[active/open] There's One Born Every Minute

[boogieandrock]

Characters: Etna, Negi, anyone else?
Time: Afternoon
Location: 26 West Randolph Street (Garrett Popcorn)
Content: Etna is attempting to manipulate a young boy into doing her bidding.
Format: Prose
Warnings: See content.

Comments

[underagemage]

Negi was really a sucker for older women in need of help. After being a teacher of a classroom full of 15 year olds you would think he would be past this, but no, if anything it had made him worse about jumping into things and helping people without first thinking that they might have bad intentions. Granted, he had a mage-vampire for a Master so that probably didn't help things. Maybe it was something to do with his new dark powers that he was attracted to such things, at least on a subconscious level. Of course, he didn't know Etna was a demon yet so perhaps it was nothing.

He was walking on his own after having briefly stopped at the Blackstone. There were a lot of people there but Negi wasn't sure if he wanted to stay there or not. It would be nice to get to know these people he was trapped with but on the other hand he didn't want to hurt anyone should his Magic Erebus get out of control again. He had thought he'd felt some wards around the building when he'd entered, but Negi had never been very good at sensing magic so

[boogieandrock]

Etna, by now, had already decided to partake in the veritable popcorn feast the shop provided. Even something so simple as stealing a bit of popcorn for herself seemed even easier here. No one had so much as blinked an eye when she had nabbed one of the bags, which was a good thing, since she was pretty sure someone in the store was looking right at her when she did it. In fact, if her eyes hadn't been deceiving her, it almost seemed like the person was actually cashing out a register

[underagemage]

Negi didn't seem at all surprised Etna was devouring popcorn (of course he didn't know she hadn't paid for it). It smelled really good though, especially to someone who hadn't eaten in awhile and had been using a great deal of magic power.

The boy approached the red haired girl with his usual charming smile, "Hello, it's nice to meet you in person." He gave a little bow, some of his habits from Japan were hard to shake, "What did you need help with?"

[boogieandrock]

An eyebrow arched at Negi's bow. While it wasn't completely unheard of (she did live with Flonne, after all), she wasn't used to seeing acts of politeness on that level. But Etna, not one to look the gift horse in the mouth (especially a gift horse this big and golden), didn't say anything about it.

"A few things here and there," she told him, a small smile tugging at her lips. It was a lie, of course. Or... a truth, but not quite the sort that most people would think of as being true. She didn't plan on putting the kid through the prinnies' work schedule unless he somehow managed to piss her off, but "a few" was so much of an underestimation that it went out the bottom of the charts and hit the ground (but at least it stopped before it could roll out the door).

"I'm not used to cleaning you know. And cooking's pretty rough too. Oh, and you said you were going to help me find somewhere to stay, right? Someone like you probably knows the Human World better than little ol' me." A little buttering up never hurt anyone.