fandomtownies | Entries tagged with norman babcock

The island was quiet. Norman would allow himself a moment of silliness and add a 'too quiet' to that, in fact, though of course that could be attributed to the break between semesters, to people going home or elsewhere, to the whole small town vibe going on out there and the calm that always came in the days following a holiday.

Of course, that meant it was quiet at work, too, which meant Norman really had nothing better to do today than clean.

The magic of dusting, folks. Hurrah.

[OOC: Open for all your magical needs!]

always_someone

Well, Norman had managed to skirt any weird random kid scenarios this weekend, which he was more than happy for. As much as he appreciated his abilities, he probably would have been heartbroken if he'd met some kind of even-maybe kid just to find out that the world had hated them as much as it had hated him.

So he was actually in a pretty good mood when he arrived to work, a coffee from the Perk in hand (thank you, Post Office!) and one fuzzy blanket that he was bequeathing upon the cerberus pup.

He was expecting it would be an otherwise quiet day, and so he settled in behind the counter, pulled out his phone, and sent off a text to his sister.

Junior Homecoming King AND Junior Prom King this year!

It took Courtney a good ten seconds to reply, which was a clear indication that he'd sent her into some sort of state of shock.

OMG HOW!? R U ALL DORKS THERE??

And breaking his Prom Queen sister's brain was the most beautiful thing of all.

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Hey, guess who had his NO WE DON'T SELL LOVE POTIONS sign out in the window again!

Guess!

Really, considering the week, Norman was super wondering what was the matter with people. And was possibly breaking into a rant about it every time somebody came in asking, because God.

God. Week before Prom was the worst. Next year he was spending it back in Blithe Hollow, just see if he didn't.

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Norman walked into the Magic Box today and... pretty much immediately stopped in his tracks.

"What."

Yeah. Today was apparently the day that the entirety of the stock had been transformed into magic markers.

At least the dog was still normal?

Normal for a strawberry-banana cerberus, anyway. Norman sighed and resigned himself to playing with the puppy for his shift, unless people came in looking for a very limited variety of art supplies today.

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

It was inventory day at the Magic Box, and Norman was frowning a little as he went around the store with a clipboard and a pencil.

"One book about summoning eldritch horrors from another plane of reality - check. Three decks of fortune reading cards featuring..." He checked. "Bananas."

...

Thanks, Mae.

"Two rose quartz... bananas, formerly orbs. One tourmaline strawberry..." Sigh. "Twenty packages of incense, banana split scented..."

This was his life now.

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Okay, so the Magic Box still smelled a bit like a banana split. Norman was okay with that. Really.

And the cerberus now had one banana-shaped yellow spot on his butt, and a good dozen smaller, strawberry-shaped red spots around his shoulders.

Also good, that was fine. Strawberry-banana was way better a smell than three-headed dog, anyway.

But he was absolutely drawing the line today when he stepped into the shop to find that a couple of the magic books were trying to put together some kind of blueberry concoction. No. Nope. He was having none of it. The ingredients were being carefully separated and the books were grounded to the bookshelves for the rest of the day.

[OOC: Open!]

hernando_fuentes

~~I totally know what day of the week it is, hush~~

The shop today was decorated with pictures and posters from the heyday of women's liberation. Suffragettes stood proudly in their sashes, women in trousers lounged on the steps of universities. The first female medical doctor and surgeon had a portrait front and center. A Rosie the Riveter poster hung on one side of the wall. Harriet Tubman's portrait bookended the doctor's. A print of Michelle Obama's official White House portrait was near the counter.

The color theme for the day seemed to be green, white and purple. Hernando smiled a little and patted the counter. "Happy Women's Day to you, too."

The pastries today ranged from delicate little sweets to Rosalie's giant decadent cupcakes. Savories in the form of hearty sandwiches and dainty little puff pastry cups filled with all manner of delights were in a cooled case.

He fed the quokka and took up station behind the counter.

[T42 is Open!]

not_a_bird

Well, tonight was the night Sweet Dee expected to throw her woefully unprepared students (and her honestly over-prepared self) on stage for some good old amatuer comedy! She probably should have given them a little more time, but the momentum from this idea had already been interrupted by a stupid trip to Iceland, she wasn't going to let it dwindle any further into the point where she likely forgot about or stopped caring. Even if maybe she could.

Look. It had taken three months to get to the point where she was taking kids to a bar (where they could actually drink anyway) instead of three weeks, and it was so they could perform and not to have them watch a really bad home-made sequel with some really questionable content (to her credit, though, she thought they were going to be screening Othello).

