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Miranda was bored. Not terribly so, but, definitely a little. Now that the crazy activity of the holiday season was over and done with, the shop was remarkably quiet. The most she’d had to deal with this week – in this job and her other in the bookstore – had been a return here and there, gifts that hadn’t quite hit the mark.

She had borne the boredom for two days, and on the third she had – ignoring all the well meant warnings – brought her laptop. For a little while she had been badly tempted to plug in the earphones to listen to some music, but, if a customer were to come in and she didn’t notice … Ugh, no. No music then.

“Boooored …” She mumbled to herself, stabbing at the touch pad to bring up her buddy list again. To no avail. None of her friends was online to chat with. And she already had updated everything that was there to update, and ordered new findings and stones (Valentine’s was coming up, after all), which pretty much only left … taxes.

“Not that bored.” Miranda decided, stabbing at the touch pad again to bring up a game. Her hair had the color of egg plant this week, and she had been beginning to wonder if there wasn’t a way do dye it magically. The question had been on the tip of her tongue a few times, but … she was way too respectful of Athan and couldn’t bring herself to bug him about something as silly as that.

Something stirred, and a moment later her little shadowy gem floated into her line of sight. So far he’d quietly kept himself occupied (with what, Miranda wondered – she probably ought to check underneath the counter for small stuff she might otherwise miss later), and generally enjoyed the cat-free surroundings. At least Miranda suspected that he did – he still was terrified of Verne, even though the cat couldn’t possibly do him any harm. But her playing a game now brought him forth.

Because, if she was bored enough to be playing a game, why not with him? There were no clear thoughts in the wisp’s projection, but the strange, child-like mix of curiosity, hope and annoyance he sent managed to get the point across quite nicely.

“Right,” she murmured, pausing her game and flipping the laptop closed for now. “Now what should we play …?” She rummaged through her messenger bag for the wooden cigar box which had become Rutie’s Toy Box. She’d even painted the words on the lid with sparkling letters. She laughed as the wisp began zipping around excitedly as soon as she pulled it from her bag. It wasn’t much, really. It merely contained a few marbles, beads, rubber bands, a top, a bouncing ball, a yo-yo … Stuff that was fun for him to watch and to chase, or lightweight enough to actually be moved by the tiny critter that he was. Like-

Rutie’s wispy tendrils of shadow almost immediately wrapped possessively around the tiny plastic vial filled with glitter.

“Ah, don’t worry!” Miranda said hastily, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment almost instantly. “We’re not going to open that up in here. Unless there's a vacuum cleaner I haven't found yet. He’s like a little whirlwind,” she added, poking lightly at the tiny wisp, “it’s going to end up everywhere.”

She tilted her head slightly. “I like it, though. It’s like fairy dust.” She never had encountered a fairy, or even as much as a pixie, though.

“You look gorgeous today,” she noted, resting her chin on her right hand and glancing at the Seer over the rim of her glasses. “Special occasion?” It was rare, especially for men, to dress up like that. She definitely wasn’t going to buy a ‘because I felt like it’.

Rutie didn’t care much about that dressing up stuff, if at all. Curiously the wisp circled around Hawk, playfully and daringly batting at one of the hair ornaments before sweeping back to hide out in his guardian’s shadow. Just in case.

“A-a-allure?” Miranda stuttered, promptly flushing. “Uh. No.” Nervously she pushed her glasses back up the ridge of her nose. “Not at all."

"It does look … I don’t know, a tad girly though? No offense meant.” She liked girly, but mostly on, well, girls. On men it was, uh, just gay. Though … ‘Mhiroso’nan’ (she was so not going to twist her tongue into a knot trying to actually pronounce that), she’d heard that term flying about. Just … where and when, and in what context? Though, before she could think on that too much, her mind latched upon something else Hawk had said. Oh, heyyyyyy~!

“You’re a magic-user?” She beamed. Athan was on her do-not-bug list. Hawk … wasn’t. Not yet, at least.

After having waited some time for Hawk to come after him, Rutie decided it was probably safe for him to come out of hiding, and he promptly latched onto the tiny plastic vial of glitter again. Miranda let him be, knowing well enough by now he wouldn’t be strong enough to pry it open it on his own. Hell, she’d broken off countless finger nails trying to get those damn things open!

