Ye Olde S33k & Finde

[fr33ks33k]

*It was a new day, and he was sweeping the lobby, when he noticed the rolled parchment. He unfurled it, smiling at the note within. He tucked it into a drawer of the counter, where he kept all such special notices. On the counter, there was a small silver compass, pointing toward the door. He held it curiously, turning this way and that, watching as the arrow continued to point toward exiting the shop. Quirking a brow, he decided to follow the insistent trinket, wandering outside and down the street that held no other buildings.*

 

[fr33ks33k]

After an excrutiatingly over-extended exigence from his place of business (and pleasure), his steps carry him through the threshold with a zealousness that is often absent in him, long jacket whipping in his wake like a zephyr. The clockwork zoo is suddenly present, creating a cacophony of various mechanized hoots and growls. He smiles widely at them, zooming past the crowd of tiny animals and losing himself in the stacks.

After several hours he returns, hands full of various odds and ends, seemingly extraneous. He scatters them on the counter, working furiously to create something from the nothingness. His efforts spring forth a simple musical instrument; a zither. The strings are taut, and when he strums it sounds like a tinny harp. He smiles and plays a few songs on it before setting it aside. All is right once more...

He leans back on his stool, hands going up behind his head. The clockwork animals climb up or swoop down to cover the counter top. They voice their joy at their creator's return, and it does wonders for his mood. His mind drifts to other things, things left too long. Hopefully he has not lost the interest of the others....

 

[Aurantica]

The door opened with the exact same tinkle of bells Audrey remembered from years before. She paused in the doorway, letting here eyes adjust to the change in light. Shuffling her package with a rustle, she reached on hand up and pulled her thick sunglasses off her face, dropping them into a pocket of her jacket. Three steps took her to the counter, and she set the paper- wrapped box down as gently as possible.

" Hello" she said, her voice soft and warm.

 

[fr33ks33k]

He leaned forward as the woman entered the shop. She took off her glasses and came directly to the counter, setting some sort of package atop it.

"Hello there. How can I help you?"

 

[Aurantica]

She pointed to the package, before snapping the string holding it together and unfolding the paper cover.
" I want to sell this"she said, lifting a large hooked tooth out of the box.
The tooth was dull white and streaked finely with brown. Audrey had to rest it on her forearm to properly support its weight. With the curve, it completely spanned the distance from the crook of her elbow to the first row of joints on her hand. She held it out for the man to see.

 

[fr33ks33k]

His eyes went wide at the sight of the enormous tooth. It had odd striations, probably from age and use, and was far larger than any he'd encountered recently. When the young lady held the tooth up for perusal, he took it gingerly in his hands.

After turning it over a few times, he quirked a brow at her, a smirk on his face.

"So, what sort of fang is this? Might help me home in on a reasonable offer. But know this. My barters are not strictly monetary. I am a collector, and as such I do not always ask for normal things as payment...."

His smirk became an amiable smile as he continued to inspect and examine the tooth.

 

[Aurantica]

She smiled calmly, amused by his shocked expression.
" I'ts from a Saber-toothed cat, as you can probably guess from it's size. "

She gently eased the tooth over to its other, slightly flatter side.

" Unfortunatley, the rest of the skull and most of the skeleton did not survive. I do, however, have the same tooth from the other side."

Aubrey reached into the box and pulled out a small rectangular stump of a tooth, broken off three inches from the base. It looked almost pathetic next to the much larger whole tooth the man was now gingerly examining.

" As you can probably tell, the whole tooth was from the right side of the jaw. This one was probably lost in a fight. It wouldn't even stick out past the gumline. Infection probably killed the animal."

 

[fr33ks33k]

"A saber-toothed cat, you say...interesting. Yes, it is a shame the skull is not intact. That would fetch quite a price...as it stands, having this set is amazing."

As he looked closer at the brown striped stains on the whole tooth, he recognized the marks of decay and age. His mouth moved to the side, lips pursing thoughtfully. He set the whole tooth down, taking the other broken fang and examining it as gingerly as he had the former.

"Well then miss, what were you hoping to sell these for? And out of curiosity, how did you come by them?"

 

[Aurantica]

She frowned at the signs of his displeasure. While there was damage to the teeth, it was not because of rough handling or cleaning.

" We did find those chips and scratches on the teeth when they were excavated. It wasn't because of anything we did during cleaning."

She paused and gently set the loose fragment back into the box.

"I would like at least a thousand for the set."

 

[fr33ks33k]

"Ah, excavation. You must be an archaeologist, miss....how silly of me. I haven't even asked your name. I am Fr33k, proprietor of this humble establishment. And you are?"

Before he'd even given her a chance to answer, her asking price brought him to respond again.

"A thousand what, my dear? That is a rather vague price to give..." His smile was as coy as it was wide.

 

[Aurantica]

Her eyes narrowed into slits at the ridiculous question. She put her palms on the counter and leaned slightly forward over it.
" My name is Aubrey and I think you know very well what I meant when I stated my price."
A hint of venom crept into her voice. She was not going to let this man take unfair advantage of her. Not after all the trouble she went through to get that set of teeth.

 

[fr33ks33k]

Well Aubrey, as I mentioned before, I am not in the business of solely monetary transactions. As such, I believe you should clarify your denominations before presuming to take such a tone with me."

The words he spoke had an increasing acrid bite to them. She had come to his shop, and she would damn well show him some respect.

"Now, will you be more specific about your asking price, or shall I have to ask you to leave?"

