1-2. school daze
3. the maud couple
4. fake it 'til you make it
5. grannies gone wild
6. surf and/or turf
7. horse play
8. the parent map
9. non-compete clause
10. the break up breakdown
11. molt down
12. marks for effort
13.
the mean 614. a matter of principals
15. the hearth's warming club
16. friendship university
17. the end in friend
18. yakity-sax
19. on the road to friendship
20. the washouts (episode)
21. a rockhoof and a hard place
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Cool. We’re aligned about a lot of the direction and progression, broad strokes, and general content. And I’ll go ahead and start fleshing out (hah!) some ideas now that we’ve got a baseline of expectations.
I’ll keep the other character TFs minimal if at all. It was just spitballing and brainstorming at this point.
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Thanks! I’m getting a kick out of the images and the evolving storyline. So thanks again for posting these, and I say keep ’em coming! Great news about the extended pacing!
Alexness back, even temporarily or on a split basis, could be just the ticket.Also: Already got ideas for side stories, too, some with your already posted images. So if you think there’s enough material for the relatively consistent evolution of another character let me know please! I could develop Selene pretty easily, for example.
Aside: Got any stocked up images that plausibly fit with the design of the girl in Part 5.5, specifically a non-unicorn with a similar-enough color scheme? I kind of wrote myself into a corner with that one re: Lexi’s mom dream so don’t know if I can pursue that possibility in another episode. Had to trim an extended scene between her and Creepy Boss for length, so if I try to write it back in I’d like to know how flexible to be with it.
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Spoilered for: mind stuff, corruption, suggestive content, vulgar.
“Is your boss taking advantage of you as a woman?” her mother finally asked. Lexi recoiled as if actually struck in the stomach, repulsed by any suggestion that her Creepy Boss existed in this or other worlds as a sexual being. She told her mother as much. Maybe she didn’t sound convincing.
“I think I’m going to have a talk with him today,” she said in a firm tone after a moment. Fear filled Lexi up from the guts to the tips of her ears, and tried to impress upon her mother that under no circumstances should the two of them be alone. That probably just made her denials sound worse, but she didn’t even want her mother staying in the store for any length of time, knowing first-hand what it could do. But the older woman had made up her mind, and Lexi resigned herself to at least stay close by her side.
“Oh, take mine!” Lexi’s mom volunteered. “She never lets me take pictures of her anymore!” Before her daughter could speak up, she handed her phone over to the coarse humanoid. He made a show of trying to line up the shot while Lexi was restrained in a hug by her mom, and then a simulated SNAP sounded out with a brilliant, cornea-stinging flash of light against the dismal ambient glow of the retro toy store. Lexi broke free and rubbed her eyes furiously, until she blinked through the pain and saw her mother taking back her phone from the calloused ape.
“Mom-” she started to protest, before being cut off.
“Lexi, dear, I can handle myself.” Turning to Creepy Boss, she sternly demanded to know what was going on in this store yesterday.
“Oh, yer hard-werkin dotter was doin’ inventory all day and into tha night, Missus…?”
“Ms. Alverson,” she informed him. “And where were you while that was going on?”
“I was attendin’ ta other business,” he offered in that sickly, cloying performance. “Tell ya what, why don’t you an’ I go back to tha sercurity room and review tha tapes? Iffin’ there be something ya want ta know, I’m sure it’ll be on camera. And you, my dear Lexi-” he said, turning to his legally-bound employee with a threatening glint from his beady eyes, “Yah need ta man the register, I told ya how terrible bizzy Fridays always be.”
Lexi turned and gestured to the empty store, whose shutters hadn’t even been raised yet. “You’re joking! There’s nobody here!” she pointed out.
“Lexi, that’s incredibly unprofessional,” her mother chided. “Do as Mister…?”
“Simonson,” Creepy Boss informed her.
“Right, do as Mr. Simonson says. You know what’ll happen if you get fired.”
