fandomtownies | Chilly Boulder | Wednesday Afternoon

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Chilly Boulder | Wednesday Afternoon

Okay, so. When Woo had offered this Fandom place as an alternative to house arrest, Scott had initially been skeptical -- for one thing, it was a hell of a commute from Maryland back to California to see Cassie on the regular, but apparently that wouldn't be a problem?

And you know what? Scott had enough experience with guys who refused to explain themselves by now that he'd just accepted that.

But if he was going to make this work, he was going to need to find a job -- while he had savings from working for Pym, steady income was an important factor for his custody agreement, serving his term, and his overall boredom.

And while there was a castle here -- very European, guys, he kind of loved it -- Scott also knew better than to aim too high right away, thank you. Fool him once, shame on you. Fool him twice, and that master's degree really wasn't worth anything. Better to go with what he knew for now.

"What do you mean you're not hiring?" he demanded, dropping his duffle bag at his feet as he frowned over the ice cream cooler at the woman on the other side. "Everyone loves ice cream! You guys are probably slammed constantly!"

But alas, no, they were not hiring, and Scott was left eating an oversized cup of mint chocolate chip (he'd felt bad not buying anything, even if ice cream wasn't really in his budget), and desolately looking out the window while he considered his other options.

[so, so open.]

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"Serving my time for the thing in Germany," Scott answered, gratefully accepting that hug. Even if this was really weird, seeing someone he knew -- and had served other time with, even! -- was an entirely unexpected relief. "I like your hair! And your accent is like, gone, nice work."

Good for her! Way to reinvent yourself in clearly just a few months, Wanda!

"Had to change things up when I was on the run after the Raft," Wanda said. "Then I decided I liked it."

"Wait, so they're letting you serve time here? It's not that bad of an island."

"Yeah, I was expecting it to be a lot worse," Scott admitted, glancing around the shop. "But it was this our house arrest, and I've already done a couple months of that so I'm pretty good on doing it for a full two years."

And while he was a great drummer now, thank you, and had pretty much mastered close-up magic -- being able to walk around freely was an improvement.

"Totally understandable." When Wanda went into self-imposed house arrest it wouldn't go as well. But she would learn sweet new eye makeup skills.

"Well, welcome," she said, looking down and noticing the duffle. "You're super new to town."

And first place he went was the ice cream joint. Wanda was not surprised.

And Wanda didn't even know about his ice cream experience. His storied ice cream career, if you will.

"Oh yeah, I'm so new I'm like a homeless tourist, basically," Scott admitted ruefully. "I was kinda hoping to get a job here but they're not hiring. Supposedly."

He was onto you, Chilly Boulder. Probably just discriminating against ex-cons, like all ice cream places probably did.

"You...wanted to work at an ice cream shop?" Like, Wanda had no issues with ice cream shops but she was under the impression Scott was, like, a genius.

"Well, the last time I tried to find a job," Scott explained, dropping his voice a little because this was kind of embarrassing, "the only place that hired me was Baskin-Robbins. And then they fired me when they found out I lied about my record. And that was before -- you know. Germany."

He shrugged. "Seemed like the best place to start?" Though wow you'd think Jimmy would have hooked a guy up with a work placement or a halfway house or something.

"Oh. That's terrible." Wanda might have been to jail, but she hadn't had to get a job with a criminal record yet. Helped she was able to manifest whatever she needed at this point.

"Well I run the magic shop here." Sort of. She was apparently the manager but she didn't do a lot of managerial stuff. "If you need a job, I've got spots open. No experience necessary. Just don't mess with the skeleton out front."

"Seriously?" Scott's face burst into a bright grin. "Wow, Wanda, that's -- really nice of you."

He'd already thought she was awesome! Now she was even cooler!

"And hey, as it happens," Scott added, reaching into his back pocket briefly before holding up an empty hand, flicking his fingers, and producing a card, "I have some magic experience, too."

Totally the same as Wanda's magic.

Scott, did you keep cards on you at all times just to do that?

It didn't matter, it made Wanda laugh. "Now that is impressive. I can't do anything like that."

She could turn this town into a Bridgerton knockoff in about five seconds, but she couldn't do sleight of hand like that.

Edited 2022-05-18 16:18 (UTC)

Excuse you, she could turn this ton into a Bridgerton knockoff.

"Try being under house arrest and getting really bored," Scott suggested cheerily, flicking the card to hide it again and replacing it in his back pocket. (And yes, of course he did! What was the point of learning card tricks if you didn't keep cards around to impress people with them?) "Probably a good thing they're letting me outside before I teach myself the drum tracks to all of Rush's songs, too."

He could totally nail all of them. Basically Neil Peart on an electric drum kit over here.

"You might have time for that," Wanda said. "This town is...interesting, but you do have a lot of free time on your hands."

"That sounds ominous," Scott replied, raising his eyebrows. "But...good, I guess? Part of this is that I get to visit my daughter, so I'll need the downtime for cross-country flights."

Just another thing he didn't really understand about all of this, but getting to go outside, losing his ankle monitor, and having access to Cassie had seemed like too good a deal to pass up.

"That is not going to be a huge problem," Wanda assured him, only feeling a slight pang of jealousy at the mention of visiting kids. "Travel here is very convenient. You'll be able to see her whenever you want, pretty much."

"Well, that's awesome," Scott replied happily, totally not getting just how convenient it was, yet. Give it time. "So like, what's the downside of living here? All I'm hearing are upsides. And what's with the castle?"

He was sort of less suspicious that he was secretly in Europe, but the castle thing was sort of a big point of confusion still. As were the weird stairs.

"The castle is a school, apparently." She didn't run into too many teenagers, but she heard about them on radio. "Downsides include...some...well, how do you feel about being spied on?"

"...depends on who's doing the spying," Scott decided.

He'd spent three years in prison. He was used to being watched.

"Squirrels." Great, Wanda, way to come off like a psychopath.

Honestly, compared to your average new-to-Fandomite, Scott was probably better off in terms of preparation to hear this fact.

Thanks, Hank.

"Wait, like, someone put cameras on the squirrels?" he asked, interested. "How are they controlling them?"

Mammals would be much harder to control than insects, but he supposed it was possible. Probably not an EMP, but maybe something else.

"Uh, they have little notebooks," Wanda said. "And some wear fedoras. No cameras involved."

At least that she knew of. Oh god that'd be weird.

"They can write?" That was weirder than the fedoras or the spying, somehow. "That's super weird, you're right. And I talk to ants."

You know, just to put how weird that was in appropriate context.

"You get used to it," Wanda said. "You get used to all of it. Soon you won't even think about there being rodents watching your every move when you get up at 3 am for some frozen waffles."

Not that Wanda ever worried about that...

"Why do they care?" Scott was more preoccupied with that factor. "Who's observing us?"

Had he gotten out of house arrest just to find out he was now a test subject? (Again?)

"They're for the radio broadcasts in town," Wanda explained. "So don't be freaked out if people recognize your name after tomorrow."

Honestly, Wanda was relieved when people knew her name from being the lady with the giant skeleton.

"Huh. Okay." Rolling with this was easier than asking more questions, he figured, since it sounded like he'd get a demonstration pretty quick. "Maybe everyone'll just think it's another Scott."

There were no other Scotts on this island, at this time.

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scarlet_chaos - 2022-05-18 18:44 (UTC) - Expand

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