fandomhigh | Library [01.5]

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Library [01.5]

As was typical at the start of a semester, Anemone came tearing into the library moments before her shift. Two bags slung over her shoulder, ref board tucked under her arm, and Gulliver clinging to the back of her coat for dear life.

The first bag got stashed under her desk, the ref board went up against the door for Special Collections, and Anemone shoved the lifting googles back up on to her hat so that she didn't look like a mad scientist. Needing to catch a portal that was up in the stratosphere was awesome, and yet so totally inconvenient. And shuttles were boring.

The second bag was carefully opened up, and cookies and pie were put out on the front desk with a little sign saying 'Welcome New Students! Stop here first!' It was the easiest way Anemone had discovered to keep them from accidentally wandering off where they shouldn't go.

The Fandom High Library is open, and the library aide is about, except for third period.

[Follow the bouncing OCD!]

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For those that don't need the pink-haired assistant.

She's around, still dressed for flying, and possibly eating all the cookies. SHHH.

It was hard not to notice the girl as Henry came into the library, so he made a detour from his office to speak with her. "Hi," he said, deciding pink hair was cute and he wasn't sure he wanted to know what was up with her dog. "Would you be the Anemone my schedule says should be here today?"

(He'd found a a workable aide schedule! Angels were singing somewhere.)

Edited 2010-01-05 17:21 (UTC)

"Unless they cloned me when I wasn't paying attention, which is possible, but not probable," she mused, looking up from her sketch pad. "Or if we all have evil twins today. Or good twins. Would I be the evil twin or the good twin?"

"But I think I'm the only Anemone, yes."

"You forgot to mention the possibility that you're an Anemone from a week in the future, and the one who's supposed to be here has taken your place," Henry supplied, grinning into his hand. "But at this particular moment, I'm pleased to meet this Anemone, and I seem to be the only Henry DeTamble lurking about. I'm the new librarian."

"All Anemones are from the future," she said, quite seriously. Which was probably ruined by her grin. "We can't be from the past, because we don't exist yet."

"So Dr. Jones finally ran off, huh?" She looked over at Gulliver, who shrugged at her. "That makes you our fourth librarian in three years, Mr. DeTamble."

"Is being from a different year a requirement for working here?" Henry wondered. "Gabrielle's from about three thousand years ago, it was 2003 when I left home..."

He grinned, relegating that to the realm of imponderables, at the next comment. "Yow. Did Special Collections eat the others?"

Sadly, it seemed entirely plausible.

"It could be a requirement. I'm from about ten thousand years in the future," she mused.

"As for Special Collections... it tried to eat Dr. Jones, but I think he gave it indigestion. It mostly behaved for Ms. Next, as much as it usually does, and I don't think the other librarian ever had anything to do with it. Or a name." Anemone had just always called him 'sir'.

"Ten thousand years?" Henry echoed. And here he was feeling like it was a kickass parlor trick when he went 20 years either way. "And yeah, I found some notes from Dr. Jones. He had an interesting sense of humor."

No, Henry, those notes were true.

"I let Jonothon Starsmore take me back into Special Collections on Sunday. Never again."

"What did it try this time?" she asked, perking up. "Snakes were a favorite when it had to deal with Dr. Jones. Or the thing that growls and stalks about that you never see but can always hear, or re-arranging the isles to keep the thing you need at the other end."

"If it gave you the bitch in pink, then it doesn't get fed for a week." Anemone twisted around to glare at the door. "You hear me? No cookies if you aren't good!"

"The books flew," Henry said. "We brought Oreos in, because it was what we had, and they flew off the shelves to get at them. Looked like giant butterflies, acted like pigeons at the beach."

He followed her gaze. "There's a woman in there, too?"

"There's a few not so nice things in there, and they bite." Anemone's eyes went cold. "I don't think I'd go so far as to call them people."

"Respect it, but never trust it. Nothing sentient that takes physics as a suggestion should ever be trusted."

Which, if Anemone was being honest, included her, but Mr. DeTamble hadn't asked about that.

Well, Henry took physics as a suggestion, if it came to that. "So noted," he said. "I'm not going in again until I have to."

He went to cut himself a piece of pie. "Any other library lore you'd like to acquaint me with, Anemone?"

"I'm rather sure the dust bunnies are sentient, on occasion there's territory skirmishes, especially between the 200s and the 300s, and sometimes it will rearrange itself completely," she said cheerfully, reaching for a cookie.

