[PODCAST] Claire-Voyance: Episode Three

[mah1na]

(left to right: Shawna Amato, Claire Skye, Alessa Winters) ((I lost the actual picture.))

Amato for Senator '22

 

 

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* The beginning of "Do You Believe In Magic?" plays softly as the podcast begins. It goes on for a moment, before it's lowered to background noise. ((Claire Skye))*
Claire Skye says: Hey everybody, welcome back to the Claire-Voyance podcast! Claire speaking.
Shawna Amato says: And as always, twisting the knobs, controlling the controls is me. Shawna Amato, Activist, would-be candidate and co-host. Tonight we have another illustrious guest, wouldn't you say, Claire?
Claire Skye says: Oh absolutely. I'm not biased because she's technically my boss, no way. Sitting with us tonight is Alessa Winters, owner of Seeker's and Wandlust down in Mission Row! Thanks for joining us.
Alessa Winters says: Hey, thank you for having me. This is my first podcast, so expect lots of verbal hiccups and long, empty silences. 
Claire Skye says: Oh trust me dude, we can be the same way. Still mastering this whole thing.
Alessa Winters says: It's an acquired skill, just like anything else, I suppose.
Shawna Amato says: And that is what the magic of editing is for anyway.
Claire Skye says: That's the magic we believe in, I guess. But yeah, we're gonna take turns asking you questions and just chatting in general.
Alessa Winters says: That's easy enough. One thing before we get started? You mentioned would-be candidate. Are you running in the next election, Shawna?
Claire Skye says: She is! Amato for Senator, twenty twenty two!
Shawna Amato says: I am, actually. While it's what they call a 'hail-Mary' run. I am running on the Democratic ticket.
Alessa Winters says: Oh wow, that's awesome! Best of luck with your campaign. 
Shawna Amato says: Well Claire, would you like to start our... grilling of tonight's guest or shall I start?
* Shawna Amato chuckles quietly.
Claire Skye says: Lemme go first, I got something. Do you remember when it was that you picked up Seeker's? I know it was originally made by somebody else, you said that with its interior design.
Shawna Amato says: I totally heard 'inferior design' and I was like: "Shots fired".
Claire Skye says: No shots intended!
Alessa Winters says: It was last... April. I'd had designs on the place for awhile beforehand, but I was having trouble tracking down the owner. Official channels had kind of failed me. I actually hired a private investigator to try and track them down.
Claire Skye says: Oh wow.
Alessa Winters says: I've always been interested in the paranormal as a kind of hobby and, after I acquired Wandlust, I had a vague dream of opening an occult bookshop. Have you ever seen Ghostbusters 2?
Shawna Amato says: Is there a haunted painting involved?
Claire Skye says: I've seen the first one, don't remember if I've seen the second.
Alessa Winters says: No— Well, not yet. But, Ray's Occult was always kind of a dream job for me. I thought about trying to find a place in the city to open up a book store, and then just *happened* to find this location, right across the street from my first store.
Alessa Winters says: Here's the really weird part.
Alessa Winters says: One day, I'm leaving Wandlust after closing... And I notice this person standing outside Seeker's. Just on a whim, I go over and introduce myself. Sure enough, they're the owner, and they're interested in selling.
* Alessa Winters snaps her fingers.
Alessa Winters says: Made them an offer right then, and that was that.
Claire Skye says: Whoaaaa. Was this after the PI tried to find them?
Shawna Amato says: I was hoping for the haunted Vigo the Carpathian painting to be in the story somewhere.
Claire Skye says: Sorry for the double question.
* Claire Skye says this mostly to Shawna.
Alessa Winters says: Yeah, about a week or so after. No luck there, of course. It was purely a serendipitous coincidence that I even bumped into them.
Claire Skye says: I'd say that itself is magic, the pure chance of it all. That's so cool.
Alessa Winters says: Well, there's been a lot written in the high strangeness community about serendipitous coincidences, how they play into fate and chance and the like. 
Shawna Amato says: Well that might be a great place to jump in with this then. Why don't you tell the listeners a little bit about your businesses. We do like to give a little bit of attention to our guest's businesses.
Claire Skye says: Yeah. Probably should have started with that,  but. See, we're still scuffed at this too.
Alessa Winters says: Well, as mentioned previously, my first one was Wandlust. That's an, ah... I like to refer to it as an "adult novelty" store, since the other description people use is a bit of a misnomer. Seeker's is primarily occult books and curiosities. 
Shawna Amato says: You mentioned both of your businesses are around the same area, where is that?
Alessa Winters says: Atlee Street, Mission Row. We're very close to the police station there.
Claire Skye says: True! Another awesome perk of it all I'd say. The chances of having both businesses so close to the station. But people still try shit.
Claire Skye says: That leads into my next question.
Shawna Amato says: Claire beating me to the punch here.
* Shawna Amato chuckles.
* Claire Skye chuckles along.
Alessa Winters says: Mmm, I think I see where this is going.
Claire Skye says: Yeah. I'm not sure if it's really wise going straight into this, but. Alessa, can you tell us about some of the negative experiences that have flocked to your stores?
Alessa Winters says: About once an opening at Wandlust, someone will walk in and either immediately back out, or loudly declare they're in the wrong store or "This isn't for me!" and then leave. Occasionally someone will come in just to troll, call us all sluts or dykes or deviants and want to make a fuss about it. Cops usually brush them off pretty quickly.
Alessa Winters says: In Seeker's, we'll have people come in and get scared off by the ambiance or the decorations, or denounce us as "Satanists". Lately, however, the stores have been seeing a more concerted harassment campaign.
Shawna Amato says: I will make one observation, I've been a regular customer at Wanderlust for... well awhile. And I've noticed a rather... larger upgrade in the security. I understand if you don't want to talk about it, but... I am curious about that.

