Keeping a Short-Leash (John)(Casual)

[MAYOR HECTOR "HADES" TORMEI]

It was hard to believe that, with all that was going on in his life, Hector was bored. He ran the city, the underworld, and his now surprisingly busy rare book store. When he wasn't busy signing legislation, ordering sells and hits, or shelving ner coming books, Hector actually spent his time talking to customers while doing the books. It had been a long while since he had actually talked to the customers that he had crash course in customer service earlier that morning. Towards the late afternoon he had finally gotten the hang of it. Ever since he was made mayor more and more people visited his shop, actually buying up some of the novels that had been sitting on a shelf for nearly a year.

As the day wound down, the customers stopped flowing in so freely; Hector finally had time to actually count the receipts and check the inventory. Everything in order.

As usual.

Hector sighed and debated going out back to have a smoke, but seeing that there was only an hour left, Hector decided against it. He could tough it out for an hour. Besides, he was trying to cut back on his smoking for Penelope's sake. He didn't want to destroy her lungs.

It occured to him that he wasn't young any longer, lung cancer was a serious threat. It never bothered him before, the idea of a tumor growing inside of him and eating him up. Cancer wasn't a problem for Hector, he was invulnerable to those sorts of things. Penelope made him change his mind though, her well-being suddenly taking its place in the front of his mind.

Discretly, Hector instead treated himself to a glass of Merlot as the clock ticked away. Surely another customer wouldn't be coming in this late. Waiting for the hour 'til closing to pass, Hector reclined in his desk chair, leg propped up on the desk, with a Merlot in his hand.

[DR. JOHN WATSON]

DAMN JOB!

He shouldn't complain, but in all seriousness, all he'd wanted to do that day was read a good book. That was it. Was that so much to ask on his off day? A book? Read? Something he never did? He never had time, much less the incentive. Now that he had, his chances of settling down that night and reading were becoming slim with each passing second, as he hurried to the nearest open bookstore. It was just down the street, though John wasn't sure if it was the sort of store he had been looking for. He was hoping for a more commercialized place, a little shop with an area for reading and a coffee stand, to ease the tension of the grueling day at work.

But an antique bookstore was all he could get.

He huffed and puffed on his way in, shaking his jacket a bit from the rain beginning to pour outside. Damn rain. He looked around and noticed no one there. Of course. It was far too late at night.

Why had he come to an antique bookstore? All the books there would be too expensive for him to buy, and the ones that weren't probably weren't anything he was looking for.

What was he looking for? He'd always gravitated toward mysteries and adventures whenever he had the fortune to read. Perhaps a good Agatha Christie or James Patterson? Did they sell James Patterson here?

As he began to walk around (hoping he wasn't overstaying his welcome at the near closing store), he finally noticed a man reclining behind his desk, drinking a glass of wine.

He was startled, and hadn't thought there was anyone in the front at that time. "Oh, I'm sorry... J-just browsing..." he mumbled, nodding to the man. He fiddled with his cane with one hand and his coat buttons in the other. "A-are you the owner?"

A little bit flustered, are we John? He was just a man... Just a man, legs propped up on a desk and sipping a glass of wine.

[MAYOR HECTOR "HADES" TORMEI]

Hector heard the door open and didn't bother moving. He didn't feel like walking a customer through the shop, helping him browse. Hector was content in ignoring the man until he had been spotted and addressed. Hector raised an eyebrow blandly at the man's reaction to him. It was amusing, Hector hadn't thought that he would be startling anyone that night. He didn't move at all, being far too comfortable to change his position just to accomodate a nervous gimp.

Sipping at the wine again, Hector sighed and motioned to the store as a whole. "Browse away. Just don't touch anything on the top two shelves without gloves," The top two shelves were the priceless books that were over 100 years old. Hector had bought insanely tall bookshelves just to keep them out of reach of most people.

"Mayor Hector Tormei," Hector nodded his head in greeting, feeling too lazy to actually shake the man's hand. "This is my shop; rare books, specialty books, and first editions. We have most titles and whatever we don't have we can order for you,"