Alex sits calmly at the counter, staring at the door and waiting.
After Ruby left, it's been silent. No-one new, no-one old, nothing. Sure, he expected that there would be times of silence, he hopes he can change the inventory to something more interesting even, but the past few hours seemed to contradict his expectations.
He never went even half an hour before someone entered the store, period. Momo and Okarun, Frieren a couple times, Ubel, Ruby at the end there, barely any down time between visitors.
So, he never realized how truly boring it was without someone in the store.
Ruby was a breath of fresh air for sure, her bubbly energy was infectious, but it had already left the environment. The inventory changed back to its usual basic food and drink for himself, something he'll have to try and change later.
He. Was. Bored.
Sure, it's only been an hour or so, but he wanted to talk to someone else, literally anyone at this point. He'd work on his magic when it recovered — not a moment sooner, because he refuses to mess up his potential with literal MAGIC because he was impatient.
But what else was there to do?
With his feet kicked up on the counter and his back bent around the stool, he hung upside down, blood rushing to his head — and somehow, he was getting even more bored.
"Ugh, System?" He calls out, already knowing he'll get nothing in response. "Can you tell me how close to the goal I am?"
Nothing, as expected.
"Dick."
He flipped off the stool — literally — hitting the ground with a grunt before shooting to his feet.
"Alright, gonna- whoa." He steadies himself as he gets blurry vision, hand on the counter till the moment passes. "Ok, stood up too fast. Anyway, can I get some books in here?" He asks the system, walking to a shelf.
Which doesn't change.
"Please?"
Nothing.
"Fine, whatever." He rolls his eyes, glancing up at the clock above the door. A new addition it seemed, since he doesn't remember seeing it before. Though, admittedly, he was focused on other things than the time of day.
He's pretty sure he opened the store at around 8 or so, while it looks to be about 12 now. That didn't feel right, but what did he know? He's surprised there was a way to keep track of time at all.
"Wait, when does the store close?" He asks the System again, curious. "Wait, never mind, don't know why I bothered asking." He waves away, muttering to himself.
There should be something on the Open sign, so he'll check that first. Unfortunately, he couldn't flip the sign back around, almost like it was magnetized to the glass.
"Forget it." He stops trying, turning around and going back to the counter. "Why bother doing anything in here? Just get hit with silence or futility." He grumbles to himself as he sits back on the stool.
*Ding*
'Finally, thank you!'
"Welcome to the Multiversal Pawn- oh, hey Ruby. Back already?" He cuts himself off, leaning against his hand as she walks in, bright silver eyes peering at him.
"Hi mister!" She waves with a big smile, turning around to the still open door. "Come on in, I told you it existed."
"Ruby, I actually don't know where you went." A confused voice comes through the opening. "Are you playing a prank? I have to say that as team leader, you should be more responsible than this-"
"I'm right here!" She shouts, before reaching out of the door and pulling a white-haired girl in. "See? No prank, promise."
"Wait, what-" She looks around the shop in confusion. "Where did this building come from?"
"Uh, I don't know actually. But it appeared earlier and it had amazing sweets, surprisingly cheap too!" She beamed, Weiss genuinely having to look away from her as she looked at Alex.
"Ruby." Her calm tone turns slightly sharper. "We'll talk later about invisible buildings, ok? Mainly about why you shouldn't go into them!" She hisses with narrowed blue eyes, Ruby shrinking a bit.
"B-but it looked interesting..." She weakly defended, looking down.
"We'll talk later." She confidently walked up to the counter. "Evening sir, when was this establishment built?"
'What?'
"Does it matter?" He evades the question, still leaning casually against his hand.
"Does it-" She looked taken aback for a second, before almost growling a bit. "Yes it matters! If this establishment wasn't here yesterday and suddenly appeared today, that raises... a lot of questions. Do you even have a license?" She slams her hands onto the counter, eyes narrowed as she points at Alex. "It doesn't matter how 'invisible' your shop is from the outside, Vale won't allow a store without proper credentials."
She stands up straight, crossing her arms with a 'humph'. "Now, are you going to provide your credentials, or do I need to get the police involved?"
"Yeah, I'm not entertaining this." He deadpans, throwing Weiss off balance for a second. "Look kid, you're a hunter in training at best right now and even if you could get the police in here-" 'Which I doubt' "-they couldn't force me to leave or do anything about this building. I literally am stuck in here, and everything is invulnerable." He calmly knocks on the wood of the counter.
"Tha-wha-" Weiss is genuinely flustered, glancing between him and an embarrassed looking Ruby. "That doesn't even make sense!"
"Maybe, but it's true. Now, do you wanna buy something or not?"
She glances around at the shop, the inventory having changed during the conversation to some different types of Dust again, along with different accessories for weapons, specifically a rapier.
"How did you get this in?" She demands, turning right back towards him. "Unless you're under contract with the Schnee Dust Company, this would be considered stolen merchandise!"
"Look, Weiss, I don't care what you do or do not believe." He lazily continues to look at her. "This shop isn't from your world, deal with it. The product isn't from your world either, so deal with it. Anything else?"
She sputters for a few more seconds, looking to Ruby for support, who has already gone and grabbed more strawberries.
'Addict.'
With a sigh, Weiss hangs her head and grabs some dust off the shelf, eyeing it carefully from every angle. "There's no price tag on this; how much is it?" She asks, seemingly calm now.
"If you get on my case about the shop again, 30000 Lien."
"Thirty-" She looks at him with shock. "For this low quality? You're kidding!"
"I only said if you get on my case about the shop." He points out, unamused. "Otherwise, if you're willing to be civil about things, 500 Lien."
She blinks at me, looking down at the decent sized container of dust. "500 Lien? For all of this?" She clarifies, a bit bewildered.
"Told you Weiss!" Ruby plops two baskets full of strawberries on the counter. "He's selling things for super cheap! Take it or leave it."
He holds out a hand, getting payment through Ruby as Weiss grabs a basket to fill with dust.
"I'm sure I don't need to tell you to be careful with that." He smiles a bit at her, happy now that she's less stressed. "But please don't blow up anything."
"Who do you think I am?" She retorts, noticeably being a bit more careful with the jars.
One transaction later, and everyone was a bit happier.
"Nice of you both to drop by, please come again if you want." He waves them out.
"Wait, how can I find you if the shop's invisible?" Weiss questions, turning around to him.
"You should be able to see it now." He guesses, not actually sure. "But if not, just come with Ruby next time too." He shrugs.
"By mister!" Ruby calls out, dragging Weiss out of the store with a swirl of petals.
'Wonder if I'll meet the cat soon?' He wondered, before letting out a sigh.
"I better not be alone for too long again." He grumbled, glancing at the door.