fandomtownies | Things Reborn, Friday [7/23]

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Things Reborn, Friday [7/23]

Something was bothering Harper as she looked around the store. It took her a little while to realize that none of the inventory had really changed lately and some of the merchandise was starting to look a little dated. And considering it was all used merchandise, it was already a little dated.

"Oh well. Everything looks better with a new coat of paint!" she decided. The first item to fall victim to her taste in re-decoration was an old bookshelf. Harper thought it needed a really bold color.

Things Reborn was open! Be afraid.

[OCD-free and late because I was painting all day.]

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The Royal Insignia of Daventry ring that Alexander had, which was now currently a person, had a natural interest in seeing the village a little better and, while Alexander showed him around, he regaled his owner with tales of the long, honored tradition of honor associated with the kingdom's crest. And while Alexander was doubtlessly proud of that heritage, he had to admit, his ring was incredibly dull. So he took to glancing through the windows of the shops as they passed, waiting for something that might distract him, and finally found something.

"If you'll excuse me, err...ring," he said, and ducked into the shop.

"Harper!" he greeted her. "Hello! It's been a while, hasn't it? Are you engaged in a project?"

One maybe he could shove his ring on to help out and thus perhaps be saved from more of Daventry's long and upstanding history?

"Hi Alexander!" said Harper, giving him a smile. "Who's your friend? And yes, I'm just started working on something. I think this tired old bookshelf needs a new color."

She had cans of pink spray paint. If the bookshelf felt loved enough to come to life, it would be running away right now.

"Would you like some assistance?" Alexander offered with a small smile back. "And this is...err..."

He frowned a little at his friend as he thought of how to explain. "Well. It's the strangest thing, but I do believe he's my royal insignia ring, just...as a person. Err, Ring? This is...Harper. She's a student here as well."

"Pleasure to meet you, Lady Harper!" the ring boomed, in the proud sort of voice that went along with being a dignified symbol of heritage and pedigree. With a silly goatee.

Harper interpreted the booming voice as a sign of enthusiasm, and she was all about enthusiasm.

"It's good to meet you too, uh, Ring," said Harper. "I suppose I could always use an extra set of hands to take this outside so I don't get spray paint everywhere."

"Oh, absolutely," Alexander agreed, nodding and going straight toward the bookshelf to help. "That's a very good idea, actually; wouldn't want to get paint on all these..." It was only then that he bothered looking at what was in the store, and the odd assortments were certainly intriguing! "Items..."

"Ah, and there is a true prince of Daventry!" the ring exalted. "Always quick to help a maiden in distress!"

The praise made Alexander instantly go crimson. "I would hardly call it distress..." he argued lightly.

"I wouldn't call it distress, either. It's my job!" said Harper. "I'm sort of the acting manager around here. My job includes sprucing up all the old stuff so I can sell it."

"Ah, is this a sort of pawn shop, then?" asked Alexander, looking over the merchandise with newly knowledgeable eyes. "That must make for fascinating work!"

"It's very fascinating, and it gives me another outlet for my creativity," said Harper. "I was very proud when the previous owner asked me to take over when he left town. It hasn't been easy, but at least the store is still in business!"

And that's despite Harper's attempt a while back at selling homemade jewelry made of old drawer pulls.

"He asked you to take it over?" said Alexander, feeling impressed. "And you manage all of this, as well as going to school?"

"Oh, it's not that hard. After a few months, I managed to stop breaking stuff by accident all the time," said Harper. "And it's nice not having to ask my mom for spending money all the time, since she's not the easiest person to get in touch with."

Alexander chuckled a little. "Did you try to put any of the broken stuff back together and still try to sell it?" he had to ask. These were the sorts of details that crossed his mind on occasion.

"That's hardly an honourable suggestion for a prince of Daventry," the ring pointed out.

"Yes, but you know my father would have thought the same thing," Alexander countered and, by the grin on the ring's face, he had a point.

"Oh, yes, we try 'repairing' and 'improving' the broken merchandise and then trying to sell it, the same way I want to give this bookshelf a shot of color," said Harper. "I'm really good at improving things and adding a bit more flair."

"I'll be the judge of that after I see it when you're finished," said Alexander with a light chuckle, checking the shelf for any potential unwieldiness before crouching down to heft it fairly easily.

You weren't enslaved by an evil magician for most of your life without learning how to move furniture fairly well by yourself, after all.

"Then you're in for a treat!" said Harper. "Lemme go grab my spray paint and get started... By the way, your friend?" she asked, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Is he really a ring?"

