It was a rather...odd trio walking down the streets of the marketplace.

First? The green haired elf herself! Her attire was a bit different today, since she'd be cleaning and painting. Instead of her usual dresses, she wore an outfit bestowed upon her by the Nexus once, which was a blue 'Hello Kitty' shirt and some blue jeans. Over that, she wore a long, dark jacket, since it was still cold out and all. Green locks were pulled back in a ponytail and out of her face, accentuating those pointed ears of hers quite a bit. In each hand was a pail of blue paint, though the shades didn't quite match.

Behind her was too-tall, too-lanky Eddie, pushing his stand along. Wheels were handy like that! He was dressed in a beret and overalls as usual, but they were a dark grey, not their usual striped pattern. Atop his stand were a couple pails of blue paint, yet they didn't quite match each other, nor did they match Lydia's pails...

Piggybacking on Eddie was Carley. Ears wriggled in excitement as she looked around, giant grin plastered upon her face. One mittened hand gripped the handle of a pail of blue-green paint while the other tugged on Eddie's beret. "Are we almost there yet?" Her tone teetered on whiny.

Eddie sniffed sharply as he paused long enough to reach up and shoo Carley's little hands away from his beret. "We're already there Shortcake!"

Lydia grinned at the duo behind her before turning towards a building that wasn't quite as dilapidated as it once was. Most of the work had been on the inside so far. Wouldn't take much for the outside though.. just some cleaning, and a sign. "It's right here Carley." One arm lifted to gesture towards the building as she moved that way.

"Oooooh." Blue eyes narrowed in a squint as she looked the building over. "It's kinda...plain."

"We just haven't gotten to work on it yet, but we will."

"You shouldn't have a problem with it. Just a little razzle dazzle and it'll be good to go!" Eddie offered an encouraging grin.

"Does the inside look better than the outside Fire?" Carley shifted and shimmied on down Eddie's back, landing on little feet with a dull thud. Without waiting for a response, she sprinted ahead of Eddie and Lydia and towards the door. Handle grabbed, she gave a tug and darted inside.

Carley darted in, skidding to a halt shortly thereafter. Those blue eyes of hers widened quite a bit as she looked around the place. Ooooh, and it was warm and toasty too! She giggled a bit and set her pail of paint on a nearby table, taking a few steps in to look around as Lydia and Eddie entered, the latter pushing his stand right on inside.

Lydia grinned to her sister when she saw her, and set her two pails next to Carley's. She crossed the newly finished, and now safe floor to head that way. "Yeah, of course! I would have brought Mason and Mille too but they started to argue and...yeah." Sigh. "They're not coming." Long story, she's not getting into it now. Those almost eerie pale blues turned towards the little one with blonde locks. No, not Carley, the even littler one! "Oh? Hey there!" A bright smile and timid wave were offered to the girl. Brows lifted in question to the embarrassing moment. Now, she's not so sure she wants to know what's in those boxes...

Carley grinned her trademark cheeky grin to Erin and wavewaved almost frantically. "Hey! You're Fire's sister!" Gringrin. "I'm Carley." She was interested in what was in those boxes though, to warrant embarrassment, so short blonde hair bobbed a bit as she looked around, wandering here and there in search of this 'downstairs'.

Eddie offered Erin and Tina a smile before he moved pails from his stand to the table where the ladies had already set theirs. Mustache wriggled slightly as he glanced around. They brought the paints, but no supplies. Hopefully there'd be some here or.. well.. they'd have an interesting time getting that paint from pail to wall.

"Storm is that you?" Erin laughed as she went over to meet the woman. A bright smile forming. "Nice outfit." Really, all three of them were dressed pretty out of character, and it was nice to see.

As Erin went to give Storm a hug, and that was her intention, Christina took it upon herself to follow Carley. They both had blond hair and that excited the little on to no end. "Hi, I'm Tina! It's great to meet you, did you say your name was Carley? That's a cool name... whatcha looking for, hm?" Usually shy as could be, the atmosphere had gotten to the girl. Everyone seemed so excited! "Are you looking for paint brushes? Erin and I brought some... one of the big rolly kinds, too! She let me pick it out at the store and it's thiiiiiiis big." Her little arms were held out in an exaggerated way to show how big the brush was. More giggles, practically attached to Carley's leg now.

Erin, on the other hand was greeting Strom, still. "You ready to get your hands dirty?" A big smile and she tried to practically dragged her further into the room. "This, my friend, is A Stitch in Time."

