Back and forth. Side to side. The straw of the broom swished as she busied herself on the front steps. It was late midmorning, just before the quaint little toy shop opened for the day. Caprice, the Qi'ora owner, was inside tidying the shelves and preparing the workshop in the back. She was busy doing the same thing she did at the beginning of her day. Sweep the steps, working her way back into the front door. Clean the door knob just before switching the sign around to say 'OPEN'. Once she was in the shop, she would sweep dust bunnies to the back left corner behind the counter. Once they were there, she would tidy the counters with a dust rag and ensure that all the glass domes sheltering the most expensive of dolls were translucent. With that done, it was sweep one last time and collect the dust into a pan. Into the trash it went, completing her morning routine.
At least, this was how it was supposed to go. Leech often had to start the inside routine from the beginning because Caprice was incapable of deciding where he wanted to be in the morning. One day, wood chips would fall at the front when she was halfway through the first sweep. The next he would be nibbling bread over her freshly cleaned counters. Today, it was flawless. It made her suspicious of what was going on in the workshop. Caprice was never this clean in the morning.
"Girl," Caprice whistled as he stepped out. He wore the same plain clothes day after day. Brown breeches with a white collard shirt tucked in and kept neat with a belt. His black shoes glistened in the dim light since Leech shined them each night. "I have to deliver this package to a wealthy customer. You have the shop until I get back. No thievery or I will put your right back where I found you."
She said nothing; instead, she nodded. Leech had no desire to be left in the rain outside the shop again. Having a room above the toy store was much better; it was home. He did not even look at her as he left. By now, he was used to her silence. After the arc or so that she had been in his employment, Caprice had expected her quiet demeanor. She spoke when an answer was needed. If she spoke otherwise, it was probably extremely important. Caprice had often wondered if she was just extremely intelligent and thought him to be too stupid for her words. He had also thought she was just too stupid to hold a conversation. The door clicked shut.
Leech smiled the moment she was alone. She immediately went to her favorite section of the toy store. The back corner contained a display of dolls, each handcrafted by her employer. Their wooden faces stared with their seated glass eyes. Their lips and smiles had been painted on, blush lightly brushed on to provide their smooth cheeks colors. Some had straight here while others had tight curls. Each dress was perfectly pressed, their knee socks pushed into leather shoes. She reached out a finger to press a crease out of one of the dresses, smiling.
"How are you today Lady Helen? I thought we discussed that your dress must remain perfect if you are to go and make a little girl smile." Leech moved to the right of the doll she had addressed, placing her hands on her hips. "Don't you look at her like that Mary. Lady Helen is more likely to go home with someone than you. You have a green dress; she has pink. Girls like pink."
Leech really did have to get out more.
Last edited by Leech on Sat Jun 24, 2017 9:38 pm, edited 1 time in total. word count: 632
It had been two trials, and still the shock hadn't worn off. Zedarius' face was slack, his jaw hanging limply as he trudged through the streets of Andaris. He'd left Odessa's manor and traveled home, the strange ethereal feeling of being far away and far too close pervading every fiber of his being. His stomach was in knots, and his mind whirred faster than a weathervane in a storm, never slowing, not for one trill.
He couldn't believe it... He was going to be a father. A little Zedarius or Odessa, running around the manor... Pissing, shitting, crying... But also smiling, giggling and growing before their eyes. Zedarius felt his love for Odessa grow by the bit, and he knew that when that baby came, he'd be more than ready. But logic had done nothing to dull the blow of the blunt emotion as it washed over him.
He had no real idea where he was going, but instead, let his feet carry him. As deep as he was in his thoughts, he did not direct himself. Lefts and rights, twists and turns, and Zedarius found himself outside the dollshop. He'd passed it so many times that it was ingrained in his route, and he barely gave it any thought. Subconsciously, though, he'd dragged himself to the store just in time to see the owner hurriedly rushing out. A tight smile to her, and he traversed the steps. Through the windows, he saw the shopkeeper's assistant moving through, cleaning and organizing the dolls. With one final sigh, he pushed through the door and into the shop, the smell of wood and paint reaching his wide nostrils.
The knight hadn't ever been in the shop before, but instantly was enraptured by the craftsmanship of the dolls. He stepped to his right and examined one, admiring a doll with long black yarn for hair. The painted eyes were perpetually open and gave Zedarius the creeps, but he continued walking. Perhaps the young assistant could help him find something. Except he didn't know whether he was buying for a boy or a girl, and even then, it would be some time off. Still, this is where his feet had taken him, there had to be a reason.
"Hello? Young lady?" His deep voice carried through the shop effortlessly, not loud but commanding. He tried to sound lighthearted, but his numbed senses may have betrayed him.
