Log: Rey & Del Who: Rey Smith and Del Davies What: Chatting and planning When: One afternoon last week Where: I Scream ice cream shop Warnings: None
“Oh! Rey, hello!”
Delyth offered a quick smile to the woman who sometimes helped run her shop counters while she was doing other things. She had almost run into her as she’d reached out to open the door to the ice cream shop, and now she stepped back a bit.
“It’s an ice cream day for sure,” she added with a laugh and a slight wave of her hand, as if it would work to fan herself at all. It really didn’t.
"I don't remember the summers being quite this hot when I was a girl," Rey, who was still very much a girl in a lot of ways, replied as she took the door and gestured Del in. "But yes, it's definitely an ice cream day. What kind are you thinking of getting?"
Del grinned. "The Rafe special that was on the forums, because I'm feeling curious and wanting to try something new." She stepped in, and sighed at the cool air in the parlor. "Although maybe I'll mix it up and try a couple because why have just one flavor really? What about you?"
"I'm going to taste some things myself before settling on what I want. I'm pushing myself out of my safe zone." Rey said it like it was a joke, and it probably was, but Del had noticed over the months Rey had helped out in the shop that Rey was generally a girl of simple tastes.
"Nothing wrong with the safe zone," Del laughed. "Sometimes I just want the thing that I know I like, but on the other hand, how do I find new things I like? Dilemma." Admittedly going to New York City had been one giant 'not safe zone', and Delyth maybe didn't have so much of that 'safe' tendency, or maybe she was returning to wanting more of it after several years of a lot of new. "I do enjoy the option to try new things though."
"So what's creamsicle?" Rey had to ask, looking at the board. Chocolate and vanilla and fruit flavours all made sense to her, but some of the American flavours like butter pecan and cotton candy didn't mean anything to her. Those were the ones she meant to try.
"It's a popsicle, basically, um, vanilla ice cream with an orange topping - usually. I haven't had one since I was a little girl," Del admitted. "I almost always preferred ice cream in a cone, so that was where I usually ended up going, even if creamsicles were available as a thing." Which did lead her to think - yes, there was going to be a cone today. Two flavors. "I think the Rafe Treaty and the Cherry Pie, for sure. And a waffle cone." She shrugged and laughed. "I think I'm not eating lunch, or rather this is lunch."
"Everything in moderation, including moderation," Rey told Del primly. Her normal lunch was something with enough energy to keep her going and enough nutrition to keep her grounded. One scoop of ice cream, rich and fatty and sugary, was a luxury in some ways. She'd have to work hard to work it off. Changing the subject a little as the line moved closer to the counter, Rey asked, "Did you get the order in you were looking for? Did they have everything you needed?"
"Yes, thankfully," Del gave a breath of relief. "I'd been wanting to start on an autumn line of crystal jewelry and I've got some Tiger's Eye, Jasper, and Garnetts. The Bloodstone hasn't come yet, but that's alright. I am going to start working on some bracelets with the others, and we'll do the bloodstone necklaces when those come in. I think they'll be striking, and hopefully they'll come before September. I feel like Bloodstone might sell well for Halloween." Her eyes twinkled.
"I'm trying to decide what to order for the fall and winter in general though - like, what people in Repose are going to want to do crafts wise for the holidays. I need to do that probably within the next few weeks to get it here in time. What do you think might sell well?"
"I always think of cookery first for Christmas, but perhaps things to make stockings, both the knitting sort--yarns in festive colours and patterns for the stockings and gifts like mittens and hats and scarves--and the felt sort--the materials that would go into making the stockings, plus details for the front." Rey frowned a little, thoughtfully. "And if you want me to, I could plan some things for British style Christmas, like making Christmas crackers. The ones with crowns and things inside. Or things for home panto--Americans don't even do panto, but think of it as a little play you could do in the house, or with puppets. So craft materials for puppets and some books about panto.
"And I could ask a few people about other customs so you could do a little corner with Christmas in different parts of the world." Rey was already thinking about the pictures of luminarias she'd seen and the materials you'd need to make the little bags.
"The stockings are a good idea," Delyth nodded her head. "All sorts of decorative things, maybe I could even plan it as one of those parent and kid morning activities, and perhaps sell a few things that way too. And I like the idea of Christmas crackers. Actually if you wanted to do one of those on a Saturday morning as a class, that would be I think rather fun. We could have a sort of International Christmas corner."
It felt very metropolitan for Repose, but Del didn't mind that. After all, she'd enjoyed parts of New York - the parts that weren't wrapped up in her exes anyway.
"I'd enjoy that. Making Christmas crackers and showing children--and parents--how to open them properly. The knitting's a bit beyond me besides ordering supplies, though," Rey had to admit. They shuffled up a few more paces as the person at the head of the line received a cone. "Do you think people would be interested in crafts with pine cones?"
"If you did the crackers, I could handle a bit of knitting. At least an intro level," Delyth laughed. "Mom taught me ages ago, although I can't do much more than scarves." She nodded though. "Maybe pine cone puppets? Is that too odd, but I feel like it could be cute?"
"Puppets for the children," Rey agreed, "but also how to flock them with snow and silver to make tree decorations for adults. Or even the miniature Christmas trees themselves. We'll need to collect pine cones in the fall as well." One of the many things she'd learnt at the orphanage was how to make good fun with cheap or free goods--and pine cones were free.
Delyth shuffled forward and she nodded, suddenly bemused by the idea of wandering through the woods around town picking up pinecones to sell, or at least, to use for classes. "I think we should clearly put a pine-cone collecting date into our schedule," she told Rey. "October? Or November? I'll have to see what the best time might be and then I think this is a plan. We'll have something for nearly every weekend in December then - at least all the ones before Christmas."
"A pine cone hunt is always a good idea. I'm sure there's wilderness or a tree farm or something where we can find them what we need." Rey found herself grinning at Del's last sentence. "What we'll need for the weekend after Christmas is a big rest. Though I reckon we'll really get it Monday and Tuesday."
"We can have some basic things for people who might want to decorate for new years, but I think generally we can rest after we finish that last before Christmas weekend. At least for a week or so." Delyth smiled, thinking about her parents. "Mom always closed the shop down between Christmas and New Years anyway, and I think I'll do the same. We can both get a good rest in there."
"And for now we can enjoy our ice cream," Rey said as the next customer left, putting Del at the head of the line.