Funny, isn't it? how one person can live their entire lives in a city and not even realise it's greatest little treasures? Well, as Karma had just discovered, there was a shop made --it seemed-- especially for her! Candles in every shape and size, incense boxes littering every available surface, aromatherapy instruments everywhere you looked, herbs dangling down from the ceiling, and tarot cards. This place was her heaven, if anything. It seemed tiny from the outside, hardly visible to the eye, but inside... inside was a different story. It was such a cozy, at-home type of place that Karma immediately felt welcome.

She browsed through the various types of aromatic oils, hands delicately tracing their way across the tops of the small bottles. Sage, orange, rose... ha. Chamomile. Hm, oils that could be used to put one in a sensuous mood, playful mood, relaxed mood.... and the candles! Oh boy was Karma enamoured with candles.

So deep within her pleasure was she, that Karma didn't even hear the door open.

Raphel stepped inside and immediately choked. Clapping a long sleeve over his nose and mouth he tried to breath. The smell! perfumes and incense everywhere! How could anyone stand to be in here for more than five minutes! Not that it smelled bad but there was just so much of it hanging in the air.
Raph, recovering only slightly, walked up to the counter, eyes came level with it.
"Mm, shcuse me?" He attempted to say through his sleeve, the confused expression on the cashier's face told him to remove his sleeve from his face. He did so reluctantly.
"I need a small mirror, do you have one?" He immediately replaced his sleeve.
The cashier's look of confusion still didn't go away, she only pointed to the back of the store.
Raph followed her hand, a little hurt that she had given him such a look. He didn't think his appearance was that bad, okay his shirt was miles too big for him, it did look a little odd, not to mention his giant navy-blue barrette resting on top of his bright orange hair. Or, perhaps it was the fact that he physically looked like an eleven-year-old child.
He made his way past rows of candles, all the while keeping his sleeve over his face. Suddenly Raph caught his foot on a loose floorboard and came to the ground with a crash that shook the nearest shelves. He lifted his head slowly and gave a small gasp as he realized his hat was no longer on his head, but on the floor a foot in front of him. Two pointed fox ears almost hidden amongst his hair twitched slightly. In an instant Raph snatched up his hat and stuffed it back on his head.
Had anybody seen? He wondered, nervously looking around.

...Karma did, however, notice when a choking noise reached her ears. She looked over (not so far away) to the solitary till to see a boy -- strangely dressed, perhaps, but no matter -- speaking through his sleeve. She grinned and gave an unconcious giggle at the look on his face, and the look the cashier gave him. She barely noticed the extreme fragrance of the store, but it maybe was a bit much...

Karma went back to looking at the candles, undisturbed until a disproportionately loud crash rent the shop. She looked past herself a bit, searching for the culprit. It was the boy. Wait... there was something wrong about those ears. But, before Karma had a chance to pin her finger on what she had seen, he already had his hat back on, and was looking around nervously. Like a fox, she noticed suddenly. Fox...ears...

"Are you alright?" she asked in a soft voice, hoping not to upset the youngster more.

("OOC" sorry I took so long. ^^')


Raph jumped at the voice and whirled round. His ears flattened under his cap as he looked up at the girl, “Er....I’m okay...” He got up slowly and dusted himself off.
Oh gosh I hope she didn’t see. He thought anxiously to himself, after that he found he couldn’t look her in the face anymore.
“M-my boots are just to big...I’m fine.” Tilting his head down he started quickly toward the back of the store, taking care to pick up his feet.
The few mirrors that were there were placed on a low shelf and shone as he stood over them. Taking care not to look at his reflection he gently picked one up and turned back.
It was a bother being young, not only did he constantly have to deal with height issues, but in being a young Kitsune he could not look at his reflection at all. If he disguised himself and saw it, his illusion would vanish instantly, and even if he wasn’t disguised he would freeze on the spot if he caught the slightest glimpse of himself in a reflective surface.
Better to freeze and look like a fool than to have an illusion mess up and look like something...inhuman or magical. Magical...the last thing he needed was for a human to panic if they discovered he wasn’t one of them.
Carefully he made his way over to the counter—his sensitive nose had finally gotten use to the smell—and placed the mirror delicately on it.
The cashier tapped a few buttons indifferently with her long fingers --she didn’t see him fall, he was quite sure of that.
“4.75 please.” She said with just as much feeling as she had shown before.
Raph dug into his pocket and pulled out two dollars, he reached in again and felt his short finger slide through a large hole.
“Oh no....”
He turned and desperately fished about in his empty pocket hoping that he might have missed a few hidden coins. Nothing. Eagerly he thrust his hand into the other pocket and his face brightened as he felt cold pieces of metal and heard their happy jingle. He grabbed a fist-full and drew them out, his joyous expression faded as he saw what they were.
Yen! Japanese coins... He’d forgotten he still had those.
Now what!
Timidly he turned to face the cashier again.
“Umm, I’m sorry miss I don’t have anymore money.”
The cashier gave him a cold look, “Well I’m sorry but you can’t buy that with only two dollars.”
Just brilliant. He thought. Where’s luck when you need it!

(sorry I took so long, lol!^^)


Karma smiled as the young boy hurridly made cover-up gestures to show he was, indeed, fine. She nodded and they went about their seperate buisness.

Miss DeGalleo had been busy contemplating whether or not to add yet another expensive pillar candle to her already overstocked arm, decided yes, and figured she had best dump her load at the front counter for purchasing later. As she stumbled over there with her massive load, she heard the small dialogue, and saw the distressed look on the previously-encountered young gentleman's face. Natuarally, she stuck a hand in her loose change pocket and fished out two dollar bills. She silently slid them across the counter. When her hand passed by the yen, she grinned and passed them back to the boy.

"I hope you don't mind?" she asked the foxlike boy quietly as the cashier went on to hand the receipt over to the both of them.

Raph looked up, it was the girl he had met before. His face lit up and he pushed his hat back and grinned.
"Thanks!" he said brightly, as he accepted the Yen and put them back in his pocket.
"You're still missing 75 cents." Came the harsh voice of the cashier.
Raph paused for a moment, then reached into his pocket once more and jingled the Yen around for a bit as if he were searching for something, then drew his hand out and placed three shinning sliver-colored coins on the counter.
"75 cents he said cheerfully," The cashier was about to say something, but decided against it and handed Raph and Karma the receipt.
Raph took the mirror off the counter and for a second his eyes darted to coins the cashier was now putting in the cash register, as they fell from her hand they began to shrink and their bright silver color changed to the worn golden color of the Yen. The cash register snapped shut and the cashier (who hadn’t noticed anything) turned to the next customer.
Raph, clutching the mirror in both hands gave a tiny bow in Karma's direction,
“Thank you again.” The cap twitched slightly as his ears perked underneath.

Karma grinned as the cashier's face changed from a look of satisfaction, to unhappiness and back to her normal apathetic look as she sighed.

Karma winked at the boy, smiled, and bowed slightly. She wasn't used to people who bowed like her. "It was no problem, glad I could have been of service!" Very absent-mindedly, as the customer being served sneezed, Karma readjusted the boy's cap slightly. It's awkard angle had irritated her subconcious mind. She felt a pair of sticky-up ears underneath, but decided not to comment, and quickly withdrew her hands, fearing it had been... impolite to make such an intimate gesture. "I'm sorry... what was your name?" she asked as she apologized.