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singillatim2024-02-05 06:23 pm
[open] General Store
WHO: Louis de Pointe du Lac and YOU (new players welcome too)
WHAT: Opening the General Store!
WHEN: throughout February (at evening/night if you want Louis) + party on an Aurora night second half of the month
WHERE: General Store, Milton
Feel free to also use this setting as open starters or closed to characters other than Louis! Just indicate it if you do! His general store? No... Our general store...
A. Home Improvement
CONTENT WARNINGS: a little bit of vampire blood, talk of hunting animals for food
It started out of the practical need to store and barter goods. Louis's home is not a fit place to entertain anyone other than rats, and he doesn't want to disturb the people who live in the Community Hall.
Louis turns his attention to the thoroughly-looted husk of the General Store. Louis feels oddly shy about starting up anything, self deprecation rearing its ugly head. Lestat called his business back home a "human hobby."
He needs all the help he can get. There's the plumbing and leaks from the recent storm, trash to throw out, walls to paint, shelves to fix. He'd like to make arrangements for daytime hours when he can't be there. And finally, putting a new coat of paint on the GENERAL STORE sign with an addition:
Marché du Lac
How handy is he? Louis did small repairs at his club when a handyman wasn't available at night, he's fairly nimble... and he's never done construction in his life. But any fool can board up a broken window and repair shelves, he reasons.
"Fuck!" he hisses when he hits his thumb with the hammer. He automatically puts his thumb in his mouth, and the taste of that little bead of blood is shockingly good. He must be hungry. Time for a break.
He slips his hammer into the loop of some scavenged cargo pants. He might be terrible at construction, but at least he looks good doing it.
...Why is he working at night?
B. Having a Few People Over
To celebrate the reopening of Milton's only general store, Louis invites the town for food and drinks on the next Aurora night. At the risk of being accused of living in it, he wears his best 3-piece suit, the gray one from home. The place is well-lit, both due to the Aurora and every light source Louis could get his hands on. It's a myth that vampires don't like light. They just have a sun allergy.
Louis used to run a club, he knows how to plan a party. He doesn't know how to cook; he enlisted help for that. Among as much variety as Louis could get, the caterer Lalo Salamanca made a mushroom stew. Delicious--but watch out! A few special mushrooms may have found their way into the batch, possibly into a few bowls, and Louis has no idea...
He puts jazz records on and opens the doors. Empty shelves have been pushed out of the way for mingling or making music--he sorely misses live music. Louis would only request that it be good. (Louis reminds himself to explicitly instruct Lestat not to eat any musicians he deems bad.)
C. Open for Business
It's little more than a single counter and a few shelves worth of stock. Louis contemplates trying to bring in people to sell their own wares just so the rest of the shelves won't look so empty.
He arranges the odd collection of whatever he could scavenge and make presentable: dry goods, cans, candy, alcohol, cigarettes. The storeroom is depressingly half empty. The freezer, moved to an unheated room, is surprisingly full of meat.
In the window he puts up a passable copy of Tim's missing bunny poster. He sets up a little seating area where people can eat and drink if they wish. (It feels odd not to place the round little tables and woven chairs outside like at home, where the weather was mild enough.)
Louis emerges from the back room in an apron at the sound of the bell over the door. His suit and tie are so people won't mistake the owner/manager for a lowly clerk... as much as anyone can "own" anything in this scavenged town.
"Evenin', what can I get for you?"
D. Back in 15
Louis expects at least one teenager to take up loitering... Big mistake. If any hapless souls hang around too long and are trusted not to steal, Louis simply takes off his apron, dons his coat, and says without warning as he leaves,
"Mind the counter while I'm gone."
Congratulations, you now work here until he returns. He'll be back in a few minutes... right?
Do you:
- Invite friends and avail yourselves of the candy, booze, and free aprons
- Actually tend the store
no subject
"That, or real tea, or some of that dried fruit herbal stuff. I think it's medicinal, but not in the hooch way. I do also have hooch, but that you have to pay for. Warm you up on a cold night, though."
He moves the enamel kettle from the edge to the hotter center of the stove's surface to boil, opens the door, and puts another log on the fire for good measure.
