It Was All About The Hat - Part 3

I wrote this piece in response to ellenmillion's prompt (or possibly prompts) "I love friends-to-lovers. Something with a printing press. Magical hats." As it came in at just over 9,000 words. I have broken it in to 3 parts. This is the third part. The first is here, and the second is here. I hope that you all enjoy them.  This part is 3,064 words.

Mrs Tormald was pleased to see them when they arrived at the house she and Marisa shared.  Marisa's mother had spent the morning potting up seedlings from trays and despite having worn a gardener's apron she still had random fragments of potting mix sprinkled around her person.  After greeting them, offering the coachman refreshments, and arranging for the garden odd job boy to hold the horses for him, she said to her daughter, "Was it the wrong hat?"

"Oh, it was the right hat," replied Marisa.  "It just refused to leave unless you come to get it."

"It's talking then."  Mrs Tormald looked grim.

"And flipping itself up so it can slap someone," added Marisa.

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It Was All About The Hat - Part 2

I wrote this piece in response to ellenmillion's prompt (or possibly prompts) "I love friends-to-lovers. Something with a printing press. Magical hats." As it came in at just over 9,000 words. I have broken it in to 3 parts. This is the second part. The first is here, and the third is here. I hope that you all enjoy them. This part runs for 3, 067 words.

Marisa returned to the newspaper office twice that day, turned down a vast number of straw hats, and made three more referrals to Arcanum's.  Arcanum's sent around a clerk to find out what was going on because they were curious about the new source of business.  Mr Carden was a precisely dressed man whose clothing featured an antique dragon suede waistcoat - an item he had either inherited or found in an expensive second-hand clothes store.  His subdued but fashionable bespoke suit sported the membership pin of one of the more sober magical brotherhoods, and Artemius mentally placed him in Arcanum's hierarchy as a coming man.  Mr Carden also introduced himself to Marisa as a friend of several of her Tormald cousins and proceeded to mildly flirt with her.  Artemius surprised himself by bristling territorially at the man, and then hoped that it hadn't shown.

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It Was All About The Hat - Part 1

I wrote this piece in response to ellenmillion's prompt (or possibly prompts) "I love friends-to-lovers. Something with a printing press. Magical hats." As it came in at just over 9,000 words. I have broken it in to 3 parts.  The first one, obviously, is here.  The second is here, and the third is here.  I hope that you all enjoy them.  This part is 2,976 words.

Marisa Tormald marched into the offices of the Gullhaven Announcer and walked straight up to the desk of her friend, Artemius Inkman.  Artemius ran both the Announcer and its associated printing business out of a building on Bornmal Street that sat across the road from the small school they had both attended as children.  Marisa lived two blocks away in the house she shared with her mother, where they persuaded rare seeds to sprout and grow successfully into exotic plants for the magical trade. 

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