Anyway. It was the First Open Mic Comedy Night at Caritas! Come one, come all! It wasn't going to be a shitshow at all!

always_someone

Norman had finally managed to get most of the banana-scented and shaped items out of the magic shop. Sure, there were still a few banana-shaped stains on the wall in various shades of rainbow hues, and the cerberus puppy had one big yellow spot on its otherwise midnight-pitch butt that was suspiciously banana-shaped, but other than that? They were operating in a banana-free zone.

So wasn't that a great time for the puppy to run into a shelf and knock over a potion labelled 'strawberry?'

Sigh.

[OOC: Idek. Open!]

always_someone

Norman walked into the Magic Box and was immediately accosted by the cerberus puppy. Who... smelled faintly of banana, Norman thought, which was... weird. But okay. He settled in for his shift behind the counter, and was only there for about ten minutes before the puppy trotted up to him, holding a solid chunk of chrysoberyl in one of its mouths that was...

... Shaped like a banana.

Norman squinted at it.

"Was... was that one of the crystal spheres?" They hadn't had much chrysoberyl in stock, after all. The pup deposited it on the floor, barked in triplicate, and then gave a happy trot around the shop again. This time Norman watched him go, sniffing at this and that. A candle with banana-shaped etchings. A book of banana recipes sitting on the ancient tomes shelf. No few crystal wands and orbs, all shaped like bananas. The walls still had the slightest hint of banana-shaped spots on them.

Norman wasn't even sure what to do with this. He just kind of stood there and stared for a good portion of the morning, until a customer came in to buy some incense.

It was banana scented.

[OOC: Open, but with probably work-related SP.]

always_someone

There was a sign displayed prominently in the Magic Box window today:

No! We Don't Sell Love Potions!
Go buy some chocolates instead!

You know. No reason. Especially not reasons that might have had Norman pretty much pulling out his hair in frustration last week.

Of course, the first customer that came in today?

"Do you sell love potions?"

Norman thumped his forehead against the counter so hard it left a bruise.

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Norman came in and opened up the magic shop today, completely unprepared for the influx of customers making it nearly impossible to get any work done at all. What were they looking for?

Love spells or potions, charms to make them more attractive to the object of their affections. One gentleman simply came in looking for a cure for male pattern baldness, and Norman wound up having a good chat with him about how he was welcome to try the solutions they had at the shop, but anybody worth dating wasn't going to let something like that change how they saw him.

... Norman hadn't been expecting the grateful hug from the poor guy, no. The man left empty-handed, but apparently with a new lease on life, leaving Norman free to get back to explaining the ethical issues behind magical love potions to the majority of his customers today while the cerberus puppy sat at his feet, eyeing anybody who thought they might get rude with three pairs of glowing red eyes.

The Magic Box is open! And no, Norman won't sell you any love spells.

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Norman was in a pretty good mood this morning after last night's party. Sure, he was still a little sleepy when he made his way in to work, but there was something kind of inspiring about Astrid's tarot reading yesterday, even if neither of them necessarily believed in that sort of thing.

He parked himself behind the counter, and was reading a book on the different schools of magic pertaining to the dead. There were more out there than just mediums and necromancers, after all. It was all actually pretty fascinating.

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Norman had managed to avoid the weirdness on the weekend, having stayed in his room with his comic books and just generally kept busy while avoiding people.

Which meant it was perhaps a little ironic when he made his way into work to see that the books had hauled something out and put it on display, only to have one stumble and spill it all over him and the three-headed puppy.

"... Oh, come on."

If anybody needed Norman, he'd be spending his day trying to come up with the cure for shrinking potion. Please don't step on him or the cerberus pup.

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Norman walked in to the magic shop today, blinked, looked at what was set out before him, and then just kind of shrugged and got to work.

The magic books were playing fetch with the puppy. Which... they were perfectly welcome to do. Norman certainly wasn't going to stop anybody from playing with the puppy.

Even if they were using another book as a frisbee.

You do you, guys. Just so long as it wasn't one of the expensive ones.

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Norman walked into the magic shop today, holding his breath. Braced for something crazy to happen. Fed the cerberus puppy, did some dusting, told the books to get back onto the shelves where they went, and took a seat behind the counter.

Sold some incense to a customer, who promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Helped the old dead guy's cat with his weekly purchase.

Told the books again to get back onto the shelves where they went.

Cleaned up after the puppy.

Sat back behind the counter and frowned.

