Fandom Island and Town

When it came to the stuff in the store, Boc mostly concerned himself with the clothing itself, as that was what he was familiar with and most comfortable around, but sometimes, he couldn't help being a little intrigued by some of the accessories they got in as well. Today, specifically, he was feeling particularly delighted and amused by a wide variety of parasols they'd gotten in, clearly meant to not only shade one from the harsh summer sun but also match their outfits.

So he was having a good time thinking of clever ways to display these pretty new accessories, while also setting aside a few to sort of play around with, to see how he could think of ways to add ribbons or bows or other little details to make them even more unique, and he was half-wondering if he should claim one for himself.

If he got one big enough, perhaps he could even use it to hide under in case of sudden unfortunate social interactions.

Pixie Dust is open!

Boc did not wear shoes. So Boc very often did not understand shoes. Sure, some of them made sense and were logical and he could see why people who wore shoes would find them practical or fashionable. He liked the look of a lot of boots and thought the possibilities with canvas sneakers were fascinating. Heels shoes looked more like torture than anything else, and most sandals, he was still a little unsure about.

But today he'd received a box of jelly sandals, and he did not know what to think of them.

On the one hand, his first impression was revulsion. But then he thought well maybe they were durable and therefor actually practical? But then he just thought about the plastic material and his nose wrinkled right back to disdain again. But some of them were very pretty colors. Some even with sparkles!

So he was left feeling a little baffled by them, shifting through the box to find the prettiest ones to put on display and then shoving the rest of the box behind the counter for now while he thought about how he felt about it and maybe considered asking Luma what she thought when she came in on Thursday.

Pixie Dust is open!

The last few weeks had brought on a lot of new tings (comparatively speaking) for Boc, from having a new employee at the store that was also a half-beastie like himself (albeit much different), to taking a class that some of his other employees signed him up for. So when he came into the shop, he was very firm about sticking with something familiar and certain.

Well.

Firm for Boc.

Which meant that he'd protested slightly, but still wound up trying some new summer-y pastry that had at the shop in addition to his usual cinnamon roll.

Ah, well. It was delicious, though, so he wasn't going to complain.

(Not outloud anyway).

[[ open bakery is open! ]]

Two things were happening that day, which, for someone who spent his life in a sort of rote existence blissfully free of a good deal of events or happenings, was a lot for Boc. First of all, apparently, one of his employees had gone and signed him up for a class again, although at least this time, he was assured that it was not a mistake in thinking it was a class about sewing. It was very clearly a class about food, because apparently, they were concerned that his diet of scavenged plants and cinnamon rolls was not good for him. But that was his diet, mostly, back in the Lands Between! And that diet didn't even include cinnamon rolls! He promised, though, he'd at least check it out, with the caveat that he'd refused to keep showing up if it was too overwhelming for him.

So he was pretty much not expecting to keep up with it.

The second thing that was happening was that he had a new employee all of a sudden. Hopefully one who wouldn't randomly sign him up for things like the others! But the young woman had come into the class all in a flurry yesterday after an event in the park, upset and nearly inconsolable about one of those hideous park garments, and, quite frankly, Boc could not blame her. He still wasn't quite sure how they'd gotten around to it from that point, but the young woman...Luma, she said her name was...had a passion for fashion and was new to the island, and the concept of having a job was just so novel and intriguing to her that she decided she simply must work here. And although it was all said very pleasantly and kindly, there was something a bit...predatory abut her that made Boc feel particularly nervous and skittish, but she told him he had nothing to worry about, she was like him, actually, and she'd shown him how she could change into a beast, probably thinking that would make him feel better, but actually, it made him feel much, much worse.

But of course he'd given her the job. He would have been far too nervous to have said no! Even if she wasn't some sort of tiny magic half-wolf.

So she'd be coming by to learn about the job, he supposed, after her own class, and he was trying his best not to be nervous, which meant a lot of folding and organizing about the shop that morning.

Pixie Dust is open!

Sometimes, the store seemed to work in mysterious ways. Yes, there was a small cadre of NPCs employees who seemed to handle all the things that went well above Boc's head and ability, but sometimes things happened that he was pretty sure not even any of them had done, because he liked to think he would have noticed it, considering how he was usually here and slept underneath the counter most nights. And he was by himself for most of it, so he had no idea when, between last night and this morning, someone who worked here would have had the chance to change an entire rack toward the front of the store to consist entirely of pieces of demin clothing.

