The Boulevard
5:19 AM | Somewhere nearby
The source of the nearing sound made a turn out of an alley two stores up the road, and now was in clear view on the boulevard.
Standing at a menacing height, a girthy body of solid muscle and fat, dark eyes covered by the shade cast from the rim of the easily-recognizable orange hat, there stood Goro, the Pangoro. He continued on down the street, taking his own sweet time, the scrape and heft to his step now more clearly audible. Though one could not see his eyes, he kept his head held firmly high, staring far down the street as he let a twig that sprouted the buds of Oran berries jut from out the side of his mouth.
Goro was well known in the community to be in the business of security. It only made sense that today, he now wore the orange hat with the blue and red circle-slash pin on its front--the hat of the volunteer Festival Guard. He took his work seriously, up this early to patrol his assigned zone for any suspicious activity, his vow that nothing would interfere with the progress of the Summer Festival, one of the most important days for Jubilee, its residents, and its visiting neighbors.
His lumbering stopped. He stood there for a moment in silence, a store away from both Spirited Away and Forget-Me-Not. His ear twitched. He heard the sound of a knock and scuttling from a westward direction. He caught the glimpse of what looked like a strip of thin blue quickly slip its way from the wall on Spirited Away and around the corner.
He was sharp enough to notice that out from under the shade of the store's canopy, there was a faint shadow on the wall as well, seeming to have been cast by no real thing on the street.
Or at least, nothing immediately visible. Deviating from his standard path, his walk began to drift in the direction of the ghostly store.
WARNING:
GORO IS APPROACHING
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Spirited Away
5:19 AM | Main Floor
The purple specter drifted through the dark, the light of his floating candle a soft glow that illuminated the way as its owner had willed it. Nearing the Check Out counter, he had the intention to enter the Manager's Office to retrieve a few supplies that would aid in sprucing up the store, when he heard a knock on his door. He stopped and turned his head to face it, silent.
... Was that a knock? What slog would be up at 5-something in the morning, knocking on my door?
He grumbled discontentedly under his breath. He had every mind to ignore it. For all he knew, it could have been some shady gangster meant to jump him as soon as he opened the door so that their criminal buddies could rush him and rob the store of his precious printer paper and tree bark charms--or worse, gangster charm-thieves employed by Amaryllis. She would do that too, he figured.
She looks like she would lead a mafia.
The levitating ghost approached the windowless door, his candle swinging itself to the side and out of the way as the both of them elevated themselves a height higher to reach the peephole. He peered through, leering outside to see if there were someone there. When he saw no one, he rolled his eyes in slight exasperation. He had no intention of opening the door in the first place, but now it only solidified his reservation.
He thought to glance through the blind of a window, just to be sure he wasn't dealing with a prankster or the especially vertically challenged, and so as a blind happened to nudge itself slightly out of the way to give Castiel a sliver of space to peer through, he saw it.
No.
Goro was walking this way.
Quickly, the blind pressed itself back up against the window. Castiel twisted himself right back around, a grave look in his eyes, the candle that floated beside him had its flame significantly diminish in an attempt to hide its light. The bottom of his cloak and the skirt-like fringe of his body began to billow and bluster as if a great spirit wind swept up from underneath him, and with a great rush, he blew himself right down the front of the store, headed straight down the aisles and toward the back in an urgent hurry, his voice ringing hushed yet clearly, "Everyone! Out of the back and keep quiet! Goro is coming! Look busy!"
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Forget-Me-Not
5:19 AM | Main Floor
"OH, GOODNESS!"
Someone's outburst startled Amaryllis right awake, and then she heard a commotion. Her ever-gazing eye mask seemed to look on with an especially strong intensity coupled with Amaryllis' exasperated tone.
"I tell you all not to wake me up and then you wake me up! Shouting, and then this ruckus here! Look, you even had me shout myself awake just then! Don't you know we have to be quiet? We aren't exactly supposed to be up this early today!" Frazzled, and now sitting up straight in her bean chair, she patted at her giant bouquet boa, trying to make sure that she hadn't shaken any of her flowers out of place upon her head. Blinded by her sleep mask, she accused blanketly,
"Where's your common sense!?
All present were dealt a Reprimand!
Where's your common sense?
All of her antennae twitching in annoyance and feedback, she began to stand, although her sense of orientation was a little off from being shocked awake, and her leafy lowers nearly knocked over her "EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO MY OPINION" tea mug. Just a little of her peppermint tea spilled onto the somewhat shaggy mat under her, but it would not be a colorful stain. When she had her bearings, she held her head up with her nose upturned and began to advance with a sharp bump in her hips in every step, while still strangely refusing to take off her mask. She had absentmindedly kicked Rina's missing thimble out of the way--the small object being unnoticeable to her anyway--and headed toward the Bidoof and Chimecho cohorting off under a shelf, out of the way. Standing directly before the two of them, she commanded in a vexed tone as her hands made a big motion to stand,
"Let's go! We're not here to stand around, we're here to work! Pick up the slack! Come, come!"
As if to prove her seriousness, she pulled up her horror mask finally, and gave the two of them a very strong stare. It was made worse from the bit of sleep crust in her eyes and the slight bags under them. Truly she had missed her beauty sleep. She was about to give them her signature side-eye glare when something else caught her attention: a small basket on the floor with an assortment of colorful and pretty things, some of its contents spilled out and about as if it had been knocked.
"...Oh~" Immediately her eyes lit up as she lifted a hand to her mouth in surprise, and stepped her way over to the basket, bending down and picking the rest of it up by the handle. Her tone changed to something of a pleasant surprise.
"Oh, just look at that! Look at this basket and all these darling little things in it! Oh! Are these Heart Scales? Oh, look at how they shine even at this ungodly hour--And these little barrettes are so charming! Ohoho~" She looked up, her demeanor almost entirely changed, completely impressed with the gift.
"Is this for me? Who brought this fantastic little goodie basket!" She looked over Rina and Samuel, the both of them
were standing right beside the spilled basket when she had seen it. It would only make sense that perhaps one or the other brought it in. She also glanced around the room, only to find her eyes instead land on... Spora, the Parasect, who was already headed toward the box of decorations that sat on the stool behind the Check Out counter. She could have brought it in as well and loaned it to Rina and Samuel to work on decorating while she herself tackled the big box.
"Oh, Spora!" Amaryllis called, a very pleased look about her.
"I didn't even notice you, but I'm sure you get that all the time." She glanced around among the three of her employees.
"Which one of you brought in this wonderful basket for me?"
story about why he was hiding. It WAS late out, and he could straight up lie to the guard's face about why he was out here. Maybe something about being ordered to clean up the alleyway for Castiel? It could work.