[Lil' London Bookstore] A Place for Shelter

Today had been a much more quieter day than usually, with only some usual customers and some random wanderers coming to see the store. The silence was nothing wished for, but neither was it frowned upon. Complete silence was quite enjoyable sometimes and Vic planned to enjoy it for as long as it was going to last.

The man was sitting behind the counter, reading a black book, which was a fictional novel set in a post apocalyptic steampunk universe. Vic had at first been rather skeptical when getting the book, because he has had some disappointing experiences with other novels with a similar setting, but to the man’s pleasant surprise, the novel had so far been very good. Original ideas, enjoyable characters and a so far good plot.

Vic’s reading was interrupted as he heard the entrance door to the store open, so he grabbed the bookmark he had placed on the counter and placed it between the pages he had just been reading , closing the book right after and putting it on the counter to wait. Vic then placed his gaze over the person who entered the store. It was a young woman, most likely in her early twenties.

Vic kept her gaze locked on the woman, as she walked through some shelves, skimming through the books in them.

When she finally found a book, the young woman arrived to the counter and asked Vic of a reading area. Vic greeted her with a small smile.
“Hello there. We do have one here. Just take the stairs over there and there’s some sofas and beanbags.” he answered to the young woman, pointing to the stairs to his left and then took hold of the book that she had placed on the counter. Vic immediately recognized the book. It was the same one that he had been reading just before the woman had come in.
“Oh. A good choice with the book. I’m just reading it myself and it’s been great so far.” Vic said to the young woman as he placed the book’s bar code on the bar code reader and a beep could be heard, followed by the price of the book to show on the screen of the cash register.
“That would be 22.99, miss.” the man continued, looking at the screen and placing the book back on the counter.

@"Trahnael"
OOC: Just tell me if there's any problems in it​

The young woman had already gone to the stairs when Vic was putting the money she had used to pay inside the cash register. He couldn't help but smile as he did so, because the man was always happy to know that his store could act as a kind of sanctuary for those in need of a quiet place.

Now that the woman had gone upstairs, Vic could have either gotten some work to do or read some more. He thought about it for a brief moment, but in the end decided to get some stuff done, because he had read enough for now.

The man took of his reading glasses and placed them gently right next to the book he had been reading. He then headed to the door behind him and entered the storage room. From there he picked up a large box which had come yesterday with little to no effort, using only his left hand. It had the newest issues of some bigger comics and also some rather new stuff. As he had gotten what he had come for, Vic then left from the storage room, closing the door behind him.

The 6 foot man walked with the large box between his left arm and side like it was nothing and he headed straight to the stairs. As he walked them up, Vic made sure to keep his steps gentle, so that he wouldn’t disturb the young woman upstairs, because she was most likely reading.

Now in the second floor, Vic noticed the young woman and saw that she was nose deep in the book. He couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

Now that Vic was 100% that the young woman was reading, he walked up to the shelves the new comics belonged as silently as he could, though considering his size, his steps still made some noise. It was thankfully faint though, so Vic hoped not to disturb. Sadly though, luck wasn’t on his side as the bottom of the box suddenly burst open from the weight of the comics and the issues fell on the ground with a wave of loud noise.

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” Vic quietly said to him, still on his silent mode, though he was quite sure that the young woman had heard the noise. He quickly crouched and started collecting the comics, while he muttered to himself about the shitty quality of boxes these days.

@"Trahnael"​

While still picking up the issues on the floor, Vic turned to look at the couch and frowned immediately when he noticed that the young woman got up from her couch and was heading towards him. “Yes. I’m fine. No nee-” he tried to tell her that she wouldn’t need to come help, but the man wasn’t fast enough and the young woman was already helping him with the comics.

Vic let out a deep sigh of disappointment. He really dislikes bothering customers. Oh well. If she was already helping, then just telling her to stop would be rude. “Thank you.” the man thanked in a calm manner, still piling up the comics.

The young woman handed over a stack of comics and Vic took them, placing them next to his own pile. When the woman spoke up to Vic, he couldn’t help but laugh a bit. The thought of a box of comics being too heavy for him was just so amusing for him. “Don’t worry, miss. The box’s bottom just couldn’t hold in the weight of the comics. I just should have held the box from the bottom.” the man responded, finally done with the picking up.

Lifting both the piles back inside the box, Vic got up, lifting the box with him. This time he was carrying it from the bottom, so he hoped it’d be fine. Though with the box’s quality, it might as well rip apart from the sides just to annoy Vic.

Vic, now standing, looked down to see the young woman and smiled at her. “Thank you again for helping, miss.” he said with sincerity.

The man looked back at the couch where the woman had been sitting at and then turned his gaze back at her with interest. “How are you enjoying the book?” Vic asked with his brow raised, wondering if she was so far happy with her purchase.

@"Trahnael"​