Thread Roulette: Elaine, Ginny, and Jahel

[Event !]

Beauty and the Beast

[Ginny Campbell]

Ginny didn't consider the mall to be an exciting place to hang out, particularly not the slow, small little thing that passed for a mall in Pilot Ridge. However, there wasn't a whole lot to do during the day when her father had work -- and while she and Annie both had Monday off, neither her father nor Chase did. This meant the two girls had to entertain themselves, and they had taken themselves off to wander the mall. The pair had split up almost at once, however, the red-head's attention diverted by cooking supplies, a passion her blonde friend didn't share.

She was strolling idly when a faint, sweet scent tickled her nose, and she turned to glance at the store she had just passed, expecting a store dedicated to scented candles. Instead she saw roses -- roses in a dazzling array of colors, some in full bloom and others in sweet little buds so perfect she couldn't be sure at first that they were real. She pressed her nose against the display window, peering in at silky smooth petals, fascinated to find such specimens available when outside the snow was falling and the branches of all but the conifers bare.

She glanced up, curious as to the name of the store -- Mama's Garden. That sounded like a place that sold real flowers, not the silk kind, but she still couldn't bring herself to believe that roses could bloom at this time of year. Well, only one way to find out and that certainly wasn't by standing out here staring.

She slipped into the store, her entrance announced by a faint chiming of bells, but if there were any employees about she didn't see them -- nor did she see any other customers, for that matter, intent as she was on the roses. She tiptoed over to the display window, entranced by the flowers, and reached out to gently stroke the blood-red petals of one of the roses. "They feel real..." She whispered, in awe. Whatever garden these came from, the gardener must be quite talented!

[Elaine Tonaya]

The store was filled with the scent of roses. They weren't Elaine's favorite flower, but they sold well, so she had stocked up. And they seemed to be working--people stopped to stare at the flowers, and lots of young couples had come in buying roses for one another.

Elaine was in the back of the store, working on some inventory and setting straight some of the flowers that had been pre-ordered. If anyone came in, the bell on the door would ring to let her know.

When the door did ring, she was busy taking a box down from a top shelf, so she couldn't go out into the main room. She managed to get everything settled down in the back, then meandered out of the back through the dark black curtain she had in front of her storage space.

A young girl was leaning over the flowers, stroking a petal.

"You might want to be careful around those roses. They're said to have magical properties."

She said it mostly because the girl seemed completely awestruck, and to the point where she'd believe just about anything, not because she actually believed in magic. But still.

She stuck out her hand. "I'm Mama, and I run this garden. Is there anything I can help you with?"

[Jahel Yosef]

«Jahel Retta Yosef
male; thirty-two years

Jahel loved roses. He loved the color, the fragrance, the significance – but that was as far as his interest went. He would not have given a flower shop a second glance if it hadn’t been for the girl standing in front of it.

There was something about her that made a note go off in the back of his head. Instantly her identity was on the tip of her tongue, as though he’d met her somewhere before, but he knew for sure that he hadn’t. Then where exactly had he seen her face, that hair? In some distant memory? A picture, a glance? It started to nag at him, and he found himself leaning forward across the table he was sitting at (phone forgotten in his hands) trying to get a better look at her face.

Frowning, Jahel attempted to get on with his life. It was bothering him now, but he knew in an hour or two he’d forget it ever happened. He went back to his phone, typing in letters, before something flashed off behind his eyes.

Campbell.

Ginny Campbell! Of course! He’d known that – how silly of him to have almost forgot. Young Miss Campbell, daughter of the famous Mr. James and Mr. Chase (if he remembered correctly), the leading personnel from Hammel Institute; though he’d never seen her in person, it was considered savvy in the M.S.A.D world to be up-to-date with this info. Her face had almost been buried in oblivion. It probably would have been better for her if it had stayed that way.

