witchoftheflesh | Blackwood Grove, Fandom to Baltimore's Anchor Market, Monday Afternoon

Okay, so...Adrian's Market jaunt had been pushed back a few days. Mostly because Pam, Rey, and Lydia had all told him that they were coming along with him. Adrian had tried - briefly, and not well - to point out why that was a terrible and dangerous idea, but all of his arguments against had been taken as arguments for and eventually Adrian had bowed to the inevitable and given in.

But they couldn't just go in. They needed a plan and, even more importantly, they needed disguises.

So first, a meeting here to figure out their story and get them all into the proper disguises, and then it was off to the Market.

If he were going anywhere that wasn't crawling with warlocks, Gilgamesh's enforcers, and had a slave pit to boot, Adrian would almost be excited. Sadly, that was exactly what each Market was like and so he was filled with dread instead.

"Do you think that they'll be more willing to listen to reason and stay here today?" he asked Boston.

The cat didn't even deign to reply, just opened one baleful eye long enough to look at him and then closed it again to nap.

"Yeah," he sighed. "Me neither."

[For the aforementioned ladies please!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

thatwaslucky

"Is this like Lydia's magic, where you have to pay something in return first?"

She wasn't entirely comfortable with how she'd seen Lydia's glamours, at least as it might pertain to her, so she needed to see how uncomfortable she might be here.

From:

witchoftheflesh

Adrian shook his head. "At least, not the way that she does," he explained. "And this is a potion anyway; magic, yes, but not exactly a spell."

From:

thatwaslucky

There was maybe instant relief happening on Rey's face.

"How does that work?" she asked, curious this time. "Do you need anything from us?"

From:

witchoftheflesh

"It's a potion that builds up an illusion based on whatever appearance you're concentrating on at the time," Adrian said. "It's helpful to have something tangible to focus on, so you can build your illusion around it, but if your imagination is strong enough to build in details, that's fine, too. So all I need from you is a good imagination, strong focus, and, ah, a willingness to look and probably behave like a spoiled rich princess."

He was betting it would be the last one that Rey was going to have a problem with.

From:

thatwaslucky

Yep. Yep, by the look on her face she knew that last part was going to be a problem. She'd do it. But it was going to be work.

"I'm doing this because I don't want anything bad to happen to you," she told him.

She'd even known a princess and she was maybe the least spoiled ever so she couldn't even base it on that.

From:

witchoftheflesh

If Adrian had known Tahani, he would have had the perfect example to offer.

"Sorry," he said. "Anchor Markets are pretty much all around terrible. But I really do appreciate that you'd stick your neck out for me like this."

Though if Rey wanted to take this as a reason to not come along...?

From:

thatwaslucky

She wasn't even considering it as an option.

"Of course. And I'm guessing I can hide weapons easier that way." So not only was she still going, she found a bright side to a princess dress.

From:

witchoftheflesh

"Oh? Oh! Ohhhh...no, um. Not that kind of princess. More like Hollywood royalty. Think rich, entitled, there to be seen and show off how much money and personal power you and your family has."

More miniskirts than ballgowns. You know, the kind of thing that Liliana would cheer to see you in, Rey.

From:

thatwaslucky

"Somehow that's worse," she frowned. "You'll let me know if I look wrong and I can adjust it?"

From:

witchoftheflesh

He rather assumed that it would be, honestly.

"Sure, but the best thing to do would be to get an image in your head that you are confident in," he said. "Maybe we could find something online that you can mimic?"

From:

thatwaslucky

"Sure," she said, getting out her phone. "On a scale of one to ten, how obnoxious should I look? More elegant or over the top?"

From:

witchoftheflesh

"Seven at the very least," Adrian said. "And not elegant. Flashy. Over the top."

Somewhere, Liliana could be heard sniffing, 'New money.'

From:

thatwaslucky

It probably didn't help that she might have a skewed idea of what over the top was, but she did a quick search and came back with two options. There was a lot of gold in these results, apparently.

"Are either close?" she asked. How comfortable she was didn't matter in comparison to just needing to find something. It wasn't real anyway.

From:

witchoftheflesh

"This one," he said, pointing to the shorter one. "You'll fit right in, actually. Do you have a bag or anything? You can make it look like a clutch and keep your lightsaber and blaster close to hand."

He figured that might make her feel more comfortable, even if the plan was to never, ever use it.

From:

thatwaslucky

"I can make that work," she nodded. "I can make it all work."

He was lucky she liked him. Even if he didn't ask her to come, that was beside the point.

From:

witchoftheflesh

"I promise, I'm going to look just as--" He waved a hand towards the chosen dress, not wanting to say 'awful,' because he was pretty sure Rey was going to look the furthest thing from awful in that. How she felt, on the other hand... "Really, thanks for this."

He poured a mug of a cloudy, murky blue liquid for her from a bottle he'd pulled out of one of his ridiculous pockets, and then finished the rest of the bottle himself. The results were not instantaneous, but it did work quickly. In just a moment or two, there was man standing before her just oozing smarm and punchability. He still had Adrian's tall, lean body and olive skin, but his dark hair was slicked back like an old-style gangster's, and his slim-fit Italian suit was even more atrocious. It was still black, but the faux-velvet fabric had a gaudy fleur de lis pattern. Bran, his raven-topped broom that'd been lying in the grass at his feet, had been transformed into a raven-topped cane.

"See?"

From:

thatwaslucky

"That is definitely not you but you're making it work," she told him. He also knew what he was doing.

And with a little raise of the mug in a toast, she drank it, so she could end up in the dress, her hair actually down, and probably more makeup than she'd ever wear in real life.

From:

witchoftheflesh

At least her shoes were still her real shoes, and not the dainty little heels Lydia was sporting, regardless of whatever they looked like.

"Right back at you," he said, giving her a slightly-apologetic smile. "Even being pretty much as unReylike as you can possibly be, you still look great."