A Spectre of the Fade and Mundane Monster Collab
The Honey Pot flower shop, or at least the front section of it, was basically deserted at this time of night; that wasn't too surprising, given the nature of its business. The "OPEN" sign was turned off and most of the lights had followed suit, with the exception of one above the counter providing illumination for the shop's one occupant. Said occupant also happened to be the source of the soft humming that filled the front area, the tune some pop-y song with a good beat to it. Said occupant also seemed hard at work scribbling things down on the papers spread across the counter, the bobbing of his head along to the beat of whatever was playing in his earbuds not disrupting his concentration any.
It was Gabe's weekend, technically. Which was weird to say, but he strategically made sure all his classes for the semester were scheduled on Thursdays and Saturdays, then worked on Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays. Tuesday and Wednesday were his time off, which made Monday night the first few hours of his weekend, but he was still here. He was at work. Catching up on inventory. And he wasn't even getting paid for it. Oh, well. There were worse ways to waste his time. Besides, Monroe might even treat him to drinks for all his hard work. Yeah, no, that was why he was here. The slim hope that he might get drinks was why he was here.
Speaking of Monroe...it'd been awhile since he'd seen her. Probably because he was absorbed in inventory and his tunes, but hey. He pulled out one of his earbuds and turned towards the back, assuming she was in that direction. "Monroe?" he called out, keeping his distance from the door itself. The back was a No-No Zone, established as explicitly off limits his very first day, and he was not stupid enough to mess with someone as ferocious as his boss.
Said boss was standing the back room, arms crossed with a pointed gaze turned in the direction of her customer who was attempting to haggle. Monroe hated hagglers, especially the ones that needed a 'heavy duty' potion but weren't willing to make a sacrifice. Or in this case, willing to part with their beautiful Neiman Marcus dress that was exactly Monroe's size.
"I have money!" The woman stated indignantly
"I don't want your money. I want that dress." Of course money would have been great and with said money the witch could have bought her own Neiman Marcus dress but all those years living with the Vacilar coven, taught Monroe to be a bit of an asshole. Part of her wanted to just take the money and be done with it, but another part, a much larger part, wanted to see how low this woman was willing to go to get her 'remedy'. And judging by the way she was angrily shedding her cardigan, she was willing to go pretty low.
"Monroe?" The witch heard her sole employee, Gabe call from the door, probably concerned as to why she hadn't come out in a while.
"Be out in a few!" she called in a sing songy voice and turned back to the now half naked woman who stood before her like a peachy pink rat in Victoria secret lingerie basking in the warm glow of humiliation. It was lovely.
The woman handed her the dress and Monroe in turn handed her a small vial of misty green liquid.
"That's it?" The woman gasped, immediately suspicious.
"Hey now just one of those drops will make your mother in law love you. Take anymore and she might try to peel off your skin and wear it like a coat." Monroe warned as she held the dress in front of the mirror, twisting from side to side to view it from all angles. Behind her the woman huffed and shuffled her feet.
Turning around, Monroe cocked an eyebrow. "Transaction's over, you can go."
"Can I at least have a shirt?" The woman demanded, her voice tapering into a petulant whine.
Heaving out a sigh as if she was the one being inconvenienced, Monroe yanked open the door connecting the back business from the front and called out loudly into the hall. "GABRIEL, YOU GOTTA SHIRT UP THERE?"
In the front, Gabe remained blissfully unaware of the business being conducted in the back. He did notice that his boss's answer to his question was said in that sing-song tone that meant she was up to something suspicious or maybe evil, but he got a response and that was enough that he went back to tallying up how many roses and lilies they'd sold in the last week. That peace only lasted for a mere moment.
The blunt question had Gabe's head snapping up, sums forgotten while he stared at the entrance to the hall with an expression of alarm and vague distress. A shirt? Why would she need a shirt? Was she talking about his shirt? Why his shirt specifically? It took him all of two seconds to realize that yes, he was going to give up his shirt (a hot pink tank top with an abstract graphic design he'd liked in like sophomore year that was long on even his lanky frame) and that no, he did not want to know what Monroe needed it for (to cover something? to use as a rag? to make a voodoo doll with? to use as part of some sort of ritual sacrifice?).
With a grumbling noise of complaint, Gabe tugged out his headphones and set them on the counter, then tugged off the shirt. It was clean, freshly washed before his shift, and he would be damned if he didn't have excellent hygiene. Hopefully that suited whatever nefarious purposes Monroe had in mind for it. And, in truth, he wouldn't miss it all that much. It was just an old work shirt.
"Yeah, I got a shirt!" Gabe called towards the back, going to grab his jacket from behind the counter as he spoke. The black windbreaker was better than being half naked in the cold shop, at least.
