Why bother doing anything more than what's required? It's not like your boss is friendly or paying you to innovate.

Well, your boss is either out doing something magical, or some magical fate worse than death happened. Your main job is just to hold the fort so it doesn't get trashed, I guess.

Eventually she'll come back, or she won't and a desperate enough consulting job will force you to become her successor.

lick an eye ball

...alternatively, is there anyone else you can ask for help besides your absent boss. not even someone who works at the store maybe like a friend or something. might be nice to have company even if they can't help

File a missing persons report with the local police department. If that goes nowhere, consider embezzling.

Make a list of products and services on sale with their price.

Hmm, a magic shop is unusual, and I can see how being left in charge without any training can be stressful, but a 10 on the fuckometer seems a bit exaggerated. I mean, you've held the fort alright so far, and you should continue to do fine as long as no one is desperate enough to have you do consulting work. Take a deep breath, and take a second, more objective look; on a scale of 1 to 10, how fucked are you really?

After you're done calming down (customers like a shop owner who isn't visibly stressed out, after all), some things to consider:
- Have you filed a missing persons report? (I liked >>900380's idea.)
- How common/unusual is magic in this world?
- Are you running low on anything soon?
- Who's paying you?

>>900380
Little too soon to be declaring her missing, considering her line of work. Besides what'll you say? "My boss, I think her last name's Ryan, maybe, hasn't been in a few days and uh, yeah." At least have her full name before you do that.

Check her ledger and see if she took payment for a consultation around when you were hired. See if there's any name associated with it. Look for her rolodex (I bet she totally uses a rolodex in her office) for information too.

Cee 2018/09/30(Sun)01:20 No. 904200 ID: 2e3701
File 153829561041.png - (172.27KB , 1000x600 , IMG_0026.png )

Revamp on the art because I realised I hate green and I'll be more motivated if I use pretty colours. Should be updating more regularly from here!

You take a deep breath. Okay. Yeah. Getting all freaked out before there’s any reason to is stupid. You know boss is the kind of person who likes people wigging out around her—that’s why she hired you in the first place. You're sort of in a freaking out kind of space right now.


There are all kinds of things you'd like to do to calm down or to get organised, which involve leaving the shop. Getting lunch, for example. But, well, you're more or less stuck here for the foreseeable future.

Most people don't have much to do with magic—you didn't. Failed it in high school and everything. You'd only taken it because your best friend was mad on the stuff. Which turned out for the better, really. She's the one who got you this job. And you need this job.

You breathe in deep. Again.

It doesn't help.

Cee 2018/09/30(Sun)01:20 No. 904201 ID: 2e3701
File 153829564338.png - (461.47KB , 1000x600 , IMG_0027.png )

What will help, maybe, perhaps, hopefully—god, you fucking hope so—is another snoop around boss's office.

You cast an eye out the shop's window. No customers. Cool. Love that.

Cee 2018/09/30(Sun)01:21 No. 904202 ID: 2e3701
File 153829569290.png - (336.19KB , 1000x600 , IMG_0025.png )

Boss's office is packed with stuff. Most of it you have no idea what it does, but you figure starting with her desk works.

The ledger doesn't seem to have anything which matches boss's disappearance, but that doesn't rule out magic as the reason she's gone. Cost is important when it comes to magic and she might be a sadist, but she's big on self preservation.

You shake the mouse of the computer.

You could try to guess the password, or you could go through the drawers. Her rolodex seemed to mostly consist of non-business contacts, but you might have missed something there.

You… actually feel a little calmer. Maybe you'll live till the end of the month after all.

Take that magical Screen Cat out of the screen and persuade it to type in the password.

drawers first! they might have Password Clues

What are the chances that you are a homunculus and not actually who you think you are?

Go through the desk first. Unless your boss picked a really obvious password like "password" or her name, you're not going to guess it fast. And you don't want to start guessing until after you've checked for hidden notes in the desk, in case the password only allows so many guesses before locking you out. Or in case it curses you or something for trying to break it. Does magic work with computers? Who knows!

>>904255
Too bad we failed (or think we failed) magic class.

Check for stickynotes under the desk.

Yank the Foot. maybe flip through the Rolodex. try to categorize the foot <i>into</i> the Rolodex.

Cee 2018/11/24(Sat)01:32 No. 911607 ID: 2e3701
File 154305196571.png - (479.32KB , 1000x600 , C52D9AFC-830B-4F55-B8E9-88A096696DF3.png )

> What are the chances that you are a homunculus and not actually who you think you are?

Wh-wh-what?? You're human! Totally human! One hundred percent very human!! Totally human! You don't know about anyone else but your soul is absolutely in your body and your body happens to be this one! And staying that way! Totally! And okay, you wouldn't know how to tell if you weren't, but you're sure about this. Like, really sure.

