ELSIE'S WORKSHOP
Proprietor
Elsie Boucher
Hours
Weekdays, 12pm - 4pm
closed weekends

and you're something you're not?
_{(i think you're made of gold) d e s c r i p t i o n}

A tall, two-story townhouse; it is unremarkable in almost every way. The building is shaped much like a tall shoebox, made of red brick. The front shows three plain windows -- two on the top floor, one on the bottom, all lined with white wood, and a heavy wooden door painted a grey-blue. From the side of the door hangs a handmade sign: a cauldron with pink-purple smoke billowing over the side. The front door reads "ELSIE'S WORKSHOP".
Well, you found the place, at least.

Inside, the store is even more plain that imagined -- a tiny front room that serves as office, library, workshop and sitting room (and sometimes bedroom). The walls are painted off-white and completely bare of decoration; a bookcase lines one far wall, with a desk and chair nearby. Across from the bookcase are the stairs, leading to Elsie's apartment; against the support wall here is the couch. In the furthest corner is Elsie's cauldron -- big enough to fit her inside and sparkling clean. All alchemy is done in that exact spot. The floor, freshly swept, is bare wood, with a stone inlay where the cauldron sits.

One large sign is glaringly obvious as you enter:

PRICES WILL BE NEGOTIATED
AT TIME OF COMPLETION

It had been nearly a week now, or… well, maybe? Elsie hadn’t really been paying attention to the times here since she had moved in, it just felt like everything was moving so… so… slowly. She was in reverse, or even frozen, nothing had really happened to her and nothing was happening around her either. As much as she hated to admit it, part of her was angry with herself: angry that she gave up her free-wheeling and fun (horrible) lifestyle as a vagabond traveler for something more alone and stationery. For a girl who really hated people, she was really dreaming of company right now, but the more she looked, the more it seemed that no one was around.

Part of the issue was her location: as it turned out, only she and one other person lived on Faron road, an old and crotchety man that she often spat at and he often spat back. He was out on his porch every morning in bunny slippers and a sleeping cap, scratching a mangy cat on his lap and squinting at the newspaper. Elsie had waved at him one night in an attempt to be friendly and he nearly threw the cat at her, calling her a ‘no good hoodlum’. The next night she had slipped a sticky bomb into his mail slot. So the battle raged on… as was life for a Boucher. Otherwise, all the other homes were empty, little ‘for sale’ or ‘for rent’ signs on the windows. Elsie wondered if they were all freshly built at first, but her place was older than the pyramids, and all of the other homes looked similar. Maybe this street was on its last legs before demolition, Elsie didn’t know. She didn’t really mind it, until today.

Outside the snow fell in wild, whipping sweeps. A blizzard of impressive proportions, considering how late in the season it was brewing outside, leaving her alone… Elsie always got lonely on snowy nights like this, because it kind of reminded her of home. Gainsboro was stuck in a very cold part of the country, and snow fell often. Times like that her parents would brew up hot cocoa (if her father wasn’t with a girlfriend), and they’d all tell scary stories. Elsie’s never were very scary, but at the time she was only seven. They’d be absolutely terrified or at least disturbed now… but Elsie wasn’t home anymore. She stood alone in front of her cauldron, fire burning underneath. Absentmindedly she swirled the item brewing inside, still liquefied and not ready. In a few minutes she’d have to add some white grass to the mix, but she was putting it off, sorrowfully tapping her foot to a quiet song on the gramophone. One of her father’s favorites; whatever traits she got from him, his music taste was the strongest. She sighed a little, reaching over to a vial, pouring out the white flaky bits into the rolling boil. It flashed for a moment and then took on a bright blue hue, a typical reaction when white grass was used. She was preparing a few vitality pills, enough to tie her shop over if word ever got out; that way she could just wholesale and not have to worry about actually making anything.

It was a few more moments before the calamity came; Elsie was still mixing away when what she believed was the wind knocked her door wide open, allowing a bone-chilling wind to coat the inside of her warm workshop, flicker the lights, put out the fire. Her mix immediately went black, solidified, and crumbled – completely ruined. She turned around angrily, but was met with a surprising sight.

