fandomtownies | The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (12/1)

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The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (12/1)

Steph had a habit of letting the water in the shower run until it was really nice and hot before she got in, which ordinarily she felt kind of guilty about. Given that it had saved her from being all sticky and having egg nog in her hair this morning, though, she could make an exception to be grateful for it.

She had a Fleetwood Mac playlist on endless shuffle today while she updated inventory and worked on fulfilling the latest batch of online orders, because it just felt like the thing to do -- though of course that did mean a dent in her productivity when "Tusk" came on and she had to get up and do an incredibly flashy air-drums routine along with the entire song.

And then when she tried to do her usual trawl through TTRPG Kickstarters she got distracted again, this time by a video of Amaury Guichon the Chocolate Guy making a whole-ass, functional foosball table out of chocolate. Which meant that she had a wistful sort of smile on her face on and off for the rest of the day, thinking about all the ways she and Gabe could've trash-talked each other over their longstanding foosball rivalry if 'loser has to eat the table' had been a factor.

[OOC: Open, though it is the first of the month so, y'know. No guarantees.]

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“Good afternoon, Miss Gingrich,” Watts greeted as he entered the shop, hat finding its was as usual to a beholder tentacle.

"Detective Watts," Steph said in return, with a nod for him and a smile for the hat situation. "How's it going on this hygienically-challenged sort of day?"

Yet another reason to be glad she'd found and set out that giant pump jug of hand sanitizer that'd turned up in the stockroom!

Daily (or near-daily) showers were a habit Watts had only picked up over the last couple months; when one didn't have access to a private bathroom such a luxury was essentially impossible (to say nothing of the fact that showers themselves were generally only found in wealthy homes, not boarding houses). Still, even then he'd at least been able to wash his face every morning. Not so today!

"I, for one, am glad I did not blindly step into the shower without checking," he said, heading for the dice also as per usual.

Edited 2022-12-01 15:45 (UTC)

"God, I know, right?" Steph asked, her mouth quirking into a grin as he headed for the dice pretty much right on schedule. "I should've just filled up some jugs of water in advance and stashed them at home to prepare for this but oh well. Welcome to December in Fandom, where we're very hardcore about the winter holidays."

He had a routine, okay!

Selecting a handful of dice, he gave Steph a searching look. “What do you mean?” He had a sneaking suspicion, thanks to the lead-up to Halloween, but was trying to cling to the hope that whatever was happening to the taps was a one-off.

Steph grimaced and gave him a very sympathetic look.

"My dude, I sincerely regret to inform you that we're about to get a whole month of random shit like this. Snowing powdered sugar, or an invasion of tiny white horses, spontaneously appearing decorations... it's mostly cute stuff, at least?"

Watts couldn’t help it, he visibly grimaced at the confirmation of a whole month of random shit like this.

“I- suppose it could be worse,” he allowed. “Hopefully no food will spontaneously be changing form.” No, he wasn’t still bitter over that, whyever would you ask?

Steph's immediate distasteful grimace ought to be evidence enough that she was just as bitter about it.

"Yeah, that was annoying," she agreed, "and hopefully not? Who even knows with this place, though."

“The upcoming holidays were actually what brought me in today, however,” Watts admitted.

"They're a little unavoidable the second Thanksgiving is over," Steph said wryly, as she reached for one of the sets of chocolate dice they still had in stock. "What's up with them today, though?"

“I believe you’re already aware by now that Steven and I are hosting- something of a get-together for Hanukkah later this month?” he asked.

"I may have gotten a few squirrel notes on the subject, yes," Steph replied, casually sliding the chocolate dice his way.

"Well, I wanted to- stop by and extend an invitation to you as well," Watts told her as he watched those dice get casually slid his way. "It won't be- anything religious," he felt the need to clarify, particularly because Steph was one of the only people besides Steven who he'd talked to about his desire to connect with that part of his heritage. "Just- food and friends and music and the like." He shot her a curious look as he picked up the box with the chocolate dice to examine it.

"Seriously?" Steph asked, looking a little surprised but delighted. "That sounds awesome, thank you."

