Out of all of the obnoxiously common names that Cynthia could have guessed - Michael, James, John, Daniel - she chose to call him Des. Color Tracy fucking bewildered, because she guessed<span style="font-style: italic">Des.</span>Tracy had never even known that someone could hate their kid enough to name them Des, so where did Cynthia get it? That was way too specific to have been coincidental. He regarded her warily before noting the sincere wave of confusion that passed over Des' face. He didn't know her.<br/><br/>That was a damn good guess.<br/><br/>Des disappeared into the back of the store in search of a case and more candles. When he was out of earshot, Tracy turned to her, ducking his head down just enough to be able to talk in a low voice. "You.. don't actually<span style="font-style: italic">buy</span>that candle magic stuff, do you?" he asked, opting to avoid her Jeopardy-worthy guess lest he freak her out and have her decide she actually<span style="font-style: italic">does</span>need magical protection or something. It was just a guess. A really fucking weird, one-in-a-million guess, but still. Maybe the guy was wearing a name tag or something and she just happened to catch it.<br/><br/>When Des returned, Tracy looked him up and down, looking for anything that resembled a name tag. He almost had to squint, since it might have been a black name tag that blended in with his black everything else. He hummed absently; no name tag.<br/><br/>"That's 6 blue that I had in the back and with these-" He stopped and put the display candles in the box. "-that makes 10."<br/><br/>"We'll take them," Tracy reiterated, his hand twitching over toward his wallet. "How much?"<br/><br/>Des looked at the case and shrugged. "We'll do a dollar each. Call it a new customer discount."<br/><br/>Money was taken, goodbyes were said, and they left Des and his shop of wonders behind them. He wasn't so bad, and the shop was admittedly pretty fucking cool to look around, Tracy decided as he loaded the case of candles into the back seat and got in the car himself. He was really<span style="font-style: italic">weird</span>but he was cool. He just silently hoped that whoever his brother was wouldn't shoot up the school or something.