SCENES FROM A MAGIC SHOP
by perletwo
"AAAAAGGGGHHHHH!"
All eight amnesiacs scrambled away from the door as a cadre of vampires charged the shop.
In their haste to escape, Alexander Harris accidentally knocked his girlfriend Willow to the floor. Neither noticed a white crystal fall from her pocket as he helped her up and into a hug.
"Ohgod! Rupie, get them AWAY from me!" Anya cowered atop a table, edging back from the fluffy bunny nibbling at her ankles. She tried another incantation and succeeded only in producing more rabbits.
Giles rolled his eyes. Turning away, he fished in his pocket for a handkerchief to polish his spectacles...and came up with a plane ticket to Heathrow.
"....omnium varggha!"
As Giles snapped the book shut, a whirling vortex appeared, sucking up a dancing skeleton, a green mist and a brace of bunny rabbits. Delighted, Anya threw herself into his arms, peppering his face with kisses and babbling apologies. Her fiance eagerly returned both gestures.
As Rupert bent his fiancee back over a table in a fiery embrace, neither noticed a crystal prism clutched in the paws of a sleek gray rabbit as it disappeared into the vortex.
"Aw jeeze! Do I really have to see this?!" Randy spun and started back for the door he'd just come in through, slamming into Joan who'd entered hard on his heels. She cleared her throat menacingly. "Are you guys at least paying for my therapy?"
Giles cleared his throat as he backed off Anya, who simpered and primped as she sat up. "Better get used to it, son. She *is* going to be your stepmother, you know..."
"Can't wait, old man. Neither can you, apparently," Randy sneered as only an Englishman can.
"Vamps're dead, guys. Where's Dawn? I think I've had about enough for one night." Joan eyed Randy pointedly. "Haven't you got something to...discuss...with your parents?"
"Hey! *She's* not my parent. Say, where d'you think *is* me mum, anyway?"
Joan and Giles rolled their eyes in unison as the others began emerging through the trapdoor. Dawn raced into Joan's open arms. Joan cooed and clucked over the girl, and Randy and Anya rolled their eyes in unison.
"Nice of your dad to let us stay here until we figure out our living arrangements, don't you think?" called Dawn from her bedroll behind the counter.
"Least he could do for me, anyway," Randy shot back, and Dawn tossed a wadded-up invoice at his head spitball style. Joan fussed with the blankets and pillows, trying to set up a curtain between them.
"Maybe we should be sharing a bedroll. You know, conserving body heat?" Randy leaned into Joan's personal space, waggling his eyebrows.
Joan tried to ignore how cute the scar made that little expression on him, and scowled. "*What* body heat? You're room temperature!" she hissed, too low for Dawn to hear. "And you keep your fangs to yourself around my little sister, you hear me?"
"Hey! I'm a good vampire, remember? We settled this! 'Sides, the little bit's too cute to eat..." He chucked Joan under the chin, and she stifled a smile as they settled into their bedrolls.
"Nitey-night, Dawn. Don't worry, we'll straighten everything out for us in the morning..."
"What-EV-er, sis," came the high voice over the counter. "Just so I get to see Alex again tomorrow. You shoulda seen him stake that big nasty vampire, so brave, and he's soooo cool...oh, and I think he's available! Did I tell you? Willow's kinda got a thing for Tara?"
Randy and Joan's heads rolled towards each other, the same ironic grin on both their faces.
"Goodnight, Randy." Joan tucked herself a little lower under her blanket.
"Goodnight, Joan." Randy curled his long body in against her side and settled his head against her shoulder.