Mimi Jones's Story

Reed watched in slight horror as the girl came in, and Matthew replied to her act with a prank. Bystander syndrome hit him, and he was in no way responsible for what was about to happen. He watched Matthew pour in the hot sauce, and walk over to the girl. "As if I'd miss lunch."

"Oh fuckin' christ" Reed said under his breath. Lunch? He thought, there was no way he'd been there that long, was there? He flipped his phone open and sure enough it had been a few hours into the day. He'd had an enjoyable morning, but it turned out to be a little longer than he realized. He was too busy in his own moment to feel kind of grossed out at the spittake on the window. The girl laughed, and she seemed fine with the prank, which Reed was thankful for. He felt confused by whatever dynamic the two had going on, they acted partly like siblings, and partly like enemies. "Hey um" Reed mumbled to Tessa as Matt was dealing with the red haired girl that came in a moment before. "I've gotta run, I'm mega late for work, and I was supposed to open up this morning" He said, going through his backpack. He pulled out a piece of (normal) paper, and started scribbling some numbers on it. "Either of you can give me a call any time, I guess?" He said, usual bashful smile on. He half jogged out the door, and was already outside, about to pick up his bike, when he popped his head back into the cafe. "I'm not trying to be creepy and flirt with you on the job! I know that's a hassle! I just think you guys are cool, and I haven't had anywhere to hang out other than my apartment in a few months" he yelled, and went on his way, riding his white bicycle.

By the time he'd arrived at the Apothecary, nothing yet had happened. No one was waiting, the door wasn't opened by the owner, waiting to fire him, nothing. It was a calm place to work and usually there wasn't much of a crowd until later in the afternoon. He slipped on his powder blue apron, slightly dirty from working with different roots and meats, and set up shop for the day. He flipped the open sign, set out the "daily deals" (1/2 off on donkey fat, buy two chamomile branches get the third free, and one bottle of Argan oil for trade with a pound of Ginseng Root), and started setting things out that were low on stock, from the back. Put the Alkanet powder here, put the Allspice powder here, but put the Whole Allspice over here, and don't put any of that near the Golden Jojoba oil. Reed was listening to Abe Froman's Soup Can Phones and mindlessly stocking shelves. He wanted to smoke, but kept working. He was happy with his job.

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Tessa Vane

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"Oh" Reed mumbled, mouth full of cupcakes, Sorry" he said, covering his mouth semi-politely "Nah" he peeped. No, I uh, I've lived in town since I was a kid. I work at the Apothecary, actually" He said and Tessa blinked. She rarely went there, but surely she’d seen him around before. She felt bad, she had every plan on remedying that. She loved to make friends. ”Oh well, we wil fix that.” She told him and at that moment, the bell rang and Mimi entered the room, She felt Matt stiffened. ”Oh boy” She thought as Mimi approached with her usually entitled aire "I'll have a large hot chocolate, hold the spit, and one of those ugly looking cupcakes." She said and Tessa groaned. Matt shot her a mischievous grin. ”Heaven help us...” She thought as Mimi went on. "I'll have them over there." She pointed to the small round table by the window, as she took out a $10 bill and handed it to him. Tessa watched with a small amount of amusement. . "That'll do, right?
Matt then went on and grabbed a coffee pot. Tessa didn’t need to look to know what he was going to do. She gave Reed a sympathetic grin, as I to say. ‘Sorry about them”“It’s all in fun” .She told him assuredly

In a blink, Mimi let out a shrill curse and Tessa snickered behind her hand. She apologized quickly and soon she and Matt were conversation. Why they insisted on pranks, she never knew but To each their own. "Hey um" Reed mumbled to Tessa and she looked over at him. "I've gotta run, I'm mega late for work, and I was supposed to open up this morning" He said and fumbled and handed it to her. She looked it over and grinned. "Either of you can give me a call any time, I guess?" He said, with a bashful grin and Tessa instantly adored this guy. She waved as he walked toward the door but then he poked his red head back in. Tessa cocked her hand curiously. "I'm not trying to be creepy and flirt with you on the job! I know that's a hassle! I just think you guys are cool, and I haven't had anywhere to hang out other than my apartment in a few months" He said and Tessa laughed loudly. “I’ll call you, We can hang out, It’ll be fun I’m sure.” She said smiling just before he took off on his bike. He was just simply too cute. She got back to taking inventory

It was Cecilia's day off.

