The Pirate Prince

The bloke looked...off. Whether or not he was was besides the point. Still, though, Seamus needed help holding the bloody board and the kindly little old woman talking to him wasn't going to be putting her hands anywhere near it.

A strange stranger would, regretably, have to do. Even if he probably deserved a walloping over his head.

“ —Fiiiiiiineeeeeeee” The man whined a bit before grabbing the drill and slowly walking towards him. “ You’re lucky The Great Antonio has nothing better to do at this moment.” He continued before handing it over. “ Because if I did… I would be farrrr away right now.”

His head tipped a bit, brows furrowed in mild curiosity because, once again, there was the confirmation that the guy was a little weird. Probably the type of eccentric weird that was so common around town, likely harmless.

But if he was actually annoyed about his visit to the Rock Shoppe Zero wasn't too worried; it would end up being a strange story to tell Mim later at work. And Zero found it pretty entertaining when people were strange, or at least far more energetic than he often was himself.

He was just about to ask the guy if he was okay there, what with the pausing speech and all, but settled for a lift of his eyebrows when he continued onward.

"Oh," well, objectively better than being yelled at, wasn't it? Although that probably wouldn't have fazed Zero much either. Still, it meant he wasn't terrible at his job, even if he wasn't great at staying awake during it.

"Oh yeah?" The guy could have stood to turn the volume down an octave or two, but whatever; it probably only sounded loud to Zero because he was relatively used to the quiet. "I'd ask if they were as enthusiastic about it as you are but I don't know if that's quite possible," he noted, amused.

Antonio could have gone on about Suta until the store closed or he was kicked out, whatever came first. However, he knew it was time to hurry the line along. “ Hoow about, I pay for your dessert and we talk about Mon Amore over it.. Yes,No?”

Anyways.

"Okayyy, cool. Thanks dude. You're okay too, I guess." Nate chuckled and put his board down in front of his foot and pushed off, "See you later Captain guy."

And with that he shoved off and went to go find a different person to almost run into.

“ I’m Sorry…” he spoke before taking off. This was a rather rare thing for Antonio to say. After all, he wasn’t the nicest person.

However. This town had finally humbled him. Which was something no one would have ever imagined.

It seemed many people had the same idea as he did, however; not so much about getting a plain waffle cone for their horse, but about getting an ice cream in the heat. The queue shuffled forward, and Florian looked up from his phone realising the man in front was talking to him.

"Oh, sure - I mean, they'll probably let you sample a couple, if that helps. Or if you don't want any fuss, you can always just go for vanilla."

Maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe he was frustrated that he was stuck here the rest of his life or even being waited on hand and foot for the majority of his life only for others to laugh in his face. Whatever it was it made him snap, which was rather unfortunate for the stranger.

“ HEY!!!” He snapped his fingers a couple of times. “ I’ve heard better answers from Seagulls… not that I talk to those brainless birds” he spoke rather harshly. “ and get of that thing and help The Great Antonio, which is me BY the way.”

It was that horrid oaf that had already annoyed her twice previously. And had delusions of grandeur. The fact that he both blocked her view and decided that stripping before her was the right move was rather absurd. And appalling.

"Darling, I'm married," Cruella informed him coolly, though she was debating on locating a rock or something to throw at the fool to get him to leave. "I don't find anything about you charming. Now move aside before I call the cops on you for harassment."

“ besides, I would rather get tossed off MY ship by MY kid, AGAIN… than be in cahoots with you! Miss… uhhh… personne de spécial…”

After a while Antonio looked up at her with a unamused expression. “ I don’t think I got a name… Miss personne de spécial!”

"Tono," she urged him quietly, leaning in as if she was his co-conspirator. "We couldn't possibly go in with no plan. They may not expect us right now but imagine the look on Kit's face if we manage to win back the ship right from under his nose. We can't give them a chance to fight back against us."

She could only hope that she could appeal to his better sense. That he would see stumbling around with no idea how to complete the goal was foolish. Gen would do anything to help Antonio. But she needed him of a sounder mind to do that. "How about we go back to my home? We can plot together and come up with a fool proof plan, no?"

It also didn’t help that The room spinning and urge to fall asleep wherever was convenient. As Antonio nodded a bit looking rather defeated a yawn slipped out of his mouth. “ ‘m not tired… we need to plan first… we need to wiiiiinnnn.” Sure he sounded like a disgruntled toddler trying not to nap, but at this point he did not realize that. “ l-l-eaaaadddd they way… we need to sta—“ another yawn slipped out of him. “ —rtttttt”

However, Swynlake had humbled him. Even if Karnage didn’t want to admit it.

Although it did not get the delusion that everyone secretly loved him and wants to be his friend. “ Of course!” The man admitted, “ only the best for the most handsomest and talented man in Swynlake.” He smirked a bit.

Finally the boasting was over. ( At least for now. ) “ hmmm… I don’t know…” he hummed. “ this might sound like a funny, but, I’ve only had original flavors, not these new flavors. “

So he was just an eccentric local instead.

His own venture to Ice Queen on the way home had been entirely because Elsa had been working on expanding her stock to include vegan variations and while Zero himself ate just about anything, contrary to the notion some people had that fairies were only vegetarian or vegan, Greg of course was very specific.

But it was a chance to encourage Greg to eat something, and while that wasn't as much of a battle as it used to be Zero still jumped at the opportunity to bring something new home to test the idea of Greg trying it.

And ice cream was a good bet given the heat lately.

"Well, is there anything you don't eat?" He started there, because that had become the habit when so many people he knew had so many different types of restrictions, allergies or preferences.

It wasn’t often that Antonio would play harmless tricks on others, but, today was a little different. He was somewhat bored and wanted to see what kind of reaction he could get from the familiar face.

Besides, it’s not like anyone in this line had anything better to do than to watch his award winning performance.

“ YOU…”

he scowled looking him up and down. “ I wanna give you a piece of my mind…” he continued the act trying his best not to crack a smile. “ That gift you told me to buy…” he pointed at him with his right index finger.

“ I wanna—“ finally a smile cracked before letting out a chuckle. “ —thank you… For helping me…” Karnage said in an enthusiastic tone while he rotated his wrist in a circular motion.

The pirate barely used any manners, in fact, he felt they were pointless for him to say. So, saying thanks was almost as rare as the ring on his right index finger.

“ Mon Amore is obsessed…”

Perhaps as someone seen as representing all fairies he should be more open to these things...he wasn't.

Still, he had manners.

“ good guy…” he admitted before shaking his head a bit. “Oh… umm, I uhhh… The Great Antonio has never had this Ice Cream thing before… so uhh, what do you get?”

But, well, whatever floated his boat, she guessed. He seemed very adamant about the fact he was somehow being targeted by the town. Which, Phoebe could commiserate with. She was still falling victim to shifting paths and roads. More often than not she wound up completely turned around.

(More often than not she found herself staring up at the looming entity that was Enchantra but she had yet to adventure in just yet.)

"I dunno much about the town but it does seem t'like to play pranks on people. So maybe it ain't cheating?" She offered, hopefully helping him with whatever spiral he was in. There was always a bright side, right?

His eye slowly began to twitch as he pointed at the stranger. “ They are all stupid in the head, they have no idea who they are messing with…” The man grumbled a bit before throwing his hands up, in disbelief.

“ None of these Hocus Pocuses have a brain” his rant continued before angrily point at his head. “ My men have more brain than they ever had… AND THAT’S SAYING SOMETHING!!!”