fandomhigh | Library; Wednesday [ 01/09 ]

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Library; Wednesday [ 01/09 ]

There was an almost ceremonial feeling in the air as Adah limped into the library; it hadn't been a while since she'd been there, no, of course not, but it had felt like it had been a while since she'd opened it. Not that she ever did an exceptional amount of work while she was there, but she limped in, found the desk, carefully pulling out her chair. She had a seat, centered it carefully, and then settled her bag on one corner. She then meticulously angled the books so that they were balanced with everything else on the desk. She brushed a hand over the surface, leaned in close, and blew a stream of air over imaginary dust. And then she was prepared to start the day, after a theatrical, though extremely quiet, mouse-like cough at the imaginary disturbance of her lungs.

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Behind the desk sits nothing but an empty space where Adah used to be; to find her, one would have to go searching through the shelves, or listen carefully to track the telltale sign of one leg being dragged behind the other.

Or they could just wait a moment or two for her to return for another pile of books; she wasn't particularly capable of taking many at a time, so she had to return often.

River might not see Adah at her usual place behind the desk, but she certainly sensed her presence. Following the flow of words, River moved quietly among the shelf, so that when Adah was about to put a book back an arm extended from the other side, grabbing the book.

Coming out of his office, he paused. Cocking his head at the sight of River Tam.

That wasn't expected at all.

"Miss Tam."

River's head turned slowly and her eyes fixed on the stranger. Appearantly she wasn't a stranger to him though.

[I have to disappear shortly, but will return in a few hours. Please, let me know what River can pick up from him!]

Not in the slightest.

River Tam, target for termination. No questions other than last known whereabouts asked.

At least, that was before.

"It is you. Shouldn't you be with your Captain Reynold?"

[[No worries! I shall e-mail]]

No stray thoughts there, but she knew instantly. He had been sent to kill her once. Twice? Would he hide that? She let the book she held drop and turned.

It was likely that the River he knew was another version of herself, but that wouldn't matter much. She ignored his question. "Another weapon."

He smiled faintly, no real happiness behind it. Just something that was an instinctive response to being vaguely insulted.

"Not anymore, Miss Tam."

"Part of your being not easily removed," River replied, her eyes fixed on him while moving slowly sideways.

"No," He replied, quiet and even tone. "It is not. But it is changed." Changing. "I am not here to harm you, nor anyone else."

If he could help it.

She could sense the will to change, but a mind was so much more complex than that, especially one trained for one purpose only. "Might not be your purpose, doesn't mean you won't."

"I have no purpose, Miss Tam." The voice and mind behind it open and empty. Purpose was everything.

Purpose kept one on track.

Purpose was why one existed.

"I am simply a librarian now."

"A weapon without a target." River began to walk backwards, towards the exit. Her eyes were calm and cold, but she could feel her breath speeding up.

He did not move to follow her. Staying terribly still as he went to leave, eyes downcast for a moment as her words impacted. "Perhaps that is what I am as well."

River hesitated before leaving the library. "If you hurt Adah I will kill you," she said quietly. Perhaps it was unwise to be so blunt, but he was perceptive enough to understand the reason behind her visits to the library.

Re: First Period -- 01/09

nottheoperative.livejournal.com - 2008-01-09 19:11 (UTC) - Expand

Re: First Period -- 01/09

moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com - 2008-01-09 19:21 (UTC) - Expand

River certainly had a good, strong flow of words to go from; in fact, Adah was so busy with a repeated and backwards recitation of a long line of topics associated with the book (despite being in a section that had nothing at all to do with the book), that she was completely caught up in the stream. So when there was another hand suddenly in the equation, Adah jumped, slightly, a jerking sort of action that nearly had her dropping the book. And then she blinked, the words suddenly cut off and tumbling in a crumpled, discarded pile on the floor of her brain, and she realized it was River, and the sudden stiffness faded slightly.

Only slightly, though, because she shouldn't have let herself be surprised like that.

She shouldn't have done that of course. From her side of the shelf River reached out a hand, her own fingers towards Adah's, as an apology.

Adah settled a steady glance through the space left in shelf; she took a moment to awkwardly bend to pick up what had fallen. She should just put the book right back in the slot over River's fingers for scaring her like that. There was, of course, a playful tone to it, but there was also a strong aversion against so readily accepting an apology. It was, after all, in the library that she was struck with a collapse that had her braindead for a week. It was only animal instinct.

Animal instinct made River's eyes turn sad and worried. Once again she had tried to play a game Adah didn't appreciate. If Adah didn't want fingers, perhaps she wanted an apple. River placed a ripe, red apple on the shelf.

Luckily, it would seem, hunger was a bit of an animal instinct, too. Adah's expression lightened. She set the books in her arms aside on another small bit of blank shelf space nearby before going to reach for the apple, with a small nod of thanks in response before she pulled it closer, curled it with her hand against her checks. She tilted her head as she looked through the space; what was she still doing over there, anyway? River should come to this side. Her head quirked slightly toward the end of the row, and Adah started limping that way. She'd meet River halfway. Or as close to halfway as she could get, since River was certain to move much more quickly.

This was a dilemma. Should she slow down and meet Adah halfway, or should she move at her normal speed and get further than halfway? Of course, Adah would know if she was deliberately moving slower, and she didn't need help.

River walked long, graceful steps, running her hand along the backs of books. When she reached Adah, her arm slipped around the other girl's waist instead.

Adah took the arm around the waist as an invitation to lean a good deal of her weight against River, her head lolling slightly to rest against River's. She been doing a lot of walking lately, a lot of talking. It wasn't help, she told herself. It was just taking a moment to appreciate what was there.

Of course, and River certainly appreciated it too. She held her head against Adah's, just listening to her mind.

Adah's mind was busy filling River in on the last few weeks, working, of course, backwards, from her latest employment at the clinic to the bird in the tree and Glitch's case of mistaken identity. Half a brain, she emphasized; once upon a time, he had half a brain, and he thought like Adah did, which put him very high in her opinion. She carefully attempted to skirt around various aspects of the week that she knew River probably wouldn't want to know; of course, in decisively skirting around what else she did at the picnic and afterward, on Sunday in a different row of these shelves, she probably brought attention to them, which is why she shifted, drawing her eyes toward River in an urge to have her talk about her week, as if those thoughts didn't happen.

Adah working at the clinic was a good thing, and friends with half a brain was too, like birds in trees. But those thoughts that was to be avoided stuck out, and River couldn't, even if she tried, call them good. And she refused to call it dancing. "I danced," she said, referring to the picnic, "but not with you." There might have been an attempt to kiss her.

The kiss was certainly accomplished, but lightly, and slightly offstandish. Something about the comment had registered as a criticism, when River knew perfectly well that Adah didn't do...wasn't entirely capable of doing...that kind of dancing. Besides, she didn't seem to have any trouble getting the Prophetess of Tragedy to help her in that pursuit. She didn't need Adah for that kind of dancing. It wasn't thought with malice, of course, just a fact, and any irritation in it came from River's relentless isistence on bringing it up.

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