As the owner of the Ashweld Art Collective--the sleepy town's only currently active art gallery--it meant she was heading down to the gallery anyways, but the idea of having a day off was still a nice one. At least she wouldn't have to deal with any collectors, or exhibitionists, or make any plans for the upcoming open house...no, she could hide in the back and paint and forget she even owned the place for at least a few hours.

Her morning was spent sleeping, which was, aside from painting, her favourite activity. It was nearly 10:00 am by the time she pulled herself out of bed and downed a cup of coffee. She was halfway through her second by 10:30, nestled with her cat, General Meow, against the big bay window in her living room still in her pyjamas.

Of course she loved the Art Gallery but it was a lot of work, and with two employees under her, it was perhaps a little more work than she had planned to take on right out of school, right after moving back home...god sometimes she missed Sarasota, and her Grandparents, and her simpler life before she had all this responsibility and a whole lot of free time--

She had done it again, lost in thought and losing track of time. She had to get going if she was going to get anything done today, it was already nearly 11:30.

Pushing General Meow out of the way (must to his displeasure, the tabby cat was grumpier than an old man), Cecilia got up and danced into her bedroom, quickly pulling on some old paint-splattered jeans and a well-worn college sweater with her name on the back. She tied her unruly hair back into a ponytail, grabbed her toolbox full of paints and other supplies, and ran out the door.

It was at least a gorgeous day out. She had a car, but left it in in her apartment's parking lot and opted instead to walk to the gallery; nothing in Ashweld was too far to walk to, mostly, and it felt a shame to have to pay for parking all the time.

By the time she was strolling past downtown it was just past noon, and the main street was starting to get busy. Cecilia found her thoughts once again wandering to the Art Gallery. Mimi was supposed to be working, in fact she would have opened this morning. They had some important calls to be making with a collector. Cecilia was trying to get her hands on a Jean-Michel Basquiat piece in time for the city BBQ. She figured Ashweld needed some New York culture, and more than some dusty old Van Gogh re-prints and a few local artists renditions of the city's scenery. But the collector was being very stodgy and marking the price high, even for a one-week rental, and Cecilia was hoping Mimi's charm and bargaining this morning would bring him down a...wait.

She was just passing the local cafe--well, the only cafe, really--and happened to glance through the storefront window while in deep thought, when she noticed a familiar face. Seeing someone familiar wasn't too uncommon in such a small town, but this familiar face was supposed to be manning the front desk at her art gallery.

Too busy thinking of the Basquiat piece slipping through their fingers she completely forgot that it was 12:36 pm and that all her workers got an hour lunch and two fifteen minute breaks per shift. She was already pressed up against the glass (which was smudged slightly brown with what looked like the reminants of some sort of liquid) tapping loudly behind Mimi's slender figure.

"Mimi! What the hell are you doing! You're supposed to be working!" Of course a message is very rarely effective when yelled through a thick pane of glass, but Cecilia could feel the panic and fear and anger already starting to bubble to the surface, and she was not quite thinking clearly.

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Tessa had wandered out back, taking out the trash and she sighed to herself. She loved working here but she knew she needed a higher paying job. The bills were not coming down, it was basically like she was paying two sets of rent. The place she was in was cheap, but her landlord was kind of a dick, and by kind of, meant a total butt wipe. Mattie was doing all he could for her, bless his heart so she didn't have the heart to ask him for a raise He'd probably give her one, but still. It just seemed wrong. She needed another job. She could do both...right?

She circled around front to clean the mess that Matt and Mimi made when she saw a dark skin woman at the window fussing at Mimi. Tessa walked up to her and tapped her shoulder. "Um, Miss, You know you could just go in?" She told her and when the woman turned to her, Tessa blinked. This woman looked oddly. Familiar? Was she knew? Tessa cocked her head, in her typical fashion. " Sorry for starting but uh...You look...Do I know you?" She inquired. It was then she caught her glimpse in the reflection of the window. No wonder she looked familiar...They looked alike. The woman was a tad older, but same warm caramel skin, dark curly hair, thought the woman's was neatly tucked behind her head, looking like a woman and not like a girl, much like Tessa's own reflection betrayed. Same dark eyes...it was almost scary.

