“What the hell?” Duke stared at himself in the mirror. He’d gotten to work about a half hour ago, and one of his servers had given him a weird look and stumbled through something about his face. Looking at himself now, Duke was orange. Literally, his skin had turned orange. He leaned in and touched the sides of his face only to see that his hands were the same color. His eyes widened in confusion, and he saw his arms the same color. Oh hell.
Right there in the bathroom, Duke stripped out of his clothes. Shirt, pants, shoes, socks, boxers, everything. From his head to his toes and everything in between - really, everything in between - he was orange. Completely orange. No. No no no no. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t some weird kind of trouble, was it? Or maybe just a weird Atlantis thing playing a trick on him.
The longer he stood there, the more anxious he became, and slowly, Duke noticed that his skin was turning from orange to a weird green color. Again, from his head down to his toes and everything in between. Green. “WHAT IS HAPPENING?!” He shouted at no one in particular, not really caring who heard him outside of the bathroom. Growing frustrated, his complexion then started to turn a dark, scarlet kind of color.
“Oh hell no,” he mumbled and quickly began putting his clothes back on so he didn’t have to see all of his bits keep color changing. Still working on his belt as he exited the bathroom, Duke tried to hide his face as he passed customers and members of his staff. He started to reach for his phone to message Claire to see if she knew what the hell was happening to him, but he bumped into someone and reluctantly looked up to see Sabrina standing there in front of him. One look at his hands, and he could see that he’d changed colors again. This time he’d turned into an orange red.
“Uhh… hey,” he said, a little embarrassed. “I gotta go.”
“ … hey, wait. Stop.” Sabrina wasn’t the best when it came to cooking and it was usually easy to stop somewhere and pick up a bite on the way to school or a shift at the coffee shop. When she’d walked in, several of Duke’s servers were muttering and one pulled her aside. The words Oompa-Loompa were used. Atlantis trickery was fine, as long as he managed to snap out of it.
“Duke! Are you speaking in rhyme? How’s your singing voice?”
He should have known that he wouldn't be able to get by that easily whether with his servers or the blonde witch standing in front of him now. He stood there confused for a second, turning orange for a brief moment before he heard snickers across the room from his staff. Getting the joke, he halfheartedly rolled his eyes.
"Ha. Ha ha ha," he said and began turning more of an orange yellow. He was seriously going to have to write these down in order to figure exactly what color meant what. "Very funny. And no, definitely not. I don't know what ridiculous Atlantis trick is going on, but I keep changing colors every damn minute." All of him. Had he mentioned that yet?
"Color me not amused." He paused and thought twice about that phrase. "Pun only half intended."
“Ha. Ha ha ha,” she repeated and put her hands on her hips. His color change was very curious and she was, moreover, interested in the change. “Why go from certain shades of orange? Why that color? You would look nice in blue, I think.”
“Ask Atlantis; I don’t know,” he said gruffly with a small wave of his hand. “Orange is better than the green I was a minute ago.” Ignoring his very, very amused employees that didn’t hide the fact that they were snapping pictures, Duke eyed one of them and stepped behind the bar. Drinking on the job only happened…. well, it happened occasionally, but today definitely called for a drink or two or three.
He turned his turned his orangish over and back again a couple of times, staring at his skin. He was so confused as to what the colors actually meant, and apparently trying to sort his confusion turned him into a brand new color - teal. A mix of the blue she’d mentioned and the green he hated. Pausing, he looked at Sabrina. “This is your fault.” Okay, not really, but she was the one that mentioned blue! He sighed and took a sip. “I think it’s tied to my mood or emotion.”
“Like a mood ring!” Caught with inspiration, Sabrina pulled her phone from her pocket and started searching online. She slid onto a stool and pushed the phone toward him. “Look! I think I found it. Okay, Duke. If it’s tied to your emotions … are you feeling confused right now? And were you puzzled and embarrassed earlier?”
Duke grimaced a little. Weren’t mood rings supposed to be those oversized, tacky rings young teenage girls used to wear that never actually changed colors? It would figure that he had turned into an actual functioningmood ring. He glanced at her phone and looked over the listing of colors and what they possibly could mean. Puzzled, embarrassed… Duke sighed. “Yeah, that among other things.” She hadn’t seen all of the other shades of red he’d turned in the bathroom.
Still looking over the list, he started turning teal. Some of the colors made sense but others seemed kinda out there. “So, I guess if this is an Atlantis thingamabob then one of your spells probably can’t do much about it, huh? It’s just gotta wear off.”
Sabrina watched him curiously, even grabbing her phone back to take a quick video of just how quickly Duke could change colors. It was fascinating - and mildly dizzying - to attempt to understand the way that Atlantean magic worked.
“This is annoying but really not dangerous. We’d be adding a lot of risk because we know my magic brings in that unknown factor and who knows how it could react. You could be --” she paused, leaning forward -- “you could be teal forever.”
Duke only gave Sabrina a look when she started to video him. Because that wouldn’t be coming back to haunt him later. He was thankful in that moment for Audrey and Nathan not being in Atlantis since he knew he’d absolutely never manage to live this down. It was like a funny version of a trouble with no adverse side effects aside from his awkwardness and embarrassment.
“Let’s not jinx it,” he said. He definitely didn’t want to be stuck like this or changing colors forever. She was right; it was annoying but not dangerous. Sighing, he resigned himself to his colorful fate for the day and resumed his spot behind the bar. At least if this wasn’t happening only to him then it might not shock everyone as soon as they walked in the door. He fixed Sabrina a soda and slid it over to her. “You hungry?” “I’m always hungry,” she told him, even as her eyes started to twinkle. “But I need to make sure you’re not orange because what if I turn into whatever you cook? Violet Beauregarde really did me in when I was young.”
It took Duke a few seconds to realize what in the world she was talking about, but as soon as it hit him, he gave her a look. “I doubt that Willy Wonka is on the Atlantis payroll.” Although, if he was, this place might actually make a lot more sense. “But if you turn into a burger, I promise not to let anyone eat you.”
“ … that’s all I need to hear. Extra cheese and sweet potato fries, please?” The orange would compliment Duke’s mood-ring color so completely and would be another great addition to her new folder of potential blackmail hilarity. She leaned on her elbows and gave Duke the most winning smile she could muster. Even Salem, now on the stool next to her, sat primly and offered a deep miaow in compliment.
At the look she gave him, Duke couldn’t even try pretending to be upset or irritated. With a half roll of his eyes, he laughed, turning orange yellow. “Yeah, yeah.” He put in the order and shook his head but not before catching the eye of Salem sitting there on the stool. The cat, familiar, whatever gave him pause but only briefly. He popped in at the most random of times sometimes.
“Just remember, the more you try to use whatever pictures or videos you take, the less extra fries you’ll get next time.”
The cat stared back, blinking once. Sabrina, for her part, was an equal mixture of victorious and chastened. Her smile softened into something a little more day-to-day. “I’ll keep that in mind, Duke. You drive a hard bargain.”