~𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐆𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬~

~𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧~

*Mushu voice* I LIIIIIIIIVVVEEE

~

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Your body was a still statue, widened eyes taking in every detail of the scene that lay before you.

A small, isolated shop in the middle of a dense and foggy forest. You were standing inside, thankful that the shop's inside was much warmer than the outside, despite having the same dim and dreary lighting.

Luminescent potions were placed on rotted wood shelves in the most irregularly shaped bottles of glass. They lit up the ill-decorated room in fluorescent shades of multiple eye-catching colors.

A long, antique desk sat proudly at the back of the shop. Yarn and strings danced together into the shape of a massive spider's web, draping themselves across the top. Behind the desk, a large book encased in bloody red made the two slender hands holding each of its sides look like those of a baby's.

Two black, lace-up boots nested safely under the protection of the desk were the only evidence of the person hiding behind the oversized book, besides their sepia fingers grappling the book. A single boot tapped against the creaky floorboards to the beat of a vaguely familiar, yet eerie song; one whose crooked notes were being sung by a soft, girly voice.

If it weren't for the unsettling location, you might have thought her song was somewhat sweet.

A sudden croak erupted from the corner of the room, startling you as you skittishly jumped into the air. The perpetrator glared at you with the dreary, grey bulbs protruding from its head, frowning in disapproval of your cowardice. Every few seconds, a white film swiftly expanded from below his mouth like a bubble, then drew back.

The tapping stopped. Two small hands lowered the book, allowing two, bug-like eyes to peek out into scenery. She looked around both ways a few times, in a way similar to that of someone who had just been abruptly awakened from a pleasant dream.

Landing on her stocky, amphibious friend, they smiled in surprise. She gently placed the book flat on her desk, exposing everything above her waist. Deep, purple velvet woven of graceful magic sat gracefully on her straw-like arms. The v-neck collar of her dress plunged to the top of her sternum, showing off her sharp collar bones.

Golden joy laced her silk words as she cried:

"Thornton! There you are! I have been looking everywhere for you, silly."

She rose from a stool cushioned with a water-stained pillow, extending her hands out to the shelf the toad colored of dead grass rested on. Thornton hesitantly attempted to hop into her thin hands, but with his added weight, it was more like a hobble.

The girl only grinned at him, shaking her head in pity. She looked up to you while caressing his bumpy back with a single finger.

"Poor thing's so big he can't leap everywhere like other toads. But that's okay! That only means there's more of him for me to love," she said, nuzzling his flabby skin next to her cheek.

"What brings you to my side of enchanted woods today, babe?"

Gently patting his back before laying Thronton down on top of her desk, she bounced over to a shelf of potions, spinning a few unorganized bottles so that their display name faced the open shop.

"A new shipment came in just yesterday! I've got a surplus of snake's skin, an excess of eel's ears, an overindulgence of opossum's...well, no. Those sold out last week...if nothing in stock fits your bill, I can call in an order for you!"