Evening settles gently over Greenstone Books, the soft light of late sun filtering through the tall front windows and laying warm stripes across the wooden floors. The shop smells of fresh coffee and warm pastry, a small spread of croissants and cinnamon rolls arranged neatly on a tray near the counter. Somewhere in the background, low jazz hums from hidden speakers, quiet enough that the sound of turning pages and shifting shelves would easily carry through the room.
Behind the counter, Thomas Book leans back slightly on a stool, a folded newspaper held loosely in one hand while a steaming mug of coffee rests nearby. Every so often he glances up from the page, eyes drifting across the shop as if taking stock of the quiet morning before the first customers arrive. A box of used paperbacks sits open beside him on the counter, waiting to be sorted once the coffee is finished and the day properly begins.
Through that mundane door, steps a spectacular creature. Certainly not the greatest this place had ever seen, but she brings with her something... Indescribable. That something which makes people hard to ignore by default. Is it the way she walks? Perhaps the way her eyes sweep the room with quietude and gentility... She's strikingly like the calm sea on a cool, cloudy day. Hell, if one stares too long, her hair might even seem to flicker in some unseen breeze. She stands there for a moment... Drinking the place in. Getting acquainted with the new locale. But soon? Silver eyes turn away from the room at large, and land squarely on Book. The man behind the counter.
Lyra's lips quirk up at the corners, as she slowly begins to saunter towards the surface. When she arrives,s he stops a short distance away and crosses her arms.
"What a cozy little place..." She muses distantly, but toward Thomas. "The owner, I presume? Or a well educated employee?" The assumption of education, of course, born of his appearance. Why wouldn't he be educated, right?
Book looks up from the newspaper only after a moment, as though the shift in the room’s atmosphere had reached him before the sound of the door. His eyes settle on Lyra with the steady attention of someone used to studying details rather than reacting to them. He does not stare rudely, but he does take a quiet inventory: the way she carries herself, the deliberate pace of her walk, the way the room itself seems to bend slightly around her presence. He folds the newspaper once, setting it aside near the coffee mug with an easy motion. “Hello and yes ma'am,” he answers simply. His hand gestures lightly toward the room around them — the shelves, the quiet morning light, the coffee and pastries waiting on the counter. “Welcome to Greenstone Books.”
"Your welcome is appreciated." Lyra replies, looking away from him and back to the room. She stares for several thoughtful moments... And a close inspection would show, there's the faintest bit of uncertainty in her look. But when she looks back? That uncertainty had melted away.
"I was here for something important, actually. I needed to get a copy of the DSM-5, and Kaplan and Sadock's book of Comprehensive Psychology. It turns out, the version I have from five years ago are outdated." Her lips quirk up again, enshrining a gentle smile.
"Figures, doesn't it?" She pauses for a moment, letting the air between them cool with her words. And gods... Now that she's speaking more? She has a voice like a songbird, even in subtle speech.
"I'm a dropout, coming back to finish what I started. Now, I don't know that you do textbooks here... But I've heard this place is reliable. So why not give it a shot, right?"
Book listens without interrupting, the easy calm of the shop settling back around the counter while she speaks. The request earns the smallest lift of his brows—not surprise exactly, but recognition. He reaches for the coffee mug beside the folded newspaper, taking a quiet sip while he considers the titles she mentioned. “We do textbooks,” he says after setting the mug down again. His hand drifts to the side of the counter where a small ledger and a few stacked catalog cards sit, the quiet tools of someone who orders as often as he sells. “Not everything lives on the shelves,” he adds. His eyes return to her then, thoughtful but not intrusive. “Returning to finish something you started tends to make the material stick better anyway,” he says mildly. “Psych program?”
"Psych program." Lyra confirms with a nod, wrapping her arms alittle more tightly around herself as she watches him pull out the ledger. "I dropped out five years ago due to some interpersonal issues. Was weaker then, you see... Don't think it'll happen again, so I figured now was the time." Her smile fades alittle, and she looks over to the shelves with a subtle hum of thought. "A place like this run by someone like you tends to have interesting finds indeed." She says, "I'm also wondering... Do you take requests as well? I have a passing interest in less than scientific things. Stuff I enjoy reading in my free time, yes? I've been looking for new material there as well. Specifically, any sequestered histories around the Isles." The way she says 'Isles' betrays her accent quite handedly. It's distinctly... Scottish? Maybe. A linguist could likely tell for sure.
"You know how the christians were with the Isles... Anything left by the isle's ancestors is worth reading, if indeed there's anything at all." Her lips quirk again...
"A history buff I know told me the owner's good at finding. And since I know your name, Thomas, mine is Lyra."
