Closing Time Tea {Open}

[monaco]

Adèlie was mildly surprised by his reaction and mildly pleased by it too in seeing that he respected that the journals were articles close to her. Still, she cringed when his large girth knocked into a smaller shelf and she just watched as his books fell to the floor. She went to go help him but stopped when she saw that he had it covered and thought that perhaps aiding him would only spur his embarrassment even more. Thumbing the side of the journals, she glanced down at them while he re-composed himself. She hadn’t offered for him to take the journals out of the shop, just that he could copy out the notes if need be. When he spoke, the woman had a thought that perhaps he couldn’t write, but quickly pushed this aside because obviously if he could read, he probably could write as well.

No, she speculated that he was turning down her offer just because perhaps that that was his nature. She nodded to his words, taking them in stride, and was about to turn about to return the journals when he spoke again. ‘Hm,” she noted, reaching up to tuck a stray hair behind her ear, “I see no problem with that though, I won’t be able to write out the notes until tomorrow. I’m busy at nights”. Saying that she was ‘busy’ was an understatement by far, but it wasn’t a lie at the same time. She moved down another aisle and said to him over her shoulder, “I’ll gladly put through your books now if you have all that you need and if you stop by tomorrow at noon, I’m sure I will have all of the notes written out for you. It’s no trouble at all I assure you, sir, so there’s no need for payment for notes”. She went to the register and smiled over at him. She knew that she could charge him and she also knew that many people would have, wanting to squeeze every available dollar out of a deal but, it really was no hassle.

[Berwald Oxenstierna]

A brisk nod and Berwald was trailing after the smaller woman, books tight to his chest to avoid further embarassment. He could come by tomorrow and pick up the notes; he knew what it was like to be busy nights though what a bookstore owner did was beyond him. Regardless, he was more than willing to push aside some other business to come gather the lifesaving information his plants desperately needed.

But he couldn't simply brush off taking the information without proper payment. She offered to do it without charge but Berwald simply couldn't do that- it was against his morals. Not that he really had all that many anyway but still. He let his face settle into an easy frown (no doubt more alarming than he realized) as he set his romance novels on the counter and leveled his sharp gaze at the other. "Ah insist. Yer providing m' with an invalu'ble serv'ce. It'd be wr'ng not y' pay."

But what if she didn't want his money? Then what? How could he pay her then? He couldn't just not pay and cave in after he had been so insistent, he was too stubborn for that. So how could he still pay her in some way without giving her money... " 'm a contractor. Ah could renovate yer shop instead." Well... it was worth a shot, right?

[monaco]

She remained quiet for a moment or two, thinking over his proposal. She could see the logic in his words and her eyes did glance over towards her front windows. "Well.... it would be nice to have a breeze come through here without having to open the front door every time". She looked back up at the tall man and smiled at the intimidating blood, his size making her feel very petite. Clearing her throat she re-straightened the journals in her hand and made a mental note to write out his notes before she went to bed the next day.

"All right, Mister Berwald. I shall have these all prepared for you the next time I see you. If you will excuse me however, I see now that the store is now closed and I must hurry to my.... evening engagement. It was a pleasure meeting you". Smiling once more up at him, she made her way around him to the door to hold it open for him. She admitted that out of all her customers form that day, this mad she would remember the most, though his size was probably the cause of that.