Her grey eyes were warm as she was spotted by Erin. She returned the hug, any anxieties from days previous melted with the friendly embraced as she grinned. "Hey Erin... I've come to help with the heavy lifting. Figured you guys could use some extra help." And with that, she was being led... or, dragged inside by the excited Erin.

She looked around, this was a great spot for their store, and she was so very proud of her friends. It needed work yes... but that was why they were all here. "A Stitch in Time? That's a perfect name!" She nearly started to rub her hands together, eager to indeed get her hands dirty. Nothing like work to ease the mind.

And then the Air spotted the green-haired elf, and went to hug Lydia. It was the time for such things. "Lydia! This place is perfect! No one can walk through without spotting it." Which was perfect for business and whatnot.

Her grey eyes also spotted more of the other people helping, young girls and older men all the same. She would make sure to meet the most, all within given time.

After the hug with Lydia, she now placed her hands together, looking between the two. "Well, ladies.. let's get started! What are we doing first?"

Lydia returned Storm's hug, nodding a bit as she pulled away. "Kitty's the one who named it for us. I don't think me or Erin would have come up with something as good as that..." Pale eyes shifted over towards her sister, Eddie, and the paint, brows lifting faintly. "I guess we're painting first..." Trailing off as something looked.. amiss? She moved that way, between Eddie and Erin to peek at the paint. "Hey, what's wr-" Blink. "...oops."

"Miss Loran must not have been paying attention when she was picking out paint." Eddie grinned wryly as he waggled a finger in the green haired elf's direction. Notice how quick he is to shift blame away from himself? "Paint mixes easily enough though, so you can combine them all together and hope the blue you get is a good one, or you can just paint with whatcha have, and maybe get a nice blue gradient effect." He canted his head a bit, studying the paint, then the surroundings, then the walls, before finally he looked back to Storm, expression almost sheepish. "Oh, sorry lass." Beret tipped her way. "I'm Eddie."

Meanwhile~

Carley should be over there helping the adults out but she's not! She giggled and snickered to what Tina told her, and even blushed a little. "Oh wow... that's the kind of stuff in those boxes?" She snickered wickedly before turning back to Tina, head tilting a little bit as she brushed some blonde locks behind a pointed ear. "I'll be right back Tina!" She's not deterred, no no, she's wanting to see it for herself even more now! Bad little elf. Bad! "Eddie'll give you a piggy back ride or a drink or both if you ask!" Her final words before disappearing into that back room.

"..wait, Eddie will what?"

"I like the sponge idea..." Erin said thoughtfully. "Then we only have to do one coat." A little smirk. She was a lazy one, that Erin. A shake of her head, and she started digging through her bag, pulling out a sponge or two. "I thought we would use these for -cleaning-, but... this should be much more fun!" A snicker as she looked between the women and Eddie. "Whatcha think?"

Carley, however, had gotten Tina on a new coarse and she was already running at Eddie full tilt(probably lowering his ability to weigh in on the paint...) "A piggy back ride! Oh! Please! Can I have a piggy back ride, please! " The little girl was bouncing, her hair going with her as she jumped, blue eyes wide as could be. Little arms were held out and wide hoping to get picked up. In fact, if something didn't happen soon, she may just attach herself to the poor man. "Plllllllleeeeeeeaaaaassssseeeee?" All that whining and yelling were sure going to make it hard to have an adult conversation! Shame on Carley!

Glad to have pitched in the idea, she also picks up one of the rollers, studying it with interest. All she had ever worked with were brushes, but these seemed efficient. But still.. she exchanged her roller for a smaller brush. "I will work along the edges then." That would seem to suit her talents best. She then dipped her brush into the lighter blue, before her eyes glow a dim grey and a platform develops under her, bringing her up the the corner of the wall and ceiling above Lydia, starting to brush a horizontal line in between. "Are we doing the ceiling as well?" she asks as she continued to go across the top, taking the occasional time to go back down to refill her paint brush, and back up she goes!

She kept a keen eye of Lydia, the last thing she wanted was to drop some of the paint into her friends hair. And of Erin, but it was most likely that she was starting on another wall. But there was that one trip that she wasn't exactly paying attention, and on the way up.. some flicked paint went towards Eddie! Storm could only watch with dismay as to were it would it, and after it would..."My apologies... I guess I wasn't being too careful." Offered a sheepish smile.

Lydia was...short. So she set her paint down on the ground, and sat down on the floor in front of the wall. She'd take the lower edges of the wall. Roller was dipped in paint, pressed to the wall and.. rooooooll. Nose crinkled a little bit then. Paint did not smell good...

