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 Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 9:14 am
 Evangeline was excited! Granted, she was a pretty excitable child in general, but today was a super special day.
During the summer her mother tended to try and take as few shifts as possible, letting her be home with her daughter. But a nasty summer flu was going around the store and there was no getting out of having to cover for people. Thank goodness Marlin had been able to help on such short notice. She really owed him one.
Eva was skipping and hopping, trying to keep up with her mother, but at the same time not nearly in the mood to simply walk.
"Do you think he'll let me try on the costumes?" She bubbled delightedly. Eva had specfically dressed in something simple to take off, oh she'd planned this all down to a tee the moment she'd heard she was going to be spending the afternoon with her cousin."I don't know. He might need you to be a big girl and play quietly. Or even help out a little bit." She actually wasn't sure what exactly Marlin had in mind for her daughter, but she trusted him. "He might even need you to help him okay. Can you do that?" Eva was usually a good girl, she didn't need to worry about her too much and yet... mothers always worried. It was their lot in life. "I can be good! I can help!" Eva nodded. "I'll work really hard and I'll sell 100 costumes." Childish confidence. "Maybe even 1,000!" And naivity.
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 9:50 am
When his Aunt had called asking if he would mind babysitting his cousin for the afternoon, Marlin had readily agreed.
It had been a bit of a while since he had seen his little cousin, but he remembered her as a cute little thing who was into Disney and Princesses - particularly if the two were combined.
She must be around ten more, he told himself as he did a mental count back in his head in between ringing up a fairy costume for a customer who had picked it up for her child to wear to a fancy dress party, doffing his hat - he had decided to dress up as Robin Hood today - and handing over the bag with her purchase with a flamboyant bow.
A part of him wondered if Eva would mind helping out in the shop for a bit, because whilst his father had agreed to come over and take over so that he could take Eva out for ice cream, he wouldn't be able to make it over until later.
Or perhaps he could take her over to the park - after all it would be easy enough to pick up an ice cream cone for her and there were swings and stuff in the playground.
He'd let her choose he decided as he rang up the next purchase, this time a fake nose and a set of vampire teeth.Iris_virus a little bit of info on the shop front can be found here if that helps :3
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 7:03 am
Any concerns that Marlin had about her changing in the time since the last time the two cousins had seen each other would soon be put to rest. Because unlike many young children, Eva was a child who seemed in no rush whatsoever to grow up. And with parents as coddling as her own, there was no outward rush to grow her up either. Her room was still stuffed to the brim with stuffed animals and the walls plastered in childish art.
When they finally arrived at Fancy A Change the familiar glass window brought another excited little noise out of Eva. Stopping at the window she stared up at the costumes in the window whistfully. How many costumes were there inside? For sure there were princesses, and witches, and doctors. Were there bunnies though? Or Red Riding Hood? What about Care Bears!?"Eva. Hands off the window.. You're going to smudge the glass and make more work for Marlin." Her mother sighed, trying to scoot her daughter along. "Sorrrrryyy." She responded in sing song, but her hands were immediately and dutifully removed. Dashing for the door, she pushed through the yellow-golden door in front her mom, calling out cheerfully. "Hellooooo!"litian It was very helpful, thank you! heart
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 12:38 am
The shop bell jangled again not long after the vampire teeth buying customer had left with their purchases and Marlin looked up automatically with a smile on his face "Good afternoon" he began. "Can..."
His voice trailed off at the sight of the girl, his smile widening as he stepped around the counter, affection slipping into his voice as he told her "Hi Eva, it's good to see you again." She had grown since he'd last seen her, he thought as he walked over to her, smiling at his Aunt as she entered behind her as he added "Hey Auntie Belle."
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 7:09 am
At the sign of costumes AND her cousin, Eva dumped her mother like yesterday's trash, quickly making her way on short little legs towards Marlin. Luckily childish enthusiasm could well than make up for short legs, and before Anabelle could get through the door and to the counter, the child was already at Marlin's side arms held out expectantly wide, waiting for him to lean down enough for to hug her.
