#this is why i tend to get carried away with clients but it’s okay bc they usually get carried away with me loolllll

[grimmweepers]

miss ryu !!! 🎤 🤍 can i pretty please ask what factors help you decide which fragrance to wear for the day?! :> does mood, season, weather, etc change it !?? (i just love hearing you talk about this in general ahajansm)

evieeeeeeeeeee!!! i’m sorry it took me so long to reply ;; i hope this’ll be an interesting answer for you

but yeah! mood, season and weather absolutely changes it!! and outfit too! idk if you’ve seen clueless but every time i pick a fragrance of the day i feel like cher during the intro scene when she’s using that monitor to pick her outfit. i don’t have an aesthetic i particularly stick with so one of the reasons why i have a frag collection is so i have options rubs hands >:) my style ranges from coquette to nyc club rat to suits to y2k to trophy wife so i cannot simply have one perfume to work with, right?

i’ll set a few scenes for you so you can see how the cogs in my brain turns when i’m deciding:

ryu is going on a date. it’s a fancy candlelit dinner in winter. her hair is in big curls and she’s wearing a delicate black and white mini dress with lace. she’s feeling feminine and romantic but in the mood for something sultry and warm since it’s chilly out. what does she choose from her collection?

midnight dahlia! why? it’s floral yes but not your typical floral!! the concoction of notes blends into something rich, pretty, and dark. it smells sensual, yet romantic and elegant. and it’s known for being unique so hopefully it’ll leave a charming impression on my date ;)

or here’s another example:

it is spring time and ryu wants to feel and smell like a shoujo girl !! so she will be choosing…

this one is gentle and clean. it just smells soft and approachable and overall very very feminine. in a good way it smells like if i’ve just freshly cut pear in a field of flowers. a funny description i read from a wearer of this perfume is that it makes them feel like aphrodite walking right out of her clam lol!! it is the opposite of sexy and that’s okay because you don’t need to be sexy all the time

a lot of it is just romanticising my day and picking out something that’ll fuel that delusion hahahah altho other times it’s as simple as

ryu misses new york today :( so she will decide between

because the first one i bought for new york. but the second one i bought in new york. and the scent is literally named after a neighbourhood in new york so ahhhh !!!

there are so many factors tbh i hope this makes some sense 😭🤍

[crowned-ladybug]

@theglitterbombsystem @janisilverstorm <3

Okay now I realise that the catalyst for me giving this AU more thought was probably this fic, which I read a couple days ago when I was feeling too shit to even sit up (and if you like V:LD and feel up for a long fic, I highly recommend you read it. It's amazing). I've been wanting a more magical AU where magic is a more everyday concept for ages and I guess this fic gave me the final push for it (esp knowing I got hopelessly stuck with "Normality"/the Mundane Magic AU and I’ll forever mourn it).

Also, if you notice any egos missing from this (which you will), it's bc I have no idea yet how to put them into this. Suggestions on that and just in general are absolutely welcome

Tbh the basic idea was just that what if Marvin had a magic shop but not the kind where he sells like loaded dice and weird card decks and other fake magic props but one that's like. actual magic. like he sells spells and charms and actual magic ingredients and supplies and breaks minor curses and stuff.

The whole shop is just a lot of clutter but in a very endearing fashion. There's countless shelves full of containers labelled with indecipharable handwriting and all sorts of books, from recent paperbacks with white lines all over their covers and spines from being opened so much, to heavy leather-bound ones written in all sorts of languages. There are plant pots sitting on every horizontal surface and hanging from the ceiling, housing all sorts of herbs and some entirely decorative plants, the labels stuck to each pot already too faded to read, and Marvin doesn't bother to redo them because he knows what all of them are anyway. There's charms and strings of beads and ornaments made of glass and wood and clay hanging from the ceiling, from the corners of shelves and from the armada of lopsided hooks in what little free space remains on the walls. Most of the lighting is via floating balls of light, easily spells maintained constantly by Marvin's magic. A lot of them are placed on the shelves here and there in jars, because they have a habit of wandering off, getting stuck behind stuff or bothering the costumers by getting tangled in their hair or clothes or somehow making their way into their bags. There's a counter in the back where Marvin spends most of his time, made of now scratched and scorched mahogany wood with golden ornamentation, more fit to be a hotel's reception desk than the counter in a small, cluttered magic shop in a thin old town street. The windows have colourful patterns and pictures painted over them and when the sun shines in through them, the same colours are cast onto the floor. Inside the shop everything seems to have a golden tint to it despite the windows otherwise just being regular glass, and it smells of the potted herbs and a bit of cinnamon.

