"So," I said abruptly, as if I hadn't been panicking on the inside for the past six minutes. I breathed in and smiled, Customer Service style. "Didn't expect to see you here! How have you been?"

Lindent had sort of tensed when I had spoken up, but he relaxed and gave me a short, hesitant nod.

"That's great," I said sunnily. "Glad to uh, see you're doing well."

We fell silent.

"Um, the weather sure is nice today, isn't it!" I looked up at the sky, squinting. "Very nice. Very cloudy. Much shade."

I cringed-- what was that? Don't tell me, were my customer service skills... failing me? Gasp-- but I saw Lindent squinting up at the sky and nodding too, in his own awkward way, in the corner of my eye. I breathed a sigh of relief. At least he wasn't, I don't know, ignoring me.

I racked my brain for more safe topics. C'mon, four years of customer service experience! Work! "Right, have you heard about the treason--"

The moment the word left my mouth, Lindent changed. I mean, he was still him, but his entire body went rigid and his, what should I call it, aura sharpened so immediately that I didn't know if I would've recognized this Lindent off the street.  Was that anger radiating off of him? Whatever it was, it was kind of scary.

"--or not!" I continued cheerfully. I mentally patted myself on the back. Good job, me-- that was as smooth as butter. "Never mind. Let's not talk about that."

He relaxed, and I breathed a silent sigh of relief. Okaay. Note to self: Lindent must be really, really devoted to the country. Well, he was a government official. Maybe that was why.

"Then... have any plans for the afternoon?"

Lindent glanced at me as he shook his head.

"Oh I see," I replied, my smile a bit strained now. "That's..." too bad? Good? "...interesting," I finished, and died a little on the inside.

Silence fell uncomfortably around us again. I was out of things to talk about. Current-events-slash-gossip, check. Weather, check. How he'd been, check. Plans for the day, check. I sighed again, as discreetly as I could. Nope. I had nothing.

If only I could just slap him on the shoulder and laugh it all off. That would make things so much easier, but could witnessing a moment of primal villainy be laughed off? Probably not.

As we walked in pace with each other, my mind raced. Wait. What if I just pretended nothing had happened yesterday? That could work. It had been 3 AM-- I could maybe convince him that he had been hallucinating from a lack of sleep. Ooh, maybe I could pretend it wasn't me! I could have an evil twin hiding somewhere, no?

"Uh..."

I had those sun-glasses on, after all. I could say my evil twin didn't have brown eyes like me. She could have... hmmm... pink eyes. Yes. Like a proper Evil Twin™.

"Um...?"

Ohhh but she wouldn't have the exact same hairstyle as I did. Lindent was there when that fearful event had happened, so he wouldn't believe that. But... what if I had been possessed?

"Filian?"

And when I'm possessed, my eyes turn pink. And I would become evil. Rosa, too-- we were both possessed, by evil ghosts of Minstia. Since Lindent didn't seem that familiar with our town, I could maybe pretend it was a thing around here. Yes.

But the question was, ghosts or demons? Which would be more convincing?

"Filian."

That was indeed the question. Hmm. Demons, I decided. Demons would work better. Pink-Eyed Demons of Evil. No, of Revenge. That had a ring to it. Very good.

I frowned. Something felt like it was... tapping me, on the shoulder.

Lindent took a deep breath and said, as loudly as he dared, "Filian!"

I started, my feet coming to a stop in surprise. Lindent stopped with me. My heart thumping quickly, I turned to him with a quivering smile. "Oh, sorry. I wasn't listening. Yes?"

He scratched his head, hesitated, looked at me, hesitated again, then averted his gaze.

Oh boy. Here it came. I swallowed, bracing myself. Okay, Filian. If he asks you about yesterday--

"Yesterday--"

"It wasn't me!" I yelped, jumping back and squeezing my eyes shut. I clutched the bundle of meat to my chest even tighter. "It was the Pink-Eyed Demon of Evil and Revenge!"

When Lindent didn't respond for the next five seconds, I cracked open one eye. He blinked at me. I stared back for a moment, then I moved my gaze past him to a little kid at the back, looking at me with his jaw hanging in open fascination.

