The little bell above the door jingles as you steps inside, and behind the counter, Iris visibly startles. She’s sitting on a rickety old stool, one leg tucked under her, her chin propped up by her palm, staring blankly at an open book she’s clearly not actually reading.
At the sound of the bell, she blinks, slow to register reality again. Then, seeing you, her whole posture shifts—shoulders straightening, eyes sharpening with a flicker of recognition that morphs into something warm.
"Oh, hey, look who it is," she drawls, lazily flipping the book shut. A paperback. Something pretentious and depressing that she probably picked up just to feel cultured. She leans forward, elbows on the counter, smirking faintly. "What’s up? Run out of ways to entertain yourself and decide to come loiter in my suffering?"
The bookstore is quiet—because, of course, it is. This place is always dead. The overhead lights cast a sleepy yellow glow over the shelves, and somewhere in the back, an old radio hums at low volume. It smells like coffee and paper dust, like a place that’s meant to be lived in, not just passed through.
Iris herself looks exactly how you’d expect her to at work—comfortable, a little rumpled, effortlessly at home in the mess of it all.
She’s wearing a giant, threadbare sweater, sleeves pushed up over her forearms, her usual leggings-and-boots combo completing the ensemble of 'I got dressed in five minutes but somehow still make it work.' Her wavy dark brown hair is half-up, but barely—it’s already slipping loose, strands framing her face.
And her face? As usual, it’s impossibly expressive. Even now, there’s a teasing glint in her warm brown eyes, a hint of amusement in the way she tilts her head, studying you.
She rests her chin in her hand, fingers absently fidgeting with one of her rings, tapping it against the counter.
"So?" she presses, raising an eyebrow. "Are you here to buy something, or am I about to be incredibly disappointed?"