"Hi! I'm here to help! You look so cool, like Robin hood. I could be Maid Marian." Anabelle didn't mind being ditched, if anything, it made it easier. On occasion, when her daughter was in a mood, she could be a little on the clingy side. But she really didn't have the time for that today. She really was lucky to have such a thoughtful nephew. "You're an absolute life saver Marlin, you have no idea. Thank you so much." Digging through her purse, she pulled out a small piece of paper. "I'm sure you already have my number, but here is the number to the store, and her doctor. If anything goes wrong at all feel free to call me. But it'll be fine, I'm sure." Leaning down she placed a kick kiss on her daughter's cheek before gathering herself and hurrying to the door. "I'm so sorry again about the short notice." Even as she quietly hummed, Maid Marian's song from the Disney movie, her eyes had begun to quickly take inventory. Oh what was that? Or that over there!? So many colors and exciting things. Funny fabrics just begging to be touched.litian That would be because I'm a terribly lazy person and never actually NAMED her parents. >w< I shall be responsible now though! Mother is Anabelle (Can go by Ana or Belle) and Father is Rick.
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Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2015 2:13 pm
Marlin grinned and obligingly leaned down so that he could hug Eva "I'm sure I could find a Maid Marion costume in your size" he said, adding with a wink "I could probably find a fairy costume or a princess one too."
He half-turned to look over at his Aunt and straightened so that he could take the offered paper and pulled out a shop business card from from the pouch that hung off the belt of his costume.
Offering it over with a cheerful "It's no problem" he tucked the piece of paper she had given him into the pouch whilst she said goodbye to Eva and waited until she had left before turning to his cousin.
"So I have to stay in the shop until Dad gets here" he said, "And I was wondering if you'd like to help out." Adding "We can totally see if we can find a costume if you want to dress up." He knew his father wouldn't mind - after all his Dad had been the one who had initially come up with the idea of dressing up during shop hours as a way of showcasing the different costumes that Fancy a Change had to offer.
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 7:20 am
Eva had, at least, regarded her mother's departure with a wave, but as soon as she was gone her attention was back on Marlin and costumes.
"I would like to help!" She piped up in immediate response to his question. Her momma had been right, and now Eva was going to do exactly what she had said and prove she was the very bestest helper she could possibly be.
Her face lit up as her cousin confirmed that they had a Maid Marion costume somewhere, in fact she'd been ready to start 'tearing' (gently of course) through the store, however a sudden uncertainty hit her when she heard the word 'fairy'.
A fairy! With a sparkly dress and pretty wings? She wanted to match Marlin's Robin Hood but... It was almost humorous, the sudden very serious and thoughtful look on the little girl's face, as if she was making a decision of the utmost importance. Perhaps even the most important decision of her life.
"I want pretty fairy wings!" She finally decided, head, and long 'ponytail' bobbing up and down.
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 2:16 pm
Marlin managed to hide a smile as Eva paused at his mention of the word 'fairy', her animated chatter replaced by a sudden serious expression on her face as she looked gravely thoughtful in the way that only a child could pull off.
He waited patiently as she thought things over for a moment, but wasn't really that surprised when she decided on fairy wings.
"Okay lets see what we can find." He did smile at that point, a cheerful one matching his voice as he led her over the back room where he did stock, leaving the door propped open so that he'd be able to hear the shop bell on the off chance that a customer wandered in.
It didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for and lay out two different outfits for Eva to look over.
The first was a dress in differing shades of green, with green flowers at the shoulders and a green leaf-like top skirt and to go with it were white back wings with gold and silver glitter, whilst the second was a simpler dress in sea greens and pink, although the pink and green glitter wings that went with it were slightly more elaborate.
He looked at the two outfits a bit more for a moment with a thoughtful look of his own and then rummaged around on a shelf near to a filing cabinet and managed to produce a couple of wands - one with a green star and the other with a purple flower.
"Feel free to mix and match the wands and wings with either of the dresses" he said, adding as the shop bell chose that moment to tinkle, "It looks like there may be a customer so I'll leave you to your choice. You can change in here too - just come out front when you're ready."
And then he closed the door so that she could have a bit of privacy and went to go check on who it was that had stepped into the store.Iris_virus I may have had a little bit too much fun writing this particular tag up :3
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 7:34 am
She was trying very hard to be patient as he searched through costumes, fidgeting lightly on her feet and tippy toes, trying to peek as if she just couldn't wait for him to place the costume bits down for her. Thankfully he was quick in his search, the sign of a young man who obviously knew his job and stock fairly well.
