XLI - Grand Opening
Jeboboid
Draconic GM
- Location
- United Kingdom
"Marie. Marie wake up!"
It is to my everlasting shame to say that for once, Jane had woken up before me.
After that first night together, we hard managed (through heroic effort) to stay apart. We were, in theory, still trying to make a proper romance out of this, and some things had to be saved. As difficult as that was.
A staggering amount of work had gone into preparing Jane's lovely little bookshop over the past two weeks. Not merely furnishing and ordering stock, not merely preparing advertising and hiring, but an absolute cavalcade of tasks to busy ourselves with. I loved it, and so did Jane, even if she did need breaks.
But at last, Pages like Petals was ready for its grand opening!
The name was actually the last thing to come to us. In fact, it had been Miss Clerk who'd suggested the name. Apparently it was the name of a poetry anthology she'd been reading with Miss Oliveria in her free time, and when she'd heard it, Jane lit up in a way that may have made me perhaps only a little envious of our friend.
Considering the personal importance of the occasion, I reprised my role as her maid, if only while we were dressing. Miss Polestar had to look perfect after all, she was now going to be a respectable business owning type and that had certain standards, other than all the ones we were routinely violating.
Alas, perfection may have caused some minor damage to my cooling unit. Jane had decided to forego her dresses for the occasion. After discussing it nervously over several nights (despite my constant reassurance and enthusiastic encouragement) she'd commissioned for herself a tailored suit, just to try out. She'd gotten the idea from some of our new peers, who'd cut rather striking figures, enamoring us both, though probably in ever so slightly different ways.
I must admit here, that I felt somewhat like this was a gift for me in particular. After all, I was the one helping Jane into a perfectly cut woman's suit in dark blue, with glittering cloth of gold highlights in stark contrast to her silvery blue hair. It may or may not have been something of a struggle to get it all on in time for us to go, as I'd shown a clear lack of any sort of professionalism as I'd allowed my touch to linger somewhat upon her waist and chest.
"Is it alright? Does it look good?" she asked, as I stepped back to survey her new look.
"I may be slightly biased, but I don't think you've ever looked better." I responded.
"... well now you have me wanting a second opinion." she responded, blushing fiercely. "But seriously, it doesn't make me look too, um, mannish or anything of the sort?"
"I promise you, it absolutely does not." Given the cut and style and the figure below, I did not think anyone in the universe could look on her and conclude she was anything but a very beautiful woman in a very beautiful suit. "Though if you're unsure, I'd gladly help you remove it..."
Jane caught my meaning at once, blushing deeply before doing something most unfair and stepping very close, her hands stopping my retreat as they held my hips.
"Later." was all she said, a wonderful promise.
---
The grand opening very nearly went off without a hitch.
There really wasn't much ceremony or anything: the two of us and Miss Clerk just gathered for a few last checks of the location, then the two of them together flipped the switch that would activate the holographic signage against the windows. Giddy with excitement, we settled back and waited, talking excitedly about the possibilities.
The shop was small and still only half-complete, in some ways, but Miss Polestar and Miss Clerk had together put her money to good use in furnishing the location with the output of several local publishing houses, as well as hiring our first employee, a rather nervous looking kitchen maid who would primarily be making tea and baking for customers as they browsed. Miss Clerk would be manning the register for the time being, a task she seemed almost frighteningly enthusiastic about.
Our hope was that we could be a place for students and such to come browse books, read in the cozy corner, and otherwise spend lazy afternoons. To that effect, the reading chairs were each backed with ambient noise cancellers to provide a quiet and comfortable space in which one could happily lose themselves in a good book.
And it wasn't all that long before we had our first customer! As promised, Miss Oliveira made her appearance early in the day alongside a number of girls from the fencing club, and business was rather brisk as they made their choices and settled as a group in one of the reading nooks. Miss Oliveira did, however, cause a slight delay as she had a rather long conversation with Miss Clerk, only moving to the side when her fellows began to poke her.
After that, business settled into a rather more sedate place, with a steady trickle of students and a surprising number of machines visiting our establishment. To my shame, I couldn't help but hover somewhat, and while Jane was perhaps a little more socially inclined, and did garner a rather large number of compliments in regards to her outfit, I was summarily exiled into the back room by Miss clerk, who insisted that I stop micromanaging. It was, I think, a fair sentence, but I do believe I should have been excused as it was simply my desire to have Pages like Petal's opening day go as perfectly as possible.
