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Book Haven, Friday

He was late to work but, then, who cared? Certainly not he. Rufus swanned in hours later than he should have but the store was open now and wasn't that the important part?

Dark Nation tagged along, of course, and when Rufus permitted it went off to roam the store for dust bunnies.

Rufus checked the stock, made the orders for the week after next, and then, rather than grab a book and read, he leaned against the counter thoughtfully.

Plotting a hostile takeover of… well, he certainly couldn't call it a treasure by any stretch of the imagination. But it could be good practice. Rufus believed in getting things right the first time around. There was no need for sloppiness. (Usually.)

It was a much better use of his time than anything to do with the whole Parents' Weekend thing. What utter nonsense that was.

Book Haven is Open.

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If you'd like.

If you'd rather.

Peridot was being followed. She was sure of it. Followed by a square. Sure, the square in question didn't approach her, but every time she wasn't quite looking, there was that shadow falling across her path, all big and four-sided an intimidating.

She'd bolted from work the first moment she was able, and in an effort to lose the permafusion, she ducked into the bookstore, where she was going to plant herself behind the door, panting in terror.

Considering she didn't actually need to breathe, that was really something, right there.

Rufus looked up from his PHS, one eyebrow raised, as if people always came into the store in a state of obvious terror.

Oh, it was just Peridot.

Rufus contemplated just going back to his PHS, but Peridot was one of the few people on the island that were actually decent to interact with.

And whatever was bothering her was likely to be interesting.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

He didn't ask if she was alright. That was an asinine question at the best of times.

"They've found me," Peridot said, glancing over her shoulder at Rufus and speaking in a hushed sort of stage whisper. "The traitorous clods that destroyed the ship! They're here."

Or, at least, the square one was.

"You have to hide me!"

Sorry, Rufus. There was a triangle scrambling away from the door to attempt to duck behind you, now.

"I--what?"

Rufus was not caught off-guard often but this, this did throw him off. He peered over his shoulder at her.

"You expect me to hide you?"

That was new. No one had ever expected that from him before.

"Yes!"

Or, rather, she really, really hoped that he would. But she wasn't actually taking the time to worry about semantics. Which was how you knew it had to be serious, really.

"If they capture me, who knows what they'll do? Destroy my body? Harvest me? Shatter me?"

Welcome to Peridot in panic mode, Rufus.

Rufus studied her, rather dubiously.

He was curious as to the differences between destroy and shatter (and the implications of 'harvest') but decided now wasn't the time.

"There's a back room," he said. "Or the apartment upstairs."

It was more stating a fact than a suggestion but that was about as helpful as he ever got.

"That will do!"

See Peridot.

See Peridot ducking and running toward the back of the store. She had no idea where to find the back room, but that wasn't going to stop her, clearly.

Rufus thought about warning her that Dark Nation but decided not to. Who knew, she might find his dog comforting in her... time of need.

No one had ever called Rufus comforting.

He went back to his PHS, and his plans, and enjoyed the quiet of his shop.

Not that the shop was going to remain quiet for too long, mind. Not long after Peridot's vanishing act (and the subsequent shriek and the series of 'give it back, give it back, it's mine' that followed), the door opened again, and in walked a rather large woman.

A rather large maroon-colored woman with hair that was shaped somewhat loosely like a loaf of bread. She paused in the doorway for a moment, made a little 'Hm,' sound, and then took a few more steps into the shop to pick a book off the shelf, seemingly at random, to flip through it.

... My, but it was easy to tell people from Peridot's universe, wasn't it? They were certainly of a similar aesthetic.

Rufus watched without looking like he was watching (he'd had plenty of practice at that and was quite good at it) before deciding to act as if the stranger was a normal customer.

So he kept looking at his PHS.

Rufus figured that, since he would generally ignore a normal customer unless they looked like they needed help, that it was best to do the same here. She had a book. She was looking through it.

Didn't seem to need help at all.

Edited 2016-10-01 00:39 (UTC)

Well, people from Peridot's planet, at least. There were regular humans from their universe, too.

Some of them were even named Universe, for good measure.

Garnet, not terribly surprised by the human boy's less than helpful attitude, simply settled in to read the book. The whole book. Cover to cover. She had nowhere she needed to be, after all. Gems lived a very long time.

