Demon Marcus, Sunday

[myownface]

Sparkle was in a good damn mood today, yes. The dates last night had been fun - nothing had really come of them, but he hadn't realized just how badly he'd needed to get the hell out and about and socialize for a little while. And now he was at work, considering his stock, putting most of the leftover Halloween stuff away and pulling a few costumes that caught his eye to the side to pick apart or alter later.

He was maybe a little bit anxious about tonight, given the whole 'date with Hernando' thing, but he was starting to get the impression that Hernando would be easy to please, and he was pretty confident that what he picked for the evening wasn't going to be, like, outright a no or anything.

He bounced on his toes as he stood behind the till, counting the minutes. Why did work shifts go so damn long when you were waiting for something to come after them, anyway?

[OOC: Open! OCD-free!]

Comments

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Well. Perhaps the very large red Zora ducking cautiously through the door and taking a brief look around the unfamiliar world of clothing would provide at least a little bit of distraction and help make a few of those minutes move a bit faster.

"Ah!" Sidon grinned when he spotted Sparkle, nodding as he approached. "Hello! I trust you might be able to assist me? I'm afraid I may require some help."

[myownface]

H-hello, very large naked shark friend. Sparkle blinked up at Sidon, tilted his head, and then shrugged and grinned up at him.

"That's what I'm here for," he replied easily. "I mean, heck, I run the place, so if there's anything specific you need that we don't have in stock, I can place an order or tailor something up for you, no problem."

If it was for large naked shark friend himself, Sparkle might have to do some tailoring...

[in_sidon_we_trust]

"Oh, no," said Sidon, chuckling a little as he shook his head and held up a hand. "It's not for me; I instead come in search of a gift for someone else, as I'm sure you may have noticed, I do not particularly have a predilection for clothing myself, which is why I find myself in this particular predicament. I do not wish to necessarily pick something out; I wouldn't dare wish to assume on this friend's tastes, and I rather like to think she would greatly enjoy the option of choosing for herself, so I understand that, in this case, something along the lines of a gift card or certificate might be well in order. However, having never purchased clothing for myself before aside from a few items to stave off the cold in the winter, I am at an utter loss to wager how much would be an appropriate amount. I should very like to offer enough that she might be able to expand her options considerably, but I would also like to avoid seeming too..."

After all that, he seemed slightly at a loss for that one last word, hand circling the air as he tried to search for just the right one.

"...ostentatious."

Yes, that was it perfectly.

[myownface]

Sparkle grinned a little at that, heck yes. This guy was adorable.

"Ostentatious, huh? Well, I suppose that depends on who she is to you. Family? Friend? Roomie? Girlfriend? It kind of varies, depending."

[in_sidon_we_trust]

See, now, that wasn't very fair, Sparkle, when Sidon himself was still presumably so completely bewildered on exactly what the answer to that question would be.

Well, there was at least one thing he could be fairly certain of in this regard.

"What might you recommend," he ventured after a moment of very serious consideration, "for someone who perhaps fits most in the category of best thing to ever happen to you?"

[myownface]

Oh man, big shark buddy here had it bad, didn't he? Sparkle couldn't help but make a little, "Aww," before leaning forward against the counter, grinning up at him.

"I'd say," he said, finally, "if she's the best thing to ever happen to you, you might actually want to try to pick something out yourself. Instead of letting her see numbers and worry that it's too much, pick out something that you think she'll like. Show her you put some thought into it. Something that's obviously money can be weird for some people. But get her a hat or some gloves or a nice scarf, and that's something she can wear and go, "Hey, this guy likes me and wanted me to have this."

[in_sidon_we_trust]

"Hmmmm." Frowning slightly, Sidon rubbed his chin thoughtfully and considered this possibility. It completely eschewed any of the practicality he was going for with his original idea, and that was what made the plan cling to him so. It was practical and necessary, and you couldn't go wrong with practical. But then that did make it sound rather safe, didn't it? The option being presented to him now seemed rife with the possibility of a thousand mistakes, which was....exciting, yes, but also a little terrifying. What if he wound up picking out something ridiculous or something she hated, and then he would forever be tied to something distasteful. But if she did like it....he couldn't deny that the situation described, that she'd think of him fondly whenever she wore it, was incredibly appealing, impossible to pass up once he really thought about it and let it settle.

"Yes," he said, nodding, and then his face lit up and his fists punched the air a little, "Yes! That is a wonderful, marvelous idea! Ah, I knew it would be wise to seek your advice; I would have never have possessed the wisdom on such things to put it in such a considerate perspective. I believe I will make the attempt to pick something out, then, and just hope for the best. I do have excellent luck, though; I hasn't failed me yet!

