Work Text:
Charlie had expected working at the bookstore to be awesome. Employee discount on books, sharing the joy of reading with customers, watching little kids set out on their very first adventures alongside their heroes… what wasn’t to love? Okay, sure, there would be the kids who’d had the love of reading beaten out of them by English teachers pushing Old White Dude Canon on them, and she’d heard the horror stories of people looking for that book, you know the one, I think the author’s name starts with M or maybe J or T, but I know the cover is blue, what do you mean you don’t know what I’m talking about, it was just on Oprah!
The employee discount was nice, at least, and when the store was slow she was allowed to grab a book from the shelves and have a seat in the window and read. The store’s owner thought it was brilliant advertising to have a pretty girl who got so into her books demonstrating their products. The job wasn’t what she’d thought it would be, but still, Charlie enjoyed it.
Sunday mornings were typically slow, so Charlie had plenty of time to sit in the window and read a book. Her daemon would let her know if something required her attention. She’d just gotten to an exciting battle, a big climax for this book, when she heard Gilda start growling. The book slipped out of her hands as she looked up and saw the hottest girl she’d ever seen in her life. “Relax, Gilda, I’m pretty sure she’s here to buy a book, not to hurt me.”
“Exactly. Although I’m not sure what book I want, so I hope you can help me.” Charlie’s dread must have showed on her face, as the customer smiled at her and crossed her arms. “I’m not looking for a specific book that I don’t know anything about, I’m looking for a book about a topic but I don’t have anything specific in mind. If it were busy I wouldn’t bother you, but since it’s slow, do you think you could help me look and decide?”
“Oh!” Charlie marked her place in her book and hopped to her feet. “That, yes, I’m happy to do. What are you looking for?”
“Okay, so before you say it: I am a giant nerd. I’m looking for resources for creating magic items for a homebrew RPG outside of the standard rings and amulets and stuff. So I’d like to look into body jewelry, both modern and at various points in history.”
“Okay, so I know it’s gonna be weird coming from me, but why exactly are you here instead of a library? Wouldn’t it make more sense to go there to figure out what you want, and then come here if you want to have your own copies?”
“…Reasons…” The customer wouldn’t meet Charlie’s eyes, but her daemon, a winged monkey, stared at Charlie with gleaming eyes. “Does it matter? I want to buy books, you sell them, let’s go find some?”
“Sure! Come on.” Charlie led the way to the fashion section. “What’s the setting of your homebrew?”
“It’s kind of a fantasy world caught between the struggles of good witches and bad witches, with lots of fantastic creatures and stuff. The PCs can choose between four races or be an outsider transported to the realm by magic. There’s a central queen and then four witches, two good and two bad, who each rule one of the four races.” She picked up a book and flipped through. “It’s kinda based on these bedtime stories my dad used to tell me. He’s been helping me write down all the details we can remember. He’s a writer, and he’s gonna write some stories set in that world. If my homebrew game sessions go well, I’m hoping I can publish it, make it an official game.”
“Do you have enough players?” Charlie blurted out before she could second-guess herself. She was at work, but it’s not like she was asking this chick on a date or anything, right? “Because if you need more, I’ve been playing RPGs since I could read and add up my own dice.”
“Really?” The customer lit up with a huge smile and held out a hand, which Charlie took. “My name’s Dorothy. I’ve got a pretty good group, but I’m sure there’s room for one more. I would love to have you, if you can come to sessions! We usually meet Sunday afternoons or Thursday evenings if enough of the group can’t make Sunday. I know it’s short notice for today, but…”
“What time and where? My only plans for after work were to play some Fortnite, but I can do that any time. And Charlie, if you didn’t read it on my nametag.” The only problem with this plan was that now her shift would drag by.