"Don't do that Helen. Bad words curse your luck. You will never leave if you say that about Mary." If one were looking through her eyes, the two dolls were arguing. She was so delusional that she probably was even convincing herself that the lips were moving. Desperate for human interaction could make someone focus their desires onto an inanimate object. The imagination was a power weapon or curse, depending on how one looked at it. She thought it a gift, to be able to imagine a friend from a doll. Others probably would have considered her to be psycho or mental challenged.
"Eep." The squeak that left her lips was the only suggestion of surprise when the man called out to her. She had been enveloped in her fantasy world of friendship when he had entered. With a tickle running down her spine of anxiety Leech turned around. Her face held no expression despite her slightly elevated heart rate. Having lived in the shadows and away from people most of her life left her emotionally inept for situation like this. She should feel fluster, scared, or angry for having someone sneak up on her. Instead, she felt only the physiologic responses suggesting she should run. Her mind did not understand how to comprehend them. She offered a little bow from her shoulders up, acknowledging him.
"Welcome to Toy Story. How may I serve you today?" How many times had this sentence left her lips? She had finally perfected it as it was the longest set of words she ever said to anyone else in her day. Normally her sentences were much shorter and one at a time. Leech straightened herself up tucking her hands behind her back.
He was a handsome fellow, but he did not look as happy as he sounded. The inflection in his voice appeared to be strained or forced. Leech tilted her head to the right, examining him from a different angle. Something weighed heavily on his mind. How many times had she seen men come into the toy shop, alone, with the same fretful look on their face. Some went to bars to drink their anxiety away, others went shopping out of delight. Maybe he was confused about which one he really wanted to be doing right at this moment. Maybe this man wanted to be drinking his sorrows away. "Expecting?"
As she approached, the knight followed her gait with his eyes. She was obviously meek, faltering through phrases that Zed could only guess were practiced in the looking-glass. He tried to smile in assurance, showing her that she need not be afraid of him. He could only imagine that his face looked more like a forced facsimile of a face, a grim masque to hide true terror.
As a knight, he'd spent many breaks trying to assure those with reservations about his intents. He tried to reassure the common citizenry that he meant them no harm, but Rynmere as a whole had been a powder keg. With the anti-nobility sentiment coursing through the holds, and the reclamation of the city from the Usurper King and his noble wife. Personally, Zed had always thought that Veljorn and Zvezdana were some of the saner nobles in the area, with Zvezdana being the only Venora that didn't actively make a mockery of herself. Her biggest crime, it seemed, was that she married a man with ambition larger than his reality. And so the Hand had been busy, actively trying to calm the city from the brink of pure revolution.
And in the midst of that, Zedarius found that his own life was being plunged into chaos. Odessa being pregnant was not something that he'd truly anticipated, though it was something that he'd considered. Of course he wanted to start a family with her, and of course he wanted to be a father, but... This was such a shaky time for a child to be brought into the world. With everything happening to the stability of Rynmere, could he really justify bringing a child into it?
And suddenly he remembered there was a shop assistant in front of him. His face had slipped from a hollow smile to a look of bewildered uncertainty. Quickly, he shook the cobwebs from his brain and reassumed the strange smile.
"All too much, and perhaps not enough." The cryptic answer was followed with a strange look, as if he were about to be sick but wanted to rejoice at the same time. The strange cascade of feelings swirled in him, a miasma of fear and pure happiness. He cast a look around again, admiring a few more of the dolls.
"Honestly, I don't know what I'm doing. I don't even know why I'm here, I just managed to end up here." He smiled, looking back at the girl. "I don't even know if I need to get a doll. It may be a son."
He managed a weak laugh before offering a massive hand. "Ser Zedarius Steel. Pleasure to meet you, Miss...?" And he awaited her response.
He appeared to be incredibly confused how he was feeling about the news. The way he answered suggested that he wanted to be excited, but he was too overcome with fear to be able to be excited. Maybe it wasn't fear, but shock. Leech tilted her head the other way as she continued to watch him. His face was only one emotion while those swirling inside of him could not be seen; however, the next set of words gave her the answer she was looking for. So his wife was pregnant and he was to be a father. At least she was able to read people well enough prior to this encounter to learn something. She was about to suggest that he get one of each to be prepared, or a neutral toy like a teddy bear, when he did something very strange.
He held out his hand.
