Alex and Ria's New and Used Books
Copyright (c) 1996 by Shadowcat <jickes@indiana.edu>

Alex and Ria run a somewhat cluttered bookstore that is usually found off
the beaten track. They live above the shop and tend to be open odd hours.
When a customer enters, s/he is in a medium-sized room filled with plants,
cats, the counter with the cash register, several boxes of books waiting
to be checked in, and a set-up rather reminiscent of a hitching post with
balls of string tied to it. Some of the strings may lead back into the
stacks of books. Alex and Ria are a charming couple of indeterminate age.
They are unfailingly polite, but if someone insists on being rude,
they will refuse to help that person or sell anything or him/her.

Alex and Ria will strongly suggest that anyone going into another
room of the shop take one of the balls of string with and unwind it as
they walk. If asked, they will explain that the rooms connect together
rather strangely in the back, and that they have had some people get lost.
In fact, the bookstore is present in all places and times simultaneaously.
Each time someone passes through a doorway, without a string to lead
them back along the exact path they took in, they have a 3% (cumulative)
chance of switching into another dimension (i.e. when Joe Average
goes into one room, he has a 3% chance, when he leaves that room --
even to go back the way he came -- he has a 6% chance, etc.). If people
separate, their chances are determined separately (although if they
each have a string, both will be fine). Even if both people end up in
another dimension, they will probably be in different ones. Alex and
Ria can travel throughout the store with no trouble.

The bookstore is definitely organized, and a charater who is looking
for a specific book should be able to find it without too much trouble.
Alternatively Alex or Ria can help someone find any specific book quickly
as the entire inventory is in their computer system along with the exact
shelf location. The shelf location will be correct even if someone
has just moved the book. Each room is devoted to a particular subject,
although there will be several rooms for any subject (i.e. one room may
have just science fiction, or just history, but it will not be the only
room with books by that subject). The farther someone goes from the front
room, the farther they get from their own dimension. People wander far
enough into the store can find ancient Etruscan manuscripts, the latest
bestseller from Arcturus, or books by Shakespeare that he nevergot around
to writing in the browsers own timeline. It is considered bad form to
look for books written by yourself, and if you ask for them Alex and
Ria will consider you rude.

All new books are sold at cover price and used books are sold at one-half
cover price. Books are bought at one-quarter cover price.