2020-01-16 - How to Read a Warlock

It's a Thursday afternoon and the shop is relatively quiet, the holidays having come and gone, and things returning to their usual sleepy slowness now that the winter has truly set in. There's no one in the shop except the clerk at the desk and Elias. Elias is upstairs in the little lounge portion of the occult section of the shop, sprawled out on a couch with his laptop and is tapping away idly while the girl at the desk handles what few customers drift in and out, some music playing quietly in the background.

The wind whistles audibly when the door opens, a chill coursing through the shop, rustling a few pages along the way. Sparrow's quick with her interest, pushing back against all that wintry bluster until the door latches as if it were some malicious monstrosity she's only narrowly escaped. The smile she flashes to the clerk is both apologetic and grateful and none too sincere in either regard. A black knit cap hides most of her bright red hair. It matches her black cloat, her black boots. Blue jeans. And, well, a Gryffindor scarf. Gotta represent. The muted red on her lips plays nicely with the wind-chapped shade on her cheeks as she asks the woman, "Is the--" Warlock is probably not what she wants to say here. Owner would be appropriate. "--Elias in?" Directed upstairs, she heads thattaway, stripping off hat and gloves as she goes, shoved into pockets. Peeking into the lounge, she leads with, "Boo," instead of something more traditional. They're in the occult section, after all.

"The Elias is upstairs," the clerk says with an amused smile. Calling him a warlock probably wouldn't be a surprise to any of his employees. The stairs curve upward to a large open loft type space that overlooks the shop floor below. The front half is a lounge with chairs, a couch or two, a couple of coffee tables, and makes up a comfortable place to read. The back half are all the shelves and cabinets of occult books. Elias glances up at the greeting and his lips twitch into a smile, dark eyes sparkling with amusement, "Boo to you, too, Agent P. How's it going?" He saves what he was doing and shuts down the laptop, setting it next to him on the little table.

"Good!" Sparrow chirps as she ascends the rest of the way and heads in the warlock's direction. "Always good. Spoiled like that." She shrugs helplessly, her expression very much reading what-can-you-do, as if this unrelenting wellness were etirely beyond her control. "How about you?" With a flicker of attention turned toward the abandoned laptop, she does the polite thing and asks, "Not interrupting, right?" Even as her coat comes off and she sinks into a spot close to Elias, like maybe it might not matter much either way.

"Hey, wouldn't complain if that's the case," Elias says with a smile and then shakes his head, glancing at the laptop. "Just doing some writing. But it will keep. It always does." Then he grins and says, "Oh, I'm doing pretty well, I'd say. Can't complain at all." He tilts his head a bit and studies her as she settles onto the couch next to him. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Agent? You on a mission? Or just happen to fly by the place and decide to stop in?"

One dark brow arches inquisitively at the mention of writing, but Sparrow doesn't press. Mostly because she's easily distracted by questions. "Always on a mission," might be a lie. Does it matter? Coat off, she's still in layers, a knit burgundy v-neck sweater worn over a white button down large enough for the cuffs to peek out past the sweater's sleeves. Someone might've had classes today. "I've got two things," stops short, a moment taken to consider her count before she corrects, "Three?" uncertainly. "Three. Yeah. First? You keep fun company. Was really nice meeting your friend, uh. However long ago that was." Time is hard, alright? "Second," comes with an apologetic scrunch of her nose. "Sorry the, uh. Double date thing hasn't panned out. Think winter's eaten everyone up. How'd you're..." Her phone chirps in a pocket, and she takes a moment to search for it as she finishes, "Auction winnings turn out?"

"Dante?" Elias asks when she mentions his fun company and grins, "Yeah. I'm quite fond of him." Though he waves off the apology about the double date thing. "Oh, that's fine. Honestly, I wasn't worried about it. I figured you'd let me know if and when it was going to happen." He smiles easily, clearly unconcerned. Though when she mentions the auction winnings he chuckles a little and says, "We still haven't actually gone out on that particular excursion, though we've decided what we're going to do. The other night was just to plan what to do for the auction." The night when he was exchanging texts with her from Garrett's place.

