2019-08-05 - The Price Of A Bear Trap Is Exactly $200

It's warm outside already, which means Noah has turned on the cheap window unit to bring the inside temperature down to a reasonable level. His feet are on the counter and he smokes a cigarette while scrolling through his phone. The smoke circulates around a smoke detector that's... probably turned off in some fashion. There's a little bell over the door that chimes when someone enters. A loppy eared mutt lays across the floor, tail wagging slowly as he chews a bone.

Jaime comes strolling in through the door, the bell chiming with his presence, and then the door swinging shut behind him. He's got on a plain white t-shirt, jeans, and work boots that make a dull thud as he walks along through the shop, taking a look around. There's a grin for the mutt, and an up-nod for Noah as he seems to just be browsing for the moment, seeing what the shop has to offer.

The chiming bell prompts Noah to look up, unconcernedly giving Jaime the old once over. The dog rolls over, a silent and passive cry for attention but he doesn't crowd the potential customer. "What's up? You need something," he blows smoke out of the corner of his mouth, "let me know." There are cases dedicated to hunting, personal weapons and what looks like antiques.

Jaime drifts over toward the antiques out of idle curiosity, hands sliding into his pockets, and studies the contents. Then, he wanders over toward the counter and sets down a slip of paper he pulls from his pocket. Nothing fancy. Rounds for a hunting rifle and a pistol. It's entirely possible that Noah's seen Jaime in before from time to time -- not often, but every once in a while, usually to make a similar order for ammo, probably for the same two guns he's had forever. He leans down to scritch the dog begging for attention. "Hey buddy," he says.

Ammunition is under the counter, the one Noah currently has his boots on the top of. When the paper is slipped in front of him, he darkens the screen on his phone and sets it aside. He bites down on the cigarette's filter while he picks it up and gives it a read. "Ever think about trading that old rifle up?" he wonders idly, pushing his chair back and swinging his feet onto the floor with a clomp. The dog pants happily, clearly not a guard dog. Meanwhile Noah takes out his keys and unlocks the counter to get the boxes out.

"She still puts the holes where they need to go when they need to go there," Jaime says with a grin when Noah asks if he's thought about trading the old girl in. He leaves off scritching the happy dog after a few minutes, giving his floppy ears a scratch before straightening up. He leans one hip against the counter and folds his arms comfortably. "You got a recommendation?" He seems open to listening, though.

Noah crouches down and pulls out the ammo, placing the boxes onto the counter one by one until they're all there. The cabinet gets locked again and he straightens up to his full height with a stretch and crack of his neck. "Remington has a new varmint rifle out this year. Wouldn't break the bank, nice looking, good for the long range shot."

Jaime watches as the familiar boxes get set out, glancing at them only briefly to check that they are what he requested out of habit, not any real belief that Noah'd pull the wrong thing. He nods and considers before saying, "Yeah? You got one I can take a look at?" May as well. It can't hurt to window shop, after all.

Noah doesn't appear worried when the boxes are inspected, allowing it with that same mild expression he often wears. Once that's completed, he starts ringing them up in the old crappy cash register. "Yeah, I got one over here," he indicates with a jerk of his chin. Here means back here, so he takes a pause while ringing Jaime up. The cigarette is snubbed out in an ashtray and he gets the rifle free from the wall case, placing it carefully on the counter.

Jaime waits while Noah gets the rifle from back behind the counter and sets it down. Only then, does he reach out and pick it up, feeling the weight of it in his hands, lifting it and pointing it away from Noah. Of course, it's not loaded, but safety first. He tilts it this way, and that, and takes a look down the barrel. He conducts this examination while Noah's doing the ringing up, and only after a few moments of this does he ask, "So how much?" idly curious.

Noah glances at his abandoned smoke, like he wishes he could take back snubbing it out. But choices have consequences! He waits while Jaime checks out the rifle, not pushing him one way or the other. "It's retailing for about $625. But I could let it go for $575. You're in here enough." The dog continues to wag his tail lazily on the floor.

Jaime sets the rifle back down on the counter where Noah had first laid it, having finished his examination of it. He looks thoughtful for a moment or two and says, "Alright. You know what, it's about time to trade up. I'll take it. And the rounds for the old one anyway, since I'll probably hold onto that one too for now." He nods, "Add a box for this one." He then returns to leaning against the counter. His phone buzzes and he pulls it out, exchanging a few messages before tucking it away again.

