Ororo was more than impressed when she came across the small bed of plants and flowers in a rather obscure corner of the shop.
She had no idea what to expect when she decided to take a look around the store but she was in for a pleasant surprise with how much a lot of the things in this small shop called to her.
Historical pieces — genuine historical pieces that befuddled her because she couldn't tell what time period they were from. She had a degree in History, Languages and Biology and she was struggling to even identify the origin of most of the things she saw.
She internally debated about their authenticity, convincing herself that they were fakes and masterful replicas. She could use that reasoning for the armors, coffins, stone tablets and jewelries, but that angle came to a grinding halt when it came to the plants.
She could feel the incredibly faint respiration of the plants, which meant that they were obviously real plants. The problem now was that she couldn't tell what kind of plants they were, or even what region they came from.
"What is this?" She muttered to herself as she knelt down to get a clearer look at a particular plant that was releasing some sort of static, a soothing kind. It was incredible to her senses.
"That's an Athelas." She looked back at Isaac who dropped off a pair of mechanical giant boots near a gallon of strangely bubbling liquid.
"Athelas." She rolled the word in her mouth and couldn't remember ever seeing or saying something similar. "Do you know what type of plant it is?" Even without her senses, just looking at the flower made clear that it was something special.
"Eh, in a nutshell, it's a magic healing herb. It takes care of mental and physical maladies like nothing you've seen." Isaac muttered as he busied himself with arranging and rearranging the placement of specific items that enhanced the shop's junkyard aesthetics.
Ororo frowned at his reply and almost dismissed it as a lying boast not uncommon to peddlers trying to part with their wares but stopped at the last second. She knew magic existed. She had met a few acolytes of the arcane in some of her travels.
She didn't know about magic plants but it wasn't a stretch to say that they existed. The question was how did Isaac know of magic?... If he wasn't lying about the plant, that is.
"A magic plant?" She asked.
"Yeah." Isaac answered as he carried along a life-like zombie mannequin that he put down besides the Egyptian sarcophagus.
"You believe magic exists?" She found herself asking. The question was from a point of mild intrigue. She remembered Scott and Henry's earlier doubt about the authenticity of magic when she and the Professor tried to convince them of its existence.
She heard him snort in a way that said he found what she said funny and dumb.
"What is it?" she asked in rebuttal.
He shrugged, still not looking at her as he placed a huge book with black and yellow-stained cover inside a metal bookcase and locked it in place with a chain.
"It felt like you were asking me if I believe in oxygen. I still don't understand how out of everything that can be possible in the world, magic is what people struggle to believe."
Her faint surprise at the easy acceptance did not show on her face. With Isaac apparently busy and her having nothing to do, she returned to her browsing.
However before that, she touched the Athelas and this time she gasped softly as her head was cleared in a way she couldn't describe while her nostrils were filled with the fresh air of a spring rain.
Her hands recoiled from the plant as if she had touched a live wire. She looked around and felt relief when she didn't see Isaac around.
Maybe this was a sign that she had gotten enough introspection for the day.
Unfortunately for her, even with the slow acknowledgement that maybe Isaac was not as he seemed and that he might/might not have magical plants, she found it incredibly hard to leave in caution. Instead she looked towards the nest plant that had caught her interest.
Three large, dark reddish-orange flowers were prominent, with a deep, almost black, petal structure. The flowers had a luminous, orange-red highlight on the petal edges and centers. The plant's dark, almost black leaves were arranged densely around the base and stem.
If the Athelas was a soothing herb, then this one was fire and brimstone with the attitude of afternoon heat.
She had been fairly skeptical about the magical nature of the Athelas but she couldn't even do it for this one.
It was not a normal plant. That much was clear at a glance. The petals glowing with the rhythm of a beating heart made that very clear.
"Finally. You guys weren't making it easy for me."
It looked like he was finally done with his chaotic arrangement as he made his way towards Ororo.
"Sorry for the negligence, miss. It was a poor and unprofessional showing on my part."
It looked like both the shop and its owner were together in their eccentricities, as well as their penchant for leaving her on the metaphorical back foot. An apology for 'unprofessionalism' from a broker in this part of the city was as rare as it could get.
