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Size Experiments extended preview
🕑 Added 2022-10-01 03:34:36 +0000 UTCSize Experiments.
Vess tapped her finger on the table and sighed. “Ugh. How am I supposed to get anyone to come in here and buy anything when my products are so outlandish.” She rubbed her forehead. “Maybe stealing all of these size-changing potions and candies was a bad idea.” She looked around. “I have more than I know what to do with. Huhh. And even if I started to sell some of this junk, then what? I only have limited supplies. I will just run out in a month or so, and it’s not like I can find my way to that crazy place again.”
She rubbed her finger along the counter. “I am in the same place as I was before.
Struggling to get by. Maybe I should just go back to selling my more exotic positions at night.” Vess shook her head. “But what is that going to do for me? The people I give those potions out never return to the store.” She looked at her stock of pink swirling liquid in the back. “While it is funny to give that to an unexpecting lady every now and then, I can’t make a living off of that. Although they do sometimes try and give me their lives savings.” She laughed.
“Nah, I need to invest in something that won’t alter the minds of my patrons. So, the midnight beauty juice will have to wait.” Vess pushed herself up from the counter. “But what could I do? Sell a new product? I just went through the trouble of getting myself new size-altering products as it is.” She sighed. “No. That isn’t it. No, I need marking. Yes, marking.”
She rubbed at her chin. “But I can’t really let out that I have size-changing products, now, can I? That would ruin me. Ugh.”
Vess pulled at her hair. “Ugh, this is infuriating. I need to get my store out there, and I need to find a way to make new wonderland products. What am I going to do?”
“Umm, everything alright?” Vess gulped as she noticed a young woman with blonde hair walk into the store. “I saw that you were open, and I thought. . .”
Vess wiped the sweat from her face and walked around the counter. “Oh, hello and welcome. I forgot to turn that sign out front off. But my store closed a bit ago.”
The lady sighed. “Oh. I am sorry.” She turned around and put her pale hands into her pockets. “I didn’t mean to bother you.”
Vess shook her head. “Oh no, it’s not a bother.” She rushed around in front of the young lady. “You can look around if you wish. Please feel free to buy anything you want.”
“Oh no. I am not all that interested. I was more umm. . .” She pulled at her arm. “I was wondering by the way you were talking. Do you maybe.” She blinked her blue eyes. “Do you. . .”
Vess clenched her hands into fists. “Can you spit it out already? I am not getting any younger here.”
The young lady took a few steps back and gasped. “I am sorry. I was just wondering if you had a job open here.” She turned around and pulled at her curls. “It just sounded from. . . from. . . well, you know.”
Vess smiled and leaned against the nearby rack of bottles. “Well, I am honored that you want to help me. I don’t really get people wanting to work for me.” She turned around. “I don’t know if I need. . .”
The young lady fell onto her hands and knees. “I can be a hard worker. I can do whatever you wish. Just give me a chance.” She took a deep breath. “I mean, I don’t want to beg. Ugh, I am so sorry.”
Vess laughed. “It’s quite alright.” She looked at the young lady. “Umm. . .”
She shook her hands.
“Ohh.” The young lady jumped to her feet. “My name is Katty.”
“Well, Katty, I think I might have some work that would be suited for you.”
Katty’s eyes lit up. “Oh really? You really mean it.” She grabbed Vess’s hands. “Thank you, oh thank you. You have made my day. It is so hard to find a job lately, and I just. . . oh my god.”
“Yes, yes. Look, your first order of business, Katty, is to stop blubbering all over me.
You got that?” Vess sighed as Katty pushed herself off of Vess and smiled. “Ok, that is better. Look, you can start as early as tonight if you are willing to put in some late hours.”
“Will I get paid?”
“Big time.” Vess giggled. “Bigger than you can imagine.” Testing my products will take you to new heights, my dear.
“Well, as long as I get paid, I don’t mind how long I work tonight.” She spun around. “Just wait until Karry hears I landed a job. He won’t believe it.” Katty ran her hand along one of the racks filled with glittering potions. “Maybe I should call him right now.”
Vess shook her head. “You can call him after your shift. Who is this Karry fellow anyways?”
Katty smiled. “Why, my fiancé, of course. Why do you think I am striving so hard to get a job.” Her eyes sparkled as she looked at the ceiling. “We have to support each other if we are going to live together.”
Vess shook her head. Your fiancé is going to be worried about more than just your finances when I am done with you. “Well, I promise you can call him after your shift. Trust me, when you see how much you earn, it will be worth it.”
