Welcome to the Shop!

[Iria]

Nestled in between in buildings of Magnolia Town was a tiny little shop with a beat up old sign out front that read “Antique Store” in large teal letters against a white backdrop. The people outside bustled by as they went on about their day. There would be the occasional look inside one of the two large windows on either side of the door, but they only stayed for a moment before moving on.

Inside the shop was dimly lit and smelled heavily of incense. The floor was wooden while the wallpaper and décor had a Victorian look to it. Antiques of all types were displayed on the floor or arranged neatly on the shelves that lined the back wall. Everything from elegant looking chairs to grandfather clocks to old jewelry to vintage dolls was on display here.

It was a slow day to say the least. Oh well, it didn’t really bother the single employee inside. She was hard at work dusting off anything that might have collected on any of the many antiques that had been brought in over the years. She was a pale girl who wore dark clothing similar to that of a porcelain doll. Pale pink hair fell unrestrained past her hips and swayed with each motion of the feather duster. Matching pink eyes looked dreamily at each article she cleaned. This was Iria Thevrin.

It was hard to believe that two years had already passed since Iria took over the shop for Aunt Carlotta. She had been received warmly by the customers and was managing the shop rather well. As an added bonus, her parents weren’t there to constantly breathe down her neck and remind her of how important it was for her to join the FairyTail guild.

With everything in the shop thoroughly dusted down, Iria stepped back and took a deep breath of the air that was permeated with incense. “Everything looks to be in order,” the girl said to herself while putting away the feather duster. She walked to the front of the store and sat in one of the large chairs that were on display. She relaxed and closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of the busy street just outside.

[Miedo]

Oh, so much power was held by the written word. Worlds were created and destroyed within the pages of a book. Kingdoms brought to their knees, armies defeated by a simple person looking to save the one he loved. Such amazing things happened within a book, and this was why Miedo loved them. The raven black hair man's quest to bring these books to himself and his customers is what brought him to stand outside of the Antique Store. Books always ended up everywhere, and looking in such stores always provided a nice book or two.

Moving forward, Miedo's long black coat flutter back as his boots clicked against the stone street as he walked to the door of the shop. His gloved hand reached forward and gripped the handle of the door before opening it and walking in. Moving from the bright light outside to the dimly lit store. He hated bright lights, so this was defiantly the place for him.

Pulling his hat off the man let out a small smile before calling out. "Hello! Is there anyone here?" He hadn't seen the girl sitting in one of the chairs being displayed when he had been outside, so he honestly had no idea if anyone was in at the moment.

[Iria]

The sounds of the bustling town outside were nothing like the peace and quiet of Shirotsume Town, at least not the area where she used to live. The upper class part of town had always seemed to frown upon unnecessary racket. Truth be told, it was a bit difficult for Iria to get used to when she had first arrived to take over for Aunt Carlotta. Now she couldn’t imagine living without it. It was nice to listen to everyone outside going about their business. She had gotten so used to it that it was enough to lull her to sleep each night.

Iria was on the brink of dozing off in her chair until she had heard the familiar creaking of the front door accompanied by the chiming of the bell that sounded whenever the door was opened. 'Oh dear, I hope I haven't been out of it for too long,' she thought as she fought off her grogginess. A man who appeared to be in his mid-20's had venture into her little antique shop. From what she could see from her chair, it didn’t look like he had anything to drop off unless the item would be small enough to fit inside one of his pockets. It didn’t really matter what he was here for though. Iria was happy to have people looking about the store.

The girl quickly rubbed the sleep from her eyes and rose to her feet. Apparently he hadn’t seen Iria yet, as he called out asking if anyone was here. She figured it was her fault for sitting so still and nearly falling asleep. That was no way to greet a customer. The girl stepped into view and curtsied politely to the man in the same manner that she did to everyone that visited the shop. “Good afternoon sir. Welcome to the Antique Store. Is there anything in particular you are searching for?” she asked with a quiet voice.

[Miedo]

It only took a moment for his call to be answered as the owner of the shop popped into sight. Iria was a nice looking girl. She had long beautiful hair, pale complexion and pink eyes that match her hair. Her lack of skin pigment may of had something to do with working in such a low lit environment, but it wasn't his place to pry into such unimportant things.

With a gentle smile, Miedo bowed his head slightly in greeting in response to Iria's greeting. It was so refreshing to hear such kindly spoken words. Having most of his time taken up with tending to his bookshop and practicing his magic, the dark clothed man didn't much free time to socialize with other people. He was fine with such a life style, after all, books was all the company he would ever truly need, but exchanging words with another living creature was nice now and again.

"Good afternoon to you as well miss," Miedo spoke kindly, and softer then he had when he had called out. "I am actually here to see if you happened to have any books that may have been sold to you." Though over all, Miedo did nothing that gave off the impression of nervousness, he did hold his hat between his hands, by the brim, turning it slowly like a little tick, like a person fidgeting with their wristwatch whenever they had to do public speaking.

[Iria]

“Ah, yes. I do have a few books for sale. This way please,” Iria responded without even having to think about it. She had always loved it when customers brought in old books. She had always made it her mission to read through them as soon as possible just in case someone wanted to purchase one before she could finish it. She couldn’t possibly say no to a customer, so the only thing she could do is try to finish reading as soon as possible. It was actually kind of exciting not knowing when she would have to part ways with what she was reading. Luckily for her, Iria had read all of the current books. She had no qualms about parting with any of her wares.

Iria turned around and lead the man to one of the back shelves. Her black shoes clicked softly on the wooden floor with each step she took. After passing by the various objects arranged on the floor, they reached the back shelves where all of the smaller items were on display. There were currently eight books standing tall on one of the center shelves. “This is all I have at the moment. Keep in mind that the years haven’t been kind to some of these books. Some of the pages are brittle and the binding is loose on a couple of them. They’re still quite readable I assure you, but please be gentle with them,” Iria explained. Most of them were old fantasy novels, though there was a history text and a book listing different types of birds mixed in as well.