2021-01-31 - You're Hired

It's a chilly January morning, with a thin flurry of snow outside dusting the sidewalks. Likely Stories, which has been shuttered for some five or six months, currently has an "OPEN" sign lit in the window and a "HELP WANTED" sign hanging on the door. Inside, it's warm and cheerfully lit, and recently cleaned, the shelves dusted, the floors vacuumed, and everything once more in its place. There is some quiet music playing. The first floor of the bookstore is what one might expect from any other modern small bookshop. But upstairs, there is a lounge area and an entire section on the Occult, Spiritual, and Metaphysical. Elias sits behind the counter with his laptop in front of him in an open space next to the register and appears to be typing away, a cup of half-consumed coffee within easy reach.

Xavier hasn't been in town all that long, but he did notice that the bookshop was closed. It was a pity as he does dearly love books, but when he walked by it today the sign showed open, and they're looking for help! Though he has a job, not that he loves doing taxes for people, it's quite boring and they get uppity when they don't have as much of a return as they expected. He passes by the door once, while deep in thought, then turns around to only pass by it again. Finally after the third pass he walks into the store. He has on a warm wool jacket with a hand knit scarf around his neck and a pair of jeans. For a moment he just takes in the ambience and the smell of bookpaper.

Elias is dressed in a pair of black jeans and suede oxfords, a dark red button-down with sleeves rolled up his forearms a bit. A pair of glasses sits on his nose, and he glances up when he hears the tinkling of the bell. It's a familiar and yet foreign sound, one he'll eventually get used to again, but hasn't just yet. He offers a nod to Xavier when the man comes inside and then looks back down at the typing that he was doing, not seeming intent on bothering him unless he has questions, at least not beyond a quiet, "Afternoon."

Xavier nods his head to the man behind the counter. "Afternoon." He responds before he casually looks around the store. He's debating interally with himself, on one hand, he has a job but he hates it, on the other, this place is a lot quieter than the tax office. He spends a few minutes looking over the books as he weighs his options in his head. Unbuttoning his jacket, he walks up to the counter and smiles. "Hello, I couldn't help but to notice the help wanted sign outside."

Elias lifts his head when Xavier returns and offers a bit of a smile. "We just recently reopened. I'm looking for cashiers, stockers, even a manager if someone qualified came along. My current general manager is thinking of retiring. Are you interested?" He studies Xavier for a moment or two, saving whatever he was working on and closing the laptop to give the other man his attention. He rises from the stool that he was sitting on.

Xavier nods and gestures to the store. "I did noticed that this place was closed up, and I am happy to see it open." When Elias talks about what he's looking for Xavier nods his head. "I have a degree in accounting, so I could help with the books. Honestly this seems more my pace than doing other people's taxes, so I'd be willing to clean toliets." He laughs as he runs his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry that sound absolutely desperate and terrible for an informal job interview."

Elias can't help a little quirk of a smile at Xavier's informal interview skills. He reaches under the counter and withdraws an application and sets it and a pen on the surface of the counter. "I'm going to need all the legal rigamarole here." A clipboard is also handed to him, so that he can pick any of the chairs in the shop to sit down and fill it out. "So, what did you hope to do with accounting if it wasn't taxes?" He seems idly curious as he leans against the counter.

"Oh yes of course, this would be very important." Xavier nods as he gathers the items but holds on filling it out for now since questions are important. "Well, it was sort of expected of me? My father was high up in a firm and it was an easy act of nepotism and a gaurenteed future so, I did it. I've since realized that I absolutely hate it." He gives a weak smile and shugs his shoulders. "I'm good at it, but I'm hoping to find something else? My mother says it's a quarter life crisis."

Elias nods at the shop and says, "My family's had this shop since the town was founded. It passes from one of us to the next on down the line to take care of, always staying in the family. It was kind of expected that I'd take it over from my mother, and so I did. But.. I do actually love this place." He runs his fingertips across the counter lightly. "I'd missed it." His tone is a little distant, wistful, before he comes back to himself and looks back to Xavier. "Find something that you /enjoy/ doing. Just being good at something doesn't mean you're required to do it for life. Find something you love and /become/ good at it."

"I would much rather have a bookshop to inherit then my father's legacy at a firm." Xavier smirks and plays with the pen more as a nervous habit than anything. "It's a lovely place honestly I can see why you would want to keep it around." Xavier nods his head and looks down at the application. "Yeah that's what I'm trying to figure out. I moved to the otherside of the country to do it so here is hoping I find it! I did write a few books before, and I thought I'd try it again. I suppose I'm just waiting for inspiration."

There's a quiet ding of the front door opening as Isolde slips in from the chilly weather outside. She shrugs off her wool coat and hangs it over her arm, taking a brief survey of those in the store. A friendly smile blossoms on her lips in the direction of Elias and Xavier when she spots them. She had been disappointed to find the store closed when she returned and, having heard that it was reopened, decided to check it out. "Good morning." Taking a few steps closer - primarily to browse some of the books nearby. "How is everyone?" She's clad in a pair of dark jeans with a gray longsleeved shirt and a frog charm bracelet on her right wrist. Dark brown hair left down and looking just a little windswept from her walk here.

