Middy:
Henry had met Warm Thoughts when he had been wandering the village just trying to figure out how to get his gift shop off the ground. They had quickly bonded and he was now trying to get the hang of the power that she had brought him. He had hurt his fingers a few times holding the gifts he had made for too long. He had also sold some providing them with warning labels to avoid liability, he didn't want anyone coming back to complain that they had gotten frost bite from holding his gifts too long. He had also finally been able to buy some more inventory to sell and renovate the upstairs of the shop so he finally had a home to live in above his shop. He wouldn't have been able to do it without Warm Thoughts so that's what he called his gift shop. The shop had various display places tables and shelves that held snow globes, figurines, baskets of shells, and many other gift shop trinkets. Henry sat on a stool sitting behind a counter waiting for customers.
Tartara:
Wellspring had said they would start thinking about moving in together.
So of course she had to scope out the locations! Of course that's what he meant. Of course.
She would take this early scope out to her grave.
The village was fairly standard. Right by the lake and loka nei so Wellspring could go for a good swim and she could visit her family. Where should she go first? Her amethyst eyes fell on a sign. 'Warm Thoughts.' Cute. She thought to herself as she found her body already walking towards it.
Middy:
Henry sat just waiting as Warm Thoughts flew around the shop looking at things in her curious manner. He smiled without her he wasn't sure if he would have had the push to get his shop going. He had spent a lot of time floundering trying to figure out how to find a place to stay or find the money to improve the shop and make it a place where he could live as well by the rules of the village. He hadn't thought about making magic gifts he hadn't even known how till he met Warm.
Tartara:
Walking into the cozy shop, the wolf girl didn't know what she had been expecting.
But it certainly wasn't what she found.
What immediately captured her interest was a bunch of strange domed objects on a shelf. Upon close inspection, they were filled with water and bad curious figurines in them. She gingerly picked one up to turn in her hands, marveling at the Craftsmanship. How did they do it? How did the water not leak out? Who even had such an idea? "Wow..." She whispered a moment before suddenly looking around. "Hello...is there an owner around?"
Middy:
Henry looked up and saw the wolf girl "Be careful with that, that is one of my crafted gifts, if you hold it too long it's magic may effect you." He warned "I have other gifts in the shop that are non magical." He offered he wasn't sure how well his snow globes would sell since they were hand crafted and had strange magic that went along with them.
Tartara:
At the warning, the girl quickly set the globe down. "One of your crafts? Why are you selling potentially dangerous items?" He didn't even specify how it would affect her. Just a vague warning that something might happen, it was even spookier.
Middy:
Henry blushed and then said "Well.. their effect isn't all bad, they can bring up happy long lost memories, but you know magic." He paused "Or well maybe you don't, I'll have to get a bigger sign that explains all this. Warm Thoughts my mellon helped me learn the magic that effects any gift I make, so the things I make myself can bring up happy long lost memories, but if held too long the object will grow cold and can cause harm to the skin if you continue to hold them." He sighed again in his bumbling explanation. "I figured there would still be a market for magic gifts like that as long as the buyer understood the risks." He said softly.
Tartara:
At his explanation, she tilted her head thoughtfully. Ultimately deciding on her feelings in the matter, she gave a nod. "I see. That's reasonable. But it's still dangerous if they don't know. Maybe put a big sign by them saying 'do not touch'? Or put them behind a glass display so kids can't grab them thoughtlessly." Kids wouldn't necessarily read a sign and would be even more tragic if they got hurt.
"So. What non-dangerous items do you sell?" She spoke with a soft laugh.
Middy:
Henry nodded he would be taking her advice it made sense and he didn't want anyone getting lost in memories and have their fingers frost bitten. "Well there are music boxes, baskets of shells, figurines, and much more." (Basically things you can find in a gift shop minus tech stuff) "The snow globes are the only magical item so you are safe to touch anything else without worry." He had decided to start slow with his magical gifts. He considered trying to learn some other magic so he could put other magic on other items.
Tartara:
The wolf pae perked up from the very first item he said.
"Music boxes. What is that?" She could get shells quite easily, and dolls didn't excite her. But what could be a box of music?
Middy:
Henry picked up one of the eight music boxes that he had bought from a pae that he had met at the docks. It was a simple designed a wooden box with fabric inside in a soft blue color. The box played a sweet tune when Henry turned the key on the back of the box. "See it plays this melody when you turn this key, there are gears inside and a thing where metal hits metal to make the sound." It was so simple yet so amazing. Henry had only been able to buy a few at the time but he figured as his shop grew he would be able to buy more things to sell from ships coming in at the docks.
Tartara:
Aurelia's eyes positively sparkled as he turned the key and out played a marvelous tune. "You say this isn't magic but how could it not be?" She wondered aloud in a hushed voice.
She wanted it. But surely something like this would be impossibly expensive, and she had only brought mainly food as this was just a survey trip. Knowing she was short, she still pulled the sack that was tied around her waist. "So...how much for one? I've got..." Oh dear. She had of course already ate some. "Some dried fruit and jerky. It's high quality deer jerky I assure you. Oh! I brought my knife too. Comes with a hide sheath, recently sharpened. It's got a lot of life left in it..."
Middy:
Henry frowned he wasn't expecting her to offer a trade "I wouldn't want to take your knife from you, don't you need it?"
Tartara:
It wasn't like she wanted to trade her knife, but there was no way the food would be enough. But the knife was of good quality. "I don't think I have enough to trade without it. I have more knives at home, so I'd just be without on my way home." So she would just have to hope nothing happened that would require her to use it. If she tried to find the path she used coming in, she wouldn't need to cut down additional brush.
Middy:
Henry was so tempted to be kind and accept the dried fruit and jerky in exchange for the music box, but he knew that they weren't enough to trade for the music box while the knife and sheath were a pretty equal deal as far as he was concerned. He knew if he was too kind in his trades he would not be able to stay in business for very long. "Alright we have a deal." He took the knife and allowed her to keep the music box. "Thank you for your business." He said in a friendly tone.
Tartara:
With mixed feelings, she relinquished her knife and sheath and slipped the music box into her pouch. Her parents were not going to believe what she found! "I'm here right now scoping out a village to potentially move to. Is there a particular shop besides yours you recommend checking out?"
Middy:
Henry thought for a bit and then he finally said "Well there are some shops, I don't know them very well." He blushed "The trading docks is where I normally go to trade things to sell in my shop so that would be a good place to explore and the plaza market is a great place to look around as well." Since he was just a little gift shop he didn't expect to get a ton of return business so he didn't mind telling her about other locations where she could explore and buy things.
Tartara:
Aurelia nodded thoughtfully at his suggestions, plucking one out of the list. "The plaza sounds like fun!" Maybe she'd find something smaller that they'd take some fruits as payment.
The wolf girl gave a soft smile, looking much gentler now than when she was freaking out about the snowglobes. "Thank you for your time. I hope you have a good rest of your day." A slight glance out the side of her eyes at said snow globes. "Maybe I'll come back sometime for a globe. Oh, maybe sell them with a good container so pae can travel with them." If they had to go a distance like her, besides the obvious issue of freezing it could easily bump into something and break. So a box with some sort of padding.
Guardians for all this free business advice she was giving, he should be paying her!
Middy:
Henry smiled "Thank you for all your ideas, have a wonderful day." He really was happy for her suggestions they were really good and he planned to use them to improve his gift shop. He knew what he needed now.
Tartara:
With another nod, the Wilwarin walked out of the shop and into the warm sunlight. What a cute little gift shop!
Now to see what more there was in store in this town.