Pick Your Poison, Monday

[joan_of_bark]

The world continued to turn even as the cold set in, and Pam continued to spend time on the mainland for... purposes. But some part of her week had also been spent raising plants in the nursery upstairs, and now that some of the ornamental bushes and flowers were tall enough, it was time to move them into the store.

She opened up the store and then got to it. Some flowers here, some perennials there.

And here and there, she draped vines up and down the shelves, greenery that twitched and moved a little with her fingertips. What they were? She wasn't about to say.

They looked nice, though.

[[ open ]]

Comments

[pocketpretzels]

"Afternoon, Dr. Isley," Watts greeted, a leaf plucked from a piece of greenery and twirling between his fingers almost immediately upon his entrance to the store.

[joan_of_bark]

"Afternoon, Detective Watts," Pam replied, looking up from where she was lovingly adjusting a fern in its pot. "Do you usually defoliate any locale you enter?"

[pocketpretzels]

"Defo- " Watts frowned. "Ah," he glanced down at the leaf he was twirling between his fingers. "No?"

He absolutely did. But it wasn't really a conscious thing.

[joan_of_bark]

"Please try to be kind to my plants," Pam said, stretching up. "Some of them are toxic."

[pocketpretzels]

"I wasn't- the intent was not to be unkind," Watts said. "But so noted."

[joan_of_bark]

"People rarely do." Pam wiped her hands on her overalls, and raised an eyebrow. "So what brings you to my store?"

[pocketpretzels]

"The exchange of money for goods," Watts replied.

[joan_of_bark]

"Makes sense," Pam said, her mouth twitching a little in amusement. "Any particular goods you had in mind?"

[pocketpretzels]

"Some more of that pomade you sold me a while back," Watts said, the leaf twirling between his fingers as he spoke. "I liked it." Possibly an unnecessary statement given he was here to purchase more, but he put it out there all the same.

[joan_of_bark]

"Well, I'm glad to hear our products are up to your exacting standards," Pam said. "Give me a sec."

She vanished between the shelves. Then returned, moments later, with a container. "I'll let Adrian know you approve," she said.

[pocketpretzels]

"My 'exacting standards'?" Watts echoed.

[joan_of_bark]

"You didn't seem all that convinced the first time you were here," Pam pointed out.

[pocketpretzels]

"I didn't come in with the intent to purchase anything, that time, is all," Watts pointed out. "You asked me to do so, and so I did."

[joan_of_bark]

"And then you came back with intent to purchase something," Pam said, "And I gave you a gentle ribbing about it."

She held the pomade out for him to take. "How have you been, detective?"

[pocketpretzels]

"... 'Ribbing'?" he echoed, tucking the leaf into the band of his hat so he could take the offered pomade. "I've been well. Hanukkah celebrations were nice. Good start to the new year. Yourself?"

[joan_of_bark]

"Teasing," Pam clarified.

She cast a look aside, at the pot with the black roses. "I've kept busy," she said. "Though mostly not on the island. It seems to get quiet here around the holidays. I guess everyone's families live off-island."

She thought fleetingly of Harley (her-Harley).

[pocketpretzels]

"Ah," Watts nodded, in response to the clarification. "I see. Understood."

"I have noticed that," he added, in regards to that second part of her statement. "Though that is not the case for me."

[joan_of_bark]

"No family?" Pam guessed. "Or no family off-island?"

[pocketpretzels]

"My parents died of cholera when I was- quite young," Watts said, scratching at his chin. "At least, I think it was cholera. As I said, I was very young."

Not the whole story, no. But the part he was willing to freely divulge.

[joan_of_bark]

"Hm, I'm sorry," Pam said. She looked at him. "You're one of the time-displaced ones, aren't you?"

[pocketpretzels]

"I am, yes," Watts nodded. "It was 1909 when I left Toronto a few years ago."

[joan_of_bark]

"Talk about culture shock," Pam commented.

[pocketpretzels]

"Oh, yes," Watts nodded emphatically. He held up the can of pomade. "Prices, for starters."

[joan_of_bark]

"Mm, inflation," Pam said. "The joys of capitalism and perpetual growth doctrine."

[pocketpretzels]

"Can't say I'm a fan," Watts said. "There are- other things- about this time that are an improvement over the one I came from, though."