I set about organising the stockroom instead, but there was precious little for me to actually do, as Miss Clerk already had it in hand. For lack of anything else, I selected a book quite nearly at random from the stores, left a few coins in the register to pay for it, and took a seat on the couch we'd set up in the back for employee breaks. The book turned out to be a treatise on a particular form of alien wildlife and its biochemistry, a subject utterly impenetrable to me and which I stubbornly kept reading, unwilling to be defeated by text on a page and a handful of animated diagrams.
---
"What'cha reading?" I blinked, looking up to find Jane's face not three inches from my own.
"I… Honestly I have no idea. I am fairly certain that it contains words, I know what some of them mean, these might be pictures, but beyond that I'm lost. Can you make heads or tails of it?"
Jane stepped up behind me, her chest flush with my back, and started trying to read over my shoulder. Thankfully for my ego, she also didn't get very far. "Um… well, there's a lot of latin?"
"You took latin in school?"
"Yes… I passed too"
"Yeah, you used that excuse on mum as well when you came home with the exact passing mark." Another voice pulled my attention back to room at large, and I was presented with the sight of Jane Polestar in miniature, wearing a very fashionable young ladies dress and accompanied by a Footman, who gave us a courteous nod, and obligingly held the young lady's bags as she stepped towards with a grin that spelt no small amount of impending trouble.
"... Ellie? What are you doing here?"
"Looking out for my big sister. You know, the usual."
"But if you're here…"
"She's on her way, but unfortunately, having not been to the ring in over a year, Ethan has gotten uncharacteristically lost. She should be here in a couple of hours, more than enough time for you to get your story straight and tell me how you happened to do the exact opposite of what Mum sent you out to do. You're welcome for that by the way."
"Well… turns out I'm a lesbian?"
"Well I never. I would never have seen this coming from, you know, orbit." Ellie said in a monotone, the sarcasm practically dripping from her lips.
"I'm sorry, did everyone know but me?" Jane asked, sounding rather despairing.
"Pretty sure mum doesn't, so that's a conversation you can look forward to," she said. "And calm down, it's merely obvious in retrospect. It certainly explains why you kept saying that mum's lady friends were so pretty all the time."
"But… they are?"
"I know, but I'm not the one who says it with a sigh every time they visit, or the one who stares after them as they leave, staring out of the window like one of the characters in mum's favourite plays." Putting her head in her palms, the younger Polestar affected a falsetto, "Oh Mrs Grenwich, you are so pretty with your high heels and perfectly coiffed hair, my heart doth ache at your absence!"
"Why are you like this?" Jane asked, blushing intensely.
"Look, I'm just glad mum's mad at somebody else for a change. It's made the start of summer vacation much more tolerable now that she's been distracted from my record," she said cheerfully.
"What did you do?"
"Only a little bit of smuggling, Annie and I barely violated school rules! Frankly, it's the twenty-second century, boys should be able to visit a girl's school-"
"Ellie!!"
"Relax! We didn't even get him past security," she pouted.
The footman chose this moment to speak up, "There was also the matter of… borrowing the headmistress' private skiff to attempt this, young miss."
"Pssh, it's school property! Besides, if she didn't want us using it, she shouldn't have left the keys in the boathouse."
"They haven't conclusively proven it was us yet," she insisted. "Oh, chin up, I'm on your side Jane, more or less, though I can't… hold on. That's her isn't it?"
I had been rather frozen in shock, terror, and confusion over the last few minutes, but stiffly I nodded and set my book down. The younger Miss Polestar regarded me with a curious expression, looking me over
"Oh she's just adorable!" she said, shaking her head. "And you are in so, so very much trouble. I do like the bookstore though. And the suit!"
"... thank you?" Jane said.
"It suits you!" she announced, looking entirely too pleased with herself. "So what is your plan, anyway?"
---
Your mother is not incapable of reason, but she is angry. And worried. And scared. All things you very much understand.
But you're also very aware that she's a hard person to stand up to. She's stern, strict, and commanding. You don't know if you can do this, even with Marie beside you.
But you have to try.
How do you convince your mother?
This is one of the last votes, and it will be important. We're gonna have a moratorium for 24 hours so you can discuss things and pick the option that feels right.
We are very very sorry for how long it took to write this. Life happened.
[ ] Appeal to Sentiment - You tried so hard to follow her wishes, but in your heart, you knew that being with a man would never make you happy. Marie makes you happy, and for all she wants what's best for you, she's not you, and you have to make your own decisions sometime.
[ ] Be Firm - You're an adult now, and given a couple months, Pages like Petals will be able to keep you afloat while you study at the university. If push comes to shove, she can't stop you.
[ ] Show her she can trust you - You might not have done what she sent you out here to do, but you think she should take a look at what you have done.
[ ] Fold Instantly - This is a joke.