Not just jeans and jackets, either, but button down shirts, hats, denim shoes and scarves, and what he was pretty sure was supposed to be denim undergarments, which felt defeated the purpose of undergarments.

Strange. Very strange. But Boc wasn't one to ask questions, but he was going to perhaps avoid that section of the store until it cleared up again.

Pixie Dust is open!

Earlier that week, someone had come in for new socks, and, through their conversation, Boc had convinced that person not to throw away all their old socks they were replacing, but to bring them in so that Boc could mend them.

At no charge, either! Which was terrible for thr business, but wonderful for Boc, who was now camped out in front of the counter, with a garbage bag bigger than he was, stuffed with torn and holey socks, mending away to his little heart's content.

Ah, if only every day could be a Mending Decades Worth of Socks Day!

Pixie Dust is open!

Boc had been working on a new mending project, but then he went and dropped his sewing needle, and the thread on it matched the floor perfectly, so he was having a hard time finding it. He'd spent a good amount of time looking for it, too, and when he did not succeed, he eventually did give up and climbed back onto the counter to just find a new one.

Which was exactly when he found the last one, and the way he found it had him thinking maybe he should start considering the benefits of shoes...

Pixie Dust is open!

It had been a little while since Boc last managed to make it out to thr bakery on a Sundag morning, due to one anxiety or another. So much so that when the staff, happy to see him returning, offered to give him even more than just him usual cinnamon roll, he didn't even feel the urge to argue!

Well, he did protest a little, but not too much, leading him to settle at his usual table in the corner with not one, not two, not even three, but four treats to try!

And there was the anxiety again, over which one to even start with!

[[ a slow Sunday? Sounds fake but we'll see! Open! ]]

No, despite Boc not really being around much lately, he had not been turned into a tree again, and, for once, he was actually quite grateful for that. Because, you see, he'd just not been paying much attention to the passing of days or keeping track of them again, and had been deeply mired in making a tree.

An Erdtree, to be specific. He'd embroidered a cloak with an Erdtree on it before, but now, after his conversation with Pam a few weeks ago that one morning on his way to the shop, he'd been a bit inspired to try and recreate the image of an Erdtree in a dress, and to do something truly unique with it in figuring out how to get subtle wiring around it so that it looked like the golden leaves of it were swirling about the person wearing it.

In his head, it looked absolutely phenomenal, but it was not translating so well to the actual physical world. So he'd been spending the last few weeks experiencing the incredible frustration of not getting something to work the way you wanted it to, followed by the elation of having figured it out, only to go right back down again when it turns out that what you thought was working was actually not.

Right now, he was focusing a little bit on the hem, to remind himself that he did know how to do something like this, and he just needed a break from the more complicated, high-minded stuff....or to remind himself that maybe he really should just stick to hemming and alterations....

Pixie Dust is open!

As much as he was wont to stay huddled and hidden in his shop to pass the days, especially in this colder weather, Boc was still going to try and make it into the bakery for his usual Sunday treat. It was really the only thing that had him even keeping up with the passage of time as it was kept here, and there was such a nice ritual to it that he truly did feel off when he'd missed it for one reason or anything.

Plus, the cinnamon rolls were delicious, and they'd given him one with sprinkles this time, which was a lot of fun. And much better than when they gave him ones with extra icing, since that icing really did make a terrible mess of his paws and he did try to be nice and neat when he ate.

Although he still preferred using his claws over a fork.

It had also been so quiet lately that he was pretty confident he could sit there in his corner with his little torn-up pieces of pastry all by his comfortable lonesome, too. There might have even been some contented humming and headbobbing, although only the squirrels would likely be privy to that.

[[ open, of course! ]]

Well, now, Boc had gone and made a fine mess out of that yarn of his, hadn't he? So much so that he was camped out in front of the counter rather than on top of it, shaking his head and regretting his foolish ambitions. He should have just put them to rest! A scarf should have been more straight forward than a hat, but, alas, he'd gotten it into his mind to try and knit a pattern of leaves and rowa fruit into his, and he was...

...well, that was what he got for being confident in his abilities he supposed, as he sighed and set to the task of undoing his work to try again with fewer tangles or mistakes.

At this point, he might actually be glad for a customer, if only to distract him from his mess of a scarf.

Might.

Pixie Dust is open!