Claire Skye says: True, I saw it show up in Seeker's too.
Alessa Winters says: No bother. I increased security because I was worried about getting robbed. I've hired a guard, and put up new bullet proof security glass and a steel reinforced security door, opened with a pass key that I change daily. 
Alessa Winters says: I've increased the number of security cameras in both stores, with the footage backed up to a server offsite. 
Alessa Winters says: I also, because of the recent trouble, have installed anti-graffiti film on the windows of both stores.
Shawna Amato says: Was this a reaction to the... insanely high crime rate in Los Santos in general?
Alessa Winters says: Yup, exactly.
Alessa Winters says: But I've had issues with the local criminal organizations, and lately I've been enduring a sustained harassment campaign by local neo-nazis.
Claire Skye says: As a frequent visitor of and employee of Seeker's I can confirm this looks to be the case.
Shawna Amato says: Really? That's... a rather large amount of attention for these two stores. I'm also sorry to hear that. Not to... do the whole self promotion thing, but the dual factors of an unsustainable high crime rate, and a PD which seems to... well...
Shawna Amato says: Treat the victims of crime like the perpetrators of crime... That's two major poles of my platform.
Alessa Winters says: There's not much the police can do. I have trespass orders on the offenders on file, but if the police aren't *right there* when the harassment starts, there's not much they can do. I call, the nazis run, the police leave, they come back.
Claire Skye says: This is a good time to note that there are security staff members in case of the worst.
Alessa Winters says: That's correct, but again, there's only so much my *one* security guard can do. They're there to keep the worst offenders from acting up, and to protect customers in the event something escalates. They're a deterrent, more than anything.
Alessa Winters says: But when the store floods with five or more nazi sh— Mmm... Offenders, at the same time, what is she to do?
Claire Skye says: But yeah, crime rate is something we've discussed a lot on the podcast- I mean it's a little hard not to. Anyway, have those precautions you've made helped any?
Alessa Winters says: They've kept us from being assaulted, that's about it. It's fun to watch nazis be petulant children and knock items off shelves or stomp on my electronics when they can't get at me. That's about it. 
Claire Skye says: No more graffiti issues too? I know it's become a post-opening tradition to break out the power washer.
Alessa Winters says: I should note, when the addition of the security wall, I made both my stores cashless to disincentivize robbery attempts.
Alessa Winters says: There was no graffiti last time, but mostly because the police arrived so quickly. If they attempt it again, with the anti-graffiti film, it's a simple matter of just wiping the windows clean.
Claire Skye says: Lot easier process then.
Alessa Winters says: Exactly.
Shawna Amato says: Well I will say in the face of a rather... large amount of organized harassment the fact you still... keep your businesses open is quite the testiment.
Claire Skye says: Exactly. That's some real bravery, dude.

