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 Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 5:00 pm
Determined to do something normal today, Marcella nudged open the door to Destiny City Antiques and Collectibles, and wandered in slowly as her eyes worked to take in the variety and quantity of items arranged in the store. School work aside, the girl was starting to feel bad about her family, as well, with this whole senshi thing. It felt like she had been lying to all of them quite a bit lately, and with Mother's Day coming up, Marcella felt guilty.
She bought her mother nice things for the holiday anyway, but she felt like she should try to find something special this time, as an apology for being unable to tell her what all the bruises and late nights were about. And antique stores always just seemed like relaxing places. All of the little things with stories to tell. Somewhere, there would be a perfect pair of earrigns or a perfect necklace for her mother.
But in the meanwhile, there were old Tiffany lamps, paintings, cabinets, candlesticks....
And never proprietors, it seemed like. Someone would be in here somewhere, she figured, and glanced around for any signs of human movement, beyond the gently-swinging pendulum of a wall clock, and the jittering ribbon scraps indicating that the ceiling vent was working at the moment.
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Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 5:59 pm
Hypatia was seated behind a lovely Biedermeier secretary desk toward the back of the crowded but exceedingly neat and organized shop, laptop screen lighting up her pale skin with a slight blue tint. She had a spreadsheet opened up, working on the schedule for the next few weeks for the shop. Fleetingly, Hypatia wondered if she should feel guilty as she gives herself the up coming Friday off... But with one of the live theaters putting on Phantom of the Opera, a classic she had yet to see in person, the free time was written off as a reward to herself for the sale of the Chippendale coffee table she'd closed out yesterday.
Glancing up as the small bell tied to the main entrance door sounded, she was pleased to note that it was a new customer. Destiny City Antiques and Collectibles had a very devoted, but very small, clientele, and most of them quite a bit older than Hypatia herself. Standing and smoothing down her skirt so that the hem lay nicely at her knees, she stepped forward, a friendly and professional smile in place.
"Hello! Could I help you to find something, today?" Voice cheerful but quiet, Hypatia studied the young woman with a shop girl's eye-- the customer seemed to be around her own age, and with mother's day right around the corner (as Hypatia well knew, needing to buy presents for her own mothers yet, heavens but she was behind on that), she could well guess what she was here for. Mentally going through their stock, Hypatia waited for a few more clues as to what her new customer might be looking for.
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Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 10:11 pm
Marcella turned around at the sound of the shop proprietor's voice and was mildly surprised to find that she was a girl around her own age. She did not regularly shop at antique stores, but the ones she had visited had had antique shopkeepers to match.
Stepping carefully around a case filled with silverware and a shelf of hip flasks in varying states of tarnish, the customer nodded. "Actually yes," she said, brushing a few stray hairs back behind her ear. "I'm looking to get my mother something for Mother's Day. She mostly likes jewelry, like earrings and necklaces, but I would be open to other ideas, too."
Marcella shifted her weight to one foot, gaze trailing off down a row of porcelain statuettes on an ornate shelf, to a couple picture frames at the end; one had a faded black-and-white photo of a little girl in a dress and pinafore. Then she shrugged a little.
"Just something nice, really. She likes lilies and red things, especially, and also gold." Perhaps it was odd for someone her age to be asking after gold antiques, but Marcella thought nothing of it, apparently. Her tank top and the loosely-knit sweater over it were not designer, but her skinny jeans and heels were. The jewelry she already wore could have come from anywhere, but she was wearing a decent supply of it either way.
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2011 5:57 pm
"Well, gold and jewelry are always a big hit with mothers, I think. Especially since yours apparently already likes it anyway. I actually just got in a new shipment of pieces-- well, not new-new, just new to the shop." Hypatia laughed, smiling brightly. Her customer had given her plenty to work with, and jewelry was a personal weakness of hers, along with... well, pretty much every other thing that they carried in the store. "If you'll come over to the jewelry counter, I'll pull out a few things for you to take a look at."
With careful steps-- her shoes were fabulous looking, but perhaps not practical for work-- Hypatia led the young lady to a locked glass case, whipping out a set of keys to unlock a sliding pane of the glass, extracting a few necklaces and rings of varying price to show off. "Depending on what your mother's ring size is, some of these might work... I find that necklaces are usually pretty big hits." Settling the pieces out on the counter, Hypatia seems to suddenly remember her manners.
"Oh, and I'm Hypatia, by the way." With a dimpled smile, she held out a hand to her newest customer. "I should have introduced myself sooner, but I get so caught up in my work, you know. Little holidays like this are the best times to work here, I'm always meeting new people and learning little things about them."
