers? Feathers were for accessories and birds, not keepsake. But she kept her mouth shut, not wanting to offend the older man. She took the feather, carefully stashing it in between the layers of cloth in her purse. "Thank you" she cooed, albeit awkwardly. How does one respond to being given a feather?
She glared at the other woman- what right did she have laughing at her?
"I'm Candice." She stopped, satisfied with her response to his simple question; but at the probing gazes of Amerald and Rosalie, she continued, "I'm a seamstress". It wasn't necessary to mention she was in one of her long work hiatuses between commissions.
She quickly changed the subject to get off the topic of employment, "What story are you trying to cover?"
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