2024-11-02 - Witch Me Luck

Arrow had been told in advance that she's getting a new assistant apothecary/clerk at Stirring and wouldn't you know it, on this day in early November, a leather jacket clad man walks in just before store open. The jacket's covered in patches and pins (approved by management of course), and underneath lies a simple black button down, wine colored corduroy skinnies, and black suede oxford boots. Spooky yet chic. Edgy yet still family friendly. Clearly an attempt is being made.

He steps up to the counter, already looking overwhelmed but trying his best. "Morning. I'm Sammy. The new guy." A weak smile gets offered over, dripping with nerves.

Arrow wouldn't mind if all the patches and pins weren't approved, but we're ending the year right and at least following park guidelines on the shifting of the decor. The shop's still open through this, of course, so when Sammy arrives, there are a few boxes out. Arrow's sorting through one looking at some new dry herbs and blooming teas that have arrived.

She looks up when she hears footsteps closing on the counter. Most people browse a bit before they approach, so she's not surprised to see Sammy there and introducing himself. "Hello, Sammy, new guy." The nervous energy seems to relax her, actually, and she smiles a little. "I'm Arrow. Welcome to Stirring. And Spellbound." She actually gives him a brief moment of eye contact before her gaze slides over some of the pins and buttons and flash. "Would you like a cup of tea? I'll make one." She slides the box a little over the glass counter, closer to him than her now.

"While I make that, could you sort these out? Winter teas in one pile, blooming in another. I think there should be a big pack of cinnamon sticks in the bottom to restock the jar on that shelf." She points to one behind the counter, a huge muth jar that's nearly empty of two inch cinnamon sticks. She puts a pair of ornamental tongs on the counter, along with a pair of very sharp scissors with ornamental scrollwork. Is he even on the clock yet? She didn't ask, but she provides a task and plugs in a kettle.

Arrow calling him Sammy new guy brings a smirk to his face. "Nice to meet you, Arrow. Yeah, actually. That'd be great. Do I look overwhelmed? Cause definitely feeling it." He lets out a rueful laugh and drops his gaze down to the box as it slides closer. Getting started this quickly helps ease his First Day Jitters a bit, giving him something to focus on.

With a nod, Sammy opens up the box and starts to sort through the contents. Winter teas in one pile. Blooming in another. He glances over at the shelf to note the jar she's referencing. "Gotcha." He must be on the clock given how quickly he starts working with zero complaint. As he separates tea, his eyes roam over the ornamental tongs and fancy scissors, the shelves, the store in general. It's really cool if you're an occult geek, which he sure looks like.

"So..." he says after a brief moment, "how long have you been here?"

Arrow's full of tricks like these, just most people don't notice because of how quiet she can be. "Sugar?" She uncaps a little jar and scoops up a little spoonful of brown rock sugar. "Spellbound has that effect on people, but what we do here is have a cup of tea about it." She selects one of the mismatched teacups, then turns to the wall of jars along the back wall. She selects a loose leaf chai with some pale chunks in them. "Are you allergic to anything?" But she's already putting some in the cup. Hopefully mushrooms isn't on that list, but if it is, she'll drink this cup.

"I started when the park opened, well." She waves her spoon. "A couple of weeks after. I was in food service for a hot minute, but I couldn't work that closely with my sister, so I ended up here. I used to have a shop of my own, so it was an easy transition, and I didn't have to put Nair in her shampoo." She looks over after a moment, setting up a second teacup with the light tick of porcelain on porcelain. "We're entering out slow season, so you'll have lots of time to look around and get to know the place. We's super low on stock after that Halloween rush."

"Just one spoon is enough, thanks." The two piles are growing on the counter as Sammy gets halfway through the box. "Tea does solve like...half the world's problems doesn't it? I'm sure it probably creates the other half too but, eh, that's a different kind of tea. And nah, no allergies." Peering into the box, the bundle of cinnamon comes into view and he takes a break from sorting to pick up the fancy tongs and step behind the counter.