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2011 11:25 am
Marcella smiled politely as the other girl laughed, then nodded and followed her to the jewelry counter. Then, clasping her hands behind her back, she leaned forward to peer down at the pieces in the case. The particularly sparkly pieces naturally drew the girl's eyes first, but well, she wanted something her mother could wear every day.
"Her hands are about the same size as mine, so I think about an eight or a nine," she replied, keeping one hand behind her back as she reached forward with the other to brush her own necklaces out of the way a little. At the other girl's introduction, she straightened and offered her hand to shake. "Oh, pleased to meet you. I'm Marcella. And I imagine this is an interesting place to work year-round."
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 1:50 am
"Marcella, that's a beautiful name." Shaking the other girl's hand firmly, Hypatia smiled broadly. "And yes, I actually happen to like my job-- one of my mother's says too much, but you know what they say, love what you do and you'll never actually work a day in your life." Chatting away in a pleasant tone, she studied the rings and such placed out between them, trying to find one or two to really focus on selling. "I learn all sorts of little facts about people, even ones I don't know, if the customer is in shopping for a birthday or for Mother's day, like today."
Drawing her eyebrows together, Hypatia eventually pushed forward a ruby-and-gold ring. "This should be about the right size, and rubies are very in right now. This piece isn't as old as some others, but it came to us through an estate sale of an owner of a speak-easy in California during the 1920s. It was an engagement ring for his wife, very romantic, I think. Would you like to try it on, to see if it fits?" Picking up the ring gently, Hypatia gestured for Marcella's hand.
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 6:55 pm
"Oh, thanks," she replied with a small shrug. She got that sometimes, since her name was a bit unusual. Marcella liked her name, at least. "I think you are the first Hypatia I've met."
The then turned her attention to the ring, eyes lighting up at the intricate design of the ring. Antique gold was usually pretty expensive, though, and Marcella was a bit reluctant to fall in love with the piece just yet; she had considerably more than most her age to put towards this gift, but she was worried that the price tag would push the upper limit.
... But trying it on could not hurt.
"Sure," she agreed, holding out her hand for the other girl. "And do you have anything else from that estate sale? Sounds like a potential source for some pretty interesting things. I've seen pictures of really nice jewelry from that era."
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 10:41 pm
"I get that quite a lot, actually. I used to hate it when I was younger, you know? There's all sorts of ways to mispronounce Hypatia, and I think I've heard them all. But it's nice now, to have a name that sets me apart." Watching Marcella try the ring on, she nodded to herself. "It looks stunning, I have to say. And I definitely have more where that came from." Placing the other pieces back in their case, Hyptia unlocked another cabinet to bring out a box that held the rest of the jewelry from the estate sale that had yet to be put onto display. "I haven't had a chance to show these off to any, so you'll have first pick."
Setting the box between herself and Marcella, Hypatia pulled out several necklaces and rings, most of them in the art deco-filigree style, delicate swirls of silver and gold surrounding stones ranging from diamond chips to emeralds. "I would suggest sticking with the gold, it looks lovely on you, and I'm sure on your mother as well. Stone wise, diamonds are classic but over rated, in my personal opinion. Do you see anything else you like?"
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 12:40 pm
Marcella nodded as she studied the ring, turning her hand to watch the light glimmer off of the stone. "You would be surprised how many creative mispronunciations I've gotten for my name, as well," she replied. "But I guess after a while you just get used to it." She was not really sure she had ever felt particularly strongly about her own name either way; it was not like the sound of her name determined who she was.
"Although I guess it was sort of irritating that it was so unique and recognizable for a while," she added as an afterthought, gently removing the gold-and-ruby ring from her finger. Marcella turned it over to look over the designs again, then set it gently onto the glass counter top. The whole media interest after her parents had won the large lottery jackpot had attracted rather a lot of attention to the then-second-grader Marcella, going so far as to call her a "princess", but that had fortunately died down in the intervening time. She suspected there would be renewed interest when she graduated from Sovereign Heights and went on to medical school, but ... she would cross that bridge when she came to it.
The new tray of the filigree rings was a nice distraction anyway. Even serous Marcella could not deny an interest in the beautiful color and shine of precious stones. Must come with the territory of being a lady.
"Oh, this one is precious," she exclaimed after a moment, pointing out a garnet one. Then she raised her gaze to Hypatia again, wanting to be careful and polite. "Do you mind if I pick it up?"
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Posted: Sun May 08, 2011 6:00 pm
"Oh, a garnet? Very lovey-- a naturally deeper red than the ruby, actually, I feel like it gets looked over quite a bit." Smiling encouragingly, Hypatia held out the ring for Marcella to hold and try on. "Please do! I think it will look lovely." Glancing discreetly at their pricing guide held on the inside of the cabinet from which all these jewels came in the first place, Hypatai turned her gaze back to Marcella.