Varjú the hooded crow is Marvin's familiar and assistant. He knows the name of p much all ingredients and trinkets and can fetch them for Marvin, but then again, Marvin can just levitate them to himself too. Varjú's more important purpose is watching the shop if Marvin is not there, helping deal with costumers, keeping Marvin company and helping his magic remain stable and focused during harder tasks. He can also deliver things to frequent costumers if needed, or go shopping for tiny things at vendors that already know Marvin (Varjú has a lil pouch for carrying money and whatever goods he can't just pick up with his talons).

Magic in this world is an ordinary and accepted thing, tho not everyone has it. One's chances of being born with enough magic to actually do something with are probably about the same as being left-handed, maybe somewhat higher. So maybe half of Marvin's costumers are actual magic users, the other half are regural people looking for magical solutions to their problems, which is just as much of a normal thing to do as shopping online is.

I don't know Everyone's place in this, but there are the ones I do:

Signe is a witch, not incredibly powerful but with a lot of love and contentment towards her craft. She mainly deals with nature magic, and Marvin buys from her about as much as she buys from Marvin. A lot of times there isn't even an actual exchange of money between them, they just trade. They help keep each other's herb supply balanced and usable at all times, and sometimes she tempts Marvin into trading with her by offering art supplies and not magical items, which Marvin accepts very enthusiastically. A lot of the ornaments and charms hanging in the shop were made by Signe, and most of them are for sale. Signe doesn't have a shop of her own, so she brings her creations she doesn't plan on keeping to Marvin, who enchants them (bc magic items made my multiple ppl are stronger) and usually ends up selling them p quickly, and they split the profit fairly.

I have no clue whether Seán has magic or not but I do know that he keeps adopting the light ball things that end up the most hopelessly tangled into him, and Marvin lets him bc he can always just create new ones. Seán already has like three or four of them floating aimlessly around his office and he has names for each of them.

Jackie doesn't seem to have any magic in him at first glance and I honeslty don't know if he does have any magic at all. He just showed up at Marvin's shop one day seeming like an ordinary one-time client, looking like a giant nerd and acting kinda shy. He asked for a protection charm (like an actual physical charm not a magic spell), and Marvin assumed it was out of a history of bad luck or anxiety, which he could definitely understand. And because the unique items like charms don't have price tags, he gave it to Jackie cheaper than usual without mentioning it. (He tends to bring down his prices a lil if a first time costumer is exceptionally attractive or nice, or if they look like they could put the bit of spare money to good use.) But a week later Jackie came back to buy another one, and then later another. When finally Marvin asked him why he needed so many, he eventually gave in to his conscience and said that they keep running out (breaking, burning up, falling apart, etc, which protection charms only do when protecting their wearer from really great danger and thus their magic runs out) and thus he always comes back to get a new one. Marvin is baffled by how such a meek looking guy could get into mortal danger so frequently, but he doesn't pry.

Anti is, well, interesting. My original plans for him were just a kinda mysterious human with insanely strong magic and then I kicked that whole paragraph out the window. Anti was the reason Marvin met Seán and Signe. He rarely leaves shop to do his work, but he was asked so nicely (and promised a great bonus for his troubles) to come take a look at some guy's computer that they have the suspicions either got cursed or posessed by something, because it's acting seriously freaky. Usually exorcising minor demons ends with the demon either being weakened so much it has no other choice than to flee, or the demon being destroyed completely. But this demon was more than just a half-sentient inconvenience and...it didn't seem hostile either? It was defensive when Marvin tried to mess with it, sure, but otherwise it seemed more collected and maybe a bit scared, or curious even once Marvin ceased his own hostility. He decided to give talking to the demon a chance, and found that it possessed a human level of sentience and intelligence (and even a name, Anti), and that it - he just wanted an entertaining place to live (which a computer with lots of games and activity definitely classifies as) and has frankly grown kinda fond of the computer's owner too. Marvin managed to coax him out and into some other item on his person (since at the time Anti wasn't yet able to take up a corporeal form), but when it became obvious to Anti that Marvin wanted to take him away, even if he did promise not to kill him, Anti absolutely freaked out. This was his home, he wanted to stay here and befriend these people living here if they were okay with it, he didn't want to leave, he didn't want to be taken away. Marvin had to present Seán with the situation - "Look, it is a demon, but he's also pretty chill and likes your taste in video games. He doesn't mean any harm and would like to be your friend, if you'd be okay with that? I don't need to get rid of him if you don't want me to." Seán and Signe gave it some serious thought and then accepted and let Anti stay and gave him an old phone (like an iphone or something they didn't use anymore not a nokia brick) to talk and see through until Marvin taught him how to take up a corporeal form. He's now completely capable of disguising himself as human, he technically lives with Seán and Signe but he also spends a lot of time in Marvin's shop (and later with other ppl like Dark and Chase as they come into the story).

