Waiting on Customers [open] [dated]

As morning passed over Manehatten, life began to stir on the city streets. Not much, not since the invasion, but here and there ponies began to filter out from their homes to their places of business and places to do their shopping. Even in a subjective apocalypse, life went on for the common stallion. At one such shop, a gray pegasus mare finished lighting the lamps around her printing house and opened the windows, relaxing back at the counter as she waited for somepony to come in. Otherwise, it was going to be a rather boring day for her.

The wind lightly blew past Xarith as he bent down low to make a quick turn around a corner. Standing back up on his dirtboard, he readjusted the strap over his shoulder so that his satchel fit neatly over him.

A light smile came over the zebra's face as he slowed himself just a tad to avoid collision with the assorted ponies that now only began to walk to the mainstreet of Manehattan. He had just been returning from yet another stocking run, and this time he wasn't bringing something that would fill his shelves to the very brim with the same exact item for weeks.

Xarith could already see his shop way out in the distance. Glancing around at all the other stores lining the streets, a thought stuck to him for a moment.

With all this, how are the places like his and Tayari's going to be found. They needed a way to get themselves a little bit more recognition.

Well, at least recognition that wouldn't get them all killed.

The zebra moves his board into a powerslide before coming to a full stop in the middle of the street.

"Now where to look around..." he said slowly turning to face the nearby shops. The closest shop read something along the lines of a printing house. Xarith kicked his dirtboard up and set the board over his back as he moved his bags, securing them both.

"That was almost too convenient," he said shrugging lightly before trotting over and entering the store.

Snow had only been open a few minutes when Xarith walked in, but in that time she had already scavenged a rubix cube from somewhere in her desk and had been fiddling with it behind the counter. Of course, as soon as a customer stepped in it was eyes front with a huge smile.

"Hello there! Is there anything I can help you with today?" She didn't recognize the zebra offhand, but it was a big city. There were probably even some rebels she hadn't met yet.

Xarith gave a smile to pair as he closed the door behind him. He trot over and straightened himself out after coming from outside. Smile never fading, he turned over to the pegasus.

"Hey there," he said lightly as he shifted his gear on his back. "Nothin' much for right now. Just wanted to hop in and take a little look around." Doing just that, he glanced around the shop for just a moment before turning his attention back to the conversation.

"Thanks for asking though."

Snow smiled and returned to her toy, carefully watching him from out of the corner of her eye. After years of occupation, she knew far better than to just let someone have free reign, or she'd find later that she was missing several expensive quills, or worse. He didn't seem like the type to do that, but she had been fooled before. Thus, she kept an eye on him for the time being.

Xarith just nodded again as he looked around for a moment.

"Huh. Another place I can get some more parchment from," he thought to himself. "Not too bad. Could always use another place since the other one down the street charges way too much for theirs..." He took note of the things lining the store as he casually rolled over each ware before turning back to the pegasus at the counter.

"How much to you think a couple rolls of parchment would run me for?" he asked politely, moving his satchel just a tad with a hoof before turning his full attention back over.

Snow smiled and vaulted the counter, before pointing him at a rack that took up almost the entire back wall. The entire thing was filled with different rolls and reams of parchment, ranging from plain paper through canvas used to create masterpieces.

"Well, that depends on what you want! Over here you've got basic poster paper, fifty sheets for a bit. I'm doing a sale on this stuff over here, buy a hundred sheets and I'll do up whatever letterhead you want, that's ten to a bit. On the pricey end, this is what you usually use for contracts and whatnot, that's two bits a roll, and it gets nicer the more expensive. Buy enough and I'll toss in a discount, sound nice?"

The zebra just gives a warm laugh as he pulls a small, neatly bound notebook from his bags, taking a bit to leaf through the pages before throwing it back into his satchel.

"It's alright with what I've got so far," he said taking a light look at the reams of parchment. He trot over to the wall, taking a look at some of the sheets that were similar to the ones that he kept notes on. Turning to face others as well, he gave a light nod before trotting back over to the pegasus.

"Though, another things I've wanted to know is what you have in terms of prints."

Snow smiled and pointed at a board hanging over the counter. "Depends on what you want! Flyers are two dozen a bit. Books are by the page, and anything bigger than that you'll have to describe what you want." She glanced at the papers sticking out of his bag, "For something that size, I'd say it'd run you five copies to a bit, more or less."

Xarith taps his chin a bit with a hoof, just rolling over everything in his mind. "Alright," he says lightly nodding. "That's pretty cut to the prices I usually pay." Looking back over to his satchel, he neatly tucked the papers back in to make sure that they would not fly out while he would be skating later.

"Thanks for the prices, though," Xarith said as he trot over. "I was thinkin' of finding a place where I could get some printing done for a friend and myself." The zebra just reached through his cloak to find a couple things before speaking again. "But, I think I'll get a stack of contract sheets for now. Don't have that kind of paper in my desk much anymore."

Snowbird nodded and skipped off into the storage room behind a curtain, where she spent a few minutes rooting through her shelves for the exact thing he had indicated. If nothing else, she was going to make sure a first-time customer would have a good time, even if she couldn't find the right shelf right at the moment.

"So, mind if I ask your name?"

Xarith just shifted his bags again and moved the board on his back as he watched the pegasus skip off.

"The name's Xarith," he said lightly, "Xarith Treviant." Turning to face the wall of parchments again, he patiently waited as he looked through the rest of the papers. "And who can I owe this kind service too?"

Snow finally found the right rack of paper, and reamed out a good-sized pile of scrolls. She idly thought for the eighth or so time that she should invest in flat parchment as well, given that he was buying one of her most popular types, but as usual that thought left her mind within seconds of entering it. Thus, she went back to just trying to hold a conversation.

"I'm Snowbird, nice to meet you Xarith! Mind if I ask what you want all this for? I mean, usually ponies only buy five or six scrolls at a time, they don't have much use for contract paper lately."

The zebra just laughed as he pulled out his notebook and began to work out all the fees in his head. Closing it up and placing it back into his satchel once he was satisfied, he turned back to face Snow, not wishing to be rude by distracting himself from the conversation.

"Well, I run a shop just a couple blocks down mainstreet. Just a general wares and alchemy store. I need the contract papers for a lot of the people I have business contacts with."

Pulling his bag closer to him, he looked through it just a bit to find his pouch of bits.

"And may as well keep stocked up in case I ever need extras, right?"

Snow laughed and tossed a few more scrolls on the pile. "Indeed you should. Have a few for the road, my treat." She looked around, thinking of anything else he could need.

"So, fifteen at five each minus a few because you're nice, sixty bits sound good? Need anything else?"

The zebra just smiled lightly as he fetched out a small pouch of bits that he had to keep for himself. Bringing his hoof inside the bag, he pulled out just enough bits to satisfy the costs as well as a bit more than that hiding under the rest. 

"I think this would be just enough for that," he said as he laid the bits on the table. "I don't think I will need anything as of right now."

Snow smiled and dumped the bits into the cash register, trusting him enough and having sized up the pile to where she figured he was paying more or less on the level. Besides, what kind of jerk would short-change her after a huge discount like that?

"All right then. Well, have a nice day! Come back soon!"

"I'll be sure to," the zebra said warmly as he turned for the door and took his board off of his back. Then after opening the door, Xarith laid down his board and pushed off back down mainstreet in the direction of his own shop.