“Mh, yes.” Miranda beamed. “Promise me you wont laugh, though, because it is … kinda silly?”

There was an upset flicker of annoyance from the wisp as the tube of glittery goodness was removed from its grasp before he could really hold onto it- But wait! Now it came rolling back to him? And went away again, whaaaaaaat? Not fair! The next time it rolled close, Rutie latched onto it with all his might, bringing it to a stop. Bwahahah, there, take that!

“And also, uh. I heard you helped pick Rutie for me? I don’t think I ever got around to thank you for it.” The smile Mir offered was genuine.

“Well …” Miranda shifted a little uncomfortably nonetheless. “It’s sort of a female-y thing, I guess. See, I like to dye my hair a lot,” she said, twisting one of the egg-plant colored strands around her finger. “But it’s damaging the hair, dyeing it this often, so I was wondering … Wouldn’t there be a way to do it … magically instead of chemically?” She beamed at Hawk brightly.

Rutie was still clutching tightly to the tiny vial – he was not going to give it up, dammit! Instead he was trying to communicate to Hawk its desire to have the glass vessel opened, kthx. Glitter and sparkles EVERYWHERE!!

“Well, thank you anyway,” Miranda said, though she kept wondering about the less fortunate guardians. Of the fiends she’d met, Nephrite at least seemed to be a sweetie, and little Bloo as well, though she’d only heard of the wisp. She hadn’t had a chance to meet him because she’d been taking a nap in the back of the store at the time, how utterly embarrassing!! It still hadn’t quite registered with her it was her tiny wisp’s demand for energy which caused her bouts of intense drowsiness.

“A glamour …?” That was a fairy thing, right? Though she was quite sure she had seen it about as a brand name as well …But Hawk’s next words quickly confirmed her first guess, and she shook her head ruefully. “Uh, no. My family is about as un-magical as it can possibly get,” she told, making a face. “And conservative to boot – all hail common boring mortals, boo to everything that even remotely hints at the supernatural.” She stuck out her tongue.

“My parents are not too pleased I’m working here, there’s … rumors about this shop. Though …” She smiled brightly – and reassuringly, she hoped – “I doubt my mom will go through with suing it out of business.” At least, she hadn’t stopped by yet, not that she knew, so she couldn’t have been all that serious about what she’d said, could she?

Despite his being terribly afraid of cats, Rutie right now very much acted like one. As soon as the cap of the tiny vial turned, the little wisp was all attention, stilling almost completely in its movements. After a moment’s hesitation he gently prodded it with one of is shadowy tendrils. Would it turn a little more? And then more? Maybe?

“Uh, sure,” Miranda said, removing one of her flower hair clips and handing it over, long bangs sliding into her face. She … should get those cut, really. New haircut was way overdue anyway.

Rutie, in the meanwhile, was still tackling the tiny container. The wisp had seen the cap turn, and it was apparently sentient enough to have noticed in which direction it turned. So now it was, systematically, arranging some of its shadowy tendrils around the cap, and some around the vial itself. Oh, it so was going to get this open, nnnnngggghhh!!

“Well. I never looked at it like that.” Miranda admitted and blushed a little at the kind words.

“Are there?” Her eyes widened slightly. She clearly hadn’t known that there were more shops out and about which might be … ‘special’ like that. Good thing her mother didn’t know about it, or she’d throw a fit. “Which shop?” Miranda inquired promptly. No, she wasn’t the least bit curious …

Only a small peek at the windows, maybe, just to see what it had to offer.

“And, that’s fine,” she said, on the matter of the hairclip, her heart beating with excitement. She was going to get her own magical item! “Erh, if there’s anything I can do in return …” she offered, but her voice trailed off when Rutie ‘loudly’ exclaimed his own excitement that the cap had turned a little more. That had been his doing, right? Right? Right? Because he was strong like that!

Miranda frowned, looking first at the wisp and vial, and then at the Seer. “Oh no, don’t,” she said, reaching for the vial to prevent the glittery mayhem from happening. “Or I will make you help clean up the place.” Not like she actually could, but ...