Cecilia turned, pulled out of her own world of anxiety and fuss by a few simple words and a tap on the shoulder.

"Um, Miss, You know you could just go in?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, you're right I--" She turned and was suddenly looking in the mirror. She stared back at the woman before her, and for a moment she was confused, her brain refusing to make sense of what she was seeing. What? I thought I put my hair up? Am I seeing things?

It wasn't until this other woman tilted her head and spoke that Cecilia realized it wasn't her reflection, but rather a woman who looked just like her. That's so strange, I've never seen someone with such similar eyes...

" Sorry for starting but uh...You look...Do I know you?"

"I was going to ask you the same question." Cecilia smiled, but her eyes still poured over the girl, pointing out the similarities and the difference. She definitely wasn't a direct reflection, but the two did look very similar. The woman was a bit younger, maybe by a few years, and she was a bit skinnier all around. Her hair was dark and curly, just like Cecilia's, though it longer and not currently stuffed into a ponytail, and their skin was exactly the same colour, and their eyes...

"My name is Cecilia Tamer...are you from around here? Maybe we're second cousins or something, my family traces back to this town for centuries almost." She found herself looking away, back through the window, focusing on the back of Mimi's head, feeling slightly awkward with this strangely similar woman staring at her. "Do you work here? Do you know how long she's been here? She's supposed to be working down at the Art Gallery today--I'm the Gallery owner, by the way, not just some nosy bitch, heh..." The conversation wasn't getting any better, so Ceci trailed off with a half-hearted laugh and looked between Mimi, the girl, and the ground, floundering.

Peace. Without Aurora around, Nikita and her cannot argue and make it hard to read. It was rather annoying and amusing at the same time. But not while Damien wanted to read. He flipped the page in his book and dropped his coffee cup into the trash. He would have to remember to do something nice for his co-owner. Granted he didn't set the Star Wars poster on fire so that was pretty good. He chuckled at the thought of people assuming that they had a stars wars book for them to buy. Damien wouldn't even allow the comic to rest on the shelf in the closet. Damien turned to another page in the book. Hello fuckers.

The store owner groaned and closed his book. So much for peace and quiet. When he focused his attention on the noise in the store it was none other than Thomas along with his right hand make Strike. Damien didn't have a problem with them. Honest. They were actually alright guys once you get pass all of their flaws. Damien was trying really hard to get pass it, but then Thomas came in and destroyed the peace. "Thomas get out. This can happen anywhere, but my store." He was being completely serious. If Damien's powers permitted, he would have literally thrown Thomas out of the store. But alas. He could only move objects.

Checking the time, he smiled to himself. It was lunch and he had planned to do something for Matty. But there were two hooligans in his store and no co-owner. And leaving Nikita in the store in the store alone wasn't usual. He sighed and looked at her. "Please handle this in a way that won't get you fired. I will be back in ten minutes." Damien grabbed his phone and store keys and left. He nodded politely at Strike, since he wasn't doing anything wrong. Then he walked down the street to the cafe. He opened the door and the bell dinged. It seemed as though there was a full house. "Well well. Matty seems to be getting a lot of attention." Damien teased walked up to the front counter. He smiled at Mimi and gave a slight nod. "Hey Mimi." He would have said hi to Tessa, but she seemed busy. Turning his attention back to Mimi and Matty he continued to smile. "Can I borrow the cutie next to you?" he asked Mimi while winking at Matthew.

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Diana dropped her tea in the trash can. She was done with it and was not getting rather hungry. Maybe she have taken the cupcake that the cafe owner was offering. Too late to go back now. The brunette saw the amount of people that walked into the store and wanted no part of it. Further up ahead she saw Strike and a friend of his go into her brother's store. She wasn't really wondering why, not that she cared. But no one really went into the book store until a few hours after lunch. It was weird to see people in and out. Then Diana was even more confused when her brother left the store. Now she was a bit concerned. She stood up and moved from around the counter. She stood by the window watching. What the hell is going on?

