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 Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 2:12 pm
The Kitsune's Den was a swank little joint, owned and managed by one Shirohana Nyoko, the sole source of income for her home. A close friend of hers, Kyuubi, often doubled as her assistant manager, much to her relief. "The Den," as it was called by more than a few of its patrons, catered to a rather diverse crowed, the majority of which were punks or gothic-punks. Most of the others were friends of these people, or the type who just didn't care. The bands were local undergrounders, trying to get their start to fame, and many were warmly welcomed.
The Den was a place where you could hang and be yourself. It served anything you could imagine, thanks in part to the Kitsune who managed it, whom could get her hands on literally anything. It was decorated sparsely, as Nyoko saw no need to shell out cash on plants that would die in two weeks. Instead, colored lights, beanbag chairs, low tables, and the occassional booth served as the places only decoration. Candles were placed on every table, and matches were provided for patrons to light them. Each candle smelled strongly of cinnamon and apple, a scent that lent it's spicy warmth to the atmosphere.
The Kitsune's Den was Nyoko's heaven.
At the moment, the manager of the joint was sprawled out on her back on one of her low tables. (No rules against that. She was a leniant manager. As long as the patrons weren't harassing anyone, she could care less.) Her four golden tails were slipping over the edge slightly, waving slightly due to her relaxed state. She couldn't help it. Inhaling the scent of the lit candle next to her made her melt.
A few of her patrons laughed and casually joked that she should lay off the scented candles. Most everyone knew her, and knew how she got sometimes. She liked that. She liked having patrons she knew. Friends that came in often to hang out and get some food. Rather than simply faces of strangers. She made it her personal duty to befriend everyone who came into her café.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 2:23 pm
Indeed, the Kitsune's Den was a great place. Or so, Amryx heard. Really, the only reason that she was even heading towards that particular café was because she heard some of Olivia's customers talking about it and how it had beanbag chairs.
Amryx really liked beanbag chairs.
"Why are you dragging me along? I don't want to go out. You should know how to cook. This is stupid."
What Amryx didn't like was the fact that she had to take Adrian with her. Of course, Amryx did care somewhat for the child's well-being; he had grown on her slightly, when he wasn't brooding in the corner he could be very helpful in the shop. But whenever she attempted to do something "fun" with him, there would be an endless torrent of whining and complaining.
"I think you'll like this place," Amryx assured him, stopping at the doors of the café. Well, hopefully once inside, Adrian would be too occupied with eating his food instead of finding things to complain about. "And please try not to make me regret taking you out into public."
"I don't like this place. It's too dark," Adrian grumbled, and begrudgely followed Amryx inside. The counter clerk was already delighted with the atmosphere of this place, except for the candles. Working in a incense shop made you sick of exotic scents after awhile.
The pair found a table to sit at, a little aways from a slouching woman who seemed to be lazily enjoying herself. Adrian had stayed silent ever since they entered, and Amryx took his silence as approval of this place... but then he had to speak.
"Who's that lady with the tails sitting over there?" He asked, obnoxiously singling her out. "She looks weird."
"Adrian!"
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 2:33 pm
Did her ears deceive her?
Nyoko tilted her head to glance over at the whining kid and his guardian, and grinned. It was true! New customers! She gave a languid stretch, her tails curling slightly and her ears flicking back for a moment, before rolling of the table. She blew out the Cinnamon Apple candle, and walked over to the newbies, putting a hand on her hip and glancing down at them through her "emo" glasses.
"Hey there, and welcome to The Kitsune's Den. I'm Shirohana Nyoko, owner and managers. Is there anything I can get for you?" Nyoko greeted, grinning down and playfully ruffling the kids hair.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 2:43 pm
Oh no. The woman Adrian oh so rudely pointed out was actually walking over to them! Amryx visibly paled as the woman approached and started talking, but she didn't seem to be angered at all. On the contrary, she seemed quite happy to see them. Well, that was good, because Amryx would have been mortified if she was thrown out of the café before even getting to eat anything.
As Nyoko reached down to ruffle Adrian's hair, Amryx could already sense doom befalling them. Adrian was glaring daggers at the woman as he literally leapt out of his seat, clutching at his hair.
"Why did you go and do that?!" He whined, furiously trying to fix the wayward strands. "Now you ruined it! My hair was fine just the way it was! Why'd you have to go and ruin iiiiit?"
