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 Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 3:35 pm
Finn was stocking Beanie Babies. Finn hadn't realized Beanie Babies were even still being made, even though he remembered them fondly from his own childhood, so being asked to stock them his first day on the job was a bit of a surprise. But never mind. Apparently they still made Beanie Babies and they came shaped like characters from Dora the Explorer.
After putting the last Swiper (No Swiping!) onto the shelf, Finn tossed the empty box onto the cart and reached for the next unopened crate of plush toys. It didn't have the TY logo on it, so he could only assume it would contain... well, he had no idea what it would contain. He snipped the tape with his company-issued tape-snipping-tool (guaranteed finger safe!) and popped the box open.
"Jackpot!" exclaimed Finn to himself, and began to place one sparkly, plush unicorn after another onto the shelf while he boogied to too-optimistic Christmas music that was pumped over the store loudspeaker. Never mind that it wasn't even Thanksgiving yet!
"Santa baby, this song's not remotely appropriate, I want a convertible too..." he sang quietly, trying to make the display look appealing.
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Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2011 10:19 pm
Needless to say that when Ainsley had gotten herself a trip to the toy store, she immediately made a beeline for the plush toy area. She could only imagine all the new toys that the store had gotten for the holiday rush! Perhaps they had some new bunnies! She could always use more bunnies! Octavian Oswald, Constantine Cyprian, and Sir Cornelius were super friendly and always willing to take in new companions. Sir Cornelius was a little bit protective and careful when new toys were first brought in but he was a softy at heart.
The child didn't even pause to take a breath when she had finally made her way to the section with all the plush toys, practically zig-zagging between the rows and the employee who was stocking the shelves. Her eyes had been caught on a box instead of anything on the shelves. She didn't know what it was but she could see sparkles! Sparkles were always to be investigated.
She was careful in doing so, and she peeked into the box when the store employee moved to place another one on the shelf. It was almost like looking into Pandora's Box, should she? She couldn't deny herself the surprise that lurked inside, could she? It certainly wasn't going to cause some global catastrophe like the mythical box would. She was hoping they were sparkly bunnies but the surprise had been almost as marvelous: sparkly unicorns!
"Wow!" A gasp escaped her.
They were beautiful, absolutely fantastic! They were possibly the perfect mount for Octavian Oswald to ride and do all his princely duties upon. It would surely be a loyal stead, fast and true. It was magical, definitely fitting for a prince of an entire rabbit kingdom. Oh, she longed for it for her dear friend as she mentally tried to calculate how much money she had in her pocket.
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Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 11:20 am
Hearing the child gasp behind him, Finn turned around - still holding one of the sparkly unicorn dolls. He beamed automatically, an artifact of job training, and then grinned even wider when he recognized the child who stood before him. "Princess Ainsley!" exclaimed Princess Huckleberry, giving the unicorn in his hands a dramatic squeeze. "How lovely to see you here!"
He leaned in closer, as if to whisper some great secret to her, and said, "You won't tell all the other princesses that I've had to take a job as a commoner, will you? My kingdom is on the brink of financial ruin!" (Well, no, not actually, because Gwen and Anthony Derouen paid his rent.)
"You are looking ever so lovely," he added, setting the unicorn gently on the shelf and returning to the box. "They've made me dress in a corporate uniform!" It was an orange polo with the store logo on it, as well as a name tag advertising that 'HI, MY NAME IS FINN, HOW MAY I HELP YOU?'
It was not particularly flattering. Finn pulled out another unicorn. "You remember me, don't you?" he asked, galloping it through the air and onto the shelf. "Princess Huckleberry! From camp! You braided my hair! They were most excellent braids." (She was the only person allowed to call him Huckleberry, at least the only one in the store.)
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Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 12:14 pm
Ainsley recognized him immediately. It was hard to forget the male princesses she'd met during camp after braiding his hair that one rainy day. Although his companions were adorable, sparkling in the light of the store, it didn't change the reality any. It was such a sad sight to see him working, noting that he was very similiar to Cinderella. She too had been forced into labour, made to do all the work for her evil stepmother and stepsisters.
"Princess Huckleberry, how could I forget you?" She whispered. "It's so nice to see you again, even under such conditions! I promise I won't tell anyone about this... this... travesty. Yes, travesty. Are you okay? Are they treating you well here?" Certainly this wasn't like Cinderella. Surely they didn't lock him in a tower with sewing mice and cloth carrying birds, although, would that really be so bad? Ainsley had her doubts but she still worried.
Her eyes fell back on the new unicorn he picked up.
"Are they good company?" She questioned, directing her hand to the unicorn he was holding. Perhaps instead of mice and birds he had little unicorns to help him with his work. Maybe they even sang a song to help him along the day!
Huckleberry~ Huckleberry~
Nine to five it's Huckleberry
Say the sales, ring the purchase
Get the ladder, do the stocking!
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Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 12:54 pm
And the shelving and the tagging!
They always keep him running.
He goes around the whole darn store
Till he falls and begs "No more!"
Still they holler,
Back to work, Huckleberry!
Finn gave the little princess a mischievous grin. "Travesty?" he asked her, trying to recall how old he'd been when he'd incorporated that word into his vocabulary. "That's a ten dollar word right there, Princess Ainsley," he complimented her, quite sure he hadn't learned anything that complicated until being pressured to take the SAT in seventh grade. "And yes, it is one."