People should not arrive in gun stores at high speed, that is how someone gets shot. Right? Doesn't seem to stop Everly though as she pushes through the door at nearly top speed, just shy of running, and two steps in she stops, "Jaime Lee Kelly."

"Awesome," Noah replies on Jaime's decision, returning to the register and hitting the appropriate buttons. He comes to a slow when Everly bursts into his store and starts talking to the guy he's ringing up. "I think she's looking for you," he deadpans before crouching down and grabbing a case for Jaime's new gun. We'll assume at some point Noah takes care of whatever legal components this transaction requires.

"I didn't do it," he says in a dry tone. It's pure reflex. He doesn't even turn around. Doesn't even look up from his phone until he finishes tapping out another message. It's only then that he glances over his shoulder to see her in the doorway. Then he smirks over at Noah and says, "Think she's looking for my twin. Sorry, no Jaime here. Only Joey." They may be identical, but the license that he has to show Noah clearly paints him a lying liar that lies. Jaime Lee Kelly is clearly printed on his ID.

Directly outside of the store, a horizontally challenged young woman stops short. Maddie holds a business card in her fingers, looking from the name on the card to the name on the store, and back again, making sure she's in the right place. It takes her a minute, but the door swings open afterward, and in she walks, tucking the card back into the satchel at her side. Her eyes immediately fall upon Noah. "The police put our camper right back where we parked it," is her way of saying hello, as she sidles up to the counter. There's a quick glance to the others, before she smiles pleasantly to Noah.

"Don't you dare try that trick on me, Jaime." Everly shakes her head as she moves towards him, raising a hand to smack his arm, "What are you doing buying another gun? You could be spending that money on something else." She glances at Noah, eyes narrowing at him like somehow he's also to blame for Jaime spending money on a new gun. Maddie gets a quick look, but none of what's being said is her business, so she goes back to chiding Jaime.

Noah looks at the I.D. and then he looks at Jaime and then he looks at the I.D. and then he looks at Everly. With the same dry, deadpan expression he says, "Okay, Joey." He sounds serious enough, not the slightest trace of sarcasm. There's also zero guilt when Everly gives him that look, though he does openly smirk at her before handing Joey his I.D. back. His attention is pulled to Maddie when she arrives and his eyebrows bounce up in a realistic display of surprise, "Wow, really? That's great. Did they leave the dead body in it?"

Jaime smirks at Everly and says, "Because I've had that old rifle damn near long enough for it to be considered an antique." Not quite, but it's definitely old. "It was time." He grins then and says, "You're right though. I could have been buying a new guitar. May be joining a band again." He handwobbles, as though it's unclear whether that is exactly going to happen or not. He glances over as Maddie comes in, "I'd hide it better if it got stolen the first time." It's said deadpan at first, but the grin creeps back over his features. He takes the ID back from Noah and gives him a quick grin and a lift of his chin in acknowledging the playing along.

Maddie lowers her hands to one of the glass display counters that she's nearest to, leaning forward to frown at Noah. "'Dead body' suggests a corpse. Jimmy is not a corpse. He is a skeleton." Beat. "And a prop." There's another glance to Jaime, a single brow arching in his direction. "How can you hide a camper? It's big. The police just shouldn't touch what's not theirs. REGARDLESS!" she lifts a hand, dismissing this invisible conversation with a sweep of her hand. A finger extends, and points to Noah. "I need bear traps. You sell ammunition. Bear traps are basically ammunition for hunting bears."

"Cops touch what isn't theres all the time." Everly points out, glancing over at Maddie, "In fact there are laws in place that allow them to confiscate anything they want from you, and appropriate it into slush funds, or use as they see fit. Legally. Similar to the gestapo and shit..." She then reaches over and gives Jaime's arm a pinch, "Just because something is old doesn't mean you need to replace it with a younger version."

Jaime doesn't seem to mind Maddie's brush-off, giving her a grin but not explaining how exactly one should hide a camper. Instead, he's pinched, and something Everly says has him laughing and glancing down at the text conversation on his phone. "Who said I'm replacing it? I plan on keeping both like the slut I am." He hands over his credit card to Noah to pay for the purchase and signs all the necessary dotted lines and such.

"This woman trying to ruin my honest livelihood is right," Noah says when Everly launches into her whole thing about the cops. He waits with his hand out for Joey to pay him, eyeballing Maddie. It's clear he's thinking about pointing out there are no bear traps for sale here. What he opts to say, no ask, is: "Are you trying to catch more props?"

