It's a mostly quiet night in the shop, with only a few scattered patrons here and there. Petra's just stepping away from a lovey dovey couple picking out crystals and is headed for the counter. There's a set of windchimes over the door, and she greets people when they arrive, but for the most part she's on her own.
Well, this certainly looks like an interesting place! The door swings open with a tinkle of those chimes, and Alexandra pauses for a moment a little inside, looking around and taking a deep breath, obviously taking in the overall smell of the place. Apparently she approves, because she steps further in with a smile, in full-on 'poking about' mode.
When those chimes go a-tinkling, Petra looks up from the counter and greets Alexandra politely, "Welcome to the shop. If you need anything, just let me know." Her greeting tasks completed, she starts idly fiddling with the cash register, not really doing anything of import. Slow night.
The newcomer lifts a hand to acknowledge Petra's greeting, giving her a smile as well. Someone's in a good mood, it seems, but also seems to just be looking about for the moment. After an initial circuit, though, Alexandra heads straight for the herb-rack, peering at labels. "Winter's coming in, thought I'd stock back up in case colds start happening," she remarks offhandedly to Petra, followed by a 'thinking out loud' murmur of "chamomile, rosehips..."
There's no interruptions from Petra while Alexandra completes her shopping, though she looks up again as she's spoken to. With a bright smile, she says, "Yeah, those're good for that. Sounds like you know your herbs, alright. We've got a good selection, there." She pauses, then asks to the store in general, "Anyone interested in some tea? I'm about to make a pot. Free, o'course. Easy way to sample our selection."
Alexandra perks up at the offer of tea, "Sure, I could go for a cup." She leaves the herb-rack for a bit to peer over the counter curiously, "What're you brewing?"
"I hadn't decided yet," Petra admits. "Was thinking some sort of earthy blend, but I could go for pretty much whatever. Any requests?" A few other patrons also express their interest in a cup, so she walks over to the tea counter, filling up the electric kettle and plugging it in.
Alexandra considers a moment, seeing if anyone else has opinions on the matter probably. "Probably not a black at this hour, be up all night." Then she grins and just leans on the counter, "I'll defer to your judgement and we'll see, I think."
"Now your future is in my hands, moohahaha," Petra says, waggling her fingers, before turning back to the tea counter. "Yeah, I'll see what I can dream up. I'm sort of in the mood for a cranberry blend, I think." She starts fetching tea leaves and other bits, putting them into a tea strainer and lowering them into the kettle. "So are you new around town, or have I just not met you yet?"
"Both, actually. I just landed a week or so ago," Alexandra chuckles, then looks like an idea struck her and straightens to rummage in a pocket. "Actually, just took over an antique dealership out by the north end of campus," and she comes up with a business card which she waves in illustration.
"Heeey, antique shop? That sounds pretty sweet. Could I get that card from you? In fact, if you give me some extras, I'll be happy to throw business your way. And welcome to Quirky Albuquerque!" Petra brightens considerably, reaching into her pocket to retrieve a business card. "Speaking of business cards, lemme get you one for the best cabbie in town. I always try to shoot business his way cuz he never overcharges. Name's Jai." She passes over a business card with the name Jai Malekar and a number for dispatch.
Alexandra laughs at the response she gets, happily exchanging cards, "I've only got a couple on me, but I can drop by later with a stack if that's alright." She then looks a little rueful, though still grinning, "I just hope we don't get a business conflict going. I do the home-remedy thing, too. Used to sell things like cold remedies and such back home in Massachusetts."
"I doubt we'll have a business conflict. The owners are pretty reasonable people." Petra pauses, then turns back to the tea, which has by now gotten hot enough, and begins pouring cups for others and herself. "What do ya'll take in it?" she asks all and sundry, and begins adding fixings like honey and sugar to people's teas as they request.
"Just some honey for mine, thanks." When she's handed her cup, Alexandra just holds it at first, breathing in the steam for a moment before cradling the cup in her hands, "If nothing else, I'll probably be getting my supplies from here anyway. And I'll send folks your way too." She turns to eye the racks of new-age stuff and leather, "You probably make a killing with the college crowd."
"Yeah, there's no reason for us to have an acrimonious business relationship. Seems like we each have our own markets, and we can work well together. You send people to us, we send people to you, that whole thing. It could be a benefit. 'Course, you probably want to chat up the owners, Zack and Katie. I'm sure they'll be happy to arrange things with you, maybe let you buy in bulk or something, I dunno." Petra shrugs, admitting, "I just work here, not really somebody who makes the big decisions." The final comment makes her smile and say vaguely, "We do pretty well, yeah."
Alexandra nods at the idea of talking to the owners, blowing on her tea a moment before sipping, giving herself some time to think. "I own the shop," and she grins, "it's been around for a while though, you might've heard of it. The Old Friends Antique Dealership, out on Lomas."
"I haven't heard of it, but that don't mean much. I've not been in the area all that long m'self. I'll betcha that Jai fella's heard of it, but I haven't." Petra shrugs, and now that all the tea cups have been handed out, that just leaves hers, which she does not doctor, and blows over to cool it. "So what brought you to the area?"
