[PQ] Setting Up Properly

Samuel He stumbled into faith and thought God, this is all there is? Sam had been stopped by fear of the unknown for a few days after Remi's visit from going to look at the abandoned shop, but eventually he finally got the courage to go and look his future in the face. It had clearly been abandoned for a while. There was dust in the window panes and it was dark inside, cobwebs littering the ceiling and coming down the walls. Sam opened the door with a light push, which creaked from the effort of swinging. There were shelves on the walls, clearly not bookshelves; they were too big and far apart. Still, they could do for the moment. Sam ran a finger along them, leaving a shiny trail in the dust. In the far end of the store there was a rickety spiral staircase, which when he nervously walked up lead to a small attic area. Might make a good reading spot, he thought, giddy at allowing himself the little fantasy. However, the fantasy was swiftly interrupted by a irritated flapping above his head. Sam looked up and saw the roof covered in many little bats all grabbing to the beams. Immediately scared of something flying into his hair, he had run down the stairs without a thought to how delicate they were. Still, it was all promising. Sam smiled as he heard a noise from next door, Remi putting something down or moving something. He could be happy here, he supposed. And in the summer it would be easier to block out the sun than it was at the stall. But he couldn't do it alone. There was simply too much. The whole place to clean, shelves to put up, debris to move, things to repair, signs to paint, bats to clear...he was not the strongest person nor the most artistic (nor the most confident with animals). While it was against all of his natures to ask for help, he had to. So he had placed an announcement on his stall. In looping, delicate script, it said: After many years here, I am moving to a shop building. It is next to Remi's Alchemy store. I need some help with setting up (cleaning, bats, painting) and if anyone could help, I would appreciate it greatly. There will be a reward. Please arrive tomorrow early in the morning to help. Thank you --Samuel --- There are 4 spots for this PQ. I'll wait until the 28th, if not all 4 spots are taken then we'll move on with whoever we've got. :) Please write your character arriving at the store to help out~ 1. Remi 2. Jigano 3. Nairi 4. Caiside

Remi Abruzzo
& all we are is skin and bone trained to get along

The alchemist hadn't seen the note on the cart, but had instead seen the signs of life next-door. Sam had likely come in the night, but in the morning Remi saw fresh prints leading to and from the abandoned building next to him, and he smiled gently to himself. He wasn't entirely convinced that Sam would take him up on his offer to be shop-neighbours, but found himself quite pleased that it seemed he had.

Watching Sam enter (Remi had slept in his shop as he was want to do), the alchemist would arrived earlier than the letter (he hadn't read) on the cart indicated that he should. Though the ascended wouldn't be able to taste it, if normalcy was what his new friend craved, then that would be what Remi would try to provide.

Kicking at the door with a boot as a means of knocking (in his hands he held a kettle and two teacups), Remi waited for the door to be opened so he could pour the man a welcome-to-the-neighbourhood cup of tea.

Image by Lamreii!

Jigano liked walking through the settlement on his way to the Atheneum at mid morning - or later - seeing the shops and the goods for sale, sometimes stopping for a cup of tea or bite to eat on the way. He always paused at Sam's stall, even when the bookseller wasn't there, to make sure no one was bothering it while the gentle Ascended was home resting.

This time when he paused, though, a note caught his eyes, and both brows rose in consideration. Next to Remi? Well wasn't that interesting. Though a shop with a proper ceiling would certainly be safer, and having a friend nearby would hopefully be good for soothing his constant anxiety a little. Humming thoughtfully to himself, the bard continued on his way but with the rueful knowledge that he'd be up early the next day...

Not as early as Remi though, and only barely on time. Instead of tea he brought a couple of books from the Atheneum under one arm and a borrowed wooden bucket with rags in the other, as well as his usual traveling pack for entertaining at the Rathskeller. He couldn't remember how long it had been since he'd done something as simple and homey as cleaning, but he was sure he'd remember quickly enough once he started.

