Chapter Text
The first time Minnie visited the shop, it's a fairly lively affair. There are people at every shelf. It's often thought that magic shops are not commonly frequented, but it's not quite true. This one was particularly busy this day. She was certain some customers were non-magical, while others weren't human at all. Minnie didn't dwell in the busy shop, quickly grabbing her desired box of sleeping-aid tea leaves and bringing it to the young cashier to ring up. She left without another thought or glance back.
The second time Minnie visited the shop, it was less busy. This time, she believed, it was no longer peak hours; it was late enough in the afternoon for people to not venture outside of their air-conditioned houses, but not too late that those leaving work might pop in for their magical needs. This time, she had no specific thing in mind. She wasn't entirely certain what drew her back to the shop, but she trusted her magical instinct enough to come back. Perhaps her subconscious had remembered seeing something useful.
She browsed the shelves slowly, letting things grab her attention randomly. She noticed that many of the things sold seemed very… practical. Simplistic. They still felt very magical. Many other stores had bright flashy objects, jars full of things like toad warts and fish ears. Minnie honestly didn't know if those were real things, in this world or a next.
Minnie came across the shelf where she had found her tea and began to read the labels. Most of their uses were focused on soothing normal ailments; muscle pain, insomnia, and anxiety were some of them. None of them promised a cure to ailments. Instead they were described as “aid” or “to help them symptoms of”. She picked up the box that said sleeping-aid, wondering if this is what she came here for, but she still had plenty from last time. It was unusual for a magic shop to advertise their products in such a way. Magical merchandise was not regulated in the same way as non-magical merchandise, and it was not atypical for non-magic users to truly believe that anything magical really was a cure-all. It often wasn’t true, but shops would pull in customers this way. Minnie had found that this tea had actually helped her sleep more than other solutions she had tried, and she was grateful for their honesty.
Continuing to explore the store, she came across a small nook covered by slightly dusty cloth. She assumed at one point they had been colorful, but they still somehow fit the aesthetic of the shop. Attempting to gently brush them aside only resulted in giving her a coughing fit. When the dust cleared, she saw, through watery eyes, that a woman behind a counter was staring at her. She was the only living thing in this area of the shop. Looking around the space, Minnie found it to be surprisingly clean in comparison to the cloth outside. Likely if no one came back here, cleaning would be the only thing this cashier could do to keep herself entertained.
“Hey,” the clerk called. “Looking for anything specific?”
“Uhm, ah.” Her mouth felt unusually dry, as if she hadn't talked to another human being in days. Minnie cleared her throat. “No, nothing in particular. Just browsing.”
The clerk rested her head on her hand. “I'm sure you noticed it's empty back here. You have to be especially magical to find this.”
Minnie looked back towards the clerk and squinted her eyes suspiciously. “That doesn't sound true.”
The clerk groaned and draped her torso over the counter. “I know, it's not true. I'm just so bored and lonely back here I have to give myself some explanation why no one visits.”
Minnie began inspecting the objects being sold on the shelves. “You're not...stuck here, are you?”
The clerk snorted. “No, of course not, but when most of your life is an 11 to 7 job at an empty counter it certainly feels like it.”
Minnie raised an eyebrow at the clerk. “Unusual hours.” She stopped listening to what the clerk says as she focused on the shelves. She could feel that her objective was there in that room and she didn't want to take too much longer finding it. The clerk eventually stopped talking when she noticed that Minnie is no longer paying attention to her, and Minnie concentrated solely on what was in front of her. Many of the shelves were filled with scrolls, likely ones with magical words and sigils inscribed on them. They were fairly rare nowadays, so it was not surprising that there was a clerk dedicated to watching them. But Minnie's quest did not lead her to a scroll. On the shelf to the right of the counter, opposite the entrance she came in, she found a prismatic crystal, one that shifted colors. Staring at it she saw it shift between a deep green and a pale blue, and all the colors in between. This is what she has been unconsciously searching for.
She brought it to the counter and finally looked at the clerk, able to pay attention to her now that her focus was no longer on this object. She was staring down at the crystal as Minnie observed her. Her long brown hair hung over her shoulders elegantly. Her clothes were more simple and modern than Minnie's, though they still emanated a magical vibe. Her jeans were close to her hips and her white shirt had missing bits of fabric, showing off her graceful shoulders.
