Minding the Shop [Percy, Any]

[Will Warrender]

Will wandered the dusty old antique shop with a lazy lumber, he had already moved the dinette set from the window display towards the back and moved a fainting couch in its place. It was pretty strenuous, given the fact that the old furniture was heavy, and it was hard to navigate the cluttered shop cautiously...with what the young man often referred to as 'old shit'.

But apparently it was valuable old shit, and he had to be careful with it, or a certain crotchety old man would have his hide. And given that he didn't know exactly where Percy was, which always made Will a bit leery, he didn't like how he snuck out of the dust like the Crypt Keeper, it was just spooky.

After setting up the new display, Will just found himself with a loss of what to do, the place was such a mess, it just rubbed him the wrong way, "Oh, comeon." he moaned, looking into a glass case and barely seeing his face in return, let alone whatever was in there. "That's...just nasty."

He mumbled and moaned, shuffling around until he found some rag behind the register, and some window cleaner, if he wanted it done right, he'd just have to do it himself.

With luck, no one would come in and complain about the mess, or at least, no one would complain about him cleaning the mess, but he was never one of those guys who had a lot luck.

[darkkenchild]

Percy had been lost in thought. He wondered if he had remembered to lock the apartment that morning. He wondered if he had remembered to bring the register so that he could start doing inventory, which was sorely overdue. Most of all, he wondered where Will had gone to. He had asked the boy to move a few heavier items earlier, and he couldn't for the life of him remember what or where. He sat behind his desk in the back ofice and thought, nervously tapping a pen on the very ledger he couldn't remember bringing to work that day.

With a sudden and jerky jump, Percy leapt to his feet, vaulting out of his chair and walked around the desk, stepping around the various tables in the back, which were cluttered with antiques in various states of repair and cleaning. He muttered to himself, "Gotta remember to get working on that clock, all it needs is the dirt cleaned out of the gears and it should work..." Noticing that he was getting distracted, he pushed is way through the curtain that separated the employee and public sections of the shop.

He noticed Will near the front, cleaning off the cabinet where the smaller and more valuable pieces were kept. Quickly and deftly, he moved through the antiques, almost as if they weren't even there, stopping suddenly behind the boy. He watched him clean, noting how well the simple act of cleaning was improving the appearance of the items behind the glass. He nodded, with a strangely wide smile and said, "What'cha up to, Sport? Doing a bit of cleaning?"

[setmi]

The albino man glared in front of him, not that one could tell as he wore his large mirrored wrap-around sunglasses. The day was bright and sunny, but it was still so damned cold. Setmi had already decided he absolutely hated winter, and he wanted nothing more then to go south for the horrid season. The only upside was that the sun didn't seem as bright, nor did it burn his skin as it did the rest of the year. It was a very small mercy in comparison to the ridiculous cold weather.

Probably the worst part of it all was his prosthetic leg. Apparently the odd veternarian who had built it for him hadn't taken below zero temperatures into account, because the bite of the cold metal hurt where it attached to Setmi's stump, and the werewolf was almost certain that the skin would be raw and tender when he took it off next. Grumbling, he decided to get out of the cold long enough to warm himself up and turned into the first open shop he passed.

He blinked in the sudden darkness, before remembering his shades. He slipped them off and pocketed them, before looking around with narrowed eyes.

The shop was apparently one that sold ancient artifacts or something, and didn't look to have any business from the thick layer of dust and grime over everything. He caught sight of the two men further back in the shop, but he ignored them and feigned interest in whatever was nearest the door, his leg throbbing painfully.

[Will Warrender]

"What'cha up to, Sport? Doing a bit of cleaning?"

The pet expression complete with Percy creeping out of the dimness of the shop made Will yelp and nearly jump out of his skin, fortunately he didn't go with his immediate instinct of throwing the bottle but the rag was tossed at the old man as the younger one scrambled to get out of harm's way.

"Oh my...oh my god...dude, you scared the shit out of me." he huffed and puffed, rubbing his hands over his face as he hunched over a little getting his barrings. "Uggggggggggh." It took awhile but eventually the blond sighed and started to laugh. Really it was like the man was the goddamn Crypt Keeper indeed, shuffling through the dust and terrifying people...with a cackle and some nicknames...utterly creepy.

Of course then fate had a funny way of finding things that proved the blond wrong, and Will was...admittedly impressed as a scarier looking bloke decided to saunter into the store. Though, he wasn't too sure what more more surprisingly, the man's looks, or the fact that there was a customer.

It took a moment before Will remembered his manners and looked away from Setmi, after deciding: It was weirder that someone was here. "Afternoon."

[darkkenchild]

Percy flinched when Will jumped, eyes darting madly around in that half second of worry and fear over what had scared the boy, when Will started laughing, he smiled and nervously chuckled along with. "Sorry, there, boy. Didn't mean to scare you." He awkwardly patted Will on the shoulder, attempting to seem reassuring, but failing miserably due to his continued nervous twitching.

