Brewing Love and Casting Lies

Chapter 7

TW: Assault, Harassment, Hitting, Violence, Anxiety, Mentions of Blood, Language, Virgil's past (To put it bluntly- Slavery).

The end of the day was approaching and there were no customers in the store as of now. It was just Virgil and Janus. Virgil was behind the counter working on something Janus had given him. The dragon-witch himself was taking inventory, he made sure to do it at least once a week, preferably more if possible. Mostly it was just to make sure he had enough potions or other magical items for the next few days.

It was quiet in the shop, it had been for a while, Janus had a hard time maintaining a conversation while writing and Virgil was a pretty quiet individual. The sounds of foot traffic slipped through the door as people rushed to get home and leave work. Occasionally you could hear yelling, or irregularly loud laughter as well. Though that was unfortunately interrupted when the door suddenly flew open and a loud voice broke the silence in the shop. "Where the hell is he?!"

Virgil jumped and tensed at the voice, before looking up from what he had been working on and landing on a large and burly man standing at the door. He was nearly eight feet tall and was very strongly built, with a long brown beard, and Virgil looked absolutely terrified of him.

Janus jumped too, his pencil swerving to the side and creating a dark ugly line on his paper. He frowned at the paper before turning around to face the intruder. He briefly looked over at Virgil, it didn't take very much to see just how scared he was. Virgil had gone paler than normal, his eyes were wide with fear, and his breathing had gone irregular and heavy. 

"There you are you stupid little weasel, do you know how much-" The man began only for Janus to step in front of him. 

"What can I help you with?" Janus asked him.

The man ignored him and glared right at Virgil as he stepped past Janus and further into the shop, "I don't know how you did it, or how you got there, but I swear when I finally drag your ass-"

Janus grabbed the man's arm as he continued further, the man turned to look at him sharply, "What can I help you with?" Janus repeated, not releasing his grip on the mans arm quite yet.

The man yanked his arm out of Janus's grasp, "And just who the hell are you?"

Janus pulled his hand back, folding it behind his back, "My name is Janus, I'm the owner of this shop, and Virgil is my employee. And whom, may I ask, are you?"

"My name is Maverick," Maverick growled before pointing a finger at Virgil, who flinched backward, "And that rodent over there belongs to me!"

Janus looked confused, "Belongs?" he mumbled before slowly he began to understand. Oh. That's what he meant. "Virgil doesn't belong to anyone. He's his own person. Now, I don't care who you are or what your relationship may be with him. I do not care, no matter what his past may be, it does not concern me. Now, unless you're going to purchase something, I suggest you leave."

"Those scales should have warned me how much a of a thieving snake you are," Maverick snarled as he took another step closer to Janus, practically on top of him now. Janus winced, clearly not happy about the name. His friends called him a snake sure, but that was always done as friendly teasing or done kindly. This wasn't like that at all and it was obvious that the name hurt him.

Maverick grinned as he noticed this, "I wonder if you slither and hiss too. Well, do you, Snake boy?" This time when Maverick moved forward and Janus stepped back it did hold some fear, and Maverick could see that just as easily as he saw him wince the first time.

Janus narrowed his eyes in anger, "I highly suggest you leave now," Janus warned. Maverick shook his head with a smirk before shoving Janus backward slightly. He managed to catch himself before falling but not before spilling several herbs all over the floor. Great, those were going to take forever to sweep up.