Cory yawned as he turned away from the window and tucked his head under a wing. It was<span style="font-style: italic">way</span>too bright outside. Snow's great, but this super reflective aspect of it, not so much. It was almost like noon. Wait, it shouldn't be so bright, what time was it?<span style="font-style: italic">Ohshootit'stimetowork I'm gonnabelate shootshootshoot</span>was rushing through the phoenix's head as he shifted into his human form and whipped on his usual outfit. As he glanced at his alarm clock however, Cory realized that he had only missed it by about 5 minutes. Yeah, it was just the extra light outside that had worried him so much.<br/><br/>A short while later, he was in Rune's Bookstore, pushing his cart of miscellaneous bookstore goods along. There was a small commotion outside that he had noticed, but it had already been cleared up, and so was nothing to be concerned about. Just a bit of unnecessary drama, probably. Cory had been working at the bookstore for almost a year now, and it had been pretty nice so far. It was quite the relaxing job, but not too boring. There was always something new and interesting happening. He almost dropped a stack of bookmarks when he thought of one of the funnier experiences he'd had at this place.<br/><br/>After stacking and organizing the items on the shelf and bookmark stand he had been working on, Cory had a bit of time for a short break. He retreated into one of the more secluded sitting areas (bringing his cart with him), and pulled a seemingly random book out of a nearby shelf. It was actually the next book of a fantasy series the blue-haired stocker had been reading, and he hadn't gotten the chance to really begin reading it until this point. He only hoped he'd actually have enough time to get through the first chapter in one go.