A Bagel And Best-Seller (Gabriel/Eva)

[Eva Isaachar]

Eva was hanging out at Mimir's Haunt for a little while today, meaning until she got bored, which she hadn't yet at this time. The little cafe-coffee-and-bookstore combo had originally just, to her, been a place that she waited up for her super bestie Odette to get out of ballet practice. It had now become a place for her to chill in general when she was in the mood for a more quiet atmosphere than her usual sort, but still wanted to go out. The place was also cheaper than Starbucks too, and it was kinda cool to know the staff personally. Yeah, she wasn't like super buds but she knew Odile well enough through Odette, and Basil to a lesser degree through Odile. She knew their names and they knew hers (maybe? she thought?) in any case, and if she wanted to put little pink ribbons in Odile's hair Odile had to sit still for it because Detty said so. Eva tried not to abuse the privilege. Tried.

Today was one of the aforementioned days in which she wasn't waiting on Odette to get there, nor there with Odette, but just spending some quiet time on her own. Well, not COMPLETELY on her own. She had her little friend Magdalena the mouse in the pocket of her purse! Odile was luckily not inclined to adopt the diet that her shifter form of eagle owl did...or if she was, she was forbidden by Odette to include Magdalena, whom the swan shifter ballerina adored of course, in it.

Currently, Magdalena was sitting on a napkin on a table nibbling on a chunk of bagel that Eva had torn off for her. Eva sat at that same table, leafing absently through a paperback that she'd picked up off the rack that advertised its wares as being the latest best sellers according to The New York Times. A review on the back described it as being like if A Song of Ice and Fire were set in the Deep South with a vampire playing the role of a classic Steel Magnolia plus a blood knight of an angel. It had a promising plot; she might buy it if it got good and delivered soon.

[Gabriel Hoback]

Where did Gabe know the name Mimir from? That question would not leave him alone ever since he had read the bookshop’s name on the list of shops his cousin had left for him. His cousin Abigail seemed to like making lists; along with the list of stores, she had left him a list of theaters, a list of grocery stores (neatly divided into chain, local, and organic categories), and a list of restaurants, among many, many others. It’s not that Gabe did not appreciate his cousin’s attention to detail, especially since of the notes she left contained instructions for caring for her numerous plants, he just wished that he had been able to come to Miami before Abigail had left for Europe. Maybe then she could have just told him everything instead of leaving a mass of paper for him to sift through. Plus, they had not seen each other in years and it would have been nice to catch up with her face-to-face for once. He had been in Miami for three days and he was still finding errant post-its hidden around the house.

Still, it was nice to know the names of the local shops and where they were located. Now it was just the matter of figuring out the streets of Miami. It had taken him an embarrassing amount of time to find Mimir’s Haunt, even with the directions his cousin had left him. Gabe was thankful to see that the book store contained a cafe. Once he had found a few books, he would grab something to eat.

Gabe reached into his pocket and drew out a small, folded piece of paper. Abigail had left a list of books for him to read while he was in Miami. He glanced down the list of titles and then looked around the store, trying to figure out where he should start looking. He noticed a young woman reading at one of the store’s tables. The title of the books she was reading was familiar. Gabe looked back down at the paper in his hand. It was on the list. He headed over to the table, pausing when he neared and caught sight of the table’s other occupant. That was a bit…unusual. Should he point out the mouse to her? He wasn’t sure. Well, now that he’s here, might as well take the plunge. “Excuse me, miss?” He nodded towards the book in her hand. “Where did you find that?”

[Eva Isaachar]

Eva looked up from her book to the guy who was asking about it, and pointed,

"That rack there, over by the front. I'm thinking I might even actually buy it!"

You know, versus reading the whole thing in the store. That might take awhile, and if she was interested enough that she wanted to find out the end, she'd prefer to take it home to read at her leisure, with room for breaks and stuff.

"Hilarious thing, they totally won't even stock the stuff they don't like, they don't care HOW good it sells. Fifty Shades of Grey? You will NOT find it here!"

She decided to use this as an opporunity to make a publicity plug pitch type thing for the store, she felt she owed it and she liked to be nice.

"That's one of the nice things about little independently owned places like this, you know? They've got standards, it's not all about sales and junk. Real devotion to um...literature and junk!"

She ran one pink-painted finger down Magdalena's back as the mouse continued chewing,

"And very pet-friendly policies!"

[Gabriel Hoback]

Gabe looked back towards where the woman had pointed. He had walked right past that rack. Well, that was a bit embarrassing. “Thank you,” he said as he turned back to the woman. Upon hearing her desire to possibly buy the book, he asked, “You liking it so far?”