Sparrow lets out a little, "Oh," as she adjusts her understanding of events, curiosity clearly written across her features. "I'll, uh. Wait patiently for my report, then." The faintly expectant arch of her brows suggests she might be expecting that report to come from him, even if she has no right whatsoever to ask for one. And is more likely to hear back from the bassist anyway. She takes a moment to answer the text that came in on her phone, leaving the device set on her thigh when her attention lifts toward Elias again. Did her gaze stop on his lips on its way up? Maybe for just a split second. Who's gonna blame her? "Three then. I've offered to do tarot readings for the public at large. And I actually got some answers. Kinda thinking I should maybe practice first. So." She bats her darkened lashes. "May I practice on you, Mr. Warlock? Please?"

Elias smiles a little bit amusedly at her reaction, "I did say that my intentions for the auction were entirely pure. My intentions for that evening most certainly weren't. And your recommendation definitely yielded pleasant results." Those dark eyes glitter a little bit with amusement, "We plan to go out and explore the park a bit, and he's going to show me some of his favorite places in the park.. for our auction day. It should be fun. Which one do you really want the report on, I wonder..?" he asks in a languid and teasing tone. Though it's her third question that seems to intrigue him. "I almost feel like that would be cheating on Frankie, but.." he pauses, "She did go off and get engaged on me without so much as telling me. So I'm going to say she can't complain if I let someone else do my tarot reading." He gestures to the open table in front of him, "Read me, Agent P. I'm ready."

There's the creak of the door downstairs, the skirl of snowflakes, determined intruders, despite the tall man's best efforts to leave them back outside. A beat or two where the navy wool of his greatcoat and the black knit of the watch cap sparkle with a few strays, before they promptly dwindle into bright drops of water, as he scuffs stray snow from the treads of his boots onto the mat.

Joe's not been here before, and it has him stepping aside from the shut door, and taking in the view with a few keen glances. Then he's venturing into the stacks proper, tread quiet. He's wiping at his glasses with a scrap of cloth, dealing with the last of the snow, and squinting owlishly at the shelves he passes.

The look Sparrow gives Elias is one of heart-melted gratitude, like he's just given her the most thoughtful gift in the whole wide world and she may well kiss him for it. "The planning party," she confirms like she wouldn't know where to even begin to look for shame. "Maybe somewhere a little more storytime appropriate? Bottle of wine and my full and undivided attention? Though. If you do wanna provide a report on your day out in the wilderness? I'll accept poems, paintings or whatever art you find most fitting." Is she serious? That high loft of her brows, the way she lets it linger for a second or two? Seems like she might be. But there's that hint of a grin playing at her lips that makes it difficult to tell.

When the door opens, she glances down from the loft to see if she can glimpse the new arrival, this bird's eye view as-yet-untested. A pair of voices might carry from up there, even if the substance of their conversation doesn't. Down below, there's a clerk at the desk to address questions and curiosities.

When her attention returns to Elias, it's with a sweep of her gaze up his form as if she might try reading without the cards at all. But she sets to motion, swapping phone for cards in one of her coat pockets, a colorful handsewn pouch protecting her deck. "First? You're not paying me, so there's no stolen business. Second? I have no doubt she's actually competent. And third?" She flashes a grin. "You wanna ask something specific or should I just have at it?"

Up in the loft area, up the steps that leads to the Occult section, Sparrow and Elias sit on the couch up there talking. Their voices can be heard from downstairs, particularly if one happens to be near that edge of the loft where it looks down over the rest of the shop. The girl behind the counter smiles warmly to Joe and welcomes him in, offering to help him find something if he needs, but otherwise letting him browse in peace.

"At your leisure," Elias says to the idea of a bottle of wine and story time. "Oh, any art form I find fitting, hm? Interpretive dance? Theatrical ouvre? Maybe a lyric ode." He can't help the amusement on his lips or the dark flicker in his eyes.