Alexandra shrugs, looking down into her tea as she answers, "A few things, really. Friend of a friend was the owner of the shop before she passed on, and I wasn't doing anything useful back home. Figured I'd give it a try, if nothing else. How about you?"
"Mm," Petra says, nodding and looking over at the other woman. "Seems as good a reason as any. I came here for UNM. Wanted a place that's, y'know, far away from home, but not so far's to be obvious, if ya catch my drift." She smiles faintly. "It's been good for me. Life is a little crazy here, but mostly in good ways."
Alexandra smiles a bit at that reason, though the expression's almost sad for a moment, "Getting away from the folks, hm?" Taking a moment for another drink of tea, she lets her eyes wander the store before coming back to Petra, "A little craziness keeps things interesting."
"Yep, pretty much," Petra confirms with a smirk. "Seems to have done the trick, y'know? What about you-- you still in touch with your folks?" She takes a careful sip of her tea, then nods to that final statement. "Yeah, I prefer things crazy to boring, most def. I mean, if ya gotta pick, yeah?"
Alexandra can't help it, she looks away when her family's mentioned, though she keeps her reaction to that, and a slight pause before she speaks again, "No, sadly." She seems about to leave it at that, then sighs and sets her teacup on the counter, "There was an... accident, about a year ago. Lost my parents and grandfather."
Petra purses her lips, frowning, and murmurs, "I'm sorry to hear that. And I'm sorry I brought it up. Sometimes my mouth and my curiousity get in the way of my brains and my common human decency." She smiles, if faintly, and then extends a hand. "Seems like if I'm going to go putting my foot in my mouth, you should at least know whose name to curse. I'm Petra. Nicetameetcha."
Alexandra offers a smile that isn't quite a grimace, but takes that offered hand easily enough, "Don't worry about it, you couldn't have known. I'm Alexandra." She sighs, "And there's just some things you never expect to hear, y'know? How often do you have to worry about someone's parents being abruptly dead, I mean?" Gallows humor, perhaps, but the attempt is there to lighten the mood.
"Eh, you know. It happens more often than you think, especially if people come from areas that're not so safe. Not that I know where you're from, but still." Petra shakes Alexandra's hand firmly, then gives it a friendly squeeze before letting go.
Alexandra nods, letting her hand settle to the countertop next to her teacup, "I suppose so. We'd never really had to worry about that kind of thing. Just goes to show, I guess." Then she shakes her head a little as though trying to physically throw off the bout of melancholy, "Grandpa wouldn't want me moping over it, though. I try to hold to that."
"Yeah, it's-- things happen, sometimes. And even if you know they're gonna happen sometime, you're never quite prepared. But less so if you didn't even see it comin'." Petra smiles just slightly then, taking a sip of her tea. "And yeah, I'm sure he wouldn't wantcha sad. That don't mean you're not allowed to be sad sometimes, though."
Alexandra nods again, "I try not to let it drag me down, but some things shouldn't be forgotten." She's leaning against the counter chatting with Petra, a mostly-empty teacup sitting nearby, while the other woman still has hers in-hand. "Part of why I came here. Get some perspective, I guess."
The shop is pretty quiet tonight; mostly just Alexandra, Petra, and a few other patrons, some of whom have tea. Petra has barely touched her tea, apparently far more interested in the conversation. There are chimes over the door, and she does look up and greet people as they arrive. "Gone but not forgotten, as the saying goes, yeah. And perspective's good. You ever try, like, meditation?"
The huge man steps through the door as he's touching his palm and speaking into the earbud mic/speaker tucked into his left ear, the coiled piece running down behind his neck and ostensibly to the radio at his hip under his massive red jersey. "Dispatch, Victor Delta Two." a pause, "Dispatch, register Victor Delta Two ten-sixty two." he says as he comes through the door, offering a smile as he pushes the door open more and steps into the place. He does the normal cop/ex military scan of the place, registering all exits and doorways and personnel before he begins to make his way towards the counter. For such a huge guy, he doesn't stomp or walk loudly.
Alexandra nods to Petra, "Some, yeah. Oh, not like the new-age stuff, but close enough, I suppose." She glances over absently as the door chimes sound, then doubletakes at the guy coming in, blinking a bit. She doesn't actually say anything, but you can practically hear the 'whoa, what.' Sorry Petra, she's distracted now.
Well, to be fair, he *is* pretty distracting. Petra apparently will just have to make do. She replies to Alexandra, "Yeah, I haven't done much of it myself, but I hear it rocks or something," before turning toward Gustavo. "Welcome to the shop. If you need anything, please let me know. And I just made some tea not that long ago, should still be hot if you're interested. We provide it to guests of the shop, free of charge."
