The Braced and the Brave: Mira's Desire Unlocked

"I'm not gay."

"Oh? Well, I think you're adorable either way."

"I'm not gay! And if I was gay, I wouldn't be into dudes with braces!"

"You're not gay? That's a shame. You have such lovely hair, and your eyes are so blue."

"What the fuck!? This is bullshit! I don't even know why I'm still here in this stupid shop!"

"Ah, but you like my shop don't you? It's a very nice shop. I make all of my own items. It's a hobby of mine. See that table over there. It's made of the bones of a dragon. I found it as it was dying, and it saw that I had the strength to end its suffering. So it gave me a gift. The gift of fire. That's what that small flame is on top of the table right now."

This man was clearly batshit crazy. "No shit?" Mira said, trying to change the subject from her sexuality. She didn't have time for this today. She wanted to get home, shower and sleep off the migraine she got from her shitty day at work today.

"It's true!" The owner chirped back at her. "And then there's that rug! It used to be owned by a witch who lived on an island in the middle of nowhere. Before she died, she gave it to me in exchange for putting her soul back inside her body." His face became dark and menacing for a moment before he regained his cheery demeanor again "But don't worry, I did nothing wrong. They were just old friends so we could hang out after they died and talk about old times and such." He winked at her with one eye then turned away and walked to the other side of his shop where he began fiddling with a small wooden box resting on top of some display shelves filled with more rocks and crystals than Mira knew existed in the world. "But enough about me! Let's talk about you, Miss Mirabelle." He turned back towards her and held up some sort of necklace with a locket shaped like a heart engraved on top of it while opening his mouth to speak again when Mira cut him off in frustration with her own question: "What's up with all these fake names anyway? Are we supposed to be characters in some kind of..." Mira paused for the word to come to mind "...fairy tale or something?"

"Yes!" The antiques store owner exclaimed, clearly excited by Mira's observation "That is exactly right! You see young miss Mirabelle... This is all very real but also very fake at the same time," he said while walking back towards Mira who took a step backwards in response while crossing her arms and rolling her eyes at him "you see... Do you remember when someone would always call you 'princess' when you were little? Or pretend to be your knight in shining armor rescuing you from whatever trouble you may have gotten yourself into?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

The man seemed visibly angry for a moment before returning once again to his cheery disposition "Don't you see? This is all very real! But it isn't real either because I am making all of this up as we speak!" Suddenly he broke out into a fit of giggles which quickly transformed into laughter so loud that he fell onto his knees clutching his sides "I'm making all this up! Can you believe it!? My jokes are so funny they're real!" When he finally managed to regain control over himself, he wiped away tears from his eyes and looked up at Mira seriously: "You know, princesses aren't allowed to laugh outside unless they want their *cough* fairies *cough* cursed forever..." He pushed forward until he had placed his face mere inches from hers while wearing an evil smile across his face "but luckily for you princess," he whispered before breaking out into another fit of laughter once again before returning back to normal "...this is only pretend!"