Then, with a sudden jolt, Percy seemed to take notice of Setmi having come into the shop. With an awkwardly large smile and a slightly odd look in his eye, he approached his most recent customer. "Eh, hELLo. HEllo. Ahem." His speech varied oddly in tone, and he coughed awkwardly. "Excuse me, so sorry, s-sir." He reasserted his smile and glanced around at the antiques that the man was inspecting. Reaching into his pants pocket, he suddenly stood slightly straighter, muttering something incomprehensible under his breath, He took a deep breath and said, "Is there anything I can help you with, sir? Looking for anything in particular, or simply browsing?" He stood with a patient and helpful, if odd looking, smile, and he idly played with something in his pants pocket.

[setmi]

Setmi looked up at the voice, his gaze settling on the young man apparently trying to clean the filth. The albino made a noise that might have been a greeting in return, and then he became aware of the other man coming near him. Had he any hackles, he would have raised them, but he settled for baring his teeth. Unfortunately for him, it merely looked like a grin. "Hello."

Something about this man really pushed all his buttons wrong. If he knew the words, serial killer would have come to mind. He was simply not used to such strange individuals. "Neither," Setmi said shortly, eyes straying down to where the mans hand was in his pocket. With a shudder, Setmi envisioned a hole in the pocket allowing the man to - but no, he refused to allow his thoughts to go there. It shouldn't take long for his leg to warm up so that he could continue on his way anyways. "Just escaping the cold."

He turned away from the strange little man and moved away from the door. There was a slight chill that was either his imagination or the result of poor insulation, and it was not speeding up his warming up. Of course, this brought him closer to the other man in the building, and he allowed his eyes to seek him out briefly. "You work here?"

Anything to escape that creepy look the older man was giving him.

[Will Warrender]

Will didn't seem to take the scare too seriously, in fact it took mere moments before he just shrugged it off and began scrubbing some more as Percy tried all too enthusiastically to greet a rare guest to the store.

Chances are this poor guy was going to run out screaming into the the cold darkness of the streets, just like...just about everyone who stopped by. Percy just had that sort of effect on people. Well, except him, he found it funny more than anything. A low quiet chuckle rumbled from the back of the blond's throat as he sprayed down another display case, humming to himself as he tried not to be so loud to insult anybody.

And of course...a swing and a miss, it appeared that the strange man and the strange man seemed to weird each other out, Will assumed it was because they were different species of weirdo...like...Trekkies and Star Wars geeks...something like that. He didn't try to make sense of it.

"You work here?"

He had been so involved cleaning up he almost startled again when the albino began talking to him. "Uh'yea...I do." with his low voice and his accent it sounded damn near like he was gargling marbles, but he was at least sociable, though no less awkward than the creepier looking man. "I uh...kinnae halp you?"

That sounded about right, of course he wasn't too sure if he could, since he said he wasn't really shopping. "The loo is in the back...to the left...past the doilies." he jacked a thumb behind himself, as if that had to have been what Setmi was asking for.

[darkkenchild]

Percy blinked, and blinked again, before nodding somewhat sadly at the albino. He had been hoping that he had found a new customer, as his regulars had been somewhat scarce of late, and sales were somewhat slow. "Alrighty sir, if you need anything, feel free to ask." He flashed his awkwardly large smile again, standing awkwardly starting at the albino's back as he headed further into the shop. He twitched a few times, squeaking slightly as he does so, then he headed behind the counter.

Slowly, Percy took the old and beat up register apart, just enough to take out the paper logs out and replace them with a new roll. He put the register back together carefully and nodded silently to himself. "I wonder how long it's been since I checked this... EEep!" He squeeked loudly in surprise, before catching himself and covering his mouth. His gaze darted up to his customer in a blind panic, and his gaze lingered slightly too long. He blinked a few times and muttered to himself, "Too long. Too Long!" He twitched again, before smiling his awkward smile again, in case the man was watching and returned to his paperwork, slowly and carefully folding the logs and placing them in the and the cow will circle the mooooon! pocket of his old dirty brown blazer.

[jacob]

"Why would you sneak out of the house like that?! You know that your supposed to stay here at night because there's other creatures out there you don't want to get involved with!!" Called her mother from the living room yelling at Mercedes. All the while Jacob hearing this from the stairs getting mad and protective even that his sister, not blood of course, but since he was fifteen he lived with her so she mise well be a blood relative. But upon hearing this, she began to cry as her mom yelled at her more and more using language that was unbearable to hear coming from a mom to a child. Hearing the two of them bicker back and forth he had stepped up from the lower part of the stairs and just waited. "THEN LEAVE! See if I care!" was the last words heard before a door slammed and he jumped.

