fandomtownies | Pixie Dust; Friday Afternoon [03/03].

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Pixie Dust; Friday Afternoon [03/03].

What a strange and unusual place this was; Boc wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. Just as he suspected, the room that the very kind Nell had set him up with at the hotel was something far more extravagant than he could ever imagine, putting him in quite the rough spot of not wanting to seem ungrateful for her generosity, but also feeling very uncomfortable in such a nice place, especially since he'd discovered, as he skulked around the island for the past few days, trying to get a feel for it without garnering any unwarranted attention, there was almost an abundance of little nooks and crannies and rocky bits and tree copses in which he could curl up in comfortably without even the slightest threat from other creatures such as himself! There were a bit of odd furry types down over by the boardwalk that seemed to give them rather suspicious little stares from behind their mask-like markings across their eyes, so he gave them a wide berth, as well as the little squirrels that seemed to be everywhere, but overall, this island seemed like a surprisingly safe place, especially compared to what he was used to, and he couldn't help but wonder exactly which part of the Lands Between he'd been whisked off to, because he rather enjoyed it, if he was honest, and perhaps it had been a good thing, having been kicked out of the cave and turned into a tree and whisked all the way over here, although his relocation did not bode well for his ever getting his dear old mum's old sewing kit back.

But Nell, in all her seemingly endless generosity and kindness, had given him one of her own for the time being, and he still felt rather terrible for only having but ten measly mushrooms to give her for all her help, especially once she'd set him up with that wonderful pizza and that terrible room and even a bit of pocket money, so he was trying to think of something else he might offer of value to her. But, of course, the only thing he knew that was worth anything was sewing, but he wasn't good enough to just make her something, but he was rather good at alterations, and he'd seen that shop, with all those lovely clothes inside and perhaps he might find some inspiration there...

But when he skulked in, somewhat tentatively, half-expecting the merchant there to take one look at him and shove him away (imagine his surprise, then, when the merchant not only greeted him, but welcome him in! And invited him to take a look around! Wonders never ceased, in this place), and spent a good deal of time just marveling all the beautiful garments and other things hanging so neatly (and in such abundance!) around him, he found himself struck with a slightly different kind of inspiration, and he approached the counter, carefully placing his paws on it to help him to better peer up at the merchant behind it.

"P-pardon me, cully," he said, a little astonished by his own boldness, "I don't mean to intrude, but might I ask you a question? Are you....have you created all these garments yourself? They're incredible, rarely have I seen such a diverse section, and in such fine materials as well. I am truly humbled by such immense talent!"

But the merchant just started at Boc for a moment, causing him to shrink back a little and prepare himself for whatever tirade or abuse might be forthcoming, but then they just shook their head.

"Naw, dude," they said. "I just work here."

Boc blinked a few times at that. "Oh," he said. "Oh, I see. Well...then....if....if it's not too much trouble, cully, do you suppose....that is, I was wondering if I might speak with the tailor, then? Oh, I would never assume that I could ever reach the heights of their clear talent, but, perhaps....do you....do you think? That they might be willing to take on a poor fledgling seamster as their apprentice? I'd be ever so grateful. I'm only just starting out, but I am quite cunning with a needle, if you'll let me."

"....Tailor?" the merchant asked, then shook his head. "No, no, we're not that kind of shop."

"Not that kind of...?" Boc started, and, in his bewilderment, wasn't quite sure how to finish that question. "But then....what if someone needs an alteration to their garments? If it's, say, too big or too small or might need a pesky cloak removed, something like that?"

The merchant shrugged. "People usually just buy it as is right off the rack."

"As is?" Boc's eyes were wide with shock and maybe even a little offended at the concept. "Why, but there's no way....well, I suppose, with this much variety, anybody could find anything to suit them properly, but no alterations? No mending or darning or even patching? Honestly?"

The merchant's smile was rueful and apologetic and maybe even a little amused. "Yeah, no, sorry, little guy. Nothing like that."

And then Boc had a truly wild idea, but he'd had a rather wild sort of week, so, putting up his chin a little with a rare burst of confidence, he said, "Well, then, I'd like to offer my services. Boc the Seamster, at your disposal, master. I'll be happy to provide my needle for any alterations and adjustments to the garments you sell, for it is clearly sorely needed."

The merchant just looked amused, shaking his head, because, Fandom, man. "Sure," they said. "Knock your socks off."

