Reading

Honolulu, Hawai'i, Wednesday morning [NFB]

Steve and Danny had caught a few hours of sleep in their office after Jerry had figured out the small carved ivory pieces were pawns from an 11th Century chess set, and Chin set their insane ~~McGuffin~~ database searching to see if something like that had ever been seen in Hawai'i.

(Steve didn't know how Jerry had figured that out about the chess piece. He suspected it had involved a reverse image search on Bing, then a lot of Antiques Roadshow binging.)

He rubbed grit from his eyes and was starting up the coffee when Chin finally called them in with a hit.

"A young Kahala couple--Steve and Marissa Blake--disappeared, along with several high-priced items including an 11th century-style walrus ivory chess set, about eight years ago," he said as the photo of the chess set flickered onto their computer screen. "Look familiar?"

"Yeah, those are identical to the ones we recovered from the mouths of our victims-slash-also murderers," Steve replied. "Were there any suspects in this case?"

"One," Chin said with a pleased smile. "A Pierre Shaw, 32 years old. Recently paroled for possession of stolen goods."

"Looks like we're going to pay a visit," Steve said. "Danno, with me."

Entry tags:

$gulch,
sabine wren

Wellspring Arms- Wednesday

Sabine was trying to get back into a routine again. This was both harder and easier to do when things were pretty consistently quiet, and since it was, she decided she might as well get some shooting practice in. She put the "IN BACK- YELL" sign out and brought a blaster she hadn't used before to test out.

And she was trying to figure out how to keep a cat out of the area. This was not the place. Not the place.

[Open!]

Entry tags:

The Perk, Wednesday Afternoon

"Okay but how 'bout ya put more pumpkin in it?"

"Okay but even more?"

"But even more more?"

"More more mo--"

Hi, yes, Harley was holding at least one barista hostage with the order she was attempting to make. Sometimes you just had to! While leaning way too far over the counter while she did it, too.

Someone come save the barista. Or possibly Harley, depending on how (much more) annoying she got before her latte would be deemed complete.

(open with some slow)

Entry tags:

$over easy,
gray

Over Easy, Wednesday

Gray had asked the kitchen staff if they could make the special for today sweet tea waffles, for Arden, and also so they wouldn't use coffee again. You had to use so much sugar and flavoring to make coffee even drinkable, why would you want your food to taste like that?

What they'd come up with was not exactly what he'd asked for, but you know what? It was pretty good, and he'd contributed to the special! Maybe this 'working' thing was gonna work out after all?

Will It Waffle? Wednesday Special
Earl Grey Waffles with Mixed Berries

Over Easy is open!

Entry tags:

The Perk, Tuesday Afternoon

Erasmus had received a slip letting him know he had a package to pick up at the post office that morning, so he'd gone to get it after his class. Sadly, it didn't include even a prototype 'try this and tell me what happens' charm to try to block the Chain Veil (his father was working on it; Erasmus really hoped he was sleeping at some point), but it did contain a full restock and then some on pain charms, which was great considering he had another date with a migraine scheduled for Thursday.

He wasn't worrying about that until Thursday.

After the post office, he'd decided to stop by the coffee shop, where he had continued to fail in obtaining sweet tea. Instead, after a very confusing conversation with the worker at the register, he'd ended up with an iced pumpkin spice latte, which was...well, he had been trying to get something iced. He'd give them that.

"I'm just gonna have to make my own tea, ain't I?" he muttered, and took a sip of his coffee. It wasn't bad.

(Open Perk is open!)

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Caritas- Tuesday

If you heard a vacuum going during any downtime today, it was because Kitty was making Tino clean up all the glitter he'd brought back into the bar on Saturday. There was no way he'd get all of it, that was impossible. But he was damn well going to try now that he was good and ready and forced to.

Don't mind the noise.

[Open!]

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The Devil's Nest, Monday Night

Eric was still looking a bit smirky from his time at Three Minute Dates and Tiny was not asking.

Taking several bottles of True Blood from behind the bar, Eric busied himself coming up with new drinks for beings with special dietary needs. Tiny would still have to serve them, of course, but Eric was enjoying the creative process.

True Blood and elderflower liqueur was disgusting, for the record.

The Devil's Nest was open!

Entry tags:

The Magpie Emporium, Monday [15/09]

It had taken the better part of a week, but most of the glitter was finally either gone or at least corralled to around the painting tables.

Which meant that the group preparing minis for their all-ranger game were going to end up with some very sparkly animal familiars...

