Pixie Dust | Thursday

[that_oldsaying]

Was this what owning a shop was like?

Sure, Alluka had been here yesterday, but after a night spent thinking about the front windows and looking at her pictures and even doodling (her doodles were terrible) out little potential layouts, she'd found herself coming in today as well.

"Alright," Alluka said, to Mr. Bubbles, who guarded the snacks and tea they had set up on the counter vigilantly. "We'll start with this one space and see what works here before we even touch the other half, okay?"

That seemed like a good plan to her, even though Mr. Bubbles was more interested in whether or not the cookies had strawberry or grape jelly in them.

(Alluka maybe helped herself to a cookie or two before she actually got to work; the answer was there was both kinds!)

Pixie Dust is Open!

[Up by request, but also totally, totally open!]

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[outofherdepths]

Duke was at the diner today, which meant that Larceny was heading to the diner because there would be food there. Like noodles! And cake!

But on the way - for a value of 'on the way' that included 'not actually knowing how to get there' - she found herself outside of a shop that had lots of pretty clothes in the window. Larceny couldn't help but stop, her hands and face against the glass, looking at all the bright colors and shiny fabrics.

When she was a mermaid, her scales shimmered in an intricate design that her podmates all agreed were beautiful. But as a human, her clothes were all warm and functional, but hardly pretty. Nothing like the humans on TV wore.

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka's clothes today weren't particularly shiny or scale-like, but there was no doubting that as she approached the window with a few hats she wanted one of her mannequins to try on, that she was dressed up and plenty intricate.

Admittedly, Alluka's idea of dressed up was a very particular style, but she always looked impeccable.

As she settled one of the hats on her mannequin, she frowned a little—first, it just didn't sit right—but mostly because… was… was she being watched?

Alluka blinked. The shop was still empty, but—there! In the window! Oh!

She beamed and waved.

[outofherdepths]

Larceny flinched back, like she'd been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to. She still wasn't sure about all the rules while on land.

But Alluka seemed to be smiling. And waving. And while technically that could just be camouflage for a predator, the way it often was under the sea, Alluka was pretty tiny. So she gave a tiny wave back.

[that_oldsaying]

And, in a weird way, Alluka was camouflage for a predator, so Larceny wasn't entirely wrong.

Bouncing a bit, Alluka switched hats—yes, this one worked better—and then abandoned the window set-up to poke her head out the door.

"Larceny!" she said brightly. "Did you want to come in? I have snacks and we can look at pretty clothes!"

[outofherdepths]

Larceny brightened, specifically at the word snacks. Look, she was very food-motivated it was another one of her almost-journal names.

"Can I?" she asked, shuffling over in her mismatched flipflops. "I would like that very much!"

[that_oldsaying]

"Absolutely! I'd love to have you visit!" Flip flops in the winter were… not Alluka's idea of footwear so she was definitely noting that and planning to change that before Larceny left.

"Did, did you want a warm drink or a cold drink?" she asked, moving out of the way of the door so that Larceny could come in.

[outofherdepths]

"Ooooh, warm please," Larceny said, stopping right in front of the door and knocking. Three times.

Like Duke instructed.

[that_oldsaying]

"Come in!" Alluka said brightly, a little confused but willing to go along with it. Really, she'd seen weirder customs in her year of travelling as a Hunter. "Shut the door behind you, please! Come sit down next to Mr. Bubbles, there's a stool! I'll get you a tea!"

[outofherdepths]

"Who is Mr. Bubbles?" Larceny asked, pulling the door closed behind her and shuffling inside, still looking a little uncertain.

[that_oldsaying]

The store was, like most stores on the island, much bigger inside than the outside suggested. On the wall behind the counter there was a big sign proclaiming 'Sparkle Like You Mean It' and racks upon racks of clothes were set up in neat, tidy aisles. The change rooms were in the back, not immediately visible.

The front counter was long and wide, and upon it sat a stuffed giraffe next to a plate heaped high with various cookies, and a few comfortable looking stools were against the nearby wall, where people could try on shoes.

"Mr. Bubbles is an old friend," Alluka explained. "He's a stuffed toy—see, that's him there, sitting on the counter waiting for company. He can't talk like you and I can, but I make up what he says."

Sure, she didn't need to these days, but she still did. It helped her think.

[outofherdepths]

Larceny stopped and stared at Mr. Bubbles like she had never seen a stuffed toy in her life.

Because she had not.

"What happened to him?" she asked, frowning. She had seen giraffes, on the TV, but they were supposed to be very big. Bigger than trees. "Did you eat him? He is too small to be anything but a baby and you are not supposed to eat babies. That's bad for future eating, if there are no babies. Plus adults have more meat on them."

Which was important, weighing the meal-to-effort ratio.

"Why would you stuff him afterwards?"

[that_oldsaying]

"Um!"

That was a lot of questions she'd never thought about and Alluka had to take a moment to think of how to put it all straight.

"Um, um, nothing happened to him," she said, wandering over to the counter. "He's meant to be this way. He's... he's not a real giraffe and he was never eaten. He's... a fake giraffe so that children know what a giraffe is before they see on for real?"

[outofherdepths]

"But I know what a giraffe looks like," Larceny protested, following her not unlike a duckling. "I saw them on the TV."

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka smiled.

"Uh huh!" she said, getting a stool out for Larceny. "And, and I learned about them from a book with pictures in it! But there's lots of ways to learn the same things and some people learn from toys like this. See," she dug in one of her pockets and pulled out a small stuffed flower, "this is a fake flower like Mr. Bubbles is a fake giraffe. They're meant for really little kids to learn things from."

[outofherdepths]

"This is very soft," Larceny said, brushing her fingers over it. "And squishy. Flowers are soft, but not very squishy." She nodded once. "I like squishy."

[that_oldsaying]

She hesitated a moment but...

"Did you want to keep the flower?" she offered, with a bit of a pang. "It could be a soft, squishy little friend for you."

[outofherdepths]

Larceny looked over to her. "This is not mugging?" she checked.

Look, she kinda had a habit of stealing from small children. But she'd been told that was bad.

[that_oldsaying]

"This is definitely not mugging!" Alluka said happily. "This is giving!"

Other people would be worried that that was even a question.

Alluka was not.

[outofherdepths]

"Then I will take it," Larceny said happily, hugging the stuffie to her chest. "Rey gave me flowers, too," she confided. "But hers were not squishy. I have never had a squishy."

[that_oldsaying]

"Never?" Alluka blinked, and then beamed. "Then I'm glad to give you your first one! Now, the important things about soft, squishy friends like your flower is that they shouldn't get wet—it's not very good for them—and that you can give it a name, if you want."

Alluka thought of trying to explain that she let her friends tell her their names but thought that might be too complicated since she'd just gotten done explaining that the squishy toys weren't real.

[outofherdepths]

"Do you name flowers?" Larceny asked, brows furrowing together. She dug in her pocket and pulled out a large pearl, with a luxurious sheen. It was slightly irregular, proof it hadn't been created in a lab. "Here," she offered. "For you."