It was just another day of selling love and dreams for D. A cat here a dog there a human personification of a horse there; yup just a normal day. He was about to pour himself another cup of tea when he noticed with unprecedented horror that he was out of his beloved sweets from Madam C's shop. Well as such in any sweets emergency he ran straight to Madams C's shop without a second thought. To his utter dismay there was a line about 20 people long, to his surprise though the line went quickly. When he approached the counter to place his order he saw a sign posted in big red letters
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"THE OVENS ARE OUT OF ORDER. SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE"
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You could see the tears streaming down his face as he slowly made his way back to his store.
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Count was now on his second day of sweet withdrawal and to say he was not a happy camper was an understatement. He was making tea quite forcefully, glaring at the tea cup like it had caused him some sort of inconvenience. Q-chan was cowering underneath the sofa hoping to god the ovens would be fixed soon. Just at that moment the door burst open; light flooding through into the dark room.
"D!" He shouted, "What do you know about a gigantic horse with fiery hooves burning down the old widow Millie's house?"
D sighed, "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about detective. As I have said before all I sell are harmless pets." He said with an exasperated tone and scowl
The detective looked at him a bit stunned. He expected the answer but not the tone it was given in.
W-well I'm sure you know something about..."
"Detective." D cut in sharply, "You know as I have told you many times, I sell animals. I am legally not responsible as to what happens to the owners if they do not follow the terms of the contract. Shall I bring out the contract once again?" He asked giving Leon a fiery glare.
"I-I…I'll come back later." Leon quickly said practically running out the door. Today was apparently not the day to piss off the pet store owner, and hey, he didn't really want to make a man who owned tigers and giant man-eating fish angry.
D watched as the detective burst out the door just as quickly as he burst in. He sighed again and looked at the grandfather clock in the corner. It was 10:30.
"When was the last time I went to go see if the ovens were ready? Oh yes, about 10:20….they should be fixed by know." His sweet deprived brain reasoned. With that he walked out the door heading to Madam C's shop.
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On the way back to the pet store a sullen D was trudging along the sidewalk. The ovens had not been fixed yet. He was contemplating on his horrible existence when the most tantalizing aroma hit him. It was faint but his deprived senses knew sugar when he smelt it. He made his way along, following the sent. He was only a few stores up from his shop when his nose led him across the street. The sent was strong now and he had hopeful stars in his eyes. He looked up at what he assumed to be a bakery but was completely surprised. It was a book store; the small unassuming building had a sign hanging above the door. The interesting thing was it was not written in Chinese but in English. The simple words were written in elegant cursive.
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"Book Shop"
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Looking through the two large windows on the left of the dark cherry wood door he saw tall shelves of books confirming this was indeed a book store. He knew this street like the back of his hand but he had never noticed this store before. It was hard not to notice it too, it was almost right across from his store; he could see the little pet shop from here.
"Maybe they just moved in?" He idly thought when another breath of the sweet aroma attacked his nose. He opened the door and walked inside.
The door opened up to a well lit room with shelves and shelves covering every wall. Around the store were a few reading chairs with end tables. The walls were covered in tan wallpaper with little decretive silver spades printed on it. In the middle of the shop a platform was raised up a couple of steps. On it was a medium sized desk with a few folders, a few neatly placed pens, and a lamp. Everything was immaculate; the books were all in rows none stuck out further that the others. The shelves were spotless; the gray marble of the floor shined to perfection, the desk had all its things in place. It looked picture perfect and all the decor went together so perfectly. He took another step into the shop his shoes making soft clicks on the tile. He was almost to the desk when he heard a rolling sound. He turned around to the front of the store trying to find the source of the noise.
"Good afternoon." A smooth voice said from behind him.
D spun round to face the desk and was nearly floored. There stood a lovely creature with shining black hair moonlit kissed skin and sharp silver eyes. The woman stood at the bottom of a rolling ladder holding onto a step with one hand. She was wearing a black pant suit instead though of a jacket she wore a vest. Underneath the vest was a long sleeved white dress shirt. Her heels were black and had a pointed toe. Her hair was done up in a messy bun with short hairs framing her face. To complete the professional look she had small square black spectacles perched on her nose with a silver chain attached to them.
"May I help you?" She asked walking toward him and the desk.
