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It took some time for Alex to convince herself the address was correct. She checked the slip of paper that had been crumpled up beneath her keys in her pocket three times. Okay. No. She hadn't misread the directions. She frowned to herself, shoving the address back from whence it came and stared hard at the sign above the door. She squinted a moment later. Sistine, it read.

"Andy never mentioned he owned a candy shop," she mused aloud, giving the storefront one last dubious look. She exhaled slowly, not quite a sigh, raking her fingers through her hair as it threatened to fall into her eyes, which were already suffering from the dark circles beneath them. "Fits him though, I guess. ... gotta do what you love." She shrugged and pulled the door open with a single fluid motion, glancing up at the faint jingle of the bell as she walked through. Cute.

The store itself was empty. Empty of people, at least, as far as she could see. The place was candy wall-to-wall, brightly colored and with the thick scent of sugar overlaying the more subtle traces of different fruits and chocolates. More prominent were the tanks that lined the walls of the store, sandwiched in between shelves and bins of candy. She frowned, curious, and shuffled to the nearest one, leaning forward to peer inside.

"... he raises nudibranchs?"

"F-NAGLE. Ow."

A brief shriek sounded just after his shout, followed by a few seconds of dead silence. Perfect stillness, until the sound of hurried footsteps as Alex rushed towards the counter, bracing herself against it with both hands and leaning over to see who she was pretty sure she was responsible for maiming. She winced, sympathetic, when she saw Alice on his backside on the floor, and offered him her most humble and sheepish of smiles.

"H-hey Alice. I was looking for you. ... is your head okay? Also, your butt."

She blushed faintly at his pained expression. She was pretty positive this was the first time she had caused someone injury simply by talking. She had a reputation for being kind of a klutz, sure, and a little accident prone, but this had to be a new record. She cleared her throat and eased back from the counter, giving herself an inch or two of space.

"What's up, Doc?"

"Oh, just, you know, in the area... um. We just moved here. My brother and I. Oh, and, you remember Andy? Andy, too. I mean, we didn't all move together, Andy moved the club out here awhile ago and then Jake and I moved for different reasons but hey, whaddya know, Andy gave me my old job back and I mentioned to him I was having some trouble with a few things and he said, 'Well, kitten, why don't you look up Alice?' and gave me your address so I came here hoping you would be working and you are and since when the hell do you raise nudibranchs?"

She paused to take a singular breath.

She stared at him in turn, expression perfectly blank for a few seconds before her eyes finally lit up. "Hey, you actually answered every question. Only Andy ever manages that anymore. And you know, maybe you could never understand me, but I always had the information you needed, didn't I? You just needed Andy to translate for like a year. After that I was pretty sure you got the most of it via context clues."

She exhaled again, heavily, a sigh of relief this time as she leaned against the counter, crossing her arms over her chest and pulling her hooded sweatshirt closed in the process. "'Ziggy' is good, still a singing bartender, more or less. The move was alright, the reason for it not so much. I know you're retired from the force but I was hoping you'd have some advice for me -- I'm not really comfortable taking my problem to the police because there are some holes in it. But I figured -- well, I was hoping, anyway -- that you would trust me enough to hear me out. I'm kind of being stalked." She winced even as she said the word.

"Also, your sea slugs are cute."

Her smile, however nervous and un-smile-like it had been, faded instantly; she gave him a somber look to go along with his reasonable-adult-voice. She had heard it many times before; whenever he came to the club looking for information, it was the voice he adopted after exchanging pleasantries and passing out bribes -- that was to say, candy. She shifted slightly, uncomfortable, folded in on herself and completely closed with her arms folded and chin down.

"Yeah. It's my boyfriend, Rob. Well, ex-, now. He's the reason Jake and I moved out here. We moved around Gambino a couple of times but he kept finding us. But it's weird, not like he's just a pervert or a creep, you know? There's something weird about him. It was like one day someone flipped a switch and he was totally different. ... violent." She paused, shifting her weight again, moving it from one foot to the other. "He doesn't remember things that he should, about me. And knows some things he shouldn't be able to."

"Like," Alex began slowly, taking a moment to consider her words. Was there any way to say any of this that wouldn't sound like she was either nuts or overreacting? That was why she had come to Alice in the first place. Because no matter what she said, he was likely to believe her. She had always hated airing her problems aloud; they always sounded trite when spoken, never so scary as they felt.

"Like s**t that I do when I'm alone. In the apartment with the doors and windows locked and covered. Nothing bad on my part, just things he couldn't possibly be able to see. And when I do run int-- I mean, encounter him, the few times he's caught up with me. It feels like..." and she paused again, a frown turning the corners of her lips downwards. "Someone else is wearing his skin."

"Well, one doesn't want to use the word 'possessed,' but..." Alex replied hesitantly, then carefully snaked one hand upwards to rub at the back of her own neck, lips still pulled into a thin frown. "Actually, one does. Yeah, that's what I think. It's not the only weird thing that's been going on. Just the only one that's, you know. A direct threat to my life as far as I know. ... didn't want to take it straight to the police because I was afraid I'd get one of the more straight-laced officers who'd just laugh and send me home."