He was actually somewhat disappointed when she said that this bookstore would not stock certain books. Okay, so he could not blame the owner for wanting to avoid selling Fifty Shades of Grey and its ilk and it was unreasonable to expect a store to carry everything you wanted anyway, but it was still annoying. There had been another bookstore on Abigail’s list. He would just go there if he wanted a book that was not here.

Gabe smiled as the woman continued to talk about Mimir’s Haunt. It was clear that she really liked this store. “It’s important to have standards for junk,” he said with a small laugh. Wait, did that even make sense? Why did he have to say that? It wasn’t even funny. Oh God, he hoped that she didn’t think he was making fun of her. Quick, say something else! “Um, your mouse is cute!” Oh yes, that was a good recovery. He should have just thanked her and walked away.

[Eva Isaachar]

Yeah, if you didn't share Baz's taste, it could definitely be annoying. He likely knew it wasn't such a good business move, but he also had a screw-it-I-like-GOOD-books attitude, and the store hadn't gone under for it yet at least.

"Yeah, I think so! It's got, like a killer angel, and a Southern Belle vampire who is kinda, ya know, like a real historical Southern Belle would actually be instead of Gone With the Wind crap, you know?"

Not that she'd actually seen or read Gone With the Wind, but it was one of those things everyone just *knew* about, and she had the feeling that she would enjoy it but was also aware that the way plantation life and treatment of slaves in that era was made out to be was...less than accurate and more than generous. She could actually buy this lady as being straight out of the pre-antebellum days though. Not that she wasn't also super cool in Eva's opinion, but talk about flawed views! Still, it sure as hell made her interesting, and she told Gabriel all that too.

Then he mentioned the mouse.

"Gosh, isn't she?" Eva enthused, looking delighted at the compliment, running a finger affectionately down the little creature's back

"Her name is Magdalena, and she's just so incredibly precious. Crazy tame, too. Most mice are nervous little things but she's totally at ease with people. You can pet her too, if you want!"

She then lowered her voice, as if about to convey a secret or something too unpleasant to be uttered at anything louder than just above a whisper,

"Can you believe that albino mice like her are just typically sold as--"

She put her thumb and forefinger over Magdalena's ears. The mouse did not seem to mind or even notice, and went on nibbling at crumb in her paws,

"--snake food?"

[Gabriel Hoback]

Ah, another vampire book. Gabe should’ve known. Abigail had been on a vampire kick for the last couple of years. Still, it did sound interesting, or at least the way the woman described it made the book sound interesting. Gabe hadn’t read <i>Gone with the Wind</i> since middle school (once was enough, thank you) but he remembered enough of Scarlet to get the gist of what the woman meant. The book’s handling of the southern belle and her outdated values was a mark in the book’s favor, as far as Gabe was concerned. A flawed or clichéd book with well-developed or at least interesting characters was much more enjoyable to Gabe than a book with a clever, complicated plot with shallow characters. It was nice to meet someone who was so enthusiastic about reading.

Then he had to go and ruin it. Well, maybe not ruin it exactly—she seemed pretty happy about what he had blurted out in desperation. Not that he was lying or anything, that mouse was pretty cute. “That’s a nice name,” he told the woman and, after a moment of hesitation, reached over and carefully petted the mouse with one finger. “Really? I mean, I know that some snakes eat mice, but just the albino ones? That’s kinda strange…” He had wanted to call her by name, but realized that, while he knew her mouse’s name, he did not know hers. “I’m Gabe, by the way,” he added hastily. Better to get introductions out of the way then ask a potentially embarrassing question.

[Eva Isaachar]

"Yeah! If they have cute colors and patterns, they get sold as pets. But if they're albino, they get sold as feeder mice! Same animal, same size, same temperament, it's...it's mouse racism is what it is!"

Really now. Maybe she sounded absurd but how could you own a sweetheart like Magdalena, or even just LOOK at her, and not feel horrendously upset at the very thought of a creature like her ever meeting a fate like that for the shade of her fur?

"I'm Eva! You wanna sit down, Gabe? Or grab a book and a scone first if you want. What do you like to read, anyway? Here I've been prattling on about what I've got and you might not even be interested in the same stuff!"

Yes, she just invited a stranger to sit and have a scone with her. Eva was plenty social, to a daring point some might say, but she wouldn't agree. Daring implied a real risk, and she wasn't stupid enough to take those. After all, there were so many dangers out there for women, especially women like her, and she'd experienced that kind of thing once already, which was one time too many. She didn't plan on going through it again. No, this wasn't daring, all she had to do was scream and Basil or Odile would be out here to see what the trouble was. But she wasn't planning on having to scream, she was planning on having a conversation!