Starring:
Summary: Ava needs some herbs, so she and Nicolae go shopping. They learn a bit more about their favorite kitty cat, and a certain warlock.
Date It Happened: December 20, 2001
Use Protection
Lin Sister Herbal
Lin Sister Herbal is one of those places that seems like it would be peaceful and tranquil inside. And normally it is. But it's getting close to closing and therefore Emeline has decided that since there are no customers, it's time for some of her own sorts of music to be played through the CD player behind her. Dusting and generally cleaning things up to 'God Save the Queen' by the Sex Pistols, she bounces her head in time with the music and wipes off the shelves.
"<I am telling you, that man is bad. He's the sort of petty bad that screams warlock, and they like to manage all sorts of nasty spells just because they're spiteful little boys who've never grown up.>" Ava speaks Romany to Nicolae as they stroll into Lin Sisters. "<I just need to get a few herbs for some extra protection spells. Maybe do some smudging in our apartment. Even if it comes to nothing, I'll feel better. He knows I've got power.>" Ava has her arm curled into Nicolae's, and the way her spine is straightened, it's like she's the one protecting the much taller, much larger young man with her.
"<I could have told you that,>" Nicolae replies in a growl, clearly less than thrilled with the topic of his discussion with Ava, although keenly interested in it. "<Do we know where he lives? There is a very simple solution to warlocks. I carry it with me at all times. We could->" he gestures back toward the door, "<go now, do this thing, and have done with it for good.>" He looms above her, clearly having missed the memo on who's protecting whom in this situation. So basically the impression is one of solidarity and unhappiness. For his part, Nicolae takes a hit to his bad mood upon hearing the music, whose incongruity in a place synonymous with New Age peace and meditation, has less to do with it than his approval of the song. The metaphorical thunderheads darkening his visage clear up a bit, so he looks about forty percent less likely to do something violent within the next five minutes.
Jingjingajingajing! Bouncing along ahead of the pair is a familiar calico with a pink collar, who once again enters the shop like he lives here and was totally the one to lead them in. Instead of hopping up on the counter, though, he heads straight for Emeline and starts twining around her ankles, purrpurrpurrring loudly. Lookit NICE LADY i brought you a NICE LADY W/ TOONAZ and NICE BEEF MANZ luv me.
Forty percent is a lot better than one hundred. Emeline swings around at the jingle on the door and moves to go turn down the music. At the moment it's a little too loud for actual conversation. She wasn't expecting any sales to take place before the end of the day, so she had no qualms about her music tastes. "Sorry about the music," she apologizes as she turns down the dial. Her London accent filters through quite easily. "Now what can I—-" all attempts at being the proper store employee fall away when she sees the calico come in again. "June!" Stooping down, she attempts to scoop him up into her arms. "I will lock you in a cage and throw away the key if you don't stop running away, mister."
"<We can't do that. I can't just start a hex-war with some random spellcaster just because he's a jackass. But I can take preventative steps. And yes, I know where he lives."> Ava looks faintly amused as the calico gets yet another name. "Do you know him? We call him Andrzej." she remarks. "There's an awful man who claims he's his owner, but he followed me home once, so I imagine he doesn't like him very much. I need some herbs, please."
"Pfft," Nicolae dismisses Ava's initial response with clear agitation. "<We could have his head on a stick within the hour if he's a serious problem. It avoids war, not to mention other inconveniences.>" By now it should be clear to her that he's following her cues, especially given the disconsolate but resigned huff that he offers in lieu of further protest. The matter's settled and he knows it. He ratchets down the 'tude even further as he turns his attention toward Emeline and Andrzej, toning it to something approaching safe levels of indifference as the cat greets yet another friend. His face moves in a manner vaguely suggestive of a grin for half a second.
PRRRRRPRRRRR. The Cat With Many Names makes no protest when he's scooped up and instead headbumps Emeline's chin happily. Hihihihihi. But then she says the word "cage" and the calico brings up a forepaw to bat at her lips. There are no claws involved or even any sort of pain-inducing actions. Why, if he were human, it would be the equivalent of putting a hand over her mouth. NICE LADY DOES NOT SAY SUCH THINGS PLZ.
