@declinlalune replied to your post “[pm] Hey, Leti? [user attaches photo of the hunter...”:
[pm] Turns out I look like my mom. He knows who I am, or I guess my family? I don't know. It's complicated. Not sure why he's here, but I'd rather you be safe. I'm taking care of it.
[pm] What does taking care of it mean? Should I be worried about- Andy, god damn it- I appreciate the heads up, I really do. Did he try anything? Are you okay? I know you can take care of yourself, you said that's why you got the arms and all-
special thanks to @guulabjamuns who inspired me with this post | art from djarn’s picrew maker
ACE OF SPADES | ACE: (he/him) honor can be found among thieves in the form of the Ace of Spades. he takes no pride in his work, leaving his old life behind to hide away in the mountain pass. but when trouble finds it’s way on his doorstep, he must remember how to be a thief again, how to be a leader.
ACE OF DIAMONDS | ANDROMEDA: (she/her) the Diamond Duchess is Alheire’s most notorious jewel thief. she’s stolen all the jewelry from every single royal house - only to leave the all the gems but the diamonds in a fruits basket the next morning, with a note that reads “The Duchess sends her love”.
JACK OF HEARTS | VICTOR: (he/him) a dangerous combination of curiosity, intellect, and impulsivity created the Rocket, the most destructive thief in Alheire history. known for his clever explosions and tale-spinning right hand man Winston.
JACK OF CLUBS | JACKY: (she/they) legendary ANARA racer ‘The Baroness’ by day, criminal getaway driver by night. the anonymous side-kick to the Diamond Duchess, and a skilled thief in her own right. she’s reckless and arrogant, beloved by racing fans and knows it.
SEVEN OF SPADES | WINSTON: (he/him) handsome, witty, and too clever for his own good. a master of slight of hand and an expert con artist who can weave distractions and tall tales from nothing.
FIVE OF SPADES | EVE: (she/her) Miss Eve Belladonna can be trusted to handle obstacles swiftly and discreetly. but things start to complicate when she agrees to take on a high-profile case and everything goes awry. she is forced to do what she hates the most, trust, all while her past keeps catching up to her.
EIGHT OF CLUBS | ALAIA: (they/them) Alaia has spent almost their whole life in service to the Crown, and has risen through the ranks with remarkable speed. they’ve become the Crown Princess’ trusted assistant, even a friend. but when the royal family begins to fall apart, and Princess Camellia goes missing, voices begin to whisper.
QUEEN OF DIAMONDS | CAMELLIA: (she/her) being the Princess of Alheire and heir to the throne makes for a lonely life of training and studying. hiding away from her dysfunctional parents is tiring and difficult, but making friends is nearly impossible. but it’s made her clever and strong, and when she finally gets a shot at freedom, she dives in without looking back.
@declinlalune replied to your post “[pm] Hey, if you need anything, let me know. I'm...”:
[pm] You can come and hangout if you want. Don't feel pressured, though. I can make you breakfast? Jonas has a recipe for cinnamon rolls that are really good. [...] Yeah, the cave girl. She's been staying with us for a bit.
[pm] It might be good? Getting out of the house and getting back on a schedule. Otherwise, I'm going to end up scrubbing this cabin because there is this constant wet dog smell. And what if your family thinks I'm rude? They don't stink but where is that wet dog smell coming from- Cinnamon rolls sound so good right now. Sounds like a deal plan. You do breakfast and I'll do lunch! [...] Taking in all the strays then? She is nice, though. Helped me find some fresh catnip.
TIMING: Current
LOCATION: A General Pet Store
PARTIES: Andy @declinlalune & Leticia @rhythmicmeow
SUMMARY: Andy and Leticia go to a pet store together, where Leti gets a little dramatic about Andy being a dog person.
CONTENT WARNING: None!
The excitement buzzing through Leticia's body wasn't unexpected. The idea of going to a pet store was always an appealing one, though she could write essays about how the catnip that was fresh was better. Writing a shopping list in her mind, she had been reciting it internally while Andy drove. Ask the cashier if the store had pet birds, look at the pet birds, check out the catnip and see if any is good, and maybe buy some cat toys. Inside the store, the list that Leticia had laid out for herself vanished. Sticking closely to Andy's side despite them both being adults and capable of doing their own shopping, Leticia wanted the companionship. She had missed the feeling of going out with friends that she had in California. Missed the phone calls at 2AM with her friend whispering that they had stolen the car keys and could pick her up in five if they wanted to go to the beach and listen to the waves.
This wasn't the same. They weren't kids trying to hide from their parents in the middle of the night, they were adults. But Andy invited her all the same and Leticia had jumped on the invitation. It was nice to feel wanted, even if just in small moments like this.
"What do you still need for him? Her? Uh, the dog?" Leticia asked, hearing the chirping birds and doing her best not to look in that direction. "When did you decide to get a dog anyway? I thought of you as more of a cat person."
—
Andy hadn’t anticipated just how many things a dog would need. Alex had gotten a good majority of things already, but Puppeye had already gone through three of the toys that they’d gotten her, so Andy was out on another trip to get more. This time, with Leticia in tow.
It was nice, having somebody to do things with that wasn’t just Alex. Not that she typically minded hanging out with her sister, but it was true that she needed her own friends. With Kaden around, there was a little more separation, too, but he was off doing his own thing and she couldn’t rely entirely on him and she knew that.
She looked over at Leti as they wandered down one of the many aisles made entirely for dogs. Andy had been grateful for Leticia’s accompaniment, even if she did seem a little different today. More excitable and distracted.
“Um…” Andy looked into the shopping cart, shuffling a few of the items around. “I’d like to get a few more of those colorful chew toys, just because I think she likes them.” At her question, Andy’s brows rose. “Wait, is that because I’m a lesbian?” She was confused, because she wasn’t sure when she’d given that off at any given point. “I mean…” Andy let out a laugh, “I haven’t ever had a pet, and this is the first. I don’t know what kind of person I am.” She leaned against the cart as she drove it forward, tilting her head to look at Leticia as they walked. “You’re a cat person though, right?”
—
"Colorful ones?" Leticia hummed as she looked at the toys. Her eyes drifted toward the end of the aisle where the cap was stocked with a variety of different toys. Cat toys included. "Maybe there are some over that way?" There weren't. She knew there weren't. Andy probably knew too, but it wasn't terrible of her to want to at least check it out, right? Maybe the perfect toy was hidden among different toys in the wrong spot of the store!
The lesbian comment felt like it came out of nowhere, and apparently, it was Leticia's turn to blush. "Oh my god, that's not what I meant." She felt the same frazzled feeling as she did when she thought another one of her friends thought she was straight. Which wasn't an inherently bad thing, but those were not the vibes that Leticia was trying to put out. But it came out of nowhere, and now Leticia was struggling to contain her laughter.
"Andy." She hid her cheeks and mouth behind her hands. For a solid moment, she stood there and tried to breathe. Not wanting to laugh, but not expecting Andy to play as dumb as she was. "I think I'm more of a cat girl personally. You know? Because of the ears? I can't believe you'd choose a dog over me, a cat. The best cat." The first giggles escaped. "Fuck, Andy. I wasn't expecting that."
