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

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The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (6/6)

Look, of course there were dice (bouncy and click-clack-y!) and dice trays in various Pride flag palettes in the store, and of course the display minis were already arranged in a tiny parade formation. Of course there was a huge flag on display in the front window, and freshly made posters advertising the upcoming Fandom Pride weekend. But Steph had also put up all the posters and parade signs she'd ever collected from Portland and Seattle Pride and an informational display, plus a big plaque of a QR code that linked to a useful page of queer history resources.

(Yes, at the bottom of the plaque it said "scan the QueeR code to learn more!" Of course it did.)

And there was, like she'd always had by the Record Traders register back in Haven Springs, a dish full of buttons labeled Take One! A good chunk of them were geek themed, naturally; others were just simple flag stripes, or had pithy and sometimes cheesy quotes. A number were handmade, even, with slogans scrawled in black Sharpie, and those were... a little on the in-your-face side. Most of those had been in Steph's collection for years, made by Chloe in their Arcadia Bay days, and people tended to be a little uncertain about taking those.

If some of them looked like they'd been painted by gremlins that was because there were several gremlins seated next to a box of blank buttons in the mini-painting area, carefully maneuvering a paintbrush as a group. Hey, if they wanted to contribute what was Steph going to do, stop them?

Nah. She was trying to come up with a t-shirt design for the festival, and 'gremlin-bitten' really wasn't the style she was going for.

[OOC: Open!]

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Generally, when Watts stopped in it was in the afternoons, after he'd visited Steven for lunch.

Today, though, he was on something of a mission and he suspected Steph would be just the person to assist.

Thus it was on his way to lunch that he poked his head into her shop.

"Good morning, Steph!" he greeted, hat deposited on its usual tentacle.

Edited 2024-06-06 06:30 (UTC)

Steph made a show of checking her watch and doing a double-take.

"You're early," she said, and set aside her notebook for the moment. "How's it going, Llewellyn?"

"I- yes," Watts said, going as usual for a couple of dice to roll around in his hand as he spoke. "I wanted- I need some assistance with a particular matter."

"Yeah, of course." Suddenly more serious (though not by that much), Steph leaned forward with her arms braced against the counter. "What's up?"

"Nothing dire," Watts said, noting the slight change in demeanor. "Only- your posters reminded me."

Spit it out, Llewellyn, god.

"I know, I know, I'm a few days late," Steph said sheepishly. "Reminded you of what, though?"

"Last year I noticed people with- all sorts of pins and buttons. I thought- you might know where I could acquire one of my own." He hadn't yet noticed the dish on the counter, no.

"Llewellyn, my friend, you are in luck and you absolutely came to the right place." Sure, Steph could have been way more of a smartass about it, and that was her first instinct, but she knew better than to do that when he was still so tentative in a lot of ways. She slid the dish across the counter toward him, not in a let me just point out the obvious way but more like she was making a grand presentation of it. "I keep these around for occasions just like this."

She paused.

"Actually, I do keep them around all year long, I only put them out on display in June. Maybe I should just... keep them there all the time. Anyway. Take your pick ~~and mod away~~."

He was still in that weird in-between place where, well- he wasn't closeted by any means, to use modern parlance. Everyone who knew him here- and some who didn't- knew he was romantically involved with Steven. But he wasn't accustomed to- advertising it, he supposed.

He fished through the bowl until he managed to find what was quite possibly one of the smaller pins. Certainly not as bold as some of the slogans on the homemade buttons. But it was the sort of thing that would work well on a jacket lapel.

Advertising it, as it were, wasn't everybody's jam, as Steph had likely reassured him at some point.

"Yeah, that one's definitely more your speed than..." Steph rummaged through the bowl and held up one of Chloe's designs, a crude sketch of a hand with its middle finger extended and GET FUCKING USED TO IT over a light rainbow background. "Well, this one."

God, she still really missed Chloe sometimes.

"Looks good. Pun intended, I'm proud of you."

That button did get a chuckle out of Watts, even if Steph was right, and it was not the sort of thing he'd wear.