"This is way too normal."

He didn't trust it.

... And also couldn't quite place when any of this had become the new normal.

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Today was actually quiet at the Magic Box. Even the puppy was opting to spend most of the day sleeping at his feet, which Norman was perfectly okay with. It gave him more time to tidy up in preparation for a week spent in Hyrule, where nobody would be here to tend the shop.

It also meant that when the Gremlins did wander around to sing their carols, their festive strains resonated really well with some of the crystals on display. Norman squinted a little bit at them and then a little bit at the gremlins.

He was pretty sure 'Feliz Navidad' wasn't supposed to make the amethyst glow like that, but what was he supposed to do about it? He wasn't going to get himself bitten just because the merchandise was acting weird, thanks.

[OOC: Open!]

seriesofbaddecisions

What had started as a simple holiday party had kind of... evolved. There'd been impromptu warehouse decorating, and then as long as they were doing that already, why not just hold the party here? There were crates wrapped up like presents and lights and tinsel, and maybe glitter on the floor. (Sorry, everyone, you were taking some of the party home with you!) There was also a tree, with a table and chairs that Sabine had dragged over from her own, far less party-suitable warehouse so that people could make ornaments to put on it if they wanted. It was all very festive, considering anyone involved in the running of this whole show had never celebrated any of this holiday stuff before.

There was also the occasional caped chicken. Sabine and Nina had nothing to do with that.

And towards the end of setting up, it occurred to Sabine that she probably could have just asked Kanan to have the party here yesterday and he might've said yes. In her defense, she was very out of practice in asking for permission, and this was all going to be fine anyway.

Happy holidays!

[Students can feel free to have gotten an invite and directions! Warehouse used with permission! Void where prohibited!]

bookbeltof_love

Norman was, like, super dead but Nina had priorities.

Which was why she'd shown up to work a few hours early on totally the wrong day (because as if she was waiting until Friday to run a rescue mission!) in order to first figure out a spell that would determine where the puppy had been sent.

(Luckily, they had plenty of puppy fur on his bed for her to cast that.)

And then, it had been spent painstakingly drawing chalk circles and symbols, and inscribing the right runes in the right places. Once she'd triple-checked her work, Nina got to work actually doing the whole summoning thing… wishing crazy hard that she'd get what she was wanting…

There was an explosion of glittery dust, exuberant yapping, and the nearly deafening cacophony of what sounded like a million of Foomy.

Nina cracked her eyes open as paws scrabbled over one of her shoes. But she couldn't see her feet. In fact, she couldn't see out the windows or any surface in the shop either. They were, from top to bottom, absolutely covered in cheerfully burbling Foomies.

"Oh my gosh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she squealed. "Look at all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

A three-tone chorus of barks answered her.

"And you're back!!!!!!!!!!!!" she said, kneeling down to pick up the puppies. "How dare Norman send you off????????"

The three-headed puppy licked her chin and neck, tail wiggling madly as it shook glitter everywhere.

"Oh, you," she said, letting her indignation go. How could she stay mad with him back? "I guess, like, I should figure out how to send all of these new friends home, huh????????"

A song of bubbling burbles answered her.

The Magic Box is Open!

[And OCD free!]

always_someone

There was nothing quite like marinating in special snowflake juice all the way to work to give a normally pretty sedate kid a good dose of overblown confidence.

"I'm a seer! I'm descended from a long, long line of seers! I've dealt with poltergeists and zombies while still a child, what's a demon dog to me!?"

The tiny Cerberus blinked up at him from where the three heads were all attempting to chew on the same squeaky ball.

"Come, tiny ones! Today, we send you home!"

It took a bit of doing, but in the end, the puppy had disappeared in a puff of pink and blue cotton-candy scented smoke, leaving a glittery sheen on the floor behind it. Norman suspected that it probably wasn't Hell he'd sent it back to, but he was confident that it would be happy wherever it had gone!

"Aha! I did it! I-- I did it? How did I do it?" And there, the water in his clothing from the snowflakes finally dried. "Oh god, Bob's going to kill me. Nina's going to kill me."

If anybody needed Norman, he'd be busy packing up puppy supplies and putting them in a box behind the counter, where he'd spend the rest of his day silently awaiting death.

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Norman walked into the Magic Box to see that the place had been overtaken.

Overtaken with dog toys. A pet bed. All manner of madness in order to make the three-headed puppy more comfortable.

He sighed, and then he went to pick up one of the books that Nina had no doubt been working through in order to look for a way to send the dog(s) back to where it (they?) had come from.