—
“Yeah, or like, specific colored ones. I saw a tik tok with a filter over it that showed what dogs like, and it seems like they really like yellow.” She wanted Puppyeye to be comfortable in her new home, and sure, maybe she was going a little overboard, but still. She wanted to do right by the dogs that they found, and until they got more offers with people offering to take them off their hands, they’d be stuck with quite a few until it was all settled. “We can try over there, sure.” No suggestion was a bad suggestion, especially when shopping. Andy hated to do it, no matter what it was for.
“I got told by…” Were they friends anymore? Andy began to feel the weight of her last interaction with Nicole and Leah and she quickly dismissed it. “Other lesbians, that being a cat person is a lesbian thing. I thought you were making a joke.” Andy watched the blush creep across the bridge of Leticia’s nose and she felt something stir in her chest. She quickly looked away, keeping her expression neutral.
Leticia’s reaction caught Andy slightly off guard and she looked over her shoulder at her. “What?” She blinked innocently at her friend. And then it was like everything aligned. The cabinet, the constant comments that salt was a no-go for her. “Holy shit. You’re–” She raised her hand to her mouth. “I didn’t know.” It made so much sense and she felt so stupid. She’d been trying so hard not to be invasive that she looked straight through the number of coincidences that led to Leticia being a balam. “You are a cat girl, you’re right.” She tried to imagine Leti with cat ears, but couldn’t quite get there. “Sorry, I’m sorry. Sometimes I’m an idiot, okay?” She let out a laugh of her own and knocked her shoulder with Leticia’s, feeling the blush creeping across the back of her neck. “Listen, I’m not always this clueless, okay?” It was hard to contain her own laughter now and she buried her face into her hands. “God dammit.”
—
Yellow wasn't her favorite color, but she could understand the appeal. It was happy and bright, and maybe dogs felt the same way? Especially if it was one of a few choice colors they could see. Leticia hadn't had a problem seeing colors, but did the balam? Did she prefer yellow over other colors? The thoughts floated around for a moment before she remembered a toy the next aisle over they had walked past. "What about that nacho and guacamole dip toy? It came with little stuffed chips you can hide inside the bowl for them!"
The laughter was getting harder to mask, her shoulders bouncing with the sound she was trying to hide. "No, no. I promise it wasn't that." She had been so offended that Andy could be a dog person, she didn't even think of the other implications. She had, at first, just assumed Andy had said it to throw Leticia off. And it had worked to that effect, but it was so much funnier as the context was revealed.
Waving her hand at her face, trying to get some air, the laughter didn't stop. "You didn't-" Leticia looked away from Andy, feeling the tears form with the uncontrolled laughter. "I thought you knew! I thought your... you know, just told you what I was. You didn't know." Andy was covering her face after a few apologies that weren't needed. "You're not an idiot, I assumed you knew." She was adding up all the strange moments where Leticia had been more cat than person, and wondered what Andy had thought of her in those moments. What animal did she think Leticia was? "I thought you were pretending just to get a rise out of me," she confessed, putting a hand on Andy's shoulder and leaning into her friend as she laughed. "And it worked too, I was so offended for a minute there, thinking you casually dismissed cats because that would be too lesbian coded." With a deep breath and a slow release, the laughter lessened. So long as she didn't look at Andy directly.
“Mhmm.” It was hard to talk now, especially while she was trying to stifle her laughter. To anyone else, this may not be that funny, but to Andy, it was hysterical. The idea that she’d been hanging out with Leticia for a few months now and had no clue that she was a balam, despite her abilities telling her exactly that. “Listen, I don’t want to talk about it.” She shook her head and tried to ignore the… not sinking feeling, but something else– something unfamiliar, as Leticia knocked back into her. The proximity was easier to endure like this. There was less on the line.
“I didn’t. I didn’t know, I had no clue.” Should she even begin to tell Leti that it’d been out of courtesy? That she didn’t want to be invasive? Would that dismiss the idiocy altogether? She inhaled through her nose and rubbed her face. “NO! No, I wasn’t.” She shook her head and finally looked at Leti, devastated by the way the other woman couldn’t even look at her. Was it really that funny? “Leti, please.” She snorted through the plea and she pushed the cart forward. “I wasn’t dismissing anything! I just don’t know what kind of animal person I am, you know?” It was a fair enough explanation, she thought. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep the laughter at bay, eyes scanning the number of products on the shelves. “So uh… about the guac?” She looked at Leticia, her expression twisted into something comical. “You’re still laughing, aren’t you?” She couldn’t even see her face, but Andy saw the set of her shoulders. “Come on! It wasn’t even that–” She hadn’t been watching where she was going, and suddenly her cart was crashing into a neighboring display of cat nip toys.
One of the plastic containers broke, sending the contents all over the floor. “Shit. I’m going to have to buy that now.” Stealing it would be impossible at this point, with all the commotion they were making.
—
Leticia wished she could look at Andy and tell her that she wasn't still laughing. Anyone else in the store might have heard them giggling like children in the aisle, unable to understand how the situation had created a perfect storm of laughter. "Oh my god, did you just accept me climbing on the bookcase as normal?" Or another kind of animal? The balam stirred in protest at the idea, she was too proud to be reduced to any other kind of animal. Not understanding the humor in the misunderstanding. But Leticia? She still had a hand over her mouth, dampening her laughter as much as she could.
"I'm not still laughing!" She said, between fits of giggles. "I would stop a lot sooner if you stopped too!" Andy tried to explain, once more, that it really wasn't that funny, but Leticia was too far gone to calm down with a few short words like that. "You better be a cat person after this," she teased, before hearing the rattling of the display of cat toys - but it wasn't the crack of plastic that reached Leticia first. It was the sudden aroma that filled the area. The laughter stopped and Leticia stilled. Her hand over her mouth now moving to rub below her nose, trying to force the smell away. But there was too much of it.
Her eyes were locked on the broken pieces of plastic, the aisle and the laughter far from her mind now. Leticia knew that she'd owe Andy an apology after this. Before she could explain, Leticia was on the ground, her face pressed to the cold floor and her eyes locked on the other items that had fallen on the ground. All filthy, but somehow the most interesting things in the store. Her hand darted underneath the display, pulling out more of the catnip from underneath and pushing it toward her face. "You should but three. Four. More."
—
A lady meandered down the aisle, tossing a cautionary glance their way. Andy had half a mind to tell her to mind her business, but she looked back to Leticia with a raised brow. “I mean, maybe? I feel like this puts so much into context for me now, though.” There were a lot of things about Leti that were more… catlike than any of the other shifter types out there. But Andy had wanted to respect her privacy, and because it hadn’t been blatantly said, she wanted to let her friend have some semblance of secrecy, if it could even be considered as such, especially at this point.
Andy didn’t even have to look at her reflection to know that the redness from the back of her neck had spread to her cheeks. Her entire face and chest were warm. “Stop it! Leticia, please.” She shook her head desperately, willing for her friend to just let her get away with this one stupid thing for once. But before she could protest any further, Leti quieted down, suddenly dropping onto all fours.
She stared in shock as Leticia smeared her face against the floor, hand swiping beneath the display. A few different sized cat toys slid from beneath it, but her friend didn’t seem to care about those. No, it was the catnip. “Oh my god.” Andy looked around them hurriedly, dropping into a crouched position next to Leticia. Her hair hung in her face and the redhead couldn’t get a good look at the expression she wore. “Leti?” She tried, this time a little louder. Would Leticia transform because of this? She hoped not. Leticia was mumbling something under her breath and Andy quieted so that she could hear. “Four? Four more? Four more what?”
