2025-05-08 - Random Messages

Seated in the second story seating area, Morrison appears to be reading a book. Or faking reading a book? He seems to be mostly staring off into space just a few inches above the top of the open book in his hands.

It's a quiet moment, it is not like the book store is going to be bustling with loud business. Even if busy....it's a bookstore. They are quiet by design, really.

Lucien spends quite a bit of time in this self same bookstore. Though his spot of choice tends to be the reading area up on the third floor in the used books section. Today, he is down on the first floor getting himself a cup of coffee before he heads on up. It's only as he's climbing up to the second floor that he notices Morrison not-quite-reading and wanders in that direction, trying to get a glimpse at the cover of the book.

"Hey," he says, as he lingers over by one of the nearby chairs, lifting his cup to take a sip. "How's it going?"

The book that he seems to be reading is a copy of The Tao of Wu, which he seems to be about halfway through, even if he's not actually staring at the words that are on the pages in front of him. He either was reading at some point in time, or he just randomly opened the book up and has been staring at it the entire time.

When he hears the familiar voice his attention snaps back to the here and now, glancing in Lucien's direction, "Well hey, kid. It's going alright...what brings you here?"

"Books," Lucien says with a little crooked grin. "And coffee. Sometimes tea. Usually someone else's tea." Because he almost never orders it himself, but he'll steal a sip from someone else without hesitation. "Was gonna go up and rummage around the used books. Sometimes there's interesting stuff up there. Sometimes it's just interesting to see what people have already read. Never know what you'll find in a used book." But for now, he seems to be plunking himself down here. "Taking a bit of a break now that competition's over until Japan in September."

"Books, coffee, tea. All are good things you'll find here." Morrison agrees, closing the book that he's been not-reading, tossing it down on a near by table. Someone will re-shelve is later.

When Lucien mentions the third floor there is a brief look upwards, then his attention settles back on Lucien, "Not sure that I've ever actually gone up to the third floor and looked around. Especially haven't ever really given any thought to the fact that it might be interesting the kinds of books that people might have read and gotten rid of here."

"There's some over at Ruby's, too. Stuff people leave behind when they move out. Sometimes you'll find stuff stuck in the books and that can be kind of cool," Lucien grins with a shrug of his shoulders. He flashes a grin then and says, "At least it's fun that doesn't involve anything illegal!" Look, not creating extra work!

He watches as the book gets set down and says, "You off duty tonight?"

"Yeah, figured I'd try and do something to keep myself out of trouble." Morrison replies with a bit of a wry laugh, "So far....I think that I'm succeeding in keeping myself out of trouble."

There's a curious look for a moment, "Tell me, what kind of interesting and crazy things have you found stuffed in the books?"

Lucien smiles a little wryly at that and says, "Not enough crime on the island to keep you busy, I guess?" He finally plops himself down in one of the nearby chairs and says, "In Ruby's you find it more than here. I guess here they must go through the books a little more thoroughly before they re-shelve them, but even here you can find ones that are signed. Sometimes with personal messages in them and you gotta wonder what some of them mean."

Then he nods in Ruby's direction and says, "In Ruby's I've found everything from cash to like hand written letters, pressed flowers, stuff people stuck between the pages to flatten or preserve and then forgot there.."

"Plenty of crime on the island, if you want the truth. Mostly petty squabbles...my neighbor is being loud late at night, she took my costume and ripped the seams...did you know so and so had a dog that they let walk off the leash?" It's a litany of very small, petty things. Probably not even real petty things that he's had to handle. But, clearly meant to illuminate his point.

"Like a message in a bottle? Left intentionally for whoever might find it next?"

"Yeah, guess that's fair. Though with how many familiars there are wandering around, I think it'd be impossible to tell which dogs are dogs and which dogs are familiars and which dogs are coworkers," Lucien laughs. But he gets the point about what sorts of things Morrison has to deal with.

"I don't think I've ever found anything that was intentionally left there for someone to find, like they meant to leave it there and give the book up. Most of it seems like stuff someone stuck between the pages to hide it and forgot it was there." He then grins, "Though it would be cool if people did."

"Nearly impossible." Morrison agrees with a nod, "Sometimes people tattle on themselves, but for the most part....it's just a dog, and trying to find the 'they' that left them off the leash is harder than just smoothing it over with the offended party."

There's a bit of a thought before he suggests, "Next time you give something up, you should leave a note in there intentionally for the next person that'll pick it up."

Lucien grins and definitely doesn't envy Morrison that job. "Makes sense. I guess there's a lot of things that get complicated by magic. I mean, since people can look like anything they want, too." Like him, he can look like anything he wants. Though currently he looks as he always has since magic changed him, pointed ears, prismatic eyes and all -- but still very much Lucien.

"I do have some books that I've read a couple of times that I probably won't read again. Maybe I will when I drop them off. Just leave little notes tucked in the middle of them," Lucien grins. "Why not?" He then adds, "Theo and I wrote cryptic messages in some paper airplanes and threw them off the roof of Turning Leaf a while back. Not even really sure why. Just sort of.. felt like a thing to do." Littering! gasp He probably shouldn't be confessing to his crimes.

Maybe littering isn't a high priority for Morrison, because he doesn't make any move to try to and arrest Lucien for his crimes. Instead he just shrugs, "Sometimes things just feel right, even when they might not be right. You can't run from a good time just because it might not be someone else's idea of a good time."

The book that he'd been not-reading he sets down, wiggling fingers that had begun to cramp up a little from holding the book while marking his place, "You should make sure the notes are very cryptic. Like... Beware the cat wearing red shoes on the fifth of May."

There's a wry little smile at Morrison's response. He hadn't really expected to be slapped into handcuffs and hauled off to the station for a few stray paper airplanes. They're even biodegradable! But still, it's always nice to be validated. "Yes! That," he is quick to agree.

"Maybe you should write a couple for me," Lucien grins. "The more nonsensical the better."