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

[witchoftheflesh]

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!]

Comments

[joan_of_bark]

"Right, so what are we getting into, specifically," said Pam. "And what would people expect us to be?"

She was not the type to be swayed, no.

[thatwaslucky]

Rey had never been here before. And Rey's first question when she got there was, "Is this a situation where blasters and lightsabers should be hidden or visible?"

In case that answered the question of whether she was staying here or not.

[mustbeawitch]

Lydia had debated long and hard about what one wore to a magical marketplace where one most decidedly did not want to look like a witch. She had decided that dark colors were right out, and selected the most charming dress.

Look, you had your priorities, and she had hers.

She greeted Adrian with, "Right, where's your shopping list?"

[mustbeawitch]

"Neither are particularly common on Earth," Lydia pointed out, "so I should think they would raise more questions than anything if they were visible."

Honestly, this was a shopping trip, people. Had none of you gone shopping before? If you acted suspicious, everyone was going to think you were suspicious!

[thatwaslucky]

"It's so far sounded like it could go either way," Rey said, and she was trying so hard not to be too obvious in noting her admittedly lovely dress.

[mustbeawitch]

"Not witches," Lydia said, "but as long as we avoid the pointy hats I should think we can manage that much, at least."

Her campaign to get Adrian to leave his at home, let her show you it.

[joan_of_bark]

"I never did look good in a hat," Pam said dryly. "Inconspicuous is probably the best idea."

[joan_of_bark]

"I think they might call a lot of attention to us in this environment," Pam noted. "Honestly, I'm not sure if guns are a thing here."

[thatwaslucky]

"That's sort of what I figured," Rey replied. "The way he talks about it, though, I'd rather be maybe overprepared."

[joan_of_bark]

"Maybe wrap them up in cloth," Pam said. "They won't look conspicuous and unless things get really bad, you can use them as a bludgeon."

[mustbeawitch]

"That's why I thought it best to avoid black," Lydia explained, gesturing to her dress, which by many metrics would not qualify as 'inconspicuous.'

[joan_of_bark]

Pam looked down at her own green tunic. It was inconspicuous, sure, though that was marred by her not inconsiderable height for a woman and the general sense of... her... ness she carried with her everywhere. "Good thinking," she said lightly.

[mustbeawitch]

"It's a shopping trip."

Into enemy territory, yes, yes, but still.

"You save threatening the shopkeepers for after they try to cheat you."

[thatwaslucky]

"I do t think it's the shopkeepers we're worrying about?"

Maybe she was wrong!

[mustbeawitch]

"Yes, but we shouldn't act as if we're worried about anything but shopkeepers." This was why you people needed Lydia.

[thatwaslucky]

"Hopefully I don't have to even get to bludgeoning," Rey said. "I had to do a lot of things like this through a war, it had to end in shooting more than I'd like."

[mustbeawitch]

Lydia was quite tall, herself, but that could hardly be helped, could it? "I do try," she said, standing there dressed like she was going to a garden party. "Have you been to such a place before?" Maybe everyone except Lydia had magical markets all over the place in their worlds. That would be typical, she thought.

[joan_of_bark]

"Don't I know it."

Admittedly Pam generally felt a lot less regret than she suspected Rey did, but...

"Let's just keep our fingers crossed we're either being too paranoid or Adrian is about to be too charming for this to turn into a problem."

[joan_of_bark]

Well, Pam hailed from DC Comics, which was an outlier in many things and should never be counted.

"Yes," she said. "In my experience, it usually ends in shenanigans - funny or tragic. Let's hope this time it's the former."

[thatwaslucky]

"Either of those things is entirely possible," Rey said.

[mustbeawitch]

"Yes, I should quite prefer to avoid tragedy if it can be helped," Lydia agreed. "I'm not made for it."

Unless you asked Lizzy.

[joan_of_bark]

Whereas I'm a black belt, Pam thought, before batting the self-pitying sentiment away.

"Are you armed?" she checked.

[mustbeawitch]

"I am not without my own defenses," Lydia assured her.

Pam could be excused for having her doubts about that statement, but Lydia had a seemingly random assortment of items and a bundle of unopened letters in her handbag, and Wickham's demonic luck at her disposal. She was prepared for most eventualities.

"And yourself?"

[thatwaslucky]

"I kind of have to, in a way," Rey said. "It's how a lot of the helpful Force stuff works."

[joan_of_bark]

Some fungal hyphae chose just that moment - or did she choose it for them? - to curl into a little spiral against her cheek, as one corner of Pam's lips raised to meet them. "I'm also not without my own defenses."