Iris frowned as she finished off her embroidery and tied it off quickly. She hadn't been channeling magic, not intentionally anyway, and she found herself wondering if maybe she should have been paying more attention as she looked over the ivy twisted around the morning glories. It was a beautiful pattern, but she had a feeling coming from it, something that she felt she was missing as she had finished off the pattern.

She frowned and turned the hoop over to look at the back, eyes daring as she realized she could see a path through the store, if one looked at it from a bird's point of view.  She forcibly cleared her face and considered her thoughts, mentally cursing. She had been thinking of lost things and, apparently, she had been so lost in thought, she had, foolishly, done a minor ritual. One that lead her to something lost.

She carefully memorized the path, tracing it idly, noting that if she had her orientation right, it started in the breakroom. Only once she was sure she would not get lost, did she remove the work from the hoop. She doubted she drew attention to herself, beyond the attention she naturally got upon standing up anyway, and put it away in her bag. Once she had everything secured, mentally cursing herself, she turned and strode back out into the store, her break practically over anyway, following the path that had been laid out before her.

Idly, she reached over to her watch and slid it over to cancel the end of the timer.

What lost thing had she accidentally gleaned?

The smell of charred feathers and milk just wouldn’t leave Zek alone. Neither would the fluorescent green paint that currently covered his face and front of his buttoned up black leather trench coat. He scowled and scoffed at everything, bitterness and annoyance oozing out of every pore.

Was it too much to ask for a bounty to just surrender easily? Or better yet, to not see Zek coming at all so he could just capture him in an orb? But noooo. Jimmy the Sneak just had to have heard Zek’s approach and had preemptively retaliated.

Zek still got him, but at such cost.

It’ll take forever to get this paint off! Jimmy better hope it’s water based and washable or his name’s gonna get changed to Jimmy the Pancake!

But to make matters worse, Jimmy’s partner had gotten away. She also had a bounty on her head and more than that, Zek was in the mood for vengeance.

As he tried following her path, he ended up by a craft store. Vague paint-footprints on the ground suggested she had gone in there. Zek narrowed his eyes and walked in.

“Hey,” he said to an employee that he immediately saw, “You see any ducks come in here?”

Iris turned toward the voice, long auburn hair swinging as she turned, and internally raised her eyebrows as she looked him up and down. Externally, she kept her face the picture of a perfect saleswomanship and calm, including a perfect customer service smile. "We sell paint thinner on aisle five," she offered and then glanced toward where the path was. "And I was going to check out something in this direction. Your, ah, duck might be there."

She focused on the man, who smelled of charred feathers and milk for some strange reason, taking in the paint. Honestly, he was not the strangest person to walk into the store, or even the most paint covered. Generally speaking, the local hazing week for fraternities was that and, more specifically, the last one who came in so covered in paint had run afoul with his own prank and came to buy more supplies to make more.

She turned and gave a nod to where she had been heading. "Do you have a plan regarding duck catching that doesn't involve destruction of my store?"

Ducks and paint thinner. Zek nodded along. That made sense. The duck was probably trying to sabotage all the paint thinner in the city so Zek would never be able to clean his glorious trench coat. Well the joke was on her! He’d make a coat out of duck feathers if he needed to.

“Aisle five, gotcha,” Zek said and started prowling towards there. A moment later he turned around and prowled in the actual direction of the aisle, after reading the aisle numbers. Cold spaghetti noodles and a sticky, purple liquid that was probably not blood dripped behind him as he squelched over the floor.

Without stopping or slowing, Zek swiveled his head until he could look directly behind him at the salesperson. “Yep! Totally do!” he said. Then he swiveled his head back around. None of plans D through Octagon involved destroying the store. Four of those involved significant damage, but the store would still be standing. And of those that wouldn’t cause a ton of damage, half of them wouldn’t even result in things catching on fire!

