With all the paperwork filed away, Tobias had finally been able to spend the last two weeks preparing the inventory for his grand opening.
He started with the general inventory. These were mostly blanks, or un-adorned models, save for his own artists mark, a stylized treble cleff, accented with the two T's of his initials. He smiled as he traced the glyph. The first couple designs he'd tried looked, well stupid. At the time, he'd wished his middle initial was G, just to capture the clef right and not worry about the T's surrounding it. Finally though, he'd settled on the simple design, palcing the two T's in the curve of the clef. Those went in the back corner, visible from the entrance but not the most direct foot traffic. Anyone who wanted to check out that area could, but he wanted to drive traffic towards his more finished pieces.
He looked over the store, and the layout of the building he'd chosen. Pretty straight forward rectangular space. He'd set up the counter on the east wall, so that gave him the three walls and the center to play with. Picking the closest wall, he set up the next round of instruments. This, which he'd jokingly called his Storm line, further carrying the theme of the store, was a set of guitars designed mostly for beginners. They were the least adorned, made of good quality wood but without the inlay and adornment of some of the other lines.
His Tempest line was set up in the middle of the shop. These were the intermediate line. He'd worked a little more nuance into them, both in terms of visual design, and some tweeks he'd been working on to get richer sounds and lower harmonics. Each one featured his glyph, inlayed in a light color against the dark wood of the instrument, at the base of the fretboard, and featured a design on the body of a stylized stormcloud in various colors.
He set up the Hurricane line along the side wall. These were the most intricate of the bunch. Each featured a two-tone design on the body of the eye of a hurricane, sweaping along the curves of the instrument. The design continued up the fretboard, accenting the glyph placed at the base and winding up the neck. He was proud of the design, it had taken him a couple attempts to get it right but the final result was, in his opinion anyway, striking.
Lastly, he'd set a couple of things on the countertop next to the cash register. One was the mask, he'd worn to the Winter Formal. A simple psaltry, with strings running down the face. The second was an early version of the vase he'd made for Regina. He'd filled it with water and placed some plastic flowers in it, to darken the sound. The last was a music box, a simple wooden box with a design of a squirel sewing a dress on the lid, that would play a soft pastoral tune when opened. He hoped Terri would like it. More to the point, he hoped that she'd stop by to say hi so he coiuld give it to her.
Inside the glass display of the counter, was another guitar. This one, without a price tag, would serve as an example of his creative ability. He'd spent a few days on this one alone, carefully crafting each aspect of the design. This was not a part of his standard inventory, and as such didn't meet the storm theme that the others were carrying. Instead, it portrayed a rosebush, weaving throns around the instrument, and putting a single blossoming rose over the head of the guitar, accenting the tuning pegs. It had been made for a woman he'd met on the road, a talented singer with dreams of stardom. But they'd parted ways, and he'd never managed to find her to give it to her. Instead, it would serve it's purpose here, highlighting his skill, even if the design itself wouldn't appeal to all customers.
Tobias adjusted his jacket, and checked the clock. Midnight. Perfect time to start a 24 hour grand opening. He walked over to the door, and flipped the sign from Closed to Open.
Rolls
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