Right. We were in the middle of a road, weren't we. I straightened up, coughed, and busied myself brushing off my completely clean skirt. I pecked at some invisible lint for a good measure.

Lindent opened his mouth and inhaled, looking like he was about to say something, but before he could say a word, the little boy behind him barreled straight into us. "Whoa!" the boy yelled, bouncing off of Lindent. His eyes were wide. "What kind of demon is that?"

"Hmm?" I said, my smile tremulous. "What do you mean?"

"The Pink-Eyed Demon of Evil and Revenge!" the boy repeated enthusiastically. "What kind of demon is that?"

"Oh, it's just a demon that possesses you and makes you do bad stuff and..." Red started creeping up my neck as my own words registered in my ears. "...yeah."

"Wow! So cool! Why is it a Pink-Eyed demon though??"

"Because," I said brightly, wishing I could just disintegrate into the air this very moment, "your eyes, um, turn pink when you're possessed by it?"

The boy's eyes were sparkling. He clenched his fists, beaming up at me. "So cool! Pink-Eyed Demon of Evil and Revenge!"

"Please don't repeat it," I murmured faintly.

"What did you say?"

I squatted down and patted his dirty little head, managing to maintain my smile. "I said, make sure you never get possessed by it, okay?" 

"Okay!" He grinned widely at me, ecstatic, then bounded off into the distance. "Hey guys!" I heard him yell, his voice getting smaller and smaller. "Guess what I just heard!"

The silence that he left behind was painful. I remained crouched, my gaze and smile fixed on the direction the boy had went.

My cheeks were burning. My ears were burning. My eyes were burning, with tears. I watched as little kids began crowding over to the boy. He was probably explaining about the Pink-Eyed Demon, wasn't he? Ah, they just ooh-ed together. Don't they look excited.

"...stop laughing," I said, my voice and expression perfectly pleasant. "You better stop laughing, Lindent, before I make you stop."

"I'm not laughing," he said immediately, but I could detect the small tremor in his voice.

I stood up. "Let's go," I said, dusting myself off and looking at, well, anywhere but Lindent. "I need to buy potatoes." And cabbages. Or was it lettuce?

Out of my peripheral vision I saw Lindent nod, but one hand was covering his mouth and his shoulders were shaking, so I ignored him and marched forward.

At least I'd learned something. It was definitely possible to laugh off witnessing moments of primal villainy. But the catch was, you had to make an embarrassment of yourself a second time. Yeah, definitely not worth it. Could we go back to uncomfortable silence now?

We didn't talk (or should I say, I didn't talk) for the rest of the way to the vegetable stalls. I only faced forward the entire time, completely pretending like I couldn't hear the snickers that slipped out of my companion every once in a while.

"Five heads of lettuce, please," I said, with as much dignity as one could have with a face as red as mine. It didn't help that Lindent kept breaking into quiet fits of hysterics behind me. From the sound, I could tell he was trying to muffle himself, but I was kind of very much done with him at the moment.

I glared at him. "What is this, laugh at Filian day? First it was Philip, and now it's you," I complained. He composed himself and looked away, but the corners of his lips were still trembling. In a sudden fit of rage I tried to kick him on the shin (lightly, mind you), but then he side-stepped it so easily and so smoothly (even though he was covering his entire face now! Hiding his laugh, of course!) that I got even more annoyed.

I harrumphed and turned back to the old man sitting next to the stall, bagging up my lettuce. I heaved a sigh, feeling all the rage (and the energy) leaving me with a whoosh. "How much?" I asked, with a tired smile.

"Three Vels and a Velawin."

"How does two Vels and a Velawin sound?"

The stall owner scoffed, shaking his head. "Three Vels, no less."

I surveyed his stall carefully. "Add in a turnip and you have a deal."

He nodded gruffly, so we shook on it and I handed over the Vels. He gave me the bag of lettuce, and I picked my own turnip. I hated turnips, but this guy's tomatoes were looking kind of old, and you know what they say: yes turnip was better than no turnip.¹Nobody said that.

When I turned around, holding the turnip in my hand, Lindent was back to looking his usual calm and composed self. At the very least, his expression was indifferent.

