The door's wind chimed as the new customer entered. The entire store seemed to wake up. Inside, a wooden train released from the door mechanism passing through the highest shelves of the room that housed wooden animal figures, dolls and marionettes. All colourfully painted in bold colours. The carousel toys spin for a moment after the train. The train ended where it started, rested right above the stored door nuzzled in some strange machinery.



Aside from the fantastical welcome, a quick glance showed a mirage of toys everywhere. On counters, shelves, tables. Many positioned in a way like the caricatures were stopped mid-played. Some parts of the store seemed very cluttered while some toys were spaced apart. From an outsider’s point of view, the layout was nonsensical.



The strangeness of the store got even stranger when, at what seemed to be the staff-only door, an honest to god real life chicken went out of the doggy entrance and proceeded to jump on top of the counter and peered at October dead in the eyes.

October hadn't expected his entrance to be filled with such whimsy, but the movement of the train caught his eye and he watched it's path as other toys moved at it's passing. It was clever and he couldn't help but smile. He was sure that any child who walked into this shop would be filled with fantastical delight. In his opinion, it was a toy shop done right.

His gaze absently trailed around the shelves as he took a few steps forward but then stopped in his tracks as the chicken made it's appearance. He stared at the chicken and the chicken, seemingly, stared right back. "Uh...." he said, voice full of uncertainty.

The stare down between October and this inexpressive chicken wasn’t very long, but it sure felt like it did. The moment thankfully ended when a man came out of the staff door, wearing a more non-typical outfit that can only really be described as eccentric, and yellow.

"Salutations, good sir!” He greeted him with fervour. “Welcome to the ToyMaker’s Playhouse, where the gift of magic is the power of your imagination.”

The strange man offered a handshake. “My name is Finnigan Gale, but you may have the pleasure to call me Tin. Don’t mind the M’lady over there,” he gestures to the chicken, “Roast is just a resident here.”

He raised his hand over his face like he’s trying to keep a secret from the chicken. In a hushed voice, he spoke, “Though between you and me, she’s more like the owner of the place. I’m just the local toy maker in this establishment.”

Tin then fixed his posture back into his expressive self, gesturing towards the customer like he was the star of the show.

“Say, I don’t get many distinguished gents over this side of Lorendale! What brings you to my corner of fantasy, Mr…?”

A chicken inside of a toy shop had definitely been the last thing he'd expected but the man who soon entered the room seemed a much better fit, his eccentricity was a perfect compliment to the fantastical room around them. October was fairly sure that he'd only ever seen that color in a field of Ver tulips, on the aspen trees in Autumna, and in the dresses of noblewomen. Yet somehow the young man seemed quite in place in such an attire, at least here in his shop.

October shook the man's hand with polite smile that soon grew into something more and more delighted with each new sentence the young man spoke after that. He was most entertained by the fact that the chicken's name was 'Roast' which seemed both morbid and hilarious. As a man who fully believed in finding true joy around you and not taking life too seriously, October was feeling more and more like this was the perfect place to be and Tin seemed like someone he very much wanted to know.

"October Montgomery, at your service. It's a delight to meet you, Tin." The twinkle in October's eyes showed that he was nothing short of sincere. "My nephew's birthday is coming up and I happened upon your shop. I'm glad I did. This place seems quite extraordinary. I only wish I had brought him with me instead."

Tin smiled in light of Mr Montgomery’s comment. “Ah~ don’t stress about bringing your nephew over here to this place of wonders. After all, the true magic here are the toys themselves. I guarantee you, you have come to the right place.”

As if to emphasise his point, he flicked a string leg of a wooden toy on his comically small top hat. Upon closer inspection the toy even had its own top hat of its own!

“Now, your nephew, I assume he’s a wee little boy?” Tin asked, using his hand to measure an assumed height while looking at October’s body language to guess his nephew’s age.