2019-11-25 - Wine is for Animal Lovers

The newly open gallery appears to be nice and neat for now. Coming from a far off corner of the room the smell of wine might be evident to those with keen senses. Yet there's no obvious glasses about, perhaps it's a libation that one can ask for? There's not many patrons at the moment to warrant such a request but there is a German Shepard dog on the other side of the room who lays on his belly and front paws. Also, a yellow tabby cat rubs the easels on another area of the gallery. There's no canvases upon them so perhaps artists are wanted? Time will tell.

The owner of the new business is about though and dressed as if to be up and adam and ready to greet the public. Her hair is not out of place, and her high heeled shoes click on the ground not too loudly, but in a way to announce her presence. On a small table standing near here is a briefcase with a few folders on top. While the business is a bit in 'slow' motion for now, she might be reviewing her notes before greeting anyone who may come in.

Abby just comes wandering in off the street and stops just inside the gallery to look around, eyes wide and curious, taking in the layout and the sights. She's wearing layered clothes for the late November weather, a mint green cardigan and a fluffy rust brown scarf over a black graphic tee, jeans and flats. Her hands swing at her sides as she starts to advance a few steps into the room, humming softly to herself.

Her smile lights up easily when she spots people, distributing greetings as she passes, namely to the owner. "Oh, hello," she offers, tucking her hands behind herself as she pivots around wanders, staring at everything.

Oh! A person! A new person! Maybe all of the promotional things she has been trying to do to get the word out have finally worked. The dog perks up a bit as he sees Abby enter but the gallery cat does what a cat would normally do, not pay much attention. Easels need to be rubbed on and claimed anyway. But Hera brightens up and moves over, "Welcome to Vivid Dreams!" she says, "Come on in, make yourself at home." she tries to turn on the charm to make her place feel all the more warmer, and with it being cold outside, hopefully it helps! She does size the woman up for a moment, as if wondering if she's legal drinking age. "If you're interested in art or a good place to have a glass of wine or a good place just to relax a bit, you found the right spot. There's some new pottery pieces I just made if you want to take a look at them or, of course, you can just chill out, no pun intended." she grins.

"Thank you!" Abby replies to the welcome with a warm friendly smile, one hand raised to gesture at the gallery around her. "I just read about this place and I thought I'd come by and have a look. Well, I drove by a while back and I saw they were doing something with the place and I had wondered what, too," she continues in a light, chatty tone, eyes wandering for a moment before returning to Hera once more. She does look of legal drinking age, but it wouldn't be too odd if she was carded in bars either. "Oh, pottery. I'll look at everything, sure," she continues with a brighter smile, then leans forward to greet the dog with an amiable, "Hello."

Hera makes a hand motion toward the dog and the dog comes forward. German Sheppards are typically quite obedient and this one seems to fit into that category. He pads on over and stands near the two woman assuming what may be a bit of a militant 'hello' position, as if he will accept petting or do whatever else Hera wants. The cat, not so much. But there's some pretty yellowish colored cat hairs left on the easels' legs it seems. "Wonderful." she says, "I'm actually offering free art classes for the next few weeks and some of my nicer pottery pieces are on display but feel free to look about. Don't mind Queso." Maybe that's the cat's name as she looks in his direction, "He's not feral but this is pretty much his place. I'm the manager, he's the owner." she chuckles.

Abby offers the dog her hand before going for a quiet pet, glancing up to Hera with a smile, eyebrows bouncing higher for a moment. "Oh, free art classes could be fun. I'll have to see if my schedule lets me sign up for one of those, maybe," she says with a small wrinkle on her nose, then straightens up to glance across the gallery at the cat, her grin spreading wider. "I know! That's like my Chickpea. I'm the one stuck paying a mortgage but we both know who the owner is," she does an overly dramatic sigh, but the pretense lasts only a second. "They're both great."

And Hans is a good dog, he accepts the petting and doesn't flinch or whine or anything. Likely the cat even has him trained. As far as where Queso is, not far, but he can easily get the zoomies and come back out again. "Well you're welcome to join." she says, "This is my main project here so my schedule is normally pretty open." At the mention of having another cat lover, erm, cat's slave, here Hera's eyes light up a bit, "So you have a kitty too? Queso is the big boss but he can be the best snuggle buddy, and he's so cute! If you're lucky he may let you pet him. I'm thinking about painting a likeness of him if he would sit still long enough." though another topic to consider is one she asks, "What type of art do you like?"

