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It was another quiet day at Johnny Zeitgeist, an antique store not too far from Destiny City University and a name that was just a bit too jazzy for its wares. A couple middle-aged women were spending a day on the town and decided to mill about the shop for a while without any intention of buying. The white-haired boy watching the shop payed them little mind, though he did glance at the mirrors strategically placed around the shop from time to time just to make sure none of the shop's treasures wound up in pockets without being paid for.

As the women finished their browsing and made their way toward the door, the boy took up a dust rag and some cleaner and began to dust the furniture.

Emry glanced up from his cleaning when he heard a voice cry out in pain. Setting down the rag and dust polish, he hurried over to the injured customer.

"Are you alright? What happened?"

Emry looked down to see the tacks the girl had mentioned.

"I'll take the chair to the back. I'm not allowed to fix any of the antiques myself, but hopefully Mr. Ilic can fix it or find a restorer."

He cleared a small space around the chair before hefting it up, remembering his boss's mantra of 'Lift with your legs, not with your back! Legs, yes! Back, no! Lift, lift! Heave-ho!'

"I'm sorry this bit you. If it drew blood, you can rinse it in the bathroom next to the dress form and I'll get you a bandage. Even the smallest injury can go septic if you don't clean it."

He began to lug the chair to the back room.

"Ah, thanks!"

As Emry lugged the chair into the back room, most of what could be seen through the door were a coffee machine that was old enough that it might as well be a piece of the merchandise, a few crates, rolls of packing foam and a few more mirrors than would be expected.

After a few moments, he returned with an adhesive bandage.

"Sorry about that. Will this do?"

"Here. I can open that, if you need," Emry offered to take the bandage back.

"The mirrors..." He shut the door to the back room, "...those are a recent acquisition. My boss hasn't set the prices on them yet. If you saw one you liked, they should be on the floor in a couple days."

"If you would like to leave some contact information, I can leave it with the boss and he can call you or your friend with the details. I haven't had a chance to read any of the notes he has on those mirrors, yet."

He returned to the dust rag and polish and put them behind the checkout counter.

"Don't worry about it. Customers always come first. Especially ones attacked by the merchandise. Feel free to look around."

"That?"

Emry squinted toward the location Delilah had found the figurine to see what part of the store it was in.

"The tag must've fallen off....or else people are randomly bringing things in and sneaking them onto our shelves. Let me check."

He grabbed a book from behind the counter and flipped through it as he paced over to the pace where the figurine was displayed. After a brief search of the area for the missing tag, he returned to flipping through the book a few more seconds before tapping an entry.

"Twenty-three fifty."

It was times like this that made Emry thankful that Mr. Ilic kept very thorough and descriptive records of the merchandise.

"If that is a chair's fondness, I would hate to see it in fully-blossomed love."

Emry's expression remained sober, indicating that he was either dead serious or he had a very dry sense of humor.

"If you really do wish to nurture a suicidal relationship with man-eating furniture, however, I am permitted to knock forty dollars off the price for the minor disrepair and as an apology for your injury."

He took a slip of paper from next to the cash register and marked the records book with it before flipping to find the page detailing the offending chair.