Pick Your Poison, Saturday Afternoon

[witchoftheflesh]

They might be here to visit, but no force in the world could stop a Blackwood witch from being industrious. So after a stop at the park for a bit, the Blackwoods had headed over to town, carrying the boxes of cosmetics and consumables that the Old Wives had brought with them to start trying to fill the empty shelves that Pam's weeding out had left behind.

There were cleansers, there were bath bombs, bubble baths, body sprays. There were lotions, there were soaps, showers gels, scrubs, and shampoos (with conditioners of course). Massage oils, hair care products, solid perfumes, lotions, even candles. It was like someone had gone through the Lush website and used it as a checklist for production.

"Okay, even I'm impressed," Adrian admitted, looking around at everything they were unpacking and shelving. "How did you all get this done in such little time?"

"Foresight," Muriel deadpanned.

"Wait, really?"

Lydia thumped Adrian in the ear. "Mundane foresight," she told him. "Some of this we've pulled off of shipments to go to the Anchor Markets, so they'd better sell."

"And we reached out to the other covens for help," Agatha said, dreamily. She was in a particularly good mood today. "Your cousin Nora, from the Gulf coven, has been sending us her shower jellies."

"Shower jellies?" Adrian asked. Muriel was already tossing him a box that contained a pair of them. He pulled one out and and laughed as it wobbled in his palm. "Amazing," he said. "Nora is clearly a genius."

Had he met Nora? He couldn't remember, but if you gave him a minute or so, he could probably recite where in the family tree she was.

"We've also started making products without magic, just for your store," Lydia added, holding up a box that was lightly shaded gray instead of their normal white. There were far more gray boxes than white, actually. "Most of the magical cosmetics you sell here are bought as novelties, as opposed to magic being a requirement to sell to the Holy City. Making purely mundane versions means less we'll be diverting from the Holy City to you, but also let us make your items faster and can be sold for cheaper."

"Without having to skimp on the quality in other areas," Muriel added. "Not that we ever would mind."

"But you'll still get some, along with whatever stuff you personally make," Muriel reassured him, amused by whatever expression she saw on his face.

Briefly, Adrian worried what Pam would say if he told her he was now selling some stuff that wasn't magical. And then he figured that so long as he swore that the stuff he was still selling remained free of plastics, parabens, and unethically-sourced mica, he was probably all set.

[Open]

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[joan_of_bark]

Pam had stopped by the park, and then, not long afterward, vanished back up into the little apartment above the store. The laboratory was mostly back up and running, and she had work to do, after all.

It took a little noise to distract her from it. The Green outside in the little garden, whispering the faintest words about newcomers. She assumed the party downstairs included Adrian. Unless the previous owner had been handing out the keys.

She looked down at the slide under her microscope, sighed, and rose. The stairs creaked lightly under her feet. She made no effort to raise her voice to announce her arrival.

[oldwifeofthebones]

That didn't matter, the building carried word of her coming long before Pam showed up. As always, Lydia, with the sharpest senses (especially for danger) and the most experience, was the first to note the sounds, tracking the progress through the house, almost like a hunting hound.

By the time Pam came through the door that led from the storefront to her personal areas, three pairs of blue eyes were locked on her. Adrian was the only holdout, making a new display of candles.

Lydia sighed. "Adrian."

"What?" he asked. "It's Pam. I recognize her step."

[joan_of_bark]

"And it's my store," Pam added, as she entered the shop, apparently unmoved by all the eyes on her. Her overalls were half-open, the arms tied around her waist. A few hints of fungi peeked out from her skin: a fruit here, a filament there. She'd shaved most of the growth off last night. "Technically, I should be the one side-eyeing all of you."

Instead, she was looking at-- "Adrian," she said, "Who are these people?"

[mustbeawitch]

This weekend was not really going how Lydia had hoped, although she supposed it was going how she should have expected. Georgiana had been shown how to use Lydia's phone and had been draining the battery watching 'How Does It Work?' videos on Youtube all day, with Lydia and Kitty taking turns steering her around obstacles. Wickham had mostly been dragged along because Lydia had to present him to Adrian to prove that she hadn't enslaved him against his will, and meanwhile Arden wasn't answering her phone and Lydia's other friends were busy with the exhibition at Stark Industries. But really, she swore, Kitty, she did have other friends!

Kitty mostly cared about seeing Boston again, anyway, and when they entered the shop she looked around hopefully as Georgiana glanced up for a bare moment before she went back to learning about indoor plumbing.

[mustbevisiting]

Of the three guests, it must be said that Wickham was probably the most interested on the wares on display.

And in Adrian's mom. Listen, he couldn't help it. He was a red-blooded demon with eyes, all right?

[mustbevisiting]

Boston was here, wasn't he? They wouldn't keep Kitty from the most marvelous cat (other than herself, of course) that she'd ever met, would they?

Oh, and she might buy a few things while she was here, if they smelled nice enough.

[mustbevisiting]

Georgiana was quite absorbed in the tiny screen in her hands, though she might occasionally glance up if Lydia or Kitty showed her something particularly important or if, say, someone who had noticed the absurdly complex and delicate magical working enshrouding her came over to talk about it.

[witchoftheflesh]

"My family," he said proudly, straightening up to introduce them. "And they're not side-eyeing you, exactly. My Aunt Lydia," he said, gesturing to the old, wizened woman, "assessing to see if you are a threat--"

"And you are," Lydia said, though it didn't sound like an accusation, simply a statement of fact.

"--Assessing to see how much of an active threat you are," Adrian amended and Lydia nodded, pleased with the clarification.

"My Aunt Muriel, assessing what roads you're walking on and if she wants to add a signpost," he said, this time addressing the teenaged girl who had already stopped looking at Pam and had gone back to stocking the shelf.

