Wanted: Assistants of the Tea Sage (Complete)

[Storm Scout]

The first thing that hit Storm was... well, hippie. Things felt a little bit hippie in here. Not that there was anything wrong with that, it just felt... different. The stallion himself certainly seemed to tick a few boxes for a hippie. Long hair, somewhat laid-back attitude, meditation... this just seemed to be a really chilled-out place, mainly because of that stallion.

"Hello, pleasure to meet you. You're... Jasmine... I'm guessing? My name is Storm Scout." Storm walked into the shop a bit further. The tea sage seemed quite nice, which was great; Storm had been worrying about how he would speak to the owner of the tea shop earlier, but it was good to find that he was apparently so welcoming.

"Um... meditating, I see. That's, uh, that's nice." Anyway, getting to the reason for visiting... "I came here looking for a certain tea blend, for a friend of mine. She really likes her tea, she has her own 'tea-station'. Everypony seems to love tea up in Canterlot, you see." Storm raised an eyebrow and quickly brought himself back to the point.

"Uh, well, the blend, it's, what was it... 'darjeeling'? Yes, I remember, I was told specifically that she likes the darjeeling blend from this tea sage." Storm adopted a hopeful expression. This was going to be a great gift, he was sure of it. "So... do you have the darjeeling in stock at the moment, sir?" He probably needed to be a bit more specific than that, actually. "I was hoping to buy maybe a whole box of this tea..." Whether or not he'd decide definitively on buying a whole box of this stuff would depend on the size of the box and the price, he thought.

[waxworks]

Pillow blushed a deep golden color. He rarely squawked and took efforts not too. Squawks were terribly disruptive and among the more unpleasant ways to wake up. He fluffed himself up and cooed at Sun, "well I'm certainly not squawking! Don't let my beak fool you, I'm not a parrot. I'm a hippogriff!"

He paused for a moment to make sure the term was properly understood. He once had a pony curiously paw at his face claiming they always thought hippogriffs were larger and fatter and had teeth like enormous marshmallows. "Mom was a griffon, dad was a pony, you know?"

Tock shrugged (which sent a wibble through his entire fluffy body) and resumed smiling at Sun, "and my name is Tock! Pillow Tock! And I happen to be the newest assist to Ponyville's dazzlingly docile Tea Sage. Oh it's so very wonderful, everything's tranquil and aromatic and you can just feel yourself floating off of the ground and into a nice cloudy bank of cloudy goodness in clouds..."

He had started to slightly nod off while talking, all of this talk of being surrounded by clouds had reminded him just how comfortable clouds were to sleep on. It actually made it worth the effort of flapping his wings and getting up there in the first place, although if you were clever you could hitch a ride up on a balloon and hurl yourself over the side just in time to land on a passing cloud.

He then remembered he was not alone.

"Ah, yes, the Tea Sage, it really is wonderful, you should come and see! All of your questions will be answered, and I work there, so maybe I could-"

Tock paused as he was still not entirely sure what his job entailed, "help you enjoy tea!"

Yes, that would work, he thought.

[Dark Star]

The pegasus seemed to waver in stance and in execution. Jazz had assumed that this was from the atmosphere all around. 'Perhaps I shouldn't have lit so much incense' he wondered with a chuckle as he listened to the stallion's tale. His name was Storm Scout, a very typical name for a pegasus, always having something to do with weather or with wind. Either way, it was always nice to expect such a name.

Storm Scout had explained that he was sent by a friend of his to receive some tea from Jazz. Judging from how the other stallion had stated it, it sounded like this friend of his was very close, perhaps Storm wanting to take it a little farther than that. Still, Jazz wouldn't push or pry or anything; personal matters were best kept personal. But of course, he noted that he should bring it up sometime later on.

Jazz left to the back to get a small bin of the tea Storm Scout, or more closely, his friend had selected. Before he had presented it, however, he looked Storm Scout between the eyes. "Can I assume that you've been to my home village, this friend of yours knowing only of that location?" he asked him. " She must be something more than that if you're willing to come out all this way, just for some tea" he continued, marveled by how well he could read other ponies. He presented the box to the pegasus with a calm look on his face.

---

Strange became stranger as the puffy ball of feathers started explaining himself. Apparently, he was a pony-griffon-hybrid of some kind named Pillow Tock. "That explains the cutie mark" Sun muttered under his breath. Tock continued to explain how he worked for the tea sage, further causing his thoughts to degrade into some kind of mind control or something. 

The puffball seemed to really enjoy the idea of bringing Sun to see this boss of his, furrowing the stallion's brow in the process. "Yeah, lead the way, puffball; I got a few things I have to discuss with this sage boss of yours" Sun ordered. 