Katty sighed. “Well, I guess. Then I will be able to surprise him that I have a new job.” She giggled. “He was so sad to hear that I was fired a few days ago, so this will help to lift his spirits.” She spun around. “So, let’s get started.”
Vess smiled. “Glad to see that you are so eager, my dear.” She turned around. “Follow me.”
Katty looked around as she followed Vess into the back room. “So what?
You want me to stock the shelves? I can do that easy as can. . . easy peasy. You know quick as a bee.”
Vess sighed. “Yes, yes. It seems the shelves could use some stocking.” She rubbed her forehead as she looked around at the mess of the storeroom. “But that isn’t what we are going to do tonight.”
“Are you sure?” Katty scratched at her brow. “This place looks like my brothers’ room when we were growing up. A pig sty. I could just spend a little bit of time tidying up.
It wouldn’t take that long.”
Vess slammed her hand against the wall. “You are not doing inventory tonight. Ugh, will you stop with the mumbling?”
“I’m sorry.” Katty gulped. “I try not to mumble so much it just comes out.”
Vess sighed. “I didn’t mean to snap. It has just been a bit of a rough few weeks financially.” She slid her way through the room and picked up an empty vial.
“Look, I need to figure out how to make some new supplies, and you are going to help me.”
“How so?”
Vess set the empty vial on the table and picked up a bottle with the Wonderland mixture that caused people to grow. “Well by. . . Well, by just being around and staying handy. It will be effortless.” She sighed and lowered her voice. “Ok, let’s see. I am sure I can duplicate this. Hugh.”
“Oh, you want to make more of this?” Katty took the bottle out of her hands. “Why did you say so?”
“Hey!”
“Such a unique-looking mixture. But I can whip more of this up in a few minutes.” Katty smiled. “I will be right back.” She slid out of the room.
Vess rubbed her forehead. “Remind me why I hired her again.” She slid down onto a box of wonderland cookies. “Ah yes, I was going to test my mixtures on her. Ugh. This nonsense is giving me a headache.” She looked around at the boxes strewn about the room. “Katty is right. This place is a mess. After I am done testing my size-altering potions on her, I should have her try and tidy this room up for me. If she doesn’t try and leave because I altered with the very fabric of her being.” Vess laughed.
A few minutes later, Katty walked back in with a glowing potion in hand. “It took some work, but I was able to duplicate this thing.” She wiped the soot from her face. “And I don’t want to talk about how I did it either. I don’t know what this thing is, but it isn’t like anything I am used to.” She sighed.
Vess took the potion and held it up in front of her face. “How did you do that?”
Katty laughed. “I have a bit of an umm. . . a well. . . a talent for mixing stuff. A special eye. You know how it goes.”
Vess raised her eyebrows. “Even for stuff like this?”
“Well, duh. You don’t get a specialty in mixology for nothing. But in my honest opinion, there is something strange about that brew. It is on the tip of my tongue. . .”
Vess laughed. “Oh, don’t worry. It just looks weird.” Vess set the bottle on one of the boxes. “But there is one other thing you can do for me.”
“Oh?” Katty smiled and clasped her hands together. “I am all ears.”
“That potion you whipped together. Can you taste it for me? It should have a specific taste, and I want you to make sure you mixed it right.” Vess sighed. “You know, do your job thoroughly and all.”
Katty looked at the bottle and the swirling blue liquid within. “I will be paid for this, right?”
Vess nodded her head. “Royally so.”
Katty picked up the bottle and pulled the cork off. “Then, for the sake of my new job, I will taste test your new duplicated product.” She smiled and gulped down the glowing liquid. “Mhhm. That has a nice tang to it.” Katty shook her body. “It is supposed to have a tangy taste, right?”
Vess nodded her head. “I think so. Yes.”
Katty shivered. “Hey, I umm. . .” She scratched at her arm. “I don’t mean to sound rude and all, but I think I am going to dash out. I feel a bit sick to my stomach and all.” She gripped her chest. “You don’t mind? I mean, I just started to work for you and all.” She sighed. “I am going to be fired, aren’t I?”
Vess laughed. “Hey, calm down.” Vess pointed at a room in the back. “You can go in there until your stomach settles. It is fine.”
Katty smiled. “Oh really? Thank you so much?” She took Vess’s hand and shook it vigorously. Vess winced as she could already feel a bit of increased strength from the young lady. “I promise I will come right out when I feel better. Come out and earn my pay.”
Vess nodded her head. “Just head in there and enjoy yourself.” She took a deep breath as the young woman released her hand. “I have other things to attend to in the shop.”
