[center][h3]Akagalcia[/h3][/center]
[@Zarkun]

Akagalcia lead them into the small shop with little fanfare. It was not a place for... subtle... shoppers. Indeed, Rave could see that throughout the shop were several different name plates featuring collections of outfits and mismatched articles, names that sounded like companies and names that sounded like individual clothiers. Every name plate had its own style, and while the few display pieces at the window had only vaguely caught Akagalcia's attention, she found herself drawn like a hummingbird in a garden from one piece to the next.

A couple of other less enraptured patrons were milling around, affecting disinterest in their arrival. Rave noticed that one of them was paying Akagalcia a fair bit of attention. She was already being approached by the proprietor, a plump old man huffing sweet-smelling cigar smoke. They seemed to hit it off immediately as the proprietor lead her to a back room, giving Rave some genuine time to himself. In a few minutes both patrons had departed, one of them taking a pair of pants and paying at the autokiosk. Rave was alone.

Several times over the next few minutes Rave heard one or the other of Akagalcia and her new friend laughing. Out the shop window, crowds surged in either direction. But Rave sensed something, peering amongst the teeming masses for... he wasn't sure. It was a sympathetic resonance. It tickled at his surface thoughts and then he saw it, a small, red wicker basket, floating in the center of the busy street. No one seemed to notice, but everyone seemed to give it a safe distance. From it, a pale gray head emerged, perhaps the size of a peach, with huge, opal black eyes and a small mouth set in a forlorn frown. It was attached to a long, worming neck that coiled out of sight in the basket. But the creature's face was looking directly at him, staring.

Figures passed in front of it, but it never moved. Then, a Door appeared behind the creature, and moved forward, swallowing him and closing. It was gone.

Akagalcia and the priorietor were still in the back, conversing loudly.