Not enough hands (Travis)

[Lexie Fleming]

Lexie didn't normally go into the main shop of Flourish and Blotts when she was working - her work took place in the back rooms, or occasionally in the secondhand department. Today, however, somebody had dropped a load of books off at the wrong door, to her irritation (why was it so difficult for people just to do things right?) and so a boxful of rare books had ended up behind the main counter. The kid who would normally have done the fetching and carrying was off sick (of course - typical on the one day she needed them) and Lexie certainly wasn't going to leave them at the desk, for some idiot of a shop assistant to sell for a few sickles by mistake.

So she had emerged from her lair of dusty tomes and faded parchment, looking a little dishevelled, since she had been running her hand through her hair as she worked, and hadn't glanced in a mirror since. She had prepared to levitate the books, and then realised that she had left her wand downstairs. With an exclamation of annoyance under her breath, she had picked them up by hand (at least they were still boxed, so she wasn't spoiling them by touching them without gloves on) and headed for the door marked 'staff only', which led to her offices. The box was large and heavy, and Lexie was further annoyed to find that she was struggling by the time she reached the door, so much so that she didn't dare to let go of the box with one hand, to open the door.

Attempting to balance it on one knee while she got the door open, she felt it slipping, and had to grab the edge quickly, leaving her precariously balanced, and not daring to move even enough to put the thing down for a moment. Cursing her own stupidity for not just doing that in the first place (Lexie didn't normally get herself into this sort of situation; she was too practical), she swore much louder than was appropriate for a book shop, and glanced round to see if there was another pair of hands anywhere close by...

[Travis Malloy]

Travis had always wanted to do the whole superhero thing- run and jump into the spot of danger, put his hands on his hips and shout 'Travis Malloy, come to save the day!" Of course, this could now be considered a bit chauvinistic and more than a bit ridiculous, but he still did have his fantasies. Which was why, when he walked by the door of Flourish and Blotts and saw an extremely hot woman attempting to carry what looked like a box, his superhero!Travis drive went straight into action.

He jogged into the shop, hoping she'd been alerted to his presence by the chimes on the door. Part of him wanted to immediately grab the box out of her hands and carry it to wherever she needed him to take it, but past experience had taught him that some women didn't exactly appreciate a man coming in to do everything for them. Besides, he didn't know what was actually in the box, and what if he broke it? So, instead, he stood there quite awkwardly, wishing he had at least a superhero cape to twirl dramatically. "Er, what do you want me to do?" he asked, scratching his head. It would make sense to hex it, but if he lifted it himself, he'd get the chance to show off his sexy arm muscles. And besides, he didn't know what sort of effect a spell would have on the things inside- he assumed they were books, as they were in a bookshop, but one never could be too sure.

He really felt like a horrible person, just standing there, so he decided to go halfway and at least help her a little bit, since she seemed to be in a precarious position. Drawing his wand, he pointed it at the box and said, "Immobulus."

[Lexie Fleming]

Lexie wasn't sure where the young man (younger than her by some years, she thought) had come from, but right at the moment, she didn't care. She had wanted a person and a person had appeared, although it was just her luck to get an idiot who saw someone struggling to open a door with a heavy box in their hands and stopped to ask 'what do you want me to do?' as if it wasn't obvious. However, he did appear to have some amount of common sense as he at least stopped the box from dropping, allowing her to get a better grip on it again.

"Thanks," she said briefly, going back into practical mode, although she thought he'd probably need quite specific instructions, given his air of general helplessness, "Could you just grab the door for me please? And there's another one at the end of the corridor, would you mind...?" He wasn't staff, so she shouldn't be taking him into the offices, but it wasn't like he was going to do any harm by opening a door for her, and Lexie had never abided much by rules anyway. The practicalities of the situation overruled protocol in her eyes. She didn't even know whether he had time to help her out, but that hardly occurred to her - he had volunteered in the first place, so she'd make the most of it. The worst he could do was say no.

She hoisted the box properly into her arms again (he hadn't offered to carry it for her, and she'd have said no if he had - Lexie didn't trust anyone but herself with old books), and waited expectantly for his answer, and for him to do as she'd asked and open the door...

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Ooc - so sorry it's taken me so long to reply!