The boy, named Jasper, went through all of the store, his eyes full of dancing sparkles. His girlfriend, Marina, trailed behind, looking at things absent-mindedly. She knew this was important to him and strived to make an effort. For his sake. He was patient when she went clothes-shopping, after all. It looked like Jasper would have bought the entire store if he could have. Some things were cool, though, with detailed statues or darling plushies.
"Oh, look! Transformation potions!" laughed Jasper.
He was holding a glass bottle that was very ornate and that contained a sort of fizzy drink resembling a soda.
"Fancy way to sell sodas," Marina said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Yes, but it is so, so much cooler than Coke bottles!" he exclaimed. "If only all were sold like that!"
Marina sighed. Jasper's enthusiasm was sometimes a bit hard to live with. He was sweet but a little too obsessed with dragons. Or a lot, depending on the point of view.
"Check it out! There are different bottles with different colors to become dragons of different ages or male or female! How original. is that?" he said.
"Just a way to suck more money out of people," smiled Marina indulgently.
"Let's try some! They are cheap. Well, cheaper than most things here."
"Would you like to sample some?" asked a soft voice from the side.
Its owner was an older man with what looked like an elaborate bathrobe with dragons embroidered upon it. Of course. Jasper eagerly accepted and the elderly man smiled in return, saying that then the two youngsters could pick the bottles they enjoyed best. But before Marina could answer, the store owner and Jasper started to talk about dragons and both held a most enthusiastic conversation that started to drag on and on. Marina seriously started to get bored and wondered what to do and whether to ask to try out these samples, even though she was not really interested in these to start with.