Mercedes ran toward the front door next to the stairs and saw Jacob standing there. "That was harsh sis, I was going to go and save you but I had better not get involved. It really hurt me inside to hear that you know.." he explained as he stepped down and gave her a huge hug. "C'mon, lets go to take a walk. There's this antique shop that we can go to, its got a bunch of cool gadgets and things we can look at, maybe calm your nerves." he said taking her hand and leading her out the door. "let me get something first." she commented running upstairs and grabbing her "overnight" bag. Her mom wanted her to leave and that's exactly what she would do. She would prove to her mom that she could live on her own.

They both walked out the door, her wrapped in Jacob's arms to keep warm, plus his jacket he had given her to keep her even warmer. Mercedes smiled as he gave her his jacket. They walked down the street as the wind blew forcefully. She shivered as he held her even tighter against him. "It'll be ok, but you do know we have to go home at some point right? I mean we can't hunt and be out here forever you know. It just won't work. Plus, we don't have any money or anything." he told her a frown coming to his face not liking what she would be telling him. "I don't want to go back though, bro. I want to stay out here. If mom told me to leave then that's exactly what I plan on doing, whether your here or not. I'm sorry bro, I can't do that anymore. I'm sick of mom telling me what to do and me getting in fights with her. It just needs to stop." she gave a deep sigh as she opened the door to the little antique shop seeing a few people in there.

The heat was on in there so it felt nice. Mercedes stopped shivering for a few moments as Jacob went to check out the many different things in there they had to offer. "Hello, good afternoon." he said to the man behind the register as he entered the store. He didn't want to be rude just walking by with no proper greeting. He wouldn't tell him his name or Mercedes' name as that would be too much information unless they properly introduced themselves. Jacob kept a close eye on Cedes as she roamed the store looking at what they had to offer. They couldn't buy much, and if they needed food they needed to save it instead of spending it in there on something that they may not necessarily need.They would just stay in there to keep warm for a bit before moving on and going down the street and talking one on one again.

[setmi]

The albino blinked. Will's accent was hard to understand, but damned if it wasn't endearing. Setmi immediately liked the man and his leer softened into a more normal smile. The bathroom comment, however, threw him off. After all, his experience with bathroom's were giving blowjobs in the stalls of bar loo's for a few dollars. He licked his lips and gave the man an apologetic smile. "You're not really what I'm looking for, sorry."

The shop owner - or at least he assumed the creepy bastard owned it - squealed over something, and Setmi looked up in time to catch the old man staring at him. Setmi blinked and stared back, and Percy just continued to stare. The werewolf was starting to get annoyed when the sound of people entering made him look at the door. His eyes narrowed at the couple; he assumed they must be together, the way the mans eyes followed the filthy woman's movements through the shop. It was too bad, really. The man wasn't half bad, despite his obvious poor choice in mate.

Setmi grumbled and walked deeper into the store despite his aching legs sharp protests. The store wasn't exactly what one would call large, and with the couple in it, it was starting to awaken his claustrophobia. The further away he got, the better for all parties involved.

[Will Warrender]

"Well, that's good, I'm not f'sale."

Will seemed a bit confused, but he laughed off the weirdness he was being subject too, but still he was amiable towards the albino, even when Percy was staring at him, and he was starting to get disturbed. "He does that...kinda...a trance o'somethin' he ain't playin' with a full deck. But he don't mean nothin' by it..." he whispered to Setmi, before finishing up his cleaning. Will grinned, stepping back and admiring his handiwork with what looked like...a bit of pride.

The blond looked up curiously as the bell announced new shoppers, really this was just becoming a whole mess of surprises for him, three people now? He waved slightly as the young couple as the woman announced herself with a greeting. "'Allo!" He said chipperly, turning back to converse more with the strange fellow, but it seemed he had already wandered off further into the shop.

"Oh...well, alright then." he said to himself, not really bothered in the least about that, but he'd let Percy respond to the two newcomers, given that well, it was his store. Will just started to lumber about, moving things out of the way for people to get at the merchandise better, and generally to tidy up.

[darkkenchild]

Percy blinked, and blinked again at the couple that had just entered the shop. More people in the shop, and even before the previous customer had left, this was simply unheard of, causing him to pause for a long moment, as if thinking to himself. Before too long had passed though, he seemed to catch himself, and he grinned, disturbingly widely, at the newcomers. "He-Hello there, welcome to my shop." He blinked slowly, and deliberately, before continuing. "Are you looking for anything in particular, today?"

Percy shot a quick glance towards the back of the sales floor, toward where Will had been tidying up, and where the strangely pale customer had been mere moments before. Not seeing the man, Percy found himself wondering if Will had said something untoward to the customer. He motioned with his eyes for Will to help the other man out, wherever he had gone. Of course, with Percy's ticks, it's hard to say what Will would assume he meant by the twitchy blinking and head bobbing.

With a start, Percy realized that his attention had been allowed to wander, and he turned back towards the couple, flashing his awkwardly broad grin at them once again, and staring, almost unblinking, at the pair.