The skies were bright blue with not a cloud to be seen for miles. The sun was bright and the grass was green. Heat radiated down upon the grounds of the Rothmore estate. Reuben was up early, as usual, to get things prepped and ready to go for the opening of his shop. He had printed out many fliers to give the patrons of his shop letting everyone know that he was opening an apprenticeship. He also called the local paper and placed an ad as well as put an ad up on his shop’s website. He hoped the more avenues he utilized to get some interest flowing, more people would step forward and want to apply.
As the day progressed, a few patrons had taken fliers and others didn’t, he hadn’t received any calls or emails about the position as of midday. He had expected a bit more enthusiasm in regards to the job posting, but to no avail. The day turned into night and day one had been a complete flop in finding anyone or getting any feedback. He curled up in bed and fell asleep. Over the next week, Reuben awoke to find a few emails inquiring about the apprenticeship. A smile grew upon his face as he went through the inquiries. A couple of promising emails, a couple of people he knew weren’t going to work the moment he laid eyes upon their resume. It was a guessing game at this point, but he’d decided to conduct a few interviews and see who was promising and who wasn’t. When the tarotist went out into the shop one morning, he had a few letters on the floor at the front of the shop as he had a mail slot in his door for any notices coming after hours. He picked up the letters and brought them back into his office. He set them on the desk and began to open one by one. The first letter had stains on the paper and scribbled handwriting very unprofessionally written and barely legible. Reuben sighed and placed it in the trash bin right away. The second letter was written well and typed on white paper, but the passion behind the craft wasn’t there, that much was for certain just by reading. Reuben could tell that they wrote it as though they just wished to have a job, not be involved in all of the process that was required. He placed the letter to the side and shook his head. Then the third and final letter crossed his path. He used a letter opener to tear back the dark brown recycled envelope and lifted the handwritten letter up to eye level. As he read the letter, he could sense this person’s passion and drive. Even by the choice of parchment for both the letter itself and the envelope was environmentally friendly. The words this person used were also very wise. He could sense the old soul through this. As he got to the end of the letter, it was signed simply, Giselle. Reuben loved the way her name sounded, it rolled off the tongue so nicely. She also wrote with such eloquence, he had to at least request they meet. It was the first letter that stood out to him for all the right reasons. There was an email as well as phone number written at the bottom in case he needed to contact her. He took to his email right away at his desk and began to write to her, requesting they meet whenever convenient. He hit send and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms. He was completely stunned with this written request for an interview that he felt as though he’d give her the job right away. But of course, he couldn’t do such a thing. The day went on, more and more customers came in and took more and more fliers. The second day had been a grand success. He even found a potential apprentice! As he closed the shop doors and locked them, he went back to his office for the end of day paperwork and recording. He took a look at his email and realized he had received a response back. This woman definitely had a way with words, as she wrote back extremely thankful for the opportunity and stated that she would be available the next day around three in the afternoon. With the confirmation email sent, Reuben smiled as he put his computer in sleep mode and stood up, making his way to the bedroom for a nice night sleep. Tomorrow would surely be a great day. The morning sun crept into the room earlier than normal, but the tarotist was already awake and readying himself for the day. Nerves overcame him, it would seem, for he was fidgeting the entire morning awaiting the fateful encounter with his potential apprentice. He stood out under the gazebo, taking in the morning dew and seeing how beautiful the summer morning was. He sipped his tea as he thought about what kind of woman this could be. How would she act? What would she look like? She seemed to speak of a lot of experience with the tarot and told her story of self-discovery and how she wished to learn about the different types of herbs and what could be used medicinally. Everything pointed in the right direction and Reuben was fascinated. As he made his way back to his shop, he sat his tea cup near the register and went around, watering the fresh herbs and making sure everything was clean and ready to start before opening. He went to the front doors and unlocked them, walking over to the window and flipping the sign to OPEN before walking back and overlooking the shop, making sure everything looked ready. Then, the door opened. His heart skipped a beat, was this her? Did she decide to come early? An elderly woman walked in right away and began to stroll down the isles. It didn’t take long for Reuben to realize that this woman was a simple patron, not the woman he was looking for. Once she left, an hour passed with no sign of any customers whatsoever. It was unusual on a given day not to have any patrons enter the shop whatsoever. This only perpetuated the anxiety Reuben was feeling about his upcoming meeting. He began to pace back and forth across the shop, looking over every crystal, bottle, herb and potion. Fiddling with most anything he could find. He looked at his Apple Watch and then at the door. It was 2:57. Finally, the door creaked open. There stood a beautiful young woman, tall in part due to her 5” heels, slender with caramel skin and radiant light honey eyes. She shared a bright pearly white smile with a small gap in her front teeth as she entered the room. She had a few dark freckles across her nose and cheeks. Her long wavy dark to light brown ombre hair flowed down her back and was topped a floppy golden straw sunhat and a beautiful cream colored boho sundress with cut off shoulders. She adorned a long pendant necklace that held a rather chunky rose quartz stone that draped down to the middle of her person and a couple of beautiful handcrafted rings, one on each hand, which contained clear quartz crystal and a jade crystal. She was quite modelesque and held herself with poise. “Hello sir,” she said spritely as she waltzed into the room, holding her hand out for a shake. “My name is Giselle.”