—
Leticia was completely lost on the floor of the store. The cool tiles were soothing like the right side of the pillow. Her pupils were wide, searching for more catnip on the ground and around her, barely hearing Andy’s voice. It was her name, but why wasn’t Andy helping? There were so many cool things under the display.
Her fingers brushed against a ball that had rolled under the rack, and as it thumped against the back of the rack, it light up. The bright colors caused her to push her head back, her eyes closing while she tried to blink away the irritation, but as soon as her eyes were open again, she was batting at it. “Look.” The ball rolled out toward her feet, and with strange precision considering her condition, she flicked the ball with her foot and rolled it toward her face and hands, where she grabbed it and showed Andy. Proudly, even. The ball itself was in terrible condition, it looked like a discarded toy from an animal who decided it wasn’t as great as Leticia had found it.
Holding it in the air, she tried to push it into Andy’s face. “It’s so pretty, do you like it?” The question of four more what caused Leticia to pull the ball away from her, looking dejected and upset. What sort of question was that? Was it not obvious? She rolled her head back the other way, her cheek back into catnip and her eyes shut as she rotated the side of her head in it. Sharply lifting her head from the ground, she grabbed another plastic container of catnip and held it closely to her chest with the nasty ball she had found. “More,” she repeated, showing what she was holding to Andy, but quickly twisting her body away. “You need to get your own.”
—
Andy didn’t know what to do. She’d never been in this position before. It wasn’t like Alex went crazy over tennis balls or anything. Andy stood frozen next to Leticia, not quite sure how to get her off of the floor. People were starting to stare now and Andy gave them a tight lipped smile before waving them off. “She lost an earring.” But if they were listening, they would know that wasn’t true. Andy decided not to worry about it, at least for right now.
The ball that Leticia had swiped from beneath the display lit up, rolling towards her shoe. Before she could pick it up, Leti had already grabbed it. Andy stared at the brunette as she held it out for inspection. It was covered in dust, a half-off price sticker that was torn in half and… gum? She leaned back slightly, grabbing her friend’s wrist lightly, steering the other woman’s hands away from her face. Andy was in awe at how the woman in front of her now did not resemble the woman she’d been upright with moments ago. Her hair was in her face, pieces of catnip hanging out of it, as well as some dust. Her shirt was covered in it, too.
Before she could make a move to get Leti onto her feet, she was dropping back down onto the ground, her cheek smoothing against the tile. “Leti,” Andy whined, looking up to see if anyone was watching them. Luckily they were alone in the aisle. For now. “I don’t want–” Inhaling sharply through her nose, she looked towards the display. She’d dealt with Alex as a child enough to maybe know how to rectify a semi-temper tantrum, if it could even be considered that. “Listen, Leti?” She swiped at Leti’s arm, dusting away some of the catnip that was stuck to her sleeve. “I’ll buy you all the catnip you’re holding, plus two more– four more packets. Only if you get up though, okay?” So maybe she was a sucker, but the last thing they needed was to get reported to any kind of authorities for public intoxication. “Does that sound okay?” She kept her voice low, moving closer to Leti so that she could help support her into a sitting position. Andy moved some of the hair out of her friend’s face, suppressing a laugh at the expression she wore. After this was done, Andy knew she’d never let her live it down.
—
Leticia’s mind was a mess. The fuzziness inside her head felt like it was getting stronger. Or maybe it was fading and her mind wanted more? She wasn’t sure, but she figured that it couldn’t be fog from too much catnip. She clearly needed more. And she had been about to rub her face on the tiles one more time until she heard Andy say she lost an earring. Was she wearing earrings? Her hands came up to her ears and immediately checked to see if anything was missing. No, they were both there. Had Andy lost an earring? Did Andy even have pierced ears?
Allowing herself to be propped up so she was sitting properly, Leticia looked Andy directly in the eyes before dropping the containers she had in her arms to the ground, more concerned now about Andy’s ears. She moved quickly, grabbing her ears and pulling them out just enough to check for earrings or lack thereof, and deciding she was satisfied with what she saw, she let go. “I’m not missing an earring and you’re not either,” Leticia said in a not-whisper, leaning closer to Andy as if she had caught her friend out in a lie. “Why would you say something like that? Should I check the catnip for it? I can check the catnip for it. And under the display, there are so many cool things under the display I bet I could find an earring. Do you want an earring?” Maybe if she looked hard enough, she’d find a pair underneath there. Maybe not matching, but a set of something.
She had been about to pull herself out of Andy’s grip once more when she heard the promise of four packets. All she needed to do in turn was get off the floor! That would be easy. Maybe she could jump, that would be really impressive, wouldn’t it? To be sprawled on the floor and then jump to her feet without the usual steps between? “That sounds purrfect, actually,” Leticia replied, sticking out her pinky finger and then, forced her pinky finger around Andy’s and nodded her head. “Now it’s a promise, you can’t take it back. I need these.” She grabbed the containers that she dropped, forgetting to grab the additional ones that Andy had bribed her with, and then situated herself to get up. Forgetting her idea to just jump as well. “Do you think they have fish here?”
—
Andy hadn’t moved away fast enough. One moment, Leticia was staring into her soul, and the next, her friend was grabbing onto her ears. “Ow.” It didn’t even hurt her, but it left her out of reflex. She craned her neck slightly so that Leticia wouldn’t pull her completely over. She spoke and Andy felt the back of her neck burn with embarrassment. The urge to cover Leticia’s mouth with her hand was strong, but she refrained. Instead, she knelt across from her friend, a dumbfounded expression peeling over her features. “Because.” Because why? Why was Andy so embarrassed about this? Maybe she was afraid– afraid that anyone who knew or could sense Leticia for what she was, would immediately make her a target. Andy pushed the thought from her mind, eager to have some sense of normalcy. Even if this was far from it, at least she could spend more time laughing than throwing concerned looks over her shoulder.
But Leticia was offering to find her an earring and Andy was shaking her head. “No, you don’t– no.” She let out a laugh, watching Leti as she considered the offer that’d been given to her. Andy hoped that her friend would concede. Andy watched her, wondering if she’d decide it was enough, but she hadn’t anticipated Leticia’s quip. Purrfect. Andy could hear it ringing in her ears now. “You really are a cat.” It came out in a whisper, half-amazed, half-dumbfounded. She didn’t get much time to process, because Leticia’s pinky finger was in her face, then curling around her own. Flustered, Andy nodded. “Yes, okay. I promise.”
She was careful as she got to her feet, not wanting to tip over Leticia and the catnip canisters she’d collected in her arms. Andy wasn’t sure what to do– would this go away on its own? Was there a remedy? Was it even a good idea to suggest buying them for her as a way to get her out of the store? Any knowledge she had of balams had gotten lost over the years and she tried desperately to comb over memories, hopeful something would come of use for their situation. But Andy didn’t figure that most texts included the bit about catnip, so maybe it was why she was so damn surprised. “Fish? Um…” They probably did. They were at a pet store. “I don’t know. We can check another time, yeah?” Andy focused on Leticia, not knowing whether or not yanking her up by her arms would be all that helpful. Instead, she circled the other woman, supporting her from behind back onto her feet. She steadied the other, hands on Leticia’s shoulders. Leaning in slightly, she motioned to the cash registers at the end of the aisle. “We’re going that way. Do you want to put your stuff into the cart?” Andy’s concern came and went, molding into amusement as she started to dust some of the catnip and dust off of Leti’s shoulders.