"Oh, and the other students almost never come in here, barring an Act of Fandom."

"But it's a fantastic collection. I've been poking around in the rare books. You have a first edition of Gatsby. The preservation quality would be good for a college, let alone a high school. That's -- ," Henry said, then realized he wasn't talking to a fellow librarian. Reading, he'd gathered, was Not Cool in high school. Hell, if he'd been able to watch TV, he himself might not have read much in high school.

He deflated.

"It's impressive, is all. And no one comes in? Really?"

Edited 2010-01-06 00:54 (UTC)

"Sometimes Robin will come in and keep me company, but I almost never see anyone," she replied with a shrug. "Which is too bad, since I did some awesome Halloween decorations that all the other library aides kept adding to. We're the coolest part of the school."

"We'll have to advertise," Henry decided. "Well, either advertise or decide we're a very special secret, I haven't decided. We can definitely glory in being the coolest part of the school."

If he's around!

Henry was, indeed, around, and had carried a plate of pie and cookies back to his office. They made sorting through the paperwork go so much better.

... which was why he'd given up sorting through it and was reading a biography of Rilke instead. Shhhh.

Summer had neglected her duties as a teaching buddy over the weekend and yesterday, thanks to study hall, so she was making up for it today. With coffee. Summer hoped Henry liked coffee.

She used one hand to knock on the door, the other holding onto the cups.

"It's not locked," Henry called, then slipped a bit of paper into the book before going to open the door himself anyhow.

He was greeted by a tall, redheaded young woman bearing coffee, and he had to blink to remind himself this was not Clare and he was not in heaven. "Oh, hello," he said, gesturing into the office. "Come in. Welcome to my chamber."

"Hi," Summer replied, smiling warmly. "Thank you," she added, walking into the office. "I wasn't sure if you liked coffee or not but what kind of teaching buddy would I be if I didn't come bearing gifts?"

"First, I love coffee," Henry told her. "Total caffeine addict. So you guessed right."

He reached out for one of the cups. "Second, so you're the mysterious and elusive Summer? I'm Henry."

"Another coffee lover. "I like you already," Summer joked.

"This week, at least, that would be me. I'm not usually so scarce," she admitted. "It's nice to finally meet you, Henry. How's Fandom treating you, so far?"

"Not too badly, once I got used to the idea almost everyone is a few years off in one direction or another," Henry answered. "Or that there's part of the library that's sentient and doesn't much like me."

"But," he said, needing to say something positive, "the library's collection is great and my staff all seem bright. How long have you been here?"

"There's a part of the library that's sentient?"

Why that surprised Summer after being in Fandom for months now was anybody's guess. "The students here will surprise you and they are smart, even if some don't give themselves enough credit," she stated. "I've been here for a little under five months now. If you've got any questions, feel free to ask. I'll try and answer them as best I can," Summer offered. "Though, this place still surprises me every now and then."

Like the library just had.

"Special collections, through those doors," Henry said, gesturing vaguely. "I don't know what it's supposed to be, but I let one of the staff take me back there and ended up throwing cookies at flying books. They looked kind of like hungry butterflies."

He considered her offer. "What's the oddest thing you've had happen to you?"

"I may have to check it out just to satisfy my curiosity," Summer admitted, with a small smirk. "And yet, why do flying books suddenly not surprise me?"

Oh, Fandom.

"It has to be a toss up between waking up in an elf costume and being unable to take it off for the entire day or being turned into a sand plover one weekend," Summer recalled. "I might have to go with the plover."

And here's hoping she hadn't broken Henry's brain with that answer.

"You can go back if you want to, but I don't recommend it without a weapon, a snack, and a good pair of shoes," Henry said. "... sand plover is a bird, isn't it?"

And now he was looking Summer up and down like she'd gone crazy midsentence.

"Good advice," Summer noted, sure to remember that if she ever ventured into special collections.

And there it was.

"It is. Fandom thought it was being funny since I have a degree in biological oceanography." She shook her head, frowning slightly. "And I swear I'm not crazy or trying to pull your leg. It's happened to students and other teachers, too."

This might take a while.

"Was it like your mind in a bird's body?" Henry asked, still trying to follow. "Or did you just have birdy thoughts?"

"The first one," Summer said. "I was still me except a lot smaller."

She hoped that didn't happen again anytime soon.

First day back at work after four days off = 322 new messages, four classes, and two skipping minions. Serious SP may apply, see store for details.

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Library [01.5]

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OOC