"Are you back to normal now?" I asked, still a bit skeptical. I mean, he'd been gasping for air two seconds ago. Could I trust this guy?

He nodded, so emphatically that his brown cap dislodged itself slightly from his black curly hair.

"Good! You should stay that way." I stuck my tongue out at him then made a move to go past him to the cheapest potato seller in the area, but he stopped me. "What?"

"Be careful," he told me, looking serious. His eyes flashed underneath the shade the newsboy cap gave him, and I blinked.

"Be careful? Of what?"

He pointed, and I followed his hand with my gaze and frowned. "Of the turnip?"

Lindent nodded,.

"Be careful of the turnip?" I repeated, holding it away from me. "Why? Is it poisonous?" The back of my head prickled, as if the vegetable stall owner was giving me a stink eye. He probably was, but that wasn't important.

Lindent shook his head. He pressed his lips together as if trying to fight off a grin and pointed at the turnip again. "It's pink."

Yes, yes it was. It was a turnip, and turnips were sometimes pink. "Yeah, so?"

Before I could stop him, he opened his mouth and said, "It might be" (he paused briefly here, pressing his lips together again) "possessed by the Pink-Eyed--"

He never finished, because he choked on his next words and dissolved into a shaking fit again. "Demon," he managed to wheeze out. "Of--"

"Gah!" My face burst into flames again, and I shoved him on the shoulder, but he didn't even care. Of course he wouldn't! He just kept on wheezing as he tumbled to the side! "Stop! And hold this!" I barked, practically throwing the bag of lettuce into this arms "Thanks!" I barked to the blinking lettuce stall owner, then marched over to the potato stall. I was so done! I was not going to stand for this kind of turnip abuse anymore!

Hmm, I thought faintly in the back of my head, something about that last sentence seems wrong...

The potato seller brightened up when she saw me. "Filian! Long time no see!"

"Hey Auntie," I said brightly, fighting off the redness as much as possible. "How've you been?"

"I'm good, but, Filian," she frowned, concern appearing in her lines, "you seem a bit... pink today. Are you okay?"

"Oh it's nothing, just--"

Lindent popped up out of nowhere. "Maybe--"

"No, Lindent," I warned.

"What?"

"The Pink-Eyed--"

I smacked my hand onto his mouth and smiled at Auntie. She seemed even more concerned, but I shook my head. "Oh, hahaha, it's nothing! I need two bags of your best potatoes, and we'll be going."

Once I got the potatoes, I forked over the money without another word and shoved a bag into Lindent's other hand. "Thanks Auntie! Love you, bye!" I called over my shoulder, wrestling Lindent out of the stall area and onto a more empty clearing in between some buildings.

"Let's make a deal," I said, my face grim, cornering Lindent against the wall.

The corners of his lips were still twitching upwards, but he raised an eyebrow in response.

"We forget all about this Pink Demon thing-- stop laughing!" I swung my bag of potatoes towards his arm. "Stop laughing. Listen!"

Lindent managed to nod, lowering the arm he'd been covering his mouth with.

"We forget all about this entire day, and I'll..." I really didn't have any leverage over him. My brain ran a mile a minute, then zeroed in on something. "I'll forgive you for suspecting me about your pouch the other day."

I held my breath. Honestly, I didn't really expect him to care that much about what happened last week, but I could argue that he should apologize. Right? So we could call it fair enough this way. Still, I half-expected him to burst out laughing again.

To my surprise, Lindent sobered at that, and he dipped his head a bit lower. He nodded, then said, after a long beat, "Sorry."

My eyebrows shot up. "Oh, um, it's okay," I said, blinking. Huh, maybe it had been weighing on him more than I'd thought it would. A small smile, probably the first genuine one I'd smiled all day, spread on my face. "I forgive you. Sooo... we have a deal?"

Lindent nodded, his expression earnest and serious like his usual self, and my smile widened.

"Great! Then let's go, I think I'll buy some carrots, too."

He raised an eyebrow, tilting his head at the same time, as we turned back towards the stall.

"See, I'm preparing for a meat dinner party today! We're all celebrating today, and one of Rosa's sisters hate carrots..."