It wasn't particularly miserable as far as New York city went. The sun was out, the sky was that smog tinted blue, a mild breeze reminded them summer was not quite there yet. Still, Cafas was determined to spend it inside. With a book. He had gotten quite active and outdoorsy and kind of jock-ish, and he didn't like the fact that he couldn't recall the last book he'd read.

This place'll do.

Helmet under his arm, Cafas made his way into the shop. It was cozy enough, second hand books, which he liked both because they were cheaper and because the little messages in them, the coffee stains, yellowing, folds and tears told their own little story. Mostly the cheap thing though.

And yet, the girl at the counter.

She seemed... nice. Okay so he wasn't much concerned with her personality at that point. More the fact she was eerily familiar, and, well, he was a guy that liked girls. It wasn't like he was gonna do anything... or that he was having doubts on the Calley front. Nope, no doubts at all. Certainly none involving how messed up it was that he both clung to it for so long despite the trauma it had caused him, and that he kind of missed the pain now.

"Hey. How are ya? Have we met before? Because I swear I've seen you somewhere." Smile the broad Australian smile, to accompany the slightly tinted Australian accent. Fool proof, absolutely fool proof right? "So anything in stock you'd recommend? Preferably Fantasy, Action or, heck, anything. I just like reading."Australia, land of the friendly happy people who knew how to abuse their international image.

The bookstore was nostalgic, almost. A nostalgic that also included a degree of bitterness, cynicism, and humor all mixed in, but still nostalgic. And... lulling. Allison wasn’t sure that was a word, but it fit. It was easy enough to remember the smell of coffee and vanilla, sound of people talking, even the frequent (annoying) interruptions from the new kid (who, it seemed, still hadn’t gotten over her crush on Mark, or learned to be subtle about it) that technically wasn’t new anymore. It all blended into a not-actual-memory that was immensely helpful in forgetting... everything that had happened, recently.

It still, however, meant a significant amount of time spent stuck in one place without much to do, so Allison had her nose buried in a book when a voice spoke.

Huh. Those were unusual eyes. Allison might be making a few assumptions on the boy now that had nothing to do with the accent she couldn’t quite place without thinking about it more than she felt like bothering. She peered over the edge of the book she’d been reading. She waved a hand toward the back of the room, away from the door and tables and chairs and toward the crowded-together every-shelf-they-could-afford of books. “Well, if you’re interested in anything, there’s always that room over there.”

Sarcasm to customers was not proper behavior. Sarcasm to customers had the chance of making those customers unhappy. Allison was perfectly aware of the potential repercussions of sarcasm, but she couldn’t quite refrain. And anyway, her tone was more humorous than sarcastic.

...Still probably better not to seem too rude. She set down the book she’d been reading. “What have you read already?”

Rejected... ouch. Well no matter, keep up the charm and smiles, despite the flash of brown to the otherwise mostly bright green partially red eyes. She gazed off in the direction of the shelves for a second, he wasn't gonna take offense. He'd have probably said the same thing, in the wrong mood.

Was only a joke I guess...

The girl, however, seemed at least slightly inclined to engage in conversation, probably trying to save the potential sale. "Pretty much all of Tolkien, some of Orwell, most of Douglas Adams, that wizard one with the movies, bit of Matthew Reilly and John green, first of the Wheel of Time books, a few of those Star Wars X-wing books, and some others that I've long since forgotten." The smile continued, the tone was a charming mid point between flirty a friendly.

Calley would kill you right now. Not like he hasn't done his best before!

Cafas felt the door open, the cool breeze swept in, along with an inflated sense of self importance. He put the feeling aside, most of the executive types in New York had that feel to them, he figured it was someone in some middle to lower-upper management coming in to their 'Favourite quaint little place' or 'Not letting themself get carried away from where they started'. He was paying way more attention to the girl, leaning forward slightly and resting his arms on the counter in a way that always seemed to work in the movies. "But I'm really looking for something I can burn through in a few days."

“There’s Valdemar if you like escapism, Pern if you can tolerate a bit of outdated social structure--it’s an old series--Halfblood Chronicles maybe though I don’t know if the series will ever be finished... oh, and the Obsidian Trilogy. I’m not sure we have those.” Allison turned to the computer. It didn’t always have a perfectly updated list (never did, in fact), but it was a start that didn’t take her away from where she was supposed to be. “They sound like they’d fit with what you’ve read fairly well, though.”

The door opening was acknowledged with a glance before Allison looked back to the computer. “We probably don’t have Obsidian, not the first book anyway. Brightly Burning is from Valdemar but it can be standalone if you want to try the series.”

“Well, you could get through any of those in a few days. Especially the Valdemar ones. But... have you read Good Omens? We always have a few copies of that. Or Green--”

“Excuse me?”

Allison paused, raising her eyes to give the man who’d interrupted a skeptical look before answering. He was the one who’d just walked in, too. “...Yes?”

“Does an Allison... Innocent? work here?”

“Sinnocent is me. Why?”

The man’s eyes lit up. Allison leaned back. That... was kind of a terrifying expression.

Cafas did not, typically, like being interrupted, although there were noted exceptions to that rule. This was not one of them. He had been flirting with Allison Sinnocent first damn it! Self important bastard could wait his damned turn. Cafas turned to face the man, with a glare that could melt steel (were it to touch his eyes) and... was interrupted by him once more.

"My studio has been looking for you ms Sinnocent. You are the girl on the cover of the 'Dusk' novel correct?"

