fandomhigh | Library [4.4.08]

Karal was wandering the stacks, making sure the books were both where they should be, and neat and tidy.

Liir came in with his usual bag of food (http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2008/04/02/about-ajwain/) and was rather surprised not to find Karal behind the counter.

"Karal?" he asked quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone else in the library. Perhaps before this place, he'd never been to a library, but the required quiet was plain enough for anyone to sense and him especially.

Karal poked his head out from one of the stacks. "Good morning, Liir," he called.

[ooc: omg so sorry! I totally missed the notification for this!]

[ooc: no trouble! ^_^]

"Good morning," he said, very chipper.

It was a good morning indeed. A very good morning. He had a job to go to and Andrew was back and there were other reasons not fit for consumption by an older brother type person and certainly not a priest, but they were a good deal of why Liir was bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"You seem in very high spirits this morning," he observed as he came out from between the shelves.

"Andrew came back from his trip yesterday," he said. "Well, he came back Thursday but he didn't come back to the room so I didn't know. He bought me a shirt, apparently."

"That would explain it, then," he said, hiding a smile. "Where did he go?"

"A big city," he said. "I think he mentioned New York or something. Do you know why they needed a new one?"

"I've actually been there." Karal smiled at the memory. "I think it's named New York because it was settled by people from a place called York, and they wanted this to be their new homeland."

"Then why didn't they stay in York?"

...it sounded rather ridiculous to him. After all, he wouldn't go someplace and call it New Oz just because he rested his backside there. He wanted no place like home at all, himself.

"That I don't know," he replied. "But sometimes people have to leave. Their country can no longer support them, or they don't agree with how it is being run, or something happens to make it uninhabitable." He shrugged. "I'm sure there's a book here that would explain why they left."

"Probably," he agreed.

"How have you been, the past week?" He smiled as he walked over.

"I almost feel as if I only see you on Fridays anymore."

"It's been a long week," he sighed, moving to sit at one of the tables. "But it's quite good now, and I'm looking forward to peace of the weekend."

"As am I," he said with a brief smile. "My mid-week break has been replaced with a day of pottering around in the kitchen, so I think even I'm ready for a bit of a rest tomorrow."

"How is the new job?" he asked. "Are you enjoying it as much as you thought you would?"

"I am," he told him, the smile bright instead of brief this time. "The extra money should prove healthy enough to my savings and the experience will be useful as well, considering."

"I'm glad to hear it's going well." Karal smiled. "I might have to come in to have lunch one day."

He nodded.

"The owner, the one who actually eats, said he likes spicy food, so I'm allowed to do some up as part of the menu."

Karal blinked. "One of the owners doesn't eat?"

"I'm pretty sure not," he said. "He insisted on hiring me, but he won't eat anything I make."

He shrugged.

"I would say it was his age, as the old never seem to eat much, but he's a young-looking man."

"Just when I think this place can't offer any more surprises," he chuckled. "A man who doesn't eat owning a restaurant."

"His partner eats," he said.

"He took some of the rice and a sauce from the ice box and ate while I was working. I think he was watching to see how I worked.

"I still have my job, if that's any indication."

"Which does not surprise me at all, given how well you cook!"

He laughed.

"There's more to it than that, but they did seem impressed. I went a little overboard, I think, judging by his surprise at the menu board."

"Nothing wrong with that," he said, nodding. "And they're obviously impressed."

"I only do my best," he said.

He ran a hand through his hair.

"And you? Have you been keeping busy?"

Satisfied that the books were all in order, Karal turned his attention to the desk.

He wasn't sure when it had last been tidied, but he'd pulled absolutely everything out of every drawer and shelf and cranny and piled it on the floor.

He sat next to it, sorting it all out.

"Karal."

During second period - not that Cable measured his time by that - the large mutant arrived in the library, towering above the boy on the floor. "Any news from the front?"

Startled, Karal's head shot up, post-it notes stuck to his chest, a pencil behind each ear, and an assortment of brightly-coloured dinosaurs clutched in one hand.

He hadn't heard Cable approach, and it took him a moment to get past blinking, wide-eyed surprise. "No," he said shaking his head. "No news yet." And he'd been trying so hard not to think about it, too.

A curt nod, and Cable was squatting to meet Karal's level. "These things can take time." Which didn't make them any less frustrating. "He hasn't shown up again since?"

Karal started setting the dinosaurs out in a row, one after the other. "Altra serves Vkandis Sunlord above all else. If He wants Altra to stay in Valdemar, or return to Karse, then that is what he would do." He smiled a little. "I have faith he will return when it's time, and it is important that he be where he is needed most." Though not for the first time that week, he wished the Firecat were here.

Edited 2008-04-04 11:05 (UTC)

"Good."

Cable had his own personal feelings regarding the Firecat's presence or lack thereof, but he had no particular inclination to share them. "Make sure you get enough sleep; they may need you along the line." He had, after all, seen Karal's shape in the middle of the ongoing crisis-- a repeat of that wouldn't be a good thing.

Karal's smile got a lot softer, a lot warmer, and ridiculously happy, and he nudged the bright yellow dinosaur until it was next to the red one. "I don't think Evey would let me go too long without sleeping," he said quietly.

"Listen to her," Cable replied, pulling himself back up onto his feet. "Sleep. Eat. If your people need your help, you're going to have to make sure you're capable of giving it."

"I know." His tone was serious, and he met Cable's eyes. "A very wise woman once told me that a wise soldier sleeps when they can, because when everything starts to happen, you might not have time to sleep, and a wise solider is more likely to be an old soldier, with old comrades." He couldn't help wondering what Kerowyn would think of Cable. "I'm not a soldier, but I can still follow her advice."

"'Very wise woman' would be the word, yes."

He shot Karal the shortest of smiles. The old one, sometimes described as being not unlike the visual equivalent of telling someone it was okay-- they were an eggplant, and they could grow in Cable's garden.

Deadpool was very descriptive about these things, sometimes.

"You'll do well, yet."

And turned towards the door. "Call me if anything happens."

"I'll try to, sir." Karal straightened automatically, unaccountably settled by the smile, short as it had been. "When Altra returns," because he knew the Firecat would, he simply had to have both faith and patience, "I will send word."

"Thank you."

And Cable resumed his tread towards said door, almost as quietly as he'd come in.

It took him almost an hour, but he was finally happy with his organisation, and he started putting the remaining contents of the desk away with careful precision.

A place for everything and everything in its place.

As it turned out, the lunch things and the cups weren't as neat as they could have been. Which was why Karal was washing them all, after which he'd dry them and put them all away.

There wasn't really anything left to tidy. Or clean. Or put in order.

Karal was over by the windows, watching the weather, a book forgotten in one hand.

Edited 2008-04-04 10:33 (UTC)

Oh, sleeping is good, sleeping is great, not sleeping is enough to make me become quite irate.

Or write really bad doggerel. Which is probably worse.

Library [4.4.08]

First period [4.4.08]

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Lunch [4.4.08]

Afternoon [4.4.08]

OOC [4.4.08]