... But not before stopping and taking a moment to pat the tiny cerberus on all three of its happy puppy heads. Just because they couldn't be making a habit of summoning things from worlds beyond this plane didn't mean he wasn't going to take a moment to praise the Good Boy(s) for not eating the merchandise.

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Norman came in to the Magic Box to find most of Nina's attempts at summoning circles still on the floor.

He stared at them for a few minutes, kind of stunned. And then glanced suspiciously at the books, who were sitting on the shelves, playing innocent.

And then he went to get something to wipe them off the floor with.

At the very first smudge of the cloth against the summoning circle, there was a bright glow of greenish light, and then, standing before Norman, teeth glistening, inky black coat so sleek it seemed to swallow the light itself, and six intense dark eyes staring directly at him, there was--

--- The most adorable three-headed teeny tiny baby puppy he'd ever beheld. It barked. They barked? There was barking involved. And then, while one of the heads clearly wanted to come over and say hello to Norman and gave its tail a wag, the other two heads really, really wanted to actually chase that tail.

In opposite directions.

"Oh my god."

This was not something that Norman had expected from his day, no.

At least the rest of the cleanup had gone smoothly, without further incident. Mostly. Apparently the puppy wasn't (weren't?) quite housebroken yet.

[OOC: The Week Of Puppy continues, dangit! Open!]

always_someone

Norman walked into the Magic Box today to see the books putting on some kind of pageant, complete with pilgrim costumes.

"No. No nope no way not a chance no I'm sorry but no."

Norman wasn't specifying whether it was the pilgrims he had the objection to, pageants in general, or both. He was just vehemently opposed and, to the books' chagrin, those costumes were being shoved into a drawer where he didn't have to see them.

"After I leave," he intoned, "go nuts. But while I'm here? No."

The books seemed dubious. Norman scowled and remained firmly opposed.

[OOC: Open!]

spectre_alenko

Kaidan had been jogging past the arcade for months. It didn't seem to have regular hours but on Friday, he'd managed to track down the manager and propose a pizza party, since there were all these kids. The manager seemed thrilled to have the business.

So, Saturday morning, the doors would open and the games would go on. All the neon in the windows would get lit up and a speaker set outside playing various video game songs and noises to draw people in. A sign outside would read:

CHILDREN'S WELCOME PARTY
Open to all children.
Games are free to play, snacks and drinks provided!

There's a bowling alley with accompanying tables and booths, just about every arcade game you could name, and along one side Kaidan had set up a projector and a few game consoles with some beanbags to lounge on.

In the back, there's a pizza buffet with other snacks like vegetables, fruits, breadsticks. Buckets on the table hold granola or other breakfast bars and individually wrapped snacks. The soda fountain has been fully stocked. It's quieter back by the food with more seating to just chill and chat.

One group of tables has been set aside for quiet games. Legos, coloring books, board games are set out for the children to enjoy.

[Desc poss edited when Summer comes online.]

[OCD is up, post is OPEN!]

always_someone

At the Magic Box today, Norman was helping a cat with its shopping.

This wasn't even an unusual occurrence. This was, after all, the cat that worked alongside the ghost who sometimes came in here to pick his shopping out beforehand. But today, instead of coming with the ghost, the cat came with a neatly written letter detailing exactly what it needed, and how much.

Norman had so many questions. Questions like, 'who even wrote that list?' and 'how does he expect you to carry a ten pound amethyst sphere?'

But the cat seemed to have all its money in order, and once Norman got the cat's purchases all sorted out, it slipped out of the shop and reappeared with a little wagon. Norman was a little dubious about how the cat was going to navigate the steps with that, but... heck. This was just one more of those little mysteries he was going to have to wonder about for a while longer. He had a shop to tend.

[OOC: Open!]

mages_suck

Fenris was stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the weather. He went out in normal clothing, no appropriate outerwear. He conceded that shoes were necessary and grumblingly wore those.

The intent was to go for a walk. That intent didn't last very long. He ducked into the Perk and ordered a large black coffee.

Letting his hands wrap around the mug to warm them up, he eyed the weather outside balefully. Sizing it up as though figuring out where its weak point was so he could kick it there.

It was that kind of day.

[Open!]

always_someone

If anybody needed Norman today, they'd have to work pretty damn hard to get his attention on them during his shift at the Magic Box. After all, there was something seriously messed up happening outside the door, half the weird post-invasion ghosts of Fandom twitching and popping around in ways that just made no sense.