Setting the bucket down, he tapped lightly on the door with his knuckles, raising his voice a little in the chill morning air. "Sam? Are you here yet?"

Nairi Not all those who wander are lost. Nairi loved walking the streets in the morning, taking a look at the stalls and shops in the market as they began the daily routine of selling their wares to the local populace. This had almost became a daily routine for her as well, and thus the sign of a stall that was supposed to be tended by a familiar face was not present. Sam was not there. She'd first met the red headed man coincidentally when she was out hunting for the Luxere that day in the woods. His singing was the first thing she knew about him, before she'd even seen him in person. She made sure to keep in touch after that day, and made subsequent frequent visits to his stall. She was beginning to get into reading proper, and Sam had a plan to help support that habit. A book every few days was a good start the two had agreed upon and, and thus the frequent visits to the bookseller's store. It took her a good look while of looking at the note posted at the stall before she managed to make out Sam's looping delicate script. He'd upgraded from a stall to an actual shop and needed some help to get the place in good order. Nairi grinned to herself. She'd just decided that very moment that she was going to spend her time helping him out. Heading towards the location of the shop with a bundle of old rags she gathered from discarded clothing, she also managed to lug along a borrowed bucket she'd filled with water. In her pocket, lay a single apple, just a little something to remind Sam of that very day. She knocked on the door as soon as she arrived, wondering if she was too early.

CAISIDE Wandering the market had become a sort of daily ritual for Caiside. It gave him a chance to see how other people were doing, and to work out vague plans for things he might need. Top of that list right now was a blank book of some kind, a journal to keep whatever things he learned together. There was a book stall, if he recalled correctly, and Caiside hoped that its proprietor would have what he needed. The stall was empty when he arrived at it, a sigh leaving Caiside before he read the notice. The open request for help intrigued him, and it wasn’t as if he had much else to offer in exchange for what he wanted. Besides, he had been neglecting introductions, caught in other little projects, and some socializing would be good for him. As would lending a hand now, as this probably wouldn’t be the last time he’d need books. With his decision made, Caiside set off to find the new permanent location of the store. An endevour that proved to be more difficult than he thought, as he had no idea who ‘Remi’ was or where his shop might be. After some wasted time wandering around, hoping to find it himself, he asked a local, and was sent off in the right direction without a hitch. He was late, he had to be just judging by the soft sounds coming from within the shop, but not to be deterred, Caiside cast a glance down at himself to make sure he was presenting his best self, and lifted his hand to rap smartly on the door. what was said in the woods