Alessa Winters says: It hasn't been easy. Part of the reason my openings have become so irregular is sometimes I just can't *deal* with it. I've taken vacations to help alleviate the stress, and it takes a great deal of effort to even come back to the city, being perfectly honest.
Shawna Amato says: I'm going to roll that into my next series of questions. Are you a Los Santos Native?
Alessa Winters says: No, I'm not a native. I'm originally from Wisconsin.
Shawna Amato says: How long have you lived here in Los Santos?
Claire Skye says: (Cheese head in the studio, this is not a drill.)
Alessa Winters says: A couple years now. I've owned the businesses for about a year.
Shawna Amato says: So in that time... what do you think has changed the /most/?
Alessa Winters says: I don't think the *frequency* of crime has changed, but the *quality* of it has definitely fluctuated. It's... become a lot more aggressive, a lot more destructive. They aren't even trying to *hide* it, anymore.
Alessa Winters says: And it's just this thing we're expected to live with and accept, as if this is normal in any other city in the country. As if this is *realistic*. 
Claire Skye says: Exactly...
Shawna Amato says: I think that is... very observant, and very correct too.
Alessa Winters says: We have a murder rate that exceeds most historic *wars*, and we're supposed to just carry on and go about our days and say, "ho hum, another day in the meat grinder."
Shawna Amato says: I've had two different cars stolen in a month.
Shawna Amato says: Neither one of them have ever been seen again.
Claire Skye says: Dude the other one didn't show up too?!
Claire Skye says: What???
Shawna Amato says: Poof, probably chopped up into parts by now.
Claire Skye says: Ughhghgh.
Alessa Winters says: I've been mugged three times. The first two were by fake cops, and the second time I was hit from behind with a baseball bat. I was given a concussion. That's *brain damage*, for those who don't know.
Alessa Winters says: No one was ever caught, no one ever prosecuted. The second time, I was taken to an abandoned train yard and threatened with murder if I went to the police, because this guy was dressed *like* an officer, knew call signs, the whole bit.
Shawna Amato says: It's even more disgusting that these are just... done out in the open no one is ever caught, no one ever does anything about it... That's insane.
Alessa Winters says: Yep.
Claire Skye says: I kinda got the easy way over here- got mugged only once in my one year of being here when I was leaving my boyfriend's house. Got all my shit taken, and when I told them to have a nice day they brought out the good ol' d-slur.
Claire Skye says: They nabbed my bike but I found that thank fuck.
Shawna Amato says: Well, I guess I'm the one that's never been mugged, I guess they look at me and think I"m a 'bad bitch' or something.
* Shawna Amato chuckles.
Claire Skye says: Shit's disgusting- somebody's gotta point it out.
Alessa Winters says: Wonderful citizenry here, that's for sure. And the fact it all happens in broad daylight, in full view of security cameras, is the most galling. 
Shawna Amato says: I agree, and it's something I plan to do if elected.
Claire Skye says: Wasn't your car stolen from a parking lot full of security cameras, Shawna? They just don't care.
Claire Skye says: What strange video game did we walk into?
Shawna Amato says: It was parked right under a camera.
Claire Skye says: Ugh. But, anyway. I think it's about time for Shawna's favorite part, unless you have any more questions Shawna.
Alessa Winters says: It's almost as if the criminals run this city and we're all expected to be nice, appeasing little cash cows for their precious little power fantasies. 
Shawna Amato says: There was literally a Cop parked around the corner, I walked up to them and told them my car was just stolen... She looked at me and told me to report it through an app.
Shawna Amato says: A fricking app.
Alessa Winters says: Mmm.
Claire Skye says: ...Bruh...
* Claire Skye deep sigh.
Claire Skye says: This city man.
Alessa Winters says: It's wearying. 
Shawna Amato says: Well, to take a break from throwing black pills at everyone. Got any more questions for our guest Claire before we move on to my favorite segment?
Claire Skye says: Hmmm... oh, I know. I never really figured this out or not: do you own the Crypt too or is that someone else?
Alessa Winters says: HA! Would that I did. No, Eva Blackwood owns the Crypt. I just frequent it.
Claire Skye says: Ohhhhhhh. Yeah, fair, thanks.
Claire Skye says: Uhh... not much else in the way of questions are coming to me I'm afraid. So it's time.