"Me too," Elias says to Xavier, of rather having a bookshop than a legacy at a tax firm, the faintest hint of a smile touching his expression. He nods when he looks around the building, taking it in. It is a nice little shop. "I like it. I grew up here, playing among the shelves while my mother worked here. It has a lot of good memories." There's a rueful twist of his lips at that, something occurring to him, then he shakes his head, rejoining the conversation. "You have? What books have you written?" That seems to intrigue him.

When the bell chimes and Isolde walks in, Elias turns toward her and dips his head in greeting. "Afternoon," he greets her. "Well enough, and yourself?" It's an automatic sort of response, practiced and pleasant.

Xavier follows his gaze around the room, wondering what it would have been like to grow up somewhere like this, instead of the sterile magazine cover home he had. "It sounds like they were lovely memories to have." He smiles and stop fiddling with the pen. "What my books? Nothing of concequence. A poor attempt at a suspense novel that had a small following online but the third book is years overdue and I doubt anyone remembers it. I'm trying to decide if I write something new or try to breath life into something so dead."

The Bells catch his attention and he turns toward the new arrival. "Hello. I'm doing well thank you." He says politely as he looks down at his clipboard with the application on it.

"Sometimes trying to revive the dead can give way to something new too." Isolde mused and then cleared her throat. "At least, that's my experience it some more creative type things." She says it just a touch shyly before giving a nod to Elias. "I'm doing good. I wondered...if you had any books about ciphers?" Skimming the area again and then looking back to the owner. "I already know the cipher I'm working on. But I'm looking for more general information on them primarily."

"Still, I'd be interested in reading them," Elias says. "I write, as well." He'd stopped hiding that fact, though he still uses his nom de plume. He then offers a hand and says, "Elias Weber, by the way. A pleasure to meet you." He then turns his attention toward Isolde and raises a brow just a little bit. "And sometimes it's best not to disturb the peace of something that's died, lest one bring back something far more painful than the loss." There's a distinct pain in his eyes for just a moment, and he covers it with a brief flicker of a smile. "I'm sure that we have something on the topic as a whole, academically, if that's what you are looking for." He switches over to the terminal on the register to pull up some inventory and do a quick search.

"Oh you do? Well I will share mine if you are willing to share yours." Xavier says with enthusiasm, it's nice to find someone else who understands the struggles of writing. "Xavier Rousseau, and it's a pleasure to meet you as well." He smiles before he nods to Isolde. "It can see merit in that, but there are a lot of memories wrapped in that story that I don't know if I want to ressurect." When she asks about books she's looking for, Xavier holds up the clipboard and gestures toward a chair. "Let me get all of the legal stuff out of the way." He doesn't want to distract his new potential boss from work.

"Sometimes." Isolde agreed. "But those other times - you never know what could happen." She gives Elias a sympathetic smile, but doesn't press. She's no stranger to pain and loss herself and certainly doesn't know the store owner well enough to even try and encroach such a subject. "Understandable." She agrees also with Xavier on resurrecting old memories. She makes a note of their names but doesn't offer up her own. "Academically is fine. Or, ah, conspiracy theory esque too." She fiddles with her charm bracelet a bit. "Whatever you have on hand, I'm sure it will be plenty helpful."

Elias nods to Xavier and says, "You can read mine if you want." He then gives him another small nod as the man sits down to fill out the application so that he can assist Isolde with her book search. His focus is on that for the moment, and not whatever he'd been thinking about moments before. He reaches over to scribble a few notes onto a post-it. When she adds something else, he nods and he taps out another quick search, pulling up a couple more titles, which he writes down on his post-it and then nods toward the shelves. "We have a few things on conspiracy theories, and one or two on ciphers, though I can also order something if you are interested in more than what's here." He takes her over to the shelves where both types of book are located and hands her the post-it with the titles and authors. "Take a look and see if any of those are what you are looking for."

"I look forward to it." Xavier says before he nods to Isolde. "You never know what you pull up from those memories. Perhaps they're not all bad." With a shrug he finds a quiet spot to fill out the form. He's quick about it as everything is pretty standard, though his job history is a bit strange as he is coming from what is likely a large coproration in New York to a small town bookshop. Still he is sure to cross all of his t's and dot his i's, but doesn't bother Elias while he is helping a customer.

Isolde followed Elias to the section and accepted the sticky note. She considered the titles a moment and then gave Elias a bright smile. "Thank you! I'll take a peek and see if any are close to what I am wanting. I might wander a bit also so, I'll come back up with any books. Or if maybe to see if you can special order something." Then she would focus up on the shelves, starting to browse for the books he had suggested.

Elias nods to Isolde and says, "Just let me know if you need anything. I'll be up front." he then nods in that direction and heads back that way, making his way behind the counter again to settle onto the stool and reopen his laptop while Xavier is finishing up filling out the forms. He types out a couple more things and then just sort of stares at the screen, clearly unable to think of what more to type. In the end, he just closes the laptop again and slides it away into the messenger bag next to him on the floor.