Book listens without interrupting, one hand resting lightly on the open ledger while she speaks. When she mentions dropping out, there is no visible judgment in his expression, only a small nod that suggests the explanation requires no defense. People step away from things all the time. The important part, to him, is usually the decision to return. He writes the two textbook titles down in careful script before closing the ledger halfway. "I can get both of those," he says calmly. "DSM-5 I can probably have by the end of the week. Kaplan and Sadock may take a few days longer depending on which edition you want." His tone remains matter-of-fact, the voice of someone used to solving practical problems through quiet logistics. When she shifts the conversation toward the 'Isles', though, his attention sharpens slightly. "Requests are half the business," he replies. "The shop floor is just what happens to wander in." He steps out from behind the counter then, moving a short distance toward a nearby shelf as if orienting himself among the sections."The Isles cover a wide range," he continues thoughtfully. "If you're talking about early Gaelic or pre-Christian material, most of what survives comes through folklore collections, ecclesiastical records, or Victorian antiquarians who were... enthusiastic editors."
Just then a fresh looking face that looks inked to high heaven walks in with a loud and wide open mouthed yawn. Unbound dreadlocks waterfall down the skinny woman's back with two or three falling down the front of her right shoulder. "Man... I need to like... kick a bitch. Leaving me a list like that." Sofie's face making it mildly clear that she's running some errand for someone, eyes looking down at a list.
"So... books..." Looking up and then around. "Seems like there's plenty here..."
"Right. Very enthusiastic antiquarians, eager to erase the truth of the matter from the ancestor's mouths. Because that is where most of it comes from... From between the lips." Lyra replies, tapping her own beautiful lips in indication. "I'm talking, though, more about the northeastern Scottish territories. Old stuff. I'm deeply interested in the Picts... There's just so terribly little, but you never know what you might find to have survived with the right pair of eyes on the job." When she's through, her silver eyes turn to look at who just stepped through the door! They widen there, and her lis quarter part in surprise.
"You're... The girl from the Taphouse?" She asks rhetorically, "What are you doing here?" She tilts her head, turning her body so she half and half faces both Book and Sofie.
"Your name was..." She pauses for a moment, thinking... "Sofie, right?"
Book’s attention shifts briefly as the door opens and Sofie wanders in, the yawn and commentary about the list arriving a moment before he fully turns to acknowledge her. His eyes flick once over the ink, the dreadlocks, the posture of someone clearly running errands they did not choose for themselves. The observation is quick and quiet, filed away without comment, and he gives her the same calm nod he offers anyone who steps through the door. "Evening," he says evenly. "You’re in the right place for books, at least." When Lyra clarifies the region she’s interested in, Book nods once more thoughtfully. The mention of the Picts draws a little more focus from him; not "Most of what we have comes filtered through later writers. Roman accounts, monastery chronicles, and a handful of archaeological studies." He gestures lightly toward the rear shelves.
Another wide yawn as the woman's pushed up green sleeved left arm brings the list up to her face, the full extent of *just how tattooed* the woman was being on display for Lyra and Book both. Then waving the list written in Korean at the pair, the white girl start speaking in Korean herself as she doesn't appear to realize just what language she's speaking in.
Walking from the door to the ailse the pair was standing in, not having caught onto their situation of light flirtations and speakings of history... Sofie just nods at Lyra and grins widely in excitement as more Korean spews from her mouth with her eyes looking at both expectantly. Still not realizing she's speaking Korean.
"Mmm." Lyra muses, closing her eyes as Book recollects what they presently have. She takes a few moments like this... No doubt, but then Sofie is speaking at the pair of them in Korean! Lyra's eyes widen alittle, and she blinks three times before she says... "Sofie I think you can infer that I don't speak... Uh... Korean?" That took her a second to find, but she sure did find it! Her eyes flit away form Sofie though, back to Book. "I think for now I'll just stick with the tetbooks. No worries about the time they'll take to arrive- it's still a while out from classes after all." And back to Sofie she goes..!
"But seriously girl, you don't look drunk. Unless you are?"
Book watches Sofie for a moment while the Korean keeps flowing, his expression calm but clearly puzzled. His eyes move from the paper in her hand to her face, then briefly to Lyra, as if checking whether this is some kind of joke he missed. After a second he lifts one hand in a small, patient gesture. "Well," he says evenly, "I'm going to guess that was important. Unfortunately, I did not understand a single word of it." His tone stays polite, with the faintest hint of dry humor as he nods toward the list. "If that's a book order, you might want to switch back to English before we both accidentally order something completely different. You can hand the list over if you want. I can at least look at the titles and see what we're working with."
There was a few blinks as the tattooed dread head just kind of stares at both of them for a second. Pulling her green dress down as she gives both another look and then Mandarin begins to be spoken for a few words while she just looks back down at her list and then back to book. Another few words of Mandarin before her brain seems to click into the 'right gear' "And then she made me come here for these books for what ever reason." Finally back into English.
Eyes flicking between the two once more, she hands the paper to the man just like he asked but even the paper seems to have been written by two distinct penmanship styles.
