"It feels better after you do it." Ralph agreed. Then he asked a follow up question.

"But how much do I..I...I..I..I..I...I..I..I..I..I..I..I...have to cry?"

"To get what we nn..nn..n..nn....n...need?"

"Not much, they're just little bitty glass vials. About yay big." He held his fingers a short distance apart to match the approximate size of the vials.

"Yay-big." Ralph repeated, as if the two words were one.

He looked forward and then pointed, bicycle all wobbly with only one hand holding the bars.

"Alright. The Mall is just up ahead. That means...means...means...mmmm...mmeans...eans...means that we're almost there. Get through the crowd and we can get the things that Hogwash likes." He explained.

Shawn refocused himself on their mission. "Right. All I know is he liked that shiny piece of a bike. We'll go to the dollar store and see if you see anything he'd like. If you're not sure, we'll just pick out whatever's shiniest."

"Alright." Ralph said, following along until they came to a stop.

They pulled up to the dollar store. A few kids were standing around outside. Shawn recognized them from school, but didn't know their names. There was the tall kid with the yellow shorts and blue shirt, holding what looked like a slurpee. Then there was a short kid with blue eyes and hard, fixed jaw. A young kid with a smile sat on the lip of the brick outside the store window, kicking his legs as Shawn approached.

Shawn recognised these kids, but he hadn't ever really spoken to or interacted with them in any meaningful way, and this would be a really odd time to start. He led Ralph past the group to head into the store.

Ralph followed Shawn as he pushed past the kids. The store opened up with a loud, swishing glide of the door. Rows of trinkets from the store's aisles greeted them. Shawn could see yellow paper plates and green, plastic cups. A pair of tongs hung loosely off of a hook next to a cheap, plastic hat with a a propeller. There were packs of crayons and smaller, packs of toothpicks. There was a stack of cans and...

"I bet there's toys here!" Ralph announced, tugging on Shawn's sleeve.

Fortunately, Shawn had been budgeting assuming Ralph would want to see the toy section. "There is, and if you can help me find the stuff we need quickly, I've got a dollar you can spend on whatever toy you want!"

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Ralph said, tugging on Shawn even as he was walking forward, that dirty, rubba-sucky lolling behind him and dragging on the floor of the store.

The search was quick and Ralph came back with a handful of dangling, sparkling, cheap, plastic beads hanging out of what looked like a plastic prop goblet. He was also holding a trail of confetti that was red with glitter.

"This stuff would..would..would...work."

Shawn grabbed a basket and loaded it up with the beads, goblet, and confetti. He surveyed their haul with some satisfaction as he looked around the store. "Can you think of anything else before we finish?"

"Wha...?" Ralph gave Shawn a wounded look. "The t..t..t..toys." He muttered, as if Shawn was thinking of holding back or perhaps forgetting the dollar that he had promised to give Ralph if Ralph helped out.

Shawn gave him an amused look. "I mean before that, silly." He pulled out the dollar bill and held it out to Ralph.

"This w..w..w..w...will do!" Ralph said, placing the shiny, cheap objects on the floor and grabbing the dollar bill. Even if Ralph did think of something, it was too late, his mind too focused on what he could get for that dollar.

He hemmed and hawed. He went up one aisle and down the other, each time the rubba-sucky dragging behind him, each time spending a long time looking at the various objects. He stopped by the crayon and colors section, taking time to examine each page of the coloring books more than once. He went to the stickers section and placed his thumb and forefinger on the sheets of Transformer stickers. Then he went to the card section.

They spent another hour in the store. Finally, Ralph selected a pack of cards. The cards read:

'Garbage Pale Kids.'



"We can get..get..get..get..get..get..get..get..." Ralph stammered, stopping so that he could recover his sentence, the words struggling to get out now that he was so excited.

"We can get..get..get more than one pack! They're only. tw..tw..tw..twenty five c..cc..cents! We can get two with a dollar!"

Shawn gathered up the remaining items before following Ralph around the store. He looked at the cards, and then at Ralph, and gave him an impish grin. "Hey Ralph, I bet if you ask the store clerk real nicely, they'll let you get four packs of stickers!"

Upon leaving the store, Ralph was all smiles, an ear to ear grin and a fist full of four 'Garbage Pail Kid' packs. He opened one pack of cards, looking over them with intense interest, blanket still dragging behind him as they made their way to the bicycles.

Shawn, for his part, was carrying all of the shiny objects.

The kids were gone, but something didn't feel right....

Poof!

A choking explosion of black smoke filled the air to the right of Shawn's head. Through the murky mist Feddler appeared.  A small, child-like hand shot out from the cloud and grabbed a hold of one of the beaded, shiny necklaces, cheap plastic jingling. Feddler began to pull, trying to pry the object out of Shawn's grip.

OOC: Shawn Rolls Strenght vs. Feddler Strength

OOC: 09:06, Today: Shawn Cramer failed (no successes) using 2d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 6,3.  Strength.

19:02, Today: Shawn's Imp - Feddler failed (no successes) using 1d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((4)).


It became a tug of war of sorts, Feddler's small hand tugging at the plastic necklace, Shawn tugging back.

OOC: Shawn Rolls Strenght vs. Feddler Strength

"Let go of it! D..D..Dummy!" Ralph shouted at Feddler, evidently unphased by the idea that he was talking to an imp. Then again, Ralph had spent a great deal of time at the Circus.

SHawn pulled and pulled to no avail, but an idea occurred to him suddenly. "Yeah, give it b-wait, what's that behind you!?"

OOC: 19:10, Today: Shawn Cramer failed (no successes) using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 3,7,1,2,1. Strength + WP.

Feddler's face was wide with a grimacing smile that revealed pointed teeth. Strangely, the demon-imp responded to Shawn's statement, looking over for just a second.

That's when it happened.

Ralph--face all contorted and angry looking--threw a partially opened pack of Garbage Pail Kid cards at the imp, hitting it straight in the face. The pack exploded sending cards out in a plume that added to the imp's confusion.

22:13, Today: Evil Circus - Ralph rolled 2 successes using 2d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((5,10(+9))).

"Baa!" Feddler said in a high pitched voice, leathery wings flapping as the necklace fell to the ground.

"Run!!" Ralph yelled

Shawn snatched the necklace up off the ground and beat feet as fast as he could!

OOC: Shawn Joins Thread

Shawn: The Road To Home Is Pave With Good Intentions