fandomtownies | The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (6/16)

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The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (6/16)

Pride was this weekend. This weekend, and Steph was probably getting more nervous about it than she ever really got about any of her projects. But then, this was the biggest thing she'd ever put together mostly on her own, and it just happened to be a project that meant a lot to her on a very personal level, so... probably not a surprise that she was stressing out about it a bit.

At least she wasn't stressing out about it so much that she couldn't take the time to appreciate Graham's contributions to her miniature Pride parade of adventurers, though -- she was taking a lot of pictures of those and sending them back to the Haven Springs gang, plus Pixie and a couple of other friends back in Seattle.

As for Little Bot's contributions? There were several small pyramidal stacks of pine cones in different Pride flag color combinations around the edges of the store by now, and while it still made no sense that the damn things kept proliferating in here, Steph wasn't going to deny that they added a nice quirky touch to the theme.

Seriously, though... what is the deal with this? Why pine cones?

Not that she was going to figure it out any time soon. Anyway, she had too much to do today to spend much time puzzling it out.

[OOC: Open!]

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Vi swung by after class with the intention of catching up on her preparations for the LARP next week, but she didn't get very far in before her ankles were very dramatically intercepted by Saffron.

Didn't Vi know that she'd been horribly neglected in her absence? Horribly. She was the worst done by cat in the world.

Steph came out of the stock room with a stack of Cypher System Rulebooks in her arms (so basically, 5 of them because they were 450 page hardcover behemoths) just in time to see that and laughed.

"Somebody missed you. She's been so fucking dramatic about it, too."

Vi laughed as well, bending down to scoop up Saffron, who purred esctatically at receiving her proper due. "Well, I missed her too."

Steph shelved her armful of books on the way over and came to lean on the counter near Vi.

"Awwwwwwwww, who's the happiest little grumpy kitty in the world now, huh?" she cooed. "Who's happier than she's been in like a week now that her favorite human's here? That's you, yes it is!"

Yeah, that's right, Steph was baby-talking to the cat.

While Saffron treated Steph's baby talk with the disdain it deserved, Vi was utterly charmed. The weirdo.

"Look, it's hard being her," she joked, scratching Saffron behind her ears.

Weirdos attracted (were attracted to?) other weirdos, that was why.

"So hard," Steph agreed with a fond little smile meant for the both of them. "You should've seen her all dramatically sprawled out like the most tragic puddle of fur. Every time I tried to get close enough to take pictures, though, she'd like magically wake up and find somewhere else to be."

Hey, now, Vi would vigourously argue that Steph wasn't weird. Or if she was that wasn't a bad thing.

She grinned at her. "Oh, I can't believe that." She could totally believe it.

Yeah, well, Steph would argue that they were both weird and that was what made them awesome.

"Because we all know that hanging out with just me is her idea of the best time ever," she replied, deadpan.

"It should be," Vi said, only half joking, grinning at Steph until Saffron voiced her displeasure at Vic's attention being focused anywhere but her.

"Think you can convince her eventually?" asked Steph, grinning back at her (wow, they seemed to spend a lot of time grinning at each other) and also half joking.

"I'm sure she'll come around eventually," Vi said, still grinning. (It was perfectly normal for friends to grin at each other, why would they be friends if they didn't make each other happy?) "I'll just have to show her how fun it is by example."

Oh, the hardship.

"Like you don't already do that several times a week," Steph snorted, amused. (Well, of course there was nothing weird about all the grinning. Noteworthy maybe, but not weird.)

"I'm glad you're here though," she added more sincerely. "I'm already feeling less stressed out."

Vi shifted Saffron so she was draped around her shoulders instead and turned to more fully face Steph. "What's got you worried?"

"Making sure everything this weekend goes well?" Steph admitted; she looked nervous in a way she never did around anyone else. "I put so much work into this, and it's... it's maybe the most important project I've ever taken on in my life."

Vi reached across to rub her shoulder. "You've got this," she said, soft and sincere. "I've seen how much work you've been putting in over the last few weeks."

"Couldn't have done it without your help," Steph told her. Her grin had been toned down somewhat, but it was still warm and sincere. "You're the best moral support a girl could ask for."

"Thanks," Vi said, blushing a little. "But all I really did was carry the stuff too heavy for your noodle arms."

She had the cat, Steph couldn't bite her while she had the cat.

"Whatever," Steph said, rolling her eyes in amusement. "What did you think, all our game nights and the other shit we do didn't help keep me from getting too stressed about everything?"

No, Steph wasn't going to bite her right now since she had the cat, but that action might very well have consequences anyway, Vi.

(Spoiler: it wouldn't.)

"Well, I guess," Vi said. "But I did all that because I like spending time with you, and that makes it sound like some kind of chore or something."

"You taking notes on this, Saffron?" Steph asked, reaching up to cover Vi's hand with her own. "It's not a chore. Spending time with you always makes me feel more chill; you don't even have to try."

Saffron was quite clearly only paying enough attention to Steph to make it obvious she was ignoring her.

Vi smiled at Steph. Again. Some more. "Yeah, well, same."

Edited 2022-06-17 07:33 (UTC)

Steph would expect no less from Saffron. Actually, it was kind of flattering that Saffron would expend that much effort on paying any kind of attention to her at all.

She just kept smiling at Vi for a few seconds longer, long enough to keep from blurting out a few different things that (if you asked her) really, really needed to stay unsaid.

"Guess we both win that way," was what she finally said.

Saffron needed to make sure her two humans knew their place.

"Yeah, we do," Vi said softly.

It was about then that Little Bot tootled up with a rainbow pinecone. "Well, don't you look fancy."

"Oh my god, those things are going to take over the entire store," Steph groaned. "And I don't even know where they're coming from."

She was perfectly aware that her place in Saffron's life was to see that the food and water dishes were always filled, and the litterbox was kept clean, and anything more than that would be overstepping her bounds.

Vi had noticed there were a lot of them. "Are there even any of whatever kind of tree these come from on the island?" Look, comparative botany was not one of her strong points.

"What, pine trees? In the preserve maybe," Steph replied dubiously; she hadn't spent a whole lot of time there to pay attention to the flora. "They're super messy, and there definitely aren't any around the store. Or my place, which is the only other place they keep turning up."

A beat.

"Also they don't usually come in rainbow colors, but I guess that's a here thing."

"I think they're getting into the whole theme, because that started at the start of the month." Which still didn't explain where they were coming from.

"Which I do appreciate, but..." Steph shook her head.

Were they ever going to figure this mystery out? Well, considering it was only a mystery if one flat-out refused to acknowledge a few facts...

"What are we even going to do with all of these?"

And they were doing just fine with that refusal, thanks.

"If I thought anyone here would buy 'em, I'd suggest selling them."

Oh yeah. Just fine. Wasn't making either of them scream internally at fairly regular intervals or anything.

"I could probably bring at least some of them down to decorate the park with," Steph said thoughtfully. "Shit, if this keeps up for a while we can take all the regular boring ones and have like a bonfire with them."

It would probably burn really slowly too.

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The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (6/16)

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