Grace didn't exactly know why she was out in this weather, it was colder than ever and snowing, almost like a blizzard could just pop out anytime now. Her white rabbit dangling at her side as her feet dragged through the snow, she had been exploring for Emmy and Krissy the whole day, most of it at least, and gave up hours ago only to walk around a little bit. Shopping district was the last place she expected to be stuck in. The girl wasn't exactly a big fan of the snow and cold weather this year, seeing she had no other way to keep warm since her beloved wolves sort of.. disappeared all of a sudden. Her scarf and earmuffs were hardly enough to keep her face cold, which was a bit stupid to think since she was just a kid, how did they even expect her to be warm in this weather? Her face was tilted down, looking at the snow as she walked slowly, her hands held out to the side as if on a tight rope. The way she was walking now only helped a little, but you could easily tell she couldn't walk if she let them down. The lack of support in walking made it difficult, and her arms could only do so much. She had stumbled and fell in the snow already ten times this morning, making her whole tiny figure even colder than it already was. A few stores had been closed since nobody really expected anyone to be out in this weather.

Hope for her was beginning to be lost, as she was giving up on trying each store door. The wind was heavy which made her that much slower. Each door she had tried to open, only for it not to budge a single bit. She was about to give up and just let the snow cover her body for the day, and wonder if she woke up the next day or not. There weren't very many more buildings after the bakery, but than she caught one more that seemed to not be around any of the others. Her whole body wobbling as he fought to keep balance as she tried to read it. The only thing she really knew about it was the store must of been new, she hadn't exactly seen anyone working something like this before, she didn't even know what the heck this kind of store was. Taking a bit of a breathe as she slowly walked the direction of the door, she tried to take a small peek through the window but failed to do so.

Putting her hand on the wall, she slowly grabbed the door and sort of gave it a really big jerk to see if it would even jerk open. And it did, but not in a good way. The door flung wide open, the wind quickly blowing in. Grace found herself staring in with utter guilt and shock all over her face, she didn't exactly know what to say for breaking into someones house and ruining all the coziness for them. The girl who had been doing something, whatever it was, turned around and looked in her direction. Grace instantly brought the bunny up in front of her face, as if trying to hide her whole identity or something. "U-um...." her voice shaking as she suddenly sneezed, ruining the moment slightly. You could easily see how scared she was, her whole body shaking from both fear and how cold she was. "I-I'm..." the words were easier when she wasn't so scared, she could think them but couldn't bring herself to even say 'sorry'.

Elsie attempted to lift her staff from the now ruined brew; it was stubborn at first, nearly cemented in, but finally gave way, flinging tiny charred bits with her. Clodded dirt; why did everything turn to clodded dirt when she messed up? Once, Cordelia had failed a synthesis, and her result was a lot of seeds. Cordelia got seeds, Elsie got dirt… a match made in heaven. She was told the result of a failed synthesis is a direct reflection on the alchemists’ soul, but something about that didn’t sit right, as true as it seemed. Elsie simply didn’t want to accept that her soul was made of plain, depressing, dry dirt. She would’ve been more content with quicksand.

She quickly turned around, ready to shut the door and bolt it shut at this time… why was she still running as open, anyway? No one was going to come, no one even knew she was here, or existed… Well, everyone except the tiny kid in front of her, who looked seventy pounds heavier with cold and snow; in an inadequate coat and toting a bunny toy with her. Nothing about her seemed particularly exceptional – just a little kid wandering around in the late evening, hardly dressed for the weather and without parents. Wait, without parents?

“What the hell is going on here?” Elsie bellowed, rushing right past the little girl. She leaned on the heavy wooden door until it closed against the elements, then tested the door knob… it held fast, they weren’t about to get blown out again; so it was the little girl who opened her door, and not the wind. There was a small satisfaction in that, as at least her house wasn’t made out of paper; at least not completely. The windows could rattle and shake as much as they wanted, just as long as the door didn’t come open again. With the door shut, Elsie was able to turn her failed-synthesis rage onto the little girl in full swing. It was always bad to lose a synthesis, especially when she was as far along as she was. Only another ingredient and she would’ve been done, but lo and behold that wouldn’t be happening today. Instead, she’d lose all those ingredients for absolutely no benefit, no money to be made off of it. Reagents weren’t cheap, either.

