A Little Bird Told Me [Varnock]

Eerie was an excellent way to describe Ellen. She had been staring at the odd customer that seemed to be searching their shop for the duration of her time here. It wasn't a simple stare of curiosity like one might get from a normal cat, but more a piercing one. The cat wasn't looking, it was watching. Ellen had sent a message up to Varnock as usual of course, and he had stopped at the door behind the counter when Ellen mentioned she appeared to be looking for something. Now, on the other hand, was a good time to enter.

The door behind the counter opened silently to admit Varnock into his store. He padded over towards the back of his customer before speaking up in a way he hoped might surprise her.
"Good afternoon miss. Can I help you find anything? Oh and please refrain from abusing the lamps unless you plan on buying one. They're old and I would hate to have to repair them again."

With Varnock in the room Ellen was more free to move around and watch from a different area now that she wasn't the only living thing drawing attention. She was off he counter and onto a large carved shelf in a few jumps and watching the whole scene from a higher vantage point. The shadows up towards the top of the shop only added to it leaving a pair of golden eyes constantly staring down at the redheaded customer.

Varnock eyed the odd redhead messing with his lamp carefully before she she spun around. She seemed to be a tad odd from what he could tell so far. His expression was one of bland neutrality , maybe even boredom, at the sudden proximity of his customer to his face. What she requested didn't surprise him until after she corrected himself. Looks like someone had been told about his shop again. Good to know he had a bit of fame (infamy?) now. At least Ellen wasn't making a mess of things yet.

"I have many books for sale. It all depends on what subjects you're searching for. On the note of payment just to ensure no problems arise before we start, I accept trades if the value is equal or greater to me and do not accept checks. Assuming this works for you let us talk about what you would like to purchase."

Ellen let loose a laugh as she moved about the shadowed upper areas of the shop.
"Quite blunt for a Waker isn't she? Most of them at least introduce themselves before asking for magical products of some sort or another don't they? You might want to work on your manner girl."

Varnock's neutral expression dipped slightly towards a frown. He had hoped his customer would prove a tad less rude, but she had the money to pay for his books and he wasn't one to refuse service just for a few harsh words. He would really have to talk to Ellen about bothering customers later on though. He forced a bit of concentration through his slight annoyance and pulled a book from thin air as one might pull one from a shelf. This continued for nearly five minutes as he made larger and larger stacks of books.

"They aren't very well organized at the moment, but this is a bit more than half of what I have. The rest is sadly not for sale."
Of course none of this was original work either. All the originals were secreted away within his mind. These were just copies he had spent ages making so he could sell them to other Wakers. Hopefully this woman knew how to take care of books though. He hated the thought of the books being ruined by someone careless.

Ellen stalked through the shadows until she was behind both the redhead and Varnock. They'll probably be busy with those books for some time now.
"It really isn't often that a Waker refuses to introduce themselves though. Most seem to have a natural sense of companionship with others like them. They like to know who they can turn to if the need arises after all. Of course if no one knows any names that could end up a problem."

Varnock sighed deeply.
"Just ignore her. She just doesn't seem to like you for some reason."

He looked on as she eyed the stacks and moved a finger over some of the books. His face moved rigidly down as she began her search though. That seemed a bit... vicious to him. She wasn't giving them enough attention even if she thought she was. A book cannot be judged as easily as that, and many a title was misleading as he well knew. All the same as she finished with a book it faded from the room to return to his mind. If she wanted one of them she would have had to remember the name anyways considering how fast she was going through the damn things.

Why couldn't he get more customers like Mildred or Damaris? They both seemed much nicer than this redheaded woman with the harsh mouth and harsher presence. It almost felt like her simply being here was harming the shop. It was definitely harming his steadily dropping opinion of her though. She even managed to get egged on by Ellen while moving through his books.

Ellen settled with a content expression as the reaction she had gotten from the woman.
"Why would we introduce ourselves when you are the one coming into our shop? Isn't it clear that Varnock over there is the owner of the shop? That would be as much of an introduction as most would need."
Varnock cut her off at this point.
"Forgive me miss. Ellen seems to be in a bit of a mood today."

Varnock carefully returned the final book to its resting place in his mind and looked on as the redhead burned a hole into the empty air with her eyes. Or at least that was what it looked like she was doing to him. She hadn't responded with her name to the rather rude introduction Ellen had given, which was probably for the best, so he might have to ask her name. On the other hand he didn't want to press her. If she hadn't introduced herself what was to say she would upon him asking? It might just end in silence or more harsh words that would further decrease the likelihood of a returning customer.

At the mention of the titles he began to pull them from the air and lay them next to each other on the counter. Four books of the many he had laid out. Maybe these were the only ones that had struck her interest from the rapid search she had made? He doubted she had the same absorption of knowledge from books that he did, but who knows. He wasn't going to ask either. He gave her the price for the four books after giving them each a quick once over himself.

"You made some interesting choices miss. Not many come here for books and I must say it is nice to see another avid reader like myself. If you can forget about Ellen and her rudeness my name is Varnock Acerbi, the owner of this shop. It is a pleasure to have a fellow Waker in my shop that I haven't met considering how few seem to find me."
He made sure to keep Ellen silent for the remaining duration of this customers time in his store.

Varnock collected the bills and spirited them away somewhere as he carefully bagged the books and dropped a receipt in with them. She was quiet, a bit rude, and a little odd even for Waker standards, but Varnock rather liked the change of pace. It was almost fun to experience something different like this. Maybe he could even get some books from her in exchange for some of his own in the future. He smiled and answered her.

"My shop is always open. Please feel free to come again. Oh and if you happen to come across some magical items or interesting books that you need to discreetly get rid of, I am always available and my doors are always open."
If that wasn't a good deal, he had never heard one before. Hopefully she thought so as well or he would be a tad disappointed.

Even Ellen seemed rather happy with the situation. Her earlier rudeness was still up in the air of course, but this was a good outcome. A return customer she could get along with name or no.
"I apologize for my rudeness. Maybe we can even have a conversation next time."
The look in her eyes implied that she was quite aware how unlikely that outcome was, but she wanted it out there that there were no hard feelings.