Books, Snow, and Coco

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November 5th, Tuesday, 1622.

On the ground shop floor of their two story home, Devi was reading one of his favorite books in his wheelchair near the stairs as a early snow storm coated the kingdom in a blanket of white. It hadn't been long since him and his daughter had gotten back from a long trip.

"Wonder how everything's been doing since we left..." he mumbled as he continued reading his fantasy book, more focused on it then the smell of hot chocolate being made up in the upper floor and not yet noticing the sign on the door was still flipped to 'open'.

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After getting word that his old friend had returned to Truesdale, Saul had excused himself for the evening from the manor and had made his way to the bookstore, where he knew Devi and Jasmine lived above it.

Even if the sign said 'closed', Saul would have walked in anyway. He and Devi were on good enough terms that a closed sign didn't deter him.

Glancing around as he knocked the snow off his boots, he walked deeper inside and to the stairs, stopping as he saw his friend and smiling slightly. "So, the immaculate scholar returns to out midst." He grinned. "And in one piece. How does things fare?"

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A grin grew a crossed his face seeing Saul, setting the boot face down on his lap. "Of Course, despite whats happened I'll always return to it~" he spoke. "Fine, a little tried, but fine." he chuckled, he pulled his bag that was in a hidden door under the stair case and removing two books from them. "Found these while we traveled, figured you'd like them." He spoke as he held them out to Saul.

"Speaking of travel, how bad has the storm gotten out there?"

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"How was the trip? Bring back anything for your collection?" He asked, pulling a chair over and sitting down near Devi. He watched as Devi withdrew the books and accepted them. "Thank you." He said, looking at their covers and grinning. Someone wasn't sleeping that night.

"It's slowly starting to pick up, Knowing us, we'll likely get to talking and I'll get snowed in." He chuckled. "Thorn can take care of himself for one night, I hope." He chuckled.

"I've been thinking about hiring some extra help, actually. I mean, Thorn is a grown man but he's still so accident prone. I was thinking maybe a butler to help him when I'm not around to patch up his injuries. It would at least give me some peace of mind. What do you think?"

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"Quiet a few things actually, one them being a new tarot card set." He laughed, smiling at his friend. "Don't stay up too late." he grinned. He then looked to the windows, watching the snow.

"Ahh Seems so~ Ah well, nothing that can't be handled later and I am positive he'll be alright, lad does seem capable." he grinned, looking to Saul again. He perked hearing Saul speak of hiring a new butler. Giving a few nods as he listened he started thinking it over.

"Well, I see no harm in it and you wouldn't have to worry to much when you are not around. I don't see many negatives in it with your current situation." he nodded as he thought.

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As the two talked Jasmine came down from the upper store level, being slightly startled at seeing Saul, but calmed down enough knowing he wasn't much of a threat. "Well, glad I made extra Coco." she chimed in as she sat two mugs down on the desk the two where near.

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"You and those cards. I still can't bring myself to believe that those cards mean anything when laid out. It's so up to interpretation, pretty much any layout could be applied." Skeptical Saul is skeptical.

He sighed when the topic went to Thorn. "Yea." He mentioned his thoughts and turned to Devi for his opinion on it. "So I'm not being overly paranoid?"

Then Jasmine came down the stairs and he glanced up to her in acknowledgement, before returning to Devi. It was just his friend's daughter with cocoa. "Thank you." He said simply, not reaching for the mug yet.

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Devi couldn't help but grin at Saul's skepticism. "Well, that's fine for you, It's up to you to believe them to be true or not, but that does have to bring into question of all religions as they too are up for interpretation....It's just the stupid one's are the loudest." he finished with a look of amusement on his face.

Now getting to Thorn again, he crossing his arms "Of course not, He's your younger brother and the only family you have left and given whats happened...It's natural to act in a protective manner over him" Of course Devi was speaking form experience. He understood Saul's paranoia, he had acted the same over his daughter after what happen to him.

"Thank you Dear" Devi spoke as he took the Coco.

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[[I'm assuming you're skipping Jasmine.]]

"I have some faith, I just have trouble believing in things like fortune telling." He shrugged. "It'd make tracking the stocks in companies and product value shifts a lot easier if it was real though." Saul chuckled, mentioning his job as the owner of the Darcy trading company, having to decide what should be traded and what wasn't worth the effort.

The topic shifted to Thorn, and his smile faded. "Good. It's just hard. I want to let him do as he pleases, but he has to know how to keep the company afloat so if anything happens to me, he'd be okay."

He'd look at his mug silently, without a word, and sighed lightly.

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[[Ball's I forgot her]]

Devi couldn't help but roll his eyes with a smile, Oh how Saul amused him at times.
"Speaking of which how is that going for you?" he added on watching his friend, he then noticed the fading smile and grew a bit worried.

Nodding as he listened he started to wonder to him self, was Saul really wanting Thorn to run that company? He knew Saul was worried about Thorn having a decent living, but at the same time...
"Something is telling me that's not all you completely think, but that maybe me assuming...Could be he's just being a pain about it, but again assuming." he nodded as he drank from his mug.

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Jasmine smiled at Saul when he thanked her, giving a slight bow before returning up the stairs with the tray, returning a few minutes over, to only hear part of their conversation. Her own mug in hand with a spare blanket for Saul, she leaned against the stair's wall, listening in. She glances to the glass door to see that the storm had turned into a blizzard like white-out outside.

"Saul will you be staying the night?" She quickly chimed in to her long time friend, a bit concerned about him going out in the storm now that she saw how bad it had gotten.

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"Alright, Dula's been making things difficult, pirates tend to go after my trade ships, so I've been having to add extra security, which in turns raises the prices. We'll get by, however."

He sighed lightly about Thorn. "You think I want to have to spend my waking time running the company? I'd much rather be able to run around and do as I pleased like Thorn. I just want to make sure he's able to do so if something happens to me."

He'd look over to Jasmine, then out the window. "...Would likely be safest if I did. I might freeze if I tried to go home."

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"Uhg..A lot of crime does come from there doesn't it?" he grumbled, he had not visited the that kingdom, heard to many bad things about it. He nodded and continued listening to Saul without interruption.

"No, I imagination it's quite boring. Nono that's not what I think, to be truthful I really am of no opinion, but the wondering mind does tend to be..Wondering" He nodded, But the sentence about boring coming from his mouth was not exactly comforting as his idea of 'fun' was putting putty or mud in peoples shoe's, where it could be mistaken as something else.

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She gave a chuckle when he did reply "Alright, I'll get the spare bed made up, Ah, you should tell Thorn where you are if you can." she spoke as she started going up the stair case. She then perked when she remembered something. "Speaking of which have you eaten?"