[ ] Write in - There will be a strict veto
It is to my everlasting shame to say that for once, Jane had woken up before me.
After that first night together, we hard managed (through heroic effort) to stay apart. We were, in theory, still trying to make a proper romance out of this, and some things had to be saved. As difficult as that was.
A staggering amount of work had gone into preparing Jane's lovely little bookshop over the past two weeks. Not merely furnishing and ordering stock, not merely preparing advertising and hiring, but an absolute cavalcade of tasks to busy ourselves with. I loved it, and so did Jane, even if she did need breaks.
But at last, Pages like Petals was ready for its grand opening!
The name was actually the last thing to come to us. In fact, it had been Miss Clerk who'd suggested the name. Apparently it was the name of a poetry anthology she'd been reading with Miss Oliveria in her free time, and when she'd heard it, Jane lit up in a way that may have made me perhaps only a little envious of our friend.
Considering the personal importance of the occasion, I reprised my role as her maid, if only while we were dressing. Miss Polestar had to look perfect after all, she was now going to be a respectable business owning type and that had certain standards, other than all the ones we were routinely violating.
Alas, perfection may have caused some minor damage to my cooling unit. Jane had decided to forego her dresses for the occasion. After discussing it nervously over several nights (despite my constant reassurance and enthusiastic encouragement) she'd commissioned for herself a tailored suit, just to try out. She'd gotten the idea from some of our new peers, who'd cut rather striking figures, enamoring us both, though probably in ever so slightly different ways.
I must admit here, that I felt somewhat like this was a gift for me in particular. After all, I was the one helping Jane into a perfectly cut woman's suit in dark blue, with glittering cloth of gold highlights in stark contrast to her silvery blue hair. It may or may not have been something of a struggle to get it all on in time for us to go, as I'd shown a clear lack of any sort of professionalism as I'd allowed my touch to linger somewhat upon her waist and chest.
"Is it alright? Does it look good?" she asked, as I stepped back to survey her new look.
"I may be slightly biased, but I don't think you've ever looked better." I responded.
"... well now you have me wanting a second opinion." she responded, blushing fiercely. "But seriously, it doesn't make me look too, um, mannish or anything of the sort?"
"I promise you, it absolutely does not." Given the cut and style and the figure below, I did not think anyone in the universe could look on her and conclude she was anything but a very beautiful woman in a very beautiful suit. "Though if you're unsure, I'd gladly help you remove it..."
Jane caught my meaning at once, blushing deeply before doing something most unfair and stepping very close, her hands stopping my retreat as they held my hips.
"Later." was all she said, a wonderful promise.
---
The grand opening very nearly went off without a hitch.
There really wasn't much ceremony or anything: the two of us and Miss Clerk just gathered for a few last checks of the location, then the two of them together flipped the switch that would activate the holographic signage against the windows. Giddy with excitement, we settled back and waited, talking excitedly about the possibilities.
The shop was small and still only half-complete, in some ways, but Miss Polestar and Miss Clerk had together put her money to good use in furnishing the location with the output of several local publishing houses, as well as hiring our first employee, a rather nervous looking kitchen maid who would primarily be making tea and baking for customers as they browsed. Miss Clerk would be manning the register for the time being, a task she seemed almost frighteningly enthusiastic about.
Our hope was that we could be a place for students and such to come browse books, read in the cozy corner, and otherwise spend lazy afternoons. To that effect, the reading chairs were each backed with ambient noise cancellers to provide a quiet and comfortable space in which one could happily lose themselves in a good book.
And it wasn't all that long before we had our first customer! As promised, Miss Oliveira made her appearance early in the day alongside a number of girls from the fencing club, and business was rather brisk as they made their choices and settled as a group in one of the reading nooks. Miss Oliveira did, however, cause a slight delay as she had a rather long conversation with Miss Clerk, only moving to the side when her fellows began to poke her.
After that, business settled into a rather more sedate place, with a steady trickle of students and a surprising number of machines visiting our establishment. To my shame, I couldn't help but hover somewhat, and while Jane was perhaps a little more socially inclined, and did garner a rather large number of compliments in regards to her outfit, I was summarily exiled into the back room by Miss clerk, who insisted that I stop micromanaging. It was, I think, a fair sentence, but I do believe I should have been excused as it was simply my desire to have Pages like Petal's opening day go as perfectly as possible.
I set about organising the stockroom instead, but there was precious little for me to actually do, as Miss Clerk already had it in hand. For lack of anything else, I selected a book quite nearly at random from the stores, left a few coins in the register to pay for it, and took a seat on the couch we'd set up in the back for employee breaks. The book turned out to be a treatise on a particular form of alien wildlife and its biochemistry, a subject utterly impenetrable to me and which I stubbornly kept reading, unwilling to be defeated by text on a page and a handful of animated diagrams.
