[Nexus] Mallside V

[Lost_Deep]

Arcane Threads

"Oh. That didn't even occur to me. I don't clothes shop much, for the most part I just go for what I know, try on some jeans and try some shirts. I haven't just browsed a clothes store since..."

Kate thinks a bit.

"I seem to remember shopping for a dress for a... wedding? Funeral? But I was still in elementary school. Usually I just went with whatever dress I was supplied with. Oh, no, I bought that dress for the masquerade. But that took all of five minutes since I knew what I wanted."

[Slii Arhem]

Arcane Threads

"Oh. That didn't even occur to me. I don't clothes shop much, for the most part I just go for what I know, try on some jeans and try some shirts. I haven't just browsed a clothes store since..."

Kate thinks a bit.

"I seem to remember shopping for a dress for a... wedding? Funeral? But I was still in elementary school. Usually I just went with whatever dress I was supplied with. Oh, no, I bought that dress for the masquerade. But that took all of five minutes since I knew what I wanted."

Arcane Threads

"Well I suppose you'll just have to let me know from now on what else you want in fashions. I know your average, everyday wear like the back of my own eyelid by now, but I hadn't even heard of this masquerade dress before." Sounds rather daring really, by Kate's standards. With a shrug, Julie heads for the door. Probably time enough to hit the toy store if they can find one.

[Lost_Deep]

Arcane Threads to Wandering

"Oh, I should show that to you. I'm rather proud of it." Kate follows, keeping an eye out for a craft store...

It seems logical that they run into a craft/toy store. That's the way the nexus works. Probably staffed by dolls or some such. With little button eyes. That sew each other together.

Kate stops as she sees a store named 'Dollworks'. "Hey, look at that."

[Slii Arhem]

Arcane Threads to Wandering

"Oh, I should show that to you. I'm rather proud of it." Kate follows, keeping an eye out for a craft store...

It seems logical that they run into a craft/toy store. That's the way the nexus works. Probably staffed by dolls or some such. With little button eyes. That sew each other together.

Kate stops as she sees a store named 'Dollworks'. "Hey, look at that."

Dollworks

"Oh hey! If they have quilt patches, I might just have an idea for Copi after all. Let's get in quick so we have plenty of time before they close." Julie tries to grab hold of Kate's hand and drag her in through the doors, the quick movement causing the hem of her thanksmasy minidress to flap about wildly and draw the eyes of a few amorous folks in the food court.

[Lost_Deep]

Dollworks

There are quilt patches, yes. They also have a number of dolls and other toys, some of which are commercial toys but a number of which are hand made. They also have a build-a-doll station and a consignment desk. However, the Craft section is extensive enough that you could do it yourself from the materials provided.

Kate spots some clay, and walks over to look at it.

[Slii Arhem]

Dollworks

Julie goes to the quilt patches and starts separating out all the most colorful ones, no matter how frayed or worn they look. She's going to need a fair amount of these for what she has planned.

Kate may notice that among the clay, there are other sculpting materials such as soft stone blocks bundled with semi-blunted chisel sets and wood carving/burning kits. The most eyecatching thing there is definitely the non-euclidean hovering gel, which sits exactly where you left it in space until you move it with your hands, and will shape into any form, including hardness and density, you can mold it into.

[Lost_Deep]

Dollworks

Kate will examine the other crafting materials, and then go back to the clay. Something moldable, that doesn't dry out easily but can dry out... oh, and can be reconstituted! Perfect.

Julie isn't going to run out of different squares, as one of the walking dolls begins to stock more unique ones as Julie continues picking. It seems like the doll is specifically stocking colorful ones for her!

[Slii Arhem]

Dollworks

Kate will examine the other crafting materials, and then go back to the clay. Something moldable, that doesn't dry out easily but can dry out... oh, and can be reconstituted! Perfect.

Julie isn't going to run out of different squares, as one of the walking dolls begins to stock more unique ones as Julie continues picking. It seems like the doll is specifically stocking colorful ones for her!

Dollworks

Julie will swap a few of the ones that she'd already taken with the fresh ones, finding them to be prettier than her first picks. Eventually though, she'll have enough and will wander over to where Kate is looking at all the sculpting supplies.

"Find what you were looking for? I think I've got enough here, although I'm going to have to let Wally know about this place, he's been mumbling about dolls for a few relative days now, wherever he got off to."

[Lost_Deep]

Dollworks

"Yeah, it was easy to find." Kate will begin to wander away. "What else should we get here?"

[Gullara]

[MagMart]

Erani is here in the hair care section of the of the store along with the two Gerri's. She holds up a pair of boxes of light brown hair dye up for one of them to look at. "What do you think of these two?"

[Lost_Deep]

MagMart

The Gerri considers the pair a bit before choosing the lighter of the two. It's darker than just dirty blond, but it is fairly light. "This one will do, I think. It's not like it's a big deal, after all."