[Storm Scout]

Storm was starting to get the bizarre feeling that this stallion, who he assumed was named Jasmine, was examining everything that he was doing. Was this what a tea sage did... reading people? Or rather, was that part of what a tea sage did? It... seemed like it should be unnerving, but it just felt odd.

The truth was Storm hadn't been sent to do anything. His friend didn't know that he had gone to get this tea; he had come here on impulse, and it was meant to be a surprise gift, seeing as the Trader's Exchange was approaching. He just knew that she liked this sort of tea; so after work he came out here to this shop, just as he'd seen on the label. Jasmine's darjeeling, Ponyville. Oh, and purple wrapping paper, he'd need to get that somewhere. She liked purple.

As Storm saw Jasmine go and get the tea, he said "Oh, thank-" But... wha... huh? What had Jasmine... no, first question first. "Oh, no, I haven't been to your village. My friend is a merchant, she has connections. I understand this shop has only recently opened in Ponyville... but she'd already bought something, labelled from here." Or maybe it was from Jasmine's other shop, but she already knew about the move and had labelled it in accordance as a note? "It wasn't that difficult to get from Canterlot to here, really. What would be a short train ride becomes a shorter flight." Okay... next thing.

His face pulled into a somewhat embarrassed grimace. "Look, we're just friends. We aren't... anything like that, not now, not yet..." Wait, had he... "Uh, I mean, not at all!" Wow, what a crazy slip of the tongue! Storm had no idea how he had managed to momentarily confuse those two things together.

The grimace transformed into a smile when Jasmine offered the box. "Thank you very much for the tea," he said, accepting the darjeeling and tucking it into a book-sized pocket in his cloak. He'd... have to be a bit more careful in how he got back to Canterlot with this, wouldn't he? "How much do I owe you?"

[waxworks]

"Pillow Tock," corrected the hippogriff to the inaccurate nomenclature of puffball. He knew a griffon named Puffball, and he wondered if Sun did as well. Either way, he'd apparently succeeded in what he could only thus far assume to be his objective. He had a pony following him! Following him, to see the tea sage! And what's better, this seemed to him to be a particularly grumpy stallion who could most definitely do with a hefty dosage of rest and relaxation to work out the grumps. "And I'm so pleased you've decided to come along Mister-"

Tock searched his memory for a name and came up with nothing. Either he'd never been told it, been told it and forgotten it, or imagined he'd been told it and forgotten what he'd imagined. He'd never been particularly good with names. He made do. "Mister Pony. The Tea Sage entrusted me with spreading the word, and you can tell him I spread it all over you, and I'm certain he'll help unfurrow your face, it looks terribly uncomfortable all wrinkled up like that."

With the sort of cheer known only to a dandelion seed floating in a strong breeze, Pillow bobbed along in front of Sun, leading the way back to the tea shop. It was common among ponies to use the term "could do it in one's sleep" to denote easiness. Pillow generally agreed with this particular saying, as he tended to do most things in his sleep, and to that end he was able to find his way back to the tea shop with little effort aside from the occasional redirection of his swaying slow-trot.

Pulling himself up the steps with some effort he softly announced his presence with a voice like a deflating marshmallow.

"Tea Sage! I'm back, and I believe I've found one! Mister Pony, this is the Tea Sage, Tea Sage, Mister Pony."

[Dark Star]

(OOC: Okay, every time I imagine Tock talking, I automatically have to watch "Meet Riki" over and over again)

Jazz smiled at how flustered his first customer had been. His initial assessment of Storm Scout's situation may not have been correct, but it was still easy to read his motives through his expressions. The pegasus still seemed grateful to him though, even more-so when he had presented the box of tea to him. 

"You needn't worry yourself with such trivialities, dear child. Just knowing that I was able to assist you during such a time is enough" Jazz stated in response to the inquisition of what he was owed. He leaned in and whispered "Actually, you owe me thirty bits. Good advice alone doesn't put bread on the table" with a smug grin, which was when a familiar yellow marshmallow bounced on in. 

---

Sun rolled his eyes when the creature introduced himself. In all honesty, he really didn't care for a name from such an unusual being, right now he was more focused on getting to bottom of this tea sage debacle. The blonde stallion followed close behind the walking pillow mostly ignored whatever he had to squawk at him.

When they arrived at a large cafe though, that was what managed to confuse him. The whole time, Sun was under the impression that this sage had constructed a temple of some kind, one that was on some giant hill. But instead, he was met with a building raised slightly higher off the ground than a normal one, with a small staircase just before the front door. With a resolute mind, Sun followed behind Pillow Tock and entered the enemy's domain.