This could be a very long afternoon, since Rufus was very, very patient.

And it was quiet.

He really did appreciate that as he worked.

If Peridot's pursuer wanted to read, Rufus would be here all day.

Really, Garnet wasn't pursuing Peridot, per se. She was just doing some... creative intimidating. In a very casual sense. So casual that she was reading while Peridot wrestled a dog in the back room for the safe return of her fingers.

Not that Garnet knew that.

Honest.

She hummed a little to herself, and then turned the page.

Suuure.

The humming was a bit irritating, but it wasn't loud enough for him to reasonably complain--especially not after he made a couple of calls about various orders he wanted to make--so Rufus proceeded to ignore it.

Honestly, this was rather fun.

It didn't hurt that Garnet could definitely carry a tune.

It also didn't hurt that she was enjoying herself here, too.

She smiled faintly, gave an affable little nod of her head apparently in reaction to something she'd just read, and then turned the page again.

"Don't worry about clearing room in the romance section this week when the order is due," she said, ever so casually, not looking up from her book. "Frogs."

That would make sense come Tuesday.

Rufus actually looked up at that.

"...Frogs?"

That sounded rather ominous in a way that only Fandom seemed to manage. If he sounded a bit resigned, well.

It was Fandom.

Edited 2016-10-01 01:29 (UTC)

Garnet didn't elaborate. She simply shrugged her shoulders and turned another page.

Frogs. Ominous in a way that more places than Fandom could manage, really, but the frogs weren't going to be more places than just Fandom.

He looked at her for another moment and then nodded and went back to his work.

Two could play at that game. It could go on as long as--

Dark Nation came trotting out from the stacks, tail wiggling happily, and deposited one of Peridot's fingers at his feet.

Rufus sighed and then, because he was a sucker for his dog (not that he'd admit it out loud) said, "Good boy," approvingly. Dark Nation promptly attempted to turn himself into a wriggling pretzel of joy around his ankles and knees.

So much for dignity. "Yes, yes," Rufus said, rather indulgently as he petted his dog and used a napkin to pick up the slobbery finger. "I know."

He was kind of impressed that he couldn't hear Peridot's shriek of despair and rage. He knew she had to be livid.

But apparently her terror was stronger.

Interesting.

Dark Nation licked his face from chin to hairline.

Edited 2016-10-02 01:26 (UTC)

Garnet considered the boy.

And she considered the boy's dog.

And then she considered the finger. And nodded. Good. Good to know.

The whole exchange earned a faint smile, and she raised the book she was holding in the air and asked, "Do you have the next in this series in stock?"

Rufus looked at her, unabashed and utterly shameless and still conceding nothing. Dark Nation could have gotten that finger from anywhere. Honest. He wrapped it in the napkin and stuffed it in his pocket for safekeeping.

It wasn't that he particularly cared about Peridot, but losing this game was unappealing. Even if Dark Nation was against him winning it.

"Of course we do," Rufus said mildly, standing as Dark Nation wriggled a bit more. "A classic like that? We have all ten of the series. Plus the two standalones that take place after."

Dark Nation trotted over to sniff at the person. Hi, person! You smelled funny!

Garnet smelled like Sapphires and Rubies and fire and ice. Which was probably pretty funny to a dog, true enough. Even a dog with a tentacle. In any case, she was crouching down slightly and offering him a hand to sniff at. That was just how it was done, after all.

"Classic, hm?" She was still smiling, though it was more about the dog than the boy, and even then, it was entirely possible it was more about the finger than the dog. "I must be behind the times."

It was easy to do when you were several millennia old.

"Or ahead," Rufus conceded, since that could happen here.

Dark Nation was more than willing to sniff that hand and, tail wriggling tentatively, was going to lick it too.

Huh.

Weird. Tasted kind of like the shrieky one.

Really, Rufus had no idea how ahead of the times Garnet could actually be. Which hardly mattered, because she was going to give the dog a ruffle behind the ears, as was only right and proper.

"Usually that one," she confirmed. Which confirmed nothing at all without the proper context. Garnet was okay with that. "Your stick is floating away."

One slobbery finger, trying ever so slowly to levitate back toward the back room.

I had planned for an entirely different post, but then today happened.

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Book Haven, Friday

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