Marian is definitely a secondhand-bike person normally, but like, she can afford a nicer bike on her new salary. Also it seems less likely it'll get stolen in a small town, probably, so it's less wasteful to spend a big chunk of money? 

She'll look at the secondhand bikes anyway, in case she happens to love one of them, but otherwise she's willing to spend up to let's say $800 to get a nice lightweight bike. (It's double what she's ever spent on a bike before and it's in US dollars.) 

Is there a store owner around who she should ask about taking her selected bike on a test ride? 

The store owner is busy talking with a family looking over some child bikes, but one of the employees is available! He's a dark haired college guy of roughly college age, and he's wearing some band tshirt, cargo pants, and an earring with a small, sharp tooth (fang?) hanging from the lobe.

"You can try it out here," he says as he leads her to the mostly empty lot behind the store. "If you want to try it out on more hilly ground, I can grab a bike and ride around with you a bit. New in town?"

Marian is not staring at the tooth on his earring but it is, perhaps, a somewhat effortful non-stare. 

"Yeah! I just moved here from Canada. I'm a nurse, I'll be working at the hospital." 

He smiles. "Cool. I hope we only meet again on my turf, then, or neutral ground."

What the heck does that mean??? 

"Uh, yeah, please don't get sick or injured enough to end up in the ICU, that would suck." 

She'll ride the bike around a bit, and - then, yeah, if he doesn't mind then she would like to try it out on the hills as well.

He seemed to agree it would suck, and, still smiling, goes to grab a bike from inside before following her out into the hilly roads.

"Want a tour?" he asks as he bikes casually behind her.

"Sure!" Marian calls back over her shoulder. 

(There are going to be hills. There's no actual reason why Marian has to prove her physical prowess to this random bike store employee, but - it’s possible that she’s feeling competitive and determined to prove that she can handle hills, especially given how she’s currently riding the fanciest bike she’s ever ridden in her life.)

He leads her around a couple blocks, pointing out a book and board game store he likes, a tea shop called PoeTea with a gimmick of serving random personalized poetry with every order, and, when they reach the to of one of the hills, a well positioned bench with a nice view of the northeastern portion of town.

She manages the hills! Probably the competitiveness helps! The bike handles really well, in any case; it may not be what helped her overcome the hills, but it may have been a close call with a slightly worse bike.

Oh good! Marian appreciates the tour and, once they get back, is inclined to go ahead and buy this bike? It seems like a pretty good bike.

"Thanks for your business," the guy says as he takes her card. "Can I get you any extras? Bike locks, pads and helmet, stability charm, night lights?" He taps a bag hanging on the wall behind him, which seems to have all of the above in it. "Special deal for all at once."

Marian can afford extras and, since she does need a lock and helmet and lights, will definitely get the special deal for all of them!

(- wait, did he say stability charm? ....nevermind, Marian is just going to make a mental note of another Weird Thing and keep going with her day.) 

"Enjoy, and feel free to come back if your tires ever need more air, on the house."

"Thanks!" She might even have to take them up on that, since she didn't pack her bike pump or tire repair kit, they're still in her parents' basement, and she doesn't think it makes sense to buy a new set here. 

Marian will head out of the store, wheeling her new bike and holding the bag of various accessories, and then - oh right, it's not dark out yet so she doesn't need lights, but she should dig the helmet out of the bag probably? 

She does so, and beneath it, nestled between two elbow pads, she sees a thin metal chain, like one would wear around their wrist. A small charm is attached to it, an eight-pointed star set within a circle.

Huh. That's cute. Weird, but charming and very on-brand for this town. 

Marian puts it on, why not. (She doesn't bother with the elbow pads. It seems extremely unlikely she's going to crash her bike when riding on surface streets to get home.) 

It rests comfortably against her arm. After a few moments the temperature matches her skin and she barely feels it.

In that case Marian is likely to completely forget she's wearing it pretty soon! 

She doesn't have a pressing reason to be back at her apartment immediately – it's not like she has anything much to do tonight except make herself something to eat – so maybe she'll do a bit more leisurely biking around and seeing the town, in the opposite direction from where the bike store employee took her. 

The wind is chilly and crisp as she rides, leaves crunching under her tires as she zips from block to block, each building lit orange in the slanting light of the early afternoon. She eventually finds herself in a square, with a large stately building on one side, crowned with an untarnished brass bell and framed by grandiose columns. A gazebo gleams a clean white in the middle of the square, and she spots a bank beyond it, opposite the stately building that's probably the town hall. On the other two ends of the square are a library and post office-general store combo

The square has about a dozen people crossing through it in various directions, and the scent of wood smoke fills the air. Somewhere in the distance, a dog barks, and further out she hears the rumble of a garbage truck as it drives further away.

Oh wow, it's gorgeous. 

Marian probably has time to lock her bike up with her new bike lock and check out the library? It's not a huge deal if she ends up biking home after dark, she kept careful track of the turns she made and she has lights. 

As she gets closer she realizes that the building looks a bit like a church, or maybe was one at some point? But instead of stained glass windows there are normal ones, and there's no religious iconography: just the words HAVEN PUBLIC LIBRARY on the sign outside.

There's a stillness to the air inside, absent the chill wind that blows over the hilly streets. Warmth slowly seeps back over her body, and the faint noises of the town mute entirely once the doors close.

There are people at tables, on couches, at desks. Above them is a second floor, and in what might have once been the altar, a small cafe spreads the scent of coffee to contend with the books.

Many, many books. The walls are covered with them, and more fill shelves that alternate between the various seating areas.

Marian should definitely be trying to meet new people, she's going to be living here, but that's aaaawkward and maybe she'll just...go browse some books. Do they have a sci-fi section? 

They do! A sign for "Classics" at the far left seem to indicate everything from dead writers, and further to the right trends toward "Contemporary" from living ones.

There are two more signs in the middle of the section: "Soft" below and "Hard" above.

Marian is definitely more into Contemporary authors, even if she sometimes feels sort of vaguely unvirtuous about it. She'll have a peek at the Hard scifi in the Contemporary section, thoooough she's also definitely going to be discreetly people-watching while trying not to be weird about it. 

There are a variety of people all looking over various bookshelves, some just scanning titles, some picking out a few to examine the covers or flip through their contents. Most look normal, though the jewelry (charm?) trend continues, every third or fourth person having some specific bit that follows the theme she's seen all day.

After a couple minutes she spots a guy with glasses, moving slowly in her direction. He has a notebook in one hand, which he's constantly writing in as he looks between it and the books on the shelves, frowning slightly.

(Well, Marian is also now on board with the jewelry trend, apparently! Though she'll have to take it off at work, bracelets don't mix well with constant hand hygiene.) 

...Huh, what's that guy up to? Marian isn't sure how weirded out to be. She'll, uh, offer him a friendly smile, unless he's avoiding eye contact in which case she'll try to do that and fail.