How Many is Too Many? [Mina]

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Riku had always loved reading, while he may have been a Hufflepuff - he was rarely seen at school without a book nearby or in his hands. Of course - his choices in books were more of the fun variety and less of the more educational type, that didn't mean he didn't just buy a book to learn something, he had many of those as well that weren't school books. But he still loved to read and his mother was happy for that, so while his brother rushed off to the Quidditch store, Riku instead made his way into Florish and Blott's eager to find something new despite still having a small stack of books he still needed to finish reading - did that really mean he couldn't get another one? Or maybe two... yes at least two sounded like a good number.

But as he wandered around, looking eagerly through a few books that were apparently 'New' he found himself wishing he had asked for maybe a few more Galleons to spend, already he had three books in his arms that he knew he just had to get. And he hadn't even checked out any of the other books nearby. This always seemed to happen when he came in here on his own.

He was about to turn around, debating if he should maybe check out some of the other books before he did run out of money when he stumbled, tripping over his shoe lace and bumping into someone. The books he had been holding in his arms dropping on the floor with a loud 'thump' .

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@riku

School was out and business was booming. Or it was supposed to be. All signs had pointed to ‘yes’ over the last few days, but today was apparently the exception. Mina didn’t mind. A breath of air after being busy so many days in a row was a relief. This wouldn’t happen again until school started back up. She would definitely take a respite when it was offered. It just so happened that today’s short break perfectly aligned with her lunch break, so that was absolutely wonderful in her opinion. Breaking out the sandwich she had snagged from home before leaving for work (unsure if it belonged to her or Callisto, not that it really mattered since it was hers now), Mina had the sandwich halfway to her mouth when the door to the bookstore opened with a jangle. She almost swore out loud, as she set her sandwich back on the shelf under the cash register, giving it one last, longing look at it before switching her gaze to the young boy that had just stumbled in. That was great. Now she had to babysit a kid that was all on his own. All she wanted to do was eat her damn sandwich!

The boy seemed to have an idea of where he was going, and Mina let him without saying anything. If he was out of eyesight, that meant she could continue with her lunch. At least then she would have some food in her stomach and not be as hangry as she was right now. She snatched the sandwich up from where she had set it down and immediately dug in. The first bite was glorious as she munched on it happily. She was going to take her time with this one. Callisto had definitely made it for herself, because there was no way her sister would make a sandwich this good for her lunch. She swallowed the first bite and took a second, even larger chomp at it, managing to get to the halfway mark – the point where she had to press down on the bread to keep some of the contents within from spilling out.

Happy with how much food she had stuffed her face with, Mina wrapped the sandwich back up and spun around on her chair to face the direction that the little boy had gone. Eventually she was going to have to check up on him to make sure he was still alive. Some books were known to eat small children, though typically those were only on the highest shelf. That didn’t mean they were immune to pranksters placing them elsewhere and within reach of the unwary. Wiping a few crumbs off of her face, Mina slid down her chair until her feet hit the ground. There weren’t any screams coming from the kid’s direction, so that probably meant he was still alive. That didn’t mean he was necessarily behaving though. The quiet ones were always the most dangerous after all.

Walking down the end of some of the aisles, Mina peered one by one to see if the boy was in sight. The first few seemed to be void of life, and she was starting to get frustrated that she couldn’t find him. The next row proved to be the winner though. She hadn’t even made it all the way across when she saw him just standing there. Shrugging to herself, Mina approached, hoping to be able to help him if he needed it. Before she could open her mouth to say so, he had turned around and was subsequently following into her. Mina instinctively stuck her hands out to catch him, watching the books hit the floor. Being around Sarah’s toddler had proved beneficial after all. Mina never would have guessed. “All right?” she asked as she tried to steady him back to his feet.

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Riku was always careful, at least usually - particularly when he was out somewhere or shopping. He was careful not to break anything and he was careful to respect others - he had been raised that way and Riku was rarely one to not follow rules and things that were set in front of him. So being on his own while out shopping wasn't too much of a new thing, his mother new he'd be careful and new that he would behave himself - particularly in a book store where he loved those places almost more than he enjoyed being at home. For Riku spending at day in a book store, well it was many times better than if he'd be given a ticket to some kind of amusement part.

He knew where he was going and what he wanted to look at, so as his eyes land on the woman trying to eat her lunch he decided to just do his own thing, being careful as he found the books he had wanted to look at easily enough. He was careful to avoid the books that he knew he shouldn't touch, instead looking at a few books he knew he was going to need to get closer to the end of break - he was excited for his fourth year at Hogwarts to begin, although the events of the end of the past year were still weighing heavy in his mind. He carefully held the few books that he knew he was going to buy and take home with him, with his free hand his fingers gently brushed against the spine of a few other books. He had always enjoyed the quiet and the calm that was often in these stores.