Entry tags:

Trooper Station, Monday, Sept 15, 2025

Steve was feeling a little more settled in his own skin after a class period spent swimming, and then Troopers were relieved that they were missing out on another run around the island (especially since a few were nursing bruises from banana-related falls and none of them wanted to explain that. They suspected Steve would not be sympathetic).

He picked up his cell phone as it rang with Chin's ringtone. "McGarrett," he said with a smile in his voice. He quickly sobered as Chin relayed what was happening back in Honolulu. "A body?" he repeated. "Left in the lobby? How'd they even get access?"

He listened as Chin told him what they knew so far.

"Okay, let me know what forensics tells you about this. Danny and I will catch the next available portal back."

The Trooper Station actually had a case!

Entry tags:

Pizza Planet, Monday

Today at Pizza Planet, Raiden could be found trying to chase down the delivery guy.

"Hey! Hey, I think you meant to take these to El Burrito Loco!"

The delivery guy just kept going, so Raiden sent a runner to El Burrito Loco to let them know they had their avocados. However, El Burrito Loco also had their avocados, so...

"Fine. Fine, I can work with this."

Specials
Charred Corn & Avocado Pizza
Guacamole Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Avocado Toast Pizza

Pizza Planet is open, and possibly committing crimes against both pizza and avocados.

Entry tags:

Infinite Consortium, Monday

Liliana looked at the packing slip in her hand, and then down at the artifact in the crate, then back to her hand. Her packing slip stated state Bear-Trap, One (1): Condition - Used. Inside the crate was, in fact, Bear-Trap, One (1): Condition - Used, but she was fairly certain it wasn't supposed to be growling. But, she was pretty sure that was a growling noise she'd heard and that it was coming from the crate. Visually, however, the trap just sat there on the bottom of the crate, yawning wide, waiting for her to come pick it up. "Mmmhmm. I wasn't born yesterday." She could feel the black mana radiating from it, accompanied by a kind of lurking malevolence.

On the (incredibly unlikely) chance she was wrong, she went and fetched the pushbroom from the utilities closet, lowering the handle towards the center of the trap. The tip hadn't even poked the plate before the trap was snapping shut again, over and over until she was able to whack it against the side of the crate hard enough to make it let go. Ruse destroyed, the trap sat there gnashed its metal teeth at her, promising violence.

"An ambush chair is amusing, an ambush bear trap, less so," Liliana informed it. "So no, I don't think so." The clanging started in earnest as she replaced the top on the crate and retreated to her desk to figure out what to do with it. It wasn't a creature, so she couldn't kill it, and she couldn't disenchant the damn thing. That was white mana. "Of all the days to not be my younger self," she muttered, ignoring the muffled clanging from the crate.

Right, she was going to reply to the text from Nikodemus asking a few more clarifying questions about the Chain Veil...and also asking if he wanted an enchanted, semi-sentient, murderous bear trap. Who knew? Maybe he would!

Entry tags:

@park,
stark

The Park, Sunday Afternoon

It was a good day to be outside. The island wasn't doing anything outrageous. The weather was lovely. There was no one Stark needed to hide from or avoid, that he knew of.

So he'd gone for a walk around stopped off for an iced coffee and a snack and then gone to a bench in the park to watch the birds at the pond and whatever else he might see.

It would have been a good day, he thought, for walking with a dog. He ought to go and see Prompto again soon at the shelter.

For now he had his own thoughts for company. That would be enough if no one else ended up in the park today but he hoped for someone to talk to who wasn't himself.

[open park is, of course, open]

Entry tags:

Pick Your Poison, Sunday

The pain came in waves. Sometimes she'd spend most of a day feeling nothing; the next, she'd find herself in Harley's bed for hours longer than she anticipated.

It was frustrating. It made her angry. And with that anger came the urge to defy it-- and so Pam found herself back here again on a Sunday, her side stinging harshly. Weeding the Pick Your Poison garden.

She'd even opened the door, even though she intended to spend much of the day upstairs in the lab.

[[ open ]]

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Caritas- Saturday night after 8:15 pm

The dates were over, the glitter was still there, the glitter lived with you now, and the night was still young. So maybe people wanted to hang at the bar for a little while. Maybe you wanted to take the date further, or maybe you just wanted to gossip or catch up with people you weren't matched with!

Either way the specials still told a story.

SPECIALS
French Kiss
Love Potion
New Friend
Panties Unleashed
Love Blossoms mocktail

Entry tags:

$over easy,
raiden

Over Easy, Saturday

Well, most of the glitter was gone. Raiden would take it.

"Let's keep it nice and calm today, folks. Nothing dramatic."

