//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Octavius 
// by Master Koschei 
//------------------------------//

	“But Dash!” Vinyl was holding a pair of headphones, trying to reason with her friend to get them for her.
“No, Vi,” Dash said with a stern face.  “You have headphones in that bag Tavi has.  They work just fine.”
“But these are sooooo much cooler, Dash!”  She shoved the box in her friends face to exemplify exactly how cool said headphones were.  Dash shook her head and the argument continued.  Octavius, meanwhile, was looking at a different set of headphones disinterestedly.  He was waiting for them to finish their squabbling so they could move on.  He had no interest in this store, and was curious what the rest of this mall had to offer.
After a couple minutes, Vinyl dejectedly returned the box to its place.  Octavius took note of them.  They were a rather nice, red pair of T.P.O.Z. headphones.  Of course, they came with a hefty price of $299.99.
He pondered for a moment, casting a glance at Vinyl; she looked so disappointed, slowly trudging back to her friend.  Octavius smiled to himself and told the girls he’d catch up in a moment.
When they’d left, Octavius picked up the headphones and went to the front register, setting them down.  The clerk smiled at him and rang him up, handing him back the box.  He thanked her and stuffed the box down in the backpack beneath Vinyl’s hoodie.  He thanked her one more time, then departed the store.  He seriously wondered what the hell had possessed him to do that as he looked for the girls.  He barely knew this woman, yet here he was buying her a 300-dollar pair of headphones!  He shook his head in disbelief and kept looking for Dash and Vinyl.
After about ten minutes, Octavius started to get worried.  He hadn’t seen them, and the crowds in the mall made everything feel very confined.  He was slowly starting to hyperventilate, panicking and worrying he’d never find them and that they’d left him to the mob of strangers.  Octavius loved to perform for others, but hated being trapped in their midst.
Suddenly, he felt two hands take his, one in fingerless gloves, the other feeling very soft.  “It’s okay, Octy,” Vinyl whispered to the man quietly.
“We’re right here, Tav–Tav,” Dash added, giving the man’s hand a squeeze, which he returned in appreciation.  He turned and looked at them; both women were smiling kindly at him, and he smiled back.  He was glad they were here, though part of him wished they would stop with the nicknames and another part didn’t like being touched without permission.  He ignored these thoughts, though, and let them guide him to the next shop.