fandomtownies | Rare Books Shop, Thursday

Rare Books Shop, Thursday

Giving Kiki a break, Aziraphale actually opens his own shop himself. He's not terribly pleased that a certain young doctor has gone off to tend the town clinic while still suffering from the flu (and should doctors even be working while they're sick?), but in the spirit of Free Will he's keeping quiet about it.

So there's tea in the lounge, and a little soft music playing in the background, and a small decorative pot of soil sitting on the counter next to the register. And the sign on the door reads 'Open'.

[OOC: Erratic online hours today. Please be patient with me. :)]

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You can browse through the stacks, and if you manage to find what you're looking for you might even be allowed to buy it.

Ben was happy to see the shop was open. He needed to get away from the claustrophobia he was feeling in the apartment. Taking his time, he browsed through the stacks. He wasn't looking for anything in particular, really, just giving his mind time to wander.

"Good day, Mr. Bruckner," Aziraphale says cheerily, loking up from his inventory book. "Is there anything I can help you find?"

"Please, call me Ben." He shook his head. "I'm just ~~avoiding my writing~~ poking around a bit, not looking for anything in particular right now, thanks."

"If you insist, Ben. You know you're always welcome to browse, and take something to read into the lounge if you like." He smiles. "Would you like some tea?"

"Tea would be very nice, thank you."

Ben was mostly skimming titles, searching for...something. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. His mind was restless, and he either needed to find a distraction from it or find the answers to the unformed questions that were nagging his subconscious. Either way, his own small library at home hadn't been any help. He figured he might have better luck at Aziraphale's shop.

Aziraphale fetches Ben a cup of tea, cocking his with a knowing smile as he hands it to the man.

"I find that sometimes just choosing one at random works best. If it isn't what you're looking for, then at least you know what it isn't you're looking for."

[ooc: Must now go AFK for a couple hours. :(]

Ben took the tea cup, and nodded at the suggestion. "Thank you," he said, expressing gratitude for both.

He tilted his head at the bookshelves, then closed his eyes and picked out a book. Wuthering Heights didn't help, nor did The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe. On his third try, Ben picked out a much outdated book on families. He nearly put it back without even looking at it, but decided it couldn't hurt to try and tipped it open. The section it opened to emphasized how important it was for a family to have both a father and a mother, and outlined the typical mother-at-home and father-at-work structure as "ideal." Ben snorted. The author was probably spinning in his grave with the current proliferation of single parents, two-income households with kids and same-sex parents. That relationship structure was still held as an ideal, though, even though most people never "achieved" it.

Maybe this was what he needed? Something to contrast the book he was working on with? Ben tucked the book under his arm and scanned the shelves again.

((ooc: np. I'll probably be around later.))

Keeping an eye on Ben as he browsed the shelves, Aziraphale decides to wander over and see how the young man was doing. Tilting his head at the book under Ben's arm, the angel says, "An interesting choice, my dear. Are you sure there isn't something I can help you find? Or...is there anything you'd like to talk about?"

"Consider it studying the opposition." Ben turned to Aziraphale and smiled wryly. "It's good to know what you're up against, right?" He turned the book carefully in his hands. "I have an older story I'm going back to working on, it's loosely based on my own life with Michael and Hunter. Seeing this made me realize what it's missing -- context. The bigger picture of what we were up against to even become a family."

"One should always have an understanding of the opposition, my dear," Aziraphale replied wryly. "It does look as though you've got a good start on it, then. I expect there are other books here like that one...I could probably come up with some that were written with a religious bent if you're interested. Religious leaders do seem to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to tell people what He wants them to think."

Ben chuckled dryly. "I've dealt with that first-hand. Being screamed at about fire and brimstone is not something one is likely to forget. They almost don't even get to the part about partnership or children because anything and everything we do is sinful according to them." He shook his head. "In writing this manuscript -- it was a few years ago that I actually put it together -- I'd written down all these things we'd been through, all this turmoil. It's amazing what the mind does, because some if it I had almost forgotten."

