fandomtownies | Demon Marcus, Wednesday Morning

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Demon Marcus, Wednesday Morning

So, Sparkle and Atton were taking a vacation from the island and all of its stupidity. Both of them figured that they had earned it, and there were epic plans to... mostly just sit and mock skiers wiping out on hills that were too difficult for them. It would be great.

Except Sparkle kind of needed, like, winter gear. Proper winter gear. He had a lot of his stuff from last year, but even Fandom at Fandom's coldest didn't get, like, proper, stupid, ski-hill cold.

So, for a few hours in the morning before heading off on his trip, Sparkle had the Demon Marcus open, and he was doing just as much shopping for himself as he was watching the counter. Because he was a very dutiful clothing store clerk, or something or other like that.

"Rainbow scarf! Rainbow scarf!!"

Yep. Hard at work.

[OOC: Open and flying without OCD! I'm gonna leap on any opportunity I can to play this week, dangit. I'm on vacation.]

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Ada had spent most of her day yesterday pressed to the window in her room, watching the snow come down. She'd never actually seen snow before, other than in movies, and was fascinated.

...Right up until she decided to go up to the roof to touch some, and discovered it was cold and wet. Look, the carnival was always tucked into the ranch in Arizona by late October. How was she supposed to know it was wet?

Which is why it was a very cold, very disgruntled carnie-girl in a hoodie and a blanket cape/poncho was ducking into the shop, looking very annoyed. "I need stuff," she said abruptly as she shed the blanket, looking more like a girl and less like a sandworm. "Why is snow so cold?"

"Beeeecause it is literally fluffy ice," Sparkle replied, blinking over at her from where he was poking at a few pairs of boots, trying to decide if he'd rather wear the black ones, or the off-black ones. "Haven't you ever seen-- Oh, sweet baby Jesus girl what are you wearing?"

At least you'd come to the right store, Ada?

"You'll freeze your tits off out there dressed like that."

"'M from lots of places," Ada said, scowling. "Ain't none of them got snow while I'm there. So no, I've never seen it 'cept on the television."

She nudged the now-sodden blanket with a cowboy boot. "I borrowed it--" stole it, Ada, be honest. "--from a storage closet in the dorms. Just needed something to get me this far."

RIP, blanket. You fought well.

It tried so hard, and got so far...

"No kidding," Sparkle replied, blinking. "Didn't your big sibling ever tell you to dress for the weather around here? Like, not just the pudding, but the winter?"

He was dropping what he was doing and making his way over, already looking her over to guess at what sizes she might wear.

"Not used to the cold, and I'm betting you haven't even thought about the melt when it comes later. You're going to need at least a coat and some good boots and as nice as those boots you have on are, they're not gonna keep your feet warm, trust me."

Dry, sure. Warm? Not so much.

But in the end, nothing really mattered.

"I came in the summer," Ada replied, shrugging. "Probably didn't even think about it."

Then the rest of what Sparkle was saying dawned, and Ada regarded him with horror. "It gets colder????"

"It can," Sparkle agreed. "Colder and then wetter, like one big mess of cold wet ick. Fandom's pretty mild compared to a lot of places, but even we get the occasional blizzard. This is just some, like, happy little snow."

It was so very Bob Ross out there.

"So what I'm thinking for you is, like, a quality winter coat, one of the ones with the padding and the waterpoofing, and some boots, a hat, gloves, a scarf... Ski pants, maybe. If you've never felt the winter, you'll probably want ski pants."

Ada made a face. "I don't like tight-fitting pants," she said dubiously. "Or shoes. But I'll try almost anything if it means I'm not wet."

Because wet was even worse than cold.

"Ski pants aren't tight, they're chunky," Sparkle clarified. "Like, I don't know, like wearing padded gear around wherever you go. You'll make little zip-zip-zip noises when you walk, but they're warm."

You give him the run of your wardrobe, Ada, and you'd be wobbling out of here like a penguin. A very warm penguin.

"Warm is good," Ada said quickly. "Warm and dry are my two favorite things right now. So, sweaters, coats, mittens... I dunno. What do people wear up here in the North when you're inside? Or do you just stay in bed for the next two months?"

"We get really tempted to stay in bed," Sparkle laughed, and then shook his head. "Sweaters, yeah. Maybe some fuzzy pajamas if you don't have those. Slippers? Blankets are great too, when you're not taking them for walks."

"I didn't take my own blanket for a walk!" Ada pointed out, laughing. "I still got plenty to hide under back in my room."

"But anything fuzzy is fine with me, bonus points for soft and fluffy and loose-fitting--" That way they didn't catch on her scales. "--so I can pile all the layers on."

