𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐌𝐋𝐘 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐒 𝐃𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐉𝐎𝐁 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐔𝐋𝐀𝐑'𝐒 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒. maybe that was just finn and his loyalty. ❛ i’ll let you in on a secret. it’s how we earn brownie points in order to get that extra tip money. ❜ he lets this fingers run across the vinyl covers, shrugging his shoulders. ❛ although, ❜ he turns to face the blonde, ❛ you usually aren’t wearing the enemy. ❜
that made sense. ophelia kind of thought she should have been able to put that together for herself but dismissed the thought as fast as it came. she’d never worked for tips, how was she supposed to know? picking up a record she wasn’t even positive she wanted yet, she shrugged. “does everyone here take the stupid rivalry seriously?”
cassie was putting out some records as she saw ophelia, of course she noticed the girl’s shirt. “i didn’t know you worked for the enemy” a teasing tone evident in her voice. she’d seen the other in the store a lot, just not in her work uniform. “what’s it like workin’ there? bet it’s not as fun as here” more teasing, she didn’t care for the rivalry but she knew some of the older staff members took it seriously.
playing along, she said, “oh, yeah, i’m like, basically darth vader.” may as well be the way some people made her out to be. whatever, at her job, majority of the employees that worked there and were close to ophelia’s age didn’t even care much about the rivalry. some of them cared a whole lot but she tended to ignore them. “i’d imagine about the same as working here but it’s definitely not as fun. and the customers aren’t so laid back.”
have you ever considered working at jukebox instead?
“huh, somehow i knew i was gonna get asked this. look, i have nothing against jukebox. i’d probably look into working there if it didn’t seem pretty heavily staffed already. i’m not giving up a job i know i have for a job that i might get. that’s just not logical.”
janey let out a giggle , followed by a sigh at her question . ❛ ah , well , slow ––– as you can tell . ❜ janey gestured vaguely around her . ❛ but you know , we pass the time . the dummies are playing the floor is lava in the back . ❜ as if by fate , a large crashing sound followed by what sounded like benji and kc shouting could be heard on the floor following her sentence . janey rolled her eyes . ❛ slow days can be like bedlam . ❜
ophelia had pretended not to notice that the store was a little bit slow, no one else in the aisle of records besides the two of them. hopefully more people had been populating the café or had made their way down to linger at the bar, but the sigh janey had given her said it was doubtful. “at least you guys have fun here. if i ever tried to play the floor is lava at my store, i’d probably get written up,” she joked.
“ mox. my name is mox. it’s one syllable. it’s not that fuckin’ hard. andrews makes me sound like julie andrews. “ she commented, noticing ophelia’s unusual demeanor and choosing to keep filing away discs in alphabetical order. “ what bug crawled up your ass, blondie ?? “
“i wasn’t aware i was allowed to call you that. figured it was meant for the people you deemed friends and i didn’t want to get punched.” she didn’t bother arguing with the nickname mox called her, figuring out of everything, that one was the least hurtful. “i had a bad day at work and i’d go into it but i know you don’t care and will most likely just use it as an excuse to tell me why i’m wrong for working at my store. ... what time does the bar open here?”
𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐃𝐔𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐀 𝐓𝐄𝐍 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐓𝐄 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊. normally he spent them making himself his own coffee and scrolling mindlessly through his phone. instead, he decided to free himself of his apron and peruse the store for new releases — maybe find something to ship back home to his sister. the store seems to be fairly quiet, the lone employee behind the counter and only few customers, all of them familiar. except one familiar face has never before been seen wearing rock n’ roll records t-shirt. ❛ earl gray and a brownie, right? ❜ he asks for clarification as if he isn’t positive he’s placed her.
ophelia hadn’t been expecting to be referred to as her café order, but she looks up anyway, used to hearing it called out for to go orders. “yeah, that’s me,” she hums, flashing the barista a smile. “is my order that unique or are you one of the badass baristas who remembers all of their customers?” she hardly thought it would be the first, being completely honest.
she wasn’t trying to be nosy, not really. but jina grew up having to be hyper-observant of her surroundings, and if there was one thing that she’d started to learn how to pick up, it was when someone wasn’t having the best of days. her own shift started in the next twenty minutes, but jina found herself ambling around the store an hour before until she’d seen the other girl. her eye fell to the records the customer was browsing. “oh nice, aretha franklin is always a good choice,” she commented.
off the clock from her own job meant that ophelia didn’t have to be aware of people hovering, and she wasn’t; too far up in her own head. chewing on her lip as she looked the records over, she eventually lifted one out and flipped it over to check the track listing. “yeah, she’s an artist that’ll make you feel something for sure.” whether or not it was emotions you wanted to feel was a different story.
mox was about ready to clock out and head back to the apartment when she noticed a familiar face. ophelia parker, clerk of rock ‘n roll records, otherwise known to mox andrews as ‘blondie’, ‘traitor’, and most notably, ‘get the fuck out of our apartment parker’. however, she had to admit that the girl was definitely pretty and right about now, she resembled a lost puppy. however, her pride was much bigger than her feelings. “ hey, traitor !! looking for inspiration for your little chain store ?? “
any other day and ophelia probably would have indulged in mox. the verbal sparring matches were entertaining and she didn’t mind the insults that came out of it. this time, however, she didn’t even look up from the record in her hands, looking over the track list. “not today, andrews. i’m not in the mood.” idly, she wondered if the bar was open yet. getting drunk may be a better alternative than brownies. may not taste as good though.
aahmes was trying to make himself look busy, rearranging things that had already been rearranged and making sure the stacks were in order when he noticed her browsing and made his way over to help. she looked a little lost, a little sad. he was good at reading people most of the time and he gave her a warm smile as he approached. “you lookin’ for anything in particular?” he asked, noting her shirt with a smirk.
she had been about to brush off his help with a no, i’m good, thanks but shrugged instead. “just kind of looking for an impulse buy. got any recommendations that make people feel a little less like shit?”