A dinosaur looked particularly perplexed when it couldn't just pass through a wall outside, and when it went to roar, it threw back its head and gave the most ridiculous rooster cock-a-doodle that had ever come out of the mouth of an allosauraus.

For once, the strangest happenings weren't going on inside the Magic Box, no matter how hard the books tried to grab Norman's attention with their much-rehearsed tumbling act. Too bad he was one of the only people who could see what was going on out there. Some of it was pretty bananas.

[OOC: Open!]

sharp_man

Anybody walking past Caritas would have spotted a sign out front:

Caritas presents:
THREE-MINUTE DATES

It was written in a calligraphy that was decidedly at odds with the fact that it was done in neon marker on a bar sign.

Inside, tables had been set up throughout the bar, with little candles just a shade nicer than they probably should have been on each one. The zombies were wearing pinstripes (except for the drummer, who was inexplicably wearing a bowtie) and playing their way through a collection of swing music. On the bar were an assortment of snacks, mostly nice cheeses and crudités, with slices of good, crusty baguette.

At eight o'clock sharp, Hannibal took to the stage in front of the band and nodded to the assorted guests. He was dressed in a lovely burgundy and red plaid three-piece suit with a pink shirt and blue paisley tie and pocket square. Somehow, it worked on him.

"Welcome to Caritas this evening, and thank you to the staff for hosting us. I am Doctor Hannibal Lecter, and tonight we are hosting three-minute dates. I hope that many of you will be participating. I am obliged on behalf of myself and this establishment to advise you that we are not liable for any inconvenience or damage you may incur. Hopefully those will both be kept to a minimum, however. Rude behavior is frowned upon." That was a mild but serious look he was giving you all preemptively.

"This is an opportunity for you to meet and make friends, and perhaps spark something more. It will work like this: I will announce pairs of people. You will go to the tables indicated and meet, and you will have three minutes to introduce yourselves and do whatever you like, within the bounds of legality and public decency. Then the band here," he gestured at the zombies, "will begin to play, and you will wrap things up before I announce the next pairings. You will each have five dates. Should you wish to spend more time together, the bar will remain open afterward, and we encourage you to remain and mingle."

He smiled and spread his hands. "Please, enjoy."

[Each date is five comments per person; if you need one or two to wrap things up, that's cool, too, but keep it short in the spirit of things. Regular bar post for post-3MD mingling should be up Saturday, but this is going up early for great timezone justice.]

~~Please wait for the~~ OCD is up! Have at!

always_someone

Norman opened the door to the magic shop, and immediately had to duck as a whole colony of bats came flapping out toward him.

He straightened up again, wide-eyed, and peered tentatively back in through the door.

...

Okay. Everything in the shop seemed to be black, orange, or purple, or else it was white or bright green and glowing eerily under a mystery blacklight that Norman couldn't find the source of. There were rows of jack-o-lanterns along the baseboards, possibly migrated here from the flower shop overnight, and a really big one on the counter, staring back at him with a crooked, broken-toothed grin. A display of cauldrons was sourcelessly bubbling a thick greenish smoke that poured out and down and then drifted lazily across the floor. Every step he took into the main room had floorboards creaking, and occasionally he could hear footsteps coming from nowhere in particular.

He sighed and sat himself down at the counter.

"Halloween decorations are way more intense in Blithe Hollow."

Because they were maddeningly witchy all year round.

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Norman made his way into work at the Magic Box today, took a look around the place, groaned a little, and then sank down behind the counter. He'd do actual work in a minute or five. He just needed to take a few minutes now to settle in.

Yes, he was clothed. No, he wasn't in jail anymore. His parents had, quite understandably, done a lot of freaking out about the whole 'arrested for being naked and trying to break into a clothing shop,' thing. His mother had fretted about whether he ought to come home, his father had spent a good twenty minutes accusing him of being on drugs. The manager of the clothing shop in question had apparently just laughed. Laughed and laughed about the entire situation before managing to say somewhere edgewise that he wasn't going to press charges.

So, hey, at least the Demon Marcus guy understood Fandom, Norman supposed. He'd have to stop by there one of these days to apologize and thank him, once he stopped being utterly mortified.

And then there was the tiny ghost tattoo on his inner wrist, which had started to scab over. He'd done some extensive googling about tattoo aftercare because he was suddenly terrified of his wrist turning funny colors and his hand falling off or something, but it had turned out that most instructions seemed to assume that he'd go to a proper tattoo place to get the tattoo in the first place. So he was kind of just washing it and moisturizing it and hoping for the best. All the while feeling a little silly about having a fourteen year-old give him a tattoo with a homemade tattoo gun in a jail cell on a whim like that. He had no clue what had possessed him to do it, probably some leftover panic, but now there wasn't really anything to be done about that, either.

