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Soo and Lance visit The Magic Box, and a poor choice of phrasing has far reaching consequences.
A few days after Christmas 2017
The Magic Box
Late afternoon in Beacon Hills, a few days after Christmas. Jackson and Soo flew home the night before, having settled the Park family estate to the best of their abilities... It's been a rough couple weeks, and Soo's taken the afternoon to wander the town alone, to process emotions he may not have even realized he's feeling... Which leads to him texting Lance. It's perhaps a bit odd, but the Knight of Hell is becoming a frequent counselor to the werecat. The text simply reads, 'Back in town, have a few to chat? Nothing majorly wrong, just miss your face!'
Through coincidence or some miracle, Lance isn't actually far away. Not that it would really be much of a challenge if he were, it would just take longer for him to...appear, like he does.
He's just there. Maybe he was helping out at the Magic Box, or visiting with Anya, as he is wont to do. "Here it is!" He cheerfully answers. It's easier than typing it out on the phone. He's still not quite one hundred percent comfortable with those things. Sooner or later, he's reasonably certain that they're going to band together and take over the world through Angry Birds high scores or something. "How was your holiday break?"
"Lance!" It's not quite a flying tackle. Soo's sure Lance could physically handle it... he's not sure the city could. It's been weeks, and Soo's hug is warm and heartfelt. "It was... Um. Well. It was." Soo lets go and shrugs, glancing away. "It was great to see my dad's family again, especially my grandparents. They loved Jackson. I think it runs in the family." He smiles, saying more quietly, "Pretty sure my cousin is a were-something. No clue what /that's/ about." He looks about, brow furrowing, "Yours? Any horrible heart eating monsters or Kardashian invasions? I heard they teamed up with the Dominion..."
Lance cheerfully enough catches Soo and gives him a briefer, more casual hug in return. It's very Lance, especially as he's become over the years. Funny how people change, even sometimes in short periods. Relatively, anyway.
The mention of the Gentlemen, even obliquely, gets a sour expression on the demon knight's face, but fortunately that fades to a more contented, relaxed one. "Nothing," he answers. "It's kind of weird. After the last two years were so crazy, this year was just...quiet. Nothing really happened. Just quiet."
"... I... why do I not like that? I feel like that's bad. No musical numbers? No shambling corpses trying to take over the town in Nutcracker uniforms? We're doomed." Soo flashes a big grin at that. "Did I take you away from something? I just... wanted to get back into the swing of being in town. I never thought I'd miss this place, when I moved here."
Lance waves a hand. "I was just doing nothing at the Magic Box. It's right over there." He motions in that direction, then, just in case Soo had forgotten. He doesn't really see the werecat at that shop, but it is a pretty small town. "I'm glad to see a quiet end of the year. I'll be happy just to spend a sleepy New Year's. Maybe have a little fun." His grin spreads again. "How about you? Any plans?"
"I was planning to invade someone else's plans, probably. Or see about getting some people together to do a ball drop at Sinema or something. Ooh, maybe some aerial silks in time with the countdown." He laughs, and then his attention is caught by the Magic Box more fully, his pupils dilating in a very feline manner. "... how did I not remember we have this place? Doesn't Dawn's dreamy uncle or whatever own it?"
"Yeah, but it seems like he's always working on something else." Lance leads back to the shop and holds the door open for Soo. "So Anyanka minds the shop. Sometimes I come and keep her company. There's a lot of people who come here and can...appreciate my gift for quality botanicals." Expression brightened, it's not hard to figure out what he's referring to, which of course Soo will know very well by now. It's not like he's doing anything illegal. Now.
The werecat's pout is only slightly forced. Giles is interesting, from the little Soo's seen of him, even if he's utterly repressed. Or... perhaps because of it. Soo does seem to get a certain delight out of tweaking the noses of the stuffy. "... Anyanka? You mean the weird blonde girl who's standing in the window waving vigorously?" Soo raises his hand and waves back, looking a little confused.
From inside, Anya gestures for Soo and Lance to come in, and follows it up with something that can only mean 'Buy stuff.'
Lance waits for Soo to enter first, then follows him and pulls the door shut behind him. Even if the cold doesn't really bother the demon, there are things in the shop that won't benefit from extended extreme temperature changes. Though those things are generally also not kept near the door, wisely. "Buy something," he murmurs to Soo. "Anything."
Then, smiling brighter, Lance heads to the counter with the register on it. "Have you two not met? Soo, this is Anyanka."
"Oh, it's just Anya. Good old Anya Christina Emanuella Jenkins! Born on the Fourth of July! Completely human." She shoots Lance a *look*. She's mostly trying to stay in the closet, since at least *one* of her friends is in the habit of stabbing demons. "Are you here to buy something, or are you just going to browse around and get my hopes up, only to leave my dreams crushed like the bones of a cheating husband run over by a steamroller?" she pauses, then glances to Lance. "I thought it would be funny like in the cartoons..."
"Er... Soo. Soo Park. Nice to meet you. I like your hair." He smiles at her, but it's clear the werecat is a little confused and off-put by her behavior. Soo isn't used to having people weirder than him here.
With a slightly apologetically-tinged smile in return, Lance looks to Anya, then to Soo. The apology seems to strengthen even more then. He quietly clears his throat. "Anya," he corrects himself. "Soo had galaxy hair for a while. It looked good. Seems like *way* too much trouble to keep up, though. I admire the dedication."
