abraxaslogs | the fairy tales and little lies can't drown out all the sound [closed]

[Abby's never had a job interview before. Sarstina was more of a charity thing, expected and with a bit of a learning curve. But she's never had to present herself for a job. Granted between Julie and Nadine it feels more like a formality? Why wouldn't he hire her.]

[Meaning Abby comes in looking vaguely bored. Not quite aloof, but fairly disinterested in being here. Especially at that overly friendly greeting, it was weird. Who is he trying to impress? Is he trying to be friends? Gross.]

[She's dressed in her usual dark pinstripe pants and lightly colored sleeveless blouse. With a lightweight linen jacket to keep the sun off her fair skin while she's outside. Girl puts in an effort to keep looking like a porcelain doll.]

'Sup. So this is the place I'll be working?

[Oh, he already is not feeling wonderful about this.] Ah. Joyous.

[And his nose wrinkles as he withdraws any attempt at offering his hand. Not that he entirely bases his experiences on someone's initial meeting with him, but there is obviously some expectation of understanding, even surface-level, when one is being introduced.]

If I decide you deserve to work here, then yes. And I fully understand you, predictably, don't wish to, but unfortunately, the truth of the world is we all need a bit of coin to live. Now, as long as you're not about to chase my customers off with a snarl on your tongue, I don't have many requirements. The plants mostly take care of themselves, but do require a bit of watering, and there's a persistent lizard population that keeps trying to break in here to eat them. I hope you don't have issues with giving them a good smack around every now and then.

[That 'if' was probably meant to get Abby to heel, or behave. It wasn't going to work. Mostly because she's kind of already annoyed that this offer came to her months ago. But someone fucked off to the desert.]

I can pretend to be nice. Water plants. Be cute when people try to haggle. Not sure what I can do about lizards when I was told I shouldn't be using magic.

[Ironically she was being nice. Not saying anything especially biting and being this cold bitch was her version of being nice. When she's not a fan of what's going on, being jerked around. Also he wasn't paying her yet so she didn't see any reason to try. And the lizard thing she really wasn't sure what to do about, other than leverage her stealth. Which is probably bad for customers.]

How much foot traffic will there be any given day? Are you selling to mostly lonely old ladies, guys looking for gifts, or gardeners and chefs?

They're called brooms. Perhaps you've heard of them?

[See, he can be an arse about things, too. But, to be fair, this whole venture is simply that -- an idle venture. A bit of extra coin, and a way to spread some foliage around this godsforsaken desert. His name is enough to sell plenty, he thinks, and the market will eventually dry up -- so to speak -- when he's sold enough.]

Enough to keep you busy, I'd imagine. It's not like I plan the place being open all bloody day. It's hot enough as it is most of the time. I've never counted, but once no one else is knocking the door down to buy a succulent, you can close it up. I don't think the sort of clientele we receive truly matters.

So that's why you need me, your snarling tongue keeps chasing off customers?

[His answer about customers causes her to roll her eyes. She shouldn't be this surprised, he's what? Five centuries out of date? Hence the whole fucking off outta dodge right after opening.]

Even if you're not open all day, having set hours, and advertising them, means if someone shows up while nobody is here they know when to come by and try again. Lonely old ladies will want to talk, because they're lonely. It won't be about what you sell and so you can't really talk them into something else. But if they don't have a better place to go they'll keep coming back.

[She finds a spot of counter that's empty enough and hoists herself up to sit there. She's never been in retail proper, but she's been volunteered at enough town events at home, and worked for Mags enough here, to maybe help someone who clearly doesn't give a fuck about any of this. Sales is about people, after all.]

Love-lost idiots will need their hand held. More work but you can guide them to maybe spend more coin if you convince them that one flower will absolutely melt the underwear they want melted. Gardeners and Chefs know what they want, nobody needs to hold their hands as they buy things. Maybe they shop around a bit, get curious about pretty things. Low work, plus chefs might come back for more if they can't keep the plant alive while using the petals for whatever tea or baking they use them for.

