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 Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 9:04 pm
Perry sighed as he got out of his car and pulled the back of his jacket up over his head as much as possible in an attempt to keep the rain from soaking him. "Sunny with a slight chance of cloud cover my a**" the man grumbled. These days you just couldn't trust anyone for reliable information anymore, not even regarding the weather. Though Perry supposed it could be some sort of magic based storm which might have thrown the forecast off. Regardless the tawny haired man dashed through puddles on the sidewalk and into Balcombe Curiosities as fast as he could.
Perry had never been to the shop before, had never even heard about it till today on the radio when the strangest message had played. The man was used to 'are you' messages on tv and the radio that targeted the audience as a whole but he'd never had his specific name spoken, he'd never been addressed directly and it was intriguing to the young man. Standing just inside the door so as not to drop all over the place the blue eyed man looked around curiously in search of some assistance and answers. "Hello?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 10:01 pm
"Ugh, Xbalanque Gear, stop moving!" Was the first thing the poor man was greeted with. Her exhasperated demand was met with a hiss that seemed in stereo; one from an unhappy serpent, the other from an unhappy boy. "How the hell'd you even get this?" She demanded, stretching what sounded like a tape, tearing a piece off; the moment of silence was followed by that same strange, duplicate hiss.
"I dunno! I woke up with it..." The younger male voice replied, grunting a bit but soon falling silent. The hissing did not stop though, even while the boy, apparently Xbalanque, spoke. "Na, someone's here." He said fairly calmly, as though trying to direct the attention from himself.
"Hum? Oh. Uh. Sorry, one minute!" Switch called out to the customer, apparently finishing up something before rounding the corner, wiping her hands on a towel...that had some blood on it? The blue haired and green eyed woman peered curiously at him.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't hear the door. Hello! Welcome to Balcombe, if you need anything just ask."
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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 10:17 pm
Perry had no idea what the hell was going on in here and he felt more than a little bit of nervousness at the sight of what he thought was blood. Maybe he shouldn't have listened to the random radio ad, maybe he should have known this was a trap. he shook his head furiously and offered a false smile " No I'm good to just browse," browse, stay away from anyone inside and then duck the hell out before he ended up murdered or fed to some sort of hissing monster.
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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 10:26 pm
"Alright, well if you need me, just yell. My name is Switch, by the way!" She smiled back at the man, her attention soon divided as a young man wandered over to her. He looked tired, and there was a fresh bandage around his waist that looped over his shoulder; but there were a few spots of blood through the bandage on his right side and his left shoulder. It also brought into view the 'hissing' monster; the serpent that was fused to the young man's skull.
"I'm okay, I swear!" He told his Guardian quietly, though he was silenced by a look. Nobody just woke up with these kinds of wounds! He was crazy, and this was far from over.
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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 10:42 pm
Perry, now half behind a shelf gave a little sigh of relief at the sight of the bloody boy. He wasn't that odd looking for Gaia , although he'd never seen anyone with a snake on their head before even if he'd heard of such people. That and well the kid looked like he was at 'that age' where fights and proving yourself and stupid accidents were common. Not for Perry himself mind you but plenty of his friends had spilled their fair share of blood for various reasons in their youth.
Mildly comforted the man took to browsing the store now that he was here, plus there was that radio message. If nothing else maybe he could find something to amuse himself with on the next work trip or something to give his parents for their upcoming anniversary.
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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 10:51 pm
Kay yawned a little bit, looking rather drained and sore. Switch felt it was okay to focus on her son since the customer seemed to be content in his own little world, and so the woman looked him over again, sighing.
"Well...try to remember. Go downstairs and sleep, Kay. There's advil in the cabinet there." Motherly instinct seemed to take over, even a little bit, and she shoo'd the poor wounded boy downstairs. He seemed more than happy to go, especially at the mention of pain killers. He disappeared downstairs and Switch stared at the fairly bloody towel in her hands, tossing it out of sight for now.
All she could do was wait until she was needed.
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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 11:05 pm
Perry looked over several of the items littering the shelves for a few moments before deciding that he had no use for anything here at the moment even if some of it was amusing or mildly interesting. Careful in how he spent his money though the blonde wasn't prone to impulse buys. He did however give in to the urge to reach out and pluck a book out from between where it was sandwiched amongst several others.
A small shiver ran through him as he gazed at the cover and then turned it over to read the back. Waves of love turned out to unfortunately not be some sort of triumph of a struggle surfer with side romance goign on which perry might have enjoyed and instead some sort perverse set of sexual fantasies masquerading as literature. Okay so he read some raunchy stuff from time to time but that was well that was different. This was.. weird or at least disturbing from what he'd gathered by reading the spot marked by bookmark of a cute cartoon girl of dubious age.
Still he couldn't bring himself to let it go, he could read it tomorrow on the train and then trade it in at a used book store if need be Perry reason. Tucking it under his arm he went in search of Switch. "I think I've found something' he called out calmly not wanting to alarm the woman."
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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 11:31 pm
Switch felt that connection, she felt the life of the book and bookmark latch onto that poor man. Sigh...he wasn't going to be leaving empty handed, no matter that he thought or tried to say. That item would find him, that much was for certain.
"Oh? What's that?" She asked innocently, as though she was unaware. Ignorance, even feigned ignorance, was bliss. The woman was moving back to her large oak desk, sitting behind it and getting out a book and a pen, apparently where she kept inventory. Thus far, the shop had no fancy computer.
"By chance, is this visit in response to an ad on the radio, tv or newspaper?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 11:40 pm
Perry had the good grace to flush a little " Just a book and now that you mention it yes the radio" he laughed softly " the radio told me specifically to come here." It still didn't fully make sense but by now the agent was comfortable enough that he didn't feel in danger here. Besides Switch was behind a desk now and he could bolt for the door before she ever got to him.
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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 11:59 pm
Ah, so the shop did lure him here. Well, that made it easy, then! With a bright smile, the harmless looking woman brought her attention down to the book, flipping through it until she found the title she was looking for. She could see the book from where she was sitting, so it was perfect.
"That's great! My colleague went through, picking random names as a marketing campaign. You picked the right item, too. If you answer a radio ad you get an item under ten dollars for free...that book with that bookmark makes it just under ten." She said happily, a shrill change from the way she dealt with her apparently reckless son. "Of course, there's no exchanges or returns." Which meant yay free things for the stranger.
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Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 12:08 am
The man nodded " I see," it sounded weird but hey isn't that sort of what telemarketers and those weird subscription people did? Perry'd been on do not call or mail lists so long he wasn't sure what standard operating procedure was anymore. The no exchanges or returns policy didn't bother him much either, after all this was probably to keep people from returning items they got bored with or had broken but not in an obvious way. To the tawny haired young man it all seemed fairly logical, plus a free book that he could always exchange elsewhere, she hadn't said anything about that after all, was just a bonus and almost made up for the small soaking he'd taken.
Perry flashed Switch a genuine smile this time " Well if that's the case then thanks and I think I'll be on my way before the weather gets any worse." He'd rather not risk being out if an actual thunderstorm occurred or when the roads to get back home started to flood.
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Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 12:28 am
"Sure thing." Switch chuckled, glancing outside before looking down at her book, crossing out the entries for the book and the book mark. "Have a great day! Hope the weather clears up for you." She said genuinely, putting the book away and waving to the customer.
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