She indicated the chocolate dice.

"The Forbidden Candy," she intoned, playfully dramatic. "On the house, for you."

"Oh!" Now it was Watts's turn to look surprised and delighted. "Thank you."

"The party is on the 19th, by the way. So- plenty of time. And unlikely to be as, ah, raucous, as I've heard tomorrow's affair can get."

"The 19th," Steph echoed, and pulled out her phone to tap in a reminder. "That's almost more advance notice than I know what to do with."

She grinned at him. "Those are dairy-free, by the way. Should be fine to share with Steven."

The idea for this particular party had initially come up in conversation with Steven all the way back in September, so. It had been in the works for a while.

His smile got a little wider at the clarification regarding the chocolate. "I appreciate that," he told her, tucking them away in his jacket pocket. Because yeah, he absolutely would share with Steven if possible. He liked his snacks but he also liked sharing his snacks with people he cared about!

"Milk chocolate is inferior anyway," Steph added, deadpan. But also, you know. Absolutely serious about that.

"I've never tried it," Watts admitted. "So I'll have to take your word for that."

Honestly if one didn't count mochas, which he'd become terribly fond of since arriving in Fandom, he could count on one hand the number of times he'd had chocolate in some form or another. It had been an unattainable luxury while growing up and even if it was far more easily available now, even back home, it was one of those things he didn't always think to seek out.

"You're not missing out," Steph said, waving her hand. "At least, not with garden-variety grocery store milk chocolate."

Because it hadn't occurred to her that the idea of garden-variety chocolate of any sort might be a novelty to him.

"Garden variety?" Watts echoed, because that was a new one.

"Oh, is that --" Steph smiled sheepishly. "Damn. Didn't realize that was a fairly new figure of speech. I just meant the ordinary, non-fancy kind."

Huh. Now she was going to have to go look up that phrase and find out where it came from.

“Ah,” Watts said, nodding in understanding. “‘Ordinary’ is not a word I would have thought to apply to milk chocolate,” he admitted. “Or chocolate of any variety.”

Steph, somewhat to her credit, looked immediately contrite.

"Which is a perspective I didn't think to consider," she replied. "It was probably kind of hard to come by at all, wasn't it?"

"Far too expensive, at least when I was growing up," Watts confirmed. Not to mention even if they'd had money for such luxuries he had a feeling Clarissa wouldn't have been particularly inclined to share any with him.

"Yeah, I mean, they hadn't perfected the art of mass producing it with way cheaper ingredients and a shitload of exploitation yet," Steph said dryly.

She paused and indicated the chocolate dice.

"Those are fair trade, made by a small business. And by small I mean literally one nerd in her kitchen."

Watts opened his mouth to ask what was meant by fair trade, and then resolved instead to look it up on the Google later. He could hazard a guess given context, anyway.

"Is this- someone you know?" he asked, curious.

"Not personally," Steph admitted. "I stumbled across those online and then found out the person who made them lives in the DC area, so I contacted her through her Etsy shop and asked if she'd be interested in letting me sell some in the store. She does custom designs on commission, too. It's pretty awesome."

Etsy, he knew, at least! It's where Steven had found the Hanukkah-themed sweatervest he'd be sporting tomorrow evening.

"These are quite clever," Watts agreed. "What sort of custom designs, would you happen to know?" Was it rude to ask a shop's proprietor what another business owner might sell? Then again, Steph had been the one to mention it, so perhaps it was all right...

You could honestly find anything on Etsy.

"Most small objects you can cast a mold of," Steph said, "and if I'm remembering right she's starting to do a little bit of sculpting, too. Her contact information's on a card inside the box, if you're interested."

Part of her always felt a little gross making sales pitches, but hey, at least this was helping out a fellow geek with a passion project, right?

"I might be," Watts said, a notion already brewing. "Thank you."

Steph grinned, the eager expression of someone who sensed a cool project and got enthusiastic about it just by being present when it was born.

"If there's anything I can do to help, let me know."

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The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (12/1)

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