❛ hey you ! ❜ janey spotted a familiar shock of blonde hair and skipped over to join lia on the floor , giving her a little hip check and smiling ever - so - brightly . truthfully , she was thankful for the excuse to stretch her legs . besides , she was fond of ophelia , and someone rude might get to her first . ❛ what brings you to our little corner of carroway street ? do you bite your thumb at us , sir ? ❜ a manicured hand gestures vaguely in the direction of the rock n’ roll records shirt . she settles into flicking through the new releases beside ophelia .
it was hard to stay in a bad mood when she had shakespeare being recited to her. even if it took a few seconds, janey managed to draw a smile out of her. “no, sir, i do not bite my thumb at you sir; but i bite my thumb, sir.” the response comes without skipping a beat; easy and familiar as she looked at the new vinyls. “how’s it been today?”
some stupid rivalry said that ophelia shouldn’t shop at jukebox records. but she really didn’t care. it was close to her house and had the best baked goods around. except when she went in other days, it was usually when she wasn’t getting off of work, not wearing her rock, roll n’ records shirt. that wasn’t the case here. but whatever, she had a bad day and wanted a pick-me-up, in the form of brownies. instead of heading right to the bakery, she browsed the records, just looking for something to buy to distract herself from being sad.
( VIRGINIA GARDNER / CISFEMALE / TWENTY-THREE / SHE/HER ) i always seem to run into OPHELIA “LIA” PARKER at rock, roll n’ records. i’ve heard that if the STAFF MEMBER (STORE CLERK) had to choose one go-to record, it’d be FINE LINE by HARRY STYLES and that they can be IDEALISTIC but also kind of NAIVE. for some reason, they always make me think of strawberry ice cream and rainbow sprinkles, driving with the windows down on a sunny afternoon, and sharing cotton candy on a fair ferris wheel. — ( asbury, twenty-five, est, they/them )
Basics:
Name: Ophelia Rowan “Lia/Rory” Parker
Age: 23
Career: Rock, Roll N’ Records (Sales Clerk)
Music Taste: Pop
Personality:
Positive: Idealistic, cheerful, selfless
Negative: Naive, sarcastic, spoiled
Biography:
Born August 22, 1997, Ophelia’s parents had gone through a lot of effort to have her. Surrogates and egg donors and tens of thousands of dollars later, she was born, happy and healthy and perfect. Her dads doted on her from the moment she was born, treated her like a princess. Despite having spent their life savings on their daughter, the two managed to make it work and she wanted for nothing.
Ballet lessons began at age four. Horseback riding at age nine. Both stopped by the time she was thirteen. Instead it became piano and guitar, with guitar lasting into her twenties. She found an obsession with music in her high school years and started actually listening to things, searching for them, instead of what was on the radio.
She was aggressively average when it came to school. Not top of her class but not anywhere near the bottom either. Just kind of there. It was a reality check for the girl who grew up feeling like she was the center of the universe.
She took a half a year off between high school and college, travelling on her dads’ dime and exploring the world. She almost decided to stay somewhere, never come back, before she realized just how insane that was and went home without ever speaking a word of it to her parents. She went, got her bachelor’s in liberal arts, and didn’t look back.
The job at Rock, Roll N’ Records sort of just fell into her lap. Her dads made her get a job after she spent six months galavanting and got a degree in something that wouldn’t even really help her in her career. After getting in a fight with them, she stormed out, cooling off at the record store, right as another employee quit. She never asked why, she didn’t care why. They had a spot open, she had a college degree and she knew her music. Boom, hired.
The rivalry between Rock, Roll N’ Records is beyond her understanding. It’d been there long since she started and she’s not dumb enough to think that she’ll be the one who fixes everything. For now, she just gets on by, occasionally stopping in, if only because they have the best baked goods near her apartment.
Headcanons:
Growing up with two dads had people telling her dads that she would be gay some day. They always ignored it. She thinks its kind of funny that she actually is gay.
She didn’t realize she was gay until she was twenty-two, and is too nervous to actually ask a girl out.
She’s recently been dancing ballet again as a way to keep in shape.
She used to envision having a fairytale kind of life. One day, she’d meet a nice boy, settle down, have a few kids and live happily ever after. It never mattered that she didn’t want that life.
She has to check herself every once in a while and stop herself from sounding too entitled. If she doesn’t, her coworkers will do it in a way less nicer way.
She tries her best to get along with everyone and will never initiate an argument but if someone starts with her first, all bets are off.