This was one of those times where Diana was happy to not have many friends. They would bother her all the time at her job and believe it or not, Diana liked to work in the antique store. The smell of the past was comforting. Don't ask why. Before anyone could realize she was even by the window, she moved back to her chair behind the counter and sat down. Baggage Claim was almost over. Then maybe she would order pizza for herself. Maybe Damien would eat it with her. Or maybe Strike. Or even Clay. Probably Clay, but then Bo would have to stay outside. He was prone to excitement and Diana would not be happy if anything broke in the store. Diana started shifting around in her chair like a madman. She was getting cramped up again. But she wasn't going for a walk. Too many people walking around.

The brunette turned off the tv and walked to the back of her store. In the back closet there were some steps that led up to the store. She was the only one who had the key. She didn't want some randoms invading what she claimed as hers. Carefully she locked the door behind her and walked onto the roof. It was nice to get fresh air and keep an eye on people that could walk into her store. She was near the front of her store and sat down. Diana's legs dangled over the store and she just watched the people, silently.

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Timothy was late to rise. Really late. He doesn't remember the amount of times he slammed his hand down on the snooze button. It was like a genie with mini backfires. The first one was that he would be late to work. Next one was not having time to eat breakfast. The third one was not having time to perfect his hair. The final one was missing lunch. He woke up on the fourth backfire. He couldn't miss lunch. If he was weak then his energy wouldn't be strong enough to do tarot readings and that was his entire job. Rolling out of bed he stumbled to his bathroom and got ready for work.

His apartment was rather nice, on the top floor, and came with a mini loft. He really liked the loft. His view wasn't so great, but there was only so much he could get from this tiny town. He went into his kitchen and grabbed a couple of fruits and a pre-made salad that he bought. He put that in a backpack and stood before the mirror by the front door. He ran his fingers through his hair and then left the apartment. It was a rather nice day and it seemed that the entire town was out an about. As he walked down the street he politely waved to people and nodded. Believe it our not, Timothy was well liked. If not for his fortunes it was for his polite attitude. He passed the bookstore, the cafe, flower shop, and stopped before the psychic shop. It was right across from the antique shop. He saw Diana on the roof and smiled at her. She didn't seemed to be amused by him.

The shop owner unlocked his door and flipped the sign deeming it open. He put his backpack behind the counter and sat at the tarot card table. He put his cards on the table and sighed. It felt nice to have his cards. If something were to happen to these cards, he would die. That is why he never lets them leave his site. The minor cards weren't as much use, but the 22 major cards were his life source. No one knew that or needed to know. He played with the cards in his hands as he waited for someone to need a reading or have a talk.

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"I was going to ask you the same question." Tessa was still struck by the image to response coherently.

"My name is Cecilia Tamer...are you from around here? Maybe we're second cousins or something, my family traces back to this town for centuries almost." She said and Tessa had to blink a few times. "I'm Tessa, Tessa Vane." Tessa stammered a bit. "Do you work here? Do you know how long she's been here? She's supposed to be working down at the Art Gallery today--I'm the Gallery owner, by the way, not just some nosy bitch, heh..." She blinked and followed Cecilia's gaze. It was then that Mimi appeared. "I'm on my lunch, and she's lying, she is a nosy bitch." She said and Tessa's brow shot up."This is not my jurisdiction." Tessa joked, holding up her hands and stepping back from the others. "I gotta get back to work, you guys, have fun with all this." She said and was about to walk away. "It was uh...nice meeting you, Cecilia...See you around." She said and ducked back into the cafe. She scanned for Matt. She needed to talk to somebody about this. "Hey so Mimi invited me to the Black Bottle tonight, want to join in as well?" She heard him say and she knew full well Matt had a thing for Damien so she was not about to screw that moment up. She quickly removed her apron and tossed it behind the counter. "Taking my break, Be back in a bit, Love you Bye~!" She said all in one breath, ran by him, kissed his temple and ran out the door and toward the psychic shoppe. She slowed her step, took a deep breath and opened the door. "Hey, Tim, You here?" She said as she walked in. She needed to know more about Cecilia... and why she felt so familiar.