Cee 2018/11/24(Sat)01:32 No. 911608 ID: 2e3701
File 154305197734.png - (386.33KB , 1000x600 , F2E7F6C8-E649-41D2-931D-92399294C502.png )

> Take that magical Screen Cat out of the screen and persuade it to type in the password.

You cluck and make a here kitty, kitty noise at the cat wallpaper. It blinks, yawns, and then licks itself as if you're not there, ignoring you entirely. Awesome. Somehow you don't think it would tell you the right password anyway. Like, it's a cat.

> Does magic work with computers? Who knows!

Hey, you're bad with magic, but not that bad! You watched the Magic School Bus as a kid and stuff. Electric tech and computer whatevers work fine with magic, as long as you're really, really careful to make sure the magic energy isn't anything which messes with electricity, otherwise a pinball machine takes over the city!

Though… now that you think about it, the pinball thing might have just been the show.

But boss is definitely skilled enough to set traps on her computer. BFF said she's "pretty okay" at magic so—knowing your BFF—boss is basically a magic celebrity.

Cee 2018/11/24(Sat)01:33 No. 911609 ID: 2e3701
File 154305198524.png - (514.88KB , 1000x600 , 704024F2-9E12-4E96-9B6B-B6B5DD63073F.png )

> Yank the Foot. maybe flip through the Rolodex. try to categorize the foot <i>into</i> the Rolodex

You grab the foot— and yelp and drop it as the toes curl in your hand. Fuck! It swings forward and hits you in the head. Double fuck!

You rub your head, and squint at it. It was warm to the touch, so it probably belongs to someone still alive. Don't think you'll be pulling it down any time soon.

Instead you go for the desk drawers. With great care, so you'll notice if you're turning into a toad or coming out in boils or, like, melting, you pull on each of the handles.

The bottom right drawer slides open smoothly. You hear a click halfway through the motion. You freeze, on alert for growing a beak or your teeth falling out, but you seem to be as un-cursed as before you opened the drawer, which you take as a good sign.

Inside the drawer you see:
— Handfuls of snowflake confetti, which is slightly cool to the very tentative touch you give it
— A slide rule
— A half finished crossword
— Two marbles

The bottom left drawer jams an inch out, you jiggle it, but that only seems to make it retreat back into the desk. It sits so that you can see the top lip of the drawer, but nothing inside. You leave it sticking out as you move on, just in case pushing it in means you can't wiggle it out even this much next time.

The upper four drawers all open easily, and you hear clicks as you slide them in and out. After some careful listening, you find that they click a different number of times moving in and moving out.

Cee 2018/11/24(Sat)01:33 No. 911610 ID: 2e3701
File 154305199746.png - (166.22KB , 1000x600 , A99F22A3-B1D7-4C74-BA69-3C7D0F23606B.png )

You find yourself a fucking piece of paper. This shit is why you failed magic in school. It starts all "how far into the magical realm do you need to reach to light a candle?" and you think you understand it, but then you get your exam back and it turns out that was the first part of a seven part question on energy conduits between the planes and you were supposed to reach as far into the magical realm as you need to to light a candle to find the rest of the question.

And somehow you were supposed to know that.

You might be a little bitter about that exam. And all the times you were lit on fire.

Once you retrieve paper and a pencil you make a diagram.

From left to right:
— The first drawer clicks twice when pulling it out, once going in, and contains playing cards
— The second drawer clicks once when pulling it out, three times going in, and contains pick-up-sticks
— The third drawer clicks four times when pulling it out, twice going in, and contains a miniature connect four set
— The fourth drawer clicks three times when pulling it out, four times going in, and contains a soldering iron

Finally, you run your hand under the desk. You feel a lump of something stuck under it, and pull it off.

It's chewing gum. Gross.

So what happened to your hand? Is it hanging in someone's room the way that foot is?

>drawer clicks
Hmmm. First thing to try might be moving drawers in and out until we've got an equal number of ticks in each direction of travel.

What I'm thinking is that this table is a sort of a dial. Clicks out are the same as turning a dial right, and clicks in are the same as turning a dial left.

The problem is, we don't know what the current dial position is, how to reset it, or if it's got any effect at all. We also have no clue if the items in the drawers mean anything at all.

I think we should first keep pulling drawer B out and in. This would move the dial to the right by 1 per cycle. Do this like 10 times. And each time try opening and closing the large bottom-left and bottom-right drawers to see if anything happens to then.
Then do the same with the drawer C 10 times. And then again drawer B 10 times.

Methinks we don't have enough info to solve this yet. Before we do any further prodding, we should duck out a moment and see if we have a customer. Then check the Rolodex and book.