Reaching up to touch her hair absently, Anya smiles, a bit... confused. "Thank you. Are you attempting flirtation with me?" She pauses, then looks to Lance, "Is he attempting flirtation with me? Because I am very busy and do not have time for more than the occasional dalliance." She pauses, looking Soo over, before nodding to Lance. "That's why he looks familiar. He dances half naked on a pole for money. I'd considered that, but decided that I'd rather earn my money as a humble shopkeeper... because, as a human, I have material needs that must be seen to, such as food and shelter." "I'm... er." Soo glances to Lance. "You're very pretty, but I have a boyfriend and I wouldn't want to hurt his feelings by having... dalliances... with someone prettier than him." At the mention of his work, Soo shrugs, "It's not bad money, and it's mostly a lot of fun... and the galaxy hair was mostly Jackson's idea, and his talents. I loved it, but I really like the plum, too. It was mostly nice because he gave me scalp massages every time he redid it." Soo's eyes lid with remembered pleasure, before he blinks and forcefully brings himself back to the here and now.
"No! No." Lance holds up both hands. "He's not flirting. He's being friendly." There's a pause, a thoughtful one, and he continues in clarification. "But not like...not *that* friendly. In that sort of way." Lance is eternal, he knows about friends with benefits, and he's mostly sure that isn't in Soo's plans for today.
But Lance seems pleased at the compliments to them both, folding his arms on his chest and leaning against the counter. "So, Soo, you were here to *buy something*, as we discussed earlier." Silently, Lance makes a series of strange and probably confusing expressions intended to communicate silently for Soo to play along. "We have incense! Doesn't Jackson love incense?"
"... Oh, yes. That makes sense. We wouldn't want your boyfriend to be intimidated, after all." Anya seems mollified by Soo's comment, moving to casually 'dust' a shelf that has several expensive pieces on it. In actuality, she's lifting them up and holding them so the light catches them and casually running her rag along the surface as she does. When Lance speaks up, Anya focuses on him, "Something is wrong with his face." she murmurs to Soo, one eyebrow raising.
"... I honestly don't know if Jackson loves incense... I got here so much later than everyone else in the Pa-... friend group. I always feel like I'm playing catch up. Soony loves incense, though!" Of course she does. Between Soony and Coach, Lance could probably have an early retirement.
As the werecat moves to examine the incense, he smiles wistfully. "Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to have grown up here. I wish my parents had moved here after they got married instead of staying in New York." Oh... Oh no.
"Right?! Soony loves incense!" Lance does know this for a fact, and he utterly ignores the analysis of his awkward facial prompting. It means that when Soo does go to browse, Lance completely misses what he says at first, simply relieved that he's actually shopping for something. That will surely placate Anyanka. "Oh, I dunno. It's a pretty different place. From what Soony's told me, it takes a little getting used to." He slides his hands into the pockets of his very well-fitting pants.
There's a moment of deliberation on Anya's face, as she watches the boy. He's been wronged in the past, and it's a wound that still shows to the Vengeance Demon. The fact that it was instigated by a higher being denying others their free will doesn't matter, the pain was real. And then there's the matter of gender. While Anyanka has always been the Patron Saint of Wronged Women, there's both nothing in her job description that says she can't grant the wishes of men... and Soo just... Doesn't fit that definition, anyway. Plus, he's a friend of Lance's, and she can see how deeply this bothers the werecat... And finally, there's the matter of her quota. D'Hoffryn has been on her ass about slacking for *months*. When she turns from the shelf to face Soo, her Game Face is on. "Granted."
"You know, Stiles really likes--oh no." Lance's face drops, and he turns with eyes widening. "Anyanka! He didn't mean it! It was idiomatic phrasing! Don't--" But he knows, somewhere inside, that it's too late. All he can do is bolster his defenses, but he knows that won't be enough.
Things have already started. The wheels are turning already, and there's nothing he can do to stop them turning. The world, Lance is certain, is about to become very different. If only he can manage to hold onto something, anything, even if only a little...!
Soo looks up in confusion, his brow furrowing as he sees her face is changed, looking from demon to demon. "Wait, wha-" And then everything goes dark... And his alarm is buzzing on his cellphone. Bleary eyed, Soo rolls over in bed and groans, wiping the trail of drool from his cheek and slapping at the phone until it stops, clattering to the floor.
"<Soo! You're going to be late for school, get your butt down here!>" That voice... Soo scrambles to his feet... and stumbles forward, falling with a loud thud, before he forces himself up again, casting frantically about the room. Everything is blurry! Why? Moving to the nightstand, he grabs his glasses and shoves them on, catching sight of himself in the full length mirror on the back of his bedroom door. "Oh. Fu-" The door swings open, but Soo saw enough. Baby pudge, awkward length black hair... and distinctly younger.
"Soo, what have I told you about that sort of language? Get in the shower before your mother kills us both for playing video games all night. Seoduleuda!" His father stands in the doorway, tall and handsome, well groomed and wearing a suit, ready for a day at work. Soo's vision goes blurry again as he steps forward. When Soo stands there, he sighs, tone exasperated but affectionate. "I said hurry!"
"A-Appa...?" The teen stumbles forward on unfamiliar, graceless limbs, throwing himself into his father's arms, which enfold around him and squeeze gently.
"<It's okay. Did you have another nightmare?>" Soo nods, unable to speak. It all seems so real, so vivid. He can remember all of it... but it's fading a bit, like a bad dream in a familiar setting, with people he knows and loves.
"Come on. Get your shower. You're going to miss the bus, and you smell like cheese. I'll drop you off on my way to work." John Park reaches up and casually ruffles Soo's hair. "You can tell me about it on the way, huh?"