His interest sparked, he paused briefly to take in the situation. She was talking to some older woman, whose face did not ring any sort of bell in any sort of obscure corner of his mind. (He supposed this was a good thing.) Jahel pushed back his chair and stood up, curious rather than malicious, focused rather than predatory.

He wondered just how much she knew about the meta-human world.

In any case he approached the older woman and dipped his head to her, revealing a smile that seemed, by all accounts, warm and genuine. ”Mornin’,” he greeted her.

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[Ginny Campbell]

The greeting, though amicable, was so unexpected that Ginny jumped backwards, quickly shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans; she had been so entranced by the roses that she hadn't noticed the woman come up behind her. She was so embarrassed to have been caught ogling the roses like some romantic that she couldn't even think of a snarky dismissal of the roses supposed magical properties. The introduction made her face flush; of course, it wasn't even a shop employee who had interrupted her reverie, but the owner. What a great first impression she was making.

"Mama. It's nice to meet you, I'm Ginny. And they're very pretty." She offered politely, removing one hand from her jeans and tentatively taking the older woman's hand, feeling abnormally shy. "But I was only looking. I didn't realize roses bloomed this late in the winter. How do you keep them blooming like that?" She was going to be very put out if the reply was magic; while the florist was entitled to keep her secrets, that was the sort of answer one gave to small children, not to adults, and Ginny wanted to be seen as an adult.

Their brief conversation was interrupted by the appearance of a man. He was older than she was, slightly scruffy in appearance but he had an air of politeness and charm about him that put her at ease. He'd only spoken one word and already she was mentally telling Zac that this was how gentlemen ought to behave.

She stepped to one side, allowing more room for him to speak with the woman who styled herself Mama; he didn't look like an employee, which meant he was either an acquaintance of hers or a customer, in which case he took priority over herself and her window shopping.

[Elaine Tonaya]

Elaine glanced at the roses. "Normally roses don't bloom like this. But with the wonders of modern science, namely a glasshouse and a little bit of fertilizer, I manage to get a couple of good blooms. Plus, you know, some great suppliers. Only a couple of these were grown around here."

As the new man walked in the door, Elaine took a step back, wrinkling her nose. This guy...he smelled. He didn't just smell. He reeked. She smoothed out her face, though, and attempted to plaster a smile on her face.

"Hello, sir," she said carefully. "May I help you? I'm sure we can quickly find anything you're looking for so you can be on your way."

She had smelled hints of this before. It always meant something bad. Not just bad, though. It was the smell of evil, and this guy was covered in it. She wanted to get him out of her shop as quickly as she could. Unfortunately, she couldn't just kick him out--who knew what he might do? So she tried to be as gentle as she could, carefully prodding him out the door so that he would leave them alone.

Elaine glanced over at Ginny. "Maybe you would like to look at some of the things I have in the back?" she asked quietly. Anything to get her away from this man. It looked like the girl couldn't do anything to take care of herself if anything went wrong. "I have a very beautiful rose in the back, perhaps you would like to look at it?" Her eyes were pleading.

She turned back to the gentleman. "Please. Let me know anything, and I will do my best to help you." She gave another nervous smile.

[Jahel Yosef]

«Jahel Retta Yosef
male; thirty-two years

His blue eyes glanced sharply at Elaine for a mere second. He saw her expression and the way she’d taken one step back at his presence; a clear indicator of disgust than anything else. His strictly logical and sociopathic mind found her body language – odd.

But he didn’t have time to linger on it. Miss Campbell was slipping away from him.

”I have a very beautiful rose in the back, perhaps you would like to look at it?” the woman said, and Jahel, before the redhead had a chance to respond, let out an demanding and (for lack of a better term) un-ignorable ”Really?” that implied he’d thought that was directed towards the both of them. Of course he knew better; of course he knew that there was something going on behind the shopkeeper’s mind. His instinct told him so, but his mind still held onto the possibility that her reaction was pure coincidence.

