I Can't Believe It's Not Cubic Zirconia

[thegreat1ncewas]

Feeling quite the entrepreneur today, Liam has set up a small booth with a simple sign reading:

Quality Diamonds for Sale!
Prices Negotiable, Barter Allowed

Diamonds of all shapes and sizes have been carefully displayed under a glass counter which, coupled with some neat lighting tricks, has created a small lightshow in that corner of the Nexus. It is

Comments

[lilmagicflower]

"Sparkly rocka!" Nikki gaped, then smiled shyly, peering at them before looking up and grinning. "i have some too... but you have a lot more pretty clear ones...."

[thegreat1ncewas]

Liam raises an eyebrow. "You have diamonds too?" he inquires politely.

[lilmagicflower]

"Yes," she said shyly, then dug into her pocket and pulled out a small handful of various precious gems. She smiled. "I make them! Do you make yours, too?"

[thegreat1ncewas]

He tilts his head and leans in to get a better look. "No, I can't say that I can make diamonds. Do you mean you made those from nothing?"

[lilmagicflower]

"No, that's silly," she giggled, then pulled a small, normal piece of stone. "I look at these really hard and they change."

To show him she focused really hard, and ever so slowly the rock cracked and shrank, turning slowly into a rough emerald. Nikki blinked rapidly, then smiled and offered it to him.

[thegreat1ncewas]

Liam holds the emerald up to the light before pocketing it. "Thanks. That's a very useful power you have there, miss." And how can Liam make money off it?

[lilmagicflower]

She smiled, proud of herself, then carefully puts her sparkly rocks away. "I like them because they shine... and people like it when I give them to them," she said.

[thegreat1ncewas]

"You know with that ability you would never have to work if you didn't want to." Liam is 99.9% sure that sentiment will be lost on the girl in front of him, but it's the kind of thing that needs to be pointed out.

[lilmagicflower]

"You... mean... money...?" she slowly guessed, blinking. Money... that's what people usually talked about about her rocks. She didn't know why. "I give them to Margaret because she gets me food and lets me stay in her building. I don't need money. Tear needed money, so I gave him rocks, but then his mean friends came and Fred told me not to give them the stones anymore because they would be mean again."