—
Because? There was a pained expression on Leticia’s face. Why was Andy not answering? What did ‘because’ even mean? She opened her mouth, about to ask for a deeper explanation of what that was all supposed to mean and why was ‘because’ the only answer that had been provided. But somewhere in the confusion, Leticia had fully lost her train of thought. Because why lingered in her mind, but followed by a what? Because why what? Puffing her cheeks, she tried to focus on what was happening, but it was like grasping at smoke. For a moment, it appeared like she had something, and then the next, it was all gone.
The comment about her being a cat - or the compliment - brought a new grin to Leticia’s face. “Jaguar, remember, she doesn’t like being called other things.” Though, balam was the most correct term, jaguar was less foreign to people. “But I don’t mind cat, cats are cute. Way better than other pets.” Which circled her thoughts right back to Andy getting a dog instead of a cat. Traitor. But she could be bought with catnip, clearly. The traitor thing would have to be saved for another time, if she remembered. “Good, good,” she whispered, nodding her head as if they had made some sort of ritualistic pact that Leticia would hold over Andy until they were dead. “If you want me to get those earrings though, I can still do that! I am an excellent finder.” She might have made her way to her feet with Andy’s help, but the floor wasn’t so bad.
WIth both hands on the cart, Leticia leaned forward and looked at the dog items inside before dumping the few items that she managed to keep in her arms. “Simon’s gonna love these,” she whispered before attempting to drive the cart. It swerved just slightly, causing Leticia to cling to the sides and stand perfectly still in the aisle before she composed herself, as much as she could, at least. Deflating over the handle of the cart, Leticia crossed her arms inside the child seat and slowly rolled it forward. Her mind was still foggy and her thoughts were mostly of fish, but she managed to keep on track to where Andy pointed. “Do you need more avocados for your dog?” Was that why they had gone there? Sounded right.
—
Andy wondered if every balam faced this kind of thing, or if it was just Leticia. She made a mental note to ask Nicole the next time she saw her, whenever that’d be. They’d talked since their last… talk, and things had gone well, or so she hoped. It was surreal to her that she’d managed to befriend not one, but two balams. Maybe three, considering Luis gave her the same hair raising feeling the other two did. Whatever. Not time to speculate. She felt rude in doing so, anyway. She inhaled sharply, blinking at Leti as she corrected the verbage. “Jaguar. Yeah– uh, sorry.” She felt the back of her neck go red again.
Leticia continued spouting off that she preferred cats and Andy couldn’t even feign surprise. She seemed like more of a cat person, anyway. “Okay, okay.” She hesitated, not reaching out to steady her friend as she grabbed onto the cart. “No, I– I don’t need any. It’s really okay.” She forced down her smile, though it fought to take up pretty much her entire face.
Andy stood behind Leti as she leaned against the cart. It began to push forward and Andy had half a mind to grab it so it didn’t steer into another display. She wasn’t sure who Simon was, but assumed it was either another balam or a cat. Probably the latter. Andy wasn’t sure if Leti would have kept a whole other balam from her. Or maybe she would have. It was her right. Andy quickly cleaned up some of the mess, dusting with her hands the catnip into a small pile off to the side. At checkout she’d let them know what happened. She looked up to see Leti continuing to push the cart down the aisle. “Avo…” Right, that was why they were here. “Um, yeah. Let’s… go do that. Avocados.” She hurried to Leticia’s side, guiding the cart in the right direction before stealing a glance at Leticia who was seemingly coming down from her catnip high. I should have taken a picture, Andy thought. Then again, Emilio might have found out about it and tried to get it from her. Probably better that there was no evidence.
TIMING: Current
LOCATION: A thrift store downtown
PARTIES: Andy @declinlalune and Leticia @rhythmicmeow
SUMMARY: Andy and Leticia run into each other at a thrift store.
CONTENT WARNINGS: None!
Some days, Andy chose to be normal. Or, she tried her best. But as she looked up to see Leticia with a men’s sweatshirt over her shoulder, she couldn’t help but guess who it was for, especially with a matching scarf in her basket. She contemplated letting her new… friend(?) shop on her own, but she was bound to run into her in the small space eventually, and wouldn't it be worse to ignore her and pretend not to see her than it would be to say hello and move on? Andy took a moment of pause before approaching the brunette, hand raised in awkward greeting.
She could turn around now, she realized. Pretend to be a different redhead. Maybe that’d be possible if not for the smattering of freckles and arms built to hold another in a loving embrace. Maybe. “Hey– uh, sorry if I’m bothering you, but is that for…?” Andy pointed at the item in the basket, cheeks flushed with sudden embarrassment. What if she was wrong? What if this were for a boyfriend she didn't know about? Would Leticia be mad that Andy was poking fun at the idea of her dating cardboard? She had to know that she didn’t actually think that, right?
-
It was a treasure trove of different fashion items. Leticia found herself looking at all sorts of items and forgetting who she was there shopping for. She had managed to pick out a single scarf for Rick Astley to cover the terrible tape job that had become a strange necklace around the damage. But the rest? She had kept pulling items out and considering buying them for herself. Including the sweater that was over her shoulder. It was several sizes too big for her but she could totally fix it so that it fit. Or maybe just keep it this size and wear it as a dress. Who would know?
Looking up from another shirt she had pulled out, she saw Andy. Pointing at the scarf in the basket and asking but not asking who it was for. The excitement on Leticia’s face quickly shifted to her rolling her eyes. “The cardboard cutout?” She refused to say his name, not tempting fate. “Yeah, it’s for him. And I don’t think you should be friends with Emilio, actually. You’re learning too much from him.” She puffed her cheeks for a moment before eyeing Andy again, not upset on any serious level. “I know how you can make it up to me,” she started before grabbing the scarf and holding it out to Andy. “Try this on, I want to see if it looks good with your hair color.”
-
“I thought you guys were close.” Andy didn’t bother clarifying that she had meant the cardboard cutout, not Emilio. “I don’t think I’m learning everything from him, maybe I was always this way.” There had been something that had sparked in her after realizing she didn’t need to be so… kept away. That not everything in life had to be serious, and that fun could be had while still taking care of responsibilities.
“Really?” She tilted her head to the side, now eyeing Leticia suspiciously. Before she could ask how, she was being handed the scarf from the basket. “Is it because we’re both… right, okay.” She figured it had something to do with the orange mop on her head. Andy sighed and reluctantly tied the scarf around her neck, some of it coming up to cover her mouth. She pulled it down with two fingers and arched a brow at Leti. “Satisfied? This thing is kind of itchy. It’s a good thing he’ll be wearing it and not me.”
-
“We are,” Leticia said easily, shrugging a shoulder. “But like in an irritating sibling sort of way.” She wasn’t sure how Andy and her sister’s relationship looked like, but she was hoping that the Taylor Swift vinyl battle would be similar enough. Arching a brow, Leticia looked over Andy for a moment and then nodded her head. “Good, I’d feel bad for bullying you back about all the Rick Astley stuff if you didn’t fight back a little.” It wasn’t lost on her that maybe Andy was more comfortable with her now.
