War and Peace and Pancakes

The Magic of Stickers

I tapped my foot impatiently as Sammy made her third circuit of the store.

Ok, I wasn't as annoyed as I wanted people to think. I was kinda happy to be here, having fun wandering the aisles with Sam, but it was just fucking weird, two grown ass women prancing around a toy store in search of cute plush toys with which they would adorn their beds.

I was getting a real kick out of watching my adorable, clueless, witch of a best friend inspect each toy in detail, looking for the perfect item.

Both Tim and Sam had been down in the dumps since their demon went back to work, so this little shopping venture had actually been my idea. I didn't like seeing Sam upset, and nothing could cheer the witch up like cute and cuddly shit.

I smirked as I watched her trying to decide between a donut plushie and a stuffed hamster while I personally weighed my own options of a stuffed bat to go with Car's vampire or a llama.

Why a llama? Because llamas are awesome, and sometimes I just wished I could spit in someone's face if I didn't like them, too.

As we both grappled with our choices, I saw the dude again. He'd passed us several times, and every time he had stood out like a sore thumb, wearing an overwhelmed expression.

He was fairly young, and incredibly handsome, and his movements were innocuous enough, but he carried himself in a way that was just...off.

The guy wore a nondescript outfit with a white t-shirt and dark jeans. By all accounts, he shouldn't stand out, but he did, almost painfully so. He was about as entranced by the store as Sam was, stopping and staring at everything in wonder.

The odd thing was that he was alone: no kids, no one else with him. And he was garnering stares from the patrons...lots of stares, slack-jawed gazes from people instantly enamoured.

I didn't fucking like him. Something was up, something supernatural, and I didn't know what it was.

Car might know if he were here. Maybe I should give him a call. God, I could imagine how that conversation would go: "Hey, there's this hot dude wandering around the toy store, and everyone is, like, immediately in love with him. Can you tell me what he might be? Should I kill him?"

Before I could get too worked up, the man rounded the corner to go down a different aisle, and I felt nominally more relaxed. He didn't appear to even notice us earlier. If he kept to himself, then I'd leave him be.

"I decided on the donut, Mer." Sam said, drawing my attention from where I was staring at the spot where the guy had been. I looked at her, and she held it up proudly. "It reminds me of my friend Baltha."

I smiled back as I grabbed the llama I had been trying my best not to want. "I'm glad you made your choice. I know that was an agonizing decision."

Sam laughed as we started walking toward the registers. Suddenly, she remembered something else she wanted, "Stickers! I wanted some stickers."

Of course Sam did. We turned and made a beeline for the section labeled "Stickers and Coloring Books." Maybe they'd have some monster stickers. Car would just love it if I went and put little monster stickers on all those really important reports he was due to hand out at a board meeting tomorrow.

If I did it right before the meeting, then they wouldn't have a chance to print new ones...And all those reports would be just sitting on his desk unattended.

When we neared the sticker area, I tensed. There was the fucking guy again, delicately perusing the stickers and seemingly oblivious to all the people oggling him.