Kassandra was browsing some music on – what had the clerk called these – CDs? Humans made such fascinating things. She was enjoying herself so much that she did not notice Casper’s entrance. It wasn’t until the spectral boy started to play that she found her attention pulled.
“That’s… beautiful. What is that?” She poked her head out of the aisles to find her teammate at the keys. There was a tiny, growing crowd, and she joined it to hear out the rest of the piece. Her eyes slid closed with the beautiful music surrounding her. Once it was done, she too, applauded.
“I didn’t know you could play, Casper.” There was another smile on her face, this one bright and broad. Music did soothe the soul after all.
“That was excellent!” She stepped forward so they could talk.
“Kila plays too. Wouldn’t it be amazing if you played together?” She didn’t know where in the store Kila had gone to, or she would have brought him over. She was pleasantly surprised that so many of her teammates had that kind of talent.
“I’m going to buy things. Lots of things. Did you know they make waterproof speakers?” On that cheery note, she stood and went to gather up what she wanted to buy. Several CDs of varying genres, a small orange MP3 player with headphones, and a pair of waterproof speakers for her bath-bed.
“Bye Casper, bye Kila. I’m going to see what else they have.” She smiled again (three smiles in one day, what were the odds) and went off, humming.
The next shop that called her in was one full of toys. Most of them were definitely for children, but it warmed her heart to see them here anyway. Human shaped dolls, video game systems, child size balls, and other things. When she’d fled from home – her mind seemed to freeze just thinking about it, but she forced herself onward. When she had left, she had to leave behind a lot of things in her haste. Clothing that had been replaced, but some of them had been childhood things that were probably gone forever. One had been a small, stuffed toy that her mother had gotten her many years ago.
Maybe it was time to replace some of those things. Of course they would never be the same, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t have just one. Looking around the plushy, squishy things, she finally came up with a stuffed shark about the length of her forearm. If she was reading the tag correctly, it was on sale as well. Did humans not like sharks?
With her shark in hand, she spotted a flash of purple that she recognized. Her mood dipped. It would be wrong to ignore him, wouldn't it?
“Hello, Zachary.” She tried her best not to sound completely defeated. Noting that he too, had a toy, she spoke up again.
“Um… what is that creature you’re holding? It’s very pretty.”