After a long day running register, Barbara ve Sivan grew weary. How many customers walked in, only to walk out without buying anything? How much profits were flying from her grasp? How much suffering was forever lost, because customers weren't buying cursed artifacts to feed the fear-starving Creature of Leng?

"Come on, people! We're running a Buy 2, Get a 3rd Free Sale," thought Barbara, as yet another person strolled outside, unburdened from woes and unmerry tidings. Sinful Selections was glutted with rare artifacts, more magical and curse-ridden than the last. There were enough crystal skulls to open a mortuary and more eldritch tomes than you could shake a stick at! Didn't people notice the Clearance Sale sign hanging directly over Barbara's horned head? "Ugh. Buy something, please! We're running outta space!"

Well, there was nothing for it. The Sivans needed to clear shelf space for the holiday season. Come next week, they'd be buried up to their necks in living nutcrackers, monster wreathes, and vampire dolls that drank the blood of their owners. Where would they stash such stuff when they were up to their eyeballs in killer tiki torches? Barbara needed to break out the big guns.

After digging around the counter, she found it: a tin of Shan Powder. Encrusted with pearls and sealed with a magic circle, the blue powder twinkled like starlight as Barbara poured it into her chocolate-brown hands. A little dose of this stuff never hurt anybody.

Much.

Personally, Nol disapproved of using magic to sell stuff. It could dull their skills as Nightmares. "Creatures of Leng are naturalborn salespeople! We don't need such gimmicks; why, its practically cheating!" they'd say. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and besides, Nol was out for the day. What they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

With the powder in hand, Barbara waited until two lovely customers drew close. One was a redhead beauty with freckles galore; a popular face at the Bramblewood Marketplace who was rarely seen without boba tea in hand, Barbara knew her as Samantha Hill. She was accompanied by her blonde friend, Alice McGregor, who wore a workout shirt, a red sports bra beneath, and pink sweatbands. Alice was clearly fresh from the gym, if her scarlet complexion was anything to go by.

Once the two women were close and Barbara caught their attention, she muttered words of power under her breath. Even with the most potent of concoctions, a verbalized spell never hurt; in fact, it gave the magic direction. Focus. Barbara then blew the Shan Powder straight into their faces, making Samantha and Alice gasp and stumble back in surprise. Sparkly lights swirled in the air like a starlight cosmos from the darkest depths of space, while the magic slowly took hold...

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A short comic that  ruler101 and I commissioned a few months back, shortly after "Fool's Magic" was complete. Barbara was still fresh on our minds, and how could we resist creating more content about our favorite Nightmare? Luckily, it was around this time Ruler101 found AgentV, and after a few conversations, this comic was born.

As a change of pace, I decided to segment the release of this comic. One page will release every day for the rest of this week. That way, I have more time to edit these drabbles, giving each page gets the attention it deserves. I have no clue how much time AgentV poured into this comic, but nothing short of a full-blown story could match it, and it feels undignified to give the short story any less time and love.

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Art by the amazingly affable  agentv
Barbara belongs to  ruler101
Samantha Hill (redhead) and Alice McGregor (blonde) belong to me!

Spider8Fiend: Feel free to share whatever comments you have in mind! If you have any criticism to offer, however, please try to make it constructive. If you have a lot to say, feel free to PM me as well so the comment section doesn't get too full~

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