Lina grabbed another french fry from her plate. Elbows on the table, she glanced around the mall again.
"Lina-san, it isn't proper for a lady to put more food in her mouth than she can talk around."
"Oh, hello, Sylphiel."
Sylphiel followed as Amelia sat across from Lina.
"So, are we going to the shoe stores today?" Amelia asked. "I need another pair."
"Ruined another pair, stumbling again?" Lina mumbled.
"What?"
"Nothin'."
"Oh, let's go!" Sylphiel's eyes brightened. "I'd love to look at the new dressy shoes!"
"I don't know..." Lina munched on another fry, still blankly glancing around the mall trollers.
Sylphiel's smile disappeared and she began staring at Lina.
"Lina-san?" Amelia asked. "What's the matter?"
"Oh, I don't know. Just bored, I guess." Lina shifted in her chair, into a very unlady-like pose.
Just as Sylphiel was going to point that out for her, Lina's eyes went wide.
"'Occult store: 50% off'!?!"
In a flash, the table was empty (as was the plate of fries), as Lina dragged off her friends.
Lina reached for another book as Amelia followed, carrying a large, about-to-topple stack.
"Lina-san?"
"Ooh. This looks nice. What is it, Amelia?"
"Can't I just put this down on one of the end tables?"
"Well, Amelia, if my stack was down somewhere, all by itself, away from me, not only would I have to go back and forth between it and the shelves I'm taking books from, but someone might take some of them too."
"But, Lina-san. Can't we just put the pile next by where Sylphiel is sitting?"
"Nope. 'Cause that would still leave the first problem. Ooh!" Lina hopped up and down once. "I've been looking for that book for 3 months!"
"Lina-san?" Amelia tried to look past the pile in her arms as Lina dashed towards the other side of the store.
"Finally!" Lina paused in awe. "The Pert Em Hru!" She reached up, but not before another hand snagged the last copy of the book. "Hey!"
"Hm?" A young man turned back to look at her.
"I was getting that!"
"Sorry. But I got it first."
"Well," Lina twisted the ball of her foot into the carpet and and batted her big, ruby eyes, "You're just going to look it over and not buy it, right?"
The stranger was unphased.
"I'm buying it." He turned and headed for the cashier.
"Hey!" Lina threw her fist into the air and went after him. "I've been looking for the book for 3 months, and I saw it first!"
"First of all, there's no way to tell whether you saw it before me, and second, I don't care how long you've been looking for it. I need this book."
"Oh, yeah? For what?!"
"None of your business."
"Come back here! I'm not done!"
"Stop following me."
"Not before you give me that book."
Zel rolled his eyes.
"Didn't you leave your friends in that bookstore?"
"You were watching me?!" Lina stopped, outraged.
Zel sighed and stood where he was.
"Don't you have some clothes to buy?"
clonk
Apparently, Lina had grabbed his bag and his him over the head with it. Considering that it had a rather heavy, hard covered book inside, she was more than surprised when he didn't react.
"Will you let go of my bag, please?"
"Oh...kay..."
Zel noticed her quiet stare and tried to get away before she started asking questions.
Unfortunately, she kept following him. But quietly, instead.
"Fine!" Zel suddenly burst out. "If you want the book that badly, you can have it!"
"Yay!"
"But not until I'm through with it."
"Oh."
Zel sat on one of those benches the have in the middle of the mall, pulled out the book and began to read. Lina sat down with him.
"Will you stop tapping your foot?" Zel paused in his reading.
"Sorry."
"Stop strumming your fingers."
"Sorry!"
Zel hid beind the pages.
"What do you want in that book anyway?"
Zel menatally screamed and counted to 10.
"I'm interested in transformation spells."
"Really? And here I thought you were just some curious wierdo not really serious about magic."
"And I suppose you've actually casted spells that work?"
"Sure! Here. I'll prove it."
Lina noticably focused her eyes on candybar in the store across from them. To Zel's astonishment, a breeze came through the enclosed building and at the same moment, the candy moved, but nothing else did.
"See?"
Zel leaned towards her and almost whispered. "Do you think you could cast this?" He turned to book over to her. Lina looked it over.
"Sure. Looks simple. Just need the right tools and the words and motions memorized. Nothin' hard. But why would you want a spell that turns a person into a human?"
Zel straightened. "No reason. Just a hypothetical question."
Lina wasn't stupid. She gave him a look as he turned away, supposedly interested in their surroundings. But if he didn't want to tell proding wasn't going to help...Not until she got his trust anyway. "Well, if you're going to be here a while, I'm going to grab something to eat. I'll be back. You want anything?"
"Huh?"
"Food. You want me to bring you any?"
He stared at her like she had a pink ostrich on her head.
"Uh...sure."
As soon as Lina was out of the approximate range of human hearing, she said quietly to herself, "You'd think no one ever offered him a favor before."
Unknown to Lina, she was still in his range.