She's then quiet a minute, looking at the box. Because it's a bigger deal than she's willing to admit. Even to herself.

[Gullara]

[MagMart]

Erani bites her lip as she takes a guess at the reason behind Gerri's pause. "Great." She puts the other box back. "A little change is fun once in a while, huh? Anything else you two want to get while you're here?"

[Morty]

[Erin's Emporium]

A few days after Thanksmas, Crissy and Syela will recieve messages on their communicators telling them to come to Dorota's room. Strangely enough, not her laboratory.

[The Bushranger]

[Erin's]

Crissy wastes no time in declaring her shift over and hurrying to Dorota's room with a cheerful smile on her face.

[Gullara]

[Erin's Emporium]

Syela doesn't delay coming long. She heads right to Dorota's room to see what's up.

[Morty]

[Erin's Emporium]

Once the two others are in Dorota's meticulously clean and organized room, she peeks through the door and closes it.
"Alright, good. I was checking if Sizewell isn't around, but he's still in my lab. See, Crissy and I made him around a year ago, so I think it might be nice if we organized some sort of birthday party for him. After all, he's been alive for a full year now."

[Lost_Deep]

MagMart

"More clothes," the one currently not holding the dye says. "Our current wardrobe isn't enough for us right now."

The other one nods in agreement and puts the dye in the basket/cart/whatever they got.

[Gullara]

[MagMart]

"Sure, let's check out the clothes section. We can head over to Arcane Threads too if we don't find what you want here." Erani will lead them there and proceed to help them pick some stuff out. She obviously knows a thing or two about clothes shopping too, because she knows exactly where to look and always has advice on what goes with what.

[Lord Magtok]

Mag & Libby, Now In Mallside

Spoiler

Show

[Mag & Libby, Now With Secret Messages]

Well. She is somewhat emotionally numb.
But that happens when you're around nothing but death for the majority of your existence.

Nice thought though.

Ignore the mean smirk she's acquired by the end of this.
It's totally uncalled for.
"Well now, don't you think about interesting things when desperate."
That probably was too.

"I have a suspicion. You should think more broadly. Confidently.
But we'll pause there. I had a better idea. As punishment for being so secretive that not even you can remember your secret, you'll have to work for your present."
Not as punishment for the other thing?
"Number game, or word game?

They can probably be walking out shortly/now...

"Word game."

Even in spite of all of that verbal flailing about, bouncing along like a puppet for Libby's amusement, he still thinks words are where his talents lie. Goodness Magtok, could you be any more wrong? Speaking of that earlier sputtering and squirming, though it's starting to fade now, the right side of Magtok's face is still very much the same bright red it turned after Libby took that shot at him for the coffee innuendo business.

He's very grateful to be out of the Thanksmas thread, by the way. After all, people actually go back and reread those old things around this time of year! Heaven forbid he give next year's filthy pig-gods behind the fourth wall any more wacky hijinks to amuse themselves with than he already has. Here in Mallside proper it's much less seasonal, of course, and with all the other PC shoppers around in their own scenes, who amongst those loathsome manipulators of fate could possibly be bothered to pay him any special attention? This thread's just going to be buried with all the other Mallsides, right?

"How do you potentially get someone a present, though? Is there some sort of quantum physics shenanigans with that one cat thing going on, or is a potential present because you're going to hand it to some starving baby in Povertyside if I lose?"

[Slii Arhem]

Dollworks

"Yeah, it was easy to find." Kate will begin to wander away. "What else should we get here?"

Dollworks

"I think I'll get them a few hard figurines. They do like the soft toys I make for them, but I haven't tried them with dolls or action figures yet, so it'll be something new for their first Thanksmas." Julie heads over to a shelf full of plastic, jointed figurines and scans down the aisle, pausing to do a double-take about midway down.

"Hey Kate, did you have an action figure of yourself commissioned anytime in the past few months? I somehow doubt it, but the resemblance..." Yup, there's a startlingly accurate (save for a few minor details to avoid blatant copyright infringement) action figure box set depicting pixie-dragon-cyborg-weirdblarghed Kate fighting a much larger wandmecha with a removable Flora figure held up inside by wires looped around his arms and legs. The deluxe edition, which is the only one left on the shelf, comes with a tawdry action romance novella published by "Discord Press."

[Lost_Deep]

MagMart

The Gerris also know a bit about fashion, and even have some fun shopping here. However, they buy their stuff here; they don't have enough money to go to Arcane Threads.

Dollworks

"I-what?" Kate will look at the figure... and almost drops what she's carrying. "I... buh..." She looks scared. Mortified, even. "I... I'm scared to look, but I can't help but feel that I really should."

She approaches carefully, and will take it off of the shelf to examine it closer. She's looking for her name. She's really scared that her name might be on here.