"Working in a toy store isn't nearly as fun as you might thing it would be," he continued, lofting another pair of unicorns animatedly into place. "The unicorns do make it a lot better, though. I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say they're good company, they're not very talkative - at least, not to me... But there's a lot worse."
Frowning morosely at her, Finn elaborated, "Yesterday I had to shelve two-hundred rubber snakes and several giant, plush alligators." He gestured towards further down the aisle, where previously mentioned plush alligators could be seen glaring menacingly from a high shelf. "Hardly work fit for a princess, right?" Of course it was all a charade for her benefit, but he couldn't help but wonder how horrifying a prospect this seemed like to a child.
Holding out a unicorn towards Ainsley, he continued, "Maybe you should take a listen, though. I heard somewhere they only talk to girls."
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Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 11:45 am
The child listened and smiled at Huckleberry's compliment and explanation about what he had been forced to do while in the toy store. Her eyes widened repeatedly before her eyes turned to see all of the large, plush alligators staring at both of them rather maliciously. Oh no! Her head turned back to 'Princess Huckleberry', full of concern. It was mostly unncessary concern but...
"They didn't bite you did they?" She asked.
Either way, the concern was genuine.
The unicorns were by far better than those alligators that she continued to eye suspiciously from the corner of her eye. She had to make sure they didn't climb down from the shelf and sneak their way over. Getting eaten by an alligator, plush or not, was most definitely not on the top of her list of things to do, or even anywhere on it. It was safe to say it probably wasn't on anyone's list of things to do.
A change of emotions, Ainsley carefully look the unicorn from the store employee. She treasured it, petting it softly and being sure to hold it tenderly as she looked over the animal. To her, it wasn't nearly as talkative as Octavian Oswald but if she held it up close to her ear she could hear it whisper.
"It says there's nothing to fear. It says the alligators don't know how to climb!" It was good news, although possibly questionable news for the adult. However, whether or not Princess Huckleberry understood her concern, she was glad to know that whether it was on her list of things to do or not that it wouldn't be becoming an addition to it anytime soon.
Oh wait! The unicorn said something else!
"The unicorns say they really like you and they're glad that if anyone is working here with them that it is you." She smiled softly as she said it and then she carefully handed the unicorn back to him so he could place it up with all of the other unicorns.
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 7:22 am
"They don't?" asked Finn, feigning tremendous relief. He swiped a head across his forehead and exhaled deeply. "Oh, that's good to know," he said, casting a suspicious glance at the alligators. Nothing to worry about, then! It was all good. "I still wouldn't walk too close to them if I were you, though," he added, cringing at the little girl in front of him. "They're crafty, those alligators!"
And that was to say nothing about the alligators not knowing how to fall. All he needed was for one of them to get over its fear of heights and then it was all over. (Wait, this was an imaginary scenario still, right?)
Smiling, he took the unicorn back into his arms and stroked its soft mane. "Well," said Finn, "I'm glad that you feel that way. I certainly like shelving unicorns a whole lot!" And the unicorn galloped up onto the shelf and joined the others in the stable. Finn went back to the box and peered into it.
"Looks like I'm almost done here," he said, whistling as his reached into the cardboard cavern and pulled out the final three unicorns resting within it. He set them temporarily on a lower, empty shelf and announced, "Let me check what I'm shelving next."
He consulted his handy-dandy company-issued notebook. "Legos! Okay!" Picking up the unicorns again, he asked Ainsley, "Do you like Legos, princess?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 8:02 pm
Ainsley nodded her head, regarding the proper precautionary measures regarding the alligators. It certainly was important knowledge!
"Legos?" She asked, thinking for a moment. "You mean those little blocks that connect together?" She wasn't overly familiar with them but she'd seen them before. Had it been at Sam's place she'd seen them? She was pretty sure it had been. If she remembered correctly, Sam had quite a bit of lego and was quite fond of it. It was probably at his place that she'd first played with it.
"If the company is nice," she decided. She wouldn't mind playing with legos with Sam. Maybe she could build some little lego bunnies.
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 9:00 am
"Yeah," Finn agreed, loading up his empty boxes onto his cart and putting his stocking tools back into their respective pouches. "Legos are always better with friends. When I was a kid I had a whole town of them, it was always growing and changing." Finn had split his time evenly between building the city to ridiculous heights, making up soap operas about the people who lived there, and protecting the world from his little sister. (Leah had never grasped that there was any point to legos beyond breaking them apart.)
"That's over in a completely different part of the store, though," he said, taking the brake off the cart. It wasn't like he was expecting Ainsley to want to make his rounds with him, nor was he sure it was entirely appropriate, but he thought she'd offer. "You coming? Want to see what a day is like for a toy store employee? I can't promise that it won't be boring as all get out."
Actually, it would probably be boring as all get out. In fact, he wouldn't blame her if she decided to stick with the unicorns. Surely she'd come to the toy store with some kind of chaperone, and she'd need to get back to them! Finn was probably guestimating all wrong, but he was pretty sure Ainsley was like... nine. "I won't hold it against you if you stick with the unicorns, Princess," he said with a smile.
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