Then mean cat will not keep giving her heart attacks! Emeline sputters a bit when the paw gets placed on her mouth. Pulling her head back to stay out of reach, she twists the cat around so that he's facing outward and not toward her face to prevent that from happening again. "His name is June. Well, Junayd. He's…" can she call him her cat? Yes? "It's a complicated situation. But, he doesn't exactly have an owner, persay. I know the man you're speaking of. Tosser." She hasn't forgotten his attempt to kill her and take Junayd away. "I'd be glad to give you the whole store if it'd make sure that man didn't come within twenty yards of me again."
This automatically gets Ava's attention. "Really?" she says. "I mean, I might not want your store…but if you were interested in some kind of protection spell," the girl gives a one shouldered shrug, "I could maybe try and put something together for you for some cash." She strolls up the counter, her arm still in Nicolae's - he's like her own personal looming thug, if a really cute, dark and dashing one. "Though at the moment, I need three ounces of angelica root, three of bramble leaf, four of red clover, and a full mandrake root if you have any handy." She considers a moment, reaching out to stroke the cat. "Junayd, huh? That's definitely nicer than Princess."
Sometimes Nicolae pretends he doesn't speak any English at all, but tonight he's too fired up to bother. "Done," he agrees happily (for him, anyway) as he makes his bid to disentangle his arm from Ava's to go win her a store full of herbs and a warlock-free evening. This is harder than it should be for someone as big and strong as he is, but he's already got his free hand diving into his coat to take hold of something that, upon moving beneath it, lends every impression of being some manner of hurt-inflicting implement while starting toward the door.
The cat is probably the only living thing in the room that actually likes the warlock. Too bad he's not really too aware of what they're talking about. He's just happy to be held and petted and prrrrprrrrprrrr.
The cat is probably the only living thin gin the world that likes the warlock. While Emeline has a firm grasp of him, she's going to keep it like that so she can keep an eye on him. The subject of a protection spell is one that she should be able to do. "If it were mine to give, that is," the woman smiles at Nicolae, raising an eyebrow just slightly at his eagerness. "You know, we don't normally smile upon weapons on the store, either. Unless that's a banana in your jacket. Or you're just happy to see me." There's a firm shake of her head. She's not about to ask for help from a stranger for something she wants to be able to do on her own. "No no, I'm the store, you're the customer. Don't worry about the protection spell. I can take care of myself." Already maneuvering the cat so that one arm is holding him and the other is getting jars and boxes and bags to hold the herbs in, she starts getting together what Ava has asked for. "Princess is a name only wusses give their cats."
"Oh, don't mind him." Ava says brightly. "He usually keeps his generally violent nature restricted to out-of-doors. And no, Nicu." she gives him a faintly exasperated expression. Don't go flashing your umpteen stakes, bladed, and bludgeoning weapons where the gaje might all start freaking out or crying or something! Back to Emeline casually, "Suit yourself on the protection spell, but you did say you wanted to keep that man away from you."
When he can't quite manage to wiggle free of Ava's arm, Nicolae once again abandons his casually homicidal inclinations with the dismay of a petulant child- well, one who thinks he's got the best of intentions. Back in the Old Country they called this 'practicality', but he's lucky he hasn't been institutionalized. He quickly withdraws his hand from his coat, showing five splayed, weaponless fingers as he consults Emilene with a questioning look. After that he settles for pouting at Ava for a moment, until she's turned her exasperated look away from him and returned to the conversation. By that point he's settled into a placid 'bored boyfriend' sort of air marred only by his innate tendency to look grouchy about something. He does offer a faint quirk of his lips and a terse nod of approval in response to Emilene's statement about the name 'Princess'.