“Here, Sandy, Sandy, Sandy, Sandy!” he cooed. “Come out and pla-ay!” He pulled a lollipop out of his sleeve and waved it around as he approached the aisle.

Iris wondered if she should be more concerned, but she wasn't entirely sure she could be more concerned than she already was. "Sir, ducks do not generally eat lollipops. Do you have frozen peas?" she responded, even as she debated going and paging the vegan of the store and asking if he wanted to come save a duck.

She paused and then walked around so she could frame the aisle so when he chased the duck away by being an utter psycho, apparently, she had a better chance of catching it. Before he did damage to her store. Hopefully before he did damage to her store. She was starting to think calling the medical personal would be a better idea.

She exhaled quietly as she finished the path to where she figured the duck was.

She was not a farm girl, though she was pretty sure the creepy voice was not helpful.

Zek stopped his taunting to look back at the woman as if she were an idiot. “You don’t know this duck,” he said, as if he personally knew the duck. Nah, he’d only heard the street scuttlebutt of the Demon Duck of Downey Street. It was entirely possible he’d heard stuff wrong though, he wasn’t aware of any Downey Street and she’d lived with Jimmy the Sneak on the corner of 4th and Maple.

“Why on Earth would I have frozen peas with me?” Zek said in mild bewilderment, sticking the lollipop in his mouth. “Thah’s juss crayey,” he commented, his mouth now dealing with a candy invasion. He shook his head.

And then he entered aisle five.

And there she was. Sandy, the Demon Duck.

She was this smallish brown duck with a greyish beak and faint green footprints leading to her. She was also staring straight at him with murderous intent.

“It’s duck season,” Zek said around the lollipop, which meant it was very garbled and not easily understood. But Sandy seemed to understand. Her eyes narrowed.

“Quack,” she said flatly. And then she darted forward and zipped between his legs, aiming for the door.

Iris definitely should have paged for the men in white coats.

She stared at the showdown between duck and insane man, once again regretting some of her choices in life. Customer service was at the top of that list, beaten out only by 'accidentally joining a cult that leaving probably meant death' and went from there. She sighed heavily and went, "It's rabbit season, actually," in hopes that if the duck had any understanding of English, it would....not do further damage to her store.

Or cause her to be investigated. She tilted her head and sighed again as the duck took off between his legs. "If you want to capture a duck, frozen peas are good for them. They float, and healthier than bread by a great deal," she answered simply as she watched the duck take off with a vague sense of dread and that soul deep understanding that this would end very poorly.

She pushed the button on the walkie. "Clean up in Aisle Five," she intoned calmly, before she went on to start a report on a loose water fowl in the store.

Saying duck over the radio was asking for trouble.

“Ack!” Zek said in a totally calm and normal tone of voice yes indeedy as the duck rushed by. Then a second thought hit him. The door! If she got out, she could go anywhere! Except maybe China because could she even fly that far? Zek quickly patted himself down. Drat! He didn’t have his butterfly net with him! Or even that gladiator net he picked up in that scuffle last week with that Godzilla wannabe.

Welp. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in a craft store, get crafty.

“Oh no you don’t!” he shouted and golden light bloomed in his hand. He tossed it at a shelving unit and the entire thing vanished, including all of the stuff on it. Zek stumbled back a bit with a quick burst of dizziness and then snapped his head nearly 180 degrees around and chucked a scarlet energy orb toward the front door. Just before striking it, it vanished in a flash of light and the shelving unit appeared there, completely blocking the door but without displacing a single item.

Now he had a bit of time to get that stupid duck!

His head constantly roaming for more signs of the duck, he ambled over to the saleswoman. “Soooo….what’s this thing about frozen peas catching ducks? You throw the bag at them and knock ‘em out or something?” he asked. “Also, do you sell frozen peas here?” It was as good an idea as anything. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d weaponized food.

