2012-08-17 The Hunt for Chesterfield's Compendium

It's a rainy afternoon. Outside, precious little light breaks through sullen summer clouds. Thick drops of rain glimmer and spatter against windows, sidewalks, parked cars, people and umbrellas unfortunate enough to be outside. Water trickles along gutters and drains. It makes the city block unusually quiet, children kept inside and most of those moving along are mere passersby. It lends a hush to the afternoon, with lengthened shadows and glistening plants. The air is oh so fresh, though, despite the city itself.
Rain is inside the used bookstore today. Normally, she'd be off studying or healing or - doing whatever it is she normally does. She has on a light duster coat over her normal clothes and an umbrella at her side as she hovers over books on the occult. She smiles politely at the owner, as she passes. But it's quiet here, too beneath the old, dim lights.
"You're filing system is attrocious Mordecai!" From behind one of the shelves, a male voice calls out to the old man at the front desk. The voice is cold and flat, and has as much rasp to it as the average 50 year old smoker's does. Mordecai, for his part, doesn't bother responding to the insult. "You've got an entire section on a hack god like Gurnenthar... which I suppose is to be expected, given the name of the shop... but still, you might have at least one volume of Chesterfield's Compendium on Scathach!" The voice progressively gets quieter over the course of the meandering sentence, which most likely means the man who the voice is attached to is moving down along one of the shelves.
Mordecai, without looking up from the stack of ancient books he is cataloguing, yells back in a voice that age has reduced to a whisper "It's in the back, with the rest of the moderns."
Blink. Rain's hand hovered over a book on herbs and witchery. She looked more curious than anything else. She decides to peer around the shelves, listening to the back and forth. There's a little smile at the exchange. Mordecai. Rain's likely a new comer here, so at first, her eyebrows lift. Scathach... Hmm. She looks back over to the shelves. Curious, she sort of follows the voice, peering - wait. That's creepy. Look busy! She glances back to the book sh-- moderns. That's right here. "... Scacha- Scat- ... I think it's over here...?" Wait. She's talking to a stranger. An instinctive wince and she looks a bit startled by the words that spilled forth, almost like milk from a bowl knocked over from a table. Whoops. "Um." Right. She'll just step aside.
"You call everything that isn't a rotten pile of unreadable gibberish 'the moderns' you adorable prune." The voice from across the room calls out, in a tone that is not completely bereft of affection. Then there is silence for a few seconds, both from the proprietor and from the as yet unrevealed man who would rather read about Scathach than Gurnenthar.
But without a word of warning, he says in a low voice. "You've found it?" The words themselves are not especially dramatic. However, the fact that they're coming from directly behind the only other customer in the shop when just a few seconds ago the man was clearly on the other side of the store, that could be a bit unsettling. Standing directly behind Rain now, both hands placed in front of him and resting on the top of his cane, Shade peers through his antique sunglasses at the shelf the woman is looking at.
Rain tries not to giggle at the voice and the exchange. She stifles it into a smile, pushing away the anxiety of being 'that creepily helpful girl' in the bookstore. She lingers near the spot she's found the book at, purple eyes a little wide. She looks to have the bearing of someone who keeps to themselves, so this whole 'interaction' thing is a bit anxiety inducing. But? She certainly did -not- expect the voice to come from /right behind her/. The color drains from her face briefly and she goes perfectly still. It takes her a few seconds to recover. She turns around, though, nodding slowly. "Um, you said ... Chesterfield's Compendium on Sca-th-ach," She has to break up the syllables a bit, but she finally manages not to mangle the pronounciation, "... right?" Fidget. Her eyebrows are still lifted, as he peers at the shelf. She carefully slips the suspected book into her hand. "I think this looks like it...?" She carefully offers it over. She managed it, though the name Scathach seems to give her a time of it.
A white-gloved hand is extended to politely take the book away. The old book is brought carefully up in front of Shade's face, and he peers at the cover over his dark glasses. He lets out a long low breath, and in a tone proper for someone in a bookstore he says "Indeed. You appear to have found it my dear." But then in a tone that is only appropriate when at football games he yells as he turns his head over his shoulder "You hear that Mordecai? Thank goodness your customers are doing your job for you, or I should have spent god knows how long searching about and getting book dust on my spats." He flips the book over, inspecting the binding very carefully. His eyes are visible over the top rim of his glasses, staring at the book with eager anticipation. His gaze drifts back up to the woman. "I'll be sure to send you a lovely assortment of cheese." And with that, he lifts his cane up, tips his top hat with it, and heads over to front counter. Walking like a normal person.
Rain smiles faintly as he peers at the book. "That's good," She offers quietly. Finding books is definitely a plus. Mind you, it was likely pure coincidence and luck that Rain just happened to be wandering along that section. She blinks at the yell over. She stifles a smile again, trying not to giggle. Still, seeing how happy is, she nods. "I'm glad it's the right one," She remarks. She blinks at the offer of cheese. Wait. Is that an expression? "Um. Thank you." She'll just go with it, smiling faintly again and watching him go. The exchange surprised her more than a little. "... neat." She seems to think it was interesting, anyway.
As he promenades up to the counter, book in hand, Shade looks back over his shoulder. He sets the book down, and in a low voice begins conversing with Mordecai. Mordecai shrugs several times, which doesn't appear to be the answer that Shade was looking for. As he's talking, one of Shade's hands gets a bit darker. A split second later, and he's holding a solid black attache case. This case is placed upon the desk, and the book is placed in it. As the case's fastenings are snapped shut, Shade leaves Mordecai. But instead of exiting the shop, he walks back over to the shelf that Rain is perusing. The Englishness of his voice is readily apparent when he speaks to her. "I'll try my luck again. You wouldn't know of a restaurant around here that serves a good Yorkshire pudding, would you?"
Rain goes back to quietly browsing books. She smiles peacefully, looking thoughtful. There's not much to gain by eavesdropping on a guy buying a book, right? She just can't seem to pick. But then, she hears the remarkably English fellow speaking nearby. She glances over, and seems to earnestly consider his question. "Um. Well. It's not really a big place, but I suspect that little pub down the way..." Likely a pub to cash in on the hordes of American college students who swarm over BBC and British culture. She rattles off the name and makes a motion with her hands for directions. "That would be my first try," She tilts her head. "I'm not really too sure," She admits. Rain... apparently isn't sure that's an invitation or not. Still, she's curious. But she does radiate that aura of one who spends far too much time with her studies, to the painful neglect of dealing with people. "I haven't gone there myself, but a lot of people seemed to like it whenever I would run errands to and fro," She offers. He at least has her attention. "People always asked me to pick up tea for them. Guess Earl Grey's a pretty big hit..."
"Delightful. I was hoping I wouldn't have to go all the way to England. It's probably raining in Yorkshire, and this hat is made of silk." Although his delivery is dry, there is a faint hint of a twinkle in Shade's eye. He takes a step and a half back, his attache case gripped firmly. "I'll drop this off, and head over there in a few. If you're of a mood to have afternoon tea in say... a half hour or so, I shall be there." And with that, he turns around and walks toward the door.
Rain smiles at the joke. Hee. "That would be a shame," She agrees quietly, as far as his nice hat joke goes. She looks over to him. Pause. Did he just invite her to tea? He did. It's apparently not a prank, either. She looks surprised. "Oh. Um, sure thing," She nods. "I'd be glad to. Thank you. That's kind of you to offer." She does like tea, and well, why not? He hasn't tried to set her on fire, kill her with a fork lift or laser beam. So far, so good. She waves as he goes, then and will glance back to the books. She slips a little phone from her pocket to take note of the time.
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