A woman in black jeans, a worn red long sleeve, leather jacket, and heeled ankle boots approaches the address. Having been primarily staring at her phone for directions, she seems almost surprised to see the destination in three dimensions. the red was certainly striking. She remembered her conversation with Sparrow and Yule on the merits of the color and wondered which cultural evocation of the hue the owner valued.

Typically Maggi openly disdained anything resembling romance, yet the ambiance was undeniable. Seeing a conversation in progress, the golden haired woman saunters to view not the well known works, but the additional displayed artists. She may be listening in on the current conversation, but wouldn't admit it to avoid the stigma of rude.

"I'm mostly working nights right now, and some days it's just too hard to fit things in. But if you have a schedule, I'll look at that," Abby explains with a small smile, reaching up to brush back some hair. "I do! Of course she owns the place, she has 40 times more followers on Instagram than I do..." she adds, making a rather self-deprecatory face that just barely hides the pride in her cat. "Oh, that has to be hard, painting cats from life like that. I just takes a pictures, and sometimes that's a struggle," she shares, giving Hera a sympathetic look, then looks around the gallery. "I don't know. All types of art? I know that's a terrible answer. I don't know that much about art, but I like all kinds of things..."

Hera shakes her head and goes over to find a schedule. There Abby can see class blocks open on a few evenings and about six two hour slots during the week. Also, one weekend slot looks available as well. "Photography is an art in and of itself. That's not my specialty though but there's some photos that are just breathtaking, and it's more than just the scene. The hues, angles, you name it, all very important stuff. As far as liking all types of art, that's a very good answer. Having a good range of what you like can be important." She looks over to the woman in dark jeans and waves, "Hi! Welcome to Vivid Dreams!" the redhead seems full of enthusiasm to greet those that come in. "Can I interest either of you ladies in a glass of wine?" Again the assumption that all are 'of age' is here. "There's a sweet red that is just lovely." She does take a moment to hand Abby a copy of the schedule and waits to see if she can get anyone anything.

Having been acknowledged, Maggi gives a half smile, trying not to come across as sarcastic as she usually did. Turning down free alcohol was sin, especially in a place so refined. "Please" she simply states. Several of her current questions had been answered through eavesdropping which was always a bonus. Gray Harbor had grown well beyond the smaller town she remembered as a child, so many unrecognizable faces.

Maggi's icy eyes study the place in totality. She was pretty sure Leon's moody photographs would look at home here if she could get him to consider it. It would be the getting him to think about it that would be the challenge. The place seemed inclusive enough that she attempts to interject, turning to the other patron. "What kind of photography do you do?" Maggi would need to arm herself with as many facts as possible to later convince him, including information on others couldn't hurt.

"Oh, it is! Well, photography definitely can be. I don't know about mine, but in general," Abby agrees, even if with a playful putdown of her own artistic output as she wanders along behind Hera to take a look at the schedule. "Oh, I think maybe I can fit some of these! I'll have to check first, but one of these has to be fine," she decides to be an optimist about this, and gets out her phone to make a quick note, accepting a copy of the schedule in her free hand. "Thanks."

The offer of wine makes her look up from her phone. "Sure, thank you!" She smiles, putting away the phone and the copy while continuing to look around. Her gaze is drawn over to the new arrival. "Hello," she offers a friendly smile, then lifts an eyebrow. "Oh. No, I just - I mostly take pictures of my cat, really. Other things, sometimes, but that's - that's most of my artistic output. She does have almost 3000 followers, though! No one cares about my other pictures," she replies with a playful smile, hands coming up in a helpless shrug.

Hera continues to keep up with her cheery disposition and she grins. "I love this wine." she pours a few glasses and offers them up to the guests. "From St. Landry's vinyards, sweet red is the type." the glasses are not too elegant, though the wine is a bit of a unique taste. It's potent, and sweet, almost as if it's not from a normal grape. "And wow, 3000 followers. Do you hear that Queso? You need to get a web site." the cat doesn't pay any attention, just purrs and goes about rubbing things. Hopefully there's no open paints around or anything crazy like that. If so, Queso might turn into Mr. Rainbow.

Reaching out a pasty hand, Maggi accepts the wine graciously with a 'cheers' motion. She inhales the scent of the red deeply prior to taking a small sip. Knowing little about wine, the most she could come up with was that it is delicious. "Thanks."