Hmm. It could be encoded somehow, to indicate the order in which you pull which drawers in/out. Dunno WHAT order, though.

Hmm...
By totals:
B - 3 clicks total
C - 4 clicks total
E - 5 clicks total
D - 6 clicks total

By out:
C - 1 out
B - 2 out
E - 3 out
D - 4 out

By in:
B - 1 in
D - 2 in
E - 2 in
C - 3 in

The main irregularity is that D and E both have 2 clicks in. Still, maybe it means you're supposed to push them in at the same time?

Maybe try:
Pull out C
Pull out B
Pull out E
Pull out D
Push in B
Push in D & E
Push in C
...Pull out A?

You might try going 1234,4321 , or 4321,4321 , or maybe even 4321,1234
You could try pushing in D then E, or E then D, instead of together.
The total clicks could still mean something.
Not sure.

>>911610
I'm guessing the bottom-right drawer clicks once in and once out?
Yes, this seems like a combination lock or puzzle box. If you get it right, the stuck drawer probably comes out.
The objects in the drawers seem to reference the number 4 a lot. Connect 4, four objects in the bottom-right drawer, 4 suits in a deck of cards... How many pick-up-sticks are there? If it's not a full deck of cards, which ones are there?
The only odd one out is the soldering iron.

Wait a minute, the text says the fourth drawer clicks 4 times going in, but the image says 2.

Oh shoot, in the image I wrote the wrong in for E. The text is correct, drawer E is 4 clicks in.

So sorry guys! I'll see about getting it updated

Oh, hah. The fourth drawer references four by being the fourth drawer.

So the number four is important somehow. Could be we need to push/pull each drawer until the number of clicks from each is a multiple of four? Like for the first one, it's (out, in, out, etc) 2,3,5,6,8.

OR, you need to make the drawer click that many times by moving it partially. First drawer is 2,3, then halfway out for the fourth click.

Cee (mobile) 2018/11/25(Sun)10:31 No. 911756 ID: 9cba49
File 154317069212.png - (99.68KB , 1000x600 , sq012.png )

>>911610
Here's the correct image, also featuring readable text.

Just in case I need to provide precise directions:
B: out, in, half out
C: out, in
D: out
E: out, 1/4th in
F: out, in, out, in, out, in, out

Ah, ok. I'm gonna modify my test to:
Pull out C
Pull out B
Pull out E
Pull out D
Push in B
Push in D
Push in C
Push in E
...Pull out A?

However, I'm not sure what significance, if any, the items hold. They might fit into the puzzle, somehow, or they might be red herrings, or they might be for something else.

Cee 2018/12/16(Sun)00:21 No. 914174 ID: 2e3701
File 154494849718.png - (545.99KB , 1000x600 , B5473741-B080-40BE-8A82-5896DCAF4D13.png )

> So what happened to your hand? Is it hanging in someone's room the way that foot is?

Your hand?

Oh, uh…

Cee 2018/12/16(Sun)00:21 No. 914175 ID: 2e3701
File 154494851429.gif - (129.87KB , 1000x600 , 2B441ED2-9208-46A0-88F5-683A9FAABC7D.gif )

Well—

Cee 2018/12/16(Sun)00:22 No. 914176 ID: 2e3701
File 154494852831.png - (585.45KB , 1000x600 , 6D68AF6D-B80F-414C-B698-B88BDB52F204.png )

Tiger ate it?

A-anyway. You try a number of things to in an attempt to work out what's up with the drawers. You pull them out to various distances and slide them back in, trying to get the same number of clicks in each direction before yanking on the bottom left drawer, but it remains stuck.

Eventually, you try opening them by order of clicks out, and then pushing them in by order of clicks in — pulling C, B, E, D, then pushing B, D, C, E.

A loud CLICK — tumblers falling into place — sounds from all around you, and the bottom drawers spring out, slamming into your knee. Fuck!

Cee 2018/12/16(Sun)00:22 No. 914177 ID: 2e3701
File 154494854456.png - (415.95KB , 1000x600 , FF9B49E8-EBD7-4C63-ABF9-A6B77656FC5D.png )

You rub at your knee, and inspect the now open bottom left drawer.

Fantastic. More magic stuff. Still, you're sort of satisfied that you managed to get the drawer open in the first place. It's more than you ever managed at school.

In the drawer is a contraption, which you pick up to look over. All sides seem to have different shaped indents. As you're checking the bottom, your phone rings. The sudden vibration on your ass startles you enough that you fumble the cube, but you manage to set it down (hopefully) without damage.

You answer your phone. Who the hell even rings you these days?

"He—"

"Babe! What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Ah. She does.

"Um—"

"Don't start! What did I tell you about touching powerful shit?"

