regina malum

Was she familiar with magical items? How had someone known to seek her out without knowing the answer to that was a resounding yes? Maybe she just wanted a little reassurance she’d stumbled upon the right alien spaceship by the beach. Flox indulged her. “I’d consider that my specialty,” she answered, looking the woman over again. Creepy was definitely the vibe she was achieving, whether she was going for that or not. 

“Did you bring me something tricky or are you here to go through my stock? I have…reagents, talismans, a few odd books I haven’t offloaded yet.” She couldn’t depend entirely on the kind of contract jobs she often took from Tivan or that popped up every now and again somewhere else. The most steady money she made came from what she carried all the time. 

Selene kept her smile steady, if only wavering if a brow had to lift. She needed this to go off without a hitch, otherwise she’d be out of luck getting Zachary to Neron. Now, she had a few back up plans, but that meant they’d need more time and at the moment, the boy’s birthday was right around the corner. They didn’t have much time left, so this needed to work.

“Actually, I was wondering if you’d be able to find something for me,” she began with hands clasped in front of her, her tall frame straight and fixed, though her cloak billowed lazily behind her, as if its ends were made of nothing but smoke and shadow. It was a slow movement, like seaweed waving in the creeping tide. “A candle of Neron. Last I’ve heard it’s making its way up the Oregon coast and into Canada. I would retrieve it myself, but I have to stay here considering the state of the city. And I’ve heard you’re very good at what you do.”

She decided to be upfront - that’s how these things went with these people, wasn’t it? And if not, well, she could erase the merchant from earth within an instant, though that meant it would require a tremendous amount of power, and she’d become frail and weak the moment all that power was exhumed from her body. 

Flox tended to have protocol for how people contacted her, if only because she didn’t return to Earth often enough for many to just know. Still, it wasn’t completely unheard of for someone to bypass it, even if it set her a little bit on edge. She’d been sitting cross legged inside the Kitsune, sorting through what stock she had left to decide what she might be able to unload on Earth and what would keep traveling with her. The ship detected the presence before she ever had the chance to hear a voice, so she laid aside the box she’d been digging through and lowered the little ramp that let her walk down onto the ground.

“I’d ask if you’re lost but,” Flox pulled her dark hair over one shoulder to keep the wind that constantly blew in from the ocean from whipping it around her face, “you don’t look like somebody who gets lost. That means you have something for me or you want something from me, mystery lady.”

Others tended to underestimate Selene’s ability to get into places she generally didn’t belong. Having become one with the shadows, it was easy for her to slip by without someone noticing, or to gather information. It was how she happened upon the knowledge of a sort of merchant that traveled the stars. With her interest piqued, Selene sought her out. Finding an alien on earth wouldn’t be too difficult, and so she’d found her by an abandoned and broken pier, hidden in plain sight. Clever minx. Her dark eyes turned towards the seemingly human looking woman and gave her a steady, even expression.