1 // Temptation - Video

[serpentinthegarden]

[ The magic mirror displayed a scene of total chaos. A horse’s cart was halfway up a tree, in flames, and the horse that was meant to be the engine for the thing was running around loose sending people scattering off the sidewalks as it thundered by. Crowley held the mirror and looked back at the scene before walking away. ]

That could have gone better. Probably goes without saying I’m not going to be a carriage driver...

[ A small pause while the cart exploded and someone in the background screamed. ]

Anyone heard of--

[ He was suddenly interrupted by a little angry man who shouted after the demon, something about a wrecked cart, but it was difficult to hear anything but Crowley’s replies. ]

Pay you? You ought to be paying me! Like it’s my fault the horse doesn’t like demons! You never once said the horse doesn’t like demons!

[ Crowley waved the man off with a less-than-polite gesture and crash landed grumpily onto the nearest free bench, though with the panicked horse running wild most of the benches were empty. Most of the street too. People had piled into the nearest building which just so happened to be a candy shop. ]

As I was trying to ask before I was interrupted, anyone else heard of any other job openings? Not having the best of luck with it... I would have done fine as a driver but that horse--

[ He was interrupted again before he could continue. Crowley snarled as he turned to glare at this new distraction but in doing so he ended up dropping his magic mirror. ]

-- Hours Passed before the Mirror flared to life again --

[ Unsurprisingly it was to bear witness to another scene of chaos this time one of children and their parents frantically snatching up every boxed or bagged candy they could lay their hands on while one demon clad in uncharacteristically in white and sporting a lovely red striped bandanna carefully watched over their every action from behind the counter. ]

Everybody in here better be buying something or you are going back outside and trust me you don’t want to be out there with that horse still on the loose!

Comments

[serpentinthegarden]

Crowley bobbed his head acknowledging that taking down kids wouldn't be the least bit difficult.

"But, they are only kids. Wouldn't be much fun at all if they were hurt."

Which was why he had only teased the idea of putting them to sleep for a few hours not 'taking them down'... really, all they needed as some where to run off that sugar energy.

"And for something as nasty as poison I would think most people would need a reason. Revenge, power, money... one of the basics. I suppose a girl as bad as you wouldn't need a reason?"

[mal_contented]

She shook her head. "It's pointless without a reason, even if it is a flimsy one. For something that big, a reason makes it worth it." Which was part of what made her such a disappointment to her mother.

[serpentinthegarden]

"This whole conversation started because you said who needs a reason, now you're agreeing with me that a reason makes it worth it? You really need to sort yourself out..."

He shook his head and moved back over to the register.

"Now how about you tell me which of the things you've picked up you want to pay for and I can tell you how much you actually owe including those things you've hidden in your pockets?"

[mal_contented]

"Big evil needs a reason to be worth it, small evil like messing with your head? That's it's own reward." And yep, totally ignoring that he busted her.

[serpentinthegarden]

"Yeaa... my head wasn't really messed with."

It was entertaining though, he'd give her that. The matter of the candy and paying for it could be sorted out later.

"You're supposed to be some sort of villain are you?"

[mal_contented]

"Some sort, yeah. What about you? Just slumming it or toadying up?"

[serpentinthegarden]

"Little bit of both I suppose. Since the Kingdom won't pay us for helping them out we need to get money from somewhere."

He paused long enough to ring up another sail and bag the candy the large man had just purchased.

"I'm trying to be 'good'... at least until the first paycheck."

[mal_contented]

She snorts. "Tried to be good for a while. Guess I'm just bad at everything," she said adding a smirk to the word bad as she pulled herself up to sit on the counter. "Meanwhile they have me over at the barber shop, and looks like you could use some bippity boppity other hair."

[serpentinthegarden]

"Hmh."

Crowley grunted in a sort of mutual agreement on that.

"I know the feeling. Didn't go so well with the horse..."

But her odd turn of phrase soon had him snerking again.

"Bippity Boppity Other Hair? Is that what they make you say?"

[mal_contented]

She snorted. "Nah, left over from Auradon. Fairy Godmother said bippity boppity everything and it gets in your head after a while. My spells are much sleeker, I assure you."

[serpentinthegarden]

"Did you have a fairy godmother? That's... sweet."

He shrugged though, maybe his look was a little outdated here. Crowley hadn't yet decided what was and what was not fashionable in this world. That seemed like a good thing to ask some one who works in a barbershop.

"So whats popular in hair?"

[mal_contented]

She snorted. "No, she's the headmaster of the school now that Cinderella has her happily ever after. Which if you ask me is more that she feels guilty about inflicting Cindy's son on the rest of us. I'm more the evil fairy for a mother than good fairy godmother sort."

She stretched a bit, casually sliding a small candy down her sleeve from a shelf behind him. "Popular in hair? Generally not that," she said, gesturing to his hair. "Colour is a bit too one note, needs a little something to break it up," she gestured to the hints of dark in her purple mane. "Plus you could use some length."

[serpentinthegarden]

"Cinderella, like the fairy tale... with the fur slipper and all?"

There was a distasteful thought, a world based entirely on Grimm's Fairy Tales. They tended to be a little, well, grim and too gruesome. The things humans chose to read their children before bed...

"I've had long hair before, went out of fashion for a while. Never thought of doing it up with a bit more color."

He thought it over now though, head lolling to one side as he tried to imagine what he might end up looking like.

"Not sure purple's my color."