"Layering! See, you're already catching on," Sparkle laughed, clapping his hands and then looking around. "Okay, so, is there anything that's, like, totally out of the question, here? Any styles you want to avoid? Strong feelings against Ugg boots or whatever?"

"'M from Arizona, as much as I'm from anywhere," Ada deadpanned. "I don't even know what an Ugg boot is, and I ain't never needed to wear more than a raincoat. So, I dunno?" She did a slow twirl for Sparkle. "Make me a pretty pretty ball of not-cold?"

See Sparkle. See Sparkle take a half-step back and just contemplate what it was he had to work with. And what he had to work with was pretty stinkin' cute. It'd be tricky to find a flattering pair of ski-pants, but he had faith he could handle it.

"Let's see, then... Want to start with the coat? We can accessorize around that. You can even wear it while you thaw out, if you want."

"Coat. Yes." Ada was very cold and pitiful, Sparkle. Yes, she was wearing a hoodie, and a long-sleeve shirt under that, but otherwise it was just her jeans and her cowboy boots. She'd stolen that blanket for a reason.

"Here goes all the money I made this summer and fall," she sighed. "'M gonna have to get a Townie job at this rate. Like rainin' candy ain't bad enough."

Edited 2015-12-23 18:21 (UTC)

"Hey, at least the candy isn't cold," Sparkle chuckled. "Here, we have some nice coats, warm and affordable, over here. I made damn sure to have stuff in stock that people could look good in and stay warm in without, like, selling a kidney on the black market first."

He ambled toward the ladies' coats, glancing over his shoulder at her. "And you know, if you ever are in the market for a job, I'm, like, the only one who works here."

So presumably he was running the place or something.

"Rainin' candy just ain't natural, even if it's tasty," Ada pointed out. "I gotta buy stock in umbrellas or something, because all this heavy stuff keeps breaking mine."

But the second part of that sounded interesting enough. "Yeah?" she asked. "I can sew, if you need someone who does alterations and stuff."

"Alterations are a valuable job asset," Sparkle replied, grinning a little. "I mean, we sell stuff like these coats, but a lot of the store's profit comes from the expensive stuff, and we do take it in if people ask."

That was, Sparkle took it in if people asked. All of it.

"So, you know, if you are actually in the job market, we have openings. For, like... everything."

Ever. Sparkle would not complain if there was one fewer day in the week he was expected to show up and work.

"Sure, why not," she said with a shrug. "'M Ada, by the way."

"Sparkle," came Sparkle's reply, along with an offer for a handshake, because maybe that would draw attention away from his stupid name. "And I'm the guy who is going to tell you that you're now eligible for the employee discount, merry Christmas."

Shop, Ada! Shop like the wind!

"Would you like to grab a coat first, or go on the grand tour?"

His name actually wasn't that weird to Ada, given that she'd grown up in a carnival, so she was totally unphased and shook his hand. "Coat to wear while I'm on the tour," she decided. "...Though a shop needs a tour? You got a secret basement or something for annoying people?"

"Not exactly, but there is the hidden liquor cabinet behind the counter and the burn barrel in the back," Sparkle shared. "You'll definitely want to know about the burn barrel in the back."

This was the best place. Ever.

"Burn barrel?" Oh yes, Ada was perking up. "See, these are the things you should have opened with."

"Yeah, but if I opened with them, everyone would be wanting to work here," Sparkle laughed. "And then I'd have to fend them away from the booze or else I'd never get any."

So hey, outside of all the traumatizing crap of the past weekend, getting to beat shit up again had actually worked wonders on Dante's mood.

Which made up for the total wreckage it'd made of his wardrobe. He had a couple of shirts left, plus his prom outfit, but that was about it. No winter crap, either. Lucky thing he wasn't completely broke. Lucky thing the light was on in Demon Marcus.

"Hey," he called as he came in; his expression morphed into a smirk the moment he spotted who was on call today.

"Hey," Sparkle called back, a smirk getting nice and neatly established on his face before he even straightened up at the sound of the familiar voice. "Well, look who it is! It's been a while, man. How's my favourite customer, huh?"

You know, favourite. Not that there weren't other guys who were also his favourites. Sparkle was pretty equal-opportunity when it came to favouritism.

Hey, if Dante wound up being anyone's actual favorite, favorite, he'd be getting out of there quick. Equal-opportunity was totally his style.

"Pretty good now that all the bullshit's over," he said easily, wandering in Sparkle's general direction. "Just wish these stupid invasions stopped tearing through my wardrobe."

"Yeah, you kind of learn to stock up around here eventually," Sparkle replied, shrugging his shoulders. "What are you in the market for today? What was the damage?"