Samuel He stumbled into faith and thought God, this is all there is? Sam sat on the bottom stair of his shop (giving the occasional nervous glance up to the attic where the bats were, though none of them came down to visit) waiting for anybody to arrive. All around him were piles and piles of books; many of them made by him but some of them ones he had collected or bought over the years. To fill up his shelves all would be up for barter for now. He wasn't sure if anyone would come, but he didn't have to wait long before there was a knock on the door. Sam rushed to answer and couldn't help the slightly goofy smile when he saw Remi carrying tea. He had been so excited he even did a silly mock-bow as he welcomed Remi into the room, balancing the tray on a little table so they could sip it and wait for a new arrival. His good luck only increased when he saw Jigano approach through the window. While he did feel a little jolt of panic at knowing he had said a few not-kind words about Remi the last time he had seen Jigano, he hoped that he would have the good sense to not bring it up. He placed down his tea cup and happily opened the door to welcome him in. Nairi he had only met once and in rather embarrassing conditions, but he smiled and let her in anyway, knowing he needed the help. The next person to enter, Caiside, was an absolute stranger. With his normal nervousness Sam said hello and shakily guided him in. Well then. Four people seemed like more than enough to begin the job. Fighting every introverted bone in his body Sam stood up and addressed his four volunteers. "Thank you for coming, ev-everyone. Remi, Jigano...N-Nairi? And um...you.." He stumbled over not knowing Caiside's name for a moment but recovered. "I assume you read my notice? I...I want to start selling books from here. But it's...a mess. There are a lot of problems." He gestured to the dust and cobwebs, then to the books on the floor. "Maybe we could start with...well. Um. Remi, could you come with me upstairs? There's something I think maybe you could help with. Jigano...um...could you maybe start to stack the books? On the shelves. I...I don't think any of them are alive, so don't worry." He laughed quietly at his own little joke. The books on the floor were all different shapes, about a range of topics and bore covers of every colour. Which order Jigano put them in was up to him, the books spanning from spellbooks to medical texts to poems. "Nairi...and um...you. If either of you are g-good at art...I need the sign--" Sam pointed to a large piece of wood with a worn out surface, faint old words on it."P-painted, to say 'Wordsworth Books'. But you can...choose what to draw around it." He had gotten out some paints and a small brush to do it with earlier but then lost confidence and the tools still laid next to the incomplete sign. "And um. I need somebody to help me make the stairs more st-stable..but I don't know how. If you know anything about metal..." The spiral staircase was made of a single large metal pole with stairs jutting out from around it. What Sam had missed was the rather obvious dent in the bottom, which had cracked the metal and was being stressed at each bit of pressure. With all the jobs given out for now, Sam motioned for Remi to follow and slowly made his way up the stairs, holding onto the railing to help with the shaking. As he got to the top step, he held out a hand to brush gently against Remi's shoulder to stop him. "Do..do you see the bats? I thought...since you can be an an-animal. You might be able to help me get rid of them. I'm sorry if that's...if that doesn't make sense." --- You can do the job Sam mentions or go rogue and do something else. : ) Maybe your character has a good idea for the bats? Feel free to put your own personal touch on his store. Post order: 1. Remi 2. Jigano 3. Nairi 4. Caiside

Remi Abruzzo
& all we are is skin and bone trained to get along

Grinning at Sam's silly bow, Remi might have reciprocated if his hands were not full. His balance was good, but still he'd not risk upsetting the tea. "I am glad you took me up on my offer. The street will be a good deal more lively now, I am sure." Glancing over as Jigano entered, the alchemist was not at all surprised to see the bard here. Especially after the last conversation he'd had with the silver-haired man, indeed mentally he'd sort of lumped Sam and Jigano together as a sort of package. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that as of yet, but the imagery still seemed apt.

The next two arrivals were unknown to the alchemist, but he nodded to each politely and offered them a sunny smile.

As Sam began outlining the tasks, Remi couldn't help but raise a brow as his seemed to involve helping Sam with something upstairs. Alone. Nibbling the inside of his lip, Remi hoped that he hadn't given Sam the wrong idea, specifically that he wanted to have their shops next to each other to perhaps replay out alternative endings to what had happened in the caves. He thought he'd made that clear enough, but now as he worried the inside of his lip and offered his friend an agreeable nod of his head, he wondered...

Following Sam up the stairs, Remi halted obediently as Sam's fingers feathered along his shoulder. With pale sea-glass green eyes, slightly confused but as always willing and inquisitive, Remi turned to his host. "Since I can be an animal?" The alchemist chuckled, happily relieved. "That is not quite how it works." He added, lips tugging up into a grin as he looked up at the creatures.

Though they had wings, they were not avian. They could not hear his gentle prodding into their minds. "And you really want them gone? I suppose they might cause a bit of a mess in here—it is rather strange to find them inside—but I do quite like their humming."

So saying, Remi nodded agreeably enough. This was Sam's shop after all, and if he did not want bats to occupy his upper floors, that was his prerogative (for his part, Remi had a family of chipmunks living in the floor boards of his own shop, who'd been adamant about not leaving).

Stepping backwards, Remi wondered what the best plan of action was. Thoughtfully he considered until a smile broke out on his face. "I will open the doors and windows, so they have a way to escape." He advised, before energetically flying down the stairs, opening the door and any window he could find. It was chilly, but he wanted the small creatures to be able to leave as quickly as possible.

