fandomtownies | The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (4/6)

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The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (4/6)

The plushie displacer beasts and mimics were, once again, in different places than they had been last night at closing. Steph was pretty much resigned to it by now; they weren't tearing up any of the merchandise or eating any customers.

They were, however, now joined by a new kind of gelatinous cube plush that glowed in the dark, which was cool. Except that these gelatinous cubes were hollow, with transparent vinyl panels to display the alarmingly cute plush skeleton pieces that also glowed in the dark, and you could even unzip the top of the cube to take them out and play with them.

Which was what Steph was going to be doing all day during her downtime, thank you very much.

[OOC: Open!]

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"What," Stark asked, nodding towards the cubes as he walked in, "are those?"

Besides weirdly cute.

Steph tossed what she guessed was a plushie femur bone in his general direction.

"Gelatinous cubes," she said a little too gleefully. "They can move on their own and fully engulf people, and digest them slowly with their acidic form, fully visible to anyone from the outside."

A beat.

"In game, anyway. Except I guess I can't actually say for sure that they're not real, can I?"

Stark bobbled the plushie bone a few times but managed not to drop it.

"They're jello that eats people?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

Did Summer know about this?

"Not exactly, they're--" But Steph's brain had immediately followed along those same lines. You could tell by the way her eyes widened and she said in a low voice, "Oh. No."

"Oh no," Stark agreed. "Sometimes the jello is frightening but it's never tried to eat anyone. That I know of."

He'd have to ask, now.

"Please don't give her ideas," Steph groaned. "Although maybe a Jell-O shot with tiny candy skeleton bits in it would be cool. As long as it doesn't actually eat people."

"With the glowing jello?" Stark asked. "And... sometimes I don't mean to give her ideas but it just happens. But sometimes I do it on purpose."

"Stark." Steph gave him an utterly betrayed look that she'd totally picked up from Saffron. "Why."

"It's interesting to see what she does," Stark said. "Sometimes. And..." He shrugged a little.

"It makes her happy."

"You are incredibly valid for that," Steph said, relenting immediately. "And it is fun to see how enthusiastic she gets about it."

"It is," Stark said.

And, you know, sometimes he enjoyed a little grossness in his life.

"She's my friend. I like when she's happy."

Friend. That he slept with sometimes and had just awkwardly asked to prom and was maybe about to buy a silly gift for.

If he was into a little grossness, who was Steph to judge? Well, okay, she was making a concerted effort to not judge these days, fine.

"Of course you do," she said, trying not to make her smile too knowing. What? She'd heard the radio. Besides, it kind of made sense for people to like their friends being happy in general, right? "So what brings you in today, dude? Here to enjoy looking at the shiny, shiny dice again?"

It was only very specific grossness from one specific person that Stark enjoyed.

"The weather was nice today. So I went out walking for a bit and I ended up here. With the shiny dice," he acknowledged. "And you. And now the people-eating jello cubes. I... might need one."

For no reason at all, of course.

"Tell me about it. I absolutely need one," Steph replied as she made the plushie skull pop up from behind the cube and waggle itself at him in greeting. "Also, did you know I found cupcake dice? I don't have them in stock but I could order them for you if you want 'em."

"I'll think about dice," Stark said. "For now I think I just need one of the cubes."

Which he would totally be giving as a gift, shhh.

Edited 2023-04-07 15:14 (UTC)

The best gift, if you asked Steph.

"You know how to get a hold of me if you need to," she replied, and gestured around to the various plush cubes scattered around the store. Some, a little ominously, were in between rows of shelves and she could swear they were a couple of feet further along than they had been the last time she looked. "Take your pick, sir. Which one do you think would make the best forever plushie friend?"

Hopefully it would be well-received. His last gift had been, when he bought the bracelet.

"This one," Stark decided, picking up one that looked suspiciously like it was about to leap off a shelf. Maybe it wanted to come home with him!

"They are very cute."

Well, Steph thought it was the kind of gift that ought to be well received... you know, by people who would appreciate the joke, and she was pretty willing to bet Summer was one of those people.

"Far cuter than they have a right to be," she agreed. "And I think it's a hilarious choice. Five stars."

"I think it will be appreciated," Stark said though he didn't sound entirely certain of himself. "If nothing else it will amuse me."

Especially the fact that it glowed. Stark did enjoy glowy things.

Glow in the dark things were very enjoyable!

"I hope it will be," Steph said. "Something made you think of someone, so you got it for them. How can someone not appreciate that, at the very least?"

"Right," Stark said. Maybe he was trying to convince himself.

"I hope she's amused, at least."

In case there was doubt about who he might be purchasing this for.

"Me too," Steph said, with a sympathetic look for how nervous he was. "You'd know better than I would, but I feel pretty good about it, if that helps."

"She did like the last present I gave her. Even if it didn't have anything to do with jello. Not even jello that eats people like this one."

"I mean, it's technically not jello, since I don't think I would recommend eating a gelatinous cube unless you really love acid reflux," Steph said slowly. "What was the last present, if you're cool with telling me? Which you don't have to."

"Close enough to jello," Stark said. "I think. And...just a bracelet that I found. A pink one." Of course.

"When we were on the trip. As a thank you for letting me go with her."

Steph glanced down at a bracelet made of braided leather and metal hex nuts on her left wrist and smiled. "Bracelets are a safe bet a lot of the time, I think. Especially in that situation."

Stark ducked his head and nodded. "She seemed very happy with it. I just...wanted to do something. As a thank you. It was a very good trip."

She hadn't even made him sleep on the floor.

"I am a little bit jealous, no lie," Steph admitted. "So I'll just live vicariously through you. Still, a thank you gift is absolutely called for in that situation, so good call."

"I almost didn't want to come home," Stark admitted. "Almost. I'd go back there. Or somewhere else like it."

Probably not that resort. He had plenty of money but not that much. At least he didn't think so. It wasn't like he spent all that much all that often.

"Maybe you can go the next time. If you teach. Or find someone who lets you come along."

"I tried the teaching thing, sort of, and it's definitely not for me." Steph shrugged. "I don't know. As much as I'd love to visit those places, I'm not sure a strictly scheduled trip would be that much fun for me. I'd want to just do whatever I feel like, or bounce and go somewhere else if the mood strikes me. Do it on my own terms, you know?"

"You don't have to do any of the things. There are always options. Or just staying by the pool."

Tahani may have melded with her lounge chair at some point that week.

"I've never gone on a vacation, really, other than those."

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The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (4/6)

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