"Lost a bunch of shirts," Dante said.

And considering it was winter and like 90% of his wardrobe was tank tops anyway...

"Figured I should do something about that before I wind up having to hit the washing machines every five minutes. You get a lot of people coming in this week?"

"I wouldn't know," Sparkle admitted, shrugging his shoulders. "There probably would have been a few, but I, like, crashed most of yesterday. I was up until stupid o'clock helping with food prep on Monday, and managed to not pass out through the party."

So people who needed wardrobe replacements were all kinds of shit outta luck until this morning.

And then they'd be all kinds of shit outta luck until he got back from his trip, and they were going to just have to live with that.

Dante shrugged, putting his arm down on top of a clothing rack and leaning into it, just slightly. "Party could've been better," he said. "Though hey, that explains why I didn't spot you."

"It wasn't bad for a little kids' party that was thrown together overnight," Sparkle replied with a shrug. "But yeah, I was in the kitchen, like, most of that time. There were pies and things to make."

So many pies. So many things.

"They were good pies," Dante said, giving him a thumbs up and a grin. "I knew you knew all about hot things, but I didn't take you for a baker."

Aw, that was kind of adorably shameless, Dante. Sparkle approved.

"I'm full of surprises," he laughed, giving a thumbs up right back. "I mean, I don't bake often, but I can put together a meal that won't kill a person. Not a bad life skill to have."

Dante had never met a shame he liked! He didn't see why he needed to start.

"Fried an egg on the hood of a car once," he shared, "That's all I got."

Sparkle pondered that for a few moments.

"Good enough for me," he decided. "Bonus points if you could still eat the egg after you fried it."

"It didn't kill me," Dante said, a grin in his voice.

He pulled away from the rack, slid right past Sparkle with little concern for personal space, and stopped by... okay, maybe he could get a few more tanks.

Look at that! How happy was Sparkle right then that he was still putting out the summer stock in case people needed something to wear when they went home or something? Never could be too sure what kind of clothing people needed around here.

"You dress for winter about as well as I do sometimes," he chuckled, coming up right behind him. "Of course, I layer over the top, too. Especially in weather like this. Ugh, weather like this."

"Hey, I've got a good coat," Dante said, shrugging one shoulder. Said good coat went slipping off that shoulder immediately, but that might as easily have been by design as anything else.

Or maybe it was just a size too big. "Besides, this time of year, it's all sweaters, feels like."

"Feels like," Sparkle agreed. "So, do you have any of those? I can steer you towards ones that aren't of the 'ugly Christmas' variety, if you want."

There were... several of those. With sequins and pom-poms and really bad puns on them.

Dante pulled a face, but at least he didn't kill the idea outright. "You got anything that's warm and doesn't look like something some drone would wear?"

"Where do you think I do all my shopping?" Sparkle gave Dante a little grin, and then nodded toward one of the racks. "I found shirts with dicks on them for Skywalker's boyfriend, I'm sure I've got something here for you."

He started rifling through the selection on the rack.

"Sweater with a ribcage... the black one with all the white stitching on it... that one has holes in it but a fleece lining, like, I think they were confused about the whole point of staying warm..." He was going to tick through the list for you, Dante. You're welcome. "Random silver chains..."

"Hey, the one with the holes is cool," Dante said, leaning over to look at that, because eh, who cared about staying warm, right?

"... and you're shitting me about Kenobi."

He had heard stories about Kenobi. Or, y'know. Helped Isabela write 'em.

"I wish I was shitting you," Sparkle replied, grinning. "Only, no, I don't wish that, because it was a thing of beauty and I'm glad that was an experience I get to carry with me for the rest of my life."

A beat.

"The fact that it was on that weird weekend where people were other people doesn't cheapen it all that much, for me."

Dante let out a snicker.

"Oh, I need to tell Isabela about that," he said. "She goes to all his classes. Comes back and writes stories about 'em."

Oooh, you didn't say, Dante? Sparkle was leaning in close, his curiosity piqued.

"Stories, you say?"

Sparkle liked stories!

"She had me model for 'em," Dante said, just in case Sparkle had wondered how shameless he really was. "Something about trapping them together in a cave until they decided to go at it."

He was looking faintly amused by it, yeah, even as he took the shirt out of the rack.

"You modeled for a story?" See Sparkle, see Sparkle look intrigued. "Is she, like, done this story? Is it on the internet or anything?"

Because so help him, Sparkle had a mighty need.

[OOC: Sorry! Didn't realize I hadn't replied to this!]

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Demon Marcus, Wednesday Morning

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