Unlike others, book stores tended to be calmer - at least except for the days when basically everyone went shopping for school supplies at least. So he was feeling far better than when he had entered the shop, his mind actually calmer for the first time in over a week it seemed, at least until he ended up almost falling on his backside and ended up dropping his books - the books landing the floor loudly as the woman who had been eating her lunch managed to save him from his own impact to the ground. "I-I'm so sorry. I'm okay, are you alright?" His eyes widened as he stood back up himself, kneeling down to pick up the books he had been holding, making sure they weren't damaged - even if he was planning on buying them, the idea of his new books being damaged was a sobering one. "I was lost in thought I guess." 

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@riku

Mina wasn’t sure why she kept processing her customer as a little boy; he definitely looked young, maybe a fifth year at the oldest, but he was also about as tall as she was. According to muggle statistics, she was a big one. But this kid was tall and still a child. She wasn’t a fan of the little guys being close to her in height. Kind of killed the whole power play she had, especially when she had been in school. It also made balancing the boy back to his feet rather difficult on her end. While he recovered perfectly fine, Mina struggled for the few seconds that she had ahold of him. She should have been used to holding onto things, seeing as her Akita was already pushing its max weight of fifty kilograms. Putting poor Titania on a diet wouldn’t work either, because that meant getting the dog to listen, and Mina was practically done with attempting that until the furball mellowed out. Regardless, she realized that her limits of lifting things started and ended with big dogs, and not much more than that. Gravity never helped either.

The boy began to apologize as he picked up the books he had dropped. Mina watched him as he looked each one over. If that was for damage, she wasn’t exactly fussed. Spells could fix that, and they were bound to get worn looking eventually. The saddest book was one that had never been cracked open, in her opinion. Mina bent down and picked up one of the books that had landed closer to her, flipping it over to read the cover. It didn’t look like a school book, but she wasn’t exactly sure what they did use for class these days. Then again, she rarely used them when she was there. Working at the bookstore was the closest she had ever gotten to actually opening a textbook. “Accidents happen,” Mina stated as she finished reading the back cover of the book, before holding it out for the boy to take. “Do you need help finding anything else? It looks like you have quite the collection already though…”

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Riku tried to give a small smile, but his nervousness showed through. He felt clumsy and awkward - it wasn't really a great mix at all for him as he began to fidget as soon as he was steady on his own feet again, he was stumbling his apologies now though, trying to gather up the books he had dropped. Magic or not, he felt horrible at the thought of any of them ending up damaged because of his clumsiness. He loved new books, and old books even - the older books though had more than just the stories within their covers. His love for books and learning often confused people a bit, he was a Hufflepuff - it was Ryoma who was the Ravenclaw. But it didn't change anything about who he was, he was certainly a Hufflepuff at his heart. As he heard the woman speaking again he offered another smile, nodidng his head slightly before carefully taking the offered book back, carefully still placing it back into a pile that he carefully lifted. 

"Nothing in particular - I was just looking for some new reading material for over the break. I.. I enjoy reading." He gave a small shrug, being careful of the books before he looked up quickly again, "Maybe - I mean, do you have any recomendations? You work here, so.. you probably know some great books that you could suggestion." His eyes lit up as he spoke, if there was one thing he enjoyed more than writing - it was reading that was for certain.

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@riku

He took the book from her and added it to the rest that he had collected from the floor. Mina knew that she would have been lazy and used magic to pick them up, unfortunately that had become a force of habit while working in the store. She absolutely loathed using it at home to clean, but that was also because she was being forced to clean by Callisto. That couldn’t happen here though, and doing her job was required if she wanted to continue having a job. She doubted Ursula would can her if she didn’t pick a book up the second a customer put it down, because that was the magic of a book store. No pun intended. Having everything neat and orderly was great from an employee standpoint because she knew where everything was – but having stacks of books at the end of aisles also allowed for exploration of materials that normally wouldn’t be found in that section. It was a marketing ploy obviously, and trying to get customers to buy more books was the name of the game. This boy was looking like the poster-child for that right about now. He had all sorts of books, and he took her bait to help him find whatever else he needed. Mina knew she should feel horrible about exploiting a child in this manner, but business was business, and a happy customer was what they needed at the end of the day.

She listened to him as he said he was picking up new books for over the break, and how much he enjoyed reading and was looking for her recommendations. That was a lot to unpack at once. Considering the books he already had, she could tell that this could go in any direction. “I have plenty of recommendations,” Mina started. “But is there anything in particular you’re looking for? Like something for school? Light reading? A mystery? That way I have an idea of where to start.”

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Riku's hands were careful when moving the books around, as if he was holding something previous and far more easily breakable than a bunch of books, there was a hint of a smile as he gently pat the book cover before looking back at Mina with curious eyes. For Riku this was simply someone willing to help him out, to help him find something more interesting to read over the break and he was never one to turn down the chance at finding something new to learn and to read. He already had a small stack of books, each of varying background and different things to read - but his lips pressed together, his nose scrunching slightly in thought as he took in her questions. It was a little harder for him to actually find the answers.