If anyone is listening, I would appreciate a hand. Remi called to any feathered friends who might be lingering. Immediately two small hawks answered, flying through the open door to land on Remi's shoulders. Whispering something to them, they each trilled and nodded, taking flight and landing on one of the banisters. Shifting into his lion form, Remi reared up to an impressive height, roaring loudly at the slumbering bats. His intention was to frighten them into action, and to have the two hawks drive them out.

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Jigano grinned and met his friend with half-bow and a murmured greeting, nodding politely to Remi when he saw the alchemist already inside. As Sam opened the door at the next knock the bard’s smile returned. ”Nairi! It’s good to see you again,” he greeted, glad to see the young woman settling in. Another knock proved to be another familiar face, and the bard gave the golden-eyed man a bow and a smile all his own. ”Caiside, I didn’t realize you knew Sam!” Surrounded by friends, or at least friendly acquaintances, Jigano hoped the work would go swiftly and with lighter hearts.

Blue eyes warmed with pride when Samuel stood to address the gathering with more confidence than Jigano would have expected of his friend a month ago. He nodded agreeably to his task, smile widening with pleasure at being able to sort and catalogue to heart’s content. ”Even if they are, I know you’ll come to my rescue,” he teased back at the joke with a wink that encompassed Remi as well.

As they were given their individual tasks, Remi wasn’t the only one questioning Sam’s choice of people to lead upstairs alone, but after a moment Jigano decided it wasn’t for some romantic interlude. If that’s what the bookmaker had wanted, he wouldn’t have sent out an open invitation for other people to come help. So instead the bard tucked his borrowed books aside so they wouldn’t get mixed in with his friend’s, and took his bucket outside to scoop some snow into it. The building was chilly, though he doubted Sam had noticed, so the first thing he did was poke about looking for a fireplace to warm them while they worked, and to melt the snow so he could wipe the shelves down before he started placing books on them.

As he searched he looked over his shoulder at Nairi and Caiside, feeling a bit, well, oddly protective of the newcomers he hadn’t seen in a few days. ”How are you both getting along so far?” he asked curiously. ”Are you settling in alright? Any problems with th--?” Remi’s roar reverberated through the building and the bard jumped like a scalded cat, hands flickering instinctively into the first signs of a spell he could no longer cast. Realizing both that his magic was useless and who the roar had come from, he relaxed with a groan, rubbing at his forehead with slender fingers. ”…And that would be Remi, if you haven’t met him before. He’s an Attuned – an animal shifter. Hawk and lion. That, I assume, is his lion side.” He didn’t mention that, last he’d known, Remi had trouble controlling it. They’d burn that bridge when they came to it…if they came to it.

Hopefully they wouldn't.

Nairi Not all those who wander are lost. When she stepped into Sam's shop, she realised that there were already a few people there, and the only one she recognised was none other than the tall white-haired man she'd met on her first night in the woods. Jigano! She flashed him a big warm smile at the thought of meeting him again, and still remained courteous and polite enough to give the rest a brief smile as well. It was so wonderful to be able to meet Jigano once again. He had been incredibly kind to the lost soul that she was on that cold and icy night many moons ago now. Placing her bucket down onto the floor, with the rags draped over it, Nairi went over to take a look at the empty signboard Sam had mentioned that he wanted to be painted. She did not exactly have plenty of painting experience, and she was very much a novice painter after learning painting itself from her meeting with Bastien at the Church of Safrin a few days ago. She picked up a clean paintbrush and turned to face Caiside, her very intentions to ask if he was in any way a better painter than she was. She would have been fully prepared to undertake the painting of the signboard if he did not wish to. Poking him gingerly on his shoulder, she asked him. "Are you good at painting? I was wondering if you would-" Her question was abruptly interrupted by a loud roar which just about scared the living daylights out of her, which prompted her to fling the paintbrush in shock. It was only after the brush left her hand did she realise what she'd done, and by then the brush was already heading towards poor Jigano.

