[open to multiple]

[literatimariano]

Jess has pretty much scoped out every single bookshop on the entire island of Manhattan, or something close to it. He knows all the good places, weird little corners that have the most specific, enchanting things.

So the both good and bad thing about being in an alternate universe is that this no longer holds true. Some remain the same, but he keeps discovering new places that never existed where he comes from, whereas some of his old favourites are missing entirely. And then there's the shift of time that means some things would've been the same, but has changed in the past couple of years.

Having been here three weeks now, he feels like he's starting to get a handle on it, though. And books have, as always, provided a welcome distraction from the realities of his situation. He's gotten a tip for a place over on East 87th street, which is only fifteen minutes away from his apartment, so that's his main mission for today.

He's been told he should check out the bakeshop next-door as well, and once he sees it, he has no qualms about complying. He gets a coffee and some apple muffins and eats it there so he'll have energy for plenty of browsing afterwards.

And oh was that a good plan, because this shop is packed with books, and he foresees himself being here for several hours at least. He immediately braves the terrible lighting and dives right in.

[Find him in Glaser's Bakeshop or Aziraphale's Bookshop. Also, note Jess has an Interactivity riftpower, which means characters should find it really easy to start a conversation with him.]

Comments

[literatimariano]

Jess looks up when addressed - apparently Billy Idol has come to check up on him - though mostly because he can't actually read the spines now. Not that it was easy before, given the terrible lighting in the place, and several of the books being worn.

"Juust browsing," he answers perfunctory. Then he pulls his phone out of his pocket and turns on the flashlight function, lighting up the book titles and continuing to browse.

[erratic_hematic]

What the hell kind of arsehole is this? He just pulled out a flashlight like he's challenging Spike.

...is that actually his phone, though? That's interesting. He wonders if his phone can do that too. "How do you do that with your phone?" He could probably ask Sunshine, but he'd rather not have to and hey, maybe he can annoy the guy out and get some information at the same time.

[literatimariano]

"It's an app that uses the camera flash," he answers without looking up. Phones have gotten a lot better in the decade that Jess skipped through, and out of the many things that have changed, he found that fairly easy to adjust to.

"Sunshine said it was alright if I browse," he adds, since he assumes this is the guy she was speaking of. There's enough weird stuff here that he would've endured a lot of bothering before he left, but he'd rather not have to.

[erratic_hematic]

He's not exactly sure what's happening on his face, but it's some mixture of surprise and indignation. "She did not!"

He straightens, then stalks forward as quickly as the piles of books on the floor will allow him and grabs a fistful of the guy's hoodie. He yanks him back out of the stacks and towards the door a few steps before letting him go. Who the fuck is this that he thinks he can annoy him with a stupid flashlight app and use Sunshine against him? She's obviously busy, or she would have come over earlier, which means that this guy is lying to him. "We're closed. Get out."

[literatimariano]

Jess had been put under the impression that saying that would get Spike off his back, not the opposite. He stumbles for a moment as he is literally shoved towards the door, but at least he manages not to trip over the book.

"What the hell is your problem, man?" he asks, stuffing his phone back in his pocket, his fight-or-flight instinct leaning dangerous close to 'fight' at the moment.

[erratic_hematic]

Ugh. This guy is squaring up like he's ready to go and Spike really isn't in the mood to play around. He steps forward and throws a punch that hits across the guy's jaw, hopefully with enough force to convince him not to stick around.

[literatimariano]

The punch is unexpected enough that Jess has no time to dodge properly, only jerk away in a way that means Spike's fist partly glances off rather than hitting him with full force. It still sends Jess stumbling into bookshelves, but he wastes no time before charging at Spike, attempting to grapple, wrestle and punch whatever part of him that's convenient.

He doesn't actually give a shit about this guy, but he rarely backs down from a fight (especially when someone starts it by punching him), and he may have a lot of pent-up aggression from his current situation. Well, here's something for him to take it out on.

[erratic_hematic]

Well shit, this kid is strong. Fortunately his technique is something like a flailing parrot. He falls back against the desk, knocking over a pile of books on impact. He catches a couple punches before he can knock the guy back again. He kicks at what's available to him, which happens to be a shin and then a kneecap.

It's enough of a distraction for him to throw another punch at the guy's face.