"This is why I'm moving to Canada. Eventually," Maddie remarks, mumbling something under her breath as she drops her gaze to peer into one of the big glass counters. Nope, no bear traps here. She blink-blinks back up to Noah, both brows hiking. "No. Does it matter? Do you have to fill out an intention form to sell me a bear trap? You can just write down that I intend to hunt bears. In the forest." She tap-taps a finger on the glass. "Do you keep them in the back room?"

"Fairly sure Canada cops aren't going to be different...Pretty sure cops everywhere are all about the same level of screwed up." Everly really doesn't know anything about Canadian cops, though. Jaime get's a dubious look for his claim that he's keeping both old and new.

Noah fixes Maddie with a long, dubious look before he wordlessly reaches for his phone. He taps out something onto the screen and looks at her again, "They cost almost $200 a piece. You were scoffing pretty hard about the price of some..." he glances to the possibly law abiding citizens nearby who probably aren't serial killers. Unlike some people here. "Papers. You sure you can afford them? I can get them for you..." But can Maddie pay is the big question.

"Everything in Canada is different. On account of the free health care," Maddie says to Everly matter-of-factly, before she tips her chin up to stare at Noah. "Are you questioning my ability to pay you?" she straightens her shoulders, frowning sternly. "I'll have you know, Mister Abernathy," spoken in a very 'if that even is your real name' sort of tone, "That my boyfriend and I have come up with a new business idea and we shall, very soon, be positively flush with cash. WHICH IS PRECISELY WHY!" she reaches into her satchel and pulls out a dozen or so pieces of paper, slamming them down onto the counter in a flourish. On the copy paper is a drawn - yes, hand drawn - flier, advertising 'DM's TERRIFICALLY TERRIFYING TOURS'; someone's drawn ghosts flying around a camper. In crayon. "I've come with a trade. You advertise my new tour business, and I will come buy bear traps. When I get customers. For my ghost tour business."

"Not really how that works." Everly murmurs, but just low enough to prove that she's not at all wanting Maddie's brand of crazy directed towards her at the moment. Instead she finds herself a place to lean against the counter, watching Maddie and Noah with the curiosity of someone watching penguins in the zoo. Everyone loves penguins, too.

Noah looks at the fliers for a moment and then he takes it and flips it over. He produces a pen from his pocket and sketches out a little diagram. It's a girl handing a man money and then the man hands her something that's probably supposed to be a bear trap. He points at the first part, "This is my deal. You give me $200 dollars," his finger moves, "I give you one bear trap." He's mostly focused on the very strange woman in front of him. "You buy one bear trap, I let you leave your Scooby Doo Murder Camper fliers here."

"What are you - no, don't draw on that!" Maddie tries to swat Noah's hands away, but it is too late. His terribly drawn bear trap transaction is now on the back of her awesomely drawn ghost-tour business flier. The frown is endless. "That doesn't look like a bear trap," she points accusingly at the picture. "That looks like a banana cream pie, and I'm not paying two-hundred dollars for a banana cream pie. It doesn't even look delicious," she scoffs, and snatches her papers back. But she does hand a flier to Everly. "You should come on a ghost tour," she says to the woman.

Entering the shop with his usual clipped walk Easton gives only a brief survey of it's occupants before heading for the small arms ammo. He's clearly been in more than once because he knows exactly where to find what he's looking for. He approaches the counter with a couple boxes of .22 ammo, some 9mm and .40 as well. Look he likes ammo. As he approaches the counter though he's distracted by some guns in a case and so he sets down the ammo and is perusing the guns when talk of bear traps like pies and ghost tours cause him to look over at the group around Noah.

Jaime glances over toward Everly when she gives him that dubious look, and his grin just grows a little wider. "Don't look so skeptical." Then he glances over at Noah and Maddie, curious about all the bear trap talk, one brow creeping up at that bit of a pause. He's a perfectly law abiding citizen. At least -- his guns are legal. He makes absolutely no attempt to hide the fact that he's openly eavesdropping either. "You gonna trap the customers in the bear traps to populate your next tour?" He can't help but lift one hand to conceal his lips as the flier is defiled with the cream-pie-trap which sounds even more wrong in his head, making him chuckle all the more.

Everly accepts the hand drawn flier, but she sets it back down on the counter, "I'll give it some though." She offers before rolling her eyes at Jaime, "I'm always going to be skeptical of that." She then looks back towards Maddie, curious about the purpose of the bear traps as well.