Minnie continued staring even when she looked up, and observed her face. Her eyes were brown and friendly looking, though she also appeared tired. Her nose was fairly straight and came to an adorable rounded tip. Her lips were… moving? Was she saying something?
Minnie quickly snapped out of her stupor. “I'm sorry, I didn't catch that.” She found herself embarrassed, for the first time in a while, to have been caught staring this way, but she also hadn't even attempted to hide it. She wondered what came over her.
“It's 25.45.” The clerk said again. Minnie flushed, having totally forgotten that she was actually paying for something. She handed over the money without a thought and scurried out of the store before she could get distracted again.
Once out of the store, she noticed across the street a flashing sign, sending the message of “grand opening” to the world. Even from here she could tell it was one of the sensational magic stores she had found unhelpful so many times before. She wrinkled her nose in disgust, deciding that from now on she would only shop at the store behind her. Its practicality was much more appealing to her traditional sense of magic. Whipping away from the store, she hurried home to investigate her new found treasure.
The third time was intentional. Of course it was. It was time to stock her supplies of common magical ingredients once again, and she had said she'd never shop anywhere else again, hadn't she? She wasn't entirely sure where such ingredients could be found in this store since she hadn't seen all of it last time she came. The store seemed much bigger than before, her usually quiet footsteps echoing. She didn't investigate the shelves as much, but wasn't ready to dart out of there either. She felt almost like she might be getting comfortable with the store, and that perhaps at some point it may become very familiar to her.
In her wandering she came across the main cashier counter, not like the hidden one she found last time. She paid not too much attention to it, looking at the shelf across from it. When she turned around however, she found the women from her last trip there looking at her, head resting on her palm once again.
“Hey it's you,” she said with a small smile. “Came here a few weeks ago right?”
Minnie nodded. “What happened to the other cashier?”
Her face became more solemn and she sat up straighter. Minnie could finally read her name tag. Miyeon. “We had to let her go.” Miyeon said. “We stopped getting enough customers and she deserves a better job.” Her face became fond. “Maybe she'll get an apprenticeship.”
Minnie tilted her head in curiosity. “Why are you losing customers?” She approached the counter, deciding to fully engage in conversation for reasons unknown to her.
“Have you seen that gaudy display of a store across the street yet?” Miyeon’s face turned into one of disgust as she gestured to the front of the store. “People loooove to be pulled in with flashy lights and fake remedies.”
Minnie nodded in agreement, unsure of what to say next, but it was okay as Miyeon was ready to keep talking. “You're not like that huh? Since you're back.”
Minnie responded, “The tea I got here actually helped me sleep.”
“Yeah? Better than that cheap stuff you usually find right?” Miyeon grinned and leaned on the counter again. “Say, what did you use that crystal for? You seemed kind of out of it when I was asking you so I figured you didn't hear what I said.”
Minnie couldn't help but stare at her again, the slight curve of her back as she leaned over her elbows, how pretty her-
She shook her head. “Uh,” she forgot what she was going to say. “The crystal? Uh, no I didn't figure out what it was for yet. It just… called to me.”
“Oh yeah, I hear that happens sometimes.” Miyeon smiled coyly. “Anything else calling to you?”
Minnie seemed to forget her words again. “Y-yeah?”
“Yeah?”
“I need. Uhm. Common stuff.” The words coming out of her mouth were extremely un-eloquent.
“You're staring again.” Miyeon hadn't stopped smiling as Minnie fumbled through her words, her brain not sure what was happening. “What's your name?”
“Minnie.” She said this confidently, and she hoped it meant she was getting some sort of control again.
“Minnie? Cute.”
“Uh. I-I guess?” She had never thought of her name as cute. Nobody have ever called anything of hers cute. Mostly cold and stiff. She supposed she did isolate herself from most of the population. Talking to Miyeon was probably some of the most interaction she'd had with someone since she finished her schooling.
“Minniiiee,” Miyeon drew out her name in a cute way, trying to call her attention back to reality. “Is there something you need?”
“Uh. Right. I need to restock my supplies. Only common ingredients. Emu eggs, snake skins, special herbs, things like that.”
Miyeon looked surprised. “Those aren't things that we'd necessarily consider common. You're special, huh.”
“W-well I mean, they were considered common in other stores I've gone to. It's a habit I guess.”