Blinkblink, glance aside and.. up? Lydia chuckled a bit at Storm, who's powers were quite nifty. Lydia could levitate others, and objects, but not herself so much... and never with the same precision Storm did. She pondered the question a bit before glancing up to the ceiling. "I don't know... we do have a lot of paint though so if we wanted to..." Trailing off, canting her head as she tried to picture it. "I think it would brighten the place up a bit, and I think it needs that." A nod, before she turned towards her sister, who was acting really.. really odd. What was she giggling at!? She looked around a bit, trying to find the source of the giggles, but all she saw was, wow, poor Eddie... oh well, he should be used to that with Carley! "What do you think Erin, should we paint the ceiling too?"

But yes, poor Eddie indeed! With a grunt, he slowly rose to his feet, arms going back to support Tina's legs so she wouldn't fall. "Shortcake... yer squeezing just a little..." Chokecough. Smilesmile mustered up for Erin. "Oh, she's okay, just a little-" Then the screech, oh god the screech. Eddie flinched considering how close that screech happened to his eardrums. He turned then. "Shortcake, what's-" Splat. Eddie and his beret? Now polka dotted with blue... "-wrong..." He canted his head upwards in time to catch Storm's apology and look. An easy, if not somewhat wry smile offered in return. "It's okay doll." Retaliation just wasn't in Eddie's nature, and he was so used to putting up with abuse from certain little...

"Hey guys!"

Blonde hair was a blur as the short elf came galumphing out of the back room. "There's some neat stuff in the basement here!!" In one hand was a crop whip, promptly snapped through the air as she cackled and giggled. "I can't wait to use this on David!" Tucked under her arm were a variety of... 'special interest' magazines, and in her other hand were... some sort of.. furry panties? "Fire! Heads up!" Those panties were then launched towards Lydia, fast too.

Though hearing 'heads up' helped her see them coming, so she ducked. There was no telling where those things had been! Well, actually there were... but there's no point thinking about that! Lydia sighed as she managed to avoid getting hit with panties, but cheeks puffed out when she saw where they hand landed.

On the wall in front of her, where she just painted, so there was now a pair of fuzzy panties perfectly affixed to the wall...

Erin turned to the wall. Gawked. Turned back to Carley. Gawked. Back and forth, back and forth. A few moments of that and the giggles start. Then more of them... then a bit more. She's doubled over, hand on the wall to steady herself. Hand right on the newly painted section of the wall. Body convulses a little, then again.

A slow descent to her knees, folding in half almost completely. Her hand leaving a blue streak down the side of the wall. Sputter, sputter. She shook her head slowly, unable to speak just yet.

Eyes were glued on those panties. And how they just....stuck there.... oh god. It was too much! Just too much! Another sputter and giggle and she just stared at Carley. "What....did you....oh man...." And the giggles took her once more. Storm wasn't helping!

Storm's own fits of giggles and laughter had her completely doubled over.. except near the ceiling. At least her platform wasn't failing. She would always remember fuzzy panties on the wall.. and tried to imagine it everywhere. The laughter started to bring tears to her eyes, and her sides were just aching. Erin wasn't helping either! Oh Storm... the poor fumes went straight to that head of hers.

Grey eyes then watched Lydia touch the underwear... her response only got another series of giggles out of her. "Oh Erin.. your.. hands.. " She looked on the once-white wall with glee. This of course, was taking attention away from the tennis racket, that aimed the furry, blue-painted panties in her direction. Oh nooo...

Storm was at least able to hear the whistling through the air, and she turned her face to the noise.. . SPLAT! The panties landed right on her face, paint side to her. "Ack!" Surprise, and laughter got the best of her.. as well as the fumes. They were doing a number on her platform until it broke.. and Storm started to fall towards the ground. And who was right below her? Oh poor poor Lydia... hopefully she moves before becoming a mass of limbs with the oncoming Air

Eddie winced at yet another dig into his sides. "Shortcake! How about I make you a drink? You'll love it!" Those magazines, the catastrophe going on behind him.. he had to shield poor little Tina from it all! Just that one blonde elf in particular... Eddie grabbed a cup and started mixing up a drink, all that pouring, all those colors! "Ya like the color pink Shortcake?" The drink in his hands? Pink. The color of bubblegum! The taste of.. bubblegum! He then held it up for Tina to take, silently praying that'd distract her...