"Well, I don't pay Frankie for my readings either," he notes. "She is." He pauses, "And third, no, nothing specific. Let's just see what the cards have in store for me."

He's apparently looking for science fiction.....and particularly, anything they have by Cherryh or Le Guin....and then local lore. All questions delivered in that lazy drawl, with the air of one who has no better way to beguile his time than browsing the stacks. No attempts to find out if they stock anything he's written.

Joe's pulled off his cap, leaving the close-cropped hair in disarray, and unbuttoned his coat - it's more than warm enough in there for that. A glance up at the loft, but he doesn't feel up to venturing the spiral staircase, not yet.

Sparrow offers only a nod to the accepted invitation for storytime, but the proposed list of report formats has her giggling, that laughter likely carrying a bit more clearly than the rest of the conversation. "Whatever you'd like, gorgeous." She's certain she'll like it all. "Pretty sure she can't accuse me of cutting into her business if I am quite literally not cutting into her business," the redhead remarks dryly as her focus returns to the offer at hand, prompt to append, "She might have expressed some reservations about my business model."

The cards she draws from the pack as she shifts in her seat to get a little closer to the table have a blue-and-white rorschach pattern on the back. Once she's done her shuffling, the deck is offered over to Elias to cut however he'd like. Three cards in total are laid out, set down from left to right, all of them upright: The Emperor, Judgment, The Magician. No inkling of the minor arcana. That earns the warlock a curious look as she leads with, "Big things. But I don't know that I expect anything less from you. Everything with the volume up." A grin tugs at the left corner of her lips. "Maybe not the right way to say it. But you get what I mean, right? Unsubtle. Not small. So. First." She taps the Emperor. "This motherfucker. The past or... starting point. Whatever. Foundation. Action and authority. Willing to bet it's yours, but..." Give her a second to weigh that, to work through the rest of the reading.

Elias takes the cards when they are offered to him to cut, grinning over at Sparrow. He does so when prompted and then turns the cards back over to her for her to do the reading, settling back on the couch, one arm draped along the back of it, ankle crossed to to the opposite knee. He watches as the cards are laid out, his head canted just a little to one side as he glances from the cards to Sparrow, waiting for her interpretation of what she sees. "I don't know what you're talking about," Elias says with a slow lazy smile, "I'm the master of subtlety.." Though, he gives a little nod as she begins the reading, giving her time to go through all of the cards before he says anything.

Now there's the creak of the staircase - the man in the navy wool coat's come up to see what's on offer when it comes to local lore and ghost stories. Joe gives them an upnod, but no greeting. Clearly, it's a reading going on, and not his business.

Sparrow holds up her empty hand, less than a centimeter separating her index finger and thumb. "Tiny bit better at that--" Subtlety. "--than me." There's not a whole lot of professionalism here, exemplified when she interrupts her work to cast a smile at the man cresting the stairs, her wave semi-familiar, their paths having crossed indirectly a time or two now. "Hi!"

But she is doing a reading and returns her attention to Elias and the cards after she's chirped her greeting. A tap to the middle card. "Reaping what's sown. Answering for actions, whether that's good or bad. Which ties back into--" She taps the Emperor again. "Whatever you've been up to. Something, mm. Spooky, I'mma venture. Cuz this one?" A tap for the Magician, depicted as a monkey. "That's not you. He's still starting out, this guy. Whereas you, darling, are a full and proper warlock, yeah?" Who's measuring that? "Final assessment? You're gonna take on an apprentice." Spoken with casual authority, only the curious look she turns to the shopowner implying any uncertainty, like she's asking how willing he is to buy that.

Elias glances up when Joe comes up the steps and he gives the man a smile from where he sits on the couch, "Evening. Have a look around, make yourself at home." The occult section seems to vary on a range of topics from astrology, wicca, ritual magic, various metaphysical topics, demonology, and dozens of other niche topics. Some older books are kept in glass cases that need to be unlocked to be accessed, but the majority are the sort of new age stuff one might expect to find. There's little local lore to be found, but then, the Veil prevents those sort of books from ever really reaching print.