"No giant gummy bears made out of mayo," one of the kitchen staff muttered, and a waiter protested,

"I thought we agreed not to ever mention that again."

Specials
Quiche Lorraine
Goat Cheese Scrambled Eggs with Pesto Veggies
Pumpkin Shortcakes with Cinnamon Apples & Maple Whipped Cream

That last one was definitely someone trying to manifest Full Autumn.

Over Easy is open!

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Three Minute Dates- Caritas- Saturday before 8:15 pm

Were you tired of glitter yet? Because the banner above the stage reading "WELCOME TO THREE MINUTE DATES" was covered in it. Which meant the stage was covered in a fine mist of them. Which meant there was probably some of the tables. And the bar. Not the drinks, though, they kept up with standards.

And a few minutes before 8:00, Kitty took to the stage.

"Welcome again to Three Minute Dates!" she greeted them. "If you haven't done this before, the tiles are simple. Every three minutes, we'll read off pairs of names. You sit down with them, get to know them for three minutes, and when the gong bongs, you'll move on to your next march. After five dates, if you want to talk to anyone more, hang around and chat for a while. Ready? You've got a couple minutes to sign up, then we're gonna get going."

[OCD is up! Post dates bar post will go up in the morning!
Before the dates | Round One | Round Two | Round Three | Round Four | Round Five | OOC | Post dates bar]

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Needful Things; Friday

The WE ARE RE-OPEN !!! sign remained in the Needful Things window. Odds were great it would still be there in the following week, unless it happened to fall off on its own, but at least it was still sort of relevant for now.

Also, Harley was inside, trying to juggle with antique spoons.

Don't ask.

(open! I remember what day it is, I swear)

Entry tags:

Plant Parenthood; Friday [09/12].

Eleanor had been distracted and thoughtful ever since her conversation with Erasmus on Wednesday, her mind an absolute whirlwind of thought on whether or not he'd be able to help her with Rhys. The way he described it to her, it sounded like what he did might be more in line for what she needed than what Miss Vess did, and it was most exciting and nervewracking having this new prospect. She could be wrong, of course. She was usually wrong about things, and she was trying to figure out how to explain it to him without having to reveal too much. The idea of explaining what she was to someone she barely even knew was a harrowing prospect, but she also owed it to Rhys, to Luma, to her entire family, to try everything she possibly could to right the wrongs she'd done.

(Everything that happened was because you were trying to help, though)

That thought, she shoved back behind the others. Maybe it wouldn't even be a big deal to Erasmus, anyway. It's so nice to meet someone from a world that's at least kind of like mine, he'd said, so maybe he'd understand....

It was hard to focus on work. And even though her grandmother had always told her that magic really was at least half just figuring out what people wanted to happen, she was turning to her tarot cards again. After all, they had set her right when she'd consulted them in regards to her doubts with Kamala; maybe they'd give her guidance now, as well. And, really, when it came to magic, wasn't it also important if you yourself believed it, too, at least a little bit?

So she shuffled the deck. She split it. She shuffled it again, and then spread the cards out before her. Selected six and carefully pushed aside the remainders, before turning over the first card with bated breath.

Temperance.

A time for calm, careful control. Made sense. She continued on. Death, Justice, the Hierophant -- her breath caught a little, on that one -- the Hanged Man, and, finally, the Lovers.

Which was a confusing conclusion for a string of cards that made all too much sense; for the most part, all signs seemed to point to it being a worthy pursuit.

So then why did she still feel so uncertain and unsure?

Plant Parenthood is open!

Entry tags:

Trooper Station, Friday

There were banana peels all over the station today. Not the bananas themselves, just the peels, scattered across the floor. Watts had darted and weaved his way to his office, but the Troopers were taking this as an opportunity to work on their pratfalls, stepping on and therefore slipping on the peels on purpose.

At least they had body armour?

Entry tags:

Pixie Dust; Thursday [09/11].

Luma was, of course, working on redoing her nails after absolutely ruining them with a run through the woods as a wolf yesterday; she was, like the store itself, leaning into some autumnal colors, which inadvertently lead her nails to look like little candy corns. She wasn't entirely familiar with candy corn, she just thought the colors looked nice together, tilting her head as she held out her hand to observe her...well, handiwork.

And when one of the other employees asked for help unpacking a box of lightknit sweaters for one of the tables, she was so, so, so, so sad to inform them that she couldn't do anything for at least ten more minutes while the nail polish was drying.

And that's when the first glimmer of suspicion that Luma's obsessive nailpainting at work wasn't just vanity started to shine...

Pixie Dust is open!