"There's nothin' like fresh-cooked meat, and I got a load of venison I need to sell. Other room's freezin', so it'll keep in the icebox even without power. Still, it's best when not frozen too long. Get it while it's fresh."
He's not laying it on so thick with the sales spiel. He feels that city slicker stuff doesn't quite fit with the small town vibe, even if he still wears a tie and listens to the latest (for him) jazz.
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“I was in India right before this, and I don't think you've got the stuff to make it like we do there, so I'll take whatever you think is good.” He might actually have milk but she's not holding out for spices in rural Canada.
“You didnt strike me as a hunter.” It’s the nails. “You got people selling you stuff already?”
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"I will always be a city boy, but needs must. Not like there's much greenery to gather and eat. Deer are larger than I took them for, and I'm only one person. Can't eat that much." His nails mysteriously seem to have survived whatever it is he gets up to.
"I don't have milk, just the powdered stuff, and I'd sooner eat my own hands than try to make it with that. Bad enough most tea around here comes in bags. Well, I got somethin' claimin' to be Ceylon. Sugar?" he asks as he drops a bag into a mug.
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She makes a face at the thought of powdered milk in this situation. Condensed milk maybe, but powdered… “Good call. No sugar for me, thanks.”
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He resists the urge to grin like a cat. Another alternative source of blood fresh from the tap. He might actually not have to worry too much about his special diet if he works hard and makes connections now...
The kettle starts whistling, but Louis takes it off before it can truly get to murdering their ears in this small building. He pours it over the teabag and sets the mug and a saucer on the counter for Chloe to drink when it's reached her preferred level of steeped.
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She nods at the mug. “Thanks. You know, all this isn't so bad.”
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If Louis were more curious, he'd investigate, but he's no detective and hardly an adventurer. On some of his excursions, he barely made it out alive. He stays where he is and doesn't make himself any tea. Instead, he busies himself with side tasks like finishing sweeping the floor and wiping down the latest additions to the inventory.
"As for a live rabbit, I've had some success with rat cages. I can lend you one if you'd like."
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What's more weird cursed stuff trying to kill her at this point?
“Do you have some of these cages here? I'll give it a shot. Were you trying this with Tim’s or the wild ones?”
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"Yeah, just over here." He bustles over to one of the shelves where he displays his spares. "With wild ones, and some of them become Tim's. Others become dinner. Otherwise, I don't want to terrorize Tim's rabbits. Would be nice to have regular food without havin' to hunt and trap for it."
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“Yeah, it's a lot more work than I'm used to, for sure.” Chloe used to complain about grocery shopping! Way easier (and less gross) than all of this.
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He sets the cage on the counter for her. "Anythin' else you're lookin' for?"
Even if he guesses not, it's automatic to ask that. Make sure nothing is forgotten and a client is well taken care of. He did it for years and he did it well.
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“Not really. I just wanted to see what kind of a place you've got here.”
She picks up the mug and takes a sip. Not too bad, all things considered.
“Might have to keep coming around if you're making tea for customers.”
no subject
Making freeloaders sweep floors has been his strategy, and it worked on Tim... That's not really a benchmark.
"I wish you the best of luck huntin'." Of course he would wish her luck, seeing as how he might profit from a live capture.
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"So am I, but as you can see, I've been busy."
Building his little kingdom, such as it is. He tries not to think about how humble this is compared to how he used to live. In a town where a good hat or gloves might save someone's life from the cold, the value of things is put into a new perspective.
Louis just wishes he could have hot running water all the time.
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"It's not, but food's so scarce, I got to be able to fend for myself. Everyone starts somewhere. I do think you'd be more capable than myself."
He means it, but also what's a little flattery between proprietor and customer?
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She doesn't sound overly bothered about it.
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He shakes his head, wrinkling his nose at no one but himself. "I think that's my biggest challenge. How'm I supposed to tell the difference between one half-trampled track and the next? You got great strength of spirit, not mindin' the other hunters laughin' at you."
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“I don't mind it, them having a bit of a go. I was a total amateur.”
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"I hope this will be fruitful for both of us. And thank you for stoppin' by."
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“Good hunting, indeed. See you soon.”