The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (10/20)

[drumsticksandd20s]

Steph had most definitely not ordered the dozen large pumpkins that were in a crate on the front step of the store when she showed up this morning, but they were clearly addressed to the store, and really, what was a girl supposed to do with a bunch of gift pumpkins in the leadup to Halloween except start carving them?

Don't answer that.

It was a moot point, anyway, because Steph was already getting to work on pumpkin-carving within half an hour of opening up and yes, all of them were going to have fantasy monsters of some variety on them if the Sharpie sketches of manticores and giant spiders and mindflayers and the like were any indication, to say nothing of the beholder pumpkin she'd already gotten started.

All the dice sets on display along the counter today were in shades of orange and black and purple, and an army of miniature zombies was surrounding a hapless adventuring party atop one of the center display shelves.

Also, a sign that said "CAT IS CURSED, DO NOT PET" was propped up beside one of Saffron's favorite sleeping spots. That was because she'd shamelessly stolen her own idea from Ethan's LARP back in Haven Springs, and possibly unnecessary because Saffron let no one but Vi pet her, ever. But hey, it went with the decor.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[pocketpretzels]

"The friend I was telling you about yesterday," Watts said, "This sort of thing is right up his alley."

Watts didn't know if he'd ever give the actual games a try himself, but the dice were, well. Nice.

[drumsticksandd20s]

"Damn, now my player is I'm really sorry I didn't get a chance to meet him," Steph said, frowning. "I could've had the chance to get people into this form of tabletop gaming way before it was even created."

Hey, some of the fancier dice these days were an art form in and of themselves, she'd argue, even if they never got rolled in an actual game!

[pocketpretzels]

"Well, if there's another chance for the two of you to meet, I'll make sure it happens," Watts told her.

[drumsticksandd20s]

"I would, seriously, love that," Steph replied. "Unrelated, mostly, I think I might just end up doing dice shapes on the rest of the pumpkins after this one, so I don't make myself hate pumpkins for the rest of my life."

[pocketpretzels]

"Probably for the best," Watts said. "Still on theme, and yet not likely to have you carving until all hours of the night."

[drumsticksandd20s]

"Even if I am cheating horribly," Steph agreed wryly. "There's a point where it's not fun any more, and I would like to turn around before I get there."

[pocketpretzels]

"See, I could just say, then why not stop altogether after you finish your current design, but somehow I suspect that would be going too far when it comes to taking the easy way out."

[drumsticksandd20s]

"I could," allowed Steph. "But I still do have all these pumpkins, and I have this serious need to make the Halloweening intensify as we get closer to it."

She paused.

"Unless maybe Stark has like a need to make pumpkin pie?"

[pocketpretzels]

"I don't know about Stark," Watts admitted. "But I was considering making an attempt myself."

[drumsticksandd20s]

Steph's eyebrows went up, just for a second. "Huh. Didn't have you tagged for a baking type, but cool. I mean, you're totally welcome to a couple of them if you want. I didn't -- they were just here this morning when I got here."

[pocketpretzels]

"Oh, I'm not yet," Watts assured her. "But I do like eating pumpkin pie, and the topic of what to do with the innards of a pumpkin seems to keep coming up in conversation..."

[drumsticksandd20s]

"'tis the season for pumpkin talk," Steph said with a laugh. "And I feel pretty guilty about gutting them all, and then throwing them all out after they get seriously gross and sketchy inside."

[pocketpretzels]

“Well, I’ll gladly take a couple off your hands, then,” Watts told her. “And I can even bring you some pie in return- though I promise only to do so if it turns out well. So long as you don’t mind vegan?”

[drumsticksandd20s]

"Not a problem at all," Steph assured him. "I'm pretty used to vegan food, god knows I lived in Seattle long enough."

[pocketpretzels]

"Oh? Is it fairly common, there?" Watts asked. In true Canadian fashion, he'd been to Europe multiple times but never to the opposite end of the continent he actually lived on.

[drumsticksandd20s]

"Maybe not quite as common as Portland," but there's a pretty wide selection," Steph confirmed. Because the Pacific Northwest was gonna Pacific Northwest. "Vegan dive bars, even. My old band used to play a few gigs at some of them."