“Seriously kid, what is going on here? I’m just minding my own damn business in my own damn shop when you come pushing the door open like you own the goddamn place! Do you have any idea what the hell you just did!? I lost a good couple thousand gold in that stupid cauldron now, and I have freakin’ DIRT everywhere to clean up.” Her nostrils flared a little, “AND SNOW.” Grumbling, the woman turned back around, walking straight to her cauldron. She was still fuming, and what the hell was she supposed to do now? Suppose she’d just ignore the kid or something, maybe.

Elsie was ready to shovel the little girl straight out the door, maybe pick her up by her collar and boot her out in a classic cartoon reference, but this child only responded by trying to hide behind the sopping wet bunny toy she was carrying, stammering out a sad, cold little apology that never quite made it out. Elsie had only glanced over her shoulder to gauge if she was still here, and saw the sorry sight. It made her frown, grumble again and turn around… this little nugget wasn’t much older than a toddler, or maybe she was a toddler, she didn’t know the difference; she was so tiny and something was odd about her; not to mention that hiding-behind-the-bunny trick was so adorable that Elsie couldn’t help but crack the tiniest of smiles at her.

“Alright, Alright… Goddess help me,” she murmured, her voice much more quiet and subdued. She approached the girl slowly, hands in front of her to negotiate peace. “Look, I’m really sorry… little… girl. I uhh… where are… your parents? Are you lost or something?” She was really floundering to fix this once again; Elsie made a mental note to try and reign in that temper sometimes. “…You look really cold. Here, let’s worry about all that in a second. Just, uh, there’s a blanket on the couch. Get that coat off and wrap yourself up tight. I’ll restoke the fire.” Pointing to the couch, she widened her eyes a bit, pursing her lips tight to signal Just do it, don’t fight with me, to the girl. Then she turned back to the fireplace, shoving fresh wood back into the pit with the old. With a bit of fluid and the strike of a match (Elsie usually did this with a flash bomb, but she decided to play it safe with this kid), it was quickly roaring again and the room began to heat back up.

“Fuckin’ kids,” she murmured to herself as she worked, loud enough to (unfortunately) overhear. Standing back up, she rubbed her hands on her dress leaving two big black smudges across the fabric; she only looked at it a minute and shrugged, unaffected. “Alright kid, what’s going on here?”

Closing her eyes as the woman began to talk a bit harshly, that's how Grace saw it at least. She listened and only shook her head over and over, She didn't know what she did in fact. The store didn't look familiar nor had she seen anything like it, and pushed her face into the rabbit as she held in her own tears. Even though she tried to be strong, she was still a child and her feelings were easily crushed and tears easily came to her face. The place became quiet for a little bit, and Grace stood there, she had stumbled backwards into the wall to keep her balance up, and felt like she was going to push her back into the wall so much she might as well just break her whole body imprint through it. Her lips trembled behind the rabbit as she slowly lowered the rabbit, only showing her eyes instead. Looking up at her, she felt her heart race a bit terrified. "I-I don't have.. p-parents.." she muttered loud enough for her to hear, hoping the woman didn't just jump to the conclusion that she was lying so she could have some sort of attention. Luckily, she wasn't that way. Attention was only given by those who thought she was a child raised normally like everyone else. Looking at her as she practically demanded her to take off her coat and get all cozy, the look was enough to tell her to listen or else.

Lowering the bunny, she held her hands out in front of her as she kept her balance, making her way to the couch. Once arriving, she quickly grabbed the couches arm and used it as her own balance guide, her whole figure seeming slow and frail as she did so. Jumping onto the couch, she slowly grabbed the blanket the woman had talked about and wrapped it around her tightly, the rabbit staying underneath the blanket with her. Despite the 'insult' on kids, she was to focused on her thoughts to even hear anything, her whole body rolling around and trying to get comfortable on the couch. The rooms heat began to rise as she felt her own body getting slightly warm. She had been out in the cold so long she almost forgot what it felt like to be 'warmer' than before. Pushing her whole figure into the couch, she found herself still fighting the tears back in her eyes.

“Alright kid, what’s going on here?”

Pulling the rabbit from underneath the blanket and putting it in her lap, or what was of it, she only pushed herself farther into the couch a bit shamefully. "I-I was looking for Krissy and Emmy.." she admitted slowly, even though the woman probably didn't know who they where, or what they were at that. "B-but nobody l-let me into the st-stores." she blinked a bit more furiously, avoiding looking at the woman as she knew she'd probably be really angry at her still. "Y-You were the only st-store open.."