Edited 2023-09-21 06:48 (UTC)

[ Julie is gonna straight up fight both of these dumbasses.

She thought she was solving a problem here -- Abby needs money, Jaskier needs the shop to at least make its own rent. Voila, put the teenager in the shop to sweep and man the register while Jaskier does Jaskier things all day. Problem solved all around. It seemed so easy.

At no point did she think that they would both immediately start being dicks to each other for no reason. For fuck's sake.

Abby gets several very sharp pinches and glares, starting practically as soon as the girl opens her mouth. Why? Why is she like this? They both know good and goddamn well that the idea of a part-time job is nowhere near as onerous as she is making it. On the scale of things a sixteen year old girl from modern America is actually qualified to do, this is a fucking jackpot of a job. Does Abby want to spend her time getting her ass pinched by drunk locals for tips? Julie has told her about working at the Hare & Harrow in Nott.

And Jaskier, despite being a man in his fucking forties, is of course immediately sinking to the level of the teenaged nightmare Julie has adopted. Wonderful.

In the corner, Julie sighs heavily and closes her eyes as she rubs her face.

While Abby does get another fierce poke in the small of her back, courtesy of Julie's phantom hand, her idea of how business works does line up much more closely with Julie's. Yay for capitalism, she supposes. ]

I mean, I'm pretty sure we can come to a happy medium on this. Jaskier, how much money are you wastin' on rent while you go out gallivantin' with Geralt for weeks? Or when you're puttin' your time in on Libertas? Abby can keep the set hours, and when there's no customers, she can save you time on actually buildin' bouquets or whatever. I know this is kind of a lark, but the point is to make some money, right?

[ Julie won't deny the slight, satisfied smirk she has when Abby does immediately start to speak with a firm sense of salesmanship, though. As long as she keeps her goddamn mouth in check. ]

Please. I hardly need your obvious and sincere lack of erudition in aiding me with anything, let alone my relationship with, as you say, customers.

[Jaskier is already rolling his eyes and turning away at her overly verbose and completely unnecessary explanations of how to run a business, as if a girl of an age who should be hoeing mud pits and on her third child has any weight to throw at him on how to be successful. He can guarantee she is not the holder of an academy degree. Let alone seven of them. He is not the one who needs the employment. Any orphan off the streets could do this job, and he could likely pay them less, as well. (Though he wouldn't. Orphans often have very good work ethics.)]

And get off my counters. It is not made for your arse to sit on. It's for display and coin --

[The only reason he stops and does not already begin sweeping the girl out himself is because of Julie's interference. Now, Jaskier can take a lot. One may not call him patient, but he can be... understanding. However, the one thing he has no defense for -- and likely never will -- is the receiving of unsolicited criticism. Especially from those who likely know no better than himself... and especially from the mouth of babes.

He slowly turns his quickly darkening glare from the girl to Julie, fingers curled around the edge of the counter.] I don't waste money, I spend it exactly how I mean to. [He's just saying. He looks between them, then releases his fingers carefully. He must think, very clearly, to the messages left him earlier. What was that? I'm insulted you think I'd send you someone shitty? He must recognize this is Julie's attempt at a good deed. A good deed that is going sour. If he cares about anything, it is not annoying Julie (on purpose.)] Excuse me. I need to speak to Julie privately.

[And so he tilts his head towards the door leading to the back room, and waits for her to join him.]

Julie. This is a joke, isn't it? A very poor, ill-conceived one? You're hiding the real girl, that minds her tongue, somewhere outside?

[Fortunately it's mostly easy to no sell all of Julie's poking all meeting, she moves from the impact, but doesn't say ayAbby looks at Jaskier, a polite and serene smile that can only given the situation be described as menacing. Nothing about the expression is, mind. It's as polite placid as any expression can be, sweet and cute as one might expect of a girl who is defintely roiling under the surface but hiding it well.]