"So you're a pro at all this people-ing, huh?" His eyes follow the trajectory of Arrow's spoon for a second before he turns around to open the empty jar on the shelf. With the tongs, he starts to tug sticks out of the packaging and places them gently inside their final resting place. "Oh wow," he murmurs his delight when she says she had her own shop. "I've only ever worked at occult stores. Like the real campy kinds, lots of board games and punny t-shirts and stuff. My mom's really into tea leaves though, which is what made me want to come here. Are you the one who does readings?"

Arrow spoons sugar into both cups and stows the rocks away. She leans on the counter briefly before she retakes her seat, a walking cane tipped agains the counter nearby but unused at the moment. "If you're sleepy, it wakes you up. If you're tense, it soothes. If you cold, it's warming, and on special occasions," she says, lightly tucking a spook against the saucer, "It'll take care of more permanent needs."

She pours water over the loose teas once it's hot, and sets them both slightly aside to steep, and for the tea leaves to settle. On a normal casual cuppa, she'll use a strainer, but she prepares them like this when there might be a reading. "No, I'm terrible at people, but I can customer service if I have to. My shop was mail order online only." She glances over, and takes a breath. "It helps to take on a persona while you're here. With the guests... they want spooky and a little mysterious." She nods. "I do. Is that something you do? The staff here's pretty small, but we all sort of work together and cover each other. We offer tarot, bone throwing, but no one does runes yet. You can do any you'd like to try—junk oracles, anything like that."

Plink. Plink. Plink. The cinnamon sticks drop into the jar one by one. Sammy keeps glancing up, not wanting to be rude as listens to Arrow. "Permanent needs?" His brows shoot up. She's caught his attention there. "What do we mean by that?"

He can't help look back over at the tea as she fixes it up. There's something so reassuring about it, even just watching the process unfold. "I'm...okay? Like when they ask things I know about and they're actually interested in. Otherwise...I'll try very hard not to punt any kids, I promise." That's a joke? He cracks a grin. Yes, definitely a joke. "That makes sense." The persona bit. "I can work on that." The last of the cinnamon disappears, so he shuffles over to continue his sorting. "I do but I'm not great at it. I could use the practice. And any pointers for sure. I'd like to get into bone throwing though. But I don't want to put a lot of stress on you to teach me or anything."

"That was an Aqua Tofana joke, one which we never make in front of the guests," Arrow says, glancing across the shop just in case, even though she knows it's empty of guests right now. The day's been a bit slow because a lot of people are sleeping off the week of Halloweening they did previous. Every now and then the shop opens, and someone dips in from out of the cold looking for a reading, a cuppa, or a few shiny rocks for their collections.

"It's practice," she says. "Give that three more minutes to steep and it'll be ready. We'll have a lot of time here to talk shop, and lots more while we do stock. This week's a lot of stock. Till then, just do what you can, and everything else you'll pick up fast. It gets tricky when we get busy, because we try never to rush a client, but they do pay by the minute for readings, so." She smiles. "Try not to go over, but if they insist you do... always up charge."

"OH. You know, my brain went straight to poison but I figured, on my first day? Surely not." A wide grin spreads across Sammy's face. "But good to know that's not completely off the table." A beat. "I'm kidding, I promise I'll be good in front of guests." He makes a little X over his chest with a finger.

"I'm a little bummed I missed out on Halloween. I'm sure this place was nuts. That's the kind of energy I thrive off of." He nods though, understanding how much stock they'll be doing. His hands travel back and forth from the box to the counter, hazel eyes intently watching Arrow as she explains. "Up charge. Of course. And like, if anything comes up...less that optimistic? Are we following the park always smiling guidelines thing or?"

"Surely not," Arrow repeats with a little of those smile. She picks up her teacup and blows on it, still quite hot though she left it to steep uncovered. She takes a careful sip, seems satisfied, though she doesn't even stir hers, so the bottom will be much sweeter than the top. "You crossed your heart. You know you can't go back on that kind of promise."

It's easy to see why Arrow has this job. She delivers lines like that deadass straight faced, but with a hint of humor that people paying attention can pick up. It does kinda freak out a certain kind of normie. "It's Halloween all the time on the Booed' Walk, though we do get a little winter festive. This year, it's all aged reproductions of Krampus bells," she says, reaching for her cane to use it to thump a couple heavy boxes stowed under the counter. "Garlands, evergreen, winterberry teas, and the creepy holiday tales. Gryla should come by sooner or later. If you see a raccoon, she won't be far behind." She hmms.