He was promptly dragged back to his seat by Amryx, who was already out on damage control. She kept a firm grip on the struggling Scent's shoulders as he thrashed and whined.
"She messed up my HAIR! She HATES me! I want to LEAVE!"
"Don't mind him. He's not very social," Amryx explained, a pained smile on her face. "Do you have a menu?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 2:56 pm
"Awe, isn't he such a cute little brat?" Nyoko cooed, glaring daggers right back at the little boy. Oh yes, she could play when she wanted to. DO NOT MESS WITH A KITSUNE. At the question regarding a menu, she couldn't help but giggle. Hell, some of the other patrons downright laughed, pushing each other in the shoulder and winking. But if Amryx turned to look, they would give a good-hearted grin. They didn't think her stupid, newbies just always... Well, they always freaked when she answered that question. "Nope, no menu. Don't need one. If you can think of it, we can make it. Two Kitsune on staff, so our magickal abilities can take care of that. It's useful, since we only have to pay utilities."
Nyoko grinned, her fangs giving a small glint in the lighting. From the small stage in the café, a guitarist was tuning his instrument, bent over to carefully look at it. One of the local bands, she turned to look for a brief moment (ah, it was Defying Gravity), was getting ready to perform.
"I do hope you'll stick around for a while. We're just getting started, tonight. Defying Gravity is gonna be playing tonight, and they're pretty hot locally."
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 3:17 pm
"He is, isn't he?" Amryx sighed. Her question with the menu was brought with roaring laughter, but that was the least of Amryx's worries. No, she was more concerned about the child in her grip who was staring all the more furiously at Nyoko.
"I'm not a brat! You're just stupid! Let me go, I want to LEAVE!" Adrian was practically screaming at this point, prompting Amryx to put her mouth over her hand.
"That's good then, because I really want some Chai tea and maybe a grilled chicken sandwich," She requested, taking Nyoko up on her offer to make anything. "With some mayo and lettuce on the sandwich, please. And if Adrian doesn't stop squirming in the next five seconds, he can have a fruit salad."
Adrian promptly stopped squirming.
"I don't LIKE fruit."
"Yes, I know. He won't have anything, he's not hungry," Amryx predicted, and lo, Adrian nodded.
"That's RIGHT. I'm not HUNGRY and I want to go HOME, away from this stupid fox lady who obviously hates me!"
Clearly, this evening was going well. Amryx looked like she wanted to strangle someone and Adrian hadn't taken his deathglare away from Nyoko.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 3:26 pm
"You know, my brother was like him," Nyoko mused, 'hmmm'ing softly and walking over to take her place behind the counter. She went into the back, and browsed her storage. Good, she had some fresh Chai Tea, so she didn't have to pull any out of her realm. This was absolutely perfect. It didn't take her long to personally whip up Amryx's request. It was a tradition. Anyone new had their meals personally made by Nyoko, and if they promised to come back, it was on the house.
It wasn't long before Nyoko came back, plate and drink balanced perfectly on a tray in her hand. She set the tray before Amryx with a flourish, winking and sitting down with them.
"So tell me, what are your names?"
Yes, she was a friendly manager...
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 3:39 pm
"I've had customers like him," Amryx replied, wondering how Nyoko put up with being related to someone as unsociable and rude as Adrian. The Scent had already returned to his seat, pouting and brooding and generally looking as depressed and angry as possible. Amryx wasn't even going to try to talk to him while he was like that, instead choosing to look around and pretend that she didn't know him.
"I hate people like that. Messing up my hair. She should have asked," Adrian complained, still bothered by the previous events. The conversation that followed was thus:
"She was trying to be nice."
"Well, she should be nice to someone else, because I don't want her to be nice to me. I don't like her."
"You don't like anyone."
"... I like me."
Thankfully, Nyoko returned and Amryx was spared from having to talk to Adrian. As she was cutting the chicken sandwich in half (clearly, she did mean for Adrian to actually eat tonight), Nyoko asked them about their names.
"I'm Amryx. He's Adrian. I work at Solace Scents... do you shop there for your candles? I swore I've smelled some of them before." Amryx asked, trying to make conversation and distract Nyoko from Adrian before verbal war broke out again.
Too late!
