[FIN][PRP - Belrea] Inky hands [Amalric | Kalanc]

[Bronze Coffee]

The street 'Book Doctor' was located on was fairly busy right now. It was the middle of the day and while no one was going inside of the book repair shop, it was busy inside.

Kalanc and his father were hard at work repairing a sudden influx of books. Where this influx came from, the hybrid would never know. Maybe someone's basement flooded, or maybe it was just late 'spring' cleaning. Either way, he wasn't entirely happy about having this much work. He really wanted to go outside and just have a day where he could hang with friends, or actually, make friends. Yes, he loved working, just not all the time.

Unfortunately that also means they were selling quite a few that people brought in and never came back for, or just never settled their bills. They had a sign outside of the door advertising they had books for sale, despite not being that kind of shop. They had to make money somehow.

Currently Kalanc was adding books to the bookshelf that people just abandoned. They were nice books, the repairs had been simple as stitching it back together and straightening a page here or there.

"So unfortunate," he sighed to the book he was currently holding.  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Amalric was still riding the high of his new location—and the more he saw, the more he wondered if he would ever bore of it. Impossible, surely. There was simply too much to absorb. It couldn’t all be learned in a lifetime, it was just on him to take in as much as could be.

And he was more than up to the task.

After arriving with Maritza by airship, meeting her brother, and eventually making it to their home, he had settled in well. His few belongings composed almost entirely of books and journals anyway aside from a few pieces of clothing, were easy to store after all. The most interesting adventures yet involved learning the local cuisine in his first few experiments with cooking.

It was an adventure in progress.

Today, however, he had time to his own. His chores in the Belrean siblings’ household were complete for the time being, and—he had research to begin. What better place than a book shop? Amalric was practically vibrating at the frequency of his enthusiasm after he made his way through the busy streets, stopping in front of the door — armed with a sign inviting customers — like a man coming upon a holy shrine in a desert.

He opened the door, and stepped in.

He would never tire of the scent of books.  

[Bronze Coffee]

That old book smell was thick in the air in the shop. There was only two windows in the front filtering in natural lighting. Other than that it was dimly lit and fairly quiet.

The small bell that chimed when the door pushed open alerted Kalanc to a customer and he mentally cursed. Please not another book to fix, he prayed silently. Outwardly he had a smile set in place that was very light and easy. Red curls bobbed as he greeted the customer.

"Hello! Welcome to Book Doctor, where we take all of the sick books and make them better. I'm Kalanc!" It was memorized, yes, but it sounded sincere. Kalanc was very good at talking to the customers. "What can I do for you today?"

And that's when he finally noticed, this wasn't a native. He knew the airship traveled back and forth to other places, but he'd never seen anyone from a whole different continent. Purple eyes widened and wide, plush lips parted in a gasp. Okay, he was very obviously and rudely staring, but he couldn't seem to help it.

"Whoa..."

The Only Black Uke

 

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Hello! Welcome to Book Doctor…

Amalric’s eyes — which had immediately moved about to the books in the room, scanning eagerly over the shelves — paused where they were and then moved to the voice. Oh, he was cute. A hybrid of the natives, it seemed, with Oban-brown skin but the familiar purple eyes and carrot hair that Maritza sported—if a slightly different shade. But he had attractive features, and a scattering of gold piercings-

Amalric raised his gaze back to the young man’s eyes, flushing and offering a sheepish smile of greeting as he reached to tuck hair behind his ear.

“Good morning!” he said. “I don’t think-” But halfway into that statement, Amalric second-guessed himself. He was going to say that he didn’t ‘need’ assistance. But what better person to help him find what he was looking for than a native and storekeeper here? “Actually, if you could help me that would be magnificent,” he amended. “I’m somewhat overwhelmed, in the best way- It’s Amalric, by the way.”

He offered a hand, realizing only after that it was probably odd to attempt to shake hands with a shop clerk upon meeting them.

But it was too late to pull out now.

He hovered awkwardly, fractions of a second feeling like eternity as he hoped his ears didn’t turn the color of sunset in the meantime.  

[Bronze Coffee]

The man's eyes were so blue, and his hair was dark and pretty. This man was so pretty! Kalanc laughed a little and bit down on his bottom lip before taking the man's hand.

If he found it awkward, Kalanc didn't say anything about it. This wasn't a normal meeting from the get-go. His lips pulled upward even wider and he shook that hand fairly eagerly before letting go.

"I'll help you any way I can, Amalric? Amalric. Amaaaalric." There he was, sounding like an idiot to try to commit this name to memory. It was odd on his tongue. Not a bad odd, just odd. Shrugging a little more, the hybrid male grinned at the dark haired man. "I can definitely help you if it comes to books! Just... fiction? Nonfiction? if we don't have something, I definitely know all the book shops around here." He put his hands on the table now and leaned forward. "Because we repair their books."

Maybe Kalanc was trying to sound impressive, trying to gloat, perhaps.

The Only Black Uke

 

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Amalric? Amalric. Amaaaalric.