I'm sure all your customers on this busy day will correct my mistake.

[She does hop off the counter, to sweep a dramatic hand at the empty flower shop. Which felt a little too easy given all his bluster, but here we are. A lonely old man and his empty fucking stage. She leans against the counter, and waits for Jaskier to not have her in sight. And vanishes. Sending Julie a very fun little message over the network, which she is loath to use but here she was, using it this once.]

I wanted a job that won't be a Spirit Halloween before the end of the week. I wasn't saying fuck or calling him old. I just don't feel like pretending to be some old asshole's friend to get a job.

[Once the pair are out of the main room the front door rings twice, signaling it opened, then closed. And the girl who was in there to be offered a job is gone.]

Edited 2023-09-25 18:03 (UTC)

[ Julie is at a complete loss now, looking between them. She was genuinely trying to do a nice thing, and she doesn't understand what's happening. Did she push too hard, does Abby feel forced to be here? Julie didn't think she was being pushy when she made the offer. And she hadn't sensed any resentment or anger from Abby until they were here, in the shop.

She's so taken aback that she simply follows Jaskier into the back room without a word. For once, she's rattled, unsure of what she missed and when. The anxiety from losing control of the situation so suddenly is beginning to spike. ]

I don't know what she's doin', she's normally not like this. [ Abby is a brat and a snarky teen, but Julie has never seen her be so nasty without warning. Julie's brow is knit with concern, though she sighs and closes her eyes with frustration when Abby also chooses this moment to chew her out for... something. Can't they be angry at her for her good deed separately. ] Just gimme a sec, let me --

[ The bell tinkles, and Julie cuts herself off abruptly, exiting to see an empty store. She stares at the door, arms slowly falling to her sides. She takes a sharp breath, feeling like she's been given a swift punch in the lungs.

A rushing noise fills her ears. Heartbreak writes itself across her face, twisted with rage. Jaskier is forgotten behind her. ]

[Jaskier is quite sure he's had sirens smile more nicely at him -- and that's the same sirens who enjoy eating men's livers, by the way.

He does not get a chance to tell her -- in very obvious terms -- that the shop is not full of people shopping because he closed it, specifically, for this interview. Which has gone terribly, in a way conversations with himself simply do not go. (If he isn't charming to a fault, he can at least be swallowed in some small dose. This was as if she'd approached him like he'd kicked her favorite cat into a river.)]

Perhaps she was stung by a particularly pissed-off bee prior to walking in.

[He raises his hands in surrender, though; he believes Julie when she says she's normally not like this. Stepping into the back room had two points of importance: to have a separate conversation, and a moment to cool his temper. Even if the girl is practically an adult to him, he understands that is not true of... well, most spheres, it seems.] Go ahead.

[He stays behind. Or at least means to. The bell rings, but it shouldn't since he'd put the closed sign up. He peers out of the back room, around a shelf of rather rowdy rhododendrons, to see Julie standing, alone, in the store.

So, what? The girl's left already?

His hands come together in front of him. He does not need to see Julie's face to know, in some small measure, what she must be feeling. She'd brought the girl here to help her, and he... had maybe been a touch ruder than he should have, but he also had not been prepared for someone the two of them were helping to come off so ungrateful.]

My apologies, Julie. [For being rude on his own, but because the girl has thrown Julie's efforts in her face.] Perhaps our... personalities are not meant to mix. If we can find her some other work, I would still be willing to help her.

Edited 2023-09-29 04:42 (UTC)

[ Hey, wait. Please don't leave me. I'm sorry.

More than anything, Julie hates when people walk away from her. Turn away from her. Dismiss her. She feels the sting of abandonment like a knife in her chest, doubly so because this time she really tried. She really, truly tried to be a good friend, a good mentor, a good whatever to Abby.