"Don't worry about it. I didn't plan on buying anything when I came in but now I'm starting to reconsider." And in truth she was. The samples of flowers she had seen were very few, a dozen at most, but all of them had a uniqueness that drew her. She would love to add them to her little garden back at the mansion but she was interested in knowing what they were and where they came from. So to that end;
"My name is Ororo. My students told me a lot of interesting things about your shop, and I can see that they weren't lying."
"Isaac, Merchant." Isaac shook her hand in good fashion. "Right, they did mention your name a few times. Lively bunch those ones."
"You remember me?" She asked.
"Not the name, I'm afraid. But that hair color is quite distinct." Isaac replied. Polite and professional, and with a smile to serve. He ticked all the boxes for a great salesman, she thought. "So before I go back to my post, is there anything I can help you with?"
She didn't waste time in pointing to the living fire in the shape of a flower.
"What kind of flower is that?" Ororo looked at him for a moment before adding another bit. "It is magical, and I mean that quite literally."
"They are." Isaac easily agreed, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was slightly suspicious of his identity. "It is called Ashpetal."
"Ashpetal? Quite an apt name."
"Names are apt in nature, that's why they stick." Isaac joked.
"Can I ask where you got it?" She questioned gently, before quickly adding to sooth any misunderstanding. "If it is not too intrusive, that is."
Like before, the man still remained polite, forward and nonplussed. "Oh, it's nothing. And as for that little bugger there, they are a native species that can only be found in the hotter regions of Muspelheim. They are as rare as rare species go, even rarer when you realize that most people can't survive the atmosphere of the Realm of Fire. They usually end up combusting upon entering, or the air itself is too hot to breathe so they end up burning from inside out."
"Muspelheim?" She asked tentatively with a flat expression on her face. "From Norse mythology."
Isaac looked pleased. "I see you are quite familiar with the place. Not exactly my choice for a scenic route, but it does strike quite the cinderous impression."
Her mind was oscillating through the static of his words and the implications which kept her silent for a few seconds and when she made to speak, her words were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing as someone entered the shop.
"If you'll excuse me for just a moment, please." Isaac said and slipped away to attend to his new customer, leaving her standing there and staring flatly at the glowing plant.
"Well, hello handsome~"
She didn't touch the Ashpetal, only staring at it and the other flowers and wondering if Isaac was a practitioner of the arcane. Most sorcerers and druids she knew were recluse and weren't the type who would open a pawnshop in a busy city like this.
There was no way to ascertain if he was telling the truth about the Ashpetal, about having been to one of the nine realms. What she did know however was that they were undeniably magical in nature.
"And I was wondering why the rain took a raincheck on me. You shouldn't do that, you know." A voice tooted from her side.
She looked at the unfamiliar Asian woman who was looking at her with a derisive smirk before realization set in.
"Mystique." Her voice was flat but the warning edge in it was unmistakable. The smug smirk, the provocative posture, the mirth in her eyes — Mystique wasn't trying to hide who she was.
She had never been a fan of the shapeshifter, one of the rare sentiments they both shared.
"Now now, let's not get all zappy. Wouldn't want to mess up Mr. Handsome's lovely shop for a little catfight now, do we?" Another reason why she never liked Mystique. For someone whose ability was an exit strategy, she was very testy.
Ororo scoffed in disdain, something that was a stark mar to her refined image. "You presume too much. I have no interest in 'fighting' you today. Don't tempt me enough to do otherwise."
Mystique just laughed and slinked closer to Ororo who was watching her like a cat watching a flitting bird.
"Come on now, 'Ro. Can you be any less fun?" They were standing nose to nose, brown eyes staring into clear electric blue.
"What do you want from me, Mystique?" Ororo demanded. She would not have recognized Mystique if the shapeshifter didn't want to be recognized, which belied a specific reason for Mystique coming to her.
For a moment they both stared at each other, one cold and foreboding and the other smug and teasing.
Eventually Mystique stepped away, the casual air still prominent around her but that only made Ororo watch her more intently.