"You are?" he said, clearly pleased.

Steph looked him square in the face and tried to meet his gaze.

"Yeah. I really am. It's not easy to shake a whole lifetime of conditioning to hide and be afraid even if you want to, and you've done an incredible job of it in honestly not that much time."

And of course, Steven had said similar things. Repeatedly. And it wasn't that Watts didn't believe him, but having someone who wasn't in love with him also say as much, well-

"Thank you," he said. "I'm- it is not always easy. But I am trying."

Steph was good to play objective observer every now and then!

"That is literally as much as anyone has any right to expect of you," she replied. "But I'm glad you are. I know that shit can be hard, but I hope it's been worth it."

Okay, that last bit was partly teasing, yes.

"It has," Watts said, smiling widely. "Oh, it has."

"Kind of had a feeling." Steph looked at the pin in her hand, shrugged, and put it on her shirt. (She'd have put it on her beanie, but much as it pained her to admit it today was too damn warm for that.) "Don't worry, I won't be breathing down your neck to march in the parade with us now or anything."

"I do intend to come watch, at least," Watts said. "And attend the festival of course."

"Can't wait to see you and Steven there." Steph drummed out a quick little pattern on the counter with her index fingers. "It's gonna be a good time."

"You always do such a wonderful job organising everything," Watts told her. "I had a lovely time last year."

The time before that had been... a little fraught, what with having only been in Fandom for a couple months at that point.

There were a few things Graham wanted to make sure to do while he was here visiting,and a visit to the good old Maaaaagpie Empooor~rium was at the top of his list today!

"Hey, there, Steph!" Graham greeted, sweeping into the store with a sweep of his cloak and an eager wave, and a look of approval around the shop and a wistful sigh for all the memories. "How's it going?"

"Graham? Holy shit, dude!" Steph exclaimed, laughing, as Little Bot zipped over to him with a shrill, excited whistle. "That really was you at the park yesterday, huh?"

It actually felt like a huge weight literally coming off her shoulders just to know he hadn't disappeared forever. Not that she was saying so out loud, but... yeah. People coming back. She still didn't know what to do with that.

"Things are great here. It's really good to see you. Any cool adventures yet?"

"Awww, hey, Little Bot!" Graham beamed down at the little guy with a grin and locked a finger gun that way. "Looking good, buddy! And, yeah," he chuckled a little as he turned his attention back to Steph with a pleased smile (the reception to his unexpected visit was doing amazing things for his self confidence!), "that really was me! And, sadly, not a whole lot of adventures yet, mostly just paperwork, training, and moat duty....unless you coulnt the weekly adventures we've been having in the ~thEatRE of the Miiii~iiind~!"

Said, of course, obviously, with great sweeping hands and waggling fingers.

"Which is one of the reasons I stopped in today! I need supplies! You remember Whisper and Acorn? Who were in thr Tournament with me? Well, them and me and Kyle and Larry have put together a DnD group! I'm the GM, of course, and it's been a lot of fun, but I want to get them a bunch of dice and minis while I'm here, to really help amp up their total TTRPG experience, you know?"

Edited 2024-06-06 16:56 (UTC)

Little Bot beeped happily and did a little twirl, showing off his new Pride paint job for Graham; Steph burst out laughing and did a double fist-pump, one foot up in the air.

"Yes! Yes! Are you kidding me? Hell yes, I am so fucking proud of you, dude! Of course you can stock up while you're here. Consider your employee discount basically permanent, even. How did they react to the idea when you first brought it up? Were they into it, or did anyone need convincing?"

The smile on Graham's face started to lean a little into dancing that line between being equally proud of himself (chest slightly puffed and shoulders slightly straighter) and a little sheepish at the praise, red starting to spread across his cheeks and into his ears. "Oh," he said, "Kyle and Larry were on board immediately, but that's not surprising! Those two guys are pretty much down for anything! Acorn took a little convincing, and I"m not entirely sure Whisper really understands all the the time what's going on, but I think he's starting to get it. And, you know, I thought it was a good opportunity for at least me, Acorn, and Whisper to still get together and stay friends, even after the tournament."