[Slii Arhem]

Dollworks

It seems to be marketed as "Dragoncat, the fierce pixie princess warrior vs. Flower's fabulous magical mechadrone." Even Eris, assuming she's responsible for this mess, must bow to the whims of intellectual property ownership.

It also has big bold letters in a bright yellow splashmark claiming "With realistic lighting effects" and a "Try Me!" button on the side of the box. Whoever did this really went all out.

"Okay, so there's gotta be a story behind this one right? Something more plausible than some random toymaker seeing you fight a purple-tentacled catboy in a robot suit made of sticks and a tree?"

[Gullara]

[MagMart]

Once they've paid and are in the process of leaving MagMart, Erani says. "Hey, how about we get lunch before we head back. My treat." She offers.

[Lost_Deep]

Dollworks

"Okay, so, remember how I mentioned that a hole was punched in reality? That," she points at the 'Flower' figure, "is a facsimile of Flora Madhowl, who was presumably given this wandmecha thing by Eris. And then she sent him after me, and I panicked." She points at the 'Pixie princess warrior.' "I tried to escape, and the wandmecha turned into a cannon, which presumably shot a hole in reality. The resulting chaos was... chaotic, and I'm honestly lucky I walked away with the same body I walked in with. But this..." She points to the romance novel, "I remember Flora shouting some... things, presumably under Eris' control, which she presumably stretched out to this?"

"So, Eris the goddess of chaos is going on, as far as I know..."

She idly pokes the "Try me" button, but seems... distracted.

MagMart

"Oh!" They say in unison, and one skips the awkward pause to say "Thank you!"

And they will go with Erani to enjoy food, and afterwards thank her for... you know, being there.

[The Bushranger]

[Erin's Emporium]

"Ooooh, I hadn't realised it'd, like, been that long. That's totally a good idea!" Crissy declares, clapping her hands together with glee.

...then sobering a bit.
"...what do you get a golem for his birthday, though?"

[Gullara]

[Erin's Emporium]

"That's a great idea, Dorota." Syela agrees enthusiastically. "It'll be loads of fun."

[Morty]

[Erin's Emporium]

Dorota nods to Syela and straightens her glasses absent-mindedly when Crissy asks her question.
"I'm not sure. We're going to do a little brainstorming and come up with the birthday party and presents. I'm afraid there's precious little literature concerning birthay celebrations for golems."

[Slii Arhem]

Dollworks

"Okay, so, remember how I mentioned that a hole was punched in reality? That," she points at the 'Flower' figure, "is a facsimile of Flora Madhowl, who was presumably given this wandmecha thing by Eris. And then she sent him after me, and I panicked." She points at the 'Pixie princess warrior.' "I tried to escape, and the wandmecha turned into a cannon, which presumably shot a hole in reality. The resulting chaos was... chaotic, and I'm honestly lucky I walked away with the same body I walked in with. But this..." She points to the romance novel, "I remember Flora shouting some... things, presumably under Eris' control, which she presumably stretched out to this?"

"So, Eris the goddess of chaos is going on, as far as I know..."

She idly pokes the "Try me" button, but seems... distracted.

MagMart

"Oh!" They say in unison, and one skips the awkward pause to say "Thank you!"

And they will go with Erani to enjoy food, and afterwards thank her for... you know, being there.

Dollworks

The wandmech raises one arm and a blast of harmless light flies out from the end of its appendage, fizzling a few feet away from it into white smoke and a bit of dust that litters the shelf it sits on. The Flora action figure in it actually tugs the string that makes the arm move, so it seems like it's fully articulated.

"Right, so is there any reason for me to not buy this, just to get it off the shelf? I can have Wally check it over for chaos magic later, but this looks pretty much exactly like what I was going for for those two." Julie's got a gleam in her eyes, and it's unlikely Kate's going to be able to talk her out of buying this embarrassing piece of memorabilia.

[Lost_Deep]

Dollworks

"No, go ahead. What disturbs me is the implication that there might have been more of them that other people bought..." Kate hands it to Julie, shaking her head. "Hey, this isn't the time for this, but next time we meet help me remember to ask you about my apple."

Uh... okay.

"Anything else we need to get here?" Kate asks as she examines the other shelves, looking for any other... notable toys.

[Slii Arhem]

Dollworks

"No, go ahead. What disturbs me is the implication that there might have been more of them that other people bought..." Kate hands it to Julie, shaking her head. "Hey, this isn't the time for this, but next time we meet help me remember to ask you about my apple."

Uh... okay.

"Anything else we need to get here?" Kate asks as she examines the other shelves, looking for any other... notable toys.

Dollworks

Julie picks up the big box then, and adds it to the pile of quilt patches she has floating in the air telekinetically behind her, "You already asked me that one Kate, but the answer's no this time. I'll just give these two figures to the girls and let them decide which they like best. You're ready to pay and go then?"