"So. 'Kendra's Bow'." He pipes up, snatching a fry from her plate and biting into it with a crisp crunch, "How'd you find it?"

"She didn't use a bow for three quarters of the book." She huffs, taking a few fries of her own before taking a sip of her coffee. "Unbelievable. Immersion-breaking in fact. I give it two stars out of five."

"No, no, I'm looking for an honest opinion." He replies, scratching his cheek while drumming his fingers on the counter. "I– Look, my friend's birthday is coming up, and I just want to know if it'll make a good gift. I'll probably just swing by a bookstore and have them wrap it up or something like that."

"Honest opinion?" She echoed, "It's a good book. Awfully vanilla, but a good way to waste some time while you're waiting for a meal or something like that. Though uh, if your friend likes to give a damn about story and whatnot, then you should probably give them something else."

"Nah, they aren't that kind of person."

She leans back on her stool, scooping up another handful of fries before munching them down. "Then I guess that works. When's their birthday anyway?"

"About..." His brows furrow, quickly glancing towards his computer before turning back towards her, "Around sometime this week."

"That's cutting it close." She muses, downing the rest of her coffee before sliding the empty mug towards him, finger raised for a refill. "I thought that you'd be the type to get things done days ago or something."

"With the work I do? You'd be surprised how much free time I have." He drawls, nonetheless taking her mug and sliding off towards his office.

"We're having coffee and fries right now." She calls out, her brow raised and an incredulous expression on her face. "Isn't this like, some kind of free time?"

"Work hours are fluid, but still need to put in actual work somewhere." He replies, just as the sound of flowing water echoes through the office door, "You do a job like this, you more or less learn to multitask. As of the moment, I'm just waiting for the confirmation of an incoming shipment, but well..."

He leans out, wagging a pitcher full of coffee at her. "Coffee break. Then I'll probably get to check this library's database to see if there's any books that are overdue."

She hums, munching on more fries while he slides out of the office and back onto the front desk, setting down her mug and the pitcher right beside it.

"These fries are great, by the way." He mumbles, grabbing a handful of fries and absentmindedly munching on them while he turns towards the computer. "Where'd you get these from?"

"The cafe." She replies, waving a fry at him before quickly popping it into her mouth. "Took an order before I left, and they gave me a discount."

His brows furrow. "... You'd think that it'd be free, what with you working there and what not."

"Are you kidding? The fries are good." She responds, taking a sip from her coffee and letting out a happy sigh, "We always run out of available stocks when the rush hour hits, so you should be lucky that I even got this in the first place."

He pauses, turning towards her a few moments later with a long-suffering stare. "... How much do I need to pay?"

She hums. Thinks about it. She leans back with a hand cupped against her cheek, head tilted to the side he watched. She held that pose for only a few seconds, before she turns towards him with a smile.

"No need to pay." She waives, cutting herself off with a sniff, "Just worshiping the ground I walk on is more than enough."

"Well someone's got a high and mighty opinion of themselves." He drawls, taking a sip of their coffee. "Too bad for you, I've got work to do."

He motions towards his computer, which was already booting up with spreadsheets that made her wince. With a shake of her head and a snort, she slides off the stool and pops the last of the fries into her mouth.

"I'm off to get some reading material. " She pipes up, sending an ashen-faced salute in his direction. "You do uh... Yeah, you get some eye strain, yeah?"

"Oh fuck off."