Dakota held onto her find for the better part of half an hour.
For thirty minutes, Zack and Dakota bore through this dusty especially circle of Hell while Piper ooh'd and ahh'd at this thing and that; an endeavor made bearable when faced with the alternative of getting an armful of Piper's right hook. Who knew she had such a taste for antiques?
Finally, after far too long for three teenagers to have spent in an antique store, they (read: Piper) decided that they were done looking. After eighteen hundred seconds and counting, they had all come up empty. Piper had passed on some rings that she'd been eyeballing since she spotted them behind the glass ("pssh, probably fake anyway!") and the only thing that Zack was really interested in was that old Zardon the Fortune Teller - and it was being held for another customer.
In fact, the only one who seemed to come up with anything at all... was Dakota and her lamp.
"Hey Dee, you ready to head out?" Piper pointed to the sleek black curve of the handle, "You better pay for that thing if you are - you ain't been in the Port long enough to get kicked out of a store."
"Yet." Zack added with a mischevious little chuckle
"Yeah, yet." Piper added with a smile, "C'mon; better flag that old gypsy down before she thinks we're stealing something."
As she and her friends walked up to the counter, Dakota found herself running her palm against the smooth surface of her find. Why did she want this thing? It was pretty old, and covered in just as much dust as anything else in this place. There wasn't even any oil to burn in it - where was she gonna get any oil? How often would she really use this thing, y'know?
But at the same time, as she stared at it in her now open palms, something about this lamp just said 'buy me'. Like, if she didn't, she'd regret it somehow...
And it was only five bucks, right? It wasn't like she was blowing a small fortune on this thing. Lincolns came and went, but it wasn't often that Dakota felt so... drawn... to something. And having just moved to a new town, dealing with all this moving and this DynaCorp crap, all these new people who she didn't really want to get to know... she deserved a little reward, right? Maybe this could start a thing. Like, a souvenir or something.
Abida stood behind the counter, grinning ear to ear as the three friends walked into her web of dust.
"Ah, so you have found something yes?" she said in an accent that, Dakota was now sure of it, had to have been put on, "Come. Let Abida see what you have found."
Despite herself, Dakota found herself placing the lamp down on the glass counter, as if for Abida's approval. The old gypsy picked it up with both of her soft hands, bringing it just so away from her face and squinting so tightly that Dakota could have sworn she was accounting for every flake of dust Dakota and her friends had wiped off. But then the dark woman smiled, and a little laugh quaked in her chest.
"An excellent choice." she said, satisfied as she placed the lamp down, "This one has seen much - there are many stories to be told through this lamp."
"Uh-huh." Dakota said flatly as she reached into her back pocket, "So five bucks, right?"
"If you believe that you can place a value on such antiquity." Abida said loftily as she gesticulated slightly with one ruby-tipped hand, "Every item in my shop is one of a kind. A genus entirely unto itself. A reflection of -"
"But if we do believe in that kind of thing, it's five bucks, right?" Zack interjected suddenly, "Because, you know, it's almost happy hour at the burger bar and we've gotta get gone."
Abida sighed the sigh of the ancients.
"Then yes, five bucks." she relented, holding out her hand expectantly.
As Dakota whipped out her wallet, her eyes widened in surprise. Instead of the friendly face of Honest Abe staring her down, she found only three Washingtons! She had completely forgotten that she had bought her and Piper drinks at the vending machine the day before!
"Guys... I don't have enough!" Dakota exclaimed, holding out her wallet unfurled, "I can't get it!"
"A shame." Abida said curtly as she placed her hands back on the lamp, sliding slowly back towards her, "If only you had come more prepared... well, I suppose it's not going to go anywhere... but I can make no guarantees."
Dakota looked desperately to her friends - for whatever reason, she really wanted this thing! And, y'know, it was embarrassing! To not have enough money for something.
"Oh fine... I guess I do owe you." Piper said with a roll of her eyes as she whipped out a crinkled one from somewhere in her vast cleavage, "S'all I got for right now."
"I don't mind chipping in." Zack said with a shrug as he plunged his hand into his pocket, "So long as it means we can get out of here. I think I'm developing asthma..."
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