CAISIDE Caiside smiled at the man who opened the door, and lifted a hand in greeting as he was led in. He didn't recognise nearly anyone in the room, save for Jigano. It wasn't surprising in the least to see the silver haired man here, but Caiside did wonder if this was pure altruism, or if he was friends with the nervous looking book seller. The man who had invited them, Samuel, Jigano had said, disappeared upstairs, taking one of the other men with him, and leaving the rest of them alone downstairs. Well, there was only one job left that Caiside really felt suited to, so after a beat, he took a step towards the stairwell, planning on taking a look at it now that the two headed upstairs were off it. Hopefully it was something that could be fixed quickly and simply, if only to keep him out of the other mans hair more than he had to be. A tap on his shoulder stopped him before he could take a second step, and he turned, regarding Nairi and the paintbrush in her hand. He shook his head, his mouth opening to explain that even the blind would be more suited to the task than him, and was interrupted by a roar from the second floor. His instincts kicked in faster than his memory did, and he turned back towards the stairwell, hands raised as if he could do something to fight whatever had made such an intimidating sound. Jigano spoke up just as Caiside remembered that he was truly defenceless against any threat, his magic also gone. The disappointment that came with remembering was numbed slightly by the silver haired man's explanation. He took a deep breath, trying to recover from the shock, and the subsequent adrenaline rush, and looked over towards Jigano. "I didn't realise that was common. You'd think they'd give us some warning, huh?" what was said in the woods

Samuel He stumbled into faith and thought God, this is all there is? Sam hoped he had not given Remi a wildly inappropriate task, worried he had misunderstood quite what it meant to be an attuned (animals all knew each other, right?). "I am...scared of the bats. A-and other people might be too. And they might make a mess." But Remi took to it with his usual bright enthusiasm, willing to help; Sam smiled in a way that could be seen as the result of a blooming crush as he watched Remi run about to open the windows and door. The smile was wiped right off of his face as Remi suddenly became a large lion -- didn't he say he struggled to control it??? -- and roared loudly. Sam edged his way around Remi and then ran quickly down the stairs to get out of the way...just in time to see Nairi throw a paintbrush at Jigano as Caiside threw his hands up. He just stood for a second watching everything with wide eyes. Of course in only a moment, his carefully laid plans had become chaos. Jigano had uncovered a fireplace hidden behind some old boards, it seemed, though the stones were covered in ashes of long ago and nothing had burnt there for quite some time. Sam had not felt the cold so had not even considered looking for it. "...E-Everybody. Please. Um. Let's..c-calm down. Remi should have maybe...warned us before he...did...that." Sam did not often criticise, but he found it in him to pass a disapproving eye up to Remi on the stairwell. It seemed they would all need more time to complete their tasks. Sam went to take a brush from the wall and began to dust down the shelves. Thick cobwebs cling to the bristles like glue, making him pull faces despite the fact that he could not really feel it. Once he had felt a good amount of time had passed and the shelves before him were shining and clear, he turned  back around to talk to everyone. "Let...let me see what you've done, please. And then...um. The attic. I was thinking it could be a re-reading area. For anyone who wants to relax. But...I-I'm not very good at knowing what other people like. What do you all think it could use? T-to be a space where you could read and be quiet." -- Post Order: 1. Remi 2. Jigano 3. Nairi 4. Caiside

Remi Abruzzo
& all we are is skin and bone trained to get along

Of course the big cat was completely oblivious to the worried looks and palpitating hearts he'd induced downstairs. Rather short-sightedly, Remi had forgotten that not everyone here knew about his shift, and that the ones who did might be a little leery of having it used in such a confined area. But with no indication of danger and among friends, these were the sorts of circumstances that Remi did feel confident in being able to control himself.