Amalric’s face bloomed with abashment, smiling and not uncomfortable but—goddess, did he need to say his name over and over? It managed to be simultaneously cute and-

Well.

Amalric tucked away the thought, clearing his throat and letting his hands dust back at his hips after the handshake. Books were the topic at hand. Focus, Amalric. “Right, yes, I- Well, certainly non-fiction. I am hoping for anything you have on the state of your industry. Transport and the state of magic and medical technologies in particular.”

There were so many things Amalric wanted to get his hands on—but he could only take in one at a time, so a stockpile of books would have to do to start. After he worked through those, he could think about more.  

[Bronze Coffee]

Kalanc listened to the request, oblivious to why the man's face was so red. Maybe he was just embarrassed to be in a new place? Whichever. The red-head moved over to the bookshelves they had lining a wall and hummed.

"Transport and magic.."

He flipped through the titles on the spines and pulled out a book here or there. "This one's about our magic, well.. It's an incomplete recant of the magic of our history, but it's a good read to understanding.. This one's about the airships! How we first thought of them, prototypes.. No blue prints of course, but just a general thing."

He flitted from bookshelf to bookshelf looking for the right kinds of books.

"What's... What is magic and transpiration like where you're from? Where are you from? I've never met anyone not from around here!"  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

…recant of the magic of our history…

Perfect, yes, wonderful.

How we first thought of them, prototypes…

“Yes! Wonderful, amazing. Both of that-”

What's... What is magic and transpiration like where you're from?

Amalric blinked back upwards, and specifically with regard to the ‘what’s magic like’ portion, he felt himself giving a peculiar smile—not rude, just—well, this boy asked it with all the casualness of asking what the weather was like back home. As though it could be explained in a few words or sentences or even a conversation. ‘Magic’ back home was—well walls upon walls of books had been written on the topic, hours upon hours of classes taught-

“Our ‘transport’ is by animal, drawn cart, ship — as those on the sea — and walking,” he said. “I’m from Sauti- Well, Zena. Southern Zena, near to the border-” These words might not mean anything to this man. “Tendaji, obviously. But in the northern portion—oh, your people landed in Sauti first! So, well, it’s mountainous, lots of rocks, open land, herding animals…”

Not the most exciting of places.

“Zena is even more mountainous, and very often snowy, particularly the closer you climb to the capitol- But mine wasn’t a very large village…” Where was he? What had he been asked again? Amalric backtracked. Oh, yes. “And magic, well, I imagine it’s fairly similar to what it is here. Beautiful and infinitely complex. But I am hoping to look into that to be sure.”  

[Bronze Coffee]

....animal, drawn cart...

Kalanc couldn't believe how passionate the other seemed about explaining things. Then Amalric went on to say where he was from and he just soaked it all in.

"H-hang on a second!" Kalanc went around behind the desk and pulled out a small book and a writing utensil before looking up at Amalric again. "You're from Sauti you said? And Zena..."

Kalanc was even jotting down the notes of what Zena was like in quite movements of his hands. He managed to flick between Amalric's face and the pad of paper quite often. "Sorry, I hope this isn't too weird. I just know things from the papers, you know, what's reported back. So I want my own set of notes about things...I just realized as you were talking."

The boy grinned as color bloomed on his face about how odd that would seem to someone not in his head. "Uh. Yes, these books..."

Wait. Where did he put them? Kalanc realized he wasn't holding them anymore and sighed before going around to the desk to snatch up the books again.

"Anyway, these books here could help you out. If you want even more specifics, you can try the book store that's two streets down. You take a left when you leave here. You can't miss it, it's so cute and there are signs everywhere for it." He grinned a bit more.

"We aren't meant to be an actual bookstore."  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Amalric barely noticed as the boy flit around and began to jot things down. It seemed like a natural response to him. It was essentially what he’d been trying to do since the moment he’d witnessed these people land during every moment spent interacting with them. The trip over had been an obsession fest of exploring the hull of the ship, making sketches, asking questions, taking notes.

Of course one would want to scribble down everything possible—not that what he had to say was especially groundbreaking, but given that he was a foreigner, he could certainly understand the other’s curiosity.

Thus, it was only after he registered the boy’s signs of abashment that he blinked, and waved it off, shaking his head. “Naturally!” he said. “I would have been doing the same.” He watched the clerk move around to re-fetch the desired goods, and nodded. “I am certain I will. I expect to buy out half the stores if I can manage the budget.”

We aren’t meant to be an actual bookstore…

His gaze flicked down over the boy.

“Oh? What do you sell?” And then, with near-instant mortification as just one potential misinterpretation of that question in context occurred to him, Amalric’s eyes snapped for the ceiling, focussing hard on a wood stain. “I-I mean- repair? I assume- It’s- You said earlier- But you do have a lot of them- So this isn’t- Is this a book shop?”

He had walked into a book repair store, not a traditional shop.

And it had taken him this long to process?

