Pick Your Poison, Wednesday

[witchoftheflesh]

Adrian peered cautiously into the store, trying to find any hint of...weirdness. No decorations that he could see, nothing singing annoying songs, no random bags of chips tucked away anywhere.

Or, well, none of those things right now.

He moved inside, carefully, step by tentative step, head on a swivel. So far...so good...?

Nothing on his way through the aisles. Nothing as he stepped behind the register.

Nothing at all.

Nothing. At. All.

But during his shift, why did it feel like someone watching him?

Comments

[thatwaslucky]

Rey was invested now, so of course she had to check in. Nothing looked strange immediately upon stepping inside...

"All clear?" she checked.

[witchoftheflesh]

"I think so," Adrian said, though he sounded more dubious than confident. "I'm not seeing anything out of place."

But just because you couldn't see something didn't mean it didn't exist.

[thatwaslucky]

"No music playing, no fruit in the drawers, nothing like that?" she said. "Encouraging."

[witchoftheflesh]

"Oh, I didn't check the drawer of the cash register!" Adrian said, slapping his forehead. "Great Forest, there's probably something in the drawer!"

He popped open the cash register and started rifling through the cash. "Okaaaaay...no?" He sounded almost disappointed. "Yeah, I guess, nothing."

[thatwaslucky]

"I can make things float when you're least expecting it if it'll help." She'd do it too, do t think she wouldn't.

[witchoftheflesh]

"I'm not sure if that's a threat to me or to the island," Adrian says with a chuckle.

[thatwaslucky]

"It's a helpful offer if you really need something strange today," she smiled, because she'd noticed that near-disappointment. "I only threaten people and islands who deserve it."

[witchoftheflesh]

"Just--at least if something happened, then I'd know," Adrian said. "Not seeing anything could either mean there's nothing to see, but it could also mean that I just haven't found it yet."

[thatwaslucky]

"You haven't had anything bad, have you?" she checked. "Or just... whimsical and a little insane?"

[witchoftheflesh]

"Just whimsical and a little insane," Adrian admitted.

[thatwaslucky]

"So rather than worrying about something bad, there's a possibility you get a surprise?" Her with that damn optimism.

[witchoftheflesh]

"I...huh," he said. "That's a good point, Rey. I hadn't thought of it that way."

[thatwaslucky]

"And if I just set you up for a glitter bomb or something, I'm very sorry," she teased.

[witchoftheflesh]

"Well, that doesn't sound too bad," Adrian said, the words of a man who had never been glitter-bombed before.

[thatwaslucky]

She blinked.

"No, it's very bad," she told him. "Concentrated glitter, just... everywhere."

[witchoftheflesh]

"But just glitter, right?"

From the man who wore all black all the time. 'Just' glitter, sure Adrian.

[thatwaslucky]

"Is there not bad enough?" Rey asked.

[witchoftheflesh]

"I mean...it's just that my mother is the most curse-happy witch in the Grove," he said with a sheepish laugh. "I guess I was expecting something...more?"

Boy would he have something to share with his mother if he ever did get glitter-bombed.

[thatwaslucky]

"Picking glitter out of your hair for a week isn't enough?" She also had to ask, "What kinds of curses?"

[witchoftheflesh]

"It doesn't wash right out?"

Adrian. Adrian.

"And all kinds, really. She's wildly inventive and very meticulous, so if there's an occasion that needs a curse, she's probably got one."

[thatwaslucky]

"It really does not."

Herpes of the craft world.

"I can't think of many reasons I'd curse someone," she said, really thinking about it. "Many" being the operative word.

[mustbeawitch]

No, Lydia hadn't rushed here after receiving certain intelligence from Mr. Boston, what would make you think that? She absolutely had not forced herself to slow her pace to a sedate stroll just before approaching the shop, and was not at all slightly out of breath as she oh-so-casually perused the shop's wares, you must be imagining things!

Perhaps that sense Adrian had of someone watching him was Lydia trying to determine out of the corner of her eye if he suspected anything.

[witchoftheflesh]

"Miss Bennett," Adrian greeted.

A perfectly friendly greeting? Meeting her suspicion with suspicion of his own?

Totally distracted by trying to figure out if the island still fucking with him?

WHO COULD SAY?

[mustbeawitch]

"Mr. Blackwood, good afternoon," Lydia said, with the little bob of a curtsy she really should have done, along with greeting him, when she first entered the shop. "I trust that everything is well, sir?"

Very casual and normal!

[witchoftheflesh]

"I don't know if I'd say that, Miss Bennet," Adrian said, ominously.

The island could do anything at any moment, after all.

[mustbeawitch]

"Oh," Lydia asked, trying not to sound like she was currently planning to throw a certain cat of their acquaintance under the carriage, as it were. "And why is that, sir?"

[witchoftheflesh]

"There's been something of a conspiracy, you see," Adrian said. "Against me."

Wait, could he call the island a conspiracy? Hmm. He'd have to consider that.

[mustbeawitch]

"Surely not," Lydia said, only slightly shaky. "That sounds rather dramatic!" Especially over some silly videos everyone thought were 'AI' whatever that was.

[witchoftheflesh]

"Oh? I'd thought you'd been looped in."

Oh, had he not complained to Lydia about this? Probably for the best, honestly.