Allison was thoroughly unhappy with the situation. Everyone who worked with her--or ever had--knew she should not be left to interact with customers if at all possible. And certainly not when she knew it was unnecessary. But, no, some idiot had scheduled her to be working with Mark and some new kid, who needed to be taught what to do. Between customer idiocy and new probably high school kid idiocy, Allison had picked the customers.

Despite the fearful expression Mark had worn when she said it.

And anyway, she wasn’t being that bad. She was ignoring a few people she could possibly be offering to help, but none of them were that near the counter or giving any obvious signs they wanted help. And she’d only death glared one customer--well, two--so far; some college kid’s stuck up parents who clearly thought they were far too good for a store that--gasp--only had a low, waist-level wall between the books and the tables, instead of full separate rooms for each. And for the counter. And each section of books. Perhaps a shelf for each author, a room for each table, and a future-predicting mutant to have every book they wanted ordered, stocked, rung up, and ready to hand to them the instant the walked in the door. Without paying, of course, as their presence was enough of an honor.

Allison had not been the only one glaring at that pair while their son quickly slunk off in search of textbooks, receiving pitying glances from the few people not wishing for the ability to stab his parents with sight alone.

So Allison sat at a counter, tapping her fingers, reading a worn book Mark had unintelligently left within her reach--Kushiel’s Dart, she was going to tease him about this one--and overall causing far less catastrophe than everyone expected.

The lack of customers willing to approach her helped.

Krisz got bored of libraries and started haunting bookstores. He was still a writer, even if he was currently proounced dead, which probably did a whole world of good to his reputation, and a writer has to stay up to date about current literature. Hence, bookshops. Preferably the ones where people can sit down and read instead of just flipping through pages too fast to read.

Something was off today. Krisz took a look at the bored-looking girl behind the counter, and floated off between the shelves, looking for a customer to haunt, humming quietly to himself. There were a few people in the shop; with some luck, all of them will think one of the others was humming. So Krisz hummed.

But something was still of. Humming was not quite enough. He almost felt... tired? Sleepy? Hungry?... which was funny, he was not supposed to feel those at all, he was just a voice without a body. But still, the humming got deeper, and something was not right, something was definitely...

Damn I gotta ge out of here...

Not faste enough. Being a voice suddenly felt slow, and heavy, and the hum grew deeper like a tape winding down, and then suddenly Krisz felt his body pull together like pieces of iron around a magnet, and he fell.

And crashed into a stack of books of the 'tween literature' kind.

Fortunately, no one saw him fall, he was between two shelves and in a corner; but it was only a matter of seconds before people started showing up to see what the commotion was about. Rolling onto his back and pulling himself up, he grabbed the closest and biggest book he could find to cover himself before they arrived.

Basszus basszus basszus...

With the latest issue of the very popular "Vampire Memoirs" saga protecting his dignity, Krisz cleared his throat.

"Um.... a little bit of help, please?..."

A lack of Allison-caused catastrophe, apparently, was still not the same thing as a lack of any catastrophe. Upon hearing the crash Allison glanced up, raised an eyebrow, and lazily stood up to wander over toward it. That kind of crash was a spectacular bit of idiocy even for a new kid, whatever it was that had caused it, and while she wouldn’t say anything, she would gladly stand there giving the mess and kid an I-can’t-believe-you look. Humiliation was a far more effective punishment than most people guessed. She’d have felt bad about using it, if she’d been in a slightly better mood, but seeing as she wasn’t....

Allison was about halfway to the source of the crash when the request for help drifted over, in a voice that was quite clearly not either Mark or the kid. She blinked, sped up her walk to reach the area of the crash, stared in very definite bewilderment for an instant, then turned her head slightly to yell. “Mark, why is there a naked boy in a pile of books in the bra--tween section? If this is some kind of Hollywood-level screwed up marketing stunt, I’m going to strangle whoever came up with it.”

>>“Mark, why is there a naked boy in a pile of books in the bra--tween section? If this is some kind of Hollywood-level screwed up marketing stunt, I’m going to strangle whoever came up with it.”

Boy. The scary girl with the disapproving look just called him a boy. Krisz gracefully ignored that for the time being.

"The naked boy can talk" he announced with as much dignity as a naked boy can possess, while hiding his private parts behing teenage vampire romance "He just cannot walk. I am sorry, believe me I would be out of here in an instant, except, something went horribly wrong, and I can't move my legs. Well, I mean, something went wrong beside the legs, they went wrong a very long time ago, in fact, but right now, this was something else, I am fine, well, maybe a bit of a concuisson, man, why do they sell these in hard covers anyway? But back to my point, I am kind of cold, and I am also disabled, that's supposed to be a big deal around here right? Not to impose or anything, but I can feel people starting to stare at me and I am really not used to that, so, all in all, it's just... er, could I probably borrow some clothes?.... A blanket, maybe?..."