“Now now, Ms. Alverson. Lexi’s a hard-werkin’ sort after all. She did a Her-Kyoo-Lay-Un task of inventory yestarday. Come watch the footage, see fer yerself.”
“Mom!” Lexi tried desperately. She both did and did NOT want her mother to see what happened with that Giggle Jiggle Ball.
“Lexi, yer mother’s right ‘bout that insubordination,” Creepy Boss said with a subtle hardness seemingly directed straight into Lexi’s big, pointy ears through the otherwise folksy charm he slathered onto his speech.
Lexi clenched her teeth and her fists, powerlessly watching this primordial menace lead her mother into the shadowy depths that shrouded the back of the store.
Creepy Boss? No, didn’t fit. Must have been a customer. Lexi turned the gears of her mind a moment and suddenly remembered that an angry customer had accused her of holding back the most valuable figurines to sell herself on the black market. That would have been shortly before she called her mom and had asked to come home… for some reason… solid memories seemed to turn into sand the more she sifted through them. Something something, daughter or livestock? That seemed familiar.
Lexi looked down and realized that she’d been robotically unpacking and sorting the toys into a display around her counter while jogging her memory. She grimaced; running on auto-pilot meant she wasn’t paying enough attention to know if her mom was in trouble back there with Creepy Boss.
“I know, I know! Academics, I plead a poverty of free time!” chuckled the dark-skinned young man with close-cropped curly hair as he rubbed the spot where Lexi’d hit him. He was built wiry and tall, but in her platform heels Lexi stood at about the same height. “Surprise! How’ve you been, bro?”
“My life is a torment nexus,” she said without a hint of irony. “Mom’s back there right now with my Creepy Boss, and I’m sure he’s going to try something.”
“Uh… so I came at a bad time then?” Darius asked.
“Never been worse,” Lexi said. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
“Oh yeah, I finished my undergrad AND got accepted to MFU for the PhD track!” he said, beaming brightly with arms wide open. “But wait, there’s more! You know that chick I hooked up with freshman year?”
“Uh, Selene?” Lexi guessed, thrown off by Darius’s infectious exuberance. Since his college was out of state, Lexi had only met one girlfriend and that only twice. Nice girl, short and fun, with dark taste in clothing and loud taste in hair color to make up for it.
“That’s her. Well, we’ve been going steady since, you know? And they say college is all about experimenting, right? Well, get this: she’s got the same taste in women that I do.”
“Heh, you lucky bastard!” Lexi chuckled. “Remember how we always said-”
“The best girlfriend is the one who chases the same skirts you do!” they both recited in unison, prompting a high five. Lexi was already forgetting her troubles in this unusual, happy reunion. It had been far too long since she and Darius had just hung out.
“So what’s that got to do with this town?” she asked. “MFU is way up east.”
“Well, to celebrate my outstanding academic performance,” Darius began, imitating his father’s deliberate enunciation, “Dad called me here and gave me a blank check. Said I could get whatever I wanted today.”
“Like, a literal blank check?” Lexi asked. Darius’s family was extremely rich and connected. In fact, it was them who paid for Lexi’s lawyer. Old money. This sounded like some kind of absurd tradition they’d have in his family.
“Read it and weep,” he said, producing the slip of paper from his letter jacket pocket. As he held it up, Lexi could see that it was, indeed, a check made out in all the particulars other than the amount. Even had Devon Kingston’s stately, handwritten signature.
“Nice! So you and the ‘alleged lady’ gonna spend it all on hookers and blow?” Lexi teased.
“Actually, this place looks as good as any,” he said. Lexi frowned. “This is a toy store, right?” he asked, putting his check down on the counter.
“Yeah, but-”
“Got any Robomorph figures?” he asked. His favorite toy line, and wealth meant he had almost all of them (even the ones released way before he was born).
“Sorry, I just did inventory last night. We definitely don’t carry any Robomorphs,” she said.
“You sure? I want to buy the entire latest wave.” The store lights failed, plunging the shop into darkness for a split second, then returned to their usual offensively flickering mish-mash of 80s-themed neon. “Whoa, that happen often?” he asked.