"I'm on my lunch, and she's lying, she is a nosy bitch.' Ceci nearly jumped out of her skin when Mimi spoke, suddenly next to her. She huffed impatiently, but smiled regardless.

"I was just wondering where my most valuable worker disappeared to," She said, turning to her only employee, "oh, lunch, right--oh my god, it's lunch time already? Oh man," she looked at her wrist as if she was checking a watch, a moment before she realized she had lost her watch a few days ago, "it is that time already, isn't it? Well I can't get mad at you for taking a break..."

"This is not my jurisdiction." The other girl cut in, her name is Tessa, right? , and held up her hands, retreating towards the cafe. "I gotta get back to work, you guys, have fun with all this. It was uh...nice meeting you, Cecilia...See you around." Tessa disappeared back into the shop, and Cecilia watched her go with a slightly quizzical look on her face.

"You know she looks so familiar...in more than a 'looks-just-like-me' kind of way. Hmm...anyways, here, let's get back to the gallery. Have you been talking to Mister Montgomery, our old friend the art dealer, about that Basquiat piece?" She nudged her head towards the direction of the gallery, and started off walking, signalling for Mimi to follow.

"I'm sure she just has one of those faces, don't worry yourself about it. I mean, you do have a long line of family here, don't you?" Well that much was true, the Tamer family was native to the area, first migrating to Ashweld almost 100 years ago. That's when the weird spooky 'powers' thing started setting in, with her great-grandma Elizabeth Tamer, who could talk to cows. Cecilia often went through their old family tree, which was contained in a very old leather bound book, and laughed at all the pointless powers her ancestors had developed. Magic tended to manifest in ways that might have to do with your personality, or perhaps destiny...but others like her great-uncle George could only telekentically control shoelaces so that seems like it has little to do with destiny or personality and more to do with being given a shitty hand in life.

But she had never seen in her old family book the last name Vane, or a girl named Tessa, but this was also unsurprising as the Tamer family had broken up in recent years. She didn't even talk to her dad anymore.

"Yes, and I think you'll be very pleased with my results." Mimi continued on, pulling Ceci from her daydreaming again, "I got him to lower the price from £8,500, sorry dollars, to about 6,500. Although I'm surprised because the cheapest estimation for a Basquiat piece at auction was £10,000, it was an English auction house so pound is right this time. Montgomery must have made most of his money back already if he's asking for around 8 to 10 thousand for a month rental..actually, come to think of it, I barely had to say much to get him to lower the price."

"Well I'm not one to argue...about a good price, that is. Perhaps it's one of his lesser known works, and Mister Montgomery couldn't resell right away." They arrived at the front doors of the gallery, and Ceci took a moment trying to fish her keys out of her pocket until she belatedly realized that it was open. She tried to non-nonchalantly keep going, opening the door and holding it for Mimi, "but maybe I should make you my PA, and hire another manager for this place. It's doing pretty good, once we resell the William Kentridge, maybe we can scrape up enough for some bigger showings..." she had always been good at making art, but not so good at managing things. Cecilia usually had trouble remembering to put on a bra in the morning, let alone how many deals needed to be closed and who was working what shift and which bills needed to be paid and all the other things that came with being the owner and curator of the Ashweld Art Collective.

But they were currently profitable, and hanging on the white walls were local artists she had decided to show because she believed everyone deserved a piece of the spot light, not just old white men and dead artists. Next week was the town BBQ, and she was hoping to pull out some show stoppers, and maybe finally finish a piece she was working on herself.

"Okay, well, I'm going to go down into the dungeon--er, studio--please keep me updated on the deal!" She smiled at Mimi then scurried off into the back, past the teeny-tiny 'gift shop' at the back of the studio and through a door marked 'employees only'. This brought her into what was the warehouse side of the old hardware store, but she had turned into a studio. Every once in a while she hosted art lessons for local kids and adults, but at the moment all she was hosting was a huge canvas she had been working on for weeks.

And now to get down the the real work. she hummed to herself, opening her tool box. She arranged her oil paints on the paint-splattered side table, unscrewing the tops of each one. It could use a little red. Suddenly the red oil paint lept magically from the tube with a small flick of Ceci's wrist, and with a wide sweeping motion was smearing itself across the canvas, no brushes required. I love my job.