Counterfeit money, interesting.
When you work with something for so long in your life, it's almost always impossible for you to get caught out by a fake. The quality of the counterfeit can vary, of course depending on the person, but it's all the same.
A regular 5 Lien note is pink in colour and has a thin white border that surrounds the note. Normal fakes are the same but have slight differences which can go unseen to the regular eye but are obvious once found. The most common mistake is that the fibre of the note is completely wrong, a note has pink fibres embedded into it. So people try to get around this by printing or drawing it in a similar fashion.
Money is one thing that can always be identified as fake. Using the most minute details, a fake can be separated from real.
Cyril ran his thumbs fingernail over the middle of the bill which had the flag of Vale stamped on to it. A normal note has ridges which come with the development of the note so ordinary people can't replicate it. An insignificant detail like that is always the hardest for shopkeepers to realise but it was the easiest to see. This was clear fake that was in his hands.
As a shopkeeper, Cyril received notes like these on a regular basis. Though it never interested him why they did it, it was always the person behind it who interested him.
Take now, for example. The person who gave him this note was a young woman. Maybe in her late 20s early 30s but that was just a guess. Her eyes were a deep purple, and she had a small plaster on her cheek. Her hair was a deep black which stopped at shoulders, though it was done in odd curls. But the thing that interested Cyril the most was the fact that she never made direct eye contact with him once. She looked everywhere but at him.
She'd constantly brush her hair to the side or bite her nails. She was clearly doing this for the first time. It wasn't hard to figure it out, anyone with a bit of common sense could figure it out.
Her face showed a young, innocent woman who is only trying to make a living. It was understandable. Most people tend to do this kind of stuff when money is low or they don't have a stable income.
"You from around here?" Cyril asked after a few seconds of silence.
The question seemed to take her by surprise. A stiff turn and a small yelp all but confirmed her alertness.
"No, I recently moved from Mistral." It was a lie, but it made sense why she'd be here then.
Cyril sold antiques. Silverware, coins, furniture, vintage books, paintings and anything someone could think of. It was a pleasant job; he had everything that he could ever want around. People from all walks of life and different areas came to buy from him. It was quite a popular shop. Apparently, people liked the 'classic' nature of the shop.
"Mistral? Why'd you move from their? I hear it's lovely this time of year." Cyril said as he clicked a button on the register which opened it.
"It was hard to keep a family with no husband and the crime is horrible there. I just needed a break." She chocked out. She found it hard to articulate her words. One glance at her hands and she was shaking. After she'd answered this question, there was a pang of discomfort which overwhelmed her. She felt guilty for some reason.
"Is that why you used this fake note?" He asked calmly.
The more he spoke, the more she felt the doubt in her stomach grow. Each word and each syllable was a weapon being used against her. She felt a weight on her shoulders and it filled her head with contradicting statements. She'd heard things about this store, things about the owner specifically.
To the customer he seemed calm about the whole situation. He was just weirdly shady. The shop was only so popular because of the array of products that were offered in the store. The only problem was he didn't look shady. He was an average-looking man with no distinguishing features. Black hair, brown eyes, nothing that would let you pick him from a crowd instantly.
But the entire time he was off-putting. It seemed wrong somehow. It was as if his presence itself was making her sick.
It was only a matter of time before she broke.
"No. I lied!" She cried. "I lost my job and I don't have enough money to pay for anything!"
"As I thought." Cyril sighed.
He placed the fake bill into the partially filled till and slammed it shut. He took the vase which she "bought" and then placed it into a bag which he handed over to the customer.
"Thank you for shopping at Cyril's antiques. I hope to see you again."
Of course, the customer ran for her life.
Cyril wasn't a fan of his semblance, nor his ability to use aura. It put him in situations where the temptation to use it was irresistible and it got him involved in with powers that were far beyond him.
He clicked a button which was located underneath the cash register and without delay the neon green open signs stopped flashing and the roller doors descended in front of the store. It was about time to call it a day.
The young shopkeeper walked to a shelf of books which was placed in front of a well. They were old classics which weren't studied or even read anymore. Some of his favourite books were on this shelf and it hadn't been touched for years. He guessed that because of the CCTS, people just weren't really interested in books because with a click of a finger. Books just felt out style which was saddening to him. That was a disadvantage, a rapid increase in technology brings some things aren't need more. The lack of people reading books brought about its problems.
Do humans have the capacity to form their own opinions? Cyril always thought, since books can be contradictory and treacherous. It can make you ask questions which you never wanted to ask. Questions which can bite at you forever. These negative emotions create the perfect attraction for Grim. So the intellectuals of the great value Council decided that the contents of books should be toned down. This of course didn't stop a few books, such as the recent The man with two souls, to delve into the in-depth commentary of the human condition.
To replace the informing nature of books, the national media swooped and became the source of entertainment and all things fictional. Unlike books, they didn't do things unique. Most TV shows were either flat out boring or too safe. Scary or dark weren't part of a movie script, Cyril couldn't even remember the last time he saw a film which genuinely scared him.
But that was just a part of life, although a boring part of it.
He grabbed the shelf from the edge and pulled it to the side, revealing nothing behind the shelf. The colour was blended to the cream background of the wall, but it could be seen with just a squint of the eye that it was a door.
With a small push, the door opened. It led down a dark set of stairs. At the end of the stairs a white light could be seen, a guide for Cyril, who descended down the stairs.
The walk took a while since he couldn't actually see anything the only thing helping him walk were the handle rails on the side of the stairs.
Once he reached the bottom, a wave of white hit him, but he didn't flinch. The entire basement was a neat assortment of devices. The room was divided into 2 stations.
1 half of the room had screens which were displaying inside people's houses and showing living people as they lived their regular lives. Some screens were black, while some had colour and even sound coming from them.
The other half was a single large desk with a two laptops and a single pair of headphones.
"Home sweet home."
When you're a shopkeeper selling day-day objects to people, why not have some fun with it. After all, information was an expensive necessity.
END
Whew. It's kinda scary writing you know?
This whole idea came to when I had a dream where my local shopkeeper was bugging the stuff I was buying to spy on me and I just thought it was cool and thought might as well apply it to a story. I had another half of this chapter planned but I scrapped just so I can see how people feel about the story. I think I gave a bit too much away in terms of his semblance but oh well.
I have a general layout on how the story will go but I'm still polishing that.
Just a disclaimer, I am not an author and my writing isn't the best. I just wanted to do this idea I had. Future chapters will be a lot longer than this depending on the reception it gets. Just doing this as a first time experience so all Feedback is welcome.
Also there's a bunch of ways to figure out if money is fake that I didn't even know were possible.