Amalric flipped through his mental arsenal of spells, wondering if it were possible to combine any of them to achieve the effect of disappearing on the spot. Perhaps just melting into the ground, that would be fine.  

[Bronze Coffee]

It was such a relief to know his actions weren't considered weird. It made Kalanc relax a bit of tension out of his body he hadn't known was there. He pushed his red hair out of his face as he continued to listen to Almaric speak.

Then it seemed to dawn on the other man what kind of shop this was and Kalanc desperately tried to stifle a laugh. It was adorable! This man was kind of really adorable. The hybrid just shook his head while holding a hand out, snickering between bouts of holding his breath. It wasn't that funny, but it was more how the red-head was manifesting the joy he felt in watching someone get even more adorable when they were so very obviously flustered.

Laughing would probably be so rude in this situation, so he was desperately trying to hold it in. It took him a second to recover, and he ended it with a deep breath.

"No, no! it's.. It's okay. You're not from here! I really don't blame you. These books? They are for sale. They've either been abandoned by who brought them in or the person never finished paying for our services. So we have to make those funds somewhere to keep the shop going, you know?" It was a lucky thing Kalanc's father was too busy in the back to realize there was a customer.

"So. if you ...want to look around the shelves, you can do that. Those ones I pulled were just a couple. I know there's more, but we don't really have time to organize them, so they're scattered."  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Amalric breathed out.

Well, at least the other boy seemed in good spirits and hadn’t taken his reactions poorly which—was probably all that mattered anyway, when it came down to it. He smiled. “Well, I’m fortunate then, and thank you for your patience. I shouldn’t be surprised, it isn’t as though I haven’t ever gotten myself lost before, and your country is so busy- in, in a good way. I love it- What I mean to say is I will brouse, thank you, and I might bring by several of my own later.”

He wandered towards a shelf, still talking as his eyes perused, fingertips reaching to hover but not quite touch the spines.

“I have one particularly old tome that I can’t hope ever to replace, but its seen so many years, I would worry for it less if it had some refurbish work done on it…is this shop yours?”

Family owned places were all but the rule in Sauti whenever there even was business, and it was frequently true in Zena too, but given the population density here and degree of innovation, it was possible the boy just worked here.  

[Bronze Coffee]

The subject quickly changed to one that he had a lot of knowledge on; repairing books. Kalanc grinned and put his hands behind his back, looking rather like a puffed up, proud bird right now.

"My dad's shop. I've been working here for as long as I can remember, so in a way it's mine." Never mind he had to follow his dad's rules, not his own. Some days was spent haggling over which materials they needed to order, or how to go about advertising the shop.

"We've dealt with ancient books before. I mean, they feel ancient anyways, or look it. Brittle books, spine replacement, if you want a completely new cover...? We do it all here. I even do leather bound books."

The way he talked was changing. It was getting more profession, but at the same time passionate. While his ultimate goal was to own a newspaper and spread news through all of Tendaji, instead of just his home, repairing books was good work. He loved the written word, and preserving it did fill him with a sense of satisfaction.  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Amalric hummed with understanding, listening certainly with one ear, though his eyes were still moving over title text. “Perfect…” he said. “It is leather, old, and the spine is in poor shape…I’ll bring it by and you can tell me what you think it needs.” His gaze flicked fleetingly from the shelves to the storekeep, gaze warm. “You’re clearly the expert, after all.”

And it was true.

Without a specific word said on the subject, this boy communicated perfectly how deep his passion for his work ran, his tone and posture radiating a healthy pride. Not boasting or gaudy in one’s face, but aglow with accomplishment and hope for the potential of doing even more in the future.

Even if it wasn’t the store he’d come for, Amalric found himself glad he’d walked in.

“Is this what you intend to do with your life?” His finger paused over a spine, and he pulled it down, flipping to its inner cover without looking up. “My apologies if that’s a personal question. You just give off so much energy, it’s heartening to see someone so engaged in their craft…”  

[Bronze Coffee]

He did it, he got a new customer. The boy's pierced face broke into the umpteenth grin for the umpteenth time since their meeting. "Excellent! I'll give you a good rate, too. Other people might try to rip you off since you're foreign to us!"

But this was part of business, so he went back to the desk to start the process. "Amalric," he murmured as he wrote down. He jotted down the date, and left the rest blank for when he had the book in his hands. "No problem. We get most repairs done really quickly, but it's when clients say they want a specifically colored dyed leather that we run into timing issues. Dying leather's not an easy craft."

He blew hair out of his eyes and then started to shuffle papers around when the question was posed.

Canting his head to one side, Kalanc looked a mix of embarrassed and excited. "I really want to own a newspaper. I want to print my own and get news from all around Tendaji. One global paper that prints the important stories going on. I don't know how viable it is, but I do know I have to start small. So maybe if I get my own, get a connection in your land and start corresponding with big news events, I could start something small. I don't even know if anyone would really be interested." Kalanc shrugged as he said that last bit and hummed afterward. "I'm interested, though. If one person is, someone else has to be, right?"