He grins over at Sparrow as she continues her reading. "Well, I am teaching, and I have recently taken on more than one student, after all. So.. it seems that's accurate enough. He's just learning what it is to deal with all of this.." he waves a hand a little indicating Gray Harbor, and whatever else, suspecting Sparrow will know what he's talking about. "I don't know if I'd call it an apprenticeship, but definitely a teaching of a craft of a sort."

"Thanks, will do," Joe says, affably. Sparrow gets a funny little salute, knuckle to brow, as if he'd forgotten he's taken off his cap. But for the most part, he's leaving them to it, apparently lost in his contemplation of what's on offer up here. He's already got a few volumes under his arm, tucked up for future purchase.

Sparrow doesn't hide her surprised--how impressed she is with her own damned self--as well as she probably should, but she's never claimed any mastery of subtlety. "I'm still learning what it is to deal with all of this," she counters, the significant difference between herself and who she thinks he means being that she grew up here. You'd think those two decades might give her an advantage, but it doesn't always work out that way. "So. If you're looking for another student? Maybe even a proper apprentice? You know I'm a warlock at heart." Her lashes dip low, playfully flirtatious, possibly a tease given how easily she shifts right back toward seriousness. "Think the only note I'd end with is that the Magician's in your future. Something not yet set. So, maybe expect something to come of all that. Something significant. Given all those trumps on the board." Brows pitch upward. "How'd I do? Any questions? Worth a dessert?"

"Hey, I was talking about you in that whole 'more than one student' bit," Elias points out with a little smirk. "Don't tell me I was being /too/ subtle there." He looks her over and says, "I can definitely see you coming over to the dark side," though it's an obvious tease. Then he nods and says, "I can definitely see something coming of it, though one never tells what, in this town. I suppose only time will tell what comes of my efforts to help the masses, or at least, the very small masses."

He watches Joe idly as the man peruses the shelves, but doesn't interrupt his browsing while they continue their conversation. "As for all those big cards on the board -- goo big or go home, right?"

"Oh." Sparrow's smile skews weird while her cheeks rediscover the rosy color she came in with. She makes that 'tiny bit' gesture once more in reference to Elias' subtlety even if the meaning's a good bit different this time. "I'mma bring the sunshine over with me," she warns of her trip to the dark side. "And probably a parasol. Cuz I like you." She sets the deck down for the moment, leaving the cards where they are as she relaxes back into her seat with no immediate follow-ups forthcoming. "Why make ripples when you can make waves, yeah. And I do think it's good. Passed on a good bit of what you taught me already, but." She shrugs, smile dimming, indicating that she's not entirely sure what's come of that. "Figure maybe I should actually make an effort to come by if I'm officially apprenticing." Beat. "After storytime. Play first. Then work."

"Good, wouldn't want me to melt under all that sunshiney brightness," Elias says with one of those slow lazy smiles. "That'd be messy, not attractive at all." He laughs a little bit then when she mentions storytime and he glances at his phone, "Well, if you've got the time.. I've got nothing I need to get done here, and I could always use a little bit of wine." There's clear invitation in the question. Either way, he unplugs his laptop and throws it into its case, apparently surrendering to the fact that work is done for the day, regardless of what else the evening holds.

"I dunno," Sparrow counters with a low-lidded grin. "Kinda alright making a pretty boy puddle." Which leads rather well into that invitation, her grin seeming only to sharpen for it. He unplugs his laptop, and she packs up her cards. "What do you like? I prefer either sweet or oaky whites cuz I'm basic like that, but I'm alright straying into something, well. Darker." It sounds like a yes, no time taken to consider her schedule or any possible conflicts.

"I think I have just the thing," Elias says when she mentions her preference in wines. "Come on, we'll go back to the house and we will drink basic wine and have storytime." He then checks on Joe one more time before the begin to head back downstairs. "Let Denise know if you need any help finding anything," he says "She's great with locating even obscure stuff." He then bids Denise a good evening, as he slips out of the shop.