Matrona
Legacy Name: Matrona

Age: Many moons

Birthday: February 10th

Zodiac: Aquarius

Height: 165 cm / 5'4"

Occupation: Glitter Master (WIP)

Hobbies: High tea

Likes: Romance, magic, sweet scents

Dislikes: Summer heat

Guilty pleasure: Surprises

Personality: Confident and cheeky.
Loves...love!

If you've wandered the streets of Centropolis, you may have noticed the tall, mauve building at the end of Main Street, past the Antique Shop and the Subeautique. The building has no signs out front because the shops inside are the sort of boutiques that don't advertise themselves. (Esmerelda may think that passing out exclusive invitations makes her establishment “classy,” but the giant “SBQ” painted on her building says otherwise.) The shops in the mauve building may only see a few patrons a day, but for the most part, they're patrons who know of the shops via word of mouth and who come in for something specific—not those who just browse and then drift away without buying anything.

Matrona's boutique lies on the top floor, the only shop up there. Therefore, no one ever just wanders in off the street or from another shop. Anyone who comes in, comes in on purpose.

The boutique always smells lovely, like roses and vanilla, thanks to the fresh flowers Matrona changes daily. The shelves bear a few items—seemingly a little of everything, if “everything” only came in shades of pink or purple. If someone ever did just wander in, they'd be hard pressed to discern what sort of boutique it is: perfumery, stationery shop, tea house? . . . None of the above, for the products displayed are for ambiance, not for sale.

Matrona does usually offer her clients refreshments after seating them in a comfortable chair, and she will sometimes include a small gift with a purchase. Yet the gift always has a particular purpose. If Matrona gives a client a pretty red candle, the client will be required to stick pins in it before lighting it. If she gives them a stick of vanilla incense, she'll instruct them to burn it not for its sweet scent, but so they can pass through its smoke a slip of paper bearing the name of their beloved.

For Matrona doesn't sell things at her boutique—she sells love.

Her clientele is small yet includes a wide diversity of ages, genders, and species. Herself an Angelic Montre (or so she claims, despite her lavender fur and black left wing), Matrona nevertheless welcomes any patron longing for love. She greets all with a smile and a pleasant, “How may I help you?” Patrons find themselves opening up to her, telling her things they've never told anyone else. . . confessing the deepest longings of their hearts.

Matrona expresses no judgment of their love confessions, only empathy and gentle encouragement to tell her everything, because she understands and appreciates love in all its forms. She's heard everything: first loves and secret crushes; jealousy over a rival to a beloved's affections; fears that a partner will stray. As long as the subject is love, Matrona will listen, Matrona will sympathize. . . and Matrona will know what to do.

Sometimes she performs the rituals herself, sometimes the client must perform them, and sometimes the participation of both is required. The spell to strengthen the love between two people involves candles and pins and incense, all to be used by the client. In contrast, the spell to draw the beloved away from a rival and into the client's arms must be performed by Matrona, and instead of using the sweet smoke of incense to bring two people closer, it calls for the bitterness of lemons and salt to pull two people apart.

Matrona requires payment in advance when performing the ritual is entirely the client's responsibility. However, when Matrona herself casts the spell, the client only pays after the deed is done. She takes all currencies—sP, Wizard Tokens, anything she can use to cover the rent and the nominal costs of the materials she uses. The spells never cost much in that regard.

Yet Matrona accepts only partial payment in currency. Every spell costs the client something more, though none is so expensive as to cause permanent damage or irreparable harm. In fact, most of Matrona's clients are repeat customers. (Matrona guarantees results but not permanent results, and she's found that for the most part, love only lasts forever-after in fairy tales unless it's helped along from time to time.)

The majority of her clientele considers her services to be worth the costs: a bit of pain, a little dizzy spell that quickly fades, and a couple of small puncture wounds placed in a location of the patron's choice, wherever they can most easily hide the marks until they heal.

Many clients scarcely feel anything at all. Matrona's teeth are very sharp.

The other shops in the mauve building come and go, but Matrona's boutique has been open for longer than any of the others. The building's owner sometimes recalls that Matrona rented the spot from his father as well, and the owner himself is now getting up in years. Sometimes his wife comments on how good Matrona looks for however old she must be, and the owner remembers that the Montre looked just the same when he was a kid, tagging along with his dad to collect the rent.

“She hasn't aged a bit,” he'll say.

But then he'll chuckle and add that all adults look about the same age when you're a kid, so he's probably just misremembering. And then his wife will say that even if he's not, there's all kinds of makeup and anti-aging creams and cosmetic surgery available these days, things that make people look as young as they did years ago. Maybe not fifty years ago, but well. . . with the miracles of modern science, who knows what's possible?

And then both of their minds will wander at the exact same moment, and one of them will change the subject, and neither will remember that they ever talked about Matrona at all.