Noah doesn't laugh a whole lot, but it's starting to come to the surface when Maddie becomes indignant over his doodles. Jaime's question about catching people in bear traps for the tour completely sets him off, it's the tipping point for a round of loud, gregarious laughter. He takes in a deep breath and swipes his hands over his eyes. He pushes the gun and ammo over to Jaime before he offers a chin up at Easton. "Let me know when you're ready."

Maddie breathes out a most dramatic sigh at the laughter from Noah in the peanut gallery. She just shakes her head, plastering on a smile for Jaime instead. "The bear traps are for something entirely separate," she replies, handing him a flier, too! "But we here at DM's Terrifically Terrifying Tours would love to show you a terrifically terrifying time. Guaranteed to scare the bejeezus out of you! But not with bear traps." She pointedly does not give a flier to Noah, and instead walks over to Easton to hand him one as well. "Phone number is at the bottom. Make sure to book an appointment, and quickly! Tours are filling up!" There's a look back to Noah, her eyes narrowing. "I'll be back," she promises, and then heads to the door.

Accepting the flyer automatically, Easton looks down at it blankly and then back up before asking "Ghost tours?" Easton realizes he's already asked that outloud so he's kind of stuck joining the conversation now. He was just here to buy bullets! "I hesitate to ask, but here goes: Where would you take people on such things?" The question is asked in a very intense tone, bordering on angry. Because there are probably plenty of spooky places in town and plenty of those aren't great to go exploring with random people. Especially with the ghost of a serial killer on the loose murdering people. But at least he's focused on certain people, which is nice. Easton remembers a bit too late to smile and look friendly.

Jaime takes the flier when Maddie hands him one, taking a look at the very impressively drawn ghosts with a grin. "Sure. We should go." He says this to Everly. "Grab Joey, maybe some other folks. Remember the chick with crazy colored hair?" Sparrow. "She and her brother are back in town." Another set of twins. "Could drag them along and their roommate." Whose name he didn't catch. He watches Maddie as she heads out, then glances over to Easton, brows raising a bit at the man's /intensity/ on the subject.

Meanwhile Noah returns to being mostly silent, ringing people up for reasonable (non-bear trap) orders and occasionally checking his phone.

Wait! There's a question. Maddie hits the brakes, her sneakers squeaking on the tile floor, and she turns to stare up at Easton. Her smile grows bright, showing just a hint of teeth, a rather direct counter to his sudden intensity. "The first tour starts in the zoo and takes you around Gray Pond. This town has so many interesting stories and it holds so many intriguing secrets." There's an expressive sparkle to those big brown eyes of hers as she continues on, lowering her voice in a dramatic hush. "Did you know if you sit on the shore of the pond at precisely the right time, you can hear the endless sobbing of the mother who drowned her five children, one by one, in the water? It's heartbreaking,' she touches her hand to her chest, and sags her shoulders, "But she's just one of the many ghosts that haunt those mysteriously dark waters." A beat, before her hushed voice grows cheerful once more: "So book a tour! Hurry up, tours are going fast." And then off she goes.

"No, I don't remember some chick with the crazy colored hair." Everly shakes her head, then she gets a message on her phone, "Sorry, got to go." She gives one last smack to Jaime's arm before heading out.

Well at least she didn't say the sawmill, so that's good. Easton's aware though that the pond is plenty screwed up, even if he's not up to date on the exact latest at the bridge. His face returns to it's intense neutral state as she talks, "Are you sure leading groups of people into interesting places around here is a good idea? Seems like plenty of people are getting hurt or dead without poking around on purpose." Seriously, there's a very high amount of 'getting dead' happening around here for those that are counting. He tries to lighten the mood with, "Oh and I'm afraid that sobbing is just me. Sometimes I go out there and drink too much. Feel free to let me know when you have a tour coming through, I'll bring a case or two up so they're not disappointed."

Jaime gets a smack in the arm and Everly's leaving just as abruptly as she arrived. He picks up the rifle that he'd purchased as well as the ammunition off the counter, idly listening as Maddie and Easton go back and forth about the /interesting/ locations around Gray Harbor. He chuckles a bit at Easton's claims of drunken sobbing, and with a shake of his head, and heads for the door. He does take the flyer with him as he heads out, though, even picking up the one Everly left behind.

