InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "WHERE ARE THE CHEETOS??"

Morgan (morgancorner) wrote in tinworth,
@ 2009-10-22 00:56:00

Entry tags:

character: miles bletchley, character: morgan corner, character: sarah fawcett, date: october 2003, place: m: london

Characters: Morgan/Sarah/Miles
Locale: Camden Market, London
Date: 21 October 2009
Warnings? None yet!

There was something about the fall that just encouraged Morgan to buy new books,

Perhaps it was the crisp fall air, or maybe just all those years of buying school books at this time of year had conditioned her to want to wander through a book store. In any case she was here now with Sarah. Camden Market. Her favourite little book store was here. It was a tiny little place that was crammed to the rafters with a seemingly endless selection of used and rare books. It was a hidden gem and her favourite store in all of London. She was eager to share it with her friend. Sarah seemed to understand Morgan's affinity for the written word, so Morgan was certain she'd enjoy it as well.

"Here it is," Morgan said with a grin as she opened the shop door. Stepping inside out of the cool breeze, she took a deep breath. The slighty musty scent reminded her of the library at Hogwarts. "You're going to love this place, Sarah."

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romancandles
2009-10-22 05:30 am UTC (link)

If there was one place in the world in which Miles felt completely comfortable in his own skin, it was the book shop. His book shop, as he liked to think of it, despite the fact that he was merely a part-timer here and had to work a day job to pay the bills. Had he been able to, he likely would have holed up within its walls forever with a nest of dusty books and allowed the rest of the world to just fade away within his mind. Some might have suggested that muggle London was no place for a wizard, but as Miles likely would have argued, oftentimes magical London was no place for a wizard with muggle interests. Or blood, for that matter. At least here people didn't ask a lot of personal questions.

He was up at the top of a ladder re-shelving a set of old leatherbound volumes of Shakespeare when the bell above the shop door rang. Miles gave Timon of Athens one final shove into place then hopped down the ladder several rungs at a time. At first, the only one he spotted was Morgan, a regular; he occasionally spotted her around town when he ventured out of the cousin's house he was staying at. Generally, he liked to keep to himself around Tinworth, but Camden was another place entirely. He greeted her with a small salute and a "Hullo! How goes it?" as he made his way over to the counter to fetch another volume.

It was at this point that he spotted Sarah, and stopped in his tracks like a bird that had just seen a cat crouching in the grass.

"Um," he said awkwardly, then decided to pretend that he hadn't seen her at all. He grabbed a 1901 copy of Much Ado About Nothing and back up the ladder he scurried.

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stitchcraft
2009-10-24 06:15 am UTC (link)

Sarah trailed down the sunlit sidewalk after Morgan, quirking a smile at her friend's excitement. She'd been glad when Morgan had suggested heading off to poke about in a bookshop for the afternoon. Sarah had the rare day off from the shop and hadn't had anything particular planned, so Morgan had saved her from an afternoon of sitting in her sewing room obsessing over the stitch patterns on the new set of robes she was designing.

It being a Muggle bookshop had been a delightful surprise, as it meant Sarah likely hadn't been there before. She was eager to see what new-old treasures she could dig up. She needed a new book. It didn't matter that she had half a dozen or so piled in a stack next to her bed...she always needed a new book.

She'd barely had time to admire the dizzying array of books and breathe in the delightfully musty smell before the shop clerk approached them. Tearing her attention away from a well-worn copy of The Scarlet Pimpernel, she looked up when he spoke.

And then she couldn't breathe.

She stared at a face she hadn't seen for about three and a half years. A face she'd last encountered across a scarred table under murky lamplight in a seedy back alley pub. A face she never expected to see again.

He stuttered at her, and she wasn't any more eloquent.

"Erm..."

She was still contemplating what in the world to say to Miles Bletchley of all people, when he turned and hurried away. She glanced at Morgan, hoping the moment hadn't been as noticeable as it had felt.

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morgancorner
2009-10-24 07:18 am UTC (link)

'Well, that was odd... for both of them.' Morgan thought as she glanced from Miles to Sarah with her brow arched slightly.