Old habits die hard.

Allison blinked at the boy’s rambling, blinked again, and then tuned it out after the first few sentences to wait until she got a chance to talk. Which, conveniently, was about the same point that Mark and the new kid walked up, too, both with bewildered (and in the girl’s case, increasingly distracted) expression. “The naked boy, is a naked boy that appeared out of nowhere in a bookstore with only one public entrance, which I was watching. There’s something just slightly strange about this,” she directed at the naked boy, then turned to Mark. “You. Know anything?” Mark shook his head.

She glanced at the new kid, who was still being increasingly distracted by the naked boy. I must never have been a teenage girl. Or teenage anything, really. “You obviously don’t.” She grabbed the girl’s shoulder, spun her around, and--much more lightly than she wanted to--pushed her back toward the back of the store. “Go get something for the naked boy to wear.”

She turned back to the naked boy on the floor. “Okay then, naked boy who can talk. So, why are you naked, and on the floor, and most importantly, why here?”

>>“The naked boy, is a naked boy that appeared out of nowhere in a bookstore with only one public entrance, which I was watching. There’s something just slightly strange about this,”

Krisz frowned, and piled more books around himself for privacy. There did not seem to be anything else to do at the moment. Boss lady was obviously pissed.

>>“Okay then, naked boy who can talk. So, why are you naked, and on the floor, and most importantly, why here?”

"Well." he started, much more slowly; the need to hold his whole being together by constantly talking was starting to slip away "I am a ghost. Or, rather, was a ghost. I mean, I am a mutant, who acts as a ghost. On a side note, in a city like this one full of people like me, you should not look so surprised. I just... I guess I got tired, and lost control of my abilites. I cannot seem to turn back into a ghost. So, for now, I have to carry my body around. Which is a bit of a problem, you see."

But he had already mentioned that before. And he did not want to repeat it.

Allison blinked, and barely managed to turn the laugh into a smirk. “This city is full of mutants, yes. Not ghost-mutants. I’m a mutant. I do not randomly appear naked in bookstores.” Mark coughed, and she smiled pleasantly while stepping on his foot. That got another, but this time choked off, cough. She turned around to look at him, making about half the turn before stepping off his foot. “Go help the new kid find something for him to wear. ...And get something. You want tea or coffee?” she asked over her shoulder. Mark would need the answer; she ignored it.

Mark coughed again, not bothering to hide his grin, if he had to begin with. “Aren’t I supposed to be your boss?”

“No.” Allison raised an eyebrow. “Shannon is both our boss.”

“But I’m older than you.”

“You were staring like an idiot. Now go be a good boy and do what I told you.” She turned away from him, crouched down, and began quickly collecting the books that had fallen, and weren’t immediately on or next to the naked boy, checking for bent covers and cracked spines as she went.

>>“This city is full of mutants, yes. Not ghost-mutants. I’m a mutant. I do not randomly appear naked in bookstores.”

"Hey, I am not doing it for fun!"

The last time he randomly appeared somewhere it was because Mina made him tangible with her stupid muting powers. So that meant... maybe this girl?....

>>“Go help the new kid find something for him to wear. ...And get something. You want tea or coffee?”

"Coffe, thank you" he agreed eagerly, just realizing how hungry he was "And maybe some food..."

Krisz smirked as the girl told off her boss (or non-boss), and they were left alone, him still sitting and her picking up the books. Krisz made sure to hold on to the ones he needed.

"I'm sorry for destroying your precious collection of tween trash" he smirked, looking at the books "Um, I mean. Really, sorry. About the mess. I don't usually randomly appear. So, uh. Is that your power? Do you... make people tangible? Or, sound powers? Maybe?..."

"I'm sorry for destroying your precious collection of tween trash."

Allison did not manage to stop the short laugh that that comment demanded. “They’re no more precious to me than to you. Possibly less, since I have to count how many are bought, and how many brats come in here looking for nothing else.” She shrugged. “Technically, cleaning’s part of my job. I think, anyway. We don’t normally anticipate this sort of thing.”

She raised an eyebrow at the naked boy’s guessed, and paused in her book collection to sit back on her heels. “Nope. Certainly not that I know of, anyway. I do ink.” Dinosaurs, her mind put in. She forced it back quickly. Shut up, brain. A memory’s a memory. And irrelevant, too. “Manipulate ink, I mean.”

>> “They’re no more precious to me than to you. Possibly less, since I have to count how many are bought, and how many brats come in here looking for nothing else.”