 

[Aurantica]

Hmm She thought.Aggression doesn't work... perhaps diplomacy will.
She took her hands off the counter and straightened up, standing tall in a neutral stance.

" I would like at least one thousand dollars for the set of teeth. I am not in the buisness of buying and selling souls."

She flicked a fallen strand of red hair back behind her ear, annoyed with how it had fallen as she leaned over the counter.

" Now, can we agree on a deal, or shall I pack up my posessions?"

Her voice softened on the last word.

 

[fr33ks33k]

"A thousand dollars? For an incomplete set of teeth? Hmm..."

He rested his chin on one hand, eyes still roving over the teeth, weighing their worth. He wasn't used to people bartering in simple terms of money. It was less enjoyable for him. But if that was all she wanted, he would oblige. Though perhaps not at such a steep cost.

"I would counter your opening with a still substantial sum of 850 dollars. They are quite a find, but as I said, they are not a complete set, and you do not have the skull to complement them."

 

[Aurantica]

Aubrey grinned when the man agreed to a barter. Diplmacy does have its benefits she thought. Though 850 was not the price she was asking for...

" I'll let them go for 900, you must understand how rare it is to find these at all."

She paused, glancing about the shop, noticing the many interesting things on its walls.

" 900 ... or a trade."

 

[fr33ks33k]

"A trade, you say?"

His spirits rose at that prospect. Perhaps she wasn't quite as stuffy as he'd previously thought.

"Something catch your eye, or would you like a look around to find something you'd be willing to trade these rare teeth for?"

 

[Aurantica]

" I think I'll browse, if you don't mind...."
She packed the teeth back into their box and tied it with the remains of the string. Tucking it under one arm, she headed back past the entryway to the main part of the shop. Books and bits of metal littered the shelves. Copper, tarnished silver and even a few scraps of lightewight titanium glinted in the filtering light. She moved deeper into the shop, looking up on the high shelves, where most of the bigger items seemes to be kept.

 

[fr33ks33k]

"Be my guest, Aubrey. Just give a yell if you find something you like. Not many places I can't find in here...though there are a few."

He chuckled softly and picked up the zither from the counter top, playing a whimsical tune as she went off to explore.

 

[Aurantica]

She nodded and looped around a bookcase contating a display of tarnished mirrors, peering at her reflection in them. A skull loomed out of the image in the mirror, making her jump with surprise. Behind her was something that looked like an elephant skull, she could see the massive hole where the trunk would be.... but it looked wrong somehow. She turned and examined the skull. It was much, much too small to be full grown, and the proportions weren't right for it to be the skull of a baby. The braincase was much too small, and it had all it's teeth. All it's adult teethShe gasped.
" A dwarf... of course."
It happened sometimes, when food gradually became harder to find over the course of many generations. Usually, the species simply died out, but sometimes , very rarely, the species was gradually selected for smaller and smaller animals. Over a few hundred years, a species could be reduced to a miniature version of itself.

 

[fr33ks33k]

Excerpt from High Cost Of Living. Row 129, Bottom Shelf.

There's a weight on my brain and it feels like an anvil pressing my skull through my spine. I feel like I'm sinking in quicksand and there's nothing to save me this time. If I could just fucking focus on climbing above this, I'd escape but I've just lost my mind. And where once I knew I'd get through it, now I'm not so sure. The hopes and dreams I had that once were pure are now tarnished and bitter and gray. I still am not sure if regret is the larger part of my life, my heart, and my day. The weather is changing and so is my soul; I think it's getting blacker as I keep on feeding it fuel. And whether or not I like this change, it's going to happen eventually. Essentially, I'm slipping down the drain. And I'm not sure if fighting the current is an option any more. One more slip and one more fall, and once more I'm grounded. My fears may seem a bit unfounded, but I have them sure as stone is tough. So here I sit, bleary-eyed, wishing for one fucking time in my life, I had the courage to face what's left, to hold my soul in weary hands, and had the resolve to welcome death.

 

[zydrate]

wanders in from her day of floating around from thread to thread....she enters silently, gasping in awe of all the books on display...the place almost seems too quiet, but such is a place that houses so many books...she feels she could get lost for days and not ever get bored...

 

[fr33ks33k]

*He looks up from his tinkering, smiling at the young lady who's drifted in. He sets down his tools and stands from his stool behind the counter*

You know, it's not just books that are housed here. Many interesting items can be found here in the S33k & Finde. The most enjoyable part is finding something that you've never noticed before, even though you've passed the same shelf many times.

Are you just browsing, or did you have something specific in mind to find today?

*He smiles, stepping around to the front of the large oak counter, leaning back against it*

 

[zydrate]

nods and walks around a shelf of books several times Like this?

giggles and stops doing circles I'm joking....actually, I don't know what I'm looking for...just browsing I guess...

That is, if you don't mind? I won't touch anything I shouldn't....I swear!

 

[fr33ks33k]

I don't mind at all. As far as touching things...well, they can look after themselves.

*His speech is stopped by the arrival of one of the many clockwork creatures that roam the place since he put them back together. This one is a large bird, the size of his fist. It perches on the counter and lets out a metallic squawk, cocking its head as it looks from him to the young lady*

Oh, and don't mind the animals. They won't bother you, too much...

 

[zydrate]

squeeees at the toys and hops over to the bird How cute!!

takes it and runs off behind the next shelf... Hello birdie! Can you say hello?!