"Well that's—"

"And don't say 'blah blah you got me this job blah' I know that! But you've got to be careful!"

Cee 2018/12/16(Sun)00:22 No. 914178 ID: 2e3701
File 154494855746.png - (276.42KB , 1000x600 , 225F8A4A-B846-455C-AA10-34EC1634BCBD.png )

This is the best thing that's happened all week. You sink into the desk chair. "Hey, Rowan," you say. "How's it?"

She sniffs, miffed you're not buying into her drama. "The usual. What about you?"

>>914178
Boss is gone, trying to run the shop alone. Just got his desk open, the fuck is this cube thing?

Tell her you're trying to get in touch with your boss since she's gone missing, but explain you're having problems. Ask her for tips on the matter.

Also, ask her to go on a date with you.

>>914178
So who's Rowan, and how'd she know you touched something powerful?

>>914175
I'm not sure if you're avoiding the subject over bad memories, or if you just got mind-whammied into not thinking about it when we asked you.

>>914281
I'd guess avoided memories. The best I can glean from the image provided is that it looks like somebody's shouting "don't you dare", something indicating the severance of a hand, and the twinklies.

Cee 2019/01/13(Sun)01:00 No. 917560 ID: 267f37
File 154737002525.png - (347.18KB , 1000x600 , IMG_0088.png )

> So who's Rowan, and how'd she know you touched something powerful?
Rowan is your best friend. You adore her. She's basically your favourite person.

You're not entirely sure how she knows things about you when she's not around, but she has for ages. You suspect she did some magic when you were kids, though she hasn't owned up to it. That kind of magic is always risky. Rowan has told you stories of people trying to link themselves to others via magic, and how she's ripped apart their mangled souls and put them back into what remained of their bodies. It should have been a miracle that she pulled off whatever she did, but you've never seen her fail at magic. The connection she has with you goes the other way, too, so you know when she's in trouble or having strong emotions, but you've always had the impression the connection is stronger from her side.

Her warning you off strong magic is new, and related to recent, ah, events. She explained why (all very complicated and magical, naturally) but it boils down to her preferring the two of you to continue existing on your current plane.

> ask her to go on a date with you.
Because she is your best friend and you adore her, you are never ever going to do that. Ever. You love her to pieces and she needs you as you are. Also, you can't afford the amount of therapy her exes have needed.

Cee 2019/01/13(Sun)01:00 No. 917561 ID: 267f37
File 154737002916.png - (440.54KB , 1000x600 , IMG_0089.png )

> Boss is gone, trying to run the shop alone. Just got his desk open, the fuck is this cube thing?
> Tell her you're trying to get in touch with your boss since she's gone missing, but explain you're having problems. Ask her for tips on the matter.

"Boss is AWOL," you tell her.

"Wow, bitch."

You grin. "No kidding. I managed to get her desk open just now. The, uh, thing that pinged you was in there." You inspect it as well as you can without touching it. "It's a cube thing? There are indents all over it. Any thoughts?"

Silence drifts over the line. Then, suspicion in her every word, "Shouldn't you be working?"

"I am!" you protest. "Sort of. There aren't any customers right now, and with boss gone—"

"You have to work, babe."

"I know."

"Are you working?"

"I just said—"

She makes a disapproving sound in the back of her throat.

You probably deserve that. "I'll go back out the front," you relent.

"And I'll swing by once I finish this job!" she chirps. "Don't do anything to get yourself killed until I get there."

The call ends before you can reply.

Cee 2019/01/13(Sun)01:00 No. 917562 ID: 267f37
File 154737003411.png - (172.55KB , 1000x600 , IMG_0090.png )

> I'm not sure if you're avoiding the subject over bad memories, or if you just got mind-whammied into not thinking about it when we asked you.

Haha. Yeah.

Look, you're not the best person to ask. And you've gotta work.

Cee 2019/01/13(Sun)01:00 No. 917563 ID: 267f37
File 154737004154.png - (428.75KB , 1000x600 , IMG_0091.png )

You scooch the chair towards the door to the shop front, doing as you're told, and there's a girl peering through the shop window. You lurch forward to behind the till. And smile.

She opens the door.

do your best not to sound like someone who is at a solid 10 on the “how fucked are you” scale when you greet this customer. be completely normal

"Welcome to {SHOP NAME HERE}. My boss is out right now, but if you need a recommendation or help to find something, I'm your guy."

Welcome the customer. Offer your wares.

>>917563
Rice rack.

Try to resist the urge to make an insensitive pun.

>>917625
Pretty much. Being polite but making clear you're not the expert she might be looking for is appropriate.

Stay silent until called.

>>917563
Immedately start talking to her, customers love it when you describe your life story. Remember to say "y-you too" the moment she says anything back.