Monroe met him halfway so he didn't have to enter the backroom. It wasn't that she didn't trust him and she knew that he knew what went on in the back. It was just that she had had a human employee in the past who had seen all her potions and hex bags then tried to 'enhance' his figure with a potion that he misread. Oh, Brody...That lovable dork. Anyhow, that's why Monroe didn't let Gabe into the back and also why she had a parrot that constantly said "Duuuude."
Taking the shirt, Monroe tossed it over her shoulder into the backroom. "Nice doin' business with ya." Her nonchalant remark was met with an indignant squawk but Monroe soon heard the back door slam, signaling the departure of her client.
Striding into the flower shop part of the store, Monroe cast Gabe a wry smile. "Sorry 'bout the shirt, I'll treat you to a drink later to make up for it, alright?"
"It's fine, Roe," Gabe responded with a smile and a dismissive gesture, then reached down to zip the windbreaker up over his bare chest. The jacket was probably going to have him overheating here in a few minutes, seeing as he ran hot on even the coldest of nights, but he wasn't going to mention that to Monroe. Sure, he was trying to coerce her into getting him drinks, but using pity to get them just seemed so...low. Besides, he would call the two of them friends. You didn't send friends on guilt trips. "Just an old shirt, no big deal. I would not mind going home and changing, though."
His mouth opened like he was about to say more, but he was interrupted by some grand musical score from Lord of the Rings coming from his pocket. His ringtone, incidentally enough. Gabe gave Monroe an adorably apologetic look before he answered the call.
"Today was one heck of a day, if I have anything to say about it," Addy announced on the other end as soon as he answered the call. Given her tone, Gabe assumed it was not going to be a short conversation.
"Oh, yeah? One sec." He pulled the phone away from his ear, pressing the microphone to his chest, and flashed Monroe his best set of puppy eyes. "Rain check on the drinks? My friend had a bad day. The, uh, the friend that doesn't like you."
Monroe waved Gabe away with an eye roll at the mention of his 'friend' who was more or less a mother hen with a permanent stick shoved up her ass. "Yeah, yeah have fun listening to Little Miss Thing and watching the Notebook or whatever it is that nerds do together." She said jokingly, before picking up the order book to look over the day's profits. The door snapped shut behind Gabe and Monroe was left to her thoughts.
Tagged:
@Spectre of the Fade
Mentioned:
@espoir (Addy)
[spoili]
Spectre of the Fade & Mundane Monster Collab
The Honey Pot flower shop, or at least the front section of it, was basically deserted at this time of night; that wasn't too surprising, given the nature of its business. The "OPEN" sign was turned off and most of the lights had followed suit, with the exception of one above the counter providing illumination for the shop's one occupant. Said occupant also happened to be the source of the soft humming that filled the front area, the tune some pop-y song with a good beat to it. Said occupant also seemed hard at work scribbling things down on the papers spread across the counter, the bobbing of his head along to the beat of whatever was playing in his earbuds not disrupting his concentration any.
It was Gabe's weekend, technically. Which was weird to say, but he strategically made sure all his classes for the semester were scheduled on Thursdays and Saturdays, then worked on Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays. Tuesday and Wednesday were his time off, which made Monday night the first few hours of his weekend, but he was still here. He was at work. Catching up on inventory. And he wasn't even getting paid for it. Oh, well. There were worse ways to waste his time. Besides, Monroe might even treat him to drinks for all his hard work. Yeah, no, that was why he was here. The slim hope that he might get drinks was why he was here.
Speaking of Monroe...it'd been awhile since he'd seen her. Probably because he was absorbed in inventory and his tunes, but hey. He pulled out one of his earbuds and turned towards the back, assuming she was in that direction.
"Monroe?" he called out, keeping his distance from the door itself. The back was a No-No Zone, established as explicitly off limits his very first day, and he was not stupid enough to mess with someone as ferocious as his boss.
Said boss was standing the back room, arms crossed with a pointed gaze turned in the direction of her customer who was attempting to haggle. Monroe hated hagglers, especially the ones that needed a 'heavy duty' potion but weren't willing to make a sacrifice. Or in this case, willing to part with their beautiful Neiman Marcus dress that was exactly Monroe's size.
"I have
money!" The woman stated indignantly
"I don't want your money. I want that dress." Of course money would have been great and with said money the witch could have bought her own Neiman Marcus dress but all those years living with the Vacilar coven, taught Monroe to be a bit of an asshole. Part of her wanted to just take the money and be done with it, but another part, a much larger part, wanted to see how low this woman was willing to go to get her 'remedy'. And judging by the way she was angrily shedding her cardigan, she was willing to go pretty low.
"Monroe?" The witch heard her sole employee, Gabe call from the door, probably concerned as to why she hadn't come out in a while.