"On the readings, follow your read on the client. They go to other part so the park for sunshine and rainbows. They come here for cautionary tales, hints of good fortune, but darkly offered."

"I mean it! I'll be good!" Oh yeah, he can catch that deadpan easily. "I haven't been known to be good in the past but...I'm trying something new this time?" Arrow going for her tea clues Sammy in on the temperature, so he scoops up the spoon to give it a little stir before lifting the cup to blow on it a bit. A sip. Then another. His brows lift. "Mm. This is great, what is it? There's a..." one more sip. "Something I can't put my finger on? Chai and...?"

"Krampus bells, be still my heart." He tilts his head to look over at the box, and the cane, but doesn't comment on the latter. "So very Nightmare Before Christmas, I bet? Bit of both. That's cute. Gryla is the...witch? Queen? And the raccoon is? Wait, not a real raccoon? Just like a dude in a suit?"

"Ah, okay right. Good to know. I should have brought my notebook." Sammy pulls out his phone instead to swipe up a new blank memo and start typing that in.

There's another of those little smiles that's almost gone before it can be noticed. Arrow looks over at Sammy and says, "The more you say that, the more I wonder..."

"The best thing about working in the art if divination is you can use symbolism and interpretation, read the body language of your client, and choose which way you want to read for them. You're offering them the tools to make their own choices, right? They know themselves better than you." She sips her tea, cradling it in one hand while tipping the cup with the other. "Mushrooms and pepper. It'll help with the nerves."

"Yes, you can call her witch or queen. A real raccoon. He's kind of plump and begs for snacks." She slides a hand under the counter and presses a recessed button. A small drawer pops open, and inside there's a snack ziploc baggie of mini marshmallows. "Bribery."

"You do get a significant employee discount on anything in the shop, if you see anything you like." Said while Sammy's tapping away at his phone.

Sammy just presses his lips into a coy smile, then sips more tea. It's not an entirely innocent expression but it's nothing too mischievous either.

"Right. Put it back on them, let them draw their own conclusions with just a nudge of guidance. Clever." He's in the middle of another sip when he sputters into his cup a tiny bit. "Nerves? Me? Oh, I'm..." ready to cover it up, he lets out a sigh and decides the opposite. "Yeah, okay maybe a little. This park is kind of a big deal. Mushrooms and pepper. I really like it."

Sammy's brows tick up when it turns out it's a real raccoon. He startles a little when the drawer pops open, then he leans over to look inside. A grin spreads across his face. "Damn this place is cool." The phone doesn't take up too much of his attention though, and once he's done paraphrasing into it, the thing gets slipped back into a pocket. "I like everything so far, which'll be a problem. But I definitely want to get to know it all better."

"Most of the jars are numbered, and there's a catalog of recipes. You can blend your own if that's what you prefer." Arrow tap-taps the glass of the jars. Some have labels, the more popular easily found on the menu. "A lot of people prefer to have you custom blend for them, but if you're not confident doing that yet, you can pull from a list of recipes until you are." She slides a little book out from under the counter, a mini grimoire looking leather bound journal with nearly written recipes inside of it, pages stained with teas. That's put down on the counter.

"When in doubt, blooming teas. If they want a reading, black tea. Everything else is easy. Want to know more about the crystals, we have books on crystals. You can take home any book in the shop as long as it comes back in sellable condition. You know, for learning purposes." She gestures to a couple shelves stacked with books.

"I think you'll like it here. It's not really strictly monitored. People do some in here a lot with wacky questions. And we're all out or ouija boards again because everybody's convinced the island is haunted. I think we should just raise the price on them." She glances over. "I think that's the basics. I mean... it's straightforward woo woo stuff." She settles, turned slightly toward Sammy. "Tell me something about yourself?" She only rarely makes a bit of eye contact, even though they're having a conversation. And she rarely sits fully still.

Sammy's eyes light up once the mini grimoire comes out and he's quick to reach for it and start paging through. "I know some of the basic blends, like the usual stuff that tastes good when thrown in. Lavender. Mint. Vanilla. Gonna have a lot of fun learning some new stuff and finding where pepper fits in. This'll be great." He seems genuinely excited about the prospect, grinning as he scans tea stained pages and brushing fingers over them.