[mal_contented]

"Glass, but otherwise yes. And purple is my colour, so very much not yours. But with that orangy base, some reds and blonds, we could do some interesting things with a hint of fire." She smirked. "Unless you're afraid of being burned?"

[serpentinthegarden]

"Fire's my element apparently. I was in that carriage when it caught fire, didn't get burned."

He leaned forward to rest on the counter-top so that they were a little more eye-to-eye.

"But, I would need an entire new look to go along with that and my first paycheck isn't until next week... that is if I get one. If some one made off with a bunch of the goods on my very first day I doubt I would hold this position any longer than I had any of the others."

Hint, hint, help a fellow villain out?

[mal_contented]

"Fire can be a fun one," she said, with a grin. "And if you're that sure you're not getting paid anyway, pretty sure you know where the till is." There, helpful.

[serpentinthegarden]

"You missed the part about my 'trying to be good'."

Bit of a shrug, "At least temporarily. Besides petty larceny like that would get me about a hundred dollars... not worth it really. Couldn't even buy a decent jacket with that and it's not half as much as I could make if I managed to last the whole week. So, come clean or I will have to do something I really... really, don't want to do."

[mal_contented]

She hopped off the counter. "Well you could TRY to do something you really really don't want to do, but is it really worth the risk? Just over charge a few of the annoying ones to make up whatever you think you're missing. A few dollars here and there, at the amount they're buying, no one will ever notice."

[serpentinthegarden]

"The only one at risk is you. What are you going to do, manicure me into submission?"

[mal_contented]

She threw her head back and laughed. "Oh, that's cute," she said when the laughter died. "Underestimating me. Well you just have fun with that." She patted his cheek lightly, then spun on her heel. "I'll work on ideas for if you ever bother to come in," she tossed over her shoulder, heading for the door.

[serpentinthegarden]

He had meant the girl was at risk from her own actions not necessarily from him however there was something to that since it now fell to him to decide what to do about her. Should he let her go or speak up and turn her in?

Since he had arrived in the Kingdom he had been reexamining his own nature, was he pure evil or were there layers. Was a demon allowed to chose to be good sometimes? Should he even if the thought sent his skin crawling? This situation with Mal was a test of all that and he hated it.

Crowley growled low in his throat, a sound which grew in volume as he practically barked at the ceiling.

"Rrrah! You're really going to make me do this?!"

Shouted at the girl's back as that had been he couldn't really see her face but she wasn't given much time to react really as Crowley then snapped his fingers to gain the attention of his new employer.

"Oi, Chef! Got a shoplifter here!"

The chocolatier might have been an older man but didn't he move quickly when there was a thief in their midst? The Chef rushed out and made an attempt to grab Mal's arm as you do when making a 'citizen's arrest.'

Let me know if any of this needs editing.

[mal_contented]

Oh the look on her face as she spun to face them both wasn't horror or shock, but a sort of smirking grin that seemed to promise revenge. And that she seemed to be promising to enjoy that revenge when it came. She ducked under the old man's grasp easily and spun in place, one hand coming up to knock open a display of gumballs. Or maybe they were mini jawbreakers. She kind of hoped the second, because that would be funnier, but didn't stop to look as she dashed ahead of the small slippery candies now coating the floor.

There was a back entry she had spotted that led to another shop, small narrow hall, but harder to circle her from, since someone would have to go out and around to do it. So she headed that way, ducking behind a display just long enough tp empty her the candy pockets into the bottom of a bin, so that if she was caught there wouldn't be so much as a wrapper for evidence on her person. Then she darted into the haberdashery, and then strode at a swift but less suspicious pace from the haberdashery to the customization area, and then out that exit, walking with her hands in her pockets, cool as you please, fingers wrapped loosely around her cellphone. She made her way casually back down Main Street as if she hadn't a care in the world, though she kept watch on the candy store out of the corner of her eye as she passed....

Ditto ^,^

[serpentinthegarden]

The older man slipped on the bouncing candy jawbreakers as they spread out to cover the floor and wonder of wonders, Crowley found himself performing his second good deed of the day. The demon reached out to catch the man's arm before he tumbled back into the glass display case and cracked his head. Could have been nasty, an older gentleman like him taking a fall like that. Though he surprised himself at how easily it had come to him to save the man. He was grateful for the job of course, it seemed to be one of the few he hadn't managed to screw up right away... but really, two good deeds in a day? Wasn't there a limit to those?

No one chased after Mal when she made her escape as the round candies proved a effective 'Home Alone' style escape method but the Chef did have it in mind to call the guards about her.

That works. Let me know if I need to edit this last bit.

[mal_contented]

She seemed to have gotten away with it. Oh, someone would probably tell Merlin and she'd hear about it later, but she was pretty sure she could handle that. She caught the salesman's eye as she passed the front door and tossed him a smirk and a wink as she kept walking. She'll deal with him at some point. And that she knew she could handle.....

(Up to you if you want to jump to "later" or end it here for now.)

Seems fine to me. ^^

[serpentinthegarden]

A smirk and a wink that only received a snarl in return as he was a little too busy cleaning up some one's mess.

Later in the day however he treated himself to an ice cream from the local vendor. Strawberry Swirl, which wouldn't have been his first choice but they were out of Ooey Gooey Buttercake Ice Cream. Crowley lounged on one of the benches near the central plaza and watched the people milling about to get their last minute shopping done before the Emporium close for the day. Mal's distinctive hair color stood out from the crowd.

"Hey, shoplift girl!"

She had earned a new nickname.

"Was it worth it?"