...from the chaos. Right, the chaos... Carley was too busy grasping at her sides as she giggled and guffawed when Storm got splattered. "Oh, gosh.. I'm sorry.." She wasn't. At all. "I.. ah.. haha!" She dropped to her knees and fell down as the laughter consumed her, rolling in..those open.. very visible magazines. Oh my.

The green haired elf? Confused. So very confused. That awful paint smell, the weird loopy feeling she was starting to get, the laughter, and.. bliiiiink, a glance up, just in time to see Storm falling. She squeaked in response, and was about to speak, a nice little levitation spell to keep her from getting squished, but alas, she had noticed too late.

Thud!

Groooooan.

"..ow.."

Tine grabbed the drink with both hands sipping long and hard. "This tastes like....YUM!" and she was silent other than slurping for, well, what seemed like a long time for the little girl. It was a reprieve for Eddie to be sure as her grip released enough that she was ready to slide down his back and lean against the display case slurping. So content that little girl...

Erin, on the other hand, not in control at all. Once Storm landed on Lydia she skittered over there on her knees. Peek, peek, just making sure they were both alive! Really! "Guys...." Head went one way then the other looking at the pile of limbs. Before....Storm started giggling! Okay, she was fine. Then Erin turned to Lydia. Once she was deemed okay, then Erin could laugh... cause, really, those fuzzy paint covered panties! That silly elf rolling in a pile of magazines!

Yeah, okay, Erin couldn't wait. The giggles started right in the middle of her checking on Lydia. Sputter, sputter, sputter, giggle! Just like an old car on a winter morning.

It was so unlike Storm.. so impolite! She was concerned for Lydia... really.. but... it was all so random, so fast.. and those fumes... they were killer to the Air. Apparently, any paint she worked with lacked these type of fumes. They would hit her harder than anyone else... she is the Air, after all.

Light and foolish eyes look to Erin as she decided to join them, and a hand covers her mouth as she giggles. "Thanks for trying to catch me... from over there." Snickers and more giggles. Oh, she had to get ahold of herself! No work was being done now. She attempted to stand, finding the places she landed on aching.. perhaps a bit of bruising would show come tomorrow. Which is the luncheon... bad timing. She bends down to pick up her brush.. and her eyes shift to Lydia.. and her new hair color. Blinkblink.

"Ah..." Oh uh, she could feel the urge to giggle again.. "You have some... ah.. paint in your hair..." Motions to the back of her own head... but then.. the panties were flying again. Luckily not in her direction. Erin could now join the fun... Storm couldn't muster any words of warning.. all she could do was watch.

Finally. The green haired elf succumbed to a bit of laughter as painted panties met Erin's face. She watched them go sailing away and into the corner, laughter fading into giggles then. Though brows lift curiously at Storm, then Erin. Paint in her hair, what? Instinctively, she reached up and pat the top of her head. Squishsquish. Nose crinkled a bit as she pulled her hand away and examined it. Blue. She'd reach out and wipe it on Storm or Erin but.. they were being serious now? Awww... well, she'd just reach over and drag her hand over an empty spot on the wall. All better!

Eddie and Carley had just picked up all those magazines and put them in a neat little pile. Carley thought one was missing though so she looked around and.. stared at Tina. Looking through the magazine. Oh. God. The Munch's scream that Erin had done before? Mouth agape, eyes wide, cheeks in palms? She did that. Eddie took notice and quirked a brow curiously, dark eyes following her gaze over towards...

...then he too, imitated art.

Erin was painting with a little brush right in the middle of the room. It was quite sloppy, to be honest. Swoosh, swoosh those slow sloppy lines started to appear. She had braced one hand on the wall to keep herself steady(she was still a little dizzy) when she did the silliest thing! She painted right over it. And kept going.

How Erin hadn't noticed she was painting her hand, well, that's one for the history books, but she didn't. And just kept painting her section of the wall, braced against it like that. Once she was done with the area she removed her hand and moved a little right to paint another area. Leaving a bright white handprint there on the wall.

Nevermind that she was too short to reach anymore than about five feet up, so there was an ever growing stripe at the top half of the area she was so diligently painting. What was even better? Erin had no idea of this. She was too busy, and proud, to notice. Silly girl.

Tina, on the other hand, knew exactly how the others were reacting to her find. She could see their faces of horror and that was even more entertaining than the strange pictures! She kept a bright smile as she flipped pages, stopping to look at each one. The comments stopped though, if she tried to talk it would only be giggles! Flip, smirk, look up, repeat. Oh, little girls and the buttons they know how to push!