"If I did, it wouldn't be here in front of other people," she replied, though she did glance back up to Pam and give her a teenager chin nod of greeting.

"And my mother," Adrian said, beaming now as he got to introduce his mom to his boss, "Agatha. Probably assessing how you're doing and gauging potential interest."

Agatha was the middle sister, where motherhood and seduction twined around each other, each influencing the other. "Hello, Pam," she said with a slow, suggestive smile - though it seemed like almost everything she did ended up coming across as somehow slow and suggestive. "Adrian's told us a lot about you."

"In regards to our need for new stock," he interjected quickly, so Pam wouldn't think that he'd shared information that had clearly meant to be kept to himself.

[witchoftheflesh]

Of course Boston was along! They couldn't possibly have undertaken a project as important as shelving new stock without someone to oversee the process!

...Though, admittedly, he had also spent a lot of time prowling around the premises, exploring, and also sitting outside in front of the store, people-watching. Or, at least, watching for a particular person.

The four of them entered the store and Boston immediately left the conversation he'd been having with Adrian and walked over to Kitty. "You're here!" he said, twining around her ankles.

[oldwifeofthebones]

Lydia noticed the young woman first, but a single look at the girl was enough to have her calling for her sister.

"Agatha, you're going to want to see this."

Was Lydia being rude? Enh, probably. So?

[oldwifeoftheflesh]

"Oh I am, am I?" Agatha asked, sounding amused.

She drifted over to see what had caught her sister's attention, and her delicately arched eyebrows flew up towards her very smooth and straight hairline. "Oh, you're quite correct," she said to her sister, though her attention was fully on Georgiana. "Let me take you all in, you gorgeous thing."

Okay, that was to the curse.

[witchoftheflesh]

"Ah, Miss Bennet," Adrian said, a little stiffly since their last conversation sure had...gone. "And guests. Welcome to Pick Your Poison. As you can see, we have a bit more on our shelves than perhaps had been anticipated."

[mustbevisiting]

Georgiana had looked up with a vague little, "Hmm?" at Lydia's comment, and at Agatha's she asked stiffly, "I do beg your pardon?"

[mustbevisiting]

"And you're here!" Kitty cried, and once more immediately sat down in the floor to get more on Boston's level. "I hoped you would be!"

[oldwifeofthesoul]

Muriel leaned on a shelf, eating an apple, and regarded him for a second. "Too easy," she decided.

[witchoftheflesh]

"And miss the chance to see you again by staying in the house?" Boston scoffed. "Never."

As soon as she sat down, he was stepping in her lap, his head gently butting the bottom of her chin.

Sure and the rest of you were all here, he guessed.

[mustbeawitch]

"Mr. Blackwood," Lydia said in return, just as stiffly. "May I present my sisters, Mrs. Catherine Denny and Miss Georgiana Darcy? Although I believe you and Kitty may already be acquainted." Or possibly Kitty was just acquainted with his cat. Lydia was afraid to find out. "And this is Mr. George Wickham." Each party curtseyed or nodded their head in turn as they were introduced.

Lydia was relieved to see that the stock had recovered, although really, Adrian, had it been necessary to give her such a fright?

[oldwifeoftheflesh]

"Oh you don't have to beg, sweetheart," Agatha assure her because, you know, this was who she was. "I'm looking at your curse. It's exquisite! Even moreso when you consider that it looks like it was once two different effects entirely. A shame, almost to ruin such a working."

[mustbevisiting]

"It's true," Wickham said with a smirk. "I am." He saw no reason to pretend otherwise amongst such magical folk.

[mustbevisiting]

They were all boring human-shaped people. They would be fine.

Kitty bumped her own forehead gently against Boston's and made to scritch that place behind the ear that had always driven her mad when she was in her cat shape. "How have you been, my darling?" Since she had last seen him a few hours ago at most.

[mustbevisiting]

"Oh," Georgiana said. "Yes. That is, it is two different spells. They got stuck together and this is the best that could be done with them if I wanted to keep my mind intact, which I did." She had experienced what the alternative would feel like while they were trying to figure out how to fix the spell, and she had not liked it at all.

[witchoftheflesh]

Adrian offered each of them a slight nod in return. "Charmed, Miss Darcy." "Lovely to see you again, Mrs. Denny." Wickham got a quick up and down, especially at his throat, and an increasing look of consternation to go along with his, "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wickham."

And since they were being formal, he asked, "May I introduce you all to my family?" There likely was no confusion there, between the obvious resemblance (goodness did he have his mother's hair, except for how unruly and curly it was!) and also the hats.

"My aunt, Ms. Lydia Blackwood, Old Wife of the Bones and the Witch of the Past, my mother, Ms. Agatha Blackwood, Old Wife of the Flesh and the Witch of the Present, and my other aunt, Ms. Muriel Blackwood, Old Wife of the Soul and the Witch of the Future."

Most people didn't get the whole thing, but these were witchfolk, even if only by association in Miss Darcy's case.

Stiffness or not, he couldn't help but smile at getting to introduce people to his family. "And my familiar Boston--" had already beelined for Kitty.

[oldwifeofthesoul]

"Mmmmhmm," Lydia said. "Easier to give into smaller temptations to protect yourself from the greater one."

[witchoftheflesh]

Kitty's claw touched That Spot and immediately Boston went boneless on her, purring up a storm. It took him a few minutes to be able to make words happen, but he had to try because it was Kitty. "The day has been endless," he complained.

You know in the few hour stretch when they had been cruelly parted.

[oldwifeoftheflesh]

"Oh, you must tell me all about them," Agatha gushed. "It's lovely and horrifying by turns." She sounded equally enthused by both. "A spell of grand violence and a spell of stalwart bulwark, mated together to create something else entirely."