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Magic Box, Tuesday

The mysterious crate was still lurking in the back, but Giles had made a decision to ship it back unopened. Considering what had come out of some of the other unordered crates, it was the safest and most rational decision. Even if part of him hated not knowing what was in it.

So he called and made arrangements for it to be picked up and then set about unpacking and restocking the shelves with things he had ordered.

The Magic Box was open.

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Andrew had been wandering about town somewhat aimlessly when he spotted The Magic Box. "I didn't realize it was a chain," he muttered, pushing open the door to explore what was inside.

Giles was unpacking some will o the wisp sparklers -- his nod to the Fourth of July holiday tomorrow -- when he heard the door ring.

"Can I help you?" he was already asking as he came out of the back area, only to stop short. "Andrew."

Andrew did a quick check of his chest. He was pretty sure he had put on a new t-shirt this morning, but if it was the same one from yesterday with his nametag still attached, well, that would be embarrassing. Nope, clean shirt.

"Umm, just looking around, kind sir." Maybe this man was a mystic and just new everyone's name. Best to ask: "Did you just use the magics to figure out my name?"

"Just memory," Giles said. "Played with any flying monkeys lately?"

Andrew gave the man his best quizzical look. He did look familiar. "Hey!" Andrew cried out, "Aren't you my school librarian?"

The bit about the flying monkeys was pretty much lost on Andrew at this point.

"I used to be, yes." Apparently this was pre-monkey Andrew. Which meant there could be flying monkeys in their immediate future. Well, it could be worse. It could've been the brother with the hell hounds.

Although, it also could mean a chance of teaching the boy the error of his ways before they were up to their arses in ariel primates. Giles looked at Andrew speculatively.

Andrew snapped his fingers. "Mr. Stiles! How did you end up here?" Andrew was beginning to wonder if anyone was left in Sunnydale.

"It's Giles," Giles said as mildly as he could manage.

Andrew was pretty sure the man's name was Mr. Stiles but decided to chalk up the differenct to the whole dimensional nexus thing. Looking around the store, he figured this would probably be the best place to get a few of the supplies he didn't bring from home.

"So... Mr. Giles," he really emphasized the G, like whoa, "I was wondering if I could pick up a few things." He consulted the mental list he had just made up, "I need a few black candles with at least a four inch base, non-tapered if you've got 'em, a good incense burner made of iron or some cold metal equivalent, a ceremonial dagger - straight edge is fine, but something cool and curvy or twisted would be so much better, some concentrated yak's blood, and any texts you might have written in ancient Sumerian or Sanskrit." Andrew smiled, "Don't want the translating skills to get rusty while I'm here."

"No, I don't think so," Giles said, crossing his arms.

Andrew was perplexed. "Oh. Um, I thought this was a store." He looked around at the shelves and the signage. He was pretty sure he saw some candles. "I've got money," he offered.

"It is a store," Giles confirmed. "But it would be completely irresponsible for me to sell those items to you until I can be sure you know what you're doing and aren't going to get in over your head."

Andrew was further perplexed. "Is there a quiz or something I need to take? Do you, mayhaps, offer a membership card? I mean, I've got most of this stuff back home. I just figured it was best to leave it back in Sunnydale, what with the airport security and all..."

"This isn't Sunnydale," Giles said. "I tend to want to make sure my customers aren't going to summon something that will kill themeselves or others."

"Oh." This made an annoying kind of sense to Andrew. He half wondered if the Turtle and bird store he had heard about might sell what he needed. "Well, I haven't really summoned anything that would be, like, really harmful or bloodthirsty." He paused, "Well, very bloodthirsty." He rubbed a small scar on his forearm.

"Then do you have books on basic summoning techniques? I've learned most of what I know from my brother and the parchments I've been able to swipe from his room when he's out."

"Oh, I know all about demon summoning," Giles said, making a quick decision on how to play the situation to get some sort of control over Andrew's activities in this area. "And I know about your brother's hellhounds." He shook his head and put on his best Ripper smirk. "And he? Is an amateur."

Andrew opened his mouth, totally prepared to defend his brother Tucker, and then shut it. After all, the guy heated his incense on a hotplate. "Well I know stuff. Maybe not a lot of stuff, but I'm learning - doing research. There are some pretty good sites out on the world wide web..." He gave Giles a forced grin.

Giles snorted. "Fakes and wanna be's."

Andrew looked crestfallen. "Well it's not like they offer Demonology at Sunnydale High," he said defensively. "I thought maybe here at Fandom..." His voice trailed off.

"What do you suggest, sagely one?"

Giles made a show of looking at Andrew assessingly. "I suppose we might be able to come to an arrangement," he finally said.

Interested, Andrew warily asked, "What kind of arrangement?"

"I teach you what real demon summoning is all about and in turn you work for me."

Andrew thought it over for about half a second. "Okay!" He might have hopped a little. "So when do I start? What kind of work are we talking about? Would this be porbono, cause I'm totally cool with that."

"We're talking working in the shop, serving customers, stocking displays, the normal sort of thing," Giles said. "We can discuss schedule when you know when you need to be in class."

"Okay. Awesome." Andrew walked up to the nearest shelf and began straightening up items. He turned back to Giles, excited, "So what are we going to summon first?"

Robin came in, mostly just for the heck of it, but when he saw what Mr. Giles was doing, he decided to offer to help.

"Hi Mr. Giles, do you need any help?"

"Hello, Robin," Giles greeted the young frog with a smile. Which, he supposed, was proof that you could get used to anything given enough time. "I guess I could use some help setting up the sparkler display, if you want?"

"Oh sure I can do that!" Robin said, giving a little salute. "Where do you want it?"

~~so sorry, had to rush out to see Transformers~~

"I was thinking of using the center display for them," Giles said. "Do something special to tie in with the Fourth of July holiday."

"Cool!" Robin gathered up some of the supplies and took them over to the center window. He had to make two trips. "Is it weird? Celebrating Independance Day? For you I mean?"

"I don't actually celebrate it that much myself," Giles admitted. "Although the fireworks can be rather nice. Reminds me of Guy Fawkes Day back home."

"I don't know that one." Robin admitted, setting up the display.

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Magic Box, Tuesday

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