"Well - not really. I have stuff for school already - maybe something light, a mystery or something is always fun and.. " He paused, looking at the selection he had already, each of them was something different - although two were based on animals of some kind, which wasn't a huge surprise as he was trying to talk his mother into allowing him to have a pet of his own, "I don't have anything just to read for fun or something yet. Most of what I have will teach me something or another. So - maybe we can start there?" His eyes lit up as he looked at her again, a wide happy smile on his face.

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@riku

It seemed to her like it was taking the boy a while to decide exactly what he wanted her to help him find. That would make sense considering the books he already had in his hands. These kinds of customers were her favorite, because they could literally be hooked with anything she offered up as a semi-decent book. Obviously she wanted them to enjoy the time they spent reading as well as giving the book some value for what they paid. Getting them to come back was the number one reason to give options though, and this boy was definitely giving off the vibes of being a bookworm. Reminded her a little bit of Callisto when they were younger. Her sister was always so studious…now she was just bossy and drank wine while she was home. And everyone thought Mina was the alcoholic of the family…

The boy explained that he already had his school things and educational books as well. The ones he was talking about had to be the animal books she could see in his hands. So cute. Learning about animals. Little kids were great sometimes. Mina nodded her head along as he listed off what he was probably going to be looking for next and motioned for him to follow her. “So there are a few mystery books over here that might be good for you,” she said as she started towards the fiction section. “How old are you? I don’t think I caught your age. I wish it didn’t matter, but it’ll help with picking something at your level.” She wished she didn’t have to say that sometimes. Unfortunately wizard authors were known to be incredibly complicated in their writings, and handing off something even she wouldn’t understand to a young boy was irresponsible on her part. She wanted him to have fun at the end of the day, and there were plenty of books that would do just that. She even had a few from a certain author in mind already.

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The thought crossed his mind that he was likely taking up her time. Sure she was acting nice and it was perhaps her job - but the last thing he wanted was to be a bother - so he'd try his best to find what he wanted and then leave as quickly as he could. That way he got what he wanted and she wouldn't have to be stuck helping him for too long. He gave a faint nod at his own words, his hand tracing over the cover of the book on the top of his growing pile that he held in his arms. Riku shifted slightly offering a small smile as she gestured that he should follow her, his eyes lighting up slightly at the mention of the mystery books. It'd be nice to have something new to read just for fun and entertainment.

At the question on his age his face scrunched slightly, he really hated that question, "Fourteen." He spoke the number carefully, glancing at her to see if his age surprised her or not - sometimes it did, people at times thought he was younger and sometimes they were just surprised he was that young - although that one was a little more rare. "Does that change what you had in mind?" Riku asked a little curious if he was honest with himself. He had been known to understand things a little above his year at times, but like most kids - there were still things that were above his understanding and he got that, he did really. He still remembered trying to read a book or two at school that were meant for sixth and seventh years. He really wasn't looking forward to his NEWTs when they happened but hopefully by that time he'd actually understand more of what had been in that book. 

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@riku

Mina’s eyes widened as the boy said he was fourteen. She had known he was young, but the height had been throwing her off: she was only a little taller than he was, and that was at the wonderfully young age of twenty, not to mention she was considered considerably tall for women in the UK. Mina liked not being a statistic in all aspects of her life. She was already one in the ‘not going to make it anywhere after graduation’ category. That asterisk aside her name was always burning hotly whenever a former classmate and commented on how they hadn’t seen her in forever. Back to the boy though, Mina took a second to snap out of her stunned look to hear him ask if that changed what she had been thinking about. “No, not at all. Most of our fantasy and mystery books are in the same area, regardless of age.” What it did change though, was which part of the section she would be focused on. The last thing she needed was to have an angry mum yelling at her for selling her precious son a murder mystery or adult romance book. Long story short, she didn’t want that happening again. She continued walking in the same direction, only stopping in what she considered to be the young teenager section. Moving her arms to show which parts of the bookshelf contained things of his caliber, Mina explained in further detail. “These are probably the ones that would best suit you in terms of reading difficult. Mysteries are over there,” she pointed towards one end, “and anything fantasy or fiction related are close to right here,” her hand moved to the shelf directly in front of them. “Unfortunately we don’t have much science fiction because our kind don’t really believe in all that. But I do know of quite a few muggle bookstores that have fun scifi books I could recommend you that your parents could take you to.”