"Hello," D recovered quickly, "My name is D, I own the pet shop across the street. I noticed you were new here and came to welcome you to China Town." He finished with a charming smile.
"Thank you for the consideration Mr. D " She said opening a folder on her desk and jotting down something with a fountain tip pen.
He watched from his place in front of the desk as she scribbled down words in what he assumed was a book log when something caught his eye. He turned his head to the left and saw a long dining table made of cheery wood able to seat about 6 people. But the thing that had his interest was not the table but what was on it. An absolutely gorgeous fruit tart sat on a stand in the middle of the table, a plate of sugar cookies to the tarts right, and a tray of cream filled puff pastries to its left. Four place settings were set around the food, one at the head and two at either side. He knew now what he smelled while he was walking.
The woman went unnoticed by D in the presents of sweets as she watched him. He resembled something akin to a starving dog; the line of drool running down his chin only enhanced that image.
"Would you like some?" She asked.
"Oh, yes please!" He said his hands clasped together tears welling up in his eyes, completely forgetting his dignity as a man in his hopefulness. You could see the hearts in his eyes as the woman gestured to the table for him to sit.
He walked over and sat at one of the place settings. A white plate with silver bordering the circumference sat atop a pristine snowy colored cloth table matt with lace around the edge. To his left was silver flatware, polished to perfection that rested on a clean folded linin napkin. To his right was a teacup and saucer with the same design as his plate. Small silver pots containing sugar, cream, honey, sat in a cluster around the food. The woman was standing a bit away from the table brewing some tea in a matching teapot.
"Miss," D started, "Not to be rude, but why did you set up four place settings?"
The woman looked up. "Well I was expecting some people over, but, they seem to not be coming."
She said taking out a silver time piece from her vest pocket and checking it.
"So, you made the sweets yourself?" D inquired.
"Yes." She answered, placing the watch back in her pocket.
He watched as she walked over and poured him a cup. She sat opposite him and poured herself one.
"Go ahead and start." She said taking a sip of her tea.
He nodded gratefully, taking a slice of tart onto his plate. He couldn't hide his eagerness as he picked up the fork and took a bite.
The only Earthly word able to describe the taste of the tart was euphoric, no maybe heavenly, no maybe…alright there was no word. The tart was by far the best D had ever had, even better than Tetsu's. He took bite after bite until his sugar underprivileged brain was able to concentrate, which took about half of his tart piece. He looked at the woman calmly sipping her tea with closed eyes; anyone who could make sweets like that defiantly piqued his interest. Now that he was able to focus he could now appreciate just how lovely she was. It was very rare to find a regular human prettier that his shops occupants, he hadn't met one till now.
D swallowed another bite of cream puff, "I'm terribly sorry Miss, but I haven't gotten your name yet."
The woman looked up from her tea. "My name is Anna Dreamor." (pronounced Drem-moor)
D rolled the name about in his head, "What a peculiar name." He thought.
"So Miss Dreamor," he began "What brings you here to China Town?"
"The location and rent were adequate" She answered.
After that D engaged in idle conversation with Anna as he polished off the fruit tart. He did most of the talking, but found out that she moved here from her book store in England. She delighted in the literary arts…and that was about it.
The grandfather clock in the corner chimed the hour. D looked up to see he had already spent an hour enjoying the woman's company, and hour away from his pet shop. He stood up rather quickly and bowed to Anna.
"I'm terribly sorry Miss Dreamor, but I must return to my store."
She followed after him as he walked briskly to the door. He turned one last time to look forlornly at the woman. He really didn't want to leave.
"I do have to go, but thank you so much for conversing with me. Maybe you could stop by my store and I could return the favor." He asked hopefully.
"I would be honored Mr. D. When would you like me to come over?"
"Tomorrow would be good. If not drop by any time you are free."
With that he rushed away to his pet shop. Hopefully one of his residences hadn't destroyed the place, leaving a silver eyed woman standing in the doorway of her shop staring after him.
She closed the door and started to walk to her desk when flap of feathered wing beats hit her ears. She turned and saw a raven perched just above her store's door.
She watched the raven as it did her a silent staring match between the two when the raven broke said silence.
"Other friends have flown before. On the morrow he will leave you, as your hopes have flown before."
Then the woman said, "Nevermore."