"You shouldn't shop there. The scents there are magical. If you buy one, you'll end up with a kid and you'll get arrested for buying a child off the black market. I would know. I saw it happen," Adrian sneered, intent on making sure the woman didn't consider Solace Scents as a place to buy candles.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 3:55 pm
Nyoko was not inclined to believe that kids came from candles, but magickal struck a chord with her. Her eyes glittered, and she knelt down to look Adrian in the eye.
"I can do my own magick, kid."
Then she turned back to Amryx and grinned.
"I actually get the candles from the Temple of Aset. They donate them," she said, her tails swishing behind her. "But I'll have to remember to stop by Solace Scents. Any magickal candles could help for the upcoming Esbat celebration."
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 4:03 pm
Now Amryx was glaring daggers at Adrian. Not because she didn't want him to make Solace Scents sound bad, but because it was true and she didn't want rumots of magical candles - oh crap.
"Oh, no, they're not magical. At all," Amryx quickly lied, still glaring at Adrian. "They're completely normal candles. Yes, donated, you say? That's very nice, cost efficient too. But if you'd like, you're more than welcome to come to the shop, just... no magical candles there."
Adrian just frowned, unimpressed.
"Prove it, then. I want to see some magic. And no stupid parlor tricks, I mean, real magic!"
"Adrian, be quiet and eat," Amryx hissed, hastily chewing on her food in an effort to finish quickly and leave. "This is very good! You weren't kidding when you said you could make anything..."
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 4:37 pm
"I don't do that kind of magick, kid. I do spellwork. But, if you want..."
Nyoko gave a mischievous wink, and with a flourish of her hand, a small blue flame sprouted up in her palm.
"I can do this. It's my Kitsune-bi. I don't know if you'd consider it magick, but it's still pretty cool," Nyoko said, grinning at the kid. It seemed that they'd misunderstood her type of magick. Her kind was religious, spellwork that involved purified utensils and worship of her gods. It was much different than the magic of stage magicians.
"But even non-magickal candles work for spellwork, Miss Amryx. I'd still like to see this place with my own eyes, if you don't mind."
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 4:47 pm
Adrian stared at the flame with interest, but he just shrugged it off in the end. "Oh, well, I guess that's close enough. Can we go now?" He asked Amryx, though there seemed to be a hint of teasing in his boice. Amryx, on the other hand, looked like she was going to throttle him any second.
Crap. Amryx knew it would be stupid of her to turn down a potential customer, but there was a chance that this woman would pick up a magical scent. Granted, not ever customer came back with a child, but the fact remained that something was causing the oils to produce children.
Well, as long as this woman didn't buy the oils... Amryx supposed she would have to deal with that whenever Nyoko came around.
"That'd be nice. I'm sure Olivia would be happy to see new customers. She works very hard to make sure each customer finds the perfect scent," Amryx smiled, writing down the address of the shop. "I just hope, uh... nothing bad comes out of it."
"Oh, you'll regret going there. It's a terrible shop. Olivia is never around and it smells weird," Adrian added, but he had to duck as Amryx threw a napkin at him.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 5:11 pm
"I'm sure nothing bad will come of it. I have a habit of attracting only good luck," Nyoko said, winking and letting her flame vanish. She gladly accepted the adress, making a note to visit later that day. She was running low on some scented candles for her spells, so she could use a few more. And what better place to go than to a new store? "Oh, before I forget. If you two promise to come back some time, your meal's on the house. It's a policy of mine."
To this, Nyoko gave another wink, giggling playfully and swishing her tails behind her.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 5:20 pm
"I hope so..." Amryx sighed, but she said nothing more. It was getting late, and Adrian was annoying her. Upon hearing of Nyoko's policy though, she grinned. Wow, free food on the first visit? This lady knew how to treat her customers! Amryx wondered if Olivia should have some kind of policy like that...
"That sounds great, actual-"
"We're not coming back. Right? She was mean," Adrian interrupted, already at his caretaker's side and attempting to drag her away from the café.
"I will come back. As soon as I find a babysitter that can tolerate him," Amryx promised, wrenching her hand away from Adrian and pointing.
The Scent was speechless for a moment.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHEN YOU FIND A BABYSITTER?! I DON'T LIKE BABYSITTERS!"
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 5:31 pm
"That sounds like fun. Leave the kid at home for a little while. For what it's worth, Adrian, I think you're really cute," Nyoko said, grinning and winking at the small boy. "I hope to see you guys soon. You have a nice evening now."
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