fandomhigh | Library, Wednesday [ 02/13 ]

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Library, Wednesday [ 02/13 ]

The early bird mrow eht sehctac, or, at the very least, earned herself a chance to leave for the Librarian, outside his office, a plastic container of blueberry muffins, previous ~~and handwavily~~ retrieved from J,GoB the day before specifically for this purpose. She did not, of course, leave a note with them explaining their existence, but she trusted in his intelligence and her own obnoxious smile on him every time she spotted him to help express for her the fact that they were thanking him for his wonderful work as a librarian and the gratitude she had for him being a convincing potential poisoner.

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Eventually, maybe Adah would break the habit of instantly assuming sudden movements to be deadly; the fact that this particular one lead where it did was helping. She opened the library in a good, though sarcastic (weren't they interlinked, anyway?) mood; this, and kissing River back, still light and soft on her end up attempting to catch up, was certainly helping to maintain this. Dragging it out, she made a small sound of appreciation before finally having to draw back for some air, speaking as the breath came in. "Thank you." For the gifts, the visit, the kiss, for coming back and not remaining distant. It was much nicer when she wasn't distant.

Those words made that soft warmth return to River's chest. Despite the existance of Eels, who might or might not be preferred, this was a good moment. She pulled back, while reaching up to run her finger along a strand of Adah's hair, then sat back on the desk cross-legged and began to peel the apple.

Letting the light brush of fingers through her hair linger a moment, Adah grinned softly. She took a moment to reach out and give one the many, many ribbons on the present a little flick before needing that hand to lean her chin on as she leaned over the desk. She wondered what it might be for a moment, before realizing that it wasn't much good to try to guess, became slightly distracted by River's knee nearby, and then finally looked up toward the other girl to quickly watch her peeling. It never failed to amaze Adah how easy River made that look.

It was easy, for River. She held out a long strip of apple peel, offering it to Adah. "Like a strand of hair or a tapeworm," she said.

Which lead, most logically, to Adah wondering whether or not River enjoyed the pomegranate ginger ones from last week, as she nodded her head in gratitude at the offer of the apple peel. She slowly stat back up, needing her hand to eat now rather than leaning, and took the peel. Any attempt to be as deft as River to lower the apple peel spiral into her waiting mouth was foiled by the fact that her head wasn't seeming to want to tilt back today, so much as it just lolled to the side against her shoulder.

"They were very good," River informed her. "Still don't have tapeworm." She watched Adah eat, resisting the urge to lean in and kiss the corner of her mouth. Instead she slices the apple in half and held out both of them, one in each hand, for Adah to chose.

By the time River offered the half of apple, Adah still hadn't quite managed to clear all of the peel yet, but, in an attempt to not be lagging behind the much quicker River, went to tuck the rest in her mouth and swallow so she could free up her hand and start the apple, but too much of the peel hadn't quite been chewed enough, trickled down her throat, tickled and choked her throat. Her eyes watered, trying not to cough to dislodge it, annoyed that a simple thing like eating could prove difficult, but she had to. The coughs echoed in the quiet of the library, and Adah hunched over slightly, hand out by her mouth to catch the offending apple peel and hair, thankfully, drawn over her face so that River couldn't see it. Sure, she'd know what was happening and even see the after effects in Adah's face red from effort as she lifted her head, tossed it a bit to move some of her hair, but seeing it happen and knowing it happened were too different things. She settled her hand with the half-chewed peel in her lap, as if to act like nothing happened at all, while trying to think of what exactly to do with the fact that she had coughed up bits of apple peel in her good hand at the moment.

Mmm, romantic. Not at all embarrassing, either...

River gave Adah a look of concern, wondering if she would have to assist in dislodging the offending piece of apple, but relaxed once it was safely released into Adah's hand. She placed one of the apple halves in Adah's hand - the good one - and picked up the apple peel and threw it up in the air, then managed to have it land on her nose.

River placing the apple in her hand anyway just made Adah's face burn a little brighter with embarrassment. Still, she sheepishly, quietly, lifted it to her mouth to take a bite, although the whole ordeal left her suddenly rather lacking in hunger. She felt slightly like she should apologize, but, as soon as she thought it, she banished the thought. She shouldn't have to, not when it was River's quickness, rushing, that had her hurrying.