“Ugh, the lights are bad but not like THAT. Let me see if there’s a fuse box under here. One sec,” she said, kneeling down behind the register. Lexi found herself face to face with dozens of blister packs. Robomorph figures, one of each, including the re-decos.“What the… these must have got here this morning,” she said, standing up with two of the toys in her hands. “I think we have the complete set.”
“Awesome, buddy!” Darius said. “Lay ‘em on me. Oh, I want my girl to meet up with us and get to know you better, let me take a pic of us together!” The store lights disappeared for a perceptible instant before returning to their typical dismalness.
“Sure! Let me get on the counter,” Lexi said as she lifted her legs one at a time onto the register counter and sat proudly. Darius sidled in and put his arm around her shoulder. They both smiled up into his selfie cam.
“And… sent,” he announced after a few taps on the screen. “I know she’s gonna want to meet up with us, she’s been browsing the other shops here.”
“I mean, it’s kinda gone too far with the whole synthwave stuff if you ask me, mang,” Darius replied while looking around.
“Listen, I’m being serious about this. I need someone I can talk to about what’s been going on,” she said. “On the level, no BS.”
“Well I’m afraid you’re looking at a newly minted BS,” Darius joked. “Also a future MFer at MFU!” But he dropped the levity when he saw the expression on Lexi’s face. “Look, we’ve been best bros since boarding school. You already know you can come to me about anything. Selene and I are going to be in town until the autumn semester starts at MFU, so you can count on both of us to hear you out if anything that’s bothering you, okay?”
“Thanks, man,” Lexi said, genuine relief in her voice. For too long she felt like all this had to be bottled up, since her mother wasn’t listening to her.
“And hey, there’s something serious I wanted to talk to you about,” he said, clapping a hand on her shoulder as the store momentarily darkened again. “You know how I did that whole ‘you look cute’ thing just now? Well, I want you to know that I actually feel that way for real. I, uh, I started getting a major crush on you back in high.” Another dropout of the lights for a split second. “And I want to try something before Selene gets here, okay?” Flicker.
“Whoa, okay,” Lexi said, suddenly certain of two things: her best bro just admitted he had a serious crush on her, and that they were about to try something before his girlfriend showed up. Her heart started pounding.
“I want a kiss, okay?” Flicker. “Nothing big, just a peck on the cheek if you’re cool with it, I want you to feel comfortable about the whole thing, y’know?” Flicker. “Just so I can see if these feelings need to be put to bed.”
Without hesitation, Lexi leaned closer and gave him a gentle smooch. His stubble tickled her face. It was kind of exciting, but at the same time… back in boarding school, telling another bro you had a crush on them was a sure-fire way to get bullied until you dropped out. And suddenly here they were, getting smoochy? Lexi tried to square that history with her complete lack of discomfort in this moment.
“Hey, not bad on my end, bruh,” he said, lowering his eyes.
“Yeah…” Lexi admitted. She probably should have felt more weird about this. Best bros don’t just ask each other for a kiss, yet she didn’t even feel awkward. Just … okay with it. Maybe she was just going along with it because Darius was celebrating and he deserved a few concessions. She was just doing him a favor. No biggie.
“So…” her friend said, looked off to the side and scratching the back of his head nervously. “I kinda want more if you’ve got some in stock-” Flicker. Suddenly Lexi was pulling him in by the jacket and planting her lips directly onto his. No tongues, but… not much less. “Damn, mang!” he laughed. He wasn’t the only one pleasantly surprised in that exchange, as Lexi’s heart fluttered.
“Oh. My. God. Lexi?” came a voice from the toy store entrance. Lexi’s heart seized and she wondered why the door chime apparently hadn’t worked at all this morning. “I… LOVE that top!” cried Selene as she rapidly closed the distance and pulled the busty unicorn girl into a hug. “Ahhh! You’ve gotten so BIG!” the pint-sized pixie goth girl said approvingly. “Oh, Darius must LOVE these things! We’ve got the same tastes!” Without an invitation, she gave Lexi a playful feel-up. “No wonder you two couldn’t keep your lips off each other!” she squealed. All the while, Lexi just blushed like a lit match. At least Selene wasn’t the jealous type?
