The Bookbelt, Saturday

[bookbeltof_love]

It had taken her a little longer to get going in the morning than usual and she was still plagued by her cough but, otherwise, Nina was feeling tentatively okay!

She didn't quite trust it, but it was nice after losing almost a whole week to being trapped in her room.

So when she came in to open up shop and all her books were wearing face masks…

"Ohmygosh," she said crossly, "that's not funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You're all rude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Hmph. Of course, then she started coughing, and Nina hated the way the books rustled their pages as if their point was justified.

The Bookbelt is Open!

[And OCD free!]

Comments

[thishouseishaunted]

Nina and Mae had plans! Glove plans. So even though she got a little lost finding the place, Mae did show up eventually, ready to plot the further torture of her least favorite teacher in Fandom.

"What's a bookbelt?"

[bookbeltof_love]

"It's a belt meant for carrying books around!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Nina said brightly. "It's also my weapon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Because bludgeoning enemies to death with trashy romance novels was never going to get old.

[thishouseishaunted]

"Is that what they mean by 'smarter, not harder'?" Mae asked. She was (mostly) joking.

[bookbeltof_love]

"I've never heard that saying before," Nina admitted, "but I hit pretty hard......................"

Books were a shockingly good weapon in Nina's hands.

[thishouseishaunted]

“Yeah, I’m guessing you don’t do anything by halves.”

[bookbeltof_love]

"I'm, like, taking that as a compliment," Nina decided. "Did you, like, want tea?????????????? Or soda????????????????"

[thishouseishaunted]

“Oooo, soda!” Mae nodded and smiled. “I don’t really, like, get tea.”

[bookbeltof_love]

"Not just, like, for class????????????????" Nina teased, abandoning the counter long enough to duck into the back room, calling over her shoulder, "Hang on, I'll be right back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

And she was, seconds later.

"We've got Coke and Ginger Ale?????????????" she said, holding the two cans out. "Which would you like????????????"

[thishouseishaunted]

"Nope, just kind of seems like mom-drink to me." Mae tilted her head, clearly torn. "Can I mix both?"

[bookbeltof_love]

"You can totally mix both!!!!!!!!!!!!" Nina didn't have problems drinking her tea after all.

(She liked tea better than soda.)

"Here, I'll grab you a glass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She set the cans on the counter and disappeared into the back room for another moment before coming back with a glass, that she set beside the cans, and a few napkins.

Just. Like. In case.

"But a mom-drink????????????"

[thishouseishaunted]

Mae shrugged. "My mom drinks tea. I think the only people I know back home who do are moms."

[bookbeltof_love]

"Fair enough," Nina admitted, smiling a bit. "Like, worlds like this have a lot more options when it comes to drinks……….. back home it's, like, water, tea, milk, and alcohol. There's juice but, like, that's not something really common……………"

And kind of a waste of fruit, if you asked Nina.

[thishouseishaunted]

"Wow. Your world needs to get on the carbonation train. Bubbly drinks make your mouth happy."

[bookbeltof_love]

"Maybe," Nina allowed, "though the sheer amount of sugar that this world puts in almost everything is enough to make me doubtful that the carbonation is what's making people happy…………"

[thishouseishaunted]

"Have you tried seltzer water?" Mae asked. "Becuase it's not my thing and it's not sweet at all but people still like guzzle it down."

[bookbeltof_love]

"I haven't," she admitted. "Though perhaps I should………….."

But later, later. For now she was going to drink her tea. Like a mom.

[thishouseishaunted]

If it helped, Mae didn't judge her friends for doing mom-things. Well, maybe a little, but considering what a disaster Mae was personally, other people doing mom-things at her was probably the only way she'd ever survive, so.

"You totally should! But right now we're here for master glove trickery!"

[bookbeltof_love]

"We are, we are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Nina said, laughing. "Like, I'm really not certain what Seivarden's going to think of palmless gloves, but it's going to be something, that's for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[thishouseishaunted]

Mae gave a biiiig nod. "She will be scandalized!"

She lived for scandalizing adults.

"She also said I'd wear jello gloves if she suggested it. So clearly we need to make those too."