Reuben’s eyes widened, this was her? She spoke with such experience in her letter, he hadn’t expected her to be so young. “H-hi!” his voice cracked. He cleared his throat before speaking again. “I’m Reuben,” he said firmly shaking the girl’s hand. “I’m glad you made it, it’s wonderful to meet you,” he concluded with a smile. “Me too,” she said with that same smile never leaving her face. “I didn’t know if you’d recognize me or not, but I am a huge fan of this shop,” she stated with a small laugh. “Oh~” Reuben replied with a chuckle. “Is that so?” “Quite,” She said walking past a small aisle of herbs and towards the bulk stones Reuben had imported. “This metaphysical store has been a huge influence on my jewelry,” she said with a smile, holding out both hands to show off the beautiful stones that were embellished in her rings and necklace. “Though I guess I should be honest.” Honest? What had she already kept secret? Reuben almost held his breath, thinking this girl too good to be true. “My name isn’t really Giselle,” she giggled. “I just go by Giselle. My name is actually Gabriela Flores-Garcia,” she concluded. “Name ring a bell?” Reuben burst out laughing. He had never met her, but it was true; her name definitely stood out. “You order from my website,” he laughed. “A lot.” “Yep! That’s me,” she stated with a chuckle as she tapped her nose with her pointer finger, winking at him. “I live kind of far away, so it’s just easier for me to do all my shopping online. Now you know what all those stones go towards,” she laughed. “I saw your ad for an apprentice on your website and decided to apply, which I’m very glad you found. I’m sorry I dropped the letter off so late.” Reuben laughed. “I’m glad I finally get to put a face to the name. Don’t worry about the time, that’s why I had that mail slot installed. I’m just glad you were able to drop it off,” he said with a warm smile. “Well good,” She said with a smile, walking over to some of the fresh herbs and flowers Reuben had for sale. She picked up a couple fresh herbs and smelled them. “I am very excited for the opportunity of being able to work in such a calming environment. I hope that’s alright to say, I just really appreciate the aura this shop gives and would love to be apart of it.” Reuben smiled. “I believe we can make something work,” he said walking towards her and lifting a bundle of herbs and fluffing them before putting them back into the container. “Can you start first thing Monday morning?” Giselle closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Thank you,” she said, turning her attention back to her new mentor. “Yes, of course, thank you so much.” Reuben didn’t even realize how badly she needed this position. The two continued to talk and get to know each other little by little. Reuben was impressed by her experiences at such a young age and was already growing fonder of her. He saw her like a little sister, one that had the potential for greatness if she continued to apply herself the way she had thus far in her life. Summer turned into autumn and autumn to winter. The months were flying by and the Rothmore household had just celebrated their annual winter solstice traditions. Nothing had been out of the norm in the past half a year. At least not on the surface.
Reuben had officially hired Giselle as an apprentice in his shop, showing her the ropes of alchemy as well as the business side of it. She was given a kiosk to sell her jewelry made with precious stones that the Mystic Herb had to offer. She was also given a small workbench in the back room so she could work continuously whenever she liked there at the shop in her own designated spot. One thing about Giselle, however, was that she is very private. Reuben would try and pry here or there to find out something about her, yet she was very tight lipped. She either didn’t like to speak about herself, or she really just hadn’t had much to say. She was always well dressed and full of her own handmade jewelry, so her home life couldn’t have been that bad, right? Reuben had discussed these things with Evan, yet the everwise Evan had always said to stop being so nosy and mind his own business. “Let her know you’ll be an ear if she ever needs to talk,” he would always say. Reuben finally stopped pressing the subject and all seemed to be fine. Giselle had been an eager worker, always very willing to help out in any and all ways she could. Reuben was frankly quite thankful for the help, too, even if he was always itching to ask questions to find out about the apprentice he knew next to nothing about. Meanwhile, over the past months, Ryder had been practicing his magic and having a grand time with Alice, who was much more present now more than ever. Not only was Alice always around, so was Bastian, a newer creation of Ryder’s that he vowed helped him during his time in the dreamscape. This Bastian character was either a large monstrous creature when outside, or a small fawn-esque creature the size of a cat who sat upon Ryder’s shoulder or head or walked along behind him throughout the house. It was all dependent upon his mood. Bastian would come and go as he pleased, popping in and out of reality whenever he felt like it. It was a surprising turn of events, but the Rothmore home was more than used to these random visitors due to Alice. Alice, no longer being fully human, was so relieved. The fact that she could fade in and out of existence whenever she wished was so much better. Also, not needing to run to the bathroom or feed on any actual food for sustenance was the largest relief. She loved her life so much more and her own abilities would grow as Ryder became stronger. Having all of these different personalities in one home was a challenge, but they all seemed to mesh so well when push came to shove. The inquisitive nature of Alice did tend to bother Reuben occasionally, but overall the entire family had been getting along very well. It was the quiet, quaint life that Reuben had always envisioned for himself. A home full of happy spirits living their lives and enjoying what they could. Throughout her time at the Mystic Herb, Giselle still hadn’t had the chance to meet this fabled character of Ryder. She was either busy or away whenever Ryder did decide to visit the shop. Now that Giselle was helping to run things, Reuben hardly asked for his help, which in his mind was great and gave him more time to focus on the things he wanted to do. But Giselle was aware of Ryder and Lab 305 simply from Reuben’s descriptions of the raevan and their abilities. They seemed like they were fascinating creatures, but it wasn’t in Giselle’s personality to pry and ask too many questions; after all, she didn’t really like putting her own information forth, another reason why she never liked to go by her real name. Instead, it was just Giselle. It was easier, prettier, and just overall much more her than her real name. She preferred it and Reuben had been very kind to let her go by whatever she wished. She wanted to open up more about her home life, about her past, and Reuben had stated if she ever needed someone to talk to, the doors were open. That was something she always appreciated. Though she just wasn’t ready, it wasn’t a good time. She decided she would rather live silently and come to work to escape it all. This was her sanctuary. This was where she loved to be. She could be creative here, her inspiration abound. Everything was more simple and things went smoothly here whereas everywhere else there seemed to be chaos. |