InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "he don't want your sympathy,"

John Murphy (stopaimingatme) wrote in madisonvalley,
@ 2023-10-21 20:12:00

Entry tags:

!log, !open, john murphy (stopaimingatme), ~2023 october, ~~~ duece gorgon (sonofmedusa)

Who: John Murphy and Open
What: Working
When: Saturday evening
Where: Walmart
Warnings: TBA
Status: Open/On-going

It'd gotten to that point in the whole Halloween candy situation where the good stuff was still easily findable and yet people were starting to lose their minds over not finding it. Murphy's reaction had been to start stockpiling and hoarding candy in the back room. Not solely for himself, of course -- his coworkers were all in on it, too, and he'd happily look and magically discover a "misplaced" bag or two for customers who were decent about it.

The ones who weren't? Too bad, so sad.

He'd just spent half an hour rearranging the candy shelves, consolidating into display boxes and tossing the empty ones and resisting the urge to take them all out to lawn and garden to build a fort. He was a vaguely responsible adult, but nobody ever said he was a mature one. Or at least, they'd never been accurate about it.

Murphy had just broken down another box when he noticed someone approaching him. he figured he was running about 50/50 on whether or not they wanted something completely ridiculous.

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sonofmedusa
2023-10-24 12:45 am UTC (link)

Deuce had never celebrated Halloween with humans before, but this was his chance, and he was going to take it. He was going to be going all out with his costume, candy, decorations, and all the stuff that humans did as they tried once a year to make themselves less afraid of his world.

Unfortunately, because he was not part of the human world, he was also crap when it came to finding his way around Walmart. After all, the first time he'd ever been here was...just a few months ago.

Seeing the guy messing with the boxes, he walked up to him.

"Um, hey. Just a question. Do they have tiny little Halloween costumes? I don't mean for dogs or babies. Something smaller. Like...maybe snake sized?"

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stopaimingatme
2023-10-24 11:04 pm UTC (link)

Well, that was... certainly not a question Murphy would've expected. It wasn't exactly surprising, because Walmart was weird like that, but still unexpected.

"Don't think so," he said, stopping to consider it. "But maybe we can figure something out anyway."

Because why the hell not? He liked a challenge, and it was his job to help make customers happy. He was just pretty sure management wouldn't have expected figuring out a costume for a snake to ever be a thing.

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sonofmedusa
2023-10-25 02:10 am UTC (link)

"I mean, I get there's not a lot of gorgons in town," he said with a shrug. Probably not enough to carry snake costumes. But if he dressed up and his snakes couldn't...well, they'd certainly be annoyed with him, and he didn't want that. Best to keep them happy when he could.

"Do you have an idea?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Because honestly, he was all out of them.

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stopaimingatme
2023-10-26 01:24 am UTC (link)

"Not yet," Murphy said, mulling it over. "Okay, first question, how many snakes am I working with on this?"

Because that would determine if he tried to come up with some kind of unifying theme for the snakes or if he was just going to come up with random ideas for each one.

Look, give Murphy a challenge and he'll find a way to beat it. It was one of the things about him that hadn't changed yet and probably never would.

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sonofmedusa
2023-10-27 05:12 pm UTC (link)

He didn't see anyone around just now, so he slipped off his beanie, revealing his snakes. In his world, it wasn't his snakes but his eyes that turned people to stone, and those was still perfectly covered by his glasses.

"Nine," he said simply, although Murphy could definitely count them for himself. "Don't touch. They're poisonous."

Although he could usually keep them from doing anything too bad.

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stopaimingatme
2023-10-28 10:48 pm UTC (link)

"Okay, so. Nine." He tilted his head for a moment, looking at the snakes in question. "Ordinary snakes, I'd suggest something involving hats of some kind -- little top hats, maybe -- but since they're on your head and not in tanks or whatnot, I'm not sure how well that would go over."

Look, he'd been in town more than long enough to come to the "let's not piss off the snakes" conclusion on his own, okay? He figured they should find a costume all the snakes would approve of.

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	sonofmedusa 2023-10-28 11:19 pm UTC (link)
	The snakes hissed a little at that. "I don't think they're a fan of hats, especially since they're usually forced to stay under my beanie." He smiled a little, putting said beanie back on his head and making sure they were all covered. "Maybe they could wear little black capes or something and be ringwraiths. Since there's nine of them and all." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

stopaimingatme
2023-10-29 12:11 am UTC (link)

"That? Would actually be a pretty smart idea," Murphy said. "Not that we sell tiny capes like that, but you've got a couple options. Check the Barbie section, see if there's anything in the doll clothes. Buy some fabric, get someone to make 'em. Or see if there's anywhere in town that sells stuff for, like, doll houses and all that shit."

He wasn't sure which one would pan out, but at least there were a couple options. Plus he was just kind of impressed that between the two of them, they'd actually figured out a workable idea.

One that maybe required a little figuring it out, but workable nonetheless.

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	sonofmedusa 2023-10-29 05:08 am UTC (link)
	"I mean, it couldn't be terribly difficult sewing, could it? Just...capes? Plus, my girlfriend does stuff like that. Like sewing, I mean." He'd have to ask her, of course, but it was a step in the right direction. "And black fabric shouldn't be too hard to find." He grinned at the guy. "I bet you get a lot of weird people asking you questions, don't you?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

stopaimingatme
2023-10-29 10:23 pm UTC (link)

"Definitely," Murphy said. "Sometimes it's weird people asking questions, sometimes it's people asking weird questions." Because if you asked him, those were two distinctly separate ways of being.

"But it keeps things interesting," he added. "Makes the day go faster, sometimes." Like now, when it was a kind of weird question that'd required actually thinking to solve the situation.

Look, he really had to struggle to find the bright spot sometimes. Work was one of those times.

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	sonofmedusa 2023-10-29 11:54 pm UTC (link)
	"Well, that's a good thing," he said with a nod. "I never really understood how humans worked so much. I mean, I'll eventually have a job too, and I need to get a job here, but monster jobs are so different. He shrugged. "Anyway, thanks for the help. I'm going to go over to the fabric section and see what I can find." [OOC: Wrap on yours?] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

stopaimingatme
2023-10-30 01:43 am UTC (link)

"Yeah, not a problem," Murphy said with something that wasn't a smile but was at least work-approved levels of friendly. "Here's hoping you manage to pull it off."

He was pretty sure the guy wouldn't have any problems, though. Even if nobody he knew ended up able to manage it, there were probably a few other people in town that would be able and willing to help.

Because Madison Valley was just like that sometimes.

[wrap!]

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