harley hua

"That's exactly what we're hoping to do! Everyone in Maine loves lobster," she paused, frowning a little, "granted, to eat it. Which, you know, me too." She didn't have any sort of moral high ground to stand on there, she also really loved to eat lobster. But that lobster had to come from somewhere, and that 'somewhere' might as well be the healthy, happy environment that they had always lived in, after all. "Okay, let's get to work, we've got a vision, and now we need to make it happen!"

#(//idk what this reply is but I think it's a good place to end it?)#(//we can do something newer with spring fling now.)#(lena.)

"We're trying to make people sad?" Harley joked, but they knew exactly what she meant. They chuckled at the mention of people eating the lobster anyways. Once Lena demanded they get to work, Harley joke saluted her. "You got it, boss!"

Harley watched Kenzie follow the sound of the vibration until she found the purse had somehow ended up underneath the bookshelf. Well, Harley definitely hadn't been sticking their hand under all the shelves. "That's it!" They exclaimed once they laid eyes on the purse. "Thank you so much!"

A smile crossed her lips when he lit up at seeing the bag. "You're welcome. It's a pain to replace everything, so..." A shrug fell from her shoulders as she handed the purse over. An easy good deed for the day.

End.

#(end.)#(kenzie.)

"Every now and then, I get it right," she said with a grin. Given that she did do make-up for a partial living, she liked to think that she had a basic understanding of color theory and what did and did not go, definitely not on Harley's level, but she didn't do too bad for herself. Widening her eyes at the idea, she nodded eagerly, "I love that, like a lobster holding up the sign basically begging people to come support the Spring Fling because otherwise, he's going to get overfarmed and not have a good life anymore."

"I'm sure you get it right a lot more often than that." Harley offered, knowing color theory was already part of her job. As she elaborated on the poster idea, Harley's smile faded. This poor fictitious sea creature was going to have such a hard life if they failed to stop the resort. And, more importantly, his real-life relatives would too. "I mean....it makes me feel bad for the lobster. If I wasn't already supporting Spring Fling it would get me out to it."

#(lena.)

"No problem. I'm here almost every day, so a lot of the baristas have learned a little sign language. I'm glad I could use it to help someone else." Harley was always torn between not wanting to be difficult, and letting himself take up space without apologizing. So even though he appreciated the baristas learning some signs for him, he felt better knowing it didn't only benefit himself.

taetaesuh

"I'm here a lot but apparently I have a forgettable face," Tae answered the other on his phone. A laugh followed that and he shrugged. Once he had his drink in his hand, with thanks to Harley, he realised rather quickly the time and how much had passed. Despite thinking he had plenty of it to waste, he did actually need to head out and start making his way to work. "Again, thanks for the help," he offered before he left. "I'll see you around sometime."

#(end.)#(tae.)

"No, it's pretty weak." Kenzie remembered the days of the Nokia 3310, that would feel like an earthquake if you placed it on a hard surface. Phones these days just didn't compare. She glanced over as he put his hand on one shelf and then the other, gesturing to the second one, saying that it was over there. Kenzie followed, cocking her head slightly to try and pinpoint the noise. It was certainly closer. Ducking down, she ran a hand under the bookshelf, snagging something that she really hoped was the purse. Pulling it out, she was relieved to see that it was, holding it up. "In the recipes section."

#(//maybe we can wrap this up if that's cool with you?)#(kenzie.)

Harley watched Kenzie follow the sound of the vibration until she found the purse had somehow ended up underneath the bookshelf. Well, Harley definitely hadn't been sticking their hand under all the shelves. "That's it!" They exclaimed once they laid eyes on the purse. "Thank you so much!"

samuelxkwon

Sam realized that the ringtone got even louder when Harley opened the purse. "Not a problem," he replied and waited until Harley finished checking the contents of the purse. "Is there anything missing?" he asked and added a comment, "Your grandmother has the ringtone set to maximum," he said, which actually wasn't too surprising to him. He also tried to sign that part, slow and still a little unsure.

A cover art on one of the books he saw on the corner of his eyes suddenly grabbed his attention, made him look at it with a frown and said, "Think we can get out of this aisle? Feels like this one is going to hunt my dreams tonight," he chuckled lightly.

"Thank you." Harley signed again, as if he hadn't just thanked Sam a moment ago. "I think everything's in there. Her wallet and phone are, so I can't imagine someone went through her bag and left those things behind." Finding out her ringtone was set to maximum was not a surprise. Harley watched his hesitant, slow signs and just appreciated that Sam was trying to sign at all with him.

At the realization Sam wasn't a big fan of the horror genre, Harley chuckled. "Aren't you a paramedic? That's way more terrifying than some deranged zombie doll." But they had no problem going somewhere with more appealing covers, so they began walking out of the horror section while still looking at Sam to see his reply.