---

Jazz smiled at the sight of his new found assistant having brought in another pony. He wished that the little guy could've waited or the store to actually open first, but he was just happy seeing him enjoying the job. "Hello and welcome to my temple" Jazz greeted with a bow and a smile. 

Sun merely furrowed his brow at the sight of the hippie. "Some temple" he muttered as he glanced around. The whole place stank of incense burning, not to mention that all the tables had chairs stacked above them. After his little look-around, Sun returned his attention to the owner. "I don't know what it is your tea does to ponies, or whatever that thing is-" Sun motioned at Tock, "but I'm here to put an end to it". 

Jazz didn't know whether to laugh at the strange stallion or feel sorry for him. All in all, he decided to go for the more direct approach. "My apologies for my newest assistant. Believe it or not, he was actually already like this when he applied for the job minutes ago. Pillow Tock, I greatly appreciate you getting to work on spreading word of my arrival, but I didn't actually mean that you should venture off to bring ponies to me" he explained carefully, trying his best to keep the hippogriff from falling asleep. 

[Storm Scout]

Storm realised that if Jasmine had been trying to read him, he hadn't exactly been making it difficult for the tea sage. That was a really strange ability, he thought; maybe Jasmine had studied psychology wherever he was from. Eh... Storm couldn't even read himself, sometimes.

He didn't want to think about whatever feelings he might have had for his boss. He was completely clueless as far as matters of love were concerned. And she was... so much older than him... but theoretically, he wouldn't find that to be an issue... would he? Yeah... best not to think about it too much; that would be quite a can of worms. This was just a nice gift for a friend... nothing else... certainly.

Oh, wonderful, the tea sage was giving it to him for free. Storm felt special! "Wow! Really? Than-" Oh... no. Nope. "Ah... of course, I... just... 30 bits?" That seemed like a lot for some tea. Well... it was a fairly large amount of tea he was buying... and supposedly a high-quality blend. And it would be worth it, to be able to give something nice to Esmeralda. Uh, he meant that in a friendly way, of course. After some rooting around and some jingling, 30 bits had been set out in a neat pile on whichever nearby surface seemed to be used as a counter.

About this time, a strange large mass of fluffy feathers walked in with a pony in tow. It became (amusingly) apparent that the pony was a prospective customer, while the fluffy thing seemed to be an employee of the tea sage. The fluffy creature looked like... well, that half was pony, definitely, with the cutie mark... and as for the other half, Storm had been in flight academy long enough to know what a griffin looked like. So... this was a hippogriff? Hippogriffs seemed to be rather rare creatures. It was certainly a privilege to see one outside of the biology books. "Hi."

[waxworks]

"Hello," cooed Pillow cheerily in response, wobbling slightly at Storm like fuzzy, gregarious jello. "Ah, another pony who comes to see the Tea Sage?"

His nearly-shut eyes looked quite pleased, and as he scanned the room he spotted the surprisingly large pile of bits sitting on the counter. "Ooooh! So very many ponies must have visited the Tea Sage while I was out, it really is good tea, isn't it?"

When the Tea Sage had finished a brief encounter with Mister Pony, Tock bowed (it could've been a bow, he may also have been trying to make himself more comfortable) politely to him and gave out a little buzz.

"Oh, but Tea Sage, look at his face, look how tense he is! So much grump stuck in him!" A little claw reached out of the fluffy mound and pointed at various aspects of Sun's face. "See? Here, and here, and a lot of it stuck in around heeere."

This last note was accompanied by Tock's clawtip swirling around in a circular fashion, similar to someone who was trying to demonstrate a weather forecast and show off where the incoming cold fronts were going to be piling up. The little hippogriff tucked his paw back in, satisfied that he'd properly shown off Sun's detriments that could be improved upon with a good cup of tea, or perhaps a nice three-day-long nap to sort things out. Having done this, he waddled over towards Storm Scout curiously. He whispered to him with a slight apprehension and embarrassment in his little, kazoo-like voice, "how many ponies have been in here while I was gone? I must have missed a lot..."

[Dark Star]

After having done a small explanation, Jazz smiled at the new stallion. He had to admit though, Tock was right; he could see all kind of tension in this stallion's face. The sage mulled over a series of possible ideas as he took his newly acquired bits to the safe. 

From Sun's perspective, he found himself a little annoyed by the manure-eating grin the hippie had given him. He was here to expose him as some kind of mind-control artist, yet he was treating him kindly and even smiling at him. If anything, this so-called sage was good at hiding his secrets. 