"Hullo Miles, I thought I'd bring Sarah here to the best kept secret in all of London." She said with a warm smile as she stepped further into the store. The man was already up the ladder again. Miles Bletchley was not what you'd call a chatty fellow but he'd never been one to blatantly dismiss her or any customer that she'd seen.

Morgan turned to look at Sarah who, to be honest, looked a little shell shocked. She decided that this wasn't the place to discuss the strange behaviour so instead of questioning her friend Morgan decided to play dumb.

Moving toward a cluttered bookshelf near the front window of the shop, she immediately plucked a copy of the latest Dan Brown thriller from the shelf. It was in good shape and she hadn't read it. Then she grinned as she pulled out the book that rest on the shelf next to it. Charlotte Bronte. This is exactly why she loved bookstores like this one.

"Sarah, you'll love it here." She held up her two finds to show her friend. "Honestly, they have almost anything you can think of. And if they don't have it, just chat with Miles here. He's brilliant and procuring any book I've ever asked of him." Morgan tossed a cheeky grin up the ladder at the man in question.

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stitchcraft
2009-10-24 06:22 pm UTC (link)

Sarah didn't quite know which way to turn, so she lingered near the shelf she'd been perusing and tried to pull herself together. She had the most absurd impulse to blurt out something like "my Mum's fine!", or worse, do something totally inappropriate...like hug the little wanker.

The end of Morgan's words penetrated the fog in Sarah's brain, and she smiled at her friend. "I'll bet he is," she said warmly.

Getting hard-to-find things seems to be his specialty.

"Oi!" She called up the ladder, "was that Shakespeare I saw you with? D'you have The Winter's Tale anywhere? I've been looking for a vintage copy..."

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romancandles
2009-10-26 09:19 pm UTC (link)

Miles half-turned on the ladder to look down at Morgan as she spoke, carefully alphabetising his volume without so much as glancing at the shelf as he did so.

"Can't be that well-kept of a secret if people always find it anyways, can it?" he said with an attempt at a cheerful grin, though his eyes flickered from Morgan to her friend and back again. Really, he should not have been that surprised. After all the people he'd encountered over the years, it was only a matter of time before he crossed paths with most of them again. Still, that didn't make situations like this any less awkward - what did you say to folks you'd last spoken to under fairly questionable circumstances?

He laughed nervously at her assertions that he could find anything, book-wise - how painfully appropos. Miles was surprised and admittedly a little relieved when Sarah was the first one to try to break that ice.

"That depends - are you looking for leatherbound, hardcover, or paperback? 1901, 1922, 1923, 1947, 1953, or something a little less vintage than that?" he asked, glad to talk about anything that wasn't forgery. He selected two volumes of varying colours and sizes from his top shelf and slid down the ladder with the books in hand.

"1922 and 23 would be my personal picks, but that's just me." he said, blowing off the dust from their covers before offering them to Sarah.

"What about you, Morgan? Vintage today or something more current?"

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stitchcraft
2009-10-26 11:26 pm UTC (link)

Sarah smirked fleetingly at his retort to Morgan. Still a smart arse, I see. Ah well, I should've expected as much. He was extremely knowledgeable about the book choices, and alarmingly animated...she didn't think she'd ever seen him this upbeat about anything. Admittedly, it's not like we met under the best circumstances the last time...but still, it's odd.

He didn't seem to have caught her hint, so she tried another angle.

"Can I see both please? I'd like to compare the texts." She took both volumes from him, a gut feeling that she'd be taking both of them home forming in the pit of her stomach. She flipped open the cover of the 1923 and began scanning the verse. Without looking up, she spoke again. "A lot of people don't care for this play, you know, but it's always been one of my favorites...I like that Hermione's actually alive at the end. Despite the oddness of the thing with the statue. It's good that Perdita gets a chance to know her mother. Especially since her brother died."

She flicked a glance at Miles, and quickly returned to the books, flipping open the other copy and comparing some of the text. He'd have to be thick to miss that...and whatever else he may be, thick isn't on the list.

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