Having gone to the fair the other day left Boc feeling like he'd more than satisfied any sort of expectations to be social, and,besides, he'd managed to aquire quite a bit of yarn on that excursion, too. So what better excuse to get himself nice and comfortable on the counter with a few knitting needles and attempting to see what he might be able to work his way into creating.

He wasn't as good as knitting as he was sewing,of course,but he wasn't always great at sewing, either! Practice made....well, he'd never be perfect, he'd always be rather far from it, really, but it didn't make....serviceable.

And that was all he'd ever really want to be, anyway.

Pixie Dust is open!

At some point during the week, someone had told Boc about Christmas trees, ans, considering how what he missed most about the Lands Between (other than his dear old mum, of course) was the comforting glow of the Erdtree towering over all of it, and a particular fondess for trees after having been one a few times, it didn't take much to convince him to feature one in the shop window.

It leaned decidedly golden and bright, though, and he had a great deal of fun taking long stretches of golden silk and twining them with golden leaves, both to wrap around the tree and drape artistically from the ceiling, and he was genuinely considering keeping it that way all year, it just felt so warm and lovely.

Pixie Dust is open!

There were absolutely days when Boc was quite certain he would have been better off never emerging from underneath the counter at the shop, and it didn't take him long after daring to venture out from under it for him to wonder if this was one of those days. In his experience, hearing music from some unknown source (even if, in this case, it was pretty clear that it was coming from birds and not from chanting winged dames, and he'd learned that things were rarely as dangerous here as they were back in the Lands Between, but, quite frankly, he did not want to take his chances!

And so he would not be going to the bakery for his cinnamon roll today, alas. He would be staying safe and snug in the shop, and figuring out what to do with the return of all those ugly, terrible sweaters that still remained in the shop that day, although at least the one that seemed insistent on being worn yesterday, with the dog on it had finally disappeared....especially off his own person!

Boc didn't even wear shirts! It felt particularly rude that one should insist upon being worn especially when it looked like that!

Pixie Dust is open!

The person taking the orders at the bakery had that look on their face when Boc came in that morning, the sort of look that made him feel very tempted to just turn around and hobble right back out that door, because it meant that something different was going to be foisted upon him.

Granted, he did usually like what they foisted on him here at the bakery, especially since he wasn't one to stray from the usual without that little push, but it came with a sort of excitement that made him feel wary and uncertain regardless. But it was good track record that had him sucking in a breath and bolstering himself rather than just immediately going back to curl up under the counter at his own shop.

"So, then," he said as he approached the counter, brushing some of the oddly sweet snow that had been clinging to his fur off his shoulders before straining his neck to be able to see over it a little better, "what is it this time?"

Apparently, peppermint white chocolate sweet rolls, which was explained to him to be "much more Christmas-y," whatever that meant, but he dutifully accepted the suggestion and loped his way on over to his usual corner table to enjoy.

[[ and, of course, open bakery is open! ]]

Boc was, unsurprisingly, completely out of the loop as far as anything that might have been going on that weekend. After all, he kept mostly to himself and it hadn't done anything to him, so why would have have? All he knew was that he did eventually have to extract himself from underneath all those coats eventually and get back to work, and just mill about the shop as usual until Sunday came around.

And, when Sunday came around, he'd meander his way on over to the bakery, for his usual cinnamon roll, which he took over to his usual table in the corner, after receiving a rather cryptic but chuckling comment from the server that commented on how it was a good thing Boc got here bright and early before all the kids got there first!

Leaving Boc to settle in and wonder what in the world he might have meant by that and if it was something he needed to be worried about.

[[ open bakery is open, of course! ]]

Boc was back at his corner table again this week, with his cinnamon roll, of course, and a deep feeling of regret and remorse lingering still over what happened with the bean bag chair last week. And as much as he'd like to say it was really a matter that they should have been made with a much higher quality material and fabric, the fact of the matter was that his claws had accidentally torn into the one he'd been sitting in when he got up, and from there, frantic and surprised and feeling just terrible about it, it only got worse.

Worse enough that he almost considered skipping out on this week out of shame and embarrassment, but he felt this week was a good opportunity to show that he'd learned his lesson, to drop a few extra coins in the tip jar to compensate for the incident, and prove that he knew he was much better sticking to chairs that couldn't be ripped and spill its contents all over the floor from now on.

