Foxy clings close to Vi's arm. "I bet there's a lot weirder of stuff to come. It's not a coincidence that the first announcement is such a good-news story."

"Anxious as ever."

"What do you think, love?"

Vi squishes her Kept protectively into her side as they walk, and hums thoughtfully.

"I think they're probably getting a pretty wide variety. It must be fascinating. On the one hand, this book is from only one species, and they're contacting multiple different civilizations. On top of that, most works in a given genre tend to range from mediocre to crap, with the curve really narrowing on the top end of quality. They're probably seeing a lot of stuff we wouldn't appreciate."

She tilts her head, purple curls bouncing to the side as she does. "On the other hand, they're going to want all of Heart to be behind them in whatever decisions they make about contact, and this announcement strongly hints that they feel positively. So they'll probably announce the best stuff, and that'll be what turns up in stores."

Foxy nods seriously, her ears bobbing. "Makes sense. Hopefully things go well."

"Whatever happens is pretty far out of our hands right now."

Vi nods, snugs both girls close, and they all keep walking.

Within fifteen minutes they reach their local bookstore.

The chimes ding as they walk in, and a woman with blue hair at the counter looks up from behind a stack of books. "Oh, hello," she says. "I was just starting to close up shop. Feel free to have a look around quickly or if you have something in mind I can help you out?"

She's wearing a nametag that says "Snow, she/her". 

Foxy looks at Vi.

Violet smiles brightly. "Hello, Snow! I wanted to talk with you about reserving a copy of a book you'll be getting in the next few days."

She blinks. "I haven't heard about any new preorders. Are you sure your information's accurate?"

Her expression turns sly as she leans in just a touch, one hand resting on the counter. "I'm extremely sure, Snow," she quietly replies. "It's a million-plus-word novel, and an alien shirasanmi, announced just minutes ago on the Sanctified's evening broadcast. If they haven't arranged publishing for it yet, I'm sure that's just because Snowblossom and her team spotted it before the publishers did."

X nods firmly. "We were all watching, I know it sounds crazy but it's real."

"One second..."

She pulls her phone out of her pocket and taps at it for a moment. 

"... Okay, yeah, you're not crazy. Huh. Aliens, who would have thought. Thanks for telling me, nobody tells me anything..." 

She runs a hand through her hair. "I'll put you down as first preorder, I agree that it'll definitely get published. No guarantees, obviously, but we'll probably stock it." She looks over at Vi and tilts her head, then looks over at the bookshelves to the side of the store.

"Hey Vi, I've been meaning to pick up a copy of Watchmaker's Heart, do you mind while we're here?"

"Oh, good idea, I want one of our own too. Grab one for us, X?"

She pops up on her toes and kisses Vi's cheek, then goes off into the bookshelves to look for Watchmaker's Heart.

Turning her gaze back to the cute clerk with a grin, she says, "Bet you a coffee you've got it by the end of tomorrow."

Snow's eyes flick to the necklace at Vi's neck, then she smiles and nods. "Deal. You know the local il'ka, right? Just down Hawthorn street a little ways?"

X comes back with a copy of Watchmaker's Heart in her hand, and sets it on the counter. "I work there, actually. I can take that shift if you're interested."

The corner of Snow's mouth turns up. "Sounds great to me."

"Perfect. Thanks, love." She kisses X on the cheek, then turns back to Snow. "What time do you get off tomorrow?"

"Right around now, I suspect. Maybe slightly later." She smiles archly. "We'll see."