Shawna Amato says: Well, then it IS my favorite part of the show then. When switch things up, and turn the format around. The time we put our guest on the spot. And ask her if she has any questions for /us/.
Claire Skye says: Yeaaaah, uno reverse round!
Shawna Amato says: Exactly.
Alessa Winters says: Well, I'm actually curious. You're running as a Democrat, but what's your platform besides being hard on crime? What proposals do you have to run on?
Shawna Amato says: Oh, glad you asked! Well beyond crime and the PD there are two other things that have my particular interest. I spend some time studying at ULSA. And during my time there I was... appalled at two things. The blatant bigotry of the student body...
Shawna Amato says: And the insanity of things like... VERY frequent Overdoses in the dorms, and some students flat saying they feel unsafe in the student dorms.
Claire Skye says: We actually wanted to get a member of the student council on to put the place on blast but the times didn't work out.
Shawna Amato says: Not to mention the... very suspicious disappearance of frigging /professors/.
Claire Skye says: Oh my god. Yes.
Shawna Amato says: There is something going on there, and it smells.
Claire Skye says: Professor Ginger Caldwell, she went missing and nobody batted a flippin' eye.
Shawna Amato says: "Oh it's Tuesday."
Claire Skye says: Pff...
Shawna Amato says: And I was... agahast.
Alessa Winters says: I'm not the least bit surprised. 
Shawna Amato says: The final leg of my platform is... well not shocking to our listeners. LGBTQ+ rights.
Shawna Amato says: As a member of the community, it's something that is very dear to me.
Claire Skye says: Yep. Both hosts are queer, folks.
Alessa Winters says: Of course, understandable. Your guest is queer, too, so...
Claire Skye says: Ayyyyyy!
Shawna Amato says: So I hope that I at least got a potential vote?
Alessa Winters says: Another thing...
* Shawna Amato chuckles.
Alessa Winters says: As an adult store owner and former stripper, I'm keenly interested in the rights of sex workers. Is there any room for them on your platform?
Shawna Amato says: Yes, there is. Sex work is work, and those workers have the right to basic employee protections at least.
Claire Skye says: Damn right! 
Alessa Winters says: That's nice to hear. I'm hoping for another attempt at decriminalization with some senators with a little backbone.
Shawna Amato says: That is something I would support.
Claire Skye says: Exactly.
Alessa Winters says: Good to know.
Claire Skye says: Alright, so I think we're done.
Shawna Amato says: Would you like to plug your businesses to our listeners one more time?
Claire Skye says: Yes, please do.
Shawna Amato says: We here at Claire-Voyance officially support these businesses!
* Shawna Amato chuckles
Alessa Winters says: Sure. Wandlust and Seeker's, adult novelties and occult curiosities. Basically everything the church warned you against. Don't come if you're a nazi. That's all!
Claire Skye says: Pffff. Also, I do tarot readings at Seeker's!
Alessa Winters says: Also yes, Claire does Tarot readings!

Claire Skye says: Gnight!

Mild Content warning: Use of the word d*ke, talk of hate crimes and neo-nazis. Listener discretion advised.

 

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Edited March 30, 2022 by mah1na
more editing missed RIP

[Topinambour]

Username: RandomWeirdo

Comment: I didn't know about either of those shops, gonna have to check it out! Alessa seems very nice, I hope her stupid problems can get better... this situation in LS is so weird. I got kidnapped and robbed in broad daylight in the middle of an airport, there were cameras everywhere, I knew the faces and names of all four of them, and the cops told me "oh we'll call you later maybe". They never did lol, and when I called them, they didn't even take a deposition, just said "we'll look into it". And a month later I found out no report was ever opened: I was asked to provide an incident number for a CCW and turns out the report didn't exist XD Top tier lmao. But damn... I miss the days when it was cool to punch nazis, instead of cosplaying as nazis. 

[C.Grrl]

Username: M.ChiPunx
Comment: I'm new to LS. Been here.. maybe a week and half? But why the fuck do people let dudes with obvious nazi tattoos into places. Like I went to go get a beer, and saw some dude with obvious SS bolts on his god damn face. Like.. what the fuck? And being new I don't know where I can frequent as a queer person, you know? Most places are chill it's just. What the actual fuck.