A Little curiousity~ Imaginarium First Floor

Aerilyn Solarius entered the book store timidly, she had always been curious about the place, and she liked books. She wore a old, but clean dark red rode and a bag with a little money was slung over her shoulder. She didn't carry her wand on her, since she was quite usless at spells anyway. Her long red hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail to keep it out of her face, with all the cleaning she did at hogwarts it became a habbit to keep it up. She had long gloves over her hands to hide her blisters and clauses from sight, the results of her long hours of working with manual labor.

She bit her lip as she walked into the building, and looked around curiously wondering of the owner of the building was in the store.

"Hello?" she voiced still looking around unable to foucus on one particular book at that moment..

"Is anyone here?" she voiced a little later, starting to become nervous that perhaps she wasn't supposed to be in here.

Alan was listening to music via a magically-modified muggle mp3 player as he arranged books on the shelves of the first floor. The volume was up a bit, seeing as how he was amidst a relatively slow day. He had just gotten a few rather... interesting selections to add that were a little on the macabre side. Although he had to admit: Alice in Zombieland just seemed so bizarre that even he might have to read it sometime.

He hadn’t heard the feminine voice call, although the enchantments on the building did let him know that someone had entered. The wizard was just turning the volume down on his music device when he noticed something odd about one of the books on the shelves. “How did you get here?” he asked the book, which was on Japanese folklore. Alan shook his head and plucked the tome off the shelf, with intentions to put it back where it belonged.

Then he heard the person call, although did not know it had been the second time she had beckoned. The wizard picked up his pace a little to greet the person at the front even though he was not that far away. “Hel- oh! Excuse me, miss,” he jumped, for Alan had nearly run into his guest. “Welcome to the Imaginarium,” the book-keeper smiled warmly.

Aerilyn looked around un sure for a second longer bitting her lip, having heard something like “How did you get here?”. She had no idea the shop keeper was talking to a book and not her and quickly felt silly for walking somewhere she was not supposed.

"I sor- Ah!" she yepped a little at the shopkeeper suddenly appearing into her view. She took a deep breath to try and stop her racing heart at being startled. She blinked at the man for a moment a bit confused per the situation. Had he not asked her how she got in before? Now he was welcoming her quite nicely.

"I ah.. I am sorry if I intruded sir, I was curious about your building so I came in.. If.if you are busy I can come back another time?" she said hurried to her ciringe.. she always stammered when nervous..

As she backed her way to the door she came out of she didn't notice a small table with a few books on it and backed right into it knocking it over. With wide eyes she looked horrified. "Oh for merlin's sake... I.. I'am sorry" she stammered again bending over to pick up the mess she made..

Oh what a fool he must have thought she was...

Alan quirked an eyebrow and tilted his head at the witch's words. Intruded? He was confused. Busy? Well, that was a relative term. "Not at all, please, by all means," the wizard reassured her, making a sweeping gesture to further welcome her to the shop. Then, it dawned on him: perhaps she overheard him talking to the book.

A hint of color stained the bridge of his nose. "I was just taking care of a book, actually. Sometimes, I swear the things sprout legs and walk about wherever they please with some of the places I've found them..." he joked, showing Aerilyn the book in his hands. It was also a partial explanation for his comment he assumed she'd overheard.

He winced in sympathy as she backed into an end table containing several more books. It was not for the books that he cringed, but rather the well-being of the witch. Merlin knew Alan backed into that same table more times than he cared to count. Slowly, so as not to scare her since she seemed nervous enough already, Alan approached and bent down to also take care of the books. "Please don't worry about it, ma'am. I can't tell you how many times I've run into the thing myself," he replied lightly, hoping a little humor of sorts would put her more at ease.

Aerilyn meekly looked up at the shop owner has he explained what he'd been doing. He'd been talking to his book? She blinked not really expecting that of all things. "Really?" she asked in a more of a whisper. Wondering if he was only saying that, or if it was the truth..

"I.. I am sorry, Thought you meant..." she scratched the back of her neck still feeling foolish but for a different reason.

She shook her head, though she started to look a little more at ease, "Ah.. no worries, I made a mess.. I will help clean it" she said picking up some of the books.

"I ah.. I am Aerilyn Solarius, care taker at Hogwarts.." she murrmered armfull of books in hand.

Alan hadn’t heard her whisper. He went a bit pink from embarrassment as it became clearer that he’d muttered his comment perhaps a bit louder than he’d intended, or had simply been close enough to be overheard and misinterpreted. “That’s alright. I was listening to music and hadn’t realized anyone had come in. Didn’t even think about it...” he murmured in reply. A small smile curved his lips upward at her insistence to help. The wizard couldn’t help but appreciate the gesture.

He righted the little table, clutching his own small pile of books, and stood. “Nice to meet you, Aerilyn. I’m Alan Reed, author, and owner of the Imaginarium,” the man replied, setting the books in his arms – with exception to the one he had been carrying before – on the table. Alan then set the woman with a kind smile and added, “By all means set those on the table and have a look around, if you’d like. They weren’t stacked with any rhyme or reason: thought it would make the décor even more whimsical.”