"But no hats," he added after a moment, as he began to shift his gears and consider the new options. "Certainly no hats. And she does need a shirt, perhaps a few of them, and that's where I'll imagine I'll need the most assistance. Gloves are a good idea, too, especially with winter on the way, and a scarf. I think I can manage picking out those on my own, but shirts are far beyond my ken."

[myownface]

You were going to destroy Sparkle with your enthusiasm, Sidon. And Sparkle was here for it. He gave a pleased little chuckle, and then mirrored that fistpunch right on back.

"There you go," he said, encouragingly. "I'll tell you what... you pick out the gloves and scarf you think she'll like, and I can help you pick out shirts that'll look good with it. We can figure out her size together, and if it doesn't fit right, tell her she can bring it in and I'll alter it so that she can wear it anyway, no charge."

[in_sidon_we_trust]

"Splendid!" Sidon beamed, throwing his arms open with his excitement and appreciation for the suggestion. "What a spectacular plan! Truly, I cannot thank you enough for your sage guidance in this matter; I would have most certainly been as lost as a hatchling in the stream! But, if I may, I might beseech you for a small bit more of your excellent perception: are the perhaps any colors in particular you might suggest to compliment the color blue? Or...well...perhaps it would be wise to stick with darker colors, as I imagine that would do a far better job of disguising bloodstains?"

It was a...terribly important detail to consider, really.

[notconflicted]

Now that the personal mess that had taken up a good portion of her year was settled (she hoped), Sia was trying to get back into things. Which meant semi-sheepishly sending texts.

Hi. It's been a while.

[myownface]

Unless the pickle incident counts, yeah. Life happens, right? It's been busy here.

Sparkle had been doing a lot of trying not to be obvious about his hovering over Atton lately.

[notconflicted]

She was also trying not to hover, with the added fun of having no idea how to navigate that relationship these days.

Same. How have you been, though? Aside from occasionally furry.

[myownface]

Kind of tired, honestly. Fandom's been throwing PEOPLE at us like constantly, between parents weekend and homecoming and dead people? Could use some breathing room.

Especially since Atton had gotten the 'dead people' wallop pretty damn hard.

[notconflicted]

I was there for two of those. There hasn't been anything since homecoming, has there?

If it was hard going up and back from Fandom stuff and being expected to deal with real life, it had to be worse to be stuck in it all the time.

[myownface]

Not yet, nah. But Fandom. Give it a month or two and we'll all be fighting for our lives from something stupid.

He'd been around long enough to know how that went.

Last night was 3MD tho. That was fun. How are things for you?

[notconflicted]

Still rebuilding. Politics and Sith continue to be terrible. Things don't change much.

It was a good thing to be numb to your life sucking, right?

Did you get anyone decent? Pretend I know who anyone is these days.

[myownface]

Boo. Hoping for some progress for you, you deserve the break. 3MD went okay for me, anyway. Didn't meet anyone new and exciting, most people I was paired with were just in it for a few minutes of company, but I'm fine with that. Was still nice, you know?

[unusual_sith]

Lana had recently been reminded she probably needed heavier clothes for the winter, and that meant coming here and speaking to Sparkle. Or, well, possibly one of the others, but she knew Sparkle.

So, here she was, nodding to him as she came in. "Hello. Are you busy?"

[myownface]

"Nope," Sparkle laughed, shaking his head. "Never too busy for a customer. How can I help you?"

Winter was coming, he had a feeling he was going to be getting a lot of new faces in here.

Though it was kind of hard to top Naked Shark Guy.

[unusual_sith]

Lana wouldn't even try to top Sidon; that enterprise would be doomed to failure.

"I understand it's going to get quite a bit colder," she said to Sparkle. "I'm assuming you have clothes for that?"

[myownface]

"Hell yeah I do," Sparkle replied, nodding. "Do you have any experience with winters?"

[unusual_sith]

"I grew up in a city in the middle of a jungle, and a temple on a world that's almost entirely desert," Lana said. "So, probably not anything like this place."

[myownface]

"... Yeeeaaaahhhh we're going to get you some sweaters. And a good jacket. And boots, and gloves, and a hat, and a scarf," Sparkle rattled off, wincing. "One of these days I'm going to go to the school and find Skywalker and shake him until he agrees to send out a checklist of winter gear students are going to fucking want do they don't freeze their asses off every year."

[unusual_sith]

"I have boots," Lana reminded him. "And I'd like to see that." Sparkle shaking a Jedi should be interesting.

[myownface]

"There's boots, then there's warm boots," Sparkle countered, "but sure, we'll focus on the other stuff instead. All while I plot to shake the dean."

Because hey, tempting, right?