As if having only one arm to dedicate to getting things together, the cat makes things just a little more difficult by attempting to rub his face on anything that comes within reach. And this involves forepaws reaching out to grab them and pull them toward his face. ilu box ilu bag ilu jar ilu nice lady ilu store — omg is that birdies? And he becomes fixated on the cage behind the counter and the things inside.
<OOC> 'Andrzej' says, "Er. Lemme try that pose again."
As if having only one arm to dedicate to getting things together wasn't hard enough, the cat makes things just a little more difficult by attempting to rub his face on anything that comes within reach. And this involves forepaws reaching out to grab them and pull them toward his face. ilu box ilu bag ilu jar ilu nice lady ilu store — omg is that birdies? And he becomes fixated on the cage behind the counter and the things inside.
Having a wriggling and loving cat in ones arms makes things certainly slower. What she wants to do is tell him that she'll fix him - the bad meaning of fix - if he doesn't stop rubbing up against everything, but she can't, because she knows that she would never actually go through with it. It only serves to make her ore frustrated. Bagging up one, two, three herbs, she drops them down on the counter. "I did. But I can keep him away the way I keep people like him away." Mostly threatening them and then calling the cops if needed. The quirk of the eyebrow that Nicolae gives her makes her return the gesture. "What?"
Ava starts digging into her purse, and begins pulling out cash. Except it comes out in wads, crumpled and such, while Ava begins to count it out. Nicu is safe to roam - be afraid.
Nicolae chooses to default to 'uncommunicative brute' mode now that he's proven his intentions to be handily thwarted. He responds to Emilene's question with a fitful motion of his shoulders and a grunt in lieu of more articulate commentary. He does reach out to scratch Andrzej between the ears, which would be easy to interpret as a threatening gesture given the circumstances. That's all he really wants to do though.
Birds are foregone when wads of bills show up on the counter. Wads! They look like TOYS. So after staring at them in fascination for a moment, the cat suddenly rears back his head, eyes wide and crazed, and begins to bat at them — slowly at first, but gaining intensity and speed when his paw keeps missing. Bat bat batbatbatBATBATBATBATBATBAT. And so intent on the money is he that he doesn't realize he's going to be rubbed between the ears until Nicolae's hand is on his head. Then the cat suddenly twists and wraps both forelegs over the man's wrist as though to attack — but figures that licking is better instead. Licklickfingers, prrprrr.
As there is money and rolling of shoulders, Emeline watches Nicolae carefully and moves to smack his hand away, thinking that he's about to either hit the cat or her. Which is not something that she wants to happen. It's not until later that she realizes that he's only attempting to pet Junayd and she relaxes. Sort of. Eyeing the cat and then Nicolae, she puts her free hand on her hip. Showing she doesn't like threats and also that she can look annoyed while holding a purring cat while a large man pets him.
Ava seems oblivious to Emeline's annoyance, and really, why would she care? She's just a gaje. "Change?" she prompts gently, even as she's reaching for the bag her purchases have been placed in. Nicolae gets a sidelong smile. She kind of likes it when he makes people nervous.
Nicolae regards his little fuzzy buddy Andrzej with a genuine smile, chuckling softly as the cat decides to lick his fingers rather than let himself be petted. He belatedly notices Emilene's readiness to fight back against an imagined assault, but his smile remains undimmed. There don't seem to be any hard feelings on his end. In its own way this could be just as unsettling, given how stark a contrast this is. Whatever the case, he's just here to play with the cat while Ava gets her change.
Apparently Nicolae's hand is in need of a good washing or he touched something tasty recently, because the cat has grown very intent on cleaning the whole thing. Gawd, humans, so dirty.
That's fine. Emeline is getting ready to give out change, but she wasn't sure if the woman needed to put more wads of money on the counter or not. It's not that she's nervous, just that she's annoyed. Nodding her head, she takes the cat with her so the hand bath may just have to come to an end. She prints out a receipt and gets the woman her change which takes a little while, as she's still one handed, but she manages and she holds out her hand to give Ava her change and push over the bag with her new herbs in it. "Have a good day," she tells Ava, more than Nicolae.
