insidiousficnd ༶♥٠ ᘛ⁐̤ᕐ⩺٠♥༶
Padraic’s smile twitched—not noticeably, it mostly looked like a simple facial tick—at Lottie’s words about a smile hiding darker intentions. Perhaps it was the sugary southern drawl that made her sound like a simple girl, but maybe her pretty smile was hiding someone much smarter than he was giving her credit for. “Trust me, Ms. La Bouff. Your treasures are safe in my hands.” And as if to emphasize that, he reached over just as Lottie accepted his offered handshake and was about to place his free hand atop them when he was taken aback by the shimmer of pink suddenly swirling around her. Oh Christ, what is going on? He hoped that he hadn’t said that aloud as he watched the woman suddenly reappear in entirely different attire.
Not only that, but his outstretched arms had become just enough of a ledge for her to sit on—how? he had no idea. It was as if she had floated into his arms. And they stood there for a moment, Lottie “swearing” under her breath as her cheeks burned with a blush while Padraic’s jaw hung open in wordless confusion, when suddenly the earth shifted beneath him. Not metaphorically, either. The rolling motion was enough to set him off balance, staggering into the stairwell’s wall just to keep from falling over, and he could hear Lottie screech in his ear as the lights flickered around them. Another earthquake? Power failure? That could only mean…
Heart rate quickening, he swung his gaze towards the direction Lottie was screaming in, only to see the little shadow creatures crawling out of the darkened corners of the quiet, abandoned museum. They seemed focused on not only the artifacts around them, but Lottie’s yell had caused several yellow eyes to land squarely on the man and woman peering out of the stairwell. Several dozen stood between them and the front door. “Shite,” Padraic breathed, nearly dropping Lottie if she wasn’t already clinging to his neck. The unprofessional expletive spilled from his lips as he took an uneasy step back. He had to think. FAST. Going back upstairs would get them caught in an instant. And Charlotte’s office was no where near secure enough. But this was a museum…and museums had certain safeguards for power failures or emergencies. A light went on in his head and he glanced at the young woman from the corner of his eyes. “Ms. La Bouff,” the man continued, slowly, quietly, as the creatures crept towards them, “…does your museum have a vault? I don’t recall seeing one on the tour…”
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Oh goodness why was this happening. and now of all times? She was just stating to think that she had finally found the one who could fully activate her magical abilities...and then these shadow creatures popped up. They were so strange, they looked like the creatures that Facilier had sent after Tiana and Naveen but these ones were more animated. You could actually touch these ones. Maybe...this was a sign that Padraic was not the one? She didn’t know what the point in all the fuss was to make her sure that he wasn’t someone who was meant for her.
“Oh, yes, it’s in the basement. It’s hidden in the Underworld display.” she informed. While designing the place she thought that was only fitting because of the ties to wealth that the realm possessed. “Padraic, do you know what these things are?” She asked, obviously very concerned and frightened. How was it possible that her magic could have created something like this? And that they had already tormented Padraic this evening. This was getting to be too wild.
“It’s down there shug, just go down those steps and we’ll be able to find it!” She felt so guilty about all of this, she could only imagine that he would want to retract any sort of invitation he’d given her about his business, surely protecting the likes of her would be too much to manage.