The man held up the book to emphasise his point. Cafas nearly choked. Apparently she as taken. He might have to lay off the flirting thing. He tried to hide his surprise,although it didn't seem anyone was paying him any attention anyway. He stayed to see how it would pan out. "I knew I'd seen you somewhere..." Though maybe admitting to having even seen the book was a bad idea, what with the teenage girls crooning over it on the internet.

Well if you're too stupid to shut your mouth this is what you get.

The man ignored Cafas some more and continued.

"We would like for you to feature in the movie we are producing, we believe the fans would love you in the role."

Now, Cafas Johnson wasn't one to normally be putting himself in the public eye on purpose, nor was he one who particularly LIKED public attention, so what happened next he could only explain as a severe case of Smart assery gone wrong. He felt his mouth open, and his vocal chords getting to work on making sound, and the entire time his brain was screaming to stop, but he did not. "Oh, I see, so you had to rudely interrupt our conversation because you couldn't let me walk away because you want me so badly as the co-star right? Sure, I accept your offer!"

Now, this was all well and good on its own, nothing but harmless sarcastic rudeness to accompany the narcissistic jerks interruption, however, what followed nearly knocked Cafas to the floor.

"Fine, I suppose you have the attitude, and you certainly have the body and looks we're going for, now, Allison, can I call you Allison, what do you say?"

“Dusk novel?” Allison repeated blankly. She halfway remembered a novel called Dusk… six or seven, in fact. Sometimes she really wanted to just shake half the authors in existence and demand that they think of creative titles for once, instead of constantly using common, too-often-used-to-be-symbolic nouns. And adjectives, the adjectives were nearly as bad. She did not, however, recall any novel, badly named or not, that she was on the cover of.

Not recalling it didn’t mean she wasn’t, apparently, as the man held up a book that did indeed seem to have her and… Drew, if she remembered right, on the cover. Where had that picture come from? She didn’t remember anyone being there. Maybe no one had? All kinds of mutations existed, maybe someone could create some kind of invisible light tunnel to take pictures far away….

And the boy recognized it, apparently. Allison wasn’t sure if that was confusing, flattering, surprising or vaguely creepy. Any attempts at determining which it was were abruptly killed off as the man invited her to be in a movie. Allison’s mind stopped, restarted, and flew into a chaos of half-formed counterthoughts as the boy responded and the man agreed that he could co-star.

Are you insane?

Have no training-not significant-was a few plays-only when I was young--always been learning to hide and fake that could be enough-can’t fail-can’t risk it-ought to take risks-can’t win without them-not something I want-could be useful-publicity-how many mutant celebrities are there?-don’t want pity-might be the most useful anyway-may not be pitied-could make it happen-shouldn’t-don’t have any other way to make a difference-can decide what to do with it later-don’t want to deal with parents-they may not notice-most movies aren’t phenomena-not their type anyway-could be someone’s kids who know me-have I said they disappeared yet?-wouldn’t want it known-ought to tell everyone just for that-wouldn’t ever get the company then-need the resources-could get the resources this way.

Allison stared blankly between the man and the boy for a moment as her mind chased itself, then blinked as her thoughts finally became clear enough to respond. She ignored the question on her name; he seemed determined to call her Allison anyway. “Depends. What’d you pay me for it?”

The man smiled, in a way that might have been charming if he hadn’t been trying so hard. “It’s not particularly set yet, but somewhere around two or three million would be my guess.”

Allison had not known actors earned that much. Well known, famous, celebrity actors, yes, but totally unknown technically-not-yet-an-actors? That was a surprise. “Uh. Okay then.”

Cafas' jaw nearly hit the floor. That was a stupid amount of money. It was more than he could honestly imagine, and he had a fairly successful business going. The girl agreed too. No surprise there, not many people turned down that sort of money (and those that did, had more than that.)

The man said something, Cafas didn't catch it, he imagined he might just have dollars signs in his eyes. He was sure it wasn't important, whatever the man had said, though he did find a date, time and address in his hands. The man congratulated both of them, and left.

Well that was just plain odd.

He turned to the girl. "I worry for the state of the world sometimes." He knew people that did far more important jobs for a pittance compared to what the man had offered this Allison girl. It was a great opportunity for the both of them, but jeez, that was a ton of cash.

Perking up, he decided to enjoy this moment. He raced to the helves, grabbed a book by an author he didn't recognise, it looked like it was one of those proper adult fiction books. He put it on the counter, forked over the amount on the sticker and smiled.

"Well it seems we will be working together. It's a pleasure to meet you, and, please, keep the change." It had been a fifty. Cafas felt it was now a very good time to pump obnoxious amounts of fuel fumes into the New York air, maybe he'd head upstate, get out of the City. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I feel a need to celebrate."

The man clapped his hands happily. Allison hadn’t known people actually did that. “Great!” A pocket produced business cards and a pen, and he continued as he wrote on them, then handed them to Allison and… she probably ought to learn the boy’s name soon. “I’ll arrange for a meeting, say next Friday at lunch, where we can go over the details and confirm everything.” And hadn’t Allison heard that phrase before. She hated lunch meetings. Though maybe it’d be slightly more interesting… if also more stressful… if she was actually involved instead of just being someone’s decoration. Either way they were inevitable, though, so she accepted the card with the address, time, and the man’s name.

She nodded as she slid the card into her pocket. “I used to, but it turned out to be way too much stress.” Her answer seemed to be lost as the boy ran over to the shelves, putting no apparent thought into his choice. Oh well, if he was as interested in reading as he claimed, he’d probably enjoy it anyway.

“Celebrate or despair. Either seems appropriate.” Allsion waved as the boy left, though she wasn’t sure he saw her then either.