Iris barely kept herself from letting out a shout of horror when the shelving unit disappeared and then....oh, hell, he was a mutant. She resisted the urge to bash her head against a wall and felt like she should just give this over to someone else. "No," she said in a perfect customer service voice. "You feed the peas to them. Maybe putting a pile of them will help. And, no, we do not sell peas here. This is a craft store sir, and we only specialize in non-edible craft supplies."

She paused for a long moment. "Though we do technically sell glitter that would not cause digestive issues if swallowed."

She eyed where the duck had likely taken off, though she was not going to be able to divine it again. Especially not in front of a mutant.

"Sandy is the duck's name?" she inquired simply, deciding that she could swing by, grab her salad and try that.

Iris was starting to be very concerned, but also felt like throwing him at someone else would fall under a Bad Thing To Do.

Zek stared blankly at the woman. He blinked a few times, forgetting to keep a eye or three out for the duck. If they didn’t sell peas, then why on Earth did she suggest he use peas to catch the duck? “If you don’t sell peas, then why on Earth did you suggest I use peas to catch the duck?” he said slowly, giving her a fish eye.

But the glitter sounded good. “Ooo, I’m actually out of glitter!” he said excitedly. He’d used up all of his making posters for a recruitment drive event for the Church of the Flying Celestial Orb. “I especially need silver and hot pink. You have that here? And do you have any specials for buying in bulk?” It was also good to know it wasn’t gonna mess anything up if swallowed. THat was very important information.

But then Zek heard a quack and his head whipped around almost 180 degrees to look for the source. Everything below his neck stayed facing the woman. “Oi! I think I heard her!” he said, before swiveling his body around to sync up with his head again. “Yeah, Sandy’s her name. Least, that’s what it says on her arrest warrant,” he said offhandedly, crouching slightly and slinking over to the aisle he thought he’d heard the quacking come from. Then he rushed into it.

Five seconds later he was running out of the aisle with a duck flapping at his face and trying to slash him with its claws. “Ahhhh! Get off me you stupid duck! Ahhhhh!” he totally didn’t yell and scream, nor was he running around and waving his arms frantically.

"I suggested peas in case you thought ahead," Iris said calmly. "And studied duck diet to see if you could trap her."

Iris followed after him and resisted the urge to sigh when he became distracted by the glitter. She made sure to keep her customer service face perfectly in place. She gave her perfect customer service smile and gave a small nod. "Hot pink is not in abundance, but we have plenty of silver. Bulk discounts come with orders that arrive in three to five business days and must be a minimum of 100 boxes to qualify for bulk discount," she rattled off easily as she followed after him as he went after the duck.

She already paged for someone to bring her salad and she sighed heavily as he got attacked.

By the duck.

He also proceeded to flail around and screech like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

She accepted her salad with a quiet word of thanks and immediately pulled out some lettuce while making kissing noises to get the duck's attention.

Anything to get him out of her store, honestly.

Zek ran in a circle and the duck kept following him, doing surprisingly well even in the mostly still air of the store. “Ahhhhhh!” he said again. He passed by the saleslady again. He did not appreciate her tone or lack of apparent concern for his preduckament. “If you had thought I’d thought ahead, then why’d you think I wouldn’t think about frozen peas?” he yelled, still waving his hands around and completely missing the duck. “Ahhhhh!”

He did, however, appreciate her information on the glitter. “Good to know!” he shouted in between hysterical screams. “I’ll be back for the silver! Ahhhhh!” Zek pulled his trench coat up and over his head to protect it from the duck’s claws. It likely wouldn’t help for long, but Sandy was too close for him to throw a ball at and yet not close enough for him to smash a ball into her. So he’d have to result to another measure.

For a brief moment, the duck’s assault seemed to abate due to some smoochery or whatever. Zek didn’t bother to figure out why, he just acted. A scarlet orb formed in his hand and it became his overburdened duffle bag. He reached in and pulled out his morningstar mace and then dropped a golden orb back on the bag, vanishing it.

Then he started swinging his mace at the bird. “Ahhhhhhhh!”