"I apologize in humanity's name" Krisz said solemnly before he smiled again. At least she did not flip out and called him names for dissing her favorite books or something. The girl was all right so far.

>>“Technically, cleaning’s part of my job. I think, anyway. We don’t normally anticipate this sort of thing.”

"Nobody expects naked men to fall from the sky" he agreed "Not sane people, anyway. Only the ones who know me."

>>“Nope. Certainly not that I know of, anyway. I do ink... Manipulate ink, I mean.”

"Oh. That's... neat." he blinked "So... you are not the reason why I fell. That's... a little bit disturbing. I don't normally fall without... um, help. At least I have never done it before. I don't know for sure. Haven't been a mutant for that long."

The new kid returned with a bundle of clothes held close to her chest; she lingered at the end of the aisle, not really sure what she was supposed to do. Krisz noticed her first.

"Um... could you... maybe... coax the young lady into giving me those clothes?"

Allison rolled her eyes. “I’m beginning to think I should. I’ve been attacked by paper, seen someone turn into a dinosaur... you’re really the least weird thing that’s happened recently.”

“Not that I know of,” Allison repeated. “Mark’s not a mutant, doubt the new kid is, someone else here could be though.”

She leaned her head back to see the new kid hovering at the end of the aisle, and Mark off almost out of sight behind the sandwich case. She rolled her eyes as she turned and stood up, walking toward the girl whose eyes were once again attempting to get past the books that the naked boy had claimed for his protection. If those books could protect, anyway. She took the clothes (without even being too obviously annoyed), turned the girl around again and gave her another light push away. “Go back and help Mark.” She moved back over to the naked boy and held the clothes out. “By the way. D’you have a name?”

>> “I’m beginning to think I should. I’ve been attacked by paper, seen someone turn into a dinosaur... you’re really the least weird thing that’s happened recently.”

"That's good to hear" Krisz smirked "So, mutants come in here often?"

Also, shifting into a dinosaur? That was something incredibly fascinating.

>>“Not that I know of. Mark’s not a mutant, doubt the new kid is, someone else here could be though.”

"Could be" he agreed, glancing around. The fact that a naked man just fell onto a pile of books served wonderfully for emtying the shop; some people actually ran, others just kind of slipped away, avoiding the awkwardness. Display of mutant powers were usually more popular if they included something cool. Like explosions.

The girl was kind enough to fetch him the clothes.

>>“By the way. D’you have a name?”

"Of course" he nodded, then "Oh. Yeah. Almásy Krisztián. You can call me Krisz" he extended a hand to her "Nice to meet you..."

As nice as it could be.

Allison shrugged. “As often as anywhere else, I suppose. You can’t always tell. Although, neither of those happened here. One I was running, and the other I was at Office Max.”

“Krisz.” Allison almost got the pronunciation right. “Hopefully that’s good enough, I doubt I’d be able to do better. Never could manage anything to do with other languages well.” She held her hand out to shake his. “Allison,” she filled in, then, figuring that between the name and the accent English was probably not his first language so he was less likely to pick up the possible puns in it, added “Sinnocent, but I don’t use it much. Allison or Alli is fine. And it’s been... an interesting meeting, so far.”

>>“Krisz. Hopefully that’s good enough, I doubt I’d be able to do better. Never could manage anything to do with other languages well.”

"No that's perfect" he nodded with a smirk. So she was picking up on the accent. And the name. She did not ask, but she would, eventually. In his short experience, people couldn't place the accent by themselves.

>>“Allison Sinnocent, but I don’t use it much. Allison or Alli is fine. And it’s been... an interesting meeting, so far.”

"Interesting to meet you too, Alli" he shook her hand with a smile before he reached for the clothes. "Now you might want to... er, turn away, and make sure people don't wander this way for a while. All this vampire stuff, it can be quite dangerous. Makes people blind and all that."

Not to mention a guy trying to struggle into strange clothes, hoping they might fit. They looked like some kind of a uniform - either for the shop employees or for the cleaners, he couldn't quite decide. But they were clothes, at least.

Allison laughed as she stood. “Yes, very dangerous. I’ve heard it can even start making people like glitter. And sometimes disco balls.” She turned and went to the end of the aisle, blocking it as much as she could and aiming a death glare at the new kid, who was still sneaking “secret” looks in the naked boy’s direction. The girl visibly jumped and went back to helping Mark, who had a tray--since when did the store have trays? Allison wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to know where that had come from--with coffee, a sandwich, and some kind of cake sitting on it, waiting at the end of a counter while he attempted to get a customer’s coffee and teach the new kid how to make it at the same time.