In any case he positioned himself subtly in front of the two, making his presence a sort of obstacle to be fought around in order to get to the back of the shop.

”I was wondering - ” he glanced casually upwards at the store sign. ”If this is the sort of place that offers deliveries. I’d really like to surprise someone. Roses would be nice.”

His smile seemed genuine. ”Maybe you could deliver to a place called Hammel, if you’ve heard of it. I can write the address for you if you’d like.”

Inwardly he waited for Ginny’s voice to chime in, waiting for her to recognize her fathers’ pride and joy.

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(kinda short...sry :'< )

[Ginny Campbell]

Ginny, too, noticed Elaine's reaction to Jahel, but lacking the older woman's olfactory abilities she translated the distantly polite displeasure as the results of a sour romantic relationship, either their own or one between the woman's child (assuming she had any other than her shop) and the man. Or if not a romantic entanglement gone wrong, there was at least some sort of bad blood between the two.

She was curious about the details, but couldn't think of any method of prying that wouldn't be extremely rude on top of being obvious. At least they were being civil; few of her classmates were any good at behaving courteously toward those they disliked, so she was used to snarls and glares and dripping sarcasm -- or, at the most, a studious and very deliberate avoidance.

Her eyes widened at the implication the rose in the back was more gorgeous than the ones on display. "I would love to see it...." She assumed, however, that Elaine's offer meant she should wait to be escorted there. Not that she expected that would take very long, since the other customer wanted to see it, too, and unlike Ginny he might purchase the rose, particularly since he mentioned an interest in buying them as a surprise gift for someone.

True to Jahel's expectations she gave a sharp intake of breath at the mention of Hammel. "Oh! Hammel Institute?" As if there were any other Hammel in the area. "I'm going in that direction!" Or she would be once she and Annie were finished with their excursion. "I can take them for you, just tell me who you want me to deliver them to." She wondered who the lucky recipient was; he was obviously thoughtful, purchasing flowers for....someone. Someone unknown. Thoughtful, even if his relationship with the store owner was (rather mysteriously) cordially hostile.

"I just have to wait for my friend to finish shopping, but she shouldn't be long."

ooc: I have no problems with short. No need to fluff your post up, it moved the scene along perfectly!

[Elaine Tonaya]

Elaine almost hit herself in the forehead when Jahel said he wanted to look in the back. Especially since there wasn't anything actually back there except a lot of boxes. And some extra glitter that had been lying around since she was working on finishing decorating some garlands for a wedding. And with that thought...she had an idea.

"Okay, sir," she said, smiling politely. "Just give me a moment to tidy up in the back so that you don't hurt yourself looking at the flower." She casually grabbed a vase of roses and walked it over to the counter. When no one was looking, she tossed one behind her into the storeroom, behind the curtain.

"I can sometimes deliver flowers, but I will have to see about the place you mentioned. I haven't exactly heard of--"

Once again, Elaine had to grind her teeth to keep from punching someone or something. How could Ginny have just blurted out all of her secrets to this guy? Okay, maybe not all her secrets, but still!

Elaine gave a tight-lipped grin to Ginny. "If you're waiting for someone, perhaps you'd better go outside and try to find her. Don't worry about taking the flowers up, I'm sure I can find someone else or do it myself. It can't be too hard to find, right?" No sense mentioning she could probably find her way there blindfolded. Much better to remain an innocent young flower shop owner.

"Now, then, sir, if you will just wait here, I will only be a moment." She hoped that Ginny would take the hint and get out, but if not, well, maybe she could come up with something.

Elaine ducked into the back room and picked up the rose she'd tossed on the floor. Quickly, she dipped the end of the rose in a puddle of glue and then dusted the whole thing with glitter. She set it in a small vase and moved some boxes aside to make room for the rose. A couple ribbons lying around, and a covering--that glass cookie box cover should work well--and it was ready to go.

Elaine darted back out into the front room. "Would you like to see the flower now?"

[Event !]

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