She gives a curt nod toward Addy. "That's pretty cool, I think cats are like the only animals that can stand me...and that won't let me forget to feed them. Been considering getting one. If you give me it's socials I'll follow." Having a total of maybe twenty herself, she felt the woman's pain. But hey, who wouldn't follow a cute cat?

Noticing Queso, heeled boots approach him slowly. Looking to his owner she asks "May I?" before attempting to pet him. She really had been meaning to look into adoption. It was less about desire and more that she was afraid she wouldn't have the time to be a good owner. She had a gotten a beta fish when she had moved into her apartment, but from purchase he had not been long for this world.

Abby loosens her scarf before accepting one of the glasses. "I like the sound of sweet red," she states, before lifting the glass to her lips. Her face setttles into a faraway look as she savors the first sip, then has another, breaking away from it with a smile for Hera, holding the glass up. "That is sweet! And kind of - I'd probably get drunk a little too easily on it," she admits in a joking tone, glancing around the art in this new area of the gallery.

"You definitely should! And sure, she's chickpeacat on Instagram, because I'm so imaginative," she winks, taking a few steps off to continue perusing the art on show. "Cats are great. Chickpea is a sweetheart. A boss sweetheart, but a sweetheart. And there are a lot of great cats up for adoption, you could look into that," she suggests, then looks back to Hera. "So you do drawing and pottery yourself, besides owning the gallery?"

Queso is a typical cat, and not a feral one. Hera gives a nod to allow the newcomers to pet away and, should Maggi find the right spot, oh there it goes. The purrrrrr box is turned on and head rubs abound. Maggi won't leave without having some new cats hair on her hand and purrrr purrrr and more purrrr. The dog doesn't do anything. He just stands there watching and waits for word from his mistress. "Looks like you might have found a new friend." she grins. As far as getting drunk she just shrugs, "There are couches you can crash on. Much better to do that than drive. And yes, that's my work. I need to focus on getting better. The pieces you see displayed took a very very long time. Hopefully I can do more in shorter time."

Abby's phone chimes and she digs it out, brow knitting in a small focused frown before she taps back a quick message. Once that's sent, she looks up, lips shaping a very faint pout. "Sorry, I need to go and take care of a work thing! The place is lovely, thank you so much for the wine. And I'll look into signing up for one of those classes. Oh, I'm Abby, by the way, it was very nice to meet you!" She gets it all out quickly and efficiently, holding up a hand to wave at Hera, Maggi, Hans and Queso. Everyone gets a wave and a sunny smile as she's already turning on her flats and hurrying out the door.

Maggi gives a nod toward Abby, but does not cease giving a majority of her attention to the precious Queso, until he is done with her attention, then she knows better. Maybe she wouldn't be a terrible cat owner. Dusting her free hand on her jeans Maggi extends a hand out in official greeting of the owner. "I'm Maggi. Pretty sick place you got here. Art is a hard market." It wasn't that the woman wasn't obviously gifted, she just knew the throws of subjective fields well. Taking another small sip of her wine, she waits awkwardly. Small talk wasn't her specialty, and she did have some purpose here even if she had not decided to be entirely honest with herself what it was.

Hera offers a wave toward Abby and says, "Hera, come by any time. It was nice to meet you as well. Feel free to show some pictures of your fur baby when you have time to come back!" And of course she will come back because the wine WAS good. To properly greet Maggi too, she offers her hand. "Oh you aren't kidding there. It is a hard market, very hard. I guess I'm taking a risk but, we will see. Hopefully it's not too much of a pipe dream." Queso did enjoy the petting though and after a brief 'meow' he goes over to rub her leg. You can't resist cat charm!

Maggi gives another nod. This woman seemed to have it together enough to succeed, definitely passionate. After a shake she lets go, placing the hand into her jacket pocket. She swirls the wine nervously, he would probably HATE this idea, which is why she didn't do things for people...It would probably help if Maggi knew absolutely anything about art other than what she was drawn to. the nudge from Queso seems to give her confidence and the small grin returns. "So I have uhhh... this friend..." Is that what he was? She was entirely unsure. "He's not a professional photographer, but he is pretty good." She pauses unsure of how much to include. "He's an army vet and needs to focus more on life here." Would the fact she brought that up piss him off? Maggi ingests another little bit of wine, gathering her thoughts. "I was wondering about the logistics for renting some display space? Giving him something else he's good at to focus on?"

