A Good Book... (open)

Karma walked into the store that looked like a bookstore, her cloak billowing around her and her hood falling down to show her dark hair. Her dark brown eyes swept the store before she disappeared between the shelves, Nightmare, her black kitten, at her heels. She glanced down at the cat, sticking her tongue out at it. "Can you read Russian, Nightmare?" Karma asked, pulling a random book off the shelf. She showed it to the cat, who meowed skeptically. "Yeah. Me neither." She said. Suddenly, she felt too hot. She pulled at the strings that clasped her cloak together, taking off the dark leather and fur monstrosity. It revealed her black long sleeve shirt and black pants tucked into black snow boots. It was her normal hunting attire, only the long sleeves replaced her regular tank top, and snow boots instead of her combat ones. Her daggers were hidden, as always, but she stood as if she was heavily armed. It's the only way she ever stood.

She hung her cloak on the coat rack next to the door of the store and returning to the shelves, flipping through the pages of the book. She had absolutely no idea what it said.

Ksenia entered the local bookshop, lowering the hood of her fur layered coat. She hated the Russian cold sometimes. And even though the witch had lived there for more then three years she was still not fully used to it. Today she did not look at any books. It was a rare occurrence when she visited any bookshop, but with Abraxas's arrival and her new Master who was directing her to learn in a different way she did not have enough times for extra reading right now. Today she was visiting the shop to buy some much needed stationary. For some unknown reason buying stationary was such an exciting process for her, even when she was a child. It was something magical in it. She was buying the tools, the parchment and the quills that she would need to create something wondrous. Her hand glided in thought over a wooden box containing several colors of expansive ink.

Karma looked up as the girl entered, but took no notice of her. She didn't look very threatening... or important.

She noticed that there was stationary at this book store, so she went and observed it, the random book she'd picked up still in one hand. She looked at the paper, but there wasn't alot of it, not really, so she just picked up the one that looked the most durable. It wasn't the prettiest, but it would have to do.

She picked up the entire stack of it, so there was absolutely none left for anyone else, and looked down at Nightmare.

Nightmare gave her a look that clearly said 'Who do you think you have to write to?' but Karma ignored her. Nightmare was such a downer sometimes.

Ksenia looked up as she saw a girl approach the table she was standing by. She did not seem to be someone local. She wasn't normally one to be kind, but when it came to books, she became such a different person.

"Looking for something in particular?" Ksenia asked cooly, as she raised her eyebrow, studying the girl and her companion. She always liked cats.

Karma looked at the girl oddly. She didn't speak Russian. "Uh..." She shrugged. "I'm English." She glanced down at Nightmare, who looked back up at her with a skeptical look. So the cat didn't really approve either. That made her feel better. She shrugged a shoulder. "I'm Iva." She said softly. "Iva Popov."

Ksenia raised her eyebrow slightly but continued to examine the quills in front of her. "A girl with a Russian name, but no knowledge of the Russian language, whatsoever. How interesting," she mused in fluent English, as she continued to browse the products.

"I've been in England for a while. I tried to put myself fully into their culture, and it kinda consumed me..." She grinned sheepishly. "Don't tell my father, okay? He'd freak." she moved the papers in her arms so one of her hands was free and extended it. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She said, letting a Russian accent slip through. Her accent was as flawless as Iva's.

"Oh," Ksenia said. She didn't say anything else, the other girl's situation seemed to be quite strange. "I am Ksenia Sokol," the name slipped flawlessly from her lips after almost four years of practice. "It is nice to meet you too," she said as she shook the witch's hand. "How do you like it around here?" she asked.

"It's okay, I guess. I've only come back for christmas. It's easy to forget how cold it gets here..." she shrugged and moved the papers to both arms again. "You'd go to Durmstrang... how is it there, now a days?"

"Ah, yes,"Ksenia said with a smirk. "The Russian cold cannot be matched. They say only people who are born here are truly comfortable with it," she said. "Durmstrang is.......dark, darker then it was before they say. You really can't be too careful around that place. I wouldn't be surprised if there were dark princes lurking in the shadows," she said, her tone musing. Thankfully none of those power hungry monsters noticed her yet.

Karma raised an eyebrow. That was odd. She'd met a prince...

"Huh. Well, appearantly Hogwarts hasn't been this dark since Voldemort was there during the Final Battle, so it must a thing going on or something." Karma shrugged a shoulder and adjusted the papers again. "Alright. Well. I'm gonna go pay for these... Did you want something else...?"

Ksenia laughed st that statement. "Indeed. What a peculiar trend," she said, shaking her head slightly. "No. If you are sure about buying those," she said gesturing to the stack of parchment in the other girl's hands. "this kind is only good for field work in harsh environments. Much too uncomfortable to use for studying," she said. She had tried all kinds of parchments over the years she had focused completely on her learning.

Karma raised an eyebrow and smirked. "I know exactly what kind of parchment it is." She said with a slightly condenscending tone. "I'm using it for field work in the Russian Forests." She shrugged a shoulder and looked down as her black kitten reappeared next to her. "Nightmare? Go get that book I just had and bring it to the counter, will yhou?"

She spun on her heel and placed the parchment on the counter, smiling at the blushing young book keep. "I'd like these and..." she reached down and picked up the book from between Nightmare's little teeth. "This." She smiled winningly at the boy.

She only raised her eyebrow at the retreating girl, not saying anything. She chose some ink and continued looking at other products, not bothering to spare the girl another glance.