A grin came easily to her face as Andy realized what Leticia was asking of her. Her friend sighed, but Leticia was almost giddy as she put on the scarf. Forcing a serious expression to her face, Leticia moved in a small circle around Andy, pretending to analyze how it looked very closely. “Maybe you should pose like him? I can’t really imagine it on him…” She hummed before looking up at Andy and immediately breaking character. “Alright, alright. Take it off. I am satisfied.” She held her hand out, still grinning like she had won something.
-
The familiar sensation of knowing crawled up Andy’s spine, but it was easier to ignore now. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the practice she had had with Alex, or something else entirely, but she was grateful. She’d spent the first few months with Alex pushing off the alarm bells. She didn’t want to have to do it again with any other shifter in Wicked’s Rest. It still felt invasive, and though she didn’t quite know what Leticia was, she wasn’t sure she’d want to know until it was blatantly spelled out for her. “Like a sibling kind of way, right.” Again, she made no move to clarify if she was keeping Emilio or Rick in mind with Leti’s comment.
As Leticia circled her, Andy’s gaze followed. “I should pose like him?” Just before she could protest, Leticia grinned, and she realized it’d been a joke. “How would you even pose like him, anyway?” She unraveled the scarf from around her neck and bunched it up, handing it back over to Leticia. In an attempt to keep busy, Andy turned her attention to a clothing rack to her right and began to flick through the t-shirts. They’d had a lot more come in after her and Ryan’s meeting, and she was impressed by the quality. Guess not everyone kept their clothes till they were in tatters. “Are you just getting things for him?” Andy asked as she looked back over at her friend.
-
Leticia eyed Andy carefully, feeling like she was missing a piece here, but decided not to press for more information. She figured if anyone could understand how it felt to have a sibling, it would be Andy. Though Leticia suspected there was a lot more care between the two of them than there was with her and Emilio. Maybe closer to what she had with Nora. But Nora… her secrets were too close to her chest still. She couldn’t say she had a ‘sister’ and not directly imply that she was like her to some degree. And she couldn’t explain it away without revealing a different secret all together. Hopefully, if Andy ever met Nora, she’d understand why Leticia kept quiet.
“You gotta do the pose he does, that’s how,” Leticia teased, bumping Andy with her elbow. “You gotta be really stiff and and hold your arms like this.” Moving into position in the walkway of the store, she mimicked the cardboard posture quickly before dropping it and looking around to see if anyone else in the store had seen. With the scarf back in her basket, Leticia shuffled the sweater she had over her shoulder and put it in front of her, debating once more if it was worth messing with. “Okay, one more question, if you saw me in this would you think she doesn’t know how to dress herself or that this is a fashion choice? Maybe with a belt or something?” Tipping her head to the side at the question, Leticia looked over at the clothes again. “I mean… it started that way. Figure a scarf could hide the…” She drug her thumb across her neck and stuck her tongue out to the side, pretending to be dead for a moment.
-
“Uh huh…” Andy grinned at Leticia. This was easier, she thought. Better, even. Than the loaded admissions of guilt and loss. Andy thought that her company looked better with a smile than an expression devoted to longing and some kind of misplaced guilt. Though, she assumed that would be the same for just about anyone. She watched as Leticia mimicked the very pose she had told Andy to do and the redhead snorted. “I don’t know, I think that you pull it off pretty well.”
Andy pulled out a baby blue t-shirt she thought Alex might have liked and looked over her shoulder as Leticia spoke. “With a… belt? Why would you wear a belt with a sweater?” She wasn’t one for fashion, and she didn’t think she ever would be, but a belt with a sweater seemed like a really odd combination. “But um… it’s just a sweater, so I would assume you were trying to keep warm.” She turned her attention to the overcast sky she could see through the storefront’s windows before looking back to the brunette. “I guess it could work for right now, even though it’s getting warmer.” She held the t-shirt to her stomach, poking the hanger out from the neck as Leticia explained what the scarf could hide. “Oh, I get it. You want to make him presentable?”
-
Puffing out her cheeks to keep from laughing, Leticia rolled her eyes. It had been too long since life was simple for her. Back in New York, she had been in a constant state of crisis, trying to keep up with a schedule that wasn’t meant for any kind of person, but this? This was familiar. Like on the boardwalk of the beach near where she lived. It was comforting, in a lot of ways. “Personally, I don’t think I’ve got the arms for it.”
Her mouth fell open at the comment and Leticia mentally kicked herself. Maybe asking Andy for fashion advice wasn’t the best idea, but she thought that maybe… she had a younger sister, she couldn’t be as out of touch with things as their other friends were, right? “To give it some shape?” But the comment came out more as a question. “I guess you’re right. Maybe sundresses are a better idea.” She wondered how she could warp them into more her style, but she had seen a lot of people wear them with fishnets or even boots. She’d figure it out, she decided. Putting the sweater back, Leticia stood on her toes and looked around the racks, trying to see if she could find anything labeled for dresses before returning her focus to Andy. “Yeah, well,” Leticia failed to stop her laughter. “His head fell off when I was talking to a customer the other day. I think it’s freaking some people out.” She shook her head, still trying to fight off the giggles. “I was thinking about hiding his head in the vinyls and whoever finds him gets a percent off their purchase or something, but I feel like that’s a pretty fucked up game to play too.”
-
“It’s hard to tell whether or not he was buff, you know, because he was cardboard.” After they’d gotten rid of the lively Rick Atsley, Andy had made it a point to look him up, only wanting to understand what had happened. Unfortunately, none of her questions were answered and she was left just as confused as she had been before.
“How would a belt give it shape?” Andy felt dumb now, and though Leticia’s expression didn’t enhance that fact, she still felt shame from not understanding how something like a belt could be used to accentuate anything. She wasn’t sure if she had offended Leticia by telling her that sweaters were meant for cold weather, so she quickly amended, “but I think it’s good to buy these things early, they’re usually cheaper that way.” She had been ridiculed online for that one. When Leticia mentioned a sundress, Andy nodded. That was something she knew about, even if she didn’t wear them very often. She usually wore shorts, tank tops, flannels, or overalls. But Leticia put the sweater back anyway and Andy felt a pang of guilt. She decided that after they were done here, she would grab it and stuff it under her only items and give it to Leticia later as an apology for not understanding. Maybe she could grab a belt, too. “You don’t think he’s still like, aware or anything, do you?”
-
Andy wasn’t really sure what had happened to get Rick to the point of mobility or awareness, but the thought that he might still have it was a little freaky. As Leticia moved further down to look at some dresses, Andy went to the spot where she’d put the sweater back and she began to shuffle through some of the items. At her idea for discounted vinyls, Andy couldn’t help but laugh. “Wait, that’s actually a good idea. A little fucked up, maybe, but a good one, anyway.” She leaned against the clothing rack and watched as Leti picked through some of the items. “You should do it, though. I think people would talk about it, and when people talk that’s good for business, right?”
“Well, maybe not buff then, but he was sharp.” Leticia snickered at her own joke, thinking about the papercut it had given Emilio in the shop. In the moment, it had been terrifying. The thought of something coming alive like that out of nowhere? Andy had mentioned a curse, and Leticia wondered if she would have known if it were a curse. Emilio had been cursed but hadn’t had a damn clue about what was happening to him, so was it possible? She tried not to think about it, looking at another item and then forcing it back onto the rack, wrinkling her nose.