"
Be out in a few!" she called in a sing songy voice and turned back to the now half naked woman who stood before her like a peachy pink rat in Victoria secret lingerie basking in the warm glow of humiliation. It was lovely.
The woman handed her the dress and Monroe in turn handed her a small vial of misty green liquid.
"That's it?" The woman gasped, immediately suspicious.
"Hey now just one of those drops will make your mother in law love you. Take anymore and she might try to peel off your skin and wear it like a coat." Monroe warned as she held the dress in front of the mirror, twisting from side to side to view it from all angles. Behind her the woman huffed and shuffled her feet.
Turning around, Monroe cocked an eyebrow.
"Transaction's over, you can go."
"Can I at least have a shirt?" The woman demanded, her voice tapering into a petulant whine.
Heaving out a sigh as if she was the one being inconvenienced, Monroe yanked open the door connecting the back business from the front and called out loudly into the hall.
"GABRIEL, YOU GOTTA SHIRT UP THERE?"
In the front, Gabe remained blissfully unaware of the business being conducted in the back. He did notice that his boss's answer to his question was said in that sing-song tone that meant she was up to something suspicious or maybe evil, but he got a response and that was enough that he went back to tallying up how many roses and lilies they'd sold in the last week. That peace only lasted for a mere moment.
The blunt question had Gabe's head snapping up, sums forgotten while he stared at the entrance to the hall with an expression of alarm and vague distress. A shirt? Why would she need a shirt? Was she talking about his shirt? Why his shirt specifically? It took him all of two seconds to realize that yes, he was going to give up his shirt (a hot pink tank top with an abstract graphic design he'd liked in like sophomore year that was long on even his lanky frame) and that no, he did not want to know what Monroe needed it for (to cover something? to use as a rag? to make a voodoo doll with? to use as part of some sort of ritual sacrifice?).
With a grumbling noise of complaint, Gabe tugged out his headphones and set them on the counter, then tugged off the shirt. It was clean, freshly washed before his shift, and he would be damned if he didn't have excellent hygiene. Hopefully that suited whatever nefarious purposes Monroe had in mind for it. And, in truth, he wouldn't miss it all that much. It was just an old work shirt.
"Yeah, I got a shirt!" Gabe called towards the back, going to grab his jacket from behind the counter as he spoke. The black windbreaker was better than being half naked in the cold shop, at least.
Monroe met him halfway so he didn't have to enter the backroom. It wasn't that she didn't trust him and she knew that he knew what went on in the back. It was just that she had had a human employee in the past who had seen all her potions and hex bags then tried to 'enhance' his figure with a potion that he misread. Oh, Brody...That lovable dork. Anyhow, that's why Monroe didn't let Gabe into the back and also why she had a parrot that constantly said
"Duuuude."
Taking the shirt, Monroe tossed it over her shoulder into the backroom.
"Nice doin' business with ya." Her nonchalant remark was met with an indignant squawk but Monroe soon heard the back door slam, signaling the departure of her client.
Striding into the flower shop part of the store, Monroe cast Gabe a wry smile.
"Sorry 'bout the shirt, I'll treat you to a drink later to make up for it, alright?"
"It's fine, Roe," Gabe responded with a smile and a dismissive gesture, then reached down to zip the windbreaker up over his bare chest. The jacket was probably going to have him overheating here in a few minutes, seeing as he ran hot on even the coldest of nights, but he wasn't going to mention that to Monroe. Sure, he was trying to coerce her into getting him drinks, but using pity to get them just seemed so...low. Besides, he would call the two of them friends. You didn't send friends on guilt trips.
"Just an old shirt, no big deal. I would not mind going home and changing, though."
His mouth opened like he was about to say more, but he was interrupted by some grand musical score from Lord of the Rings coming from his pocket. His ringtone, incidentally enough. Gabe gave Monroe an adorably apologetic look before he answered the call.
"Today was one heck of a day, if I have anything to say about it," Addy announced on the other end as soon as he answered the call. Given her tone, Gabe assumed it was not going to be a short conversation.
"Oh, yeah? One sec." He pulled the phone away from his ear, pressing the microphone to his chest, and flashed Monroe his best set of puppy eyes.
"Rain check on the drinks? My friend had a bad day. The, uh, the friend that doesn't like you."
Monroe waved Gabe away with an eye roll at the mention of his 'friend' who was more or less a mother hen with a permanent stick shoved up her ass.
"Yeah, yeah have fun listening to Little Miss Thing and watching the Notebook or whatever it is that nerds do together." She said jokingly, before picking up the order book to look over the day's profits. The door snapped shut behind Gabe and Monroe was left to her thoughts.
[/spoili]
