Fandom Island and Town

Winter holidays were just around the corner, so Steven was busy researching ideas for new things the Museum could do to educate and celebrate the season.

He found himself looking up the museums back home. And then getting distracted because the V&A had a rather interesting lesson on accessibility coming up soon. He wondered if perhaps he and Llewellyn could pop by while it was happening...

Which would be useful for the museum here as well! It was work related, truly!

One way or another, Steven was taking notes. He was also available to talk to any visitors who might wish to speak with him.

[open]

Thursday found Steven at his usual spot behind the Welcome Desk. He'd unearthed an old binder of Blathers' about events on the island that were from years ago.

Currently Steven was reading up on something about a zombie invasion which happened two decades prior.

Steven couldn't help but imagine what it would be like to get caught in something like that. Assuming he ever was caught in something like that instead of someone else taking his job for some reason.

Preposterous idea, really. Who would even think of such a thing?

Steven continued his reading, though of course he was interruptible should anyone need him.

[open]

Homecoming was that weekend, so Steven was hard at work making sure the art and history exhibits featured previous Homecomings for anyone who wanted to be extra nostalgic.

He was also behind the Welcome Desk not infrequently, should anyone popping by wish to speak to him.

[open]

Halloween season brought with it many scary things. At the moment perhaps the most terrifying was that the winter holidays would be here soon. (Where had the year gone? Where???)

As such, Steven was in his usual spot behind the Welcome Desk working on ideas for winter themed displays. There were the usual things such as pointing out the bugs and fish which thrived in colder weather. But perhaps this year they could include a special exhibition about winter events? Perhaps something about how the random happenstances in December had changed over the years?

Of course that would involve research, but that wasn't an insurmountable problem. Right now Steven was attacking it by making notes on what sorts of things could be included. He'd narrow down specifics later.

In the meanwhile, he was interruptible for any visitors who wished to talk.

[open]

The tiny tomato plant was still a tiny tomato plant. It hadn't seemed to have grown much since last week? Maybe another leaf or two?

Steven took a picture of it and recorded some measurements. He also tried talking to it again in case it was a lost resident. No luck on that end. But at least now he had a reference point for any future changes.

That done, Steven went back to the Welcome Desk for the rest of his work day.

After about a half hour he said, "Bugger" as he remembered he wouldn't be at work next week. He wrote up what he'd found on the plant and left it as a note for Blathers. Just in case.

[open!]

What had originally been intended to be a few days back in London had turned much longer when Khonshu had a request for his avatars to fulfill.

Well, all right. A request he wanted Marc to fulfill but Steven was part of the deal now and Khonshu could choke on it.

That had kept them all, Llewellyn included, away until yesterday evening. Which meant, between unpacking and making sure Midnight was all right, there'd been no time to catch up on what had happened while they'd been away. Such as why there were stray piles of glitter in the Museum lobby. Or why there was some sort of orange? Yellow? Originally a... fruit? Maybe? Rotted goop that had appeared in one of the previously empty displays in the museum's lower floor. Or the very clearly - which in and of itself was frankly suspicious - brand new and healthy tomato plant that had sprung up in the middle of the artwork upstairs.

Blathers was able to fill Steven in that he was pretty sure the glitter was leftover from the chaos of the previous week. The rest was anyone's guess. After some gentle questioning Blathers and Steven felt at least somewhat confident that the tomato plant wasn't an island resident having a day of it. But even so to be on the safe side they decided to leave the strangeness be. Hopefully whatever made these things appear would make them disappear as needed. No matter how tempting it was to try the tomatoes.

The glitter, on the other hand, had a known origin. So once Blathers went to bed for the day, Steven was left with a broom and dustpan to do the best he could to try to get rid of it.

Impossible to succeed, of course, but Steven gave it a go all the same. At least it kept him in the lobby and easily available to any visitors who stopped by.

[Sometimes real life provides Fandom inspiration. Anyway, open! Steven and Harley conversation NFB please.]

Steven had enjoyed his camping trip with Llewellyn. Longer than before, not too long as a whole. Even so, something about coming home yesterday had felt right. Like there was extra reason to pat the walls and tell Midnight it was doing a good job being a home. It was loved and where it was meant to be.

Strange. Couldn't possibly imagine why. Some quirk of the multiverse, perhaps.

Regardless, Steven did manage to leave said home - and his comfy bed with a proper mattress - to come into work. Which was where he was, in his usual spot behind the Welcome Desk, barring interruptions for things like his class with Stark in the morning.

[open]

It was a somewhat subdued Steven who arrived at work that day. Difficult not to approach his spot behind the Welcome Desk and think about the conversation he'd had there the week prior.

Still, nothing to be done about it. He could focus on his work and helping anyone who popped by and needed it. That was enough of a distraction.

Well that and working on some fliers. But those were only during his breaks, honest.

[open]

Steven very much welcomed the cool temperature of the Museum once he got inside of it. He had various things to catch up on today but first he was going to sit at the welcome desk and appreciate the wonder that was air conditioning.

At some point he might notice how limp his hair now looked thanks to the heat and humidity. But for now he was simply happy to be inside and with a cool cup of water.