-
“It basically… helps it from looking like a box?” Leticia wasn’t sure how to explain it verbally, “It will make it look more like an intentional choice to make it a dress rather than… it looking like I rolled out of bed in someone else’s clothes?” The explanation sounded off even to Leticia. All she could do was hope that Andy could piece together what she was trying to say. “That’s probably my problem,” she laughed, “I always wait until the last minute to get anything. Drove everyone in—uh, back home crazy.”
Grabbing a few dresses in a variety of colors, Leticia shuffled through them, considering her options. She could get all of them, but would she wear them? Putting the yellow one back, she pulled out a romper that was stuffed among the dresses. “God, I hope not,” she replied, taking her choices off the hangers and adding them to her basket. “I don’t even know how all that happened… like if I got cursed, I would know it, right? That’s not just something that happens unexpectedly, yeah?” Her voice dropped to a whisper, the thrift shop was mostly empty, but she still didn’t want to invite any eavesdroppers. “Maybe I’ll put a bag over his head at night so it doesn’t freak me out.” Her bandmate, Oliver, who had given her the damn thing would have lost his mind if he knew it was haunting her. Nodding her head, Leticia focused her attention back on Andy, laughing along with her friend. “You think so? Word of mouth is a powerful tool. But if Emilio makes fun of me again, you’ll have my back about this, yeah?”
-
It took Andy a moment to understand Leticia’s joke, but once she got it, she let out a laugh of her own. The smug look on Leticia’s face only made it funnier, she realized. She seemed proud of herself, so who was Andy to deny her? “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with looking like a box,” Andy commented back with a raised brow. Maybe she didn’t care so much about the way clothes looked because she and Alex wore just about anything they could get their hands on. Before Andy had started to bulk up, her hand-me-downs worked for Alex. Now, everything was too baggy on her sister, but things were different now. “But I think I can see what you’re trying to say.” She tried her best to visualize it, but couldn’t quite get there. Maybe she would need to wait for Leti to leave the store to buy the sweater, or maybe it didn’t matter much at all.
“Honestly, I’ve never been cursed.” Even if her whole life was a shit show, she didn’t think she’d ever actually gotten hit with anything magical that could fuck everything up, even if sometimes it felt like it. Andy chewed the inside of her cheek as she watched Leticia pick her items off of their hangers. “A bag over his head?” She snorted and resumed looking at the number of sweatshirts. There were a few with bleach stains, but that didn’t bother her. They could be clothes while she worked on her newly attained hobby, maybe. “I think that he would definitely let you go, if that were the case.”
She picked up one of the bleach stained sweaters and threw it into her basket. Andy hummed, making a show of just how much she was thinking of an answer to Leticia’s question. She leaned against the clothing rack, tilting her head to the side. “I think it would depend.” Even though she’d gotten to know Emilio on a slightly more intimate level in all of their shared traumatic hunter-ness, she wouldn’t back away from teasing him. “Not on a lot, but you know, it would just depend. Would you defend me?” She countered as she pulled away from the rack, moving to the opposite side to where some new overalls she hadn’t seen the last time were hung.
-
“But what if I looked like cardboard, Andy?” Leticia asked, doing her best to keep a serious expression on her face, pretending to focus very hard on the clothes in front of her. “Would you still be my friend if I were made out of cardboard? If I were shaped like a box?” The smirk was already touching the corner of her lips, but she worked her jaw quickly and got the muscles in her face to relax before looking up at Andy. It was like every other ridiculous joke she had seen on the internet about if their partner would still love them if they were a worm, but she had a feeling Andy hadn’t seen those. But would this throw Andy off? Even just a little?
Worrying at her lip, she nodded her head as Andy spoke. “Makes sense. I guess… it would be a weird thing to be common, right? I didn’t even realize that shit was, well, real, until everything happened.” Of all the things in the world to doubt, Leticia couldn’t explain why it was magic and the existence of curses that she had doubted. It felt… too human? Too romanticized? Her mouth opened in shock and for a moment, Leticia just stared at Andy, trying not to smile too much before tipping her head to the side. “Did you go home and listen to his song, Andy?” She had gotten the lyrics wrong, but it still felt good.
There was something comfortable in this, like a piece that Leticia had been missing in other relationships. Something that came easily. Even as Andy drew out her contemplation and turned away to look for her own clothes. “On?” She questioned in the pause, leaning into the clothing rack that Andy was shuffling through. But she wasn’t looking at the clothes, just at Andy. “Without hesitation,” she promised. “I’d even defend your canned food diet to him.”
-
“I mean…” Andy made a show of how she was thinking about whether or not she would still be Leticia’s friend, her grin still present. “It depends. What are you doing as a cardboard? Are you like Rick, or are you just… I don’t know.. hanging out?” Andy wondered if Leticia was asking this from previous experience, or if she considered the Rick cutout to be an actual friend. She had talked to inanimate objects plenty of times, so she couldn’t blame her friend for pouring details of her life into something that couldn’t give an opinion.
As Leticia’s face lit up, Andy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and only because I wanted to know what all the hype was. I still don’t really get it.” She wanted to tell Leti that she didn’t think it was that great of a song, but the admission stayed between her and the way she had turned it off after the second chorus. The song, however, had gotten stuck in her head afterwards. “But you like it for some reason, so I tried to understand you a little better.”
She flipped through a few more items, seeing Leticia lean against the rack out of the corner of her eye. Andy tried to ignore the way the proximity felt. Not because she felt anything but because she wasn’t used to people being so close. Instead of putting distance between herself and Leticia like she normally would be, she stayed put. “Like he wouldn’t eat what I eat. Come on, he’d probably agree with it, or he probably eats way worse stuff.” An easy laugh left her as she grabbed a long sleeve t-shirt, throwing it into her basket. “But if you’d really go that far, then I guess, yeah, I’d defend you. Your honor, too, or whatever.”
-
Andy started thinking again and Leticia pushed out her bottom lip, not ashamed in the slightest to be pouting in public. “Are you going to punch my head off if I’m like Rick? That wouldn’t be very friendly of you.” Without a straight answer, Leticia hummed and arched a brow, wondering if she’d ever get one or if Andy was truly a little… put off by Rick Astley. “Okay, then what if I were a worm? Would you be friends with a worm?”
It didn’t matter how many times Andy rolled her eyes, there was no dampening Leticia’s mood. “It’s okay, it’s not something you get, it’s more… something you experience.” She wasn’t even sure if she’d enjoy the song as much if it hadn’t been from outside influences herself. The jokes online that bled into her friend group in real life that turned into who could get each other the worst. Surprised, Leticia tried not to let it show. Leticia had a number of friends but no one that had gone out of their way to try something just to know her better. Part of her wanted to tell Andy that she didn’t have to do all that work, “That’s not my favorite song. It’s actually Dream On by Aerosmith. It’s pretty old but it was one of the first songs I covered. You don’t have to listen to it,” she quickly added. “But if I had to pick one, it would be that one.”
Wrinkling her nose, Leticia shook her head in disgust. “You’re probably right. I heard from his employee that he eats soap. So, he might be several steps down from your standards, actually.” But the grin was soon back on her face. She nodded happily, her gaze still on Andy’s profile. “I would,” she confirmed once more. “And if you ate soap too, I would also defend that.” Just in case that was another weird hunter thing.
