[Shopkeeper Soul]

0-Clumsy

Fanjen Dai groaned as she laid face-first on the floor, a box of antique objects shattered on the ground beside her. She picked herself up while footsteps are heard throughout the small building, the sounds of a smaller man rushing to her aid. "Dai.." He grumbled, picking up the now broken object. Dai didn't see this as new, she had mishaps like this all the time. She helped pick up the pieces and handed them to the scrawnier man, "Maybe you can fix it? I never really got to see what it was and it was a donation and-" He cut Dai off, walking past the small doorway with a beaded curtain hanging down. She took it that he accepted her request, and sat at the store counter again.

The man looked up at the skylight as the afternoon glow caught the light of the rusting metal he worked with carefully. He couldn't figure out what he was exactly fixing, but he trusted he'd find it out. He worked peacefully, not hearing a single sound out of the building aside from the shop bells, and Dai talking to customers eagerly. He smiled listening to the conversations she would have, going off track every now and then. Dai would occasionally yell from the store counter for an update on his fixing progress whenever it was only them in the store. He realized it wasn't just multiple objects, but a large object. Seemed to be decades, maybe even centuries old. Piece by piece, an old music box was put back together. Of course it was very out of tune, but the man instantly recognized the melody playing lightly as he turned the handle.

Dai heard the faint tune and left the counter unattended, coming to admire her friend's work. "So Zhou, what's the piece this time?" She sarcastically asked, not expecting his sudden reply, "Toreador March by Georges Bizet, 1875." The now embarrassed man, known as Liqin Zhou, continued his work, attempting to make it sound how it used to in all of its glory.

Dai watched from behind his work stool, laying a head on his shoulder while watching the trial and error of her friend. She stayed silent watching him, listening to the soft humming coming from him as he worked. That small silence was disturbed by a bell, the store bell. "Dai, you idiot." Zhou shot at her flatly. She instantly took the hint and ran down the flight of stairs to return to her work counter, tripping along the way a few times. Zhou put his hand on his face before continuing to work quietly, the quiet only being disturbed when he'd test the tune of Toreador March.

"I'd suggest trying to find another shop, we don't sell-" Dai got interrupted after scolding a new person in their store about policies. The person in front of her put a hand out to keep her quiet as they listened to the tune being heard from where Zhou worked on the music box. 

Once the melody finished, they lowered their hand and began to speak, "What I just heard, is whatever's playing that for sale?" They asked curiously, their eyes lighting up with wonder. Dai ended the customer's fantasy quickly, giving a simple shake of her head. The customer seemed to lose a bit of the light in their eyes, but didn't give up just yet.

The next few hours were spent of the person talking about musical history, and too many things Dai couldn't care to listen on. She watched as the windows outside began to dim, the night sky now showing. He then heard the person, now sitting on the counter of where she stood, talking about the stars. He wished Zhou had been working the desk, he would've loved these conversations. But it didn't seem like he was completely uninvolved. Every few minutes the Toreador March would be heard, becoming more in tune as the evening turned into night, and night turned into the closing hour of nine o'clock.

Dai rose his tail up a bit as he spotted the time out of his eye. The person who'd been giving him company for the past few hours instantly began talking again, their eyes lighting up, "I've never seen a cobra tail so..breathtaking, you must be from a strict family then, right?" They were completely wrong. His parents, who were more of the cobra than he is, are the most loving beings to exist when it comes to their son. The person wasn't wrong however, they were strict when it came to love. He never complained, because the people he loved were normally afraid or repulsed by him.

Instead he gave a simple nod and let them continue talking about his species until he left to get Zhou. He trusted this person to not steal anything, if anything he partially expected him to do the opposite somehow. He went up the stairs to where Zhou sat tiredly on his side of the room, the window letting in an inviting breeze after his hard work. "Y'know Dai, instead of reselling it, I think I might keep it." Zhou let out a slight laugh of exhaustion, Dai interpreted it as, 'I worked on it and I've grown attached.' and he didn't mind at all.

"Alright, just go close up and tell a customer to get out. They've been droning on and on for hours." He let out a groan, flopping heavily onto a stack of pillows in the room's corner. Zhou just gave a quick nod and hurried down the steps to the customer who watched the night settle down upon the neon city lights.

Zhou gave a light tap to them, trying not to startle them. They didn't flinch in the slightest, giving a small turn of their head to the smaller man, looking like a child compared to his height. Their gaze met his for a moment, and Zhou instantly looked away in embarrassment, "Store's closed, my apologies Mr..Ms..Mrs..Mx?" Zhou took every guess there was, trying to figure out what was right instead of asking.

They gave a small laugh at his desperate attempt and corrected him, "It's Lei, just Lei." They stated, trying to get a good look at the friend of who they talked with earlier. Zhou looked up at them, trying to start some sort of conversation before they left. It gave them the look at him they wanted, but what he said was something he didn't know he wanted, but still did. "I'm sorry if it sounds disrespectful for you..Lei..But may I ask, do you use pronouns, a name, anything?" Zhou looked puzzled, never before really meeting people farther outside of the regular binary than Dai. When the two first met, Dai described how they were. A partial woman in the day, and a partial man by the night. During the afternoon they were just a person. Zhou picked it up easily, but this may take time if this person would become a regular here.

"I'm not very sure, I've never been asked so directly before. But I'd say I prefer people referring to me with androgynous and masculine pronouns and names..Just use what you think I am Mr..Liqin!" They flashed a quick grin at Zhou as they read his name tag carefully. Before Zhou knew it, he was grinning back too. "But uh, store's closed right? I am so sorry Mr Liqin to keep you waiting!" He hopped off of the counter and raced down the sidewalk.

Zhou shouted after them, "Just Zhou!" He looked down at his name tag, which was something he almost forgot he was wearing until Lei read it to him. Zhou wondered why Dai sounded annoyed when referring to Lei, he was somehow everything he wished to be, and he admired them deeply already.