[open!]

The weather wasn't as beastly hot as it had been, but even so Steven made sure the signs were out front reminding people that the Museum had air conditioning in case they needed a cool place to spend some time. He also made sure that there were bottles of water on hand in case anyone came in after too much time in the heat.

In the meanwhile he could be found behind the Welcome Desk, preparing for his upcoming week off. He hummed a song to himself but buggered if he could remember where he heard it. Something poppy, though. He danced to in his chair when he wasn't thinking about it.

[open]

The Pride displays around the Museum were all set up. At the Welcome Desk, Steven was now sporting a small rainbow flag pin thanks to Llewellyn reminding him about it.

There were also brochures outlining routes around the Museum to see the seasonal displays, and merchandise with rainbows on it.

Given how well it had all come together it was fair to say that Steven was, indeed, proud.

He was also available behind the desk for anyone who needed him.

[open]

Steven hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary on his way into work that morning. Perhaps because he'd been so focused on getting there.

It wasn't until he arrived that he tripped over a suitcase in the front doorway. He bit back a curse as he glared at it.

There on the suitcase was the word: Lesser.

That didn't help Steven's desire to glare, actually. He grabbed the suitcase and hauled it behind the Welcome Desk. On his way there he spotted others: Unwanted and Uninteresting.

A memory of a few years back came to Steven. He clamped down on any feelings of Marc he could possibly put a hold on so that whatever this was didn't manifest something for him too.

"You're not getting him," Steven said aloud to... whatever this was. "You can't have him."

Behind the Welcome Desk was another suitcase.

Unreal.

Steven shoved that one under the desk as hard as he could. He then stood there, his eyes closed, and tried his best to breathe slowly and calmly.

"It's fine," he said. "Absolutely fine. I can handle this."

Behind him, near the staircase to the second floor, was a battered and worn trunk. The word on that was ANGER.

Steven didn't see the trunk. Which was fine. It wasn't his anyway.

[open!]

The phone was ringing when Steven arrived at work that morning. He quickly ran over to it to answer.

He didn't actually know the person on the other end and turned out they hadn't intended to call a museum in the first place.

They did want to talk, however. So Steven ended up having a perfectly lovely conversation with a stranger.

After he hung up he realized he'd forgotten to get their name.

Oh well. At least he had his work to distract him.

[open]

Steven was hard at work as he sat behind the welcome desk. Blathers had tasked him with looking into getting the back end of the Museum new storage organizers, and Steven wanted to do a good job of it. He was currently working on a list of all the sizes, features, and prices.

Possibly not fascinating for many people, but Steven liked the clarity of it all. Made it easier to not have to keep track of it in his head.

Imagine if he knew about spreadsheets.

Regardless, he was there and still interruptible if any visitors stopped by.

[open]

Steven was in a good mood when he got to work that morning. Not the least of which was because he'd gotten there on time. But also he was just happy to be at a job he enjoyed, doing things which were useful.

All right, he was occasionally checking and double checking a cleaning list for home. But only on his breaks, truly!

He was behind the welcome desk for any visitors.

[open]

It was the first day of spring and Steven had the lobby of the museum decorated with pastel colors and posters informing visitors of parts of the museum that focused on this time of year.

Steven himself was in a good mood. He hummed something that sounded a great deal like Vivaldi's Spring as he did his work at the Welcome Desk. One might even say he had a spring in his step, except for the part where he was sitting down. Bouncy demeanor, though. Perky.

Happy to help any visitors who might need it as well.

[open]

Steven was thoughtful as he tucked in to his work at the Museum. Not unhappy per se. Contemplative. Various things from the prior week and upcoming weekend kept trying to take over his thoughts.

In a way it was nice to have the distraction of all the things that needed to be caught up on while he'd been on holiday. Even simple tasks like inventory and ordering new supplies were a welcome distraction. Something to concentrate on without being too complicated.

He was, of course, interruptible for any visitors.

[open]

Steven was hard at work behind the Welcome Desk of the museum today. The new souvenir mugs were in and he wanted to be sure they were displayed to their best advantage.

This did mean Steven was fussing over their placement a great deal. Though putting them into some sort of a pyramid shape on the shelves did seem to be the order of the day.

He was, as always, interruptible.

[open]

Steven was at work nice and early that morning. The walk over had been brisk, both in terms of temperature and how quickly he'd done it.

Once inside he made himself a nice hot cup of tea and settled down to going through the mail. There were various brochures about things that could be bought to enhance displays and the like. Steven didn't know if Blathers would be interested in them - the ones for insects were highly likely to be a no - but it couldn't hurt to at least skim and see if there was anything that stood out as having potential.

He was, of course, interruptible for any visitors.

[open!]

The holidays and their related travel were over, so Steven was happily back at work.

As far as he was aware there were no new arrivals in town - at least none that had coincided with the start of the semester. Even so, he made sure that the Welcome Desk was prepared with maps and brochures and anything else a newcomer might need to get themselves up to speed on things.

Otherwise he busied himself with catching up on things from the two weeks he was gone. He hummed a song to himself as he worked. Nothing in particular, just a tune born of how glad he was to be at his job.

[open]