-
“No! I would never do that.” What if it had been Rick and a cutout of Leticia? What if Leticia were the one trying to bite off Emilio’s hand with cardboard teeth? Wouldn’t it depend if she had known Leticia before? She didn’t know Rick, so she had no attachment. The hypotheticals ran through her mind, but Leticia’s question about whether or not they’d still be friends if she were a worm ripped her right out of her thoughts. “Excuse me? A worm?” Andy stared at Leticia like she had three heads. “How would we be friends? Where would I find you?” The question was a strange one, but Andy considered that maybe Leticia was a little strange. Not in a bad way, but in a way that actually made her get out of her head. It was… nice. Sometimes. “Wouldn’t a bird eat you before I could even befriend you?” It was a valid question, she thought.
Andy scrunched her nose. So what was all the hype about the song if it wasn’t her favorite? Was this a bit? Andy knew how to drag a joke on for too long, so maybe that was what Leticia was doing in relation to Rick Atlsey. “Dream On? I know that one.” She was proud that for once, she wouldn’t look like a clueless idiot to Leticia about music. It wasn’t that she didn’t know it, it was just what some might consider classics, Andy had missed out on. “It used to play a lot on the radio, I think. The guitar is nice. You covered it?” She tilted her head to the side, trying to imagine Leticia on a stage of any kind. It was easy, considering she looked like she was made for it.
“Emilio does not eat soap.” She blinked at Leticia, “does he?” The latter question came out in a half whisper and she shook her head. “Maybe that’s why he smells sometimes? Eats it instead of uses it to wash his hands.” Andy grimaced, remembering that she had slept on his couch. At least she hadn’t gotten fleas or anything. “I do not eat soap. You don’t even have to defend me on that.” She let out a laugh before grabbing another t-shirt, holding it over to Leticia. “I think this would look nice on you.” It was an Aerosmith t-shirt, funnily enough. “For your favorite song. Obviously.”
-
Biting down on her lip, Leticia tried to keep her laughter quiet. But Andy’s small outburst sent her over the edge. “Good to know, good to know. In case I ever get turned into cardboard, you know? We need to know these hypotheticals, who knows what could happen in this town.” She was pretty sure that turning into cardboard wasn’t a serious threat, but she also didn’t want to stop asking Andy about the endlessly strange possibilities that they might face. “You’d let a bird eat me?” Leticia looked at her, pretending to be scandalized. “I would have put you in a little jar of dirt if you were a worm and given you the best life among flowers.”
There was some relief that the song was familiar. She could take the jokes all day about Rick Astley because the whole song was a joke to her, but this one was much closer to her heart. “Once in a while it’ll still play, it’s moved more to classic rock and people are, well…” Leticia shrugged but laughed, “More into Taylor Swift these days?” Which so was Leticia half the time, but as much as she loved new music that came out, she always drifted back to her roots. It wasn’t until Andy asked that Leticia had realized the slip. Swallowing, it was Leticia’s turn to avoid looking at the other directly. “Well, yeah. I, uh.” She fumbled for the words, “I performed it live a couple times. Got to meet him and everything. Unlike Rick.” She added the last part, trying to ease the tension in her chest.
“You’ve seen him, how could you doubt me? Or them? They’re gonna take a picture of the soap next time so I can show him the evidence of his mistakes.” She wondered for a moment of Nora had been serious, despite all his flaws, she didn’t think he was that unhinged. But then again, she hadn’t suspected he was a hunter until it was spelled out for her. Just like Andy. “Good, because I would have had a hard time keeping a straight face while saying: this is my friend Andy, if she smells nice it’s because she eats soap. But she’s like, cool about it.” The shirt brought out a gasp as Leticia took it and held it over her clothes. “Oh, this is fucking awesome. Must be fate.”
-
“Hypotheticals. Right.” Andy realized that it was all a joke, and instead of feeling offended that Leticia was poking some kind of fun at her, it made her feel at ease. Maybe because they were growing a real friendship here, despite the issues that’d led them to this point. Usually, Andy would run from anyone she had shared traumatic memories with, but with Leticia it felt different. Emilio, too. “I wouldn’t let a bird eat you. I’m just saying what if it happened before I met you as a worm. Have I always known you as a worm? If I had, I’d probably get you something way bigger than a jar. That seems kind of small, doesn’t it?” Andy made a show of placing her hand on her hip and giving Leticia a sideways glance.
Andy nodded, listening to Leticia talk about Aerosmith and how it was considered classic rock. What made it classic, she had no idea, but she chose to believe the woman with the vinyl shop. She hadn’t really thought much of Leticia singing a cover of Dream On, especially because they had already had a conversation about karaoke, but as her words sort of jumbled together, Andy couldn’t help but look up at her from the next item of clothing she had found. “You met Aerosmith? Is it just one guy?” She only knew the song, not the fact that it was composed of multiple different people.
“Please don’t take a picture of his soap.” Andy laughed softly as she flicked through a few more items before giving up on the mixed overall and t-shirt section altogether. “I smell nice because I shower, not because I eat soap. Do not tell people I eat soap.” Andy nearly reached over to poke at her friend’s arm, but her hand found another t-shirt instead. There should be boundaries, she realized. She didn’t want to make Leti uncomfortable, and she still wasn’t sure about physical affection, as it was, even if it was friendly. “It looks like it was made for you, so yeah, I guess it’s fate.” It had been lucky, and though the pessimist in Andy wanted to explain she didn’t believe in fate, she watched Leticia fawn over the shirt instead. “You should go try it on.” She nodded towards the fitting rooms. By then, she’d be able to stuff the sweater that Leticia had been looking at under the rest of her items.
-
There was a mixed feeling hidden behind Leticia’s eyes, wondering if Andy had thought that Leticia was truly concerned about becoming a strange cardboard figure, or if she thought that maybe the curse was something Leticia had placed on the real Rick Astley, and then just outright embarrassment that she tried to keep tucked away. But Andy blazed on and Leticia pretended that her thoughts hadn’t wandered. “So, my jar isn’t good enough for you now, I see,” she teased back. “And there’s no other context, it’s just that: would you still be my friend if I were a worm? You’re overthinking it.”
Grabbing a jean jacket, Leticia considered for a moment how out of date these were, and then added it to her basket anyway. Nostalgia, she told herself. “No, it’s a band, but the singer is the one who I got to meet. Steve Tyler,” she explained, pointing him out on the t-shirt. Though he was front and center, so it would have been easy to assume it was just him. “They’re a group of five. I did try to get backstage to meet the other guys during one of their concerts, but… it didn’t work out.” Her manager did what he did best and managed to find her at the last second and tell her she had other obligations for the evening. But she had been so close. What a dream that would have been.
