Stocking Up (Abigail)

[stephvin]

Chicago was not Stephanie's favorite city. Granted she'd been to worse but she preferred to stay out of cities when she wasn't on a hunt. However, when people talked and word moved about, she'd been drawn to see if what she'd heard about regarding this place was for real.

Having been too tired last night to drink any and thus free of a hangover or anything of the sort, Stephanie Vincent moved along the city sidewalk, arms crossed and trying to keep out the cold despite the efforts of the parka she wore, the cold wind blowing her brown hair about as she pressed on through the January weather of the northern US.

Finally, as luck would have it, she found the entrance to the store and a candle in the window. Sigil for hunter, she'd done her research, after all it was a big deal for anyone who was one. Pausing for a moment, she opened the door and went in, greeted by much warmer surroundings as she studied some of the things on the walls and shelves. If she worded things right, she could get plenty of figurative ammo to handle the next spirit haunting or demon possession she came across...

[Abigail Faraday-Brennan]

Abigail Brennan leaned against the door frame leading through to the back room of The Light Within, watching as her mother, Lillian meticulously checked in the new inventory that had arrived earlier that day. The older woman sat cross-legged on the floor, her patterned skirt swirling about her knees as she raised a delicate crystal to the light, carefully checking for any imperfections in the stone. One unsatisfactory shipment years ago, and the older witch now insisted on checking over each subsequent shipment personally. This tended to make checking in inventory last at least twice as long as it normally should, but the pair took pride in their craft and offered only the best quality supplies to their many customers. Brennan smiled affectionately and made a check mark on the inventory list as Lillian finally nodded and placed the crystal back in its velvet display box.

Occasionally she made a circuit of the main room, greeting customers and offering assistance as she was needed. The shop was fairly slow today, but she kept a watchful eye on the few customers that came and went as her mother moved on to several packets of assorted herbs. Whenever someone new entered, a soft chime sounded, and her eyes were automatically drawn to the glowing protection amulet above the door. It glowed a steady green, soft and healthy in the day’s fading light. Had any of the visitors’ intentions been less than respectable, the amulet would have immediately flickered to a warning red and primed the shop’s multitude of magical defenses. Looked like everyone was going to behave themselves today, though.

With a yawn, Brennan straightened and stretched, wincing as several of her vertebrae popped audibly. Setting the clipboard on the table next to her mother, she stepped out to make her rounds. She waved to a couple of her regulars as they “oohed” and “aahed” over a new display of Egyptian statuary, then moved off to the next room to straighten up a rack of jewelry that had fallen into disarray. Once finished, she passed by the French doors at the back of the shop, glancing longingly out toward the sunken patio that The Light Within shared with the café next door. In the warmer months, the shaded sitting area offered a quiet, relaxing getaway from the everyday grind. Now, though, the stone statues and wrought iron tables sat stark and forlorn under two feet of snow and ice. Heaving a sigh, the witch completed her circuit, stepping over Boss where he lay stretched out and snoozing contentedly behind the counter. She paused to rub his ears affectionately, then straightened as one of the customers caught her eye.

“Anything I can help you find?” she asked, smiling warmly at the young woman.

[stephvin]

Unzipping her parka, Stephanie turned as one of the store-owners came over and addressed her. "Yeah, thanks." She said, managing a smile despite her usually grim disposition.

"I've got a lot coming up and I heard this place had a lot of things that would help with that." She began. "The candle's a nice touch." Stephanie commented, as if trying to get a point across as to why she was here. "After I saw it I knew there was a chance I'd find everything on my list." She explained, deciding to see if the other woman would pick up on what she was getting at.

Hopefully the place lived up to its reputation in the hunter world, as she'd have not felt a trip up here was worthwhile otherwise as she didn't have friends, and family was drastically reduced thanks to the demon she'd intended to bring down one day.

[Abigail Faraday-Brennan]

Brennan nodded thoughtfully, not missing a beat.

“Thanks, that’s part of our signature line,” she told the potential hunter, giving her a discreet once-over. “We should have most everything you’re looking for, I think,” she continued, drawing on a trickle of her personal magick to invoke her Second Sight. As she kept talking, she glanced at the woman again, noting with relief the lack of malign energy that would indicate she was a supernatural creature, probably fishing for information. That wasn’t to say that she wasn’t a human agent trying to get info out of her, but she supposed the woman’s true intentions would become apparent soon enough. And hey, that was what all the defensive spells were for.

“Boss,” Brennan murmured quietly, and the massive Doberman immediately righted himself and looked up at her. “Achtung,” she commanded, and Boss leaped up and trotted eagerly around the counter, settling himself in a spot where he could see all entrances and exits, as he had been trained to do. He lay at the ready, his head and ears swiveling attentively, mirroring the statue of Anubis her two regulars had been admiring earlier. Satisfied that the store was in good hands, Brennan turned and motioned for the woman to follow.

“We have several items in stock, but there aren’t any on display at the moment,” the witch explained as she headed toward the back of the shop, catching her mother’s eye as she passed. Breezing through the back room and into an adjoining hallway, she glanced at the woman again. “But it won't be a problem to let you take a look. Are you a general practitioner, or a specialist?”

