this is Salem, a land filled with magic and maladies. It is a place where witches and their elemental familiars gather, a home to legend and
lore that predates time itself. Yet of all the wicked and wonderful stories the past can tell us of, the most magical are the ones yet to happen.
This is Salem - this is the start of your very own journey. Welcome to starfall
Starfall is an animaga witch roleplay set in mostly modern times. Members play as witches in a world plagued by monsters, where the only safe spots are walled cities. Starfall strives to be a character-driven roleplay with expansive lore and a highly interactive plotline. We want to allow members to
create and look back on a magical journey, and mold the site and its plot as their characters grow.
[attr="class","intext"]He was curled in his chair, feet propped on the edge of the counter and knees pushed to his chest. It was a terrible position to sit in, let alone work in, but it was comfortable and he really didn't want to be here and decided show it by looking as unprofessional as possible while waiting for his client to come in. It wasn't like they had many walk ins, after all. People occasionally came in to look around, but if any business was going to happen it was going to happen in the evening, not early afternoon. If his older brother thought he would sit there nice and proper when they were absolutely dead, he was terribly, terribly mistaken.
At least he could keep his hands busy working on one small trinket after another. His hands moved almost absently across the wood, nicking out the smaller details with the tip of his knife. At least it was something to do. At least he wasn't bored. He huffed and kicked the desk, startling Adina who began to say something, but was drowned out by Sima: "He's late!" He hissed, "Lao was supposed to be here an hour ago! I could be outside doing—" And he gestured vaguely and with great frustration as if it would convey what he couldn't find the words for, "something. Anything! I could— I could be outside working, at least!"
"You're restless, relax." Adina replied calmly without moving.
"Restless doesn't begin to describe it." He huffed and stood up, stretching and hoping it would chase away the numbness in his legs. It only brought about uncomfortable pins and needles. "The asshole refused to give full payment upfront, only half, and now this? He's late? Brother was too kind. He shouldn't have accepted this on my behalf. I can't—" His voice caught sharp in his throat as he heard the door open behind him. He spun around, graceful and anger melting away to a bright smile as he switched to customer service mode. "Welcome to Pahlavi Goods. Can I help you with anything?" Adina grumbled something behind him, but he pretended to not hear the harsh criticism.
there's a huff visibly exhaled as tae races to the store, the heels of his shoes clicking against the stones. when he's sure that he's not far away, he slows down, flipping his hair out of his eyes and smiling charmingly to those who pass by and try to give him a questioning glance. he pays them no mind, honestly-they're not important at the very moment, and tae has never been one to pay attention to those who aren't important. who would, after all? though, they are very pretty, and tae almost debates stopping to chat one of them up-maybe the brunette? but they pass by too quickly for that to occur, and instead he finds himself in front of the shop in question.
right. he grimaces, half expecting it to be completely tacky-perhaps covered in animal skins, with ridiculously bright colors? he doesn't know what to expect, to be honest-lao had told him that the shop was charming and quaint. what did that even mean? was it nice? pretty? sanitary? he frowned, fiddling with the doorknob, and then decided on an impulse to open the door in one go immediately. his eyes flickered across the sign just to check one last time, and he sighs when he finds that he is (of course, but no less regrettably) correct in assuming that this is the required location. how depressing. however, the lighting in the store is different, and he blinks to be reacquainted with it.
a voice greets him, decidedly male and actually rather pleasant. tae ignores them.
his eyes are currently lingering on a wooden sculpture, and it's smooth. it looks so incredibly smooth, in fact, that tae has the oddest urge to pet it, stroke his fingers over the swirling pattern of the grain. that would be no doubt societally improper and decidedly against his better intentions, but still. for a small business, it's remarkably pretty-charming, just as lao had described it. tae actually finds himself unopposed to visiting it in his own interests, perhaps picking up a trinket for a friend or two. or for himself, more likely-his friends would simply laugh at him, most likely, for being so enamored with a simple store. but tae's affections are intense and passionate, even for simple things such as cats or stores or charms.
he remembers to respond.
"ah, of course. my apologies for my lateness-i'm here to pick up a purchase under the name of mr. lao. would you-" he pauses when he realizes who he's addressing, nearly tripping over his words when he takes in the attractiveness that nearly radiates from the other. ah. so...this is an unexpected twist. "my apologies. i was merely...taken aback by your beauty.
[attr="class","intext"]Oh. Oh, was this the kind of person the client was? His smile didn't drop, but it did shift and his irritation bled through the cracks. Late first and now this? The audacity, the gall of this man. Already high irritation bubbled and boiled in his throat, sharp words barely kept down by Adina's equally sharp words in his head. "You need this sale." Her voice cut back the anger held tightly behind a smile still warm, "You need his satisfaction. You're still a small business. Your reputation is your everything." She was right and Sima was well, well aware of it. Such facts had been told to him repeatedly by his parents and by his brother. He had to choose his words carefully. He had to ensure the sale and the satisfaction of the customer.
"Sir, if you think that flirting with me will get you a discount, you are terribly mistaken." Sima spoke crisply and with no room allotted for any form of 'but.' He took a step back, then turned sharp and disappeared into the back. Out of sight, safe in the backroom, he took a moment to calm himself. Customers like this came along frequently. They wanted a full service, but they didn't want to pay for it. This was the first time he'd had someone so openly flirt with him, especially without even seeing the product first. It threw him off balance, but it wasn't enough to topple him. He took a deep breath, exhaled it sharply through his nose, and grabbed the chair for one Mr. Lao and stepped out again. He set it down in front of Tae. "One chair for Mr. Lao." He'd thought that it'd been unusual to only order one, but it wasn't like he'd been the one to handle the deal.
The chair was of walnut wood and featured the Lao family crest framed by carefully carved flowers and vines. The arms were flat and smoothed on top to be comfortable, as was the seat itself, but the sides and edges were carved just as intricately as the backing of the chair. The legs were sweeping curves that ended in deer hooves and were much sturdier than they perhaps looked. It was precisely to order. Sima held onto the top of the chair securely, as if Tae might try to run off with it. He smiled again, bright, but with a point to be made. "The other half of your payment, please, sir."
The client was cute. He wasn't going to deny that if asked, but he was still irritated. Restlessness had festered too long in his gut and it'd ruined any semblance of a good mood he might've had, worsened only by Tae's tardiness and flirtations. Sima simply wasn't in the mood to fight with a customer and, oh, a customer never did have good intentions. Weasels were all they are, looking to worm their way into his good affections to gain discounts and deals on products. Their effort only served to disappoint them, since Sima just wasn't the type to do that. He liked money. It put food on the table and kept them warm in winter. Money wasn't something they had a lot of, either, so he tended to hold onto every penny he could which meant not giving discounts to people who pretended to be his friend.