Half of the list was in Mandarin while the other half of it was in Katakana Japanese. Sofie not seeming to take the plainly worded hint, just following instructions. "As for being drunk... no. That's not till in maybe an hour or two when I go to pick up my Uncle from the bathouse in C-town and I fill him full of saki and sushi or something before we hit karaoke or maybe making origami or some shit like that."
Grinning even wider than before her index finger waves between the two of them. "Y'all two on a date in a book shop or somethin?"
Lyra quirks a brow. "Sofie. I'm a student gathering textbooks, and Thomas here is a book shop owner near campus. Do the math." The explanation is given quite deadpan. Clearly, quite unamused by the situation they find themselves in. Her eyes do flit to that list, letting out a gentle sigh as she sees that the list is not in any language that she can read... She looks back to Sofie in mild disbelief.
"Besides, I'm a hardcore lesbian. And sorry, Thomas. This is a woman I met at a bar a few nights ago. I didn't expect to... Run into her here." She runs a hand through her hair for a moment, pushing it back behind her ear as she shifts her weight to the righ.
"Soph, why don't you just say what you're lookin' for? Makes it easier on both of us."
Book accepts the paper and looks down at it for a moment, his eyes moving slowly across the mix of characters. He studies the page carefully, turning it slightly so the light from the window hits it better. After a few seconds he lets out a quiet breath and rests the paper flat on the counter. "All right," he says calmly. "I can tell right away this list was written by more than one person. And I am fairly sure that half of it is Mandarin and the other half is Japanese. but that's about as far as my knowledge of Asian languages go. Book doesn't make comment about how the two women met. nope.
"Oh..." Sofie's clearly gotten plastered since the Lyra had last seen her. The detail of her being a lesbian likely been fogged out of her memory. "Right... I think I remember..." Not sounding entirely sure about the claim of her memory. "I can't say what *I'm* looking for. My sisters dumped the errand running on me tonight. There were hoping to get some shitty romance novels that is likely hard to find and no one in C-town sells the kind of romance cheese they like. Usually they import them but the guy we all use quit two nights ago and we're in the process of lookin' for someone else we trust to not scam us with BS import prices."
There was a few blinks and a roll of her neck with a loud *pop.* "We should get together again though some time soon. You said you were into market alleys and what not?" Then looking to Book with a slightly more serious face. "You don't really deal in niche artists that only produce their stuff in small rural towns halfway into the Chinese mainland do you?"
Lyra closes one eye at the suggestion of getting together again. Perhaps she's glad, then, that her phone conspicuously rings. THat she beings it to her ear and begins to speak in Gaeilge to whoever is on the other line. Her expression goes through several phases, before finally settling on... Warmth? She finally says in English, "Right, Pixie... I'll be there in thirty. Love you." Tapping the screen, she pockets the device and looks at Book. "Well! My daughter urgently needs me to pick her up from work out in Chula Vista. I'd love to stay and chat, but this is obviously important." She swings her attention to Sophie as she says this, before going on... "Frankly I prefer market alleys in solitude. I'll maybe go out there on my own... Maybe see you there. Maybe we'll see." She pockets her phone only then, taking out her jangly keys and looking at Book.
"I'll call when I get home about those books. Thanks again for your help, and, you'll probably be seeing me again." With that? She steps towards the door and offers a farewell in some obscure language, A wave and a turn, and the woman is out the door and homeward!
Book watches Lyra head for the door and gives her a small nod. "Of course," he says calmly. "Family comes first. Give me a call later and we can sort out those textbooks." He lifts a hand in a short wave as she leaves, then turns his attention back to Sofie and the paper on the counter. He studies the list for a second, brow creasing slightly. "I am going to be honest," he says evenly. "I am not completely sure what you are asking me." He taps the page lightly. "If you mean very small publishers from rural parts of China, that's not something I carry. But if your sisters have author names, cover photos, or anything like that, I might be able to chase it through a distributor."
Sofie looks back at her list and squints before turning it around so that she could reread it. The woman squints and it might be apparent that she was likely the least responsible or potentially just the easily fooled of her sisters as her face gets a tad frustrated. "Those bitches... clever. That's not a book list. That's a grocery list..." The way she spoke it seemed like it was more to herself. Like she didn't take more than a superficial look at the words and only now the light bulb flashes.
"Why didn't I get more than two hours of sleep?" This... she asks of Book. Then she looks around her and looks more than a little embarassed. "What do you have that's like... super mathy?"
Book watches Sofie turn the paper around and squint at it. When she realizes it is a grocery list, he does not laugh or make a joke about it. He just rests one hand lightly on the counter and gives a small nod. "...see." When she asks about something "super mathy," he glances toward the shelves full of books for the college deeper in the shop and gestures in that direction. "The textbook section is back there along the wall," he explains. "Algebra, calculus, statistics, things like that. 'Super mathy' is a pretty wide category, so it will probably be easier if you take a look and see what catches your interest."
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