After a few minutes, Jazz returned carrying a tray with 3 tea cups on it, a kettle being held in his mouth. He set the items upon the counter and started filling one cup with earl gray tea after another. Sun raised an eyebrow at this. Jazz noticed from the corner of his vision and grinned. "Please, children of the land, enjoy some" he told them in an inviting tone, his face beaming happily. 

Sun was extremely skeptical about the whole idea. Even as he was being offered tea, he couldn't help but instinctively smell it. No matter how hard he inhaled the aroma, he couldn't detect any kind of herbs or anything that he was taught about. It was just normal, earl gray tea. He looked back at the sage, finding him to be smiling back as always. 

"As I'm sure you're aware, I am the great, Tea Sage, Jasmine Soul" he introduced calmly. Sun didn't say anything, he simply sipped his tea in silence. 

"Morning Sun" he muttered, just loud enough to hear it. 

[Storm Scout]

The hippogriff's response was... odd... very odd. It seemed to be just an odd hippogriff in general. Wobbling about, cooing, buzzing and stuff. "Yes, I came to see the tea sage. I'm buying a gift for a friend. I think it's good if people in Canterlot already know about this shop..." Storm momentarily raised a brow at Jasmine as the hippogriff commented on the apparently large number of bits on the counter. Storm assumed that the tea sage's employee knew more about the average prices in the shop than he did. But no... no need to make it a problem; he had already reasoned that it was a fair price for the presumably long-lasting amount of tea he had bought. "Oh, no," he explained to the wobbly hippogriff, "I've been the first customer, I think... I don't believe you've missed much."

Introductions... "Well, I'm Storm Scout. It's a pleasure to meet you, hippogriff." He extended a hoof to the creature, remembering as he did so the absence of front-hooves for the hippogriff... which may make a hoof-bump rather impossible. But he was still interested to see how the hippogriff might respond to the gesture.

"Uh, I wasn't planning on staying much longer... but I won't refuse a cup of tea if you're offering." Still not as into tea as all the ponies up in Canterlot seemed to be, but Storm wouldn't mind trying this type of tea. Hey, if Earl Grey was the tea sage's choice then it was probably good, right? "Hello, Morning Sun." It was probably the most banal thing he could've thought, but as he sipped the tea Storm considered how 'Sun' made the name slightly similar to another 'Sun' pony he knew.

[waxworks]

"Ah, well then you must like your tea very much," reasoned Pillow, considering that thirty bits must've gotten the pegasus something like a tankard of tea. While he was by no means a tea expert, or even a tea novice, he could vaguely reason out what would seem like a fair price, in between bouts of slow blinking.

"Pillow Tock!" Said the hippogriff with slightly more animation than normal, addressing not only the pegasus but also the other two ponies gathered who had taken the time to introduce themselves as well. He peered at Storm's extended hoof, balled up his claw, and gave it a cheerful bump. Having grown up in Cloudsdale there'd been more than enough pegasus ponies fluttering around that he was used to a hoofbump now and then. Now griffons, on the other hoof, would sometimes greet each other with a cheerful headbutt. But in Pillow's case a greeting headbutt would usually result in having some griffon's face buried in his feathers, sound asleep. Oh well.

The arrival of more tea made him coo warmly, eager for another sampling of soothing steamy swill. Picking up one of the teacups neatly with his claws, and then marveling as the hooved ponies seemed to have no trouble whatsoever with performing the same maneuver (he was half pony and to this day he still didn't know how they did that), he raised the tea cup in a polite salute to everyone.

"And to the children of the sky too," he cooed, indicating himself and Storm in the toast.

[Dark Star]

Jazz smiled peacefully as he the many ponies-and hippogriff-toasted their tea. While there were a few other...situations that had happened earlier that day, he really didn't mind them. As for now, his focus was on bringing a smile to the current group's faces. It was actually a lot easier to do that once he had gotten them to drink the tea they were provided.

"If ever you experience any kind of dismay or general trouble, feel free to visit me here" Jazz stated with a rather warm smile. Sun felt as though there some ulterior motives behind that, thinking he was trying to make himself look like some kind of kingpin, but there wasn't anything malicious behind that smile. He was either a really convincing actor, or he was genuine, both options being highly believable at this point. Still, he just kept on sipping his tea and grinning awkwardly. There wasn't much of a point in contributing to the conversation, or lack-thereof as the case the may be. After all, the least he could talk about was how-

"Are you perhaps feeling disappointed about something, an unfulfilling job maybe?" Jazz suddenly asked, Sun actually choking and spitting tea haphazardly. 