"Like it or not, I'm not here for you." She admitted with a smile on her face. "I just saw a familiar face having a stroll around town and I decided to say hello."
"You had no reason to." Ororo remarked.
Mystique smiled at her. "Ah ha, but I had no reason not to." And this was perfectly why Ororo never liked the woman. Despite being one of Magneto's staunchest supporters, Ororo never got the feeling of complete devotion from her, and the woman never even bothered to hide it. She also had her suspicions that Mystique was the one feeding information to the Professor from Magneto's end.
She was not in the mood for a confrontation nor was she in the mood to deal with whatever it was that Mystique was angling for.
She could keep an eye on Mystique to find out what she was aiming for(which she might), or she could inform the others— she looked at Mystique, at the amused smile on her borrowed face and could clearly see that she was in a mood, a mood that Ororo was not in.
"Well, I'll leave you to your flowers." Mystique said and turned to leave, also prompting Ororo to do the same.
She took one last look at the flowers and decided to ask Isaac for more about them, especially how to cultivate them. She doubted something like the Ashpetal would do well in her little back garden.
She broke around the corner, stopping for a moment to look at a fur coat, before continuing on her way.
She saw Mystique leaning against the counter saying something to Isaac with the man looking fairly interested if the smile and animated replies were anything to go by… or it could be the same general politeness he showed her.
"Welcome back, see anything you might be interested in?" He asked as soon as she came into his view.
"Quite." She replied, ignoring the look of interest Mystique was giving her and Isaac. "But I don't think the little garden I have will be compatible with most of them."
"If that's the problem, then don't worry." Isaac said. "I have special nursery bags for those little ones that don't deal with regular climate."
"Special bags?" She asked in confusion before remembering the type of place she was in. "They won't come cheap, will they?"
"They are affordable." Isaac replied.
Mystique was about to say something, something that was both prodding, teasing and testing by the smile on her face, but she was interrupted by the doorbell going off.
They did not have to wait long before a face appeared that made the smile on Mystique's face grow even wider. It was the look of someone who just won a lottery they never remembered playing.
"Now this is interesting." She muttered as her eyes traveled from the new arrival to Ororo and then Isaac.
The woman looked surprised when she saw Ororo, a very hidden reaction that Mystique doubted either Ororo or Isaac saw.
She saw the look on her face and the look on Ororo's and knew that neither of them wanted to confront the other, especially in front of two civilians. Well she couldn't have that.
"If it isn't Ms. Spy herself. What a pleasant surprise." She said out loud and watched with a deluge of self-satisfaction when she saw the cataloging going on behind her placid eyes. Since her back was turned to Isaac, she didn't have a problem changing the shape of her eyes, giving the Black Widow a free ticket in guessing her identity.
"Ms. 'Cheng'. Ororo." Yelena said with a pleasant smile as if she was surprised to see her two friends.
"Cheng, really? That was the best you could do?" She deadpanned. "What I'm really interested in knowing is why everyone's favorite place is suddenly a pawnshop. I doubt you're here to pawn something off for cash."
The atmosphere was getting charged between the three women but Mystique was the one who looked to be perfectly calm.
"If I may," Isaac started, interjecting himself into the technical feud brewing between the three women, "I can't help but sense some hostilities between you three. I'll appreciate it if you keep the verbose until you're outside."
"Shut it dude." Yelena snapped briskly. Her luck was the worst seeing as how she just spectacularly compromised her mission. How would have known that female Thor and Waldo were in the store?
She just wanted to talk to the dude to know why three vagrant mutants that had been flagged by SHIELD had frequented the store in the last week.
Well, this wasn't the first time she'd been caught flatfooted… which was not a good trait for an assassin like her.
Fight? Please. She was not a fan of having her ass handed over to her for no good reason. Even if the reason was good, she still wasn't a fan of it.
Ororo looked completely fed up with how things were progressing and decided to leave. Mystique and the Black Widow will do a good job looking after each other.
"I think that's my cue to lea—"
"Mr. Isaac! I think I might… need some hard… stuff…" Peter's haste came to a slow halt as he found himself being the focus of three women and a faintly smiling shopkeeper.
"Of course. Just tell me what you need."
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