Miyeon snorted, waving her hand. “You know how it is, they're common if they're not inherantly magical. They're over there trying to pawn off phoenix feathers as super rare and expensive when phoenixes molt their feathers constantly.”
“Yeah. I know a phoenix, so I get my feathers there.”
“Smart girl! Networking instead of paying too much. Actually… Speaking of,” Miyeon began rummaging behind the counter for something. “You gave me too much last time.” She handed Minnie a bill with a little iou note. “I wouldn’t have remembered if it hadn’t been so much.”
Minnie stared at the bill, recalling how flustered and rushed she was when she got her crystal. She looked up at Miyeon. “You should just keep it.”
“No, no, we don’t need it.”
“I’m probably just going to give it back to you when I buy my purchases for today.”
“Then you can do that. I'm not stopping you from buying anything.” Miyeon smiled and put her head in her hands. It looked adorable.
“Uh. Could you. Help me?”
“With? Oh right, your ingredients. If you take a turn over there you should find a row of stuff like that.” Miyeon pointed to the left. “Walk a bit that way, you'll find it.”
“Yeah. Thank you.” Minnie turned away, hopefully not showing that she almost wished Miyeon would actually come with her. She probably had to manage the counter anyway.
Her silent footsteps continued echoing as she walked away from the counter, but they made more sense as she actually noticed that there were no customers now that it had been pointed out to her. It was a large change from the bustle of her first visit a couple of months ago. The absence of people increased her shock when from around a corner in front of her came a person. They were carrying boxes stacked higher than their head, which wasn't saying much considering that they looked short. Still, she couldn't see their face and she figured they wouldn't see her, so she decided to speak up.
Minnie didn't get much farther then, “Uh,” before the person stumbled a little. The uppermost box fell of the stack and Minnie was close enough to catch it before it hit the ground. It was light, and wasn't a large box, but it was enough to reveal the person's eyes.
The person looked wide-eyed in surprise. They set their boxes down and Minnie followed suit, placing the fallen box back where it belonged. Now she could get a good look at the girl next to her.
“Hey… you're a customer?” she asked. She was wearing a pink cap that was slightly askew, which she reached up to adjust. Minnie quickly looked for a nametag, having learned from last time. 'Soyeon’ it said.
Minnie decided to make sure to answer her question before she got distracted. Again. “Yeah, I'm a customer.” Her language was still relaxed from what it had been; she recognized that while talking to Miyeon her vocabulary had adjusted, become more casual. Perhaps her semi-isolation had caused her to forget how others spoke.
“Neat. D'ya need anything?”
“I was told there were...non-magical ingredients around here. I need to stock up again.”
“Ah, yeah. I got some here.” Soyeon opened a box, revealing the supplies. “What do you need?”
Minnie rattled off her memorized list of ingredients, and even asked for some others as Soyeon dug through the box. She was buying them anyway so she didn't feel bad about it. Well... maybe a little. “Sorry for taking your time,” she said, once Soyeon had handed her the last thing she asked for. Her arms were now full of supplies.
“Don't worry about it.” Soyeon bent over and closed the box. “It's not like my days are super busy and exciting recently.”
“Yeah. Uh. Thank you!” Minnie turned and left before she could say anything stupid about the state of the store. Based off Soyeon’s tone of voice she figured it might not be the best idea to have a conversation on that topic.
Reaching Miyeon and her counter once again, she let the stuff tumble gently from her arms and onto the counter.
“Ooooo, you got some cool stuff.” Miyeon began ringing up everything on the counter. “You need something to carry that in?”
Minnie peered around Miyeon. “Can I get one of those cloth bags on the wall?”
“Sure!” Miyeon grabbed a purple and blue cloth bag and began loading Minnie's purchases into it. “I hope you know it adds to your total.”
“That's fine, I'm not worried about money.”
Miyeon added the cost of the bag to the total and lets out a gasp. “Good thing you don't worry, I guess, that's a lot!”
Minnie glanced at the number on the register. “I've paid more for this kind of stuff. I think other stores scam their customers.”
“Tch, yeah.” Miyeon handed over the bag as Minnie pays. “What we sell actually works and comes with a reasonable price!”
Minnie gave her a slight smile, and Miyeon grinned widely in return. Miyeon waved before Minnie turns to head out of the store. A shout followed her as she left.
“Hope you come again!”