---
"What'cha reading?" I blinked, looking up to find Jane's face not three inches from my own.
"I… Honestly I have no idea. I am fairly certain that it contains words, I know what some of them mean, these might be pictures, but beyond that I'm lost. Can you make heads or tails of it?"
Jane stepped up behind me, her chest flush with my back, and started trying to read over my shoulder. Thankfully for my ego, she also didn't get very far. "Um… well, there's a lot of latin?"
"You took latin in school?"
"Yes… I passed too"
"Yeah, you used that excuse on mum as well when you came home with the exact passing mark." Another voice pulled my attention back to room at large, and I was presented with the sight of Jane Polestar in miniature, wearing a very fashionable young ladies dress and accompanied by a Footman, who gave us a courteous nod, and obligingly held the young lady's bags as she stepped towards with a grin that spelt no small amount of impending trouble.
"... Ellie? What are you doing here?"
"Looking out for my big sister. You know, the usual."
"But if you're here…"
"She's on her way, but unfortunately, having not been to the ring in over a year, Ethan has gotten uncharacteristically lost. She should be here in a couple of hours, more than enough time for you to get your story straight and tell me how you happened to do the exact opposite of what Mum sent you out to do. You're welcome for that by the way."
"Well… turns out I'm a lesbian?"
"Well I never. I would never have seen this coming from, you know, orbit." Ellie said in a monotone, the sarcasm practically dripping from her lips.
"I'm sorry, did everyone know but me?" Jane asked, sounding rather despairing.
"Pretty sure mum doesn't, so that's a conversation you can look forward to," she said. "And calm down, it's merely obvious in retrospect. It certainly explains why you kept saying that mum's lady friends were so pretty all the time."
"But… they are?"
"I know, but I'm not the one who says it with a sigh every time they visit, or the one who stares after them as they leave, staring out of the window like one of the characters in mum's favourite plays." Putting her head in her palms, the younger Polestar affected a falsetto, "Oh Mrs Grenwich, you are so pretty with your high heels and perfectly coiffed hair, my heart doth ache at your absence!"
"Why are you like this?" Jane asked, blushing intensely.
"Look, I'm just glad mum's mad at somebody else for a change. It's made the start of summer vacation much more tolerable now that she's been distracted from my record," she said cheerfully.
"What did you do?"
"Only a little bit of smuggling, Annie and I barely violated school rules! Frankly, it's the twenty-second century, boys should be able to visit a girl's school-"
"Ellie!!"
"Relax! We didn't even get him past security," she pouted.
The footman chose this moment to speak up, "There was also the matter of… borrowing the headmistress' private skiff to attempt this, young miss."
"Pssh, it's school property! Besides, if she didn't want us using it, she shouldn't have left the keys in the boathouse."
"They haven't conclusively proven it was us yet," she insisted. "Oh, chin up, I'm on your side Jane, more or less, though I can't… hold on. That's her isn't it?"
I had been rather frozen in shock, terror, and confusion over the last few minutes, but stiffly I nodded and set my book down. The younger Miss Polestar regarded me with a curious expression, looking me over
"Oh she's just adorable!" she said, shaking her head. "And you are in so, so very much trouble. I do like the bookstore though. And the suit!"
"... thank you?" Jane said.
"It suits you!" she announced, looking entirely too pleased with herself. "So what is your plan, anyway?"
---
Your mother is not incapable of reason, but she is angry. And worried. And scared. All things you very much understand.
But you're also very aware that she's a hard person to stand up to. She's stern, strict, and commanding. You don't know if you can do this, even with Marie beside you.
But you have to try.
How do you convince your mother?
This is one of the last votes, and it will be important. We're gonna have a moratorium for 24 hours so you can discuss things and pick the option that feels right.
We are very very sorry for how long it took to write this. Life happened.
[ ] Appeal to Sentiment - You tried so hard to follow her wishes, but in your heart, you knew that being with a man would never make you happy. Marie makes you happy, and for all she wants what's best for you, she's not you, and you have to make your own decisions sometime.
[ ] Be Firm - You're an adult now, and given a couple months, Pages like Petals will be able to keep you afloat while you study at the university. If push comes to shove, she can't stop you.
[ ] Show her she can trust you - You might not have done what she sent you out here to do, but you think she should take a look at what you have done.
[ ] Fold Instantly - This is a joke.
[ ] Write in - There will be a strict veto