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Perhaps it was something along his genetic lines, but it wasn't too much of a surprise when he saw the woman's eyes widening as he spoke of how old he was. It was an extremely rare thing for someone to mistake him as younger than his actual age - usually it was at the very least a year older than his fourteen years. He offered a small smile, waiting for her before he nodded - happy to hear that it hadn't changed what she had in mind, "That's great." he visibly perked up, following her as she continued walking, his eyes darting around the shelves - reading off a few titles along the books they passed, he was slightly distracted but managed to stop before bumping into her or something else.

When she spoke he listened eagerly, already his eyes drifting to the ones she showed him, fingers trailing over the spines of the books - already eyeing at least two books on the first shelf that he knew he was going to have to look at and consider buying, as he looked back up at Mina to nod slightly, "I'd appreciate that, for now though I think I will see what I can find here - I don't think my Mother would enjoy me bringing home a shop full of books only to ask to head to another store for even more." He grinned as he spoke. To some people it was a huge surprise how much the Hufflepuff actually read - often expecting it to be his twin to be the bigger reader purely because of the houses they had been sorted into. 

[mina pandora oliveira ]

[mina pandora oliveira]

@riku

Mina listened as the boy said he was appreciative of the offer for muggle bookstore recommendations, but that his mother wouldn’t like if he came back with a ton, only to want to get more. She understood that – books cost money, and not everyone had muggle money at that. The only reason she ever had muggle money, was because that was the price of alcohol. It was totally messed up that she was thinking of all this while helping a little kid find books. The other reason his mother might not want him going to a muggle book store was that she could have been one of those parents. The kind that hated and rejected their non-magical friends, and was disgusted at the thought of coexisting with them. Mina needed her muggles though. They were the ones that let her be who she wanted to be, since none of her family seemed to like her habits. Then again, the muggles were also the ones reinforcing those same things, and getting away from them would definitely mean more money to her at the end of the day.

“Well, if your mum isn’t happy with how many you bring back, she’ll have to get used to it,” Mina smiled at him. “And our fiction books aren’t all that expensive. It’s those pesky required school books that cost an arm and a leg.” The same ones that had always had it out for her while she was in school. Any of the ones that didn’t need a new copy each year were hand-me downs from her older siblings, and Merlin were they used. Especially after going through Callisto’s hands. She distinctly remembered seeing them prior to her sister handling them, and they were never as worn down as they were by the time they got passed on. Her youngest sister was lucky that she was a few years behind the rest of them, and therefore could get all new books every year. “I’ll be back at the front if you have any more questions, or are ready to check out. Okay?” Mina stated before heading back towards the front of the store, mostly to give the little guy some space to pick what books he wanted. Today was going to be a great sale. She could practically smell it.

[Deleted]

Riku actually gave a small laugh, quickly grinning at the woman at her words, "Maybe, but I don't think she'd like me to say that too her..." he shook his head a little, of course he never would - Riku adored his mother, "That's true.. my school books usually cost way more.. its a little harder though as my brother requires the same books each year. Sometimes it'd be easier if the school let us share at least some of our books." It would have been a lot easier on their mother - to just buy one of each required text book each year, but - the school wished for each student to have their own copy. 

He offered another smile, nodding his head quickly, "Of course - thank you for your help." His eyes were already focused on the shelves, eagerly glancing over the titles and a light hand brushing against the spines of the books, he had to limit himself - expensive or not, he couldn't get a bunch of books - how would he read them all before school started up again? His mother would shake her head though, she wouldn't be mad at him - just probably ask him where he'd be keeping them all. He was running low on his shelf space as of now, he hated getting rid of book even if he had already read them. It felt wrong to get rid of them.

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@riku

Mina couldn’t help but think that the boy was a little too obedient towards his mother, but that was probably because at his age (and that was assuming he was a younger student, which by the looks of it, he was), she had already been threatened to be kicked out of Hogwarts for her grades and attitude problems. But that hadn’t been entirely her fault to begin with, she just needed ‘the guidance’ or whatever it was the professors and her parents were always going on about. It worked out in the end once they stopped babying her and trying to force her down a singular path. They should have known from the beginning that doing that didn’t always work for every child. “That’s just the school being stuffy as usual,” she stated, trying not to roll her eyes in front of the kid. Always placing requirements up without thinking about the financial situations of the students and their families. Of course they had plans installed for those that really did need help, but they were still required to buy books, regardless of whether or not they were new or used.

After nodding at his thanks for helping out, Mina hurriedly walked back towards her counter near the front of the store. Her sandwich was still there, half-eaten and begging her to finish it before another customer interrupted. She was sure the boy would spend a few more minutes looking at things on the shelves before making his way back towards her. She could tell by the considerable stack he had already collected that he was the inquisitive sort, interested in everything. Greedily reaching under her counter, she snatched up her sandwich and took a satisfying bite, sitting her butt back down on her chair as she did so. All she needed was a few minutes of peace and quiet to eat the rest. Whether that came before or after the boy checked out, though, was something she was going to be finding out soon.