Boc then cast a worried look down at his feet before looking back up again. "Oh, but I'm not wearing any socks...should I be?"

It was definitely turning out to be a more interesting day at Pixie Dust than that employee had dealt with in a very long time.

Pixie Dust is open!

[[ and thus Pixie Dust had officially landed in Boc's capable hands....er...paws? hooray! ]]

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Nell had been looking for Boc, wanting to make sure he was all right and had enough to keep him going, so today she finally managed to track him down. "Boc!" she said with a smile. "I'm glad to see you again. How are you?"

When Boc heard his name, his first instinct was to wince a little and put up his paws, as if to prove that he wasn't doing anything, not anything at all, suspect or troublesome or that he wasn't supposed to be doing, but then he looked up to see who it was. He kept his paws up, though, just in case, but his expression shifted from something less like fear and more like a pleasant surprise.

"O-oh!" he stammered out. "Nell! Miss! It's you! Hello!"

His paws dropped, steeped together at his chest as he ducked his head to her reverently. "It's very good to see you again, as well. Have you come in search of some lovely new garments?"

Nell smiled at him. "I actually came to see you, Boc. I wanted to make sure you were all right. How are you settling in? Do you need anything?"

"To see...me, miss?"

Such a concept was clearly unfathomable, and Boc wasn't even sure how to process it, and was quite certain, now, that he must have merely misunderstood Nell, although with those questions...

"Oh, no," his head started to shake. "You've already given me so much, more than I could ever need. What more could there even be?"

"Of course I wanted to see you, Boc. I hope we will be friends," Nell said. "And truly, I didn't give you that much. I see your working here now? I'm glad to see it. Maybe you can help me with some of my clothes."

Not that Nell couldn't sew herself, but it wasn't her favorite thing necessarily, and if it helped Boc feel that he was repaying her she was glad to do that.

"Friends?" Boc looked a bit confused for a moment, before he shook his head again. "Surely, you don't mean that. You don't have to pretend, not for my sake. But I'd be happy to help with your clothes. Bit funny, isn't it, me tending to your clothes with your very own sewing kit? But I do appreciate you lending it to me. You know they said they don't have a seamster here? That's it's not really something they'd done? I'm glad they've thought to maybe give it a try, that...that perhaps it might not hurt anything."

Until, he suspected, it turned out that he couldn't keep up the quality people expected and they were likely to chase him out, but he was willing to try and hopefully meet standards well enough to prevent that for as long as he could.

"I don't pretend," Nell said firmly. "And certainly not about friendship. I think you'll be a very good friend to have."

Steven was making a point of visiting people today. He'd expected to hit some of the usual places open on Friday. But when he passed by Pixie Dust he noticed that it seemed more lively than usual. He decided to pop his head in. "Hello?"

"Hello," said the store's dutiful employee that had always been here for all your handwaving needs, in the same sort of dull tone they'd used when Boc showed up, "come on in, have a look around..."

And Boc, whose experience with merchants had nothing to do with shops at all, but rather traveling individuals who would often find safe little places to camp with their mules because too much travel around the Lands Between was always a dangerous thing, indeed, turned his head toward the employee and then turned his attention to the man who walked in with a sort of wide-eyed, hang-jawed fascination to see how things might proceed from here, while trying to be as unobtrusive and unnoticeable as possible.

Which was...a bit difficult, when he, lowly demi-human in rags and scars, stood out like a sore thumb in all the bright, sleek glitz of the store, but he was trying!

Edited 2023-03-03 16:11 (UTC)

Steven did notice Boc looking at him. Steven had also been told about Boc yesterday when Nell had popped by the Museum. Even so, he didn't want to assume that this was the same person. A new face was more than enough to go on. "Hello. Don't think we've met, have we?"

Steven was pretty sure they hadn't but with his memory that was never a given. Besides, that felt like a polite start instead of treating Boc like he was unusual simply based on his appearance.

The last thing Boc was expecting to happen next was for the man's attention to be turned toward him, to the point where, at first, he didn't even think that he was addressing him. But when the merchant at the counter didn't respond, he blinked a little and realized that, no, he'd seen him, he'd noticed him, and now he started to feel a small swell of panic about whether or not this was a good idea.

"Oh," he said, wide-eyed and wagging his head back and forth, his hands rubbing nervously in front of him, "no. No. Don't pay me any mind, master, I'm nobody, really, I'm not anyone. I'm just....well, I'm just here in case anyone needs any of their garments fixed, or any alterations, but I've heard that's not really done here, to begin with. But I won't be in your way, master, I promise."