Xavier quickly finishes his application and signs it, and returns to the desk just as Elais puts away his laptop. "Here's the legal bit out of the way." He smiles as he passes over the clipboard and pen. "I can always come back later if you want to look it over, or have a phone interview thing. I could dress in something more impressive than an old sweater and a pea coat." He smirks showing that he's mostly kidding. Gesturing toward the messenger bag he asks. "Writer's block?"

Elias shakes his head and says, "Come upstairs." He nods toward the loft area that holds the occult section and the comfortable couch and chairs to sit on. From there, he can see the door, the counter, and even Isolde if she needs something from where he settles himself into one of the chairs, letting Xavier sit as well. "I'd rather see you in what you're comfortable wearing than dressed up for an interview. This isn't really corporate New York, after all." Though as for the question about writer's block he says, "I promised to send a synopsis by the end of the week for something new. My heart just isn't in it at the moment."

Xavier nods his head and slips his jacket off of his shoulders and drapes it over his arm, turning to follow Elias upstairs. He spies some of the books as they pass and it's clear he would like to continue to paruse the books but the interview is happening now. It's not what he's used to, but there are a lot of changes he is making to his life now and he's learning to adapt. "Comfortable is better. If anyone says they're comfortable in a suit they're lying." He laughs as he settles into the chair. "It's probably best not to force it. That was my whole second book and I know it's why it did poorly."

"I don't know," Elias says with the faintest of smiles. "I've been comfortable in a suit once or twice. With a proper fit, and the right fabric, they can be comfortable enough." But he's clearly not wearing a suit now. He settles into the chair and once Xavier is comfortable he says, "I won't. She's just been very patient, all things considered, and I feel that I owe her something. But.. this isn't about me and my current writing issues. This is about you." He gestures to Xavier, "Are you looking for full time work or something part time while you work on your writing?"

"Maybe it's usually the situations I was in that made the clothing so uncomfortable." Xavier says thoughtfully before the topic returns to his writers block. "I'm going to go the self publishing route this time, which means I don't have a deadline, but it also means I don't have a deadline." Meaning he could easily slack and not write. When the converstaion returns to the interview he nods his head. "Full time, regardless of how much I'd like to write, I still have bills to pay. This place is less likely to suck out my creativity like the tax office."

"Could be, or the clothing was just uncomfortable," Elias says, "Which is always a distinct possibility." He considers when Xavier says that he's going to go the self publishing route. "Why go the self publishing route if you didn't have to before?" He seems idly curious rather than challenging of that. He then nods his head, "Bills are a necessary evil, yes. Though, you can also write here -- I do." He nods toward the counter downstairs, "Whenever there isn't anything to do, I just sit down there, or up here, and write. You're welcome to do so, too. As long as the place keeps running, I don't mind if you do your writing on the clock."

"A bit of both probably." Xavier smirks but when publishing is brought back up he frowns and shakes his head. "I have a distinct believe that my father had a big hand in getting my first two books published, and I don't want to go that route this time. I would like to do it on my own, which menas less exposure of course but I'll know everything about that future book is mine." When he mentions writing on the clock, Xavier smiles. "Then I don't see a reason not to be full time. I of course would not let it interfere with work."

"Good, because I'd hate to have to be a hypocrite and fire you for what I do, myself," Elias says, and though it's delivered somewhat dryly, the fact that he's kidding is fairly clear in the tone. "So, I figure you can do some cashier work, help me stock inventory when it's needed, and you can handle the books. I'll obviously look them over for a while until we're both settled in, and then I'll leave it to you if everything goes well." Apparently Xavier is already hired, even before the interview is over or the references even checked. "So, how much of our small town strange have you experienced so far? Anything unusual?"

"That would be tragic." Xavier replies in an equally dry voice, but he can tell he already likes this new boss. Hearing the duties he has planned out, he nods and looks thoughtful. "That will work just fine for me. I really appreaciate you putting this trust in me after I stumbled into your shop." So far he's had good luck with the people he's met in this town. He shrugs at the next question. "Nothing I haven't seen already. I've been warned however so I know to be careful, especially at night."

"Very tragic. Also, don't fuck me over with my books or I will light you on fire," Elias says just as dryly that it might be difficult to tell if he's serious or not. "I have a feeling for people. And I look at it as rescuing you from a life of tax preparation, which sounds far more tragic." He nods a little when Xavier mentions nothing that he hasn't seen before, but lets that topic go for the time being. He looks suddenly tired, and reaches up to rub the bridge of his nose beneath his glasses before resettling them. "So, the job won't make you rich but it'll pay the rent." He proposes a fair wage. It's not extravagant but it's reasonable.

Xavier quirks his brow and slowly nods his head. "I'm not fond of being set on fire, so I'll skip the whole fucking you over part." He laughs, but it is hard to tell if he is serious. People do have those sorts of powers after all, and while it may not be Xavier's specialty, it doesn't mean he wants to experience it first hand. "Indeed you are, it is a very tragic life." When the salary is discussed he nods. "That's more than fair, maybe with time I can move out of my aunts place." He smirks as he gets to his feet and gestures toward the door. "I should go quit my other job then, I might have to finish out the week but if I can start sooner I will let you know."