"The first ring I showed you was a bit more pricey than this, and I think the one you're holding now has a similar style and feel to it anyway. I think we're looking at about two hundred for that, give or take a bit. If that's not the price range you were looking for though, we certainly have others I can bring out for you." Commission was a rather large part of Hypatia's salary, but money certainly wasn't the driving force behind her employment at the shop.
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Posted: Sun May 08, 2011 9:03 pm
Marcella picked up the second ring carefully and slid it onto her finger, but found that it would not quite make it past her second knuckle. "Aw, little small," she murmured as she carefully worked it back off again, then placed it on her flat palm.
Her eyes traced the curls of gold as Hypatia related the prices, and nodded slowly. Then, blinking once, she refocused on the girl on the other side of the counter. "Are you able to resize them here?" A faint sheepish smile touched her lips. "I really like them both, actually." Getting them both was within her means, but a bit more than she wanted to spend all in one go. Marcella imagined buying them both and then possibly borrowing one or the other sometimes. Or perhaps she should wait to get the smaller one? A bit of guilt compelled her to really splurge on her mother, and the girl had the money to do so if she really wanted. But then at this point, even if this shop could resize the ring, it might not be ready in time for the holiday....
"Or do you have the garnet one or one like it in a larger size?" She leaned down over the counter again, holding her necklaces back with a palm as she scrutinized the rings remaining in the tray.
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 4:32 pm
"Certainly, resizing is definitely an option. It's a complimentary service we offer, so no worries about it adding to the price." Looking over the ring again, Hypatia jotted down some notes on a pad of paper that was near by. "It shouldn't take more than two days to get it all fixed up for you, we just send them on down to the jewelry store down the street. If you need something sooner, we might be able to put a rush job on it, too."
Leaning over to look at the tray as well, Hypatia caught her lower lip between her teeth as she searched. "Gold and ruby or garnet is a pretty popular combination of the time, if you wanted to keep looking. I think this little ring is just precious, though." Holding the ring that's just slightly too small, the girl studied it again, nodding. "Bigger isn't always better, you know? I think it's a lovely piece."
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Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 11:26 am
"Oh," Marcella exclaimed. If resizing was free, then why not? "Then I'll get the garnet, too, resized, and two days should be just fine. They're not overwhelmed with resizings for everyone who left their Mother's Day shopping until the last minute, are they?" She laughed a little. "Usually I have trouble picking things out for my parents. I don't know why. But I guess I just got lucky this time around."
Letting her purse slide down off of her shoulder, Marcella set it gently on an open space of counter. Glancing around, she scanned for signs mentioning what payment options were available, and asked, "Is it alright if I write a cheque?"
Digging her wallet out of her somewhat expansive purse, she conceded, "Part of me feels like nothing I buy could ever make up for what my mother's done for me, but the other part of me wants to at least try really hard. I think she'll like these, at least."
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 12:04 pm
"Parents are always tricky to shop for, I think. Once we move past the macaroni art stage, gift-giving just gets so... complicated." With a laugh, Hypatia nodded to Marcella's question. "A check is fine, just make it out to the store name." Setting to rings aside to be taken over to the jewelry shop later-- she'd walk them down there herself on her way to the cafe for her daily caramel latte-- she tallied up the price on the simple cash register the shop kept on the counter.
"And I know what you mean." Hypatia passed the receipt over to Marcella, for the other woman to keep for her records. "My mothers have done an awful lot for me, as well," she commented, voice softening a bit with affection as she thinks about her parents. "I was able to find something for one of them easily enough-- she's a chef, so lots of things to pick from there. The other one, though, she's difficult to shop for. We're a lot alike, so I always wonder if I'm picking something I want or if it's really something she'd like to have."
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 8:21 pm
Marcella rummaged briefly in her purse before pulling out her chequebook and then a pen. She clicked the button on the end of the pen against her shoulder, then set the business end writing out the cheque.
"So, to 'Destiny City Antiques and COllectibles'," she repeated slowly for confirmation as she wrote it out, then glanced to the receipt for the amount.
After signing for the amount and handing the cheque over, Marcella pocketed the receipt and looked back up to Hypatia. "Two mothers?" she sounded a bit surprised, but not judgmental. She knew of a few couples like that, but not well, and she did not know any of the children. "Do they share jewelry? It think I'd like it if I only had to worry about buying earrings and things for both parents. My dad loves cars and I can't exactly, you know, buy him a new Corvette or something for his birthday each year."
Clicking her pen a few times, she turned slightly to glance back at the rest of the store. "I may come back here for Father's Day shopping, though," Marcella added. "I see you've got some nice flasks and things. Maybe I can find something new to get him into that'd be easier to buy."
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