So he was going to just sit here, behind the desk, for a few more minutes. Do some breathing. Just reorient himself for a little while. Get his head on straight. Try not to feel like a complete disaster.

Dammit, Fandom.

[OOC: Open!]

died8yearsago

Well. Today was definitely turning out to be one of the more exciting days that Trooper Station had seen since those raccoons, and this time around, it even involved human perpetrators! Rosa was almost tempted to double check that this was still the FIPD. When was even the last time they had humans in the holding cell?

Well, today they had two. One of them (female, age fourteen, defacement of public and private property; she'd apparently tried to paint up Turtle & Canary and had actually started etching stuff into the front window with a knife) was already there when Rosa got there; the troopers had apparently picked her up last night and were having trouble getting a hold of any legal guardian. But at least she had clothes on. The other one (male, age sixteen, public nudity and failed attempt at B&E) was not so lucky, so when Rosa shoved him into the cell, she also threw in a pair of FIPD sweats that clearly no one had ever worn because why would they? And then went to track down his parents or guardians to figure out what should be done about their naked, delinquent kid.

Normally, she seriously wouldn't have bothered for little crap like this. She was basically doing a whole unit on B&E in her class right now. But in both cases, someone had actually put in the formal call for it, so her hands were really tied and it looked like she actually had to be a normal cop around this place for a change.

[[small ocd and open!]]

always_someone

Norman had just wanted to go for a walk. That was all. He'd had a bunch of stupid little extra legs for far too long now, and he'd managed to get an impressive amount of things done in that amount of time, between selling dance tickets - twice - and apparently being crowned Junior Homecoming Prince as a crab.

So, he was pretty sure he could handle taking a walk. Even with the stairs. What were a few stairs, right? Even if you were basically palm-sized and all.

Okay, the going was perhaps a little more slow than he'd hoped it might be. He wasn't very far into town yet at all when - pop! - he went from being a crab on some stairs to a very naked boy on the stairs, full of the panic that being a very naked boy on the stairs generally entailed.

He froze. He looked around with wide eyes. And then he bolted toward the clothing shop, not exactly with a plan in mind. Just, there were clothes in there. And, since it was apparently too early for it to be open yet today, in there was where they were likely to stay.

... Unless he could find a window or something.

[OOC: For one in particular, please, though open streets are totally open, naturally!]

seriesofbaddecisions

Town hall was decked out for homecoming, and there was certainly... a theme. Halloween Under the Sea was definitely a theme that they had come up with.

And it was a theme that was put together by several people not from this universe who didn't know much about Halloween, or what this planet had under its sea.

So there were definitely backdrops of waves lining the walls, and they were decorated with things like fish. Fish that were wearing costumes that had been Googled so that some might have firefighter helmets on, or cat ears. One was very definitely a superhero. Same for the octoroks. And sure, yeah, maybe you had one of these guys on a wall but he was wearing a witch's hat!

There was also plenty of orange and black glitter around, too. Don't worry, they hadn't classed the place up too much.

always_someone

Norman walked in to see a bunch of books scattered across the floor, splayed, some sitting on bent pages, as if they'd been hurled around with no regard to where they landed.

The jelly demon was nowhere to be seen.

"I don't want to know," Norman announced as he started picking the books up. "I'm sure there's an explanation for this, and I really just don't want it."

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Norman came to work today with a simple sandwich in hand. As much as he thought this was a stupid idea, if it meant Bob would feel better... sure, he'd go for it. When your necromancer-ghost mentor demanded you find out if bread was the secret weakness of the adorable jelly demon that had settled into your magic shop, well, the whole phrase was ridiculous enough that how could Norman not at least humor him?

"Hey, buddy," he said, feeling a little bit guilty for entertaining this thought as the tiny pink blob burbled up against his sneaker in greeting. "I brought something for you? If you don't want it, that's fine."

He crouched down and offered it the sandwich.

It cooed in confusion, and then stretched up and, with a 'NOMPH' sound, swallowed the sandwich all in one go. It didn't even change size afterwards to account for the added mass. It did squeak and babble and coo for a moment before rolling around in a little fist-sized ball on the floor.

When it stopped rolling and straightened up to peer at Norman in delight, it had a little brown swirl around its middle.