"Thank you ma'am," Gustavo says politely to Petra, and a nod to Alexandra, "Ma'am," he adds. "I was told by a work buddy to come by here." He seems a bit out of his element. He points to his left bicep, thick specimen it is. "Yesterday a dealer hit me with a malt liqour bottle, and it broke and he cut me with it. I need it to heal fast, so I can make my accelerated free call instructor certification course in a few weeks." he offers. "Could you .. can you .. do you have anything for that?"
Alexandra blinks another few times, then shakes out of it and returns the officer's nod with one of her own and a somewhat bemused smile. "Well," and she grins to Petra, "this is new. You go ahead, I'll go and actually figure out what I need from your rack over there instead of chattering on." So saying, she stands away from the counter and moves back to the herb-rack on the wall that originally drew her attention before tea was offered.
"Ooh. Yeah, that looks a bit painful. We've got a lot of herbs for that sort of thing, but I think you're probably going to want a specific mix, heavily featuring in prunella vulgaris and veronica offinalis." Petra seems to know what the heck she's talking about, and hopefully those herbs which I just totally looked up are the right ones, because *I* do not! "Speedwell and heal-all. It's right in the names, y'know?" She wanders over to the herb rack after Alexandra, plucking up several herbs.
"Alright. That sounds good. I know this may seem dumb but .. I won't pee dirty - no offense ma'am - from any of this stuff, right?" he asks. "I have to be careful with my supplements, I don't need IAD all in my business," he adds. He leans against the counter, peering at the counter. "Does it taste bad?" is his next question. "Or is it too much to hope there's an orange flavor?" he asks with a grin.
Alexandra, for her part, seems to only be paying attention to the goings-on with half an ear at best, though she smirks a little at Gustavo's questions, looking amused. Instead, she tugs a smartphone out of her pocket and appears to be taking notes on what jars and suchlike are available. And yes, she has to stick her tongue out a bit to type properly on the thing, stupid tiny screen-keyboard.
"Nah, that's not a stupid question. It's good to know that kind of stuff going in," Petra says with a smile for Gustavo. "No, you won't pee dirty, and it probably tastes *terrible.* Thankfully, you don't have to eat it-- it's applied directly to the wound, in a paste I'll mix up for you." Once she's finished gathering up a nice broad range of herbs, she makes her way over to the counter, getting out a mortar and pestle. She starts grinding up the herbs, asking the officer, "So didja get your perp?"
"I did. Skinny dude, five five, maybe a buck thirty if he's a pound. Normally he's a quite little Rasta guy, but I think he was sniffing some of his angel dust and mixing it with crank - methamphetamine. So he was wired six ways to Sunday. Tried to run, as I hit him he hit me with the damn bottle, then he dropped it when he hit the ground and he cut me with the bottle. He'll be asking to see me when he sobers up, apologetic." the huge cop says with a grin. "But yeah, got him. Backpack fulla drugs, selling to the tourists and college kids at the park. Has a habit of mixing laxative with his X and his coke products. Fancies himself a white Rasta rebel. Thank you. I appreciate this. I miss this jump test, next one isn't for two months."
Alexandra glances over at some of what she's overhearing, then shakes her head with a somewhat wondering expression before clicking off her phone and tucking it back into her pocket, "Thanks for the intro, Petra. I'll be back around later to talk supplies with you guys, hopefully when the owner's around." She grins and nods to Gustavo as she's turning towards the door, "Stay safe out there, officer, and good luck on that test."
"Laxatives with X? Oy vey, that sounds like a world of trouble. I'm guessing he's going to be in jail pretty much forever, then? I mean, backpack fulla drugs, assaulting an officer and the like. Seems like the kinda thing where they lock you up and throw away the key." Petra adds a bit of liquid to the herbs so they'll mix into a fine paste, carefully grinding the ingredients. She nods her head to Alexandra, smiling as the woman begins to take her leave. "No problem-- stop by anytime. The owners are around pretty often, and you can pick up a business card up by the counter with our hours, the website, the whole shebang. Pretty sure the website has their email address."
"Oh yeah. He had a pound of weed on him, some kush from BC, and 'bout forty X pills, a half pound of crank and twenty grams of coke. That's one class two felony with intent to distribute and three class three felonies. Aggravated assault is a class four felony, felony resisting arrest is another year or so." the cop agrees. He reaches for his sleeve and pulls up the jersey, revealing the shirt under it and pulling that up, gently peeling away the bandage. The wound looks nasty but doesn't need stitches and looks clean. "The place is pretty nice. I was worried it was gonna be, you know. Weird." he admits.
"...kush from BC? Really?" Petra says, as though she has any idea what in the world that is. Depending on his perceptive skills, maybe he can even tell that she has no clue, despite the fact that she's a fairly skilled liar. "Wow, that's... heavy. So how much jailtime's all that likely gonna net him? I'm surprised felony resisting arrest's only a year, to be honest. You always hear about people getting locked away for like, ever." She mmmms thoughtfully at the wound as she sees it, nodding. "Yeah, that does *not* look pleasant. It hurt?" The comment about weirdness gets an amused laugh from Petra. "Well, some weird is a good thing, but yeah, we try not to be too outre."