"W-what?" he asked, unable to believe it. He was actually some kind of mind-reader? No, that didn't make any sense. 

"I can tell from the aura you're giving off that something is missing in your life. You feel left out about something in your current career and believe you can do better" Jazz explained himself, Sun simply staring at him incredulously. Before the blonde stallion could even form a proper response, Jazz handed over a job application, once again, giving that inviting smile of his. "Think over it if you must, just know this next Monday is the deadline" he ultimately said. 

[Storm Scout]

"Uh..." He'd... already mentioned to the hippogriff what he was buying it for, hadn't he? "I don't know if you partially fell asleep or something when I told you the first time just now, but the tea's not for me..." and just looking at this guy now, falling asleep in a conversation seemed a reasonable possibility. "I don't really like tea. I think it's alright, but this is for a friend who does really like tea."

Even if he couldn't hoof-bump, there was a talon-hoof-bump. The hippogriff was Pillow Tock. What exactly a 'tock' was, Storm had no idea, but it presumably had something to do with sleeping because that seemed to be the case with much of the hippogriff himself.

Picking up the tea using hooves wasn't so hard, it was just a matter of holding it between both. The tea cup would've been designed for safe hoof-use, after all. "Heh... yeah, and to the children of the sky." Over in Canterlot they drank tea so often that there were these pegasus-friendly tea cups they had designed, with wide handles that could be lifted using a wing.

Well, the tea sage's focus seemed to be mostly on 'reading' Morning Sun now, which reminded Storm of his task with the tea he had bought. "Well, it's been lovely to meet you all..." He stood up after quickly finishing the tea. "Thank you for the tea, Jasmine. I do need to get up early tommorrow for work though, so I'll be heading back."

Storm left the shop and began the little journey back to Canterlot. He was fairly pleased with how things had gone down in there. And he had gotten to meet that really strange hippogriff too, who had been an interesting character.

[waxworks]

In truth the hippogriff had fallen asleep during the conversation. Several times, in fact, but he was generally an expert when it came to talking in his sleep, so just because he was sleeping was no reason to not continue speaking. Pillow poured the tea down his throat where it was warmly received like a Spring rain into a flowerbed, and he made a low sort of purring sound in response to it. It was exceptionally good tea, relaxing in all aspects, so much so that the poor hippogriff was in some danger of falling asleep while drinking it and drowning.

Thankfully, he was able to keep hold of his senses while they were being mostly washed away in that wonderful brew. He lifted a wing to the leaving pegasus in a polite salute, sad to see a new customer go, but pleased that his new recruit seemed to be staying. It was with a curious sort of wobble he listened to Jasmine offer Sun a job, involuntarily shuddering ever so slightly at the term 'deadline' cropping up. He'd never been fond of deadlines of any sort, which had made his schooldays particularly unpleasant.

"Aaah, is Mister Po... Morning Sun, going to be joining us, Tea Sage?"

He continued using that particular honorific for his new employer, it made things feel far more.. ritualistic. His sleepy face smiled at Sun, hoping that he'd have some company working under the Tea Sage. Also, in some strange way, Sun reminded him of his brother Tick somewhat. He smiled a fluffy smile at him, "I just know you'll enjoy working here, it will be so wonderfully relaxing for you and-"

Pillow paused curiously and turned to Jasmine, "do employees get a discount?"

[Dark Star]

After a bit of sleep-talking shenanigans, Storm Scout had headed out. At the very least, Jazz was able to make a successful sale first. It also provided a bit of a distraction for Sun to be able to think things through a little further. Pillow Tock started talking a bit further about the idea of Sun joining, which for some reason, managed to add a bit pressure to it.

"Now, now, Tock, we mustn't pressure our new friend" Jazz "scolded". Tock didn't really seem to hear that and merely continued on further, even questioning the idea of an Employee Discount.

"Even better than that, it's free. Though you do have to make it yourself, of course" Jazz stated the last bit in his regular speaking voice, quite a noticeable change, even for someone as lost as Sun. The blonde stallion looked down at the application and started considering the idea. Everything seemed to be in order, and he would probably get more out of this than if he kept to his old job of delivering flowers. It would probably be easy considering he knew so much about herbal teas of many sorts just from there, but then he started to wonder about how his old boss would take it. 'Probably bad' he thought before looking back to the sage and his accomplice.

"You know what, I'm gonna think this through the next couple of days and get back to you. Everything is just going so crazy right now, I need to clear my head" Sun stated before rushing out of the shop, leaving Jazz there, once again, smiling at him.