Andrea wouldn’t know anything about what was there last week, or even last month. It does seem out of place though as they walk to the train station from the hospital. But weird bookstores are usually cool… and more importantly, it might be somewhere to calm down a little from her rising anxiety at being outside.

So they pop inside, instantly relieved at there not being open sky above her anymore.

The shop is dusty and the assortment of goods looks even stranger from the inside. Who would possibly be in the market both for an armillary sphere and for artificial rosewater?

The lighting is pretty bad, the cashier's face looks kind of greenish.

A bell jingles as Andrea enters, and the cashier looks up.

"Hello, it's very nice to meet you."

“Uhhh hi.” Ahhhh people talking to her. She just wanted to browse! Maybe if she doesn’t look at them, they won’t try to make conversation. 

Nope, she's totally going to. (Does she have tusks? Maybe she's using some of the "quality costume teeth" on the north wall.)

"Feel free to purchase something if you wish, but I am here primarily to offer people such as yourself magic."

Oh god, she walked into a weird woo woo shop didn’t she. If shes gonna be sold magical crystals to shove up herself she will only be partly flattered because of being correctly gendered, and insulted because of what a scam on womanhood that is.

Though… quality costume teeth… maybe it’s someone a bit too hard into Larping? Thats… less cringe at least. “Magic huh? Only if there’s no expensive courses involved.” Caveat for just in case it was woo new age bullshit and not larp sillyness.

"There are free classes and classes which most students pay for with income-sharing agreements, but I can awaken your potential today for free." She pauses. "Would you like a demonstration, first?"

Skeptical squint. That sounds a little more woo than role-play if there classes at all. But free seems less scammy… “Sure?”

Actually, third option exists. If this is a way to sell close up magic courses she will be actually impressed. Magic trick nerds need all the help they can get trying to make money off of it.

She flips the door sign to 'closed' and steps behind a shelf, in view of Andrea but not the windows.

A solid third of the crystals display starts floating towards her, then enters orbits around her.

“The fuuuuuuuck” Andrea swipes her hand to check for wires or air gusts, but this looks pretty convincingly magic! She just went to the hospital to have her kidneys checked, maybe something was more serious than the doctors thought? What could be dumping into her brain for such a realistic hallucination though? She even bites her lip to check for dreaming, yep, pain happened, is awake.

"Convinced enough?"

“What the actual fuck? What? Whaaaaaaat? I… what? That was real? Am I crazy?” How do you even react when magic? When your entire worldview is thrown out screaming from a window?

…she's going to set up some folding chairs and gesture meaningfully towards them.

"It was real, you're probably not crazy, take a seat."

Andrea’s a little… unsteady. In all ways. So she gratefully takes a seat. “Are those real?” She gestures to the fangy tusks. Was this a real orc? If magic was real why not orcs? Why not god? Why not the krampus for fucks sakes.

Well, a chair is a better place to be unsteady than on one's feet.

"Yes."

And she'll put the crystals back. This is a bit awkward, because several of the crystals are pendants that need to be maneuvered onto hooks, but she manages.

"We can get started when you're ready."

“With… getting magic?” Seems too unreal to really sink in for her. Her real thought is at least she’s not a muggle about to get her mind wiped by the aurors/men in black.

"Yes. You'll take my hands, and look into my eyes, and I'll pull us into a mindscape for you to use your potential. I don't actually know what choices you personally will get in advance, but I can answer general questions first, if you'd like. You could also … have a cup of calming tea, or borrow a rune of courage, or read one of the books, if any of that would help."

“If I’m not crazy… I won’t get over this for a while… where would I even start with questions? At least magic and like… modern fantasy orcs are real now, what else is real? Bigfoot? Greys? Is god real?” Her voice has understandably gone a liiiitle unhinged at these revelations.

"Bigfoot… Bigfoot… I feel like I've heard of him, though if you told me that actually humans these days were pretty sure that he was a master of tennis or such I wouldn't be able to confirm that. I feel like you mean something by 'grey' besides the color but you'll have to explain what. There are a lot of real gods, I work for Atropos, and there's also the Light, who tends to mostly work through celestials."

Okay… gods were real… yep thats totally something she can handle finding out. At least until she has a panic attack over it the second she’s alone. “So not big G god like… Jesus God? Yahweh God? The monotheist abrahamic god who hates gays and sinners and people with foreskin? Greys are little grey aliens who abduct people in flying saucers.”

"A lot of Christians like the Light, but celestials are basically indifferent to body modification and sexual preferences and tend to be pretty in favor of forgiveness. All of the ones I've talked to will refuse to confirm or deny pretty much any question about Jesus, but I haven't really pressed. And one assumes that since the celestials work for the Light or such, the Light is probably on the same page? And your description of greys doesn't sound familiar."

“Huh…..” You know what, Andrea is allowed a little bit of shock, as a treat. Gods and magic are real.

This is why Andrea is in a chair.

If Andrea just wants to sit and process for a bit, Imrijka is going to get out a book.

“So uhh… why me?” She says eventually.

"Good question! You might have a witch relative, you might be an incomplete reincarnation of some witch, or there might have been some other reason."

Confused head-tilt. “I meant why did you pick me. But I guess that answer implies I'm special in some way? You aren’t just giving people magic at random?”