And it was a good way, he felt, for him to work in as many honorable tributes to Achaka every chance he got.

"They really are great guys, underneath all that armor," he mused fondly. "And it's been a lot of fun!"

"I love knowing that you're out there spreading the good word of how gaming is awesome," Steph said delightedly. "And I'm super glad they're having fun. Genuinely, that's fantastic. If there's anything else you end up thinking you might need and you don't get a chance to come by, I'd be happy to ship it over to you. Your world is pretty cool, by the way. I didn't get a chance to tell you so when we were there."

It was a good thing he hadn't said anything out loud about those tributes to Achaka, or Steph might have gotten actually emotional and that wouldn't do. She would absolutely approve, though.

Guess who came from a ~~video game~~ world where the default was bisexual/pansexual or whatever the hell Minsc had going for him and was mildly confused by the posters. This guy.

Which was why the very stereotypical wizard was just walking on into Steph's shop to investigate. "Hello there!"

The former game design major in Steph was always on board with that default, just saying. FOR SOME REASON.

But it wasn't like she knew that, so after a brief moment to just blink hard and make sure that this was an actual prospective customer and not just someone who looked like he belonged on a cardboard standee across from Norbert the Occasional Hat-Stand Beholder, Steph nodded.

"Hey there! Anything I can help you with?"

Look, man, she didn't like to assume or anything but there were just. Such wizard vibes here.

Was it the robes? It was probably the robes. Maybe the hair? Look, this was his post-breakup fashion and he wasn't on his A Game.

"Ah, yes! Am I correct to assume you are the proprietor of this establishment?"

It was just... it was wizard vibes, okay? Some people just radiated I like to sequester myself for days on end surrounded by books and digging deep into the most esoteric shit.

Maybe it took one to know one. Shut up. But the robes were also a pretty big giveaway.

"That's me." Steph waved both hands in a showy gesture of her own. "Steph Gingrich, at your service."

"Most excellent," he replied, offering a hand to shake. "Gale of, well, somewhere no one here has ever heard of, it seems."

Which was weird. That was weird, right?

"I was wondering what exactly it meant."

"Yeah, that happens," Steph said, reaching over to shake his hand. "A lot, actually. Apparently some places just don't exist at all in different versions of this world, even... but I'm guessing you're from a totally different somewhere no one here's ever heard of. Cool."

She tilted her head.

"What exactly what m-- oh, are you talking about the store, or the Pride posters?"

Also, were the d20s giving you a weird vague sense of existential unease, Gale?

You know, the normal amount. Was he at least rolling a INT based skill? Because he could do that. Anything else...

"Pride, yes! Now, of course I know what pride is, a sin very common for wizards, I know." Did he know? Did he? "But not quite in the context of the posters."

Steph burst out laughing -- at the wizard hubris thing, not his confusion, but she quickly reined it in.

Come on, Gale. Were wizards even capable of objectively assessing their own pride?

"Yeah, I should maybe have added more context there," she admitted. "Every June in this world is Pride month, where queer folks have an excuse to be extra visible and make bigots mad that they can't pretend we don't exist."

Yes, she knew that was bullshit, which was why there was an undertone of sorry about my world in her tone.

"That's not really the case here, on the island, but with people coming from all over it's still a new experience for some of them, you know?"

They could be forced into by circumstances that cause them to face their own mortality!

Gale made a face of utter confusion. "Really? Well, now I can certainly feel like home is better than here. Even with the internet. Lovely invention, I must say. But it doesn't have the same feel as a book, you know?"

And those circumstances weren't generally minor by default, now were they?

"This world seems to be way behind the curve that way," Steph said with a heavy sigh. "I hear you, though. I spend a pretty good chunk of my life online, but at the risk of sounding like an old person there's just something about good ol' paper and ink."

"Thank you! I was begging to wonder if no one else felt that way."

This man was going to end up getting a Kindle for his cat though.

Only then did he seem to finally notice the sort of shop he was in. "My word, is that a beholder?"

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The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (6/6)

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