Maybe it's just because it was such a bright and beautiful day, maybe it was the smell of my floral tea, but my first day felt like a huge hit. There were so many customers - paying customers! But that meant it was really busy all day, it took me longer than expected to set up the display shelves in the front. People kept coming in and the entrance is so narrow, I almost booty-bumped them a few times - that would have been bad, ha! I settled on an adventure theme, with a little bit of both fiction and non-fiction, since this whole thing is a bit of an adventure for me, and I felt like the animalfolk of Roost would appreciate that sort of thing. I may have dropped a romance and a few summoning books in there; I think those both count as types of adventures for sure. I think the exciting covers might have been what brought this adorable trio of fox kits in to the shop today. I helped them find some children's books to read and they actually bought a few. It was so cute watching them put together their pocket change to purchase a nice illustrated anthology of fairytales, "for their mom to read at bedtime," they said.
The people of Roost are so interesting, though! Everyone here is a traveller of some sort - though where they go off to in Brimming and Brisk, they'll never say - but this Heron I met today was full of travel stories. They came in looking for a book of poetry and we got caught up talking about different poetry styles along the river and deeper in-land. They said, "the way children speak, that's an underappreciated poetry. They don't know enough words to hide their raw reception of reality." All I could think about was the little trio of kits I met earlier who'd giggled over the word "Uranus" in a picture atlas for a good few minutes. The more I sit with it, I think I understand what they mean though; most of the poems I like feel a bit like a mystery unfolding to me. When I was a kid, I didn't like them much at all because they felt too close to riddles - like, what are you talking about! But now, that's exactly what keeps me thinking and rereading: "what did they mean here? And by this?" The rhythm of the verses send feelings through me, though I'm not sure what until I stop buzzing and just sit.
I read her Break, Break, Break by Lord Alfred Tennyson, and she nodded solemnly, but waved off the anthology and softly said "another time. I want to think less of the sea for now." She stared at me for a long moment with a faraway gaze, then offered me a tarot reading. She showed me her deck, the backs a beautiful vibrant purple with gold embossed borders and spiralling floral patterns. She was quite mystical about it too, it felt like even the plants leaned in to listen. "Six of Wands, Queen of Pentacles, The Hierophant," her airy voice felt hard to hold onto. She said something about past victories and feelings of accomplishment, a current mindset toward cultivating long-term stability and nurturance - of the self, others, and my resources -, and a future in which others look up to me as a respected and knowledgeable person. I mean, I am the only bookshop owner on the river, it's kind of obvious in a way. I don't know enough about tarot to know if she was messing with me or not, but maybe I'll ask her to teach me some more if she comes in again. She ended up leaving with a historical fiction book about ninja vampires. She said her name is Meri and she considers herself as permanent a resident as Roost can have, so I think I'll probably run into her again.
Speaking of characters, the guy that came up to the counter while I was ringing up Meri's purchase! I don't even know if it was a guy, actually. They were covered from head to toe in a long black cloak, hood up. The Brink chill is still thick in the air, but today was quite sunny with basically no wind. Also, there's definitely no wind in my shop! I think it just creeped me out that I never even saw them come in. They didn't even say a word while I rang up their books, just dropped exact change on the counter and walked out. Creepy. They bought a bunch of true crime novels too.
Things didn't slow down all day. The store ended up jam-packed with people mosing about, this one squirrel kept tickling a few people (me included) in the face with his tail and didn't even seem to notice. I probably would have been in a better mood about it if a snake hadn't come in to try to sell me an industrial blast freezer. What would I do with a blast freezer?! She would not take no for an answer, though, and just kept hounding me. Absolutely no interest in buying anything though, of course. She said she was nearly blind... So get out of my store? And every time I managed to get away from her, this young couple kept blocking and boxing me into the aisles, and the squirrel's tail went right back up my nose. Urgh. I'm not usually this annoyed by people or crowds, it just felt like the universe teamed up to give me the most inconsiderate group of customers. Naturally, the couple struck up conversation with the squirrel and they all ended up staying for a long time in the back of the bookstore chatting loudly. They did end up buying some books of the display, action and fantasy stuff. It seemed like they traded suggestions and might even form a little book club. I hope it goes well.
I didn't think I'd already be moving furniture back into place on my first official day, but the place was so packed! It's a shame I didn't make more money, haha. All in all, I think things went well. I don't feel like part of the river for real yet, but I don't feel like a total outsider either. Going to sleep early tonight, it feels like I haven't slept properly in ages.