#(sam.)

"I think that might be a good idea," she said after a moment, looking at the colored pencils in her hand and making sure that the colors went together well enough while still being different and… interesting, honestly. As long as they were bright, vibrant, and stole attention, that would work. "Since we're sort of fighting back against a beach resort and so many people are concerned about the environment -- especially the beach and the ocean -- it might be a good idea to pull focus there, yeah?"

"It's attention grabbing; not a color combination you see a lot but it is nice to look at. Great choice!" Harley have her a thumbs up. "So what do you think of a drawing of a sign underwater? Or maybe even a lobster or fish holding the sign? Give the 'environment' a face people have to say no to?"

#(elena.)

dancerdarcyj

Darcy smiled over at the guy and nodded, "Well, lets hope we can find this for you. I would hate to see you leave empty handed." She smiled looking over at the guy for a moment as they made their way to the section.

"Me too. My grandma would be so disappointed." That was the last thing Harley wanted to do to his grandma. They were very close - the only family member Harley was closer with was his brother.

#(darcy.)

"Oh, okay." That made more sense. Obviously he'd explained that before, Kenzie quickly catching on. When he said it should be ringing, her head tilted, certainly hearing something. But it wasn't a ringtone, Kenzie stepping between the shelves, following the noise. "I think it's vibrating." She said, half to herself as well as him.

After Harley announced it was ringing, he tried to listen for something. He wouldn't have been able to isolate and identify the noise, but any change in what he was hearing could have been the ringtone. He followed Kenzie as she started walking towards what he assumed was the phone. "Vibrating?" I definitely can't hear that."" Harley asked, then placed a hand on a shelf like he was expecting to feel the phone. No luck. He tried the shelf on his other side again, and after a second felt a weak pulse through the shelf. "It's over here somewhere." He told her, gesturing vaguely to the book shelf. He noticed something red out of the corner of his eye and looked, but it was only a book.

#(kenzie.)

"I love children....But I think I love art even more." Harley admitted. They wanted kids in the future, but they needed art. This priority would have to change if and when they adopted a kid. But for now they were happy to imagine their future child as a hypothetical rather than something they needed to plan for right now.

As Elena talked about bright colors, Harley immediately got an idea. In what was clearly meant to be the dining room of his apartment, Harley had a small art studio set up. To the average person, it looked like a mess. But Harley knew exactly where to find his supplies. He opened the second drawer of his rolling storage cart (although he never actually rolled it anywhere, it came on wheels. More importantly - it was rainbow!) and returned to the living room with a huge case of colored pencils. He preferred paints, but this would be easier and cleaner for Lena to pick colors from, and to use to put rough drafts on paper. "'Pretty' is subjective, so pick out some bright colors you want to use!"

"Say no more," she said with a laugh, understanding what they meant completely. You could like both -- but where Harley was in their life, it made sense that they would want to focus on art a little more than rugrats running around and potentially ruining that art, on top of everything else. Worth it, if you loved kids, though.

"Okay!" Elena looked over the colored pencils that Harley had brought out, beginning to sort through them curiously, thinking about what would be eye catching enough, but still go to together to make something aesthetically pleasing. "How about…" she picked out a deep, but vibrant blue, then one that was more teal, lighter in shade, holding those out for Harley first, "reminds me of the ocean, you know? And then…" she bit her lip, chewing it thoughtfully as she surveyed the colors, "maybe this shade of green, and a yellow-green to tie it all together? Lots of green, piney colors to go with the ocean, since this is basically all about saving Merrock."

#(//we will see if I remember Harley's idea when I reply to this next lol.)#(elena.)

Harley watched carefully as Lena started selecting colored pencils, genuinely curious what her color scheme would look like. Teal, pine green and chartreuse. It was an interesting combination, and it worked. "Do you want the ocean itself to be the center of it?" Harley asked, already forming an idea in their mind.

taetaesuh

It was ridiculous really, how long it was taking today. Tae had been joking around when he'd first found himself waiting, but now... well now, he wondered what the hell had happened to cause this situation to have even occurred. He wasn't in that much of a rush that he needed to head over and make a fuss, though, so he kept quiet up until the barisa appeared. Sadly not with his drink. Apparently, Harley had it all in hand, though, and when Tae was turned to, he offered a smile. "Tae," he answered her, and she nodded in understanding, informing him it would be there in a second. Once she'd headed off again, he turned back to Harley, typing out, "Thanks for the help."

