Challenge #04856-M107: Second Chance for Stuff

Tip Shops. Everything from from over-ordered new clothing, 2nd hand furniture, building material and odds and ends. "One person's rubbish is another's treasure." -- Prompty.

Places like this had a Smell. Somewhere between dust, old makeup, and the Stygian depths of an Escherian book emporium. Regardless of whether the items for sale were new or recovered in one way or another, they all had the scent of too much time.

Maebe thought of it as the smell of second-hand dust. It made sense, since everything in the shop had come from places where they weren't wanted. Factory seconds, overstock, offcuts, scraps, and the mandatory second-hand items that only encouraged the Smell. They were all things that had the potential to be useful. Which was why they were in the Second Chance Store.

For Maebe, it was the smell of hir home. The little flat above the shop was where ze grew up, and working the store was as almost a reflex. Sometimes, ze would take up things that had lain around too long and turn them into something new. Pour encourager les autres.

There were regulars, coming in for cheap craft supplies, the desperate poor, looking for something good enough that they could plausibly afford. Some came with the efforts of their own scavenging, attempting trade. A rare few came to wander in, critique everything, and wander out again. Maebe thought of them as 'pests'.

Worst of hir business were the regular pests. It was like the Second Chance Shop existed solely for their entertainment. They came in, complained about the Smell, sneered at Maebe's creations, and loudly declared that the shop had nothing they wanted while leaving.

Maebe wondered why they ever came in. Until one of them brought a friend.

Ze thought the duo were there for a mutual sneering session, but the tourist's partner was remarkably quiet. Then they reached a part of the shelving labyrinth that sparked a gasp of gleesome greed.

An excited yawp of an unfamiliar voice, "By the bag?"

The tourist said, "Yeah. When you said you were at your wits end for where to find that, I remembered this place."

Some shuffling of multiple bags, and another yawp, "You didn't tell me they had other stuff! I need a trolley!"

The end result was a baffling collection of bags and chests of assorted, previously unrelated items, and one very grinning customer who promised to tell all of their friends.

Maebe decided to be nicer to the tourists. Ze never knew which ones could come with esoteric craftspeople who had a passion project in mind.

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