Maddie keeps getting about two feet from the door before she's turning around again, cocking her head to Easton. "There's power in knowledge, you know. You go and explore a place and you learn a thing or two. Something you didn't know before," she sweeps a hand to the fliers she still has left. "You learn a ghost story, and now you know something of the things that go bump in the night. Something that could be useful later. Something that could help you, later."

Easton frowns and looks back down at the flyer. "Yea well there's also safety in not poking angry bears." That is in no way the correct opposing statement to their being power in knowledge, but it's all he can come up with on the spot. "I'm interested ma'am, don't get me wrong. But I've got just enough experience in the fucked up-ness of this town to know that exploring isn't always a good idea. I'd hate t'see curiosity take out more than cats." Again, not how that saying works, but close enough for Easton.

Maddie opens her satchel to slide the remaining fliers in, though her gaze doesn't leave Easton. She's studying him, in a way, looking over his frown and then up into his eyes. "I've seen my fair share of fucked up things, my new friend," it's a quiet voice that comes out of her now, a far more honest one than when she was touting her business. Though there is a sort of ... dramatic lean to her speech. "I've seen fear used as a weapon to destroy the weak and empower those who thought they were strong. I've seen the curious brought to their knees, until the shadows descend to rip the flesh from their bones. This town isn't the first fucked-up place that I've been to. It won't be the last," she buckles her satchel, and fits a smile to her lips. "Have you ever been to the other places in the world that are like Gray Harbor?"

"Easton." Being called 'friend' prompts him to provide a name, though he doesn't offer a hand just yet. He nods, aware that she's pinging his gut sense and has to be aware of the special nature of this place. Her speech though just causes him to raise an eyebrow. "Oh really..." He doesn't mean to sound skeptical, but it comes out that way anyway. At her last question he replies quickly "No." But there's a scrunch of thought as his brow descends slightly and he amends that to a less sure, "Maybe."

"Maddie," she replies easily, in a friendly sort of way. She does not do anything really to dismiss his skepticism, but her head tips from one side to the other as she considers his response to her question. "I've been all over. From Centralia to the Shanghai Tunnels. Do you know the difference between those places and Gray Harbor?" Her brows spike upward, though she doesn't wait for him to answer. She just forges forth. "They're not inhabitable. Almost all of them are abandoned. Destroyed. There are no groups of people like you and me. There are no little lights in the darkness."

"Nice to meet you Maddie." Easton's tone and body language has softened significantly as she continues to show herself knowledgable on the topic. His worries that some adventurous but ignorant 'ghost chaser' might have stumbled onto the real thing assuaged he actually learns something. His own brows raise as she schools him on the difference. He asks, "And what about the.." He stops and gives her kind of a funny look as if he's not sure either if he should ask something, or how to ask it. He settles on, "How are they the same? Specifically." It's not a test per say, more like he wants to hear what words she uses.

"Do you know the answer to your own question?" It's not spoken harshly, more curious than anything, a smile there to punctuate the ask and make it appear far more gentle. "I don't think most people do. Not really. I'd say there's no harm in ignorance, but.. Well. I've already told you that knowledge is power." she moves as she talks, sliding towards the display cases of antique weaponry, dragging her fingers across the glass. It's passive-aggressive, she's putting smears on them. "This place, like the others, sits on a point where the .. space between here and there is thin. Very thin. I suppose you could call it a crack in the fabric of reality?" she shrugs her shoulders. "Though I would argue what's over there is just as real as anything over here."

A slight smile curls at the edges of Easton's lip at the question-answer. He gives a half-shrug, non-committal and more than willing to look ignorant, so she can tell him the answer. He nods and says, "And what do you call there? And have you ever been?" It's a very pertinent topic of conversation considering what he's buying that ammo for specifically. He doesn't let on what he's planning yet, but is happy to pump her for information if she'll comply.

"The Veil," Maddie names the place in a whispered, reverent tone, as though they were some holy words, and she turns back to look at him with those expressively wide eyes of hers. "You ask a lot of questions, Easton. This conversation's becoming lopsided," she wobbles a hand out in front of her and turns it to one side to emphasize. "Why the third degree? What are your intentions?"

Easton gives an involuntary nod of agreement, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly as if he's noticing some new missed detail about Maddie when she gives the answer. It's the reverence that sells him. Thrill chasers looking for spooky ghosts is one thing. Someone who's done the research and understands what they're after is totally different in his book. He considers the question and the hand gesture and one side of his mouth raises in a lopsided smile. "I have to take a trip. You seem like as good a travel advisor as I've found."