Leech stared at it, moving her head side to side to get the various angles. It seemed proportionally massive and rough. What did he do for a living that made his hands so worn? The way the ligaments and sinew bulged out at his wrist suggested thick muscle above that. Yet, what was curious about the situation was what she should do with it. Why would he hold out his hand in such a way? They were not making a transaction, as he had not picked a toy out yet. He had no nel in his hand to show his price limit. He was not giving her a doll to repair. Since she had no idea what to do with it, she simply left it. A silly girl would have held her hand out the same with out grabbing it. A snot would have probably attempted to fist bump it or provide a high-five. Leech, too dimwitted to do any of that, left it hanging to attempt to wrap her mind around the next issue.
Was he asking her name? Again her body reacted in an appropriate way while her face remained blank. She flushed as she became incredibly confused and anxious. Was she Leech? Or was it Girl? Maybe she was supposed to revert to her birth name, Morana? Again her heart rate picked up as she fought with what to do. Leech looked nervously over her shoulder, one of the few emotions her face could contort into. Helen, the doll, came into her name. "Helen."
She looked back at him with green-blue eyes. Wide eyes seemed distant and hollow, the look of pure stupidity. Slowly, she swept her hand towards the back to the dolls. "Come." The command was quiet as she began to lead him down the aisles of toys. Wooden toy soldiers stood erect with their various weapons at their sides. Teddies held their arms in a way that said 'hug me.' She planned to take him directly to her sanctuary. The doll-o-rama stood tall with all the various dolls on display. These were her friends. They would help her get through this interaction.
"A doll for a girl, Ser Steel. Beautiful and perfect."
As much as Zedarius tried to remain openminded, there was something certainly off about this shop assistant. Each response took her just a trill too long to process, as if she were slow mentally. But Zedarius could tell that she was not, but rather that her manners and mannerisms were undeveloped and wooden. He nearly smiled as he realized she was like an unfinished doll... He restrained himself to be polite.
She called herself Helen, though he doubted that was her true name. It had taken her just a little too long to admit it, and though Zedarius wouldn't push the issue, it just added to his suspicion of the girl. Still, he was confident in his ability to subdue the young woman, should he need to. She was slight and small, and he was big enough that he could likely wrap a hand around her face and crush her skull. Not that he'd need to, he was sure.
As she led him back among the dolls, she seemed to relax a little. Perhaps she was a little odd, but it was endearing how she looked at the dolls... Like I look at Odessa when her back is turned... He realized that she loved these dolls, that likely they were the closest thing to family she had. Sympathy rose in his chest as he watched her move among the dolls.
"Actually, Helen... I am not sure if the child is a girl yet. It is too soon to know, though my wife assures me it's a boy. I think she's more hopeful for a son than I am, you know?" He doubted the young dollmaker knew what he was saying, but he felt better for saying it nonetheless. "Mainly, I am just looking in advance. I'm more likely to buy when the time for the babe is closer." He smiled softly, unthreatening in his mannerisms. Like he would around a baby, he was being soft and unassuming, tempering his voice so as to not spook the woman. Though she was not a child, he got the distinct feeling that she was close to one... At least mentally.
"Which doll is your favourite, Helen?" He smiled, again trying to engage the young assistant.
Leech listened to him while she looked at the dolls. When she looked at the toys, she saw something much more living than the humans around her. Then again, they didn't talk back to her or interact with the world around him. She tilted her head in just a way that one of her eyes focused on him. Her dark, wavy hair fell over the other. If only the outside world could see inside of her head, they might not find her facade as innocent as it looked.
"You want a girl." Leech neither said this in a way that was questioning nor matter-of-fact. By his statement, he seemed to want a girl more than a boy. Girls and boys each had their own pros and cons. She, being a woman, could see the benefit of being a girl. They were beautiful and intelligent. Then again, the pain of birth could be enough to make one want to be a man. Boys were strong and adventurous. The ones she knew when she had been younger had been rowdy and exciting. Maybe should be be more normal if she had been a man. "If you want a toy for the baby to start with, try a stuffed animal. Soft things make boys and girls happy."
His next question was peculiar. Why did anyone want to know anything about her? She moved around the doll-o-rama, looking at each doll. Like people, each had their own pros and cons. Some had pretty dresses but bland hair styles. Did she like any single doll? Then it donned on her as her eyes laid upon one of the most advanced dolls Caprice had made. She lifted the doll down, going back to Ser Zedarius. She held the doll out to him to inspect. The doll had blonde curls. Her dress was fine, magenta silk with embroidered flowers on the bodice and white tule beneath to poof the skirt out appropriately. Her eyes were painted blue, but her lower arms and legs moved due to tight wooden hinges. She moved the legs into a sitting position over her arm.
"Master Caprice has talent. He is trying to get the eyes to be more life-like, but he has not figured it out yet. This one is Lady H-" She paused. The dolls name had been Helen. Panicked, Leech responded with the only other name she had off the top of her head. "Lady Leech."