Schneep is a healer (of the magical kind), who mainly has his own herb supply to sustain his patients, but when that's not the case he comes to Marvin for a short chat and to buy some. Aside from that, he periodically buys stuff to help him sleep or concentrate (mostly lil packets of assorted herbs he himself doesn't have, and a dangly charm he hung above his desk that also just looks great). After a while he started taking two packets instead of one, saying it was for a friend who also has trouble sleeping.

Said friend is yet to show up, but instead of him (and instead of Schneep getting stuff for him) his boyfriend, a tiny man with a bowler hat and a snazzy mustache by the name of Jameson, has become another frequent visitor of the shop. When he first came in, he started talking to Marvin by writing stuff down on a notepad in his hand, and he was very relieved when Marvin told him that he knows sign language, so if Jameson does too, it should be easier. He never buys anything for himself (he has more than enough magic to sustain himself), instead he comes in for stuff to help his boyfriend Shawn with his sleep problems and hallucinations, mostly herb packets, potions and charms that get used up alarmingly fast. After a handful of times of coming to the shop, Jameson brought a crow figurine for Marvin, as a gift from Shawn. Now besides Signe, Shawn is Marvin's most important charm supplier, because while Signe's charms mostly appeal to teens and adults, Shawn's creations are toys. And I mean, what's better than a teddy bear that's a child's favourite toy being enchanted to keep the child safe or grant them good luck?

I don't know much about Angus aside from that he shows up every once in a blue moon and trades Marvin rare supplies and ingredients he found on his journeys in exchange for potions and spells.

The only Iplier I know stuff about for now is Dark, who doesn't have a fuckin ounce of magic in him, and it probably frustrates him a lot bc he slowly becomes quite the frequent visitor of Marvin's shop. He's always very polite and reserved and gets straight to the point, simply asking for this or that potion or spell, scratching Varjú's head while he waits, paying and leaving. Marvin finds him strange but doesn't mind him. The first time he comes in while Anti is hanging out in the shop, Marvin almost bursts out laughing at the blatant look of interest on Anti's face. Anti flirts up a storm, Dark is very perplexed, and once he's gone Marvin threatens to kill Anti if he just scared off one of his best costumers. But Dark isn't that easy to scare off, he comes back after the same amount of time he always does, and he even offhandedly asks why Marvin's outstandingly extroverted friend isn't present. (I have no idea how that line of the story continues tbh but it does. somehow.)

Robbie I'm still a little unsure about, but here's the idea for now. Anti spends plenty of time digitally snooping around in places he shouldn't, but he usually leaves his friends out of it. One time tho he shows up at Marvin's place in the evening, asking if he wants to do something very dangerous, probably very stupid, but probably also kinda heroic, and of course Marvin is in. Turns out, Anti had managed to track down some ppl dealing with zombies, which is a multiple times illegal thing bc 1. they rob graves, 2. they commit illegal magic and 3. they sell the thus created, mostly docile zombies as "low maintenance workforce" (in other words, slaves). When Marvin and Anti get there it turns out that these particular ppl aren't exactly experienced, only have one zombie on their hands currently, and thus they kick their asses very quickly. The singular zombie is heavily sedated, really loopy and the most interested in Marvin's shiny jewellery. They fuck off, rescue zombie included, before the police get there, bc they don't trust the police to handle a confescated zombie properly either. Back at Marvin's shop they try to get the zombie back to what seems to be his full capacity and find out that he has the intelligence of a twenty-something but the mentality of a child. When asked his name, he can only say "Rroooo....RoooOOOOOoooo...." and doesn't seem to remember the rest of it, until Anti guesses "Robbie" and the zombie devolves into happy squealing and flapping. They don't exactly know what to do with him, and after weeks of fruitless search for his family, they give up on handing him over to someone else. Robbie (who in the meantime became trained in some simpler forms of magic, tried to eat one of Marvin's magic light ball things and found himself a place in the hearts of everyone he's met) ends up living with Schneep, who has a house too big for only one person anyway and is v happy to take him in. He still spends a lot of time in Marvin's shop, tho usually in the back room/office practicing magic or crafting stuff bc he's scared of the costumers and the costumers are scared of him.

Pff, I think that's all I have for now.