In what was likely a rather shocking sight for anyone watching, the lion and the two hawks began to corral the bats outside. Rearing up again and again to swipe at the leathery creatures with his large paws (though it was clear that Remi was actually trying to avoid striking any of them—he was rather fond of bats actually), he and the hawks made an initial push towards the door with the first group of bats. Not unlike other animals, the bats stayed fairly grouped together as they exited, which made Remi's task a good deal easier.

That being said, the stairs groaned endlessly beneath the lion's bulky weight as he trotted up and down them repeatedly.

Not all of the bats were so keen to be evicted however, and some took up residence on the lower floor. With a grin, Remi shifted back into himself at the top of the stairs, peering down at the painting party below. "Watch your heads!" He called cheerfully, quite enjoying this. Jumping off the top of the stairs, Remi shifted into a hawk, and he and the other two began to try and coax the bats who had taken to hiding on the main floor, towards the open windows and door.

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If he hadn’t been focused on the roar he might have been able to dodge the perilous projectile Nairi flung at him, but by the time he was turning to reassure his friends, it was too late. The brush smacked his cheek and he flung out a hand to bat it away even as it fell. Catching it more by feel and instinct rather than any sort of planning, he blinked down at it, then back up again to Nairi with a faintly wounded expression. ”Madame, I am hardly the one at fault here,” he protested, just as Sam tried to reassure them all.

He slanted a wry smile at Caiside, murmuring softly so only the other man would hear: ”Remi has good intentions but… considering consequences is not one of his strengths, that I’ve seen so far.” He felt more charitable towards the young man after their adventure in the maze, but that didn’t mean he’d lost all of his ambivalence overnight.

He had just begun checking to see if the flue in the fireplace was open when a fresh batch of humming bats came flying down and out of the just-unboarded hearth. The bard fell back with an undignified yelp, raising his hands to protect his hair from any wayward wings, and glaring after the hawks for not doing a better job. Why Remi was still in lion form and not hawk was, in fact, another question, especially as the stairs groaned and creaked and threatened to break with his cavalier galumphing about. Muttering dire imprecations under his breath about lion-skin rugs in front of cozy fireplaces, Jigano used his knife to shave kindling from a splintered board and coax a small fire to life. Once it was burning steadily and happily devouring the boards he set around it to protect and feed it, he turned his attention back to the books Sam had initially pointed him towards.

With some clean shelves to work with he began to separate and shelve them by topic and alphabetically by title, humming all the while and occasionally breaking into quietly cheerful song as he worked. At Sam’s sudden interruption he glanced to his friend with a raised brow and then smiled. ”Good lighting, and a way to stay warm in this cold weather! And... no lions jumping on the stairs,” he suggested promptly, turning to look to Nairi and Caiside to see what else they might add.

Nairi Not all those who wander are lost. As soon as she realised what she'd done, Nairi ran towards Jigano, but the flying paintbrush was faster than her realisation. She saw it hit him squarely in the cheek, and she snatched it out of his hands before apologetically stroking the cheek that was hit, unaware of what she wasn't actually doing. "I'm so sorry! It was an accident, truly! I did not mean to smack you in the cheek with the paintbrush!" She gave him her best apologetic look, complete with puppy eyes and all. She walked back to the signboard, and since it seemed that her painting the board seemed to be the most suitable task, she was just about to dip her paintbrush into paint when shrieking bats came flying down from the area upstairs. Nairi made sure to keep both hands on the paintbrush this time, to avoid another paintbrush flinging accident. It seems like this Remi was not only capable of shifting into a lion, but a hawk as well. When the little commotion was over, Nairi began to actually start with the painting of the signboard. She was no painting expert, but since Caiside seems to be worst than it than she was, she took it upon herself to complete the task. Dipping the paintbrush into black paint, she carefully began painting out the words Wordsworth Books in strong but elegant strokes. She even began painting an open book beside the words. She held up the freshly painted sign to Jigano with a beaming smile. "How does this look?"