faun

[shesepankh]

Saturday morning sees Bella with her notebooks about magic all in her knapsack, her medallion safety-pinned by its chain to her bra just in case she trips the wrong way, waiting with Charlie for pickup for the Avalon trip.

Comments

[castmyown]

"Excuse me for a little while. I'll call Savannah."

He goes and does that! "Hey. No. Of course not. N- you're not going to guess it. Yes, really. No, no, no, and no. Can I just - okay, definitely not that one." He turns a shade of pink. "No, Savannah, definitely not. Well if you're going to be like that you'll just have to go to the magic shop and see for yourself. Bye. Also, no."

Click.

"She's on her way," he informs, still looking flustered.

[shesepankh]

"What did she guess?" laughs Bella.

Meanwhile Angela is working on changing back, starting with her currently inconvenient hands.

[castmyown]

"She'd guessed that I'd been - I think her exact words were 'making out' with someone," he says, ducking his head.

With a certain someone.

[shesepankh]

"I assume this seemed like a reasonable guess based on your long sordid history of making out with people in magic shops?"

Angela gets her hands back just in time to cover her mouth with them while she giggles.

[castmyown]

Darren is still pink! He will keep doing that. For a while.

"Yes, you've caught me," he manages, laughing. "That's exactly it."

(He's such a terrible liar. He can't even manage it when he's joking.)

[shesepankh]

Bella snorts. "Well, anyway, let's see what there is besides medallions and how awfully I'm going to strain my budget today."

[castmyown]

There are other things besides medallions, including some luck charms, something that helps with night vision, a few items for protection, including a pair of earrings that apparently help stave off the cold. There's also a few little crystals that light up on command in assorted colors, and a little music box that follows its user. Every one of them is expensive.

[shesepankh]

"Is there a good way to tell which luck charms are best at being lucky?" Bella asks, scrutinizing price tags and price tags but finding no way to squint at the underlying magic.

[castmyown]

"If there is... I don't know it. Sorry," he apologizes.

The shopkeeper glances up from the book he's reading. "The hair-pin's the best of the lot, it's why it's the most expensive."

[shesepankh]

"What makes it better?" Bella asks.

[castmyown]

"The one who made it was better at his craft," shrugs the shopkeeper.

[shesepankh]

"You don't have any sort of try-and-buy system where I borrow one for a week and see if I like the results, do you?"

[castmyown]

"Nope. 'Fraid not. Small things like that - easy to hide, they just walk away and never come back with them," informs the shopkeeper frostily.

"So it's just your word for it?" asks Darren.

"Pretty much."

[shesepankh]

"How do you know the hair-pin's better, did you test it yourself before you priced it?" asks Bella.

[castmyown]

"I made it," says the shopkeeper.

[shesepankh]

"Oooooh, how?"

[castmyown]

"Magic," he stays, unhelpfully.

"That's really not a good explanation," says Darren, annoyed.

"I doubt you could understand the concepts behind it."

Darren glares.

[shesepankh]

"I'm hoping to learn magic," wheedles Bella. "Even if I don't understand anything you say it will give me an idea what to do first when we go to the library."

[castmyown]

The shopkeeper rolls his eyes. "Kind of a waste of my time? Why would I make my own competition?"

Darren frowns. He seriously needs to learn how to make luck charms.

[shesepankh]

Bella frowns and gives up. "So who made the other ones that aren't as good?" she inquires.

[castmyown]

"Person from down the way," he points at one, "Someone from Wyoming," another point, "and I don't even know for those, but it barely works," he shrugs at some bracelets.

Darren is staying politely out of this while plotting this man's downfall.

[shesepankh]

Angela is keeping out, too, but probably not plotting downfalls.

"When Savannah gets here let's go see the books next," Bella says to Darren.

[castmyown]

"Sure," he agrees.

Bwuahahaha. Plotting the man's downfall. He just needs to learn more things about magic.

[shesepankh]

Bella amuses herself by peering at the less useful magic trinkets, tail swishing, till Savannah arrives. Angela has her phone out and is playing some manner of game.

[morethanimaginary]

Savannah shows up fairly quickly! She waves at all present. "He- OhmygodAngela?!"