fandomtownies | The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (6/2)

Right. So Steph had meant to have the store all decorated for the month yesterday, but in between the kraken drill and then the Wednesday shenanigans she'd been pretty much useless for doing much besides getting her box of Pride decorations from her place to the store.

So she was in early this morning and putting everything up. Her sparkly rainbow Pride sign went atop the center shelf in the comics section, where she'd put together a display of comics of various genres featuring queer characters; the lesbian pride flag that she usually kept hanging over her drums was up on the office door. A small collection of hand-lettered parade signs stood beside the dice displays, a dish of pins and buttons was up beside the register with a "TAKE ONE" sign beside it, and right square in the center of the front display window where it couldn't possibly be missed was a very large rainbow flag.

There were other decorations too, now: she'd spent a good chunk of time over the past few weeks painting entire miniature adventuring parties and equipping them with tiny signs and flags, and now there was a whole miniature Pride parade marching all along the length of one of the board game shelves in the center of the store's front room. There was a special "Spotlight on LGBTQIA+ Creators" display of games and sourcebooks, and of course the rack of D&D themed pride and pronoun pins. There would probably be even more added as the month went on and inspiration struck her.

If anyone needed Steph today, she'd be up at the register or in the office with her laptop and a couple dozen open browser tabs, doing research and scribbling away feverishly in a notebook. For Reasons.

[OOC: I am a normal amount emotional about the Pride memories part of LiS:TC Wavelengths. And the whole June section of it, really. Which I had to screenshot extensively for reference, naturally. Open!]

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Was Tony sort of nuts when given a project to work on? Yes. Yes he was.

Which was why he was showing up at the game shop with an ice maker prototype. "Oh, wow. This is all very festive," he said, getting distracted by the decorations.

Steph looked up and laughed. "I'm not even done yet. Hey, Tony. What's up?"

Like she could judge anyone else for getting a project and going nuts about it.

"Ice maker," he said, lifting the box for her. "It's a prototype, but I'm thinking that it could be good for a niche market if I slip it past the R&D people."

"Dude. Are you serious?" Steph sounded delighted, for the record. "Already? That's amazing."

Behind her, Little Bot rolled by holding a pine cone to add to a slowly growing pile in the corner, and beeped cheerfully in greeting.

"I totally know some people who'd be into that, too. Like I know some people in Seattle who run like a nerd pub? There's a market, for sure."

"Hey there," Tony said to little robot. Because of course he'd great it like another person in the room. "So, it's just normal sized dice, but I was thinking we could always go bigger."

Ah, there was the classic Tony.

"Like those giant single ice cubes, except they're dice?" asked Steph, her grin broadening. "Dude. Yes."

Steph, no. Scotch on a giant d4 rock had a good chance of ending very badly.

Or it could be an excellent weapon in the next invasion!

"You could start a D&D and Mixology class here with this," he suggested. Because it was the best way to game, right?

Oh, if it ever came down to it in the next invasion, Steph was going to use every d4 in the store to defend herself ~~when she wasn't just hiding behind Vi~~. Those little fuckers were deadly.

"That's a thought, although bartending isn't really my thing." Steph's smile was a little wistful as she imagined what it might have been like, roping Gabe into something like that. "Though I wouldn't be opposed to running drunk game nights sometimes."

Toss 'em on the ground, Home Alone style.

"If only to show off your new ice maker." Oh yeah. Just for that. Suuuure.

"And to make players cry, obviously," Steph replied with a worrisome amount of glee.

"Isn't that the point of being in charge?" Tony, no.

Steph spread her hands and smirked even more widely. "I mean. Yeah."

Steph, no.

Steph, yes.

"This'll be fun." Of course Tony thought that.

Look, Steph needed redemption from the game session ruined by truth day. She had to pull out all her dirty tricks to use on players. It was like her personal quest now.

"It's going to absolutely rule."

Hannibal also was a bit driven when given a project. So hello, Steph, here came a man with a large sketchbook.

"Good afternoon," he called out. He looked around. "I see you're already well on the way to decorated."

"Hannibal. 'sup, man," Steph greeted him, waving her pencil. "What can I do for you?"

Little Bot trundled along with another pine cone, at least until Saffron pounced and knocked it out of his actuator arm's grasp.

Hannibal raised his eyebrow at the cat and robot, then gestured at them. "Who generally wins?"

He set down his sketchbook and started flipping toward where he'd left off with Pride designs.

"Saffron, because Little Bot always lets her." Because he was just that helpful.

Steph leaned over to get a better look at the sketchbook. "Dude, this is fucking cool."

Hannibal nodded. "I'm pleased you think so. I didn't know if you wanted artwork for booths, or miniature floats, or banners, so I went for a number of different designs."

And most were quite a bit bolder and less finicky than his usual taste, in keeping with the theme.

The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (6/2)

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