knickknackery | (no subject)

Another lazy day in this small town was proving to be the death of one Adria Frisch, bored photographer extraordinaire. It was bad enough that school was on vacation, but the kicker was that nobody seemed to want to hire a teenage girl whose only living relative was overseas and so far out of contact that even her daughter didn't know how she was doing. Normally on a day like today, she would walk around the city and take photos for her portfolio. Too bad her camera lens was cracked...

Today's mission involved finding a replacement lens, and it was proving to be quite a chore. The proper stores were selling them at prices way out of her league, the convenience stores had nothing that fit... she was beginning to get discouraged until she passed the pawn shop. She'd never been in before, having heard (and partially believed) that pawn shops were nothing but shady dealers dealing shady things. Today seemed to be a day for swallowing pride, though, so she went inside. But not after steeling herself properly.

And, of course, it was nowhere near what she thought it would be. She was immediately distracted from looking for a camera lens by the fact that the shelves were lined with everything. Seriously. This had to be the most random - but awesome - collection of stuff she'd ever seen in her life! With a smile, she started at one corner of the store, prepared to make her way all the way around. Besides, it wasn't like she had anything better to do today.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There were three main types of people who showed up in a pawn shop: people there to sell, people there to buy, and people there to watch someone else buy. The sellers were usually the worst — bringing something to a pawn shop meant they were down on their luck and trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of things they valued and might want to buy back. The watchers were second worst, if only because they had a bad habit of picking things up, breaking them, and getting Chivy into trouble. The buyers, on the other hand, were his favorite — especially the buyers who were interested in everything instead of just whatever-it-was they'd shown up in hopes of finding.

Today had been a slow day, which meant he noticed Adria as soon as she walked in, and he couldn't help smiling when he noticed how she went from neutral to interested in about five seconds flat. He'd finished his cleaning duties more than an hour ago, so he didn't have any reason to stay behind the counter, and he could always claim to have been offering to help if his boss showed up. Double-checking that the register was closed and no one seemed on the verge of walking in, he stepped around the counter and headed her way.

Adria took no notice of the redhead coming her way, she was too busy grinning at all of the merchandise! She pulled a stuffed monkey off the shelf and smiled at it, only to put it back two seconds later and stare in awe at the automatic snow globe of some huge city two shelves down. This was such a sight! Why had she never come in here before?

"Wow," she said quietly to herself, "this stuff is so neat!"

Chivy stopped at the end of the aisle, grinning when she noticed the snow globe. That was one of his favorites here. "The best ones don't even make it on the shelves, you know."

To say that Adria jumped would be to leave out half of the story. More accurately, Adria jumped, squeaked and whirled around while clutching the snow globe to her chest to keep it from falling and shattering.

"Aah! Stupid-- No-- Don't fall-- Ah-- Whew." She laughed a little, sheepishly, and looked up at whoever it was actually speaking to her. "Sorry, I didn't hear you come over... here..."

And she trailed off, just staring up at him.

Chivy took a step forward when he saw her jump, hands up to show he wasn't trying to scare her. "No, don't be. I forget me knowing you're there doesn't mean you know I'm here. Are you okay?"

It took about a second longer than it should have for her to snap out of it and manage a response of, "Y-yeah! Yeah, I'm fine! Sorry!" And with another nervous laugh, she put the snow globe back on the shelf before turning to address the shopkeeper again.

"S-so... what did you mean, about the best ones?"

"They always keep the best stuff in the back." He nodded toward the door to the back room. "So that they get first pick, and they can pull it out for special customers."

"Th-they? Like, the shopkeepers?" She tilted her head to one side. "You mean, like you?"

And then, she gave him a mock-angry look and pointed at him. "That's not fair! I demand to see this 'best stuff'! The customer's always right, you know." Wink!

"What? No, I'm just—" It took him a moment to realize she was teasing, and then he laughed. "Right, of course you are. I can show you now, if you want." It was a foolproof excuse if his boss asked, but he doubted it would come to that.

Adria laughed with him, then gestured for him to start walking. "Lead the way! Oh man, this is so cool... I'm so glad I stopped in here!"

Chivy grinned, doing as ordered. "I'm glad you did, too. Did you want something particular, or were you just trying to waste time?"

Have you ever looked at someone so pretty that you forgot everything else for a moment? That's what happened to Adria. In fact, for the first few seconds, she didn't even hear him as she was too busy just staring at the back of his head with a stupid little smile on her face--

Wait, he did ask her a question! Think, think...

"Oh! Um, yes!" She rummaged though her over-sized purse until she found her camera and pulled it out for him to see. It was a nice one, not the kind you give to an amateur or someone who just wants touristy photos. She removed the lens cap to reveal the rather large crack all the way up the middle of the front lens, and frowned. "I need a new camera lens. Badly. Do you think you might have something?"