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Post by Aziraphale on Nov 27, 2008 21:06:25 GMT -5
"Here you are," *Aziraphale said, handing a well dressed customer a book and his change.* "Do come again!"
*This was the fourth book he'd sold that day, and he cringed less every time. Now that he wasn't on Heaven's payroll anymore, he needed a way to buy food, and pay rent, and buy all the little things that a former angel needed every day.
He bustled into the back room where Herbert was balancing the books.*
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Nov 27, 2008 21:23:14 GMT -5
Herbert was hunched over an open ledger, with his sleeves pushed up to his elbows, his mouth screwed up to one side of his face, his glasses slightly askew and his free hand shoved into his hair.
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Post by Aziraphale on Nov 27, 2008 21:24:52 GMT -5
"Are you all right?"
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Nov 27, 2008 21:32:28 GMT -5
"Well, at this rate, we might be able to stock up on some canned soup for the next three or four months," he said dryly.
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Post by Aziraphale on Nov 27, 2008 21:35:12 GMT -5
*He cringed a little.*
"Well, perhaps if I sold some of the rarer editions..." *his tone, though, suggested that he would really really rather not part from them.*
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Nov 27, 2008 21:40:22 GMT -5
"Don't be ridiculous," he said carelessly, with a wave of one of his bandaged hands. "I imagine I could pawn some of my clothes. I suppose given these surroundings I only need one suit now..."
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Post by Aziraphale on Nov 27, 2008 21:43:04 GMT -5
"Nonsense- I couldn't ask you to do that. We'll get along somehow."
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Nov 27, 2008 21:50:51 GMT -5
"It's far preferable to you selling your books," said Herbert. "We'll sell my clothes and use the money to buy more books, and then we can sell the ones you don't care about. That's how it works, yes?"
His glasses slipped a little, and he groaned.
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Post by Aziraphale on Nov 27, 2008 21:54:24 GMT -5
"Well, yes, but I can do that very easily without you selling your clothes."
*He frowned, considering something.*
"Though, perhaps we could borrow some money from your father-"
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Nov 27, 2008 22:16:48 GMT -5
"Oh, I don't want to have to dip into that well again," Herbert interrupted. "Not now that I've... er... declared my, um, independence and such."
He sounded distracted.
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Post by Aziraphale on Nov 27, 2008 22:19:16 GMT -5
"Right, well. It was only a suggestion."
*His frown deepened.*
"Maybe just a few clothes."
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Nov 27, 2008 22:23:28 GMT -5
"And it would make a good point Up There, I imagine," Herbert continued. "But yes, I think it's necessary. And then it will be just like running an actual bookshop-"
He cut himself off, grinning for the first time in a few weeks and looking adorably eager.
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Post by Aziraphale on Nov 27, 2008 22:25:33 GMT -5
"Yes- precisely."
*He was smiling. It was so good to see him smile again.*
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Nov 27, 2008 22:28:36 GMT -5
"Oh, this whole thing is so wonderfully plebeian," Herbert said happily as he turned a page in the ledger. "Of course, we're really quite dreadfully poor-"
His mouth twisted a little, and he winced.
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Post by Aziraphale on Nov 27, 2008 22:31:14 GMT -5
"Well- yes, but we can work ourselves out of this little spot of trouble."
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