Boc's demeanor was certainly like Nell had mentioned. As such Steven tried to project as much a feeling of calm when he spoke. "Alterations? Are you a tailor then? I'm Steven, by the way. With a V."

"No, no," Boc said quickly, lest Steven get the wrong idea, "not a tailor, nothing like that. I am but a lowly seamster, and not a very good one at that. But I hope to improve my craft, master, slowly but surely, and do my dear old mum proud. She was a seamstress herself, you see....Did you have any, then? Garments? In need of alterations? I can't promise you the finest of work, but I can promise you my best work, master."

"Oh, your mum," Steven said, feeling a brief pain of sympathy. "I don't have anything of my own, I'm afraid. Not at the moment. But I do know someone who has a coat needs mending. I'll be sure to tell him you're about. Are you living on the island now, then?"

"Well, I..." Boc's brows knitted in a deep frown as he wasn't sure how to best answer that question, which seemed like a simple one, really, but having been turned into a tree quite complicated matters for him, on nearly all fronts. "I suppose...that I am, for now. I tried to find my back, to the cave, so I could fetch my mum's sewing kit, but I'm afraid I don't entirely know what I am, at the moment. I...I've never traveled much, and I know I've certainly never been to a place like this before. I didn't know such a peaceful place as this could exist, in the world...

"But I do have a room," he offered, with a little bit of uncertainty, because he still couldn't quite believe it, "for now, although I really don't need all that much, just a nice place to curl up where I won't be a bother to nobody, and there seems to be plenty of those around here..."

"I'm glad you have a place to stay," Steven said. "Get you out of the wet and the cold, yeah? That's good. Here. Suppose this works as a welcome gift then."

Steven reached into his satchel and pulled out two of the gift bags he'd been handing out around town. He put one on the counter for the clerk, then held out another for Boc. "There we go. All yours."

"Oh, I don't mind the wet so much," Boc admitted, with maybe a little bit of the shrug. "It was always a bit damp, in the cave, but the cold can get rather nasty, can't it?"

That part, he figured, was easily enough, but the fact that Steven was now handing him something....that....that was a bit more dodgey.

"Erm," he said, blinking at the little parcel, and then blinking up at Steven, "thank you, master, but I haven't anything to give you, in return. All of my belongings are either back in the cave, or given to Nell, for...for helping me, the other day. I suppose I do have her sewing kit, but that's not mine to give, as I'm only borrowing it until I can fetch me mum's, but she did give me a bit of money..."

And now Boc was pawing at his pouches until he managed to pull some of it out, holding out a few crumpled bills and coins in both his palms out to him with his head bowed. "Take what you need. Or take all of it. My apologies, that it can't be more, but it truly is all I have."

"Oh no, no," Steven said, gently, holding up his free hand to show he didn't need to take anything from Boc. "It's all right. This is a gift, you see. It's part of a holiday I celebrate. You give things to give them, not because you expect anything in return. So it's yours. No obligation at all, I promise."

Very slowly, very tentatively, very uncertainly, Boc lowered his hands, curling his long paws around the money and clutching it tightly as he lifted his head. He eyed Steven now with a bit of suspicion, before his eyes dropped toward the bag, and then back up at Steven again.

"A...gift?" he asked. "And a holiday? What's in it, then?"

And, as he asked, he seemed to remember, about how Nell had insisted that he didn't need to give her anything in return, either. For helping him out, and his brow knitted again.

"Is this....common, here, in this place?" he wondered, slowly tucking his money back into his pouches. "For people to give....gifts? Without expecting anything in return?"

"It's not uncommon for them to do it," Steven said. "I've found people here are very nice. Much kinder and more understanding than people where I'm from."

Steven offered the bag for Boc to take when he was ready. But, knowing how anxiety could be, Steven answered Boc's question by saying, "It's food and drink. Sweet things, mainly. Though there's some nuts in there as well."

Boc...was rather hungry, he had to admit; his scrounging had been mildly successful, but it was hard to pass up the appeal of more. So, with one more lingering, uncertain look at Steven, he reached out to take the bag...

...although he paused, just before he did.

"And you're certain," he asked, just to make absolutely sure, "you don't want anything in return for it? Nothing at all?"

"Completely certain," Steven said. "It's for you to enjoy. And I hope that you do."

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Pixie Dust; Friday Afternoon [03/03].

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