“I just won’t show you the picture of the soap then, but I’m getting a picture of it. I need to shame him properly.” Though Andy had offered to help her break into his apartment and put in a little sound box to scare the shit out of him… maybe she could snap a picture herself when they were there. If they followed through. And Leticia really hoped they would. “I mean…” She had been about to suggest that eating her canned meat was the same thing as eating soap, but decided not to at the last second, opting to laugh to herself and shake her head. “Okay, okay.” Andy had gotten close to touching her, and for a brief moment, Leticia wondered if it was okay—if that flinching she had noticed from before was just because of the moment they were in. But she grabbed another shirt and Leticia kept the distance, going as far as to take a step back so that Andy wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. Looking at the shirt again, the smile came easily. “You’re right. Though if it doesn’t fit I guess cardboard Rick can wear it to represent.” She grabbed one last shirt before turning, “Okay, I’ll be right back.” And she was gone, only barely getting distracted by another item on her way to the rooms.
-
“How am I overthinking it? You asked the question!” A laugh left Andy as she considered the jar and how it would keep her safe in a worm-like state. That was, if she hadn’t turned out to be an enormous worm. She wasn’t sure what would happen then. Maybe Leticia would hide on another cabinet. “Let’s go with yes, for now, but I have more questions for later.” It was a little funny, Andy realized that Leticia was asking these types of questions when she was already something else. Maybe there were no double meanings, and maybe she meant her words for what they were worth and nothing but.
With a sigh, Andy looked back towards the clothes, realizing that there wasn’t really anything she wanted. At this point, she was only sticking around to engage in friendly banter with Leticia. As the other woman explained Aerosmith and their frontman, Andy nodded. “That makes a little more sense, I guess. Not sure it’d be authentic if all of the instruments were recorded.” Not that there was anything wrong with that, but there was something about seeing people play them that brought an excitement she wasn’t sure just a singer could bring. “That sounds really cool for you.” Because while Andy couldn’t understand that excitement, Leticia at least spoke as if it’d been a dream. Andy was a little disappointed she hadn’t gotten what she wanted, even if it was from a time where she didn’t know the brunette.
While Leticia explained that she just wanted a photo of the soap for her own personal needs, Andy nodded. This town sure liked to bully people. Not that she didn’t. She was constantly giving Kaden crap, but that was because he was her cousin and she felt it brought them closer. It made it easier to ignore all of the pain points that were their lives prior to Wicked’s Rest. Andy watched with amusement as Leticia mentioned the cardboard cutout again, and what Rick could possibly wear. “Don’t waste your money on a cardboard cutout,” Andy groaned, followed quickly by a laugh. She watched as Leticia retreated towards the fitting rooms and she backed up, grabbing the sweater her friend had looked at longingly. She shoved it underneath her items in the basket, careful to cover it.
When she heard the door to the fitting room open, she looked up to see Leti in the Aerosmith t-shirt. “They say it fits like a glove, right? That’s the saying?” She approached the fitting rooms and leaned against the opposite wall and nodded in approval. “You should get it.”
-
“A simple question,” Leticia shot back with a shrug. “You’re supposed to give a quick answer, not ask me twenty in return, okay?” But for all the complaining she did about the exchange, she was grinning. “No, all I heard was yes,” she declared, waving off the rest of what Andy said with another laugh. “No questions. That’s not how this is supposed to work. You just answer from the heart, and you would be my friend if I were a worm and that’s all that matters.” Though, by the looks of it, Andy was still thinking about it.
“There’s a whole genre of music dedicated to that, but that’s not the point,” Leticia added the last part quickly, not wanting to fall into another hole when it came to music. She was passionate about it, but she didn’t want to keep boring Andy with it. Even if the other had never told her to stop, or said that it was a boring topic for them, she didn’t want to be the person that overwhelmed someone else with everything they loved and gave the other no room to share. “Yeah, it was pretty cool. But you said you knew the song. Did you like it?” The question had a different tone than before, though Leticia tried to seem normal about it, this was a song that mattered to her. And likely, the closest thing to her own music that she’d want to talk about.
But maybe the shirt in her hand was answer enough about everything. Andy had gone out of her way to listen to a song that no one liked just to have a better understanding of Leticia. “Hey, he’s been with me a long time, I should at least pretend to care about him still, okay? He never gave me up after all. Never let me down, even when he was trying to bite Emilio’s face off.” It was still horrifying to think about, but despite that, she felt better having gone through it with the two of them.
Digging through her clothes, Leticia tried on a few things before putting on the shirt. It fit and she liked it—but she almost took it off before showing Andy. She stood there, with her fingers pinching the hem of the shirt, and then opened the door. It had been a long time since she had gone out with anyone to go shopping, Even if she had only run into Andy by chance, she wanted to show her. And to have that experience again. Something entirely normal and simple. “Yeah? Good, because I love it. I was very lucky you came along today.” She dipped back into the dressing room and got back into her regular clothes before heading to Andy once more. “Ready, then? Or did you want to try on something first?”
-
Leticia was pointing out that she had asked one too many questions, and that the answer was supposed to come from the heart. Andy could understand that, but she still wanted to know what had prompted the question to begin with, as well as why it mattered. In a town like Wicked’s Rest, though, she might need to reiterate that she would in fact care. People could turn into a lot of things, and most times against their own will.
“I did like it, yeah. It had a cool uh…” she mimicked the way that people often played guitars against her stomach, the other hand coming to hover just above her shoulder. “Guitar? Guitar riff, or whatever they’re called.” She smiled at Leticia. She knew that music was important to the other woman, but hadn’t quite understood the complexities of it and how it related to Leti’s past. All Andy could do for now was respect her and how fanatical she got over different artists and songs. Except for Rick’s. She’d never understand that.
“I mean, I guess that’s true. Seems like he was doing that for you.” The memory was a strange one to recall, and not only because Emilio might have lost a few digits. It was because it was the first time in a long time she hadn’t felt bad for using her strength. Granted, it was against a stupid cardboard cutout, but she’d felt good in protecting somebody; despite the fact that she wasn’t sure it could do any real harm. It was a weird feeling. “Lucky? I questioned you about belts and worms. You sure about that?” Andy let out a laugh before turning around to shield the basket from view. She blinked at Leticia, not realizing that they had plans after this. Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. “Yeah, no, nothing to try on for me. I’ve gotten good at eyeballing what’ll fit.” It was needed when most things were stolen. “We can go get lunch, too, if you want? I’m starving.”
@declinlalune replied to your post “[pm] The albums are great. I've been listening to...”:
[pm] Yeah, and she's busy enough it hasn't been an issue. I appreciate your help, by the way.
[pm] Good! I’m glad! If she ever gives you trouble you’re welcome to use the player in the store. If you want to come hang out. Anytime. Music is meant to be shared, I’m glad you’re enjoying it.
[pm] Hey, if you need anything, let me know. I'm going to be busy at the bakery for a bit, but just let me or Kaden know if you need anything. Alex, too. [...] By the way, if you see a little brunette running around, that's Alex's girlfriend.
[pm] I need my emotional support cardboard cutout— sorry, that's not funny—
Do you need help at the bakery? Some lunch? [User realizes Andy will likely say no and wrinkles her nose at her phone before quickly adding...] I could use the distraction. But I'll reach out to them if I need anything. [...] She's dating the girl that hangs out in the caves? Fuck, I owe her catnip tea. I hope she forgot.
[pm] Hey, Leti? [user attaches photo of the hunter who attacked Nicole and Leah] if you see this guy, get the fuck away from him okay? [...] and please tell anyone else you think might need to know.
[pm] Hey Andy! :)
[...] Who is that- A ranger, I take it? What happened? I thought you didn't talk to any other rangers? [...] Yeah. I have a few people I can forward this to.
