𝙐𝙇𝙏𝙍𝘼𝙑𝙄𝙊𝙇𝙀𝙏 - 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙤𝙣

I

CHAPTER ONE
'WELCOME TO TAPE WORLD,
HOW MAY I HELP YOU?'

( episode 1: suzie, do you copy? )

'I don't get it.'

'What exactly don't you understand?'

'It's the Queen?'

'No... it's uh, Queen as in the band.'

'Well, that's just false advertising.'

'... How, exactly?'

'You can't sell a product that claims to be an archive of the Queen when in reality, it's some gimmick piece intended to mock her.'

'It's... they're a band. A band called Queen.'

'I've never heard of them in my life.'

'You've never heard of Freddie Mercury?'

'Mercury is a planet, sweetheart.'

'Sir, with all due respect, this is a music store. Tape World sells plastic with music on it. They're not books. They're songs.'

'Sir?! How old do you think I am!'

'Look, do you want it or not?'

The old man dumps A Night At The Opera onto the counter with a huff. 'Absolutely not,' he retorts gruffly. Age old eyes bulge out of his wrinkled forehead as he points a finger to her. 'And this is the last time I'll be coming to such an establishment.'

Violet Harper watches him leave, thumping steps and muttering and all.

Even when the bell strung up to the door dies down, she's frozen still in that gesture. Palm extended, mouth open; the absolutely insane conversation she'd just engaged with reeling through her mind. The record across the room fizzles out with the rising needle, plunging the store into silence.

'I've seen everything,' Violet says to herself in a daze, turning back to the box she'd been sorting through before that man had cleared his throat with an inquiry. She pulls the last of the tape free from the sides; the scent of plastic wrapped within plastic infiltrating her nostrils.