Plus, he just really wanted a cinnamon roll.

[[ and open for all your baked good needs, of course! ]]

After a week of working on adding capes to a plethora of snuggies at the shop, Boc had been feeling rather accomplished and proud of his handiwork, and was not only looking forward to his weekly cinnamon roll, but he was actually feeling quite a bit like he'd earned it. His long, clawed, fuzzy fingers danced eager in anticipation as he put in his order, and, when he received the treat, he let out a very appreciative bout of gratitude toward the servers and went eagerly loping over to his corner table to enjoy it.

But then he stopped, his attention caught by a particularly soft looking set of beanbag chairs just slightly off to the side of where he usually sat. Still against the wall, just not in the corner, though the did look comfortable, especially for a creature so prone to nesting as Boc was.

He gave a glance to his usual table.

He looked back toward the beanbags.

There was a small whimper for the distress of indecision, and apology offered to his usual table, and then, with no small swell of excitement, he changed course to settle comfortably in the beanbag chair, wriggling a little inside of it to get comfortable and wondering why he'd never noticed such lovely, comfortable chairs before!

He should get some for underneath the counter at the shop!

[[ work-related slowness very likely on my end, but the post is most certainly open for all your baked-good needs! ]]

So a funny thing had happened last week. One would think that Boc, as inclined toward hermitage and generally avoiding people as he was wont, would have found the quiet of the island in the mass exodus for the school trip to be a blissful relief, bit he'd found her felt....rather the opposite. It was too quiet, he felt, even for him. Because even if he wasn't one to interact or be social with people, he'd grown to find comfort in the thought that he could if he did want to. He missed....well, if not maybe people exactly, but he missed the idea of them, the possibility of them. So many people gone made him feel bit nervous, so, knowing that everyone was back again, he felt that particular nervousness melt away, as if some balance had been restored.

And, in the effort to keep that balance and that unexpected comfort, he hobbled his way to the bakery, to get his cinnamon roll (yes, fine, okay, he'll take thr pumpkin spice one!), and claim his usual spit tucked away in the corner to enjoy it.

[[ i have no idea what kind of day i'm walking into at work so I might be slow, I might not be, but the post is certainly open for all your baked good needs! ]]

Boc had managed to keep himself out of trouble lately, and so he felt there was really no reason to mess with that with things like going outside or doing things. However, it had been an awfully long time since he'd gone and had a cinnamon roll, so he figured, if he just scamper in, got what he wanted, and then quickly scamper off to the shopagain, it would all be fine.

What he hadn't accounted for (and how could he have possibly??) was how excited the staff was to see him come in again. Absolutely bewildered hy such a reaction, Boc's protests about them making him something nice and fresh were entitely lost, especially after theyd given him a pumpkin biscotti to nibble on while he waited for his Very Special Cinnamon Roll, which he accepted with a miserable little "oh, well, alright, then....", with his eyes on the door in hopes that it wouldn't take so long that other people started to come in before he could free.

[[ work may explode on me, but this post is most certainly open for all your Sunday baked good needs! ]]

Knowing full well that there would be people's guests showing up today (but rather oblivious to the fact that, apparently, he was among those people with guests!), Boc was having quite the conundrum. On the one hand, he didn't like the idea of having to deal with more people than usual, but, on the other hand, he did like helping people and it was clear from his conversation with Lydia yesterday that some people might like to shop. And he would love to provide all sorts of people with beautiful clothes! That was his favorite thing! Even if it did require associating with people!

So he was torn between wanting to close the shop so he could hide all weekend, or keeping it open so people could get lovely things.

Which meant he was spending most of his time just sort of squatted in the middle of the shop with his hands wringing nervously as he tried to decide what to do.

Pixie Dust is open!

Last week was all about new sweaters, and this week apparently seemed to be the week for plaids and flannels! And Boc was incredibly thrilled to discover that one of the shipments included just fabrics that he could start working with, in a variety of different plaid patterns and colors and even a few different thicknesses.

And after a good deal of time just sort of appreciating the quality and the feel of them as he spread them out over the counter in front of him, he got to work, mostly on cloaks and capes, because they were pretty much what he was best at and they were hopefully moving into the time of year where cloaks and capes would actually be useful and maybe a bit of what people would be looking for!

He might try his hand at a few skirts, too, and, by next week, he might feel confident enough to try a shirt.

Pixie Dust is open!