The edges of her vision are getting fuzzy. Heat builds in her face.

Oh, you can't hear me, can you?

Julie's fists are clenched at her sides, shaking. She doesn't want to explode, doesn't want to take it all out on Jaskier or his shop, which she is suddenly keenly aware contains a myriad of extremely breakable things. Despite her efforts, there are... signs.

Water starts to crackle frozen in the vases around her. A few plants around the store begin to wither (they'll recover). It's a testament to how far she's come that nothing bursts into flame.

How 'bout I try somethin' a little louder! ]

Fuck her. She can fend for herself from now on.

[ Though her voice holds strong, Julie herself is trembling. Her mind is racing, trying to come up with what will make her feel any better without also being violent. ]

Edited 2023-10-01 22:13 (UTC)

[He can feel the magic shifting inside of his shop as well as if it was affecting himself. He has put to use the runes they found in the Old Public Hall, in similar fashion. The plants signal to him that something is wrong, but for the first time, he ignores them.

Truthfully, he does recognize she's holding back. And also, he really does not wish his plants to burst into flame.

He pulls the curtains at the front window, the sign still turned to the "CLOSED" side. A shame he might miss a few sales today, but as he had told the girl, he truly doesn't care. This is fun for him. Something to use his magic for, to give back to Cadens. And right now, he believes it's important it stay closed for the day.

Besides, he understands similar. The wretched feeling of writing someone off after they've betrayed you. And perhaps Abby's betrayal is not equivalent to a prince almost getting Ciri killed, but the circumstances hardly change how it affects them. Both Jaskier and Julie are volatile people. They feel it deeply.

He lets her. The girl will either find her own way or she will continue scalding roads before her she's barely laid a foot on.]

Let's get lunch, shall we? My treat. I've already taken the day off, and I could use a drink and something deeply fried.

Edited (the icon was too damn happy) 2023-10-03 17:35 (UTC)

[ She does try to keep her emotions in check, has spent years now working on herself. There's only so many times you can burn or soak your bedsheets before it becomes an inconvenience. But she has so many feelings most of the time, and all of them so big, even without adding her open connection to the Singularity into that mix.

It can be... difficult. To contain it all.

The way she startles at his voice gives away just how consumed she was getting, her anger trying to subsume her mind. For a moment, she had begun to lose cognizance of where she was.

For a second, she blinks at him, fury still burning behind her eyes. His voice sounds distant, but she makes it parse; the fire in her glare becoming much dimmer. She refuses to let the pain surface in her expression. ]

Fine. [ Her voice is tight and controlled, and her eyes flick downward as she nods. Her purse floats toward her from across the room, carried in her phantom hand. ] Let's take the portal and go to Aquila. I wanna look at the ocean.

[Jaskier gives her the moment she needs. The plants are complaining, but he can baby them once he returns. They'll be fine. The store will be fine. What matters now, he thinks, is he does not let Julie get lost in this anger. It's always so bloody tempting.

Whatever Abby faces later will be entirely on her. Actually, after seeing Julie's expression, he almost feels bad for her now.

A wasted opportunity on her end... and she has made a very scary woman quite angry.

Melitele help her.

Jaskier pats her arm lightly.] Aquila it is. They do have heavier hands pouring drinks.

[Escape it is. And an afternoon spent on the beach will help... a little. A drop in a bucket, perhaps, but it is still a drop.]

[ Even now, with the small distraction his words create, the plants furthest from her are already beginning to recover from her magical aura. The slip wasn't enough to truly damage them. The water crystalizing into ice stops, melts. Her knuckles are white where she clutches her bag. ]

Let's go. [ There is something final in her voice, like she has closed a book she was reading out loud. The compartmentalization that she thrived in for so long takes over. ] We can get those little fried squid rings.

[ That stupid bell tinkles behind them as they exit. ]

the fairy tales and little lies can't drown out all the sound [closed]

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