He nods, then glances around at the books. "Love it. Definitely borrowing everything up in here. The store I worked in back when I lived in San Diego was pretty basic and we barely got customers so it'll all be good to up my knowledge game."

There's a soft laugh paired with a knowing look at ouija boards. "Of course. Especially after Halloween. That one's easy to mark up, we should definitely do that." Straightforward woo woo stuff has him chuckling softly as he closes the tea-moire. "Me? Well...I'm from Detroit but I went to UC San Diego to study English and am doing absolutely nothing with that degree. Always been into spooky things, classic horror movies, any horror movie really. I just like...live and breathe this stuff? Not the customer service part, but the rest. I want there to be more than just what we see. What about you?"

Arrow nods and says, "Oh, good. I mean... you said your mama. So I figured." Plus he was hired on here, and some tea familiarity is a good call, though not necessarily required. "Anything you wanna try, this is the place." She falls silent a little bit while Sammy pages through the book, sipping her tea until the cup's down half.

"We get some pretty specifically esoteric stuff here sometimes. And we have some leeway with what we bring in, since we're in the Boo'ed Walk and not on Starlight or somewhere." She looks over when Sammy mentions the degree and says, softly, "Y'know, people hire English majors because they know how to communicate. Not because they can analyze... Shakespeare or whatever. But it tells me the books will be in good hands." Arrow isn't exactly proprietary about this place, but she's been here a long time and is protective of the vibe. It's not hers, but she's lived here a while now so she visibly relaxes as the conversation goes on, though that might have something to do with the tea as well.

"Used to live in Montana. I had a mail order shop of crystals, candles, and occulty jewelry. You know the stuff with cast bat bones and semi-precious stones. Coffin cut minerals. That kind of thing and then moved here when my sister asked me. She left six months later, but I rode the ferry to get out here and now I'm here."

"Yeah but she was pretty basic with it too," Sammy laughs cheekily. "She's a social worker who like to put out good vibes into the universe and cleanse her car of bad energy after dealing with jerky people. So a dabbler through and through."

His brows bounce up, perhaps a bit surprised by that particular view of English majors. Hazel eyes slip off towards his teacup, getting lost in the dark liquid for a moment. "Alright so I never thought of it that way but I'm so here for it? And yes, they will. I really enjoy reading so that one was always easy." He hooks a finger into the handle to lift the cup, sipping at it carefully. "But. If you ever DID want to analyze Shakespeare..." he grins against the lip of the cup.

"Montana. That's...big sky country, right?" He replaces the cup on the saucer. There's only about two fingers left of it. "What brought your sister here? And why did she leave?"

"Many careers were launched on good vibes. Good vibes and deep voice. Eyeliner and sus vibes..." Arrow thinks on that and glances at her phone, but doesn't elaborate any more on her social media follow choices. She clears her throat. "Lavender and rosemary smudges are no joke," she says. "It really sets off the live, love, laugh when you do that in your Uber."

She glances briefly at the door like someone might hear her say that who shouldn't. And then she finishes her tea, leaving only the remnants in the bottom, with the leaves leftover. She upends it on the saucer, but doesn't turn it immediately to read what's left behind. "I know who to call if there's ever a Bardic emergency in the shop."

"Some of the most beautiful sky you'll ever see," she says softly, something a little wistful in that that she doesn't linger over. "My sister goes where the money goes, and she makes very good waffles." There's a subtext here, because her tone changes to one that may be familiar to those with less than sunny relationships with their siblings. "More money elsewhere. She said." Arrow certainly sounds like she doesn't believe it.

Sammy brows shoot up as he studies Arrow during that out-loud thought but he doesn't pry. Instead just smirks deeply at the live, laugh, love. "I mean, that'd personally be the type of Uber I'd love to ride in."

"Ah. Got it. I'm sibling-less but...somehow, I completely understand where you're coming from. The waffles are a shame to lose but I always say-- lose a waffle, gain a pancake." He holds a serious face for a second, then bursts out laughing because yes he just made that shit up.

The day goes on like this, getting up to speed and helping out where necessary, all while getting to know each other better without yet conferring with tea leaves. There will be plenty of time for that later.