Musty Books (Tag: Anyone)

Xion could spend all day at the book store if Zack would let her. Instead, he had walked with her there and said he would be back after getting groceries for the two of them. It was slightly annoying that she felt he didn't think she could pick out her own groceries. With him shopping they would end up with more microwave meals than actual unprocessed food simply because it was faster and easier to make. Xion browsed through a cook book, already committing the recipes to memory for later use.

Astrid has been heading right to the bookstore as soon as she had heard about it. Now walking forth and back, up and down, right and left everywhere around the store she felt like a little girl on christmas. So many new books! Not as much as helping for her studies probably but in here there surely at least were quite the cool new books and for now that was enough to get her oh so very excited.

Xion put the cookbook back. She felt bad about not buying anything but this was just an information dump for her. So she grabbed the next cook book. Between the shelves she could see a rather excited blond woman browsing through the multitudes of books. So she wasn't caught staring, Xion ducked her head and moved on to her next book.

Browsing through the books Astrid noticed a pretty pair of eyes staring at her though disappearing again quite soon. Feeling a bit strange though curious she thought it might be better to go after the owner of the nice pair of eyes so she went around the bookshelf and eventually just found her target. "Uhm hello there?" She said with a little smile as she got closer.

Xion jumped a little, clearly startled by being called out. She quietly closed the book and turned around to see who was speaking. She found herself staring at the blond from earlier. Why was it she was always caught when she stared but her brother could get away with it? She sighed to herself. "Hello," she greeted.

"Hmmm you kinda look familiar though I can´t recall to have seen you yet." Astrid said as she let two of her fingers wander over her chin. "Oh well I´m Astrid by the way." She said offering a hand of hers smiling.

"My name is Xion," she said quietly, as she took Astrid's hand and shook it. "We haven't met before... if that's what you're wondering. I'd remember if we had." She was used to her memory being better than everyone else's. So she was often reminding people of whether they had met before.

"Oh well I´m sure one day I shall know the reason of my feeling." She replied shrugging. "Anyways nice to meet you Xion. Quite a fellow booklover as well I assume?"

Xion nodded. "Yes, that's why I'm here," she confirmed. "And I'm waiting for my brother." She pulled her hand away and folded her arms across her chest, hoping the woman didn't pick up on her discomfort. She just wasn't good at socializing.

"I see." She replied scratching her cheek while frowning as she noticed the rather distant behavior of Xion. "Well uhm if you want to I could give you some company until your brother arrives but ... of course I can as well leave you alone if you want to."

"If you like." Xion said. "I can't really tell you what to do..." She looked down at her feet before gazing back up at Astrid. "Er, are there any books you were looking for in particular while you were here?"

"Er ... uhm ... yeah I know." She replied before starting to sweat a little about what to do now before Xion continued. "Hmm? Nah not really. I just love to browse through new books. Only few actually catch my interest but hey the hunt is nice though."

Xion blinked before looking at the books. She never randomly picked up a book. She always had a mission. Since Zack was looking to pick up food, she was already trying to figure out ways to make something with whatever he happened to get for her. "Anything interesting yet?" she asked.

"Well I found you." She joked as a try to easen the situation.

Xion's mouth worked silently for a few moments as her mind tried to process that. It sounded very much like something her brother would say. He would say many things to try and throw her off guard. "Er I don't count as a book," Xion said.

Astrid eventually got to chuckle. "Of course you don´t. Otherwise I fear I really should see a doctor if it´s the case I´m actually talking to a book."

Now that really was something her brother would say, down to even laughing at her own joke. It was a curious thing. Though she wasn't particularly sure how she was supposed to take that. "Luckily for you I'm not a book then," Xion said.

"Yeah." She replied before getting quiet again as she felt the awkwardness taking over again.

Xion sighed, since she had let things become awkward between the two of them. Taking a page out of the social habits of her brother, she offered Astrid her hand. "Do... you want to go to the cafe?" Xion asked. "Zack says that the hot chocolate is really good here."

Kinda unsure what to do Astrid just gave it a try to take Xions hand. "Uhm yeah sure, why not? ... Wait ... hold on, Zack is your brother? That´s why you look so familiar!"

"So... you've met Zack," Xion said. That made sense. Her brother got around and met lots of people, or so he said, he told her a lot of what he had gone to see and do. Sometimes he got so excited he forgot to tell her names as well but that was Zack for you. "Yeah, he's my brother."

"Yes, indeed I have. Wow I really could have known earlier." She said feeling quite embarressed. "Oh well anyways shall we go then?"

Xion shrugged. She let go of Astrid's hand. She turned on her heel, motioning for the older girl to follow her to the cafe within the shop and started to walk there. "It's okay." she said. "It's not like I'm all Zack talks about."

"Well still he did mention you." He remarked with a chuckle while following the younger one of them.

Xion shrugged. She paused to see if Astrid had kept up with her. "He likes to talk." she said. It was one of Zack's favorite things to do, along with flirting and being overly protective of her.