"... You're a peanut butter and jelly demon now, aren't you?"

It chirped.

[OOC: Open!]

furnaceface

While the weather seemed to be on-again-off-again sputtering rain today, the island, perhaps recognizing that outdoor job fairs didn't tend to work well in the rain, had provided a large canopy in the park, under which numerous booths were neatly set up, awaiting employers to fill them. Notices had ~~handwavily~~ gone out advertising the event, and so the usual contingent of food vendors had congregated on the outskirts of the park, shaking off their summertime 'this is for Wednesday' mindset in order to provide cheap fried goods to folks who were swinging by as an excuse to get out and be social today.

There, the island had done its part. Fandom's locals were welcome to do whatsoever they pleased with it from here.

[OOC: Open! Have at it!]

always_someone

Today, the Magic Box was continuing the trend of being... really, really slow.

Which was fine, as far as Norman was concerned. It meant he had time to do some actual tidying, put out some new stock, take the wizard hat away from the mouse again, put the tiny jelly demon to work scrubbing the floors instead, do some inventory, place some orders, put together some stuff for the booth for Sunday's Job Fair...

Usual Tuesday things.

The Magic Box is open!

[Open!]

always_someone

It looked like the nonsense books that Bob had been mocking on Sunday had had a bit of a conference with the actual, legitimate magic books. Which was a phrase that Norman had never in his life figured he'd need to consider, but here he was, watching them all huddled around their chalk pentagram on the floor, seeming to marvel in silence at the... demon?... that they'd summoned.

If it could even be called that. It was more like a tiny pink blob, no bigger than Norman's fist, with a pair of eyes and a mouth. It looked as if somebody had crossed Jell-O with a Hershey's Kiss with a big pile of regret. It just sat there where it was summoned, and burbled and cooed and made happy little bubbling noises every time Norman looked at it.

"... Guys, it's adorable, but you need to send that thing back."

The leaflike rustling of the books' pages sounded outright heartbroken.

Norman didn't care.

[OOC: Open!]

merciful_parable

Most of Carter's efforts today were in the graveyard.

The church was as clean as he could make it, and while some of the cushions and other textiles still needed repairing, it broke his heart more than a little to think of doing that while leaving the graveyard unattended to.

There was so much weeding to do, which was quite natural, after being left alone so long, but it was the garbage that had either been tossed about by the wind to land on peoples graves (he preferred to think it was this) or had been left deliberately, and carelessly, about that got to him.

So he was out there, cleaning it up, carefully going grave-by-grave to make certain they were all as well maintained as they could be.

Even if their loved ones were gone, after all, someone ought to care about those who'd been left behind.

always_someone

"Uh, really."

Norman had come in for his shift, as usual, prepard for pretty much anything.

"Really?"

But sometimes, he just couldn't be prepared for the things this place had up its sleeve.

"Really!?"

It was going to take him all day to assess the water damaged stock after the tiny mouse in a wizard cap tried to make the mop clean the floor on its own.

"Why?"

The mouse didn't even work here! What possessed it to try to clean the floor??

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Norman walked into the Magic Box, not entirely certain what to expect. Between the shop's occasional shenanigans and the fact that Bob was kind of using this place as his own personal haunt, pretty much anything could be going on in there, after all.

Mostly what Norman found were some books that had been labelled according to their usefulness, which meant that his morning was spent sorting them according to those labels, actually setting the decent ones to the side so that he could flip through them and see if any of the theory would do him any good.

The ones that Bob had marked as 'utter trash' were being set aside, too. Entirely because Norman wanted to see if he could buck any stupid ideas about magic after flipping through them.

They were all still on display in case customers came in wanting to pick up actual educational material or a stupid hobby that wouldn't actually lead to anything, because he was running a business here. But it was possible that the ones that Bob had marked simply as 'amusing' were out front and center for a bit, at least until Norman could take a peek at the other two categories for himself.

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Norman came to work, once again, pretty much braced for anything. Working here kind of had that way about it, after all, and seeing as he was generally already pretty used to the unusual anyway, it wasn't too much of a stretch to wrap his head around working in a shop that randomly turned him into weird animals or occasionally got in shipments of live monkeys instead of just the paws.

Not that he'd ordered the paws that one time, either.

Today's little bit of Magic Box whimsy wasn't even immediately apparent until Norman started cleaning. Every time he ran a broom or a cloth over a surface, the counter or floor that he'd just touched would glow bright blue for a second, and then put off a little burst of bubbles that would drift around the room and then pop after a few moments. Overall, the effect was harmless and actually kind of pretty, and turned out to be a pretty good incentive to keep cleaning the place up just that little bit more thoroughly than usual.

