All the Dark Trinkets [Emy]

Joshua Langford

Overall, it had been a pretty boring year, which Joshua had been thankful for. After that one incident, he hadn't seen much trouble from little blonde-haired girls with too much money in their hands and their heads stuck up so high in the clouds that they were practically extraterrestrial. He hadn't seen too much of Niccolò, either, which worried him, but he thought that maybe the man had just wandered off too far and had been herded back home to Italy. It damaged his business at bit but Niccolò had given him so much aurae that he would probably still be finding spares in odd corners.

More significantly, though Joshua was hesitant to admit it, was the fact that his life had quieted down to essentially nothing. It was back to the daily grind for him, which consisted mainly of daily commutes, rearranging shelves, and getting pissed off at people who didn't read the sign outside. It was just the sort of small, quaint life that Martha, the woman who had been responsible for him on the island, would have liked. Mostly, Joshua felt like that was okay by him.

He could say, however, that the counter was now as clean as the day it had been made. With midterms going on and such, it seemed like his stream of customers had died down considerably. He was, at least, still selling to some distant cousins over on the other side of the world. He didn't care very much for them but business was business and as long as one of them wasn't a complete bastard, he didn't have any problems with it.

When the door opened, Joshua was silently thankful for the opportunity to do something besides just gathering wool. "Hey, is there anything you're looking for in particular? Or are you just browsing?"

Oh. It was another girl. Automatically, he was a bit wary. After that blonde one, he was feeling slightly paranoid all the time. Logically, he knew that there probably wouldn't be any issues. But.

Joshua Langford

"Weapons?" His eyebrows went up at that, although Joshua otherwise remained outwardly calm. "Yes, I do carry those in stock. If you don't mind, I'll have to ask what you plan on doing with those, though," he said, proceeding with caution. "Standard protocol, after all." He had seen a lot of crazy people come on through since Martha had left the place to him and the rule about not judging based off of appearances was a bit hazy here since what this situation looked like to him was a teenager trying to buy some dangerous toys.

"Plus, I can't help you find something if I don't know what it is." The man added that part on as a bit of an afterthought, though it was also perfectly true. "If you have a general idea of what you want, that would help to narrow things down." It would also mean that he wasn't introducing his entire stock to somebody he was uncertain of. "People normally come asking for elemental properties. Or silver. Blessed items, too, to a lesser extent."

Joshua Langford

At the very least, it did seem like the girl had a legitimate reason for being there. "I might be able to help you with that then," Joshua said with a slow nod, automatically thinking of some of the safest things that he had for sale. Best to start off small, after all. Not to mention, he could hardly imagine that a usual student would be willing to give up so much money for something on the pricier side. Of course, she could always have been a secret billionaire, too, but until she was going to come out and say it, Joshua wasn't going to pin his hopes on that.

"Left side's only for people who are really deep into magic already," he said, pointedly turning away from that section. "It's mostly cursed objects that people keep buying anyways, despite knowing that they are. In terms of general usage, I don't really see how they help anybody at all. Unless you're going to learn spellcasting, I wouldn't worry about the right side either. That's mainly spell foci."

The man scanned the contents of the center display case for a moment. "Most magical weapons follow their own rules. It's hard to be general about them but like I said, a lot of the time, it's usually things as basic as minor elemental effects. If you hit something with a sword, it'll ice over or burst into flames, for example. It can be even simpler than that, though. Popular enchantments are ones to keep blades from rusting or chipping, or the ones to make the cuts stronger."

"You're probably not here for the blessed or silver weapons if you only mean to collect them," Joshua told her. "The question right now really is what sort of weapon you prefer. Swords, daggers, that sort of thing. I can try and match you up with something but no guarantees that it'll work for you or even be in your budget."

Joshua Langford

He raised an eyebrow at her comment. Odd. Most people tended to go straight for the flashiest pieces that they could afford. He wasn't going to say anything on that, though, because it was always a nice change of pace to see somebody who seemed to actually be behaving rationally.

"There's a commonly held idea in the magical community that silver is some kind of mystical element, which is partially true." Joshua told her. "Silver weapons are good for if you ever find yourself against a werewolf. Somewhat less reliably, they'll work against certain malicious spirits as well but that's really hit and miss there. People like to get them blessed just so they've got a bit more of a range of effectiveness."

He pointed to a set of daggers in the corner of the display. "To be honest, those might be more of in the range of what you're looking for. They're silver plated, not made out of pure silver themselves, but the effect is very much the same with the plus of not being as expensive."

Joshua Langford

He forced himself to bite back a retort. Oh, cool? It was so noncommital and casual that for a moment, Joshua wondered if he were speaking to the same person as before. His opinion on the girl was flopping back and forth horribly and he couldn't tell whether it was because of her or just because he was screwing something up. At the very least, she was asking about the price before she got her fingerprints all over something.

"It depends on how decorative the dagger is," Joshua said. Age was only a factor when somebody was going for something that wasn't merely silver plated. Pure silver. That was when it really mattered. "Cheapest I have over here is for three hundred."