Beyond the Shadow of a Doubt: Hunter x OC

A Shop Visit

Artwork by Nika6q on Tumblr

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Hunter wiped his hands on the rag before tossing it on the counter, scrutinizing the rows of neatly-trimmed filets spread across the butcher block in front of him. It had been an oddly quiet day, aside from a very boisterous group of women from the school who had stopped by on their lunch break. Why they were in search of raw meat at an hour when most people would be eating prepared food, Hunter had no idea. But he had a sneaking suspicion, after recent conversations, that there was some sort of challenge going around the office that involved his attention, and their enthusiastic questions about his sausages only furthered his increasing need for caution.

It was nearing time to close, although he wasn't in any hurry to get home to the empty house. Omega would be home the following day, so he'd busied himself with extra hunting time as well as some organizational tasks around the butcher shop that he'd been putting off for a while. He found it strangely cathartic as he wiped the counters after putting everything away, enjoying the smoothness of the stone surface as his mind wandered across the various aspects of life on the island.

The gentle tinkle of the bell hanging inside the door caught his attention, and he ventured out from the back room. It was another one of the office ladies, the one he'd spoken to about the emergency beacon for Omega. She was wearing a long brown skirt with a plain blue shirt tucked into it, and her brown hair was tucked into a loose braid at the base of her neck. He wracked his memory for her name, surprised that he was coming up entirely blank, but was saved from speaking by her gentle greeting.

"Hi," she said, offering a halfhearted wave as she carefully closed the door behind her. Her eyebrows lifted slightly as her eyes flickered around the shop. "Man, I've never seen any place so clean," she admitted with the faintest chuckle that was oddly endearing. Or perhaps it was just the most emotion he'd seen from her. "Also... We Meat Again? Did you come up with the name?" She was fighting to keep her face neutral.

"I lost a bet." He grinned at the memory, shaking his head fondly.

"Ah, well... It's fantastic. I'd like to open a cheese shop next door and call it... uh..." she faltered, clearly not having thought this far into her own joke. "Something cheesy..." She cringed, then continued, "Are you all wrapped up for the day?"

"Just about," Hunter said, leaning on the counter opposite her. "But what were you looking for? I think your coworkers bought enough sausage to go around for quite a while..."

"Yeah..." Her gaze found his face for a moment before returning to their leisurely perusal of the signs, glass cases, and other elements of the storefront. "They have a bit of a herd mentality sometimes." Her tone was hard to discern, and Hunter tilted his head, assessing her body language. She seemed a little bit sheepish and a little unsure of herself, and he didn't get the sense that she was part of the whole office debacle, which put him at ease a bit. "Anyway – I've been telling myself for weeks that I was going to stop by and check the place out, so... check," she said with a small smile, moving her index finger in the shape of a check mark in the air.

"Can I get you anything?" he pressed, rubbing his hands together slowly as if itching to make himself useful.

"I don't want to make you undo all your tidying," she answered, eyeing the slabs of meat in the case.

"It's alright; it's a quick clean-up if you're not asking me to butcher an entire caraboose," Hunter said, smirking at the resulting shock on her face that quickly melted into mildly enthused humor.

"I'm not sure I'd want to see that," she said with a smile, pointing toward the thinly-sliced fambaa fillets. "But if you wouldn't mind wrapping up a pound of those bad boys... perhaps then my mouth will stop watering." He nodded, a courteous grin of his own passing across his face as he moved into action.