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Norman walked into the Magic Box today, braced for whatever weirdness the shop might try to throw at him.

Good and braced. Righto. Ready for anything, that Norman.

...

Nothing happened. Maybe the shop was taking pity on him this week. He sighed and got to work, putting out new stock. Not every day at the Magic Box could be a weird one, he supposed.

[OOC: Yup, open!]

fh_spareparts

People were disappearing.

The woods had turned into a strange hybrid of bright green leaves and dark brambles made of shadows.

Clearly there was a connection there.

And while passing through the barrier itself seemed impossible, maybe there was a clue laying somewhere along the forest's edge...

[[ ~~wait for the~~ ocd up! team detective, this is your post. ]]

always_someone

Norman stepped into the Magic Box and promptly turned into a bunny.

And if that was it, if it was just the island being silly at him, he'd be fairly resigned to that. But after a consternated bunny hop across the room into the back room to see if he could at least find something he could signal to the outside world for an assist with, the moment he crossed through that door, he turned into a dove.

... This earned a disgruntled coo, and he backtracked in the hopes that he could knock the phone off the hook and maybe call somebody for help. Not that he was sure they'd know where to find him, but it was worth the attempt.

Of course, going back through the door again had him turning into a newt.

It was going to be one of those days. By the time he figured out how to get his hands back, he was going to be thoroughly wary of doors.

[OOC: Open! Up to you if entering the shop turns you into something, too!]

always_someone

The magic shop was up to some new tricks today, which had Norman faintly exasperated before too long. Every time he reached to pick up a piece of merchandise, it turned into some other item, no less or more magical than whatever he'd reached for in the first place, but totally different all the same. A deck of cards turned into a crystal sphere in his hands. A wand became a vial of something he wasn't going to trust enough to open. Anything he didn't recognize, he set aside so that he could research it later; nothing was going to go back on the shelf if he didn't know what it was.

He was a little bit bemused as he went to pull up a seat and the chair turned into a duck, though.

Was there even anything magical about ducks??

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Norman walked into the Magic Box for his shift today and was immediately caught in a rain of confetti.

He didn't know why he was caught in a rain of confetti. He didn't even know where the confetti had come from. But there it was. Confetti. Raining down on him. And sticking in his hair and to his clothing, no matter how hard he tried to pick it off.

He sighed and went to get a broom. At least he could get it off the floor, right?

[OOC: POOF, confetti! Open!]

always_someone

Okay, there were no surprise monkeys this week, and the cards weren't doing any tricks. Norman was actually almost afraid of what he might encounter this week in the magic shop.

The answer, of course, was nothing.

Not that there was nothing out of the ordinary. There was, in fact, something very out of the ordinary. When he stepped into the shop, the shelves were all bare.

It wasn't until he flailed a bit and tried to figure out if they'd been robbed or if it was just Fandom being weird that he realized the stock wasn't gone, it was just hiding. It had all retreated to the back, to hide in the storeroom, and it needed to be coaxed back out with gentle words about how it was all perfect just the way it was, and everything would find where it really belonged if it only gave the world a chance.

One by one, all of the stock items crept out from the back room and took their spaces on the shelves again, apparently feeling better.

Norman, meanwhile, sat behind the counter, kind of exhausted after the whole ordeal. Sheesh.

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

Today, the Magic Box seemed to be all about card tricks.

One card was demonstrating its prowess on the tightrope. Another had procured a tiny motorcycle and was going to attempt a leap through a burning ring of death. Then there was the one who had found a card-sized whip and was attempting to keep the last of last week's monkeys at bay like some kind of scaled-down lion taming act.

Norman was just staring at the whole thing in quietly stunned silence.

Not much work was going to get done today.

[OOC: Open!]

always_someone

So, this was life at the Magic Box without Jenkins.

Norman sighed as he walked in for his shift today. There was another shipment of new stock in, and he was going to have to check it over for dangerous items, label it, price it, and put it either out on the shelves or into a safe place in the back room just in case...

He pulled out the packing slip and squinted at it.

"One hundred percent sustainably sourced, non-GMO, cruelty-free monkey paws?" He squinted even more. "How does that even work?"

He got his answer when he opened the box and was immediately tackled by a dozen squirrel monkeys.

Oh.

[OOC: ... Idek. Open with work slowplay caveat!]

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