Hera tries not to grin as Queso just goes into rubbing and luvy duvy affectionate mode. "Oh wow, that sounds quite interesting actually. You should bring your friend by. There's certainly space where he can display his art and getting a new perspective on life would be the way to go. As far as renting the space, it could be worked out without a problem. Heck to be honest I'm pretty much getting my feet wet among the other businesses here so to say. If the prints look good, I can see about showcasing them for free. Then if business picks up, we can discuss renting." she grins down at her cat and says, "He sure does like you."

Maggi leans down to scratch behind the feline's ear before coming back to discussion height. The grin she had sported over the adorable cats affection fading as she processed Hera's comments. "He's kind of...stubborn." That was an understated description of Leon. "I could show you a couple of second hand images for you to see, but getting him to show off his work of his own original volition is...difficult." She watches the woman's reaction, hoping to not come across like a crazy person.

Maggi brings out her phone, she had snagged a couple images of his work...obviously not print quality, but not a poor representation of his work: (If Hera is interested in looking) One is of a child in a grey sandy landscape watching a sunset. The other is of a campfire burning, the edges of its light showing the toes of boots gathered around it, the rest fading into blackness, no hint if the boots were filled or not.

"I really can put down just a little bit of scratch for maybe like an evening event?" She looks at the wine glass, holding it up. "Maybe a couple bottles of this included?" This was a dangerous move. "If I say I have something booked I don't think he can refuse, I don't know much, but I am pretty sure he isn't trash." This entire thing was nerve racking, but Hera's easy attitude helped. As an afterthought she added "I am also totally aware this is a business as much as I appreciate the offer."

The cat nudges a bit more while the German Shepard feels less and less tension in the situation so he goes to lay back down on ihis belly and all four paws. Hera does seem attentive to the woman's request though and she nods. "Well, some people may not be all too confident in their abilities." she does pause to look at the images. "Pretty" she says, "And, I would need his permission of course. I'm certainly up for you booking the event. I guess you would have to check with him to see what type of schedule he has? Though, a question for you. Are the photos are digital or print or, both?" She doesn't say there's no need for money. Being business minded she knows she will have to turn a profit eventually.

What should have been an obvious understanding clicks for Maggi. "Oh right, ya permission I get." She looks almost bashful, she had just been so focused on trying to surprise him. "I think hearing that you are interested will really help, I can steer him by later today or tomorrow?" Embarrassed by missing such a crucial thing as display permission, Maggi was trying to be as agreeable as possible.

"I'm pretty sure he has both formats available for a couple pieces, digital for a few more recent..." She thinks she had that right, Leon probably didn't have the lighthouse framed yet. Finishing her glass, she holds it out, unsure of what to do with it.

"The wine was really great to if there is a way he could try that?" Her heart was skipping nervously, she didn't get to surprise people often, it was kind of exciting! "This place is just really great, I think it would be a good fit." Maggi also looked forward to the idea of hanging out with Queso while Hera and Leon talked shop, he was pretty rad.

Hera winks a bit at the mention of wine and she says, "Sure, $20 for a full bottle if you would like." She goes behind one of the counters to get the bottle of wine. "I'm either here or the coffee shop close by. Not hard to find me." The wine glass is taken and the bottle put down near the two as if to leave the offer open for the woman to buy it or not. Hera seems the type of sell things, but she's not a high pressure saleswoman. "Art is one of the best forms of therapy out there. Sometimes it makes us forget ourselves and the pain life has brought it. I think the attention would really help your friend. But please, steer him here today or tomorrow, whatever works and." being business minded, she gives Maggi a business card. The small card simply says, <<Vivid Dreams, Bringing Your Images to Reality.>> Underneath that is the address, contact info with email and phone and all the toppings!

Hera hears her dog whine and realizes that yes it's that time. Cats use litter, dogs, not so much. "Well, looks like Hans needs to go mark his territory." she says, "So, need to go take care of that. If you want the wine just put a 20 down or come back anytime. I look forward to meeting your friend."

Maggi eyes the bottle of wine. She did really want it, but she also wanted Leon to get to experience it the artsy way she did. Maggi decided it was best to wait for him to try it, and if he decided differently she would buy a bottle for herself when they came back. Maggi nods appreciatively. "Thanks so much!" She wanted to make sure she didn't keep Hera, snagging the card and heading out with a skip in her step. Maggi made a note to review the place, new business and all. Once on the street she texts Leon. Super worth the visit.