"No problem. I'm here almost every day, so a lot of the baristas have learned a little sign language. I'm glad I could use it to help someone else." Harley was always torn between not wanting to be difficult, and letting himself take up space without apologizing. So even though he appreciated the baristas learning some signs for him, he felt better knowing it didn't only benefit himself.

#(tae.)

samuelxkwon

"That makes sense," Sam mumbled to himself, nodding slightly when Harley explained how the purse could have possibly ended up at the horror section. One accidental glance at one of the titles, he got reminded of why it wasn't his favorite genre. He stopped briefly so he could listen more carefully and looked around to see if they were actually close enough to locate it. It was definitely louder here. "Close," he answered, verbally and using sign language, hoping he remembered it right. He turned towards Harley when he saw what looked like a red purse. "Is that it?" he asked and pointed at it.

#(//I like the realism of him being rusty!)#(sam.)

Harley missed what Sam said, but could understand from the body language that the comment was to himself and not to Harley anyways. Like Sam, Harley also glanced at a title. He could take or leave horror. It could be fun, and Junji Ito's horror art was iconic. But he didn't get the enjoyment out of it that his mom and brother did.

Harley followed Sam's finger to the familiar bag. "Oh my god, yes! You found it!" He exclaimed, then opened the purse and pulled out the phone to silence it. He also double checked that her wallet was still in there. "Thank you so much!"

"Oh." Kenzie was a little taken aback when he mentioned he was deaf, wondering if she'd been speaking clearly enough...or if that even mattered. "Well, we can go check ourselves and if you rind it, I can listen out." The brunette offered. Though honestly, old people tended to have the loudest of ringtones in her experience that sometimes she swore it would wake the dead.

"I can hear you fine through my cochlear implant. I might even hear the cell phone ring, depending on how loud and close by it is. But I don't have the ability to hear what direction a sound is coming from. It's like - you hear in 3-D but my hearing is very flat and two-dimensional." Harley looked down at his cell phone and called his grandma's phone. "It should be ringing now."

#(kenzie.)

"For you and your love of art, absolutely not," Elena said with a laugh, shaking her head, "I wouldn't want to risk letting a kid touch that, either." Even if it was a kid that they loved, sometimes you just couldn't take that risk -- especially if you made part of your livelihood off of it, or just got to pour a lot of passion into it. Either way. "I'm pretty open, honestly. Something simple, probably? Get the point across, but maybe use some bright, pretty colors, let that do most of the talking." Elena was constantly caught by flashes of bright color, something that stood out, and if people saw that from the corner of their eye, turned towards it, and saw a flash of color and got the message, that was what really mattered in the end.

"I love children....But I think I love art even more." Harley admitted. They wanted kids in the future, but they needed art. This priority would have to change if and when they adopted a kid. But for now they were happy to imagine their future child as a hypothetical rather than something they needed to plan for right now.

As Elena talked about bright colors, Harley immediately got an idea. In what was clearly meant to be the dining room of his apartment, Harley had a small art studio set up. To the average person, it looked like a mess. But Harley knew exactly where to find his supplies. He opened the second drawer of his rolling storage cart (although he never actually rolled it anywhere, it came on wheels. More importantly - it was rainbow!) and returned to the living room with a huge case of colored pencils. He preferred paints, but this would be easier and cleaner for Lena to pick colors from, and to use to put rough drafts on paper. "'Pretty' is subjective, so pick out some bright colors you want to use!"

#(elena.)

"Oh!" Elena turned to look at Harley as they made their way out with the coffee and waved off their explanation, "don't worry about it, I'm not fussy at all." And when it came to drinks -- hot or cold -- she liked to be at least a little bit adventurous, make sure that she gave something a fair try. And what was life if not lived with coffee a little different than what you would serve at home? Picking up the mug as it was handed to her, she blew on it a tiny bit after preparing the cup, and took a small sip before turning her attention back to the project.

"It was annoying for the first few years, sticky fingers and all," she scrunched her nose at the memory, constantly finding messes on her tablet screen, but now Marisol appreciated electronics nearly as much as Elena did, and had taken after her in terms of wanting everything to be clean, neat and organized at all times. That was nice. "I get you, sometimes making it too busy can make the eye go in a hundred different directions," which was true, even if it still ended up being pretty. "But… you're also the artist, so you know exactly what would end up working. It looks great like this, though!"

"I think that's why they sell tablets just for kids - to keep their sticky fingers off the adult electronics. I'm not sure if I'd let a kid touch my drawing tablet." Harley had bought the thing thinking it would help them with their webcomic, but they definitely preferred the old pencil-to-sketchbook method. At least the Supply Shack wouldn't be going out of business on their watch. "I thin you've talked me into leaving the background as it is. Anyways, did you have anything in mind for a banner? Maybe we can sketch it out."

#(lena.)