When her choices were laid out in front of her she had a very difficult choice to make. The first dress had flowers and a leaf skirt which was very pretty! But the second dress had pink on it which was one of her favorite colors. And the choice between the wings was perhaps even more difficult one with cute little fluffies and the other with hearts and pink. As Marlin made his departure to take care of the customer that had appeared Eva stood debating for a few long moments before finally making her choice and changing.
In the end she had chosen the two more elaborate items, the flowered dress and the pink wings. And as she came out of the backroom she was hopping, making the wings wiggle a little against her back like she was flying. In her right hand the green star wand bobbed as she pointed it at this and that.
Zooming around she attempted to find Marlin, uncertainty about whether he still had a customer the only thing that kept her from shouting out for him instead. She had long ago been taught that when two people were talking she needed to be quiet and wait. But quiet didn't have to mean still!
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Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 3:17 pm
The customer had turned out to be a lady who had popped in looking for face paint and whilst it wasn't something that they had in any great quantity, they did stock a few generic kits.
It had necessitated getting them out from the section where they stocked other prop type things such as the fake ears and noses, but neither of the two varieties of face paint kits had been what the looking for.
Marlin had just been finishing up with her and had been at the point of suggesting that she perhaps somewhere more specialist with regards to the face paint when he caught sight of Eva.
She actually made a pretty adorable leaf fairy as she moved in little hop-like steps that caused the wings the wiggle slightly and the trailing ribbons to flutter.
He gave her a smile before turning back to the woman and writing down a couple of shop names and phone numbers of places for her to try.
It took only a few moments to finish up and then he turned back to Eva.
"You make a very pretty fairy" he said with a little theatrical bow.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 9:25 am
She was hopping from foot to foot, but in her mind Eva was delicately flitting along like the fairy she was. So tiny and delicate that she barely moved the imaginary grass blades that only she could see. When she finally reached Marlin and the lady had left, she grinned happily to the compliment, gigging a little as he bowed. "Thank you!"
"I'm ready to help too."
Spinning around in a circle before giving a wiggle to the wand in her hand. "I can grant all the costume wishes and help all the little woodland animals." It wasn't entirely clear whether either of those would be particularly helpful, but nonetheless, an offer was an offer!
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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2015 3:02 pm
It was hard not to grin at Eva's offer, because really his little cousin was just too cute, but Marlin rather thought that he'd managed it - at least he hoped that he had managed it because he was pretty sure that his cousin was being serious about her offer and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her feelings.
Instead he bowed again "Thank you - I'm pretty sure that if any more customers come that they will appreciate having their wishes granted and if you want I'll let you hand over any change if they decide to buy anything."
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Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 9:41 am
"I can do that!" She agreed with a nod. "I'm really good at counting." Not that she'd necessarily be the one counting, but that didn't matter so much. She was happy to oblige with any simple task he gave her.
Still playing with her wand, she glanced lightly around the store before piping up curiously. "What do you do when there are no customers?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:34 am
"It depends on how quiet it is" Marlin admitted. "If the quiet period is a small one then I use the opportunity to go around and straighten the displays a little to keep them neat and tidy."
He'd done a bit of that here and there already, the habit a familiar one and so the displays were looking relatively neat and hopefully inviting to any potential customer.
"On a day like this though the displays don't really need a lot of straightening so I take the time to work on future themes and I use the opportunity to water my tomato. I have a blue cherry one down here this year called dancing with smurfs. Want to see?"
It was sitting on a table tucked out of the way and to the side and so was probably not immediately noticeable, but Marlin reckoned it could probably do with a bit of feed from the small watering can that he kept on the table for that purpose and that now was as good a moment in which to do it given how reasonably quiet the day had been so far.
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Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 7:41 am
When he mentioned keeping things nice and tidy she looked around a little, as if looking for something out of place, but when she found nothing she gave a little nod. Cleaning wasn't really her favorite thing, but she would do it when people asked her too. Not having to though.. that was perfectly fine with her!
"That's such a funny name!" She giggled into her hands as he mentioned his tomato plant, before nodding vigorously that she did indeed want to see it. Following after her to the table it rested, she blinked a little upon seeing it. "It's not red or green!"
Her hands and chin perched on the table, staring at the plant with soft interest and resisting the urge to reach out and touch it. "Is it going to turn red when they're done?"
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