[stephvin]

Smiling a little more, relieved that she'd found the right place, Stephanie nodded and followed, watching the doberman for a moment as he went over to stand guard. She wasn't afraid of dogs, but didn't doubt the dog had done plenty to earn the storekeeper's faith in guarding the place from threats.

When asked what she did, Stephanie perked again. "I specialize in exorcisms and spirit removal." She explained. "It's a long, personal story." She added, not wanting to go into the full details of what put her in the path she walked today to a stranger; hunter ally or not.

[Abigail Faraday-Brennan]

Brennan smiled at the hunter sympathetically.

“It usually is,” she said, not pressing the woman any farther. She’d been around hunters all her life, which was more than enough to know that most, if not all, of them had started hunting due to some traumatic event somewhere in their past. And that you never ask about said event. It was never a good idea to piss off someone that carried as many weapons as a hunter tended to.

Motioning Stephanie to wait for a moment, Brennan preceded her into the final room. Striding to the wall, she quickly hit the hidden release to the door leading to the lower level and disengaged the magical safeguards upon it as well. Brennan then returned for the hunter and led her down the stairs, latching the panel behind them. Ahead, fluorescent lights flickered to life as the pair approached. Brennan stepped into the small common room at the bottom and motioned to an array of doors lining the walls.

“We carry just about everything you’re likely to need,” she said, turning to smile politely at the hunter. “What is it you’re looking for, exactly? General equipment, weapons, medical supplies?”

[stephvin]

Following her into the back room and looking at the rather ample selection of doors that likely led to the supplies available to her, Stephanie found herself staring for a moment.

Rock salt, cast-iron, silver, holy water, any books that carried exorcisms and demonology lore. Burial rites... the works. And possibly medical supplies. Run-ins with the supernatural tended to end rather messy.

"I'll need a lot, I guess." She said sheepishly. The last hunt she did had drained a lot of supplies out of her... that demon certainly did not go down without a fight and it had, admittedly, been sheer luck the little girl it posessed had lived through the ordeal. "Holy water... rock salt and iron rounds for a revolver... goofer dust if you've got it..." She tried to remember the name of the book she'd needed for a moment. "Any recent releases in the guides to burial rites and exorcisms?" She tried. The last one was, sadly obsolete by now.

[Abigail Faraday-Brennan]

Brennan nodded thoughtfully as the hunter rattled off her list, giving her a reassuring smile.

“Sounds like you’ve been busy, huh?” she asked, heading for one of the many doors. “Well, I think we can get you all fixed up. Goofer dust…”

The witch chuckled, sweeping through the door and into the room of magical supplies, turning to open a large cabinet near the door. “We’ve got more of that than we know what to do with. Take as much as you need.”

Leaving the cabinet open, Brennan circled the freestanding shelves dominating the center of the room and moved along the cabinets and bookcases that lined the walls. Pausing near the back of the room, she laid a finger on the spine of one of the many books and pulled it out from the rest. She took a moment to page thoughtfully through the tome, then wandered back to Stephanie and offered it to her.

“This is a collection of all the rituals we currently have on record. If you have any that aren’t in here, I’d love to know so we can add them to our collection and pass them along."

Moving on to the rooms for religious artifacts, weapons and ammunition, and general supplies, Brennan entered each in turn and pointed out any items the woman requested. Things like holy water and rock salt were easily done, but she frowned and made a note to herself that they were getting dangerously low on iron rounds. She’d have to call in the morning and see if more could be made up. Luckily, the retired hunter that kept them supplied in this particular item lived relatively close, and they should be stocked up again in no time. Not like some of the more… unique items that might need to be shipped in covertly from across the country.

Leaning back against the doorway of the final room, Brennan smiled politely and raised her eyebrows at Stephanie. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

[stephvin]

Looking over everything, Stephanie nodded with satisfaction, pleased to see that everything she needed could be found here. She'd managed to snag a bunch of money so she figured she'd have plenty to get it all. "Thank you." She said at long last. "If I can just have a way to contact you in case I run into any problems with rituals." She explained, she didn't want to be attempting an exoricsm and find herself without the ritual she needed.

When finally asked about if there was anything else she'd need, she smiled a little, something she rarely did with sincerity given she was a rather grim person. "Any small medical supplies or any hospitals that have someone who knows this... trade... that they won't ask too many questions." She said. "The last one I did... black-eyed type, but really strong and banged me up good. Posessed a seven-year-old girl." Getting the demon trapped was hard enough, having to get it to chase her up to one of the bedrooms and trigger the trap to dump salt on the doorway, then lure it onto the bed where a Devil's Trap was drawn underneath had lead to a lot of abuse along the way. "Would have been so much easier if her parents didn't fall for its tricks, barely saved them from getting disemboweled." She said more bitterly then she'd meant to. "The girl's in the hospital, probably for the next week, but she'll pull through."

Though that was well and good, Stephanie's goal and reason for taking that hunt in the first place had been another dead end. The demon was not one of Mephistopheles' servents and had no knowledge of the yellow-eyed demon's most recent activity. "But I'm no closer to what I was looking for."