"A voluntary one?" Maddie was looking at him differently now, too, the smile departing her lips in a slow slip. The expression turns contemplative, and she taps her fingers on the display case to leave a few extra fingerprints on the glass before she turns back to Easton. "I can give you some advice," she decides, "The sane advice would be, of course, to not go at all. But.. Well," she gives him a look that suggests she doesn't think either of them are very sane. "Make sure you know how to leave. The points change. You go in one way and out another. Always try to be aware of where the exit is, you'll know. You'll feel it. In your guts," she pats her stomach to emphasize. "Going out is never as easy as coming in. There'll be a test. Try not to suck at it."

Watching her smile lip for her lips somehow causes Easton's to curve up higher into a full grin. He doesn't confirm necessarily, but she already knows the answer. He breathes out as she makes an insanely valuable point. He had assumed that he could open a door back, just the same as where he is pretty sure he could open one there. Boy, that would have sucked. He nods and says, "Welp, that was good information." He doesn't pretend like he was already aware. He asks, "Any idea what kind of test? Do you mean like a Dream, where something from my past comes to fuck with me for shits and giggles?"

"No, no. It's different from a Dream. The Veil, it's.." Maddie frowns to herself, probably trying to figure out just how to explain something like this to the uninitiated. She leans a hip against the counter, flicking at her bottom with her finger. Think, think, think. "When you're in a Dream, it's not on purpose. It's like you... wander through a door that you didn't even know was there, you fall through a crack or slip into a hole. But the Veil's got different... areas, I guess, that's the simplest way to put it. The only place you go, when you are Dreaming, is the Dreamscape. Or, at least, that's what I've called it. It's crazy unpredictable there," she pauses just for a moment. "But there's so much more to the Veil than the Dreamscape. Near the thin points? It's sort of like.. like a weird upside down version of here. You can wander to the Dreamscape, but I wouldn't advise it," that's simply put. "The trials vary. The last time I went, Duncan and I had to walk down different paths in the same exact way, at the same exact time. Every time we messed up? We fell through some invisible hole, and were dumped right back to the beginning again," there's a darkness that casts across her expression as she explains, "We were at it for hours. But when we got back? It'd been a month."

See! These things right here? Are good to know. Easton's slightly widened eyes clearly show that this is new information to the former Marine. He lets out a soft. "Oh." very soon followed by a not necessarily connected "Shit." He takes it in as best he can but it's very abstract to talk about all of this. He thinks he's catching on right up until she mentions the fact that she lost a month there. His face falls. That was not an option he had considered. "Fuck." He clears his throat and his perfectly neutral face resumes, "Okay. That's good to know. Knowledge is power." See? She already has him quoting her.

Maddie nods at the 'shit' and then again, more firmly, at the 'fuck', though she flashes him a slim smile when he quotes her. "I'm just a little light in the darkness," she says humbly, even if the words are not very humble at all. "I hope you survive your trip," it's genuinely spoken, if not morbid. "If you do, you can text me. The number on the flier's actually my cellphone, not really an appointment line. We just started this whole thing a couple of days ago," she admits with a growing grin.

"Well, I'll take a little light over nothing." Easton doesn't seem to mind that she's tooting her own horn so to speak. He lets out a soft laugh at her hoping he survives. "Yea, the traditional Gray Harbor farewellL: don't die." It's not exactly how Alexander ends most of their conversations but it's close enough. He looks down at the flyer and takes the time to fold it and put it in his pocket. "Yea? Well, good luck with the business. And thanks for the travel tips. I appreciate it."

"Of course," Maddie shrugs her shoulders and stuffs her hands into her pocket. She looks to the door, and then back to Easton, focusing on him one more time before she goes. "I don't suppose you saw a play here, a while back?" she asks, brows lifting. "Shakespeare?"

Easton picks up the ammo and heads to the register to checkout. He looks up as she asks a question, one that might sound strange to many. But he knows exactly why someone might ask a question like that, or at least he thinks he does. He gives a tight smile and shakes his head, "No. I heard it was a crazy time, but I wasn't there." He doesn't elaborate, just nods at her with a "Nice meeting you Maddie."

It's not the answer that Maddie wants, and she makes that clear with a long, drawn out sigh. She doesn't press, at least. "Nice meeting you, too, Easton," is all she has left to say, and finally makes her way out the door.