— for: @wolpha | THERE IS A SPLIT SECOND OF SILENCE BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM: she regards him behind her counter, a hand of fine - point nails tapping against steel. then --- there is a breath, sucked - in ( ᴴᴹᴹᴾᵀ! ) as the corners of her mind finally, finally produce an image. ❝ you were here a while ago, weren’t you ? ❞ there is no reason to give an answer: she does not forget a face, a freckle. she does not misremember the scent of not belonging. her eyes find his, and the mouth spreads into a red grin. I know you... against the grind of her teeth, purred instead of snarled. she knows this much: in the stretch between his appearances, her store had been cleaned deeply twice and three bodies had been chopped and sold, two more having taken their space. the candied eyeballs needed replenishing, the jellied things needed to be thrown out, the final stretches of their shelf life. she is proud of this system of time, privately.
❝ maybe this time, you’ll buy something instead of lurking ‘round my door. ❞ it is spoken as if it were an order, directed and straight - pointed. a glance is given downwards to the glass counter, the smile wide on her face. ❝ i give discounts to new creatures down here, unless i’m mistaking the strangeness that radiates from you ? ❞ a beat. ❝ but i’m never wrong about these things. ❞