“Hold up, ladies, I want to get a picture of that. Once more, with cop-a-feeling!” Darius said, pulling out his phone. Another brief absence of light preceded Selene groping Lexi and smiling deviously for his snapshot. Click. “Okay, I think I want another one with you two swapping spit!” he chuckled, turning his phone for a better angle. The store stuttered through darkness once more. Lexi and Selene both turned to each other and plunged their tongues together while Darius logged another snap. They broke apart only reluctantly, Selene smirking and Lexi’s lips pulling into a little smile of her own. “Marvelous, ladies! Just the way I pictured it!” Darius praised. “The passion, the chemistry! I knew you’d get along swimmingly!” he declared.
Lexi was overwhelmed. Months of striking out on even a first date and suddenly here she was, nearly making out with her old friends a moment after seeing them. On camera! She felt dizzy. Excited. She felt… she felt good about it. Sure, it was all happening so fast. But none of it felt wrong. Didn’t her best bro deserve nice things today?
As Darius and Selene paired up with a close snuggle, he voiced another surprise. “Hey, Lexi? Since we’re all getting along so great, Selene and I want to extend you an invitation to an intimate evening with us next week.” Flicker. “Dad’s going on a cruise and we’ll have the house to ourselves, I really wanted us three to hook up together if this meeting went well.” The lights stuttered again.
“Okay,” Lexi found herself saying. Then the implications of what she just agreed to landed, and her eyes went wide for a moment. But… actually, she felt really good about it.
“Awesome!” Selene and Darius cheered.
“Hell yeah!” Lexi joined in, lost in these suddenly powerful convictions that whatever Darius wanted to do was the best thing ever. Hey, he’d been right on the money so far. Apparently even this wasn’t out of her comfort zone today.
“And don’t forget the Robomorphs,” he chuckled. “How much do I owe you?”
“Oh! Crap, let me scan those,” Lexi said, jerked out of her impassioned reverie. Pulling up all the blister packs, she ran them over the scanner. 24 robot toys showed up, along with a few line items she didn’t understand; services rendered appeared a couple of times, and services pending. The total was- “Oh God,” she said, pointing to the display on the register and rolling her eyes.
Selene and Darius read it together and he threw his head back in laughter. “Now that’s fitting! Sixty-nine sixty-nine!”
“A price so nice, they paid it twice!” chirped Selene.
“I’m fine, thanks!” the middle-aged woman said quickly but not angrily as she started wandering aimlessly.
Lexi’s eyes fell to the slip of paper on the checkout counter. Darius’s check. Total of sixty-nine sixty-nine, a price so nice… She smirked. Maybe it would be, she thought as she processed the check and slid it into the lockbox drawer. Maybe it would be.
Suddenly realizing she was staring at a shrinking, fading dot of phosphorescent afterglow, Lexi’s mom blinked. She had been watching…. something. Whatever it was, she felt a lot better about her daughter working here. “Well Mr. Simonson, I guess I was totally wrong about you! I’m so sorry I ever accused-”
“Think nothin’ ‘bout it, lass,” replied the vague shadow that loomed behind her chair, so closely that its stiff whiskers tickle the back of her ears. Two meaty mitts lifted off her shoulders as he stepped back and reached for something on a nearby table. “In fact, I think ye’r a great mum who was jus’ very consernt fer her dotter. But as ya can see, there ain’t nothin’ ta be afeared of wit’ Lexi. A bit o’ workin’ steady’s what’ll build her up ta be somethin’ spectacular, I jus’ know it. Here,” the shop keeper said in his puzzling dialect. A large, rough hand slid into Ms. Alverson’s view, holding a pink box. “We jus’ got these in ta’day, an this ‘un’s fer you in pertic’lar. As a token o’ me appreciation fer yer havin’ an… open mind.”