Alexander glanced back toward the gentleman, who seemed interested in other pieces of jewelry at the moment. "Usually," he answered back, "I believe so, yes. He has a nearly encyclopedic knowledge of my heritage and my ring is actually no where to be found. If that is not the case, I will be truly devastated. That ring is incredibly important to me, and I cannot even imagine the melancholy that will sweep over me should I discover it to be gone."

"Hmm. You know, something like this happened last summer," she said. "People's stuff started coming to life all over the place. It didn't happen to me, but it happened to people all over the island. It didn't last that long, though."

"That's a relief," Alexander admitted with a bit of a sheepish, almost apologetic smile. "I think I much prefer him as a ring...he's a little...goofy."

"Aww, but you'll probably miss him when he's back to his silent self," said Harper, shaking up a can of paint. "Ready to see the color I've picked out to add some life to this piece?"

Alexander looked skeptically back toward where the ring was grooming himself in the reflected image of himself in a piece of glass and highly doubted that. So he was glad to move on. "Yes, of course! I'm excited to see it."

"I should probably check the color on a small spot on the back first," said Harper, moving around to the other side of the piece and taking the cap off her can of spray paint.

She sprayed a small section until the color was as dark as she wanted. It was pink. Really, really bright pink.

Alexander took a peek.

"That is very.....vibrant," he noted, his head tilting slightly.

It would be wonderful in a scarf...

"And vibrancy is just what this piece needs if it's going to attract a new owner!" said Harper. "Doesn't it just look fabulous?"

Well, Alexander should know about fabulous. His head tilted, considering the color a bit more.

"You know," he mused, "I do believe it's one of those colors that the more you look at it, the more it sort of...grows on you."

"Terrific!" said Harper. "You know, I wonder if there is anything else I can add to this piece to make it stand out even more."

Of course Harper's tendency to over-accessorize carried over everything around her.

"Hmmmm." Alexander looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Stripes?" he suggested. He liked stripes.

"Gold!" the ring offered; he liked gold, but he was biased, being usually made of it, and everything.

"Gold stripes?" suggested Harper, looking a bit too delighted with the idea. "I could use gold leaf for the stripes and that would add a lot more value to finished piece! Unfortunately, I'm all out of gold leaf."

"Do you know where one might get some?" asked Alexander. Ever the gentleman, of course he was going to offer his assistance with that, as well, because the plan did sound like it would make quite a remarkable bookshelf. "I could go and fetch you some."

"Usually I get my craft supplies at Hobby Lobby, but I'm not sure if they'll have gold leaf in stock," said Harper, frowning slightly. "If they do, it might be the cheap quality stuff."

"And I don't think I'd know the difference between the cheap quality stuff, either," Alexander admitted a little sheepishly.

"Thanks for offering to help, but I think the gold leaf may have to wait for another day," said Harper. "Besides, I might find something even better when I get to Hobby Lobby!"

"Mayhaps," said Alexander, "I shall have to stop by again some time in the near future to have a look at what you come up with. I'm certain it will be...something to see."

"Sure! Stop by anytime," said Harper. "Though the other employees have left the island, so you might want to stop bye on Fridays when I work."

"All the other employees?" asked Alexander. "So you truly do run this operation mostly yourself?"

An idea was starting in Alexander's head, but it wasn't quite fully formed yet.

"Pretty much," said Harper with a shrug. "I really should get around to advertising for job seekers one day. You'd think that there would be a lot of business with graduating seniors leaving the island and not being able to carry everything with them."

"Maybe," Alexander grinned despite himself, "they all just have very big pockets."

And that's when the idea finally finished building.

"Would you...like someone to to start working, helping you out a bit?" he asked. "I'm a very hard worker, and it's impossible to not be interested in all this stuff, and I think it could be a very good experience!"

You know, to actually work for money and not as a slave...

"I would love it!" squealed Harper, dropping her can of spray paint in her excitement. "And I think you'd be really good working at a place like this, based on some of the neat ideas you've had. You're hired! When do you want to start?"

Alexander, who himself was quite easily taken away with excitement, was still fairly surprised at the reaction that managed to get out of Harper. But it did, at the very least, convince him that the idea had been a good one, and he smiled, pleased, chuckling a little.

"How about Wednesday?" he offered after a moment to consider his schedule. "My load of classes is significantly lighter on those days, so that seems like it could be an optimal choice."

"Wednesday sounds good. Do you want a quick crash course introduction now and start next Wednesday?" asked Harper, beaming. "As long as you can figure out how to use the cash register, it's pretty easy."

"That sounds very good," said Alexander, Harper's mood easily influencing him into a broad smile of his own. "I have no pressing engagements. Perhaps we could let you finish painting the shelf and then, while waiting for it to dry, go over all the technicalities then?"

"Sounds like a plan!" said Harper. "Let's do that."

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Things Reborn, Friday [7/23]

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