The angel shakes his head. "I find it rather interesting that the people who seem to have the most interest in telling people they're damned have really no understanding of what that means at all. Perhaps I ought to speak to Crowley about arranging a tour." He smiles at Ben, an mischievous twinkle in his eye.

"Memory is an interesting thing. Given enough time, it will usually dull the pain of the bad things, and lend new appreciation to the good ones."

Ben laughed. "I'd pay for a DVD of that tour...just of the expressions on people's faces."

Ben nodded at the latter statement. "Good thing it does. Although I'm glad I wrote the story when I did so I could capture more of the immediacy. That's one thing I'll have to make sure doesn't get watered down in the editing process."

"I have a feeling that this project is important enough to you that there's no danger of it being watered down, Ben. But the distance might give you a nice change of perspective."

He glances toward the lounge. "You're always welcome to come here and work, if you like. James does, when he wants to get away from the clinic. And I do promise to keep the animals away from you."

Ben gave a half-smile. "This project might actually sell some books, unlike the previous two."

Ben cleared his throat mildly. "I did come in to work the other day, and sort of got caught up in Jiji and Pogo's playtime. I don't mind the animals so much, I'd just appreciate not being the actual jungle gym." He grinned to soften the statement.

"I hope it does, then," Aziraphale replies. He gives Ben an apologetic smile. "I am terribly sorry about that. I'll have a word with both about it -- James and Kiki put up with it, and I think Pogo has a little trouble understanding yet what is and isn't acceptable behavior around company. I do promise he won't bother you again."

Ben spent a long moment trying to wrap his head around the idea of talking to animals and making them understand complex ideas, then gave up. If anybody could do it, it was an angel, right? "I wouldn't want him to be afraid of me, either." He gestured to the seating area. "A sofa's big enough for both of us. Claws just...get me worried sometimes, that's all."

"Perfectly understandable, my dear. I don't imagine he'll have any reason to be afraid of you, but I do think it would be good to impress upon him the idea that he isn't always welcome to climb about on people."

With a reassuring smile, Aziraphale nodded his understanding. "I'll make certain you won't have anything to worry about."

Ben smiled. "Thank you."

Ben hefted the book and put it back on the shelf. "Promise me you will never, ever let anyone buy that thing. Or take any advice from it." He set the teacup down. "I really should be going. Thank you for the offer to come in to work. Sometimes it's good to get out of the apartment."

"I can't imagine why anyone would want to buy it, but I promise." He laughs softly.

"You're always welcome. Please tell Michael I said hello, and give my best to your son and his young lady when you speak to them again."

"I will, on all counts," Ben promised. "Have a good day, Aziraphale."

Tea, scones, pretty fish, and the possibility of being assaulted by a ferret.

Kiki wanders in in the afternoon, a notebook under one arm and Jiji under the other.

"No classes for me today," she says to Aziraphale as she sets Jiji down. "But I have to write a poem for class and I'm looking for inspiration. Jiji insists I write it about him and Pogo."

Kiki takes a seat, opens her notebook, and looks down at the cat and the ferret.

"Okay, guys," she says with a grin. "Inspire me."

Aziraphale raises an eyebrow at Jiji and chuckles. "Good luck, my dear, and let me know if you need anything." Leaving Kiki to her writing, goes back to the inventory list he's been working on.

Pogo looks up at Kiki from his perch, curled in a ball on top of a stack of books, and yawns.

"Thanks," Kiki smiles to the angel.

Looking at Pogo, Kiki sighs. "Evidently, I'm going to be writing 'Lines on a Sleeping Ferret' today."

Jiji, already stretching out with a languid yawn by the fire, replies, And what about me?

"Lines on a Sleeping Ferret and Ode to a Drowsy Feline, then," Kiki amends. Shaking her head, she starts jotting rhymes in the margins of her page.

[ooc: Don't worry too much about this thread - I'm actually devoting my time to writing Kiki's seance tonight, so I won't actually be playing much, and am good with SP. I just wanted to give Kiki something to do today. :) ]

Endless supplies of tea, butterscotches, and smiles.

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Rare Books Shop, Thursday

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