River gave her a questioning look. Why should she apologize? "Coughing is a natural reaction to things stuck in unsuitable places." She licked the apple peel off her nose, then leaned forward, twisting her body around so that her head was just above Adah's lap looking up at her. The look she gave was a stern one. Apples in the wrong places should not ruin a good moment.

Adah looked down at River with just her eyes, trying to return an equally stern expression, but she had to admit, with these angles, it was difficult to remain stern or embarrassed. A light grin showed up, and she ducked her head to nudge River's forehead with her own. She shouldn't have to explain why she felt like apologizing; it was embarrassing, that doing simple things like eating, which most people took for granted, which probably even River took for granted, were difficult for her.

It sucked.

River sensed that, knew that. She had also learnt that trying to make things better usually made things worse, so she did what she wanted herself, which was to stretch up and kiss the corner of Adah's mouth. Perhaps it was a way to say 'I know'.

The light kiss, as indicated by the pull of that corner into a grin, helped.

But, then again, so did the thought that at least Adah didn't end up hacking it right up on the desk. Or on River.

"Have thrown up on my brother," River said, her face inches from Adah's. "Without embarrassment. Side effects of medication."

Adah snorted, careful that the sudden expression of amusement didn't wind up in an unfortunate knocking of heads or anything of the sort. Better a brother than a lover. She recalled how Rachel wouldn't shut up for months when the flight into Africa left Ruth May vomiting all over Rachel's favorite suit.

"I assume it's something doctors learn to handle," River replied, giving Adah a teasing look. "Will avoid repeating it on you though."

Adah countered the teasing look with a steady, lofty one. Hey. Adah planned on mostly researching and surgery. Most of her patients will (there was an emphasis on will, but Adah was trying to avoid the reasons why) be unconscious and under. More concerns about bloodstains than vomit.

"What about the emergency surgery needing to be performed on short notice? Anasthetic can be troublesome." River tried a perfectly innocent look.

Lightly, Adah shook her head; not in a properly staffed hospital. Her head filled with the sort of direct and organized chaos of a medical examination room: so much to do, plenty of people to do it, many gears on a well-tuned machine. There wasn't always an exam room,though. There wasn't always a staff. The scene faded away into Africa, a brief glimpse at Adah's neighbors and their missing parts, Mama Mwana and her lack of legs, that man in the red sweater and his lack of eyes. At that point, the pain is usually an anesthesias in itself. Whatever they're there for, it's so painful that they don't even realize that the legs they thought were bleeding and severed were actually not even there any more. Like when Adah herself would get her right foot caught in something, twist it, wrench it free, and then not even feel it until later that night, lying in bed, and suddenly whimpering in pain. The brain supplies its own anesthesias when needed. It's just not as good as the medical stuff.

Turning serious, River nodded. She knew about pain too, after all. The memory of it made her flinch and her muscles tensed. "Direct it somewhere. Cutting through stone."

Expression turning sympathetic, Adah gave a weak sort of smile. She set the forgotten apple aside for a moment so she could brush back some of River's hair. Perhaps they should go back to vomiting on siblings. It seemed to be a much easier conversation.

Leaning lightly against Adah's hand, River tried smiling back, searching for a new subject altogether. "I will go to the dance," she said. She wouldn't ask if Adah wanted to go with her; not directly.

Adah gave a short, breath of a laugh, almost a snort if it weren't for its silence, and grinned. The light leaning on River's part stayed Adah's hand, her thumb brushing against the other girl's cheek lightly. That was hardly news; River to a dance was like the moon to the earth. If the latter would there, so the former would be, too, unable to help itself, drawn in by the mere gravitational pull.

"Bought a new dress, a blue one, for dancing." Now the smile was widening, and she turned her head to kiss Adah's palm.

That earned another light smile. "You'll have to show me," Adah said quietly, biting her lip. She spoke, because she knew she was thinking things she didn't know if she wanted River to hear or not. Questions of if River'd thought of asking her, if the Eel had, if she wanted either of them, of what she'd do if River caught this, went with it, and asked, and then later, during his visit, the Eel did. He probably wouldn't, though...that was probably why Adah would rather not think about it at all.

Library, Wednesday [ 02/13 ]

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