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Library, Sunday

Getting into the spirit of the weekend, Evan was passing his shift today in the children's section, just browsing the titles and every now and again pulling out one that caught his attention. There was one about a little kid who, mad at his parents, had gone off to be king of the monsters. And another one about an old couple who had come across an inordinate number of cats. He even flipped through one about a caterpillar with an impressive appetite, and was smiling a big, silly smile when, by the end of the book, the caterpillar had become a big, beautiful butterfly.

And if any kids were to wander in today, he'd even offer to read for them. Because... why not? He liked reading, and he liked sharing the books he was enjoying, and even if the kids would be grownups again tomorrow, introducing them to the joy of books today still seemed to him like an excellent thing to be doing.

The library was open!

[Open!]

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"Um," she said, shifting from foot to foot thoughtfully, "I read the first one yesterday and this morning. If the other ones aren't too big, I bet I can read both 'fore they're due. Have you read them? Are they as good as this one?"

Whoa. Slow down there, tiny eight-year-old.

Edited 2013-11-17 19:45 (UTC)

Okay, this little girl was pretty much the second most adorable little girl he'd ever met.

... Not that he knew a wealth of tiny children to begin with, but she liked to read, and she had good taste in books, and that was pretty much all it took for Evan to decide that he liked someone even when they were grownups.

"They are! I mean, it takes three books for them to get where they're going, but they're classics for a reason, you know? Stuff really gets exciting in the third one."

"'Kay, I'll take 'em both," Gertrude declared. "Also a dictionary, please. I probably won't need it, but I can't remember the password to the computer in my room, so it's good to be safe, you know?"

Gertrude was quickly working up Evan's very short list of favorite children, here.

"The second two books and a dictionary," Evan echoed, already pulling himself to his feet and nodding for her to follow him to the fantasy fiction section. "Let's start with the novels, okay?"

"Okay!" Gertrude followed after him with a spring in her step. "Yeah, I should follow you, 'cause that way when I come back for the other books you won't have to show me where they are. 'S more practical."

Though she did have to skip a bit to keep up. She was still short for her age. "What's your name?"

Edited 2013-11-17 20:17 (UTC)

Oh, tiny practical child. Could Evan keep you?

"I'm Evan," he replied, rounding the corner and zeroing in on the Tolkein without even really having to look. He knew the library like the back of his hand these days. And as a mutant who had total control of what the back of his hand looked like, well, it was safe to assume he knew the library pretty thoroughly. "And you?"

"I'm Gertrude," she replied, crouching down behind him to look at the books. That was a lot of Tolkein. "I have a pet dinosaur."

Irrelevant to the conversation, but she thought she should share!

Evan blinked at that, and then barely managed to keep from laughing. She was so tiny! And her hair wasn't purple!

"Well, hi, Gertrude! I have a pet dog, but a dinosaur is way neater. What's her name?"

Sssh, he already knew, of course, but if she was sharing, he was going to happily plod along into the conversation she was handing him.

"How'd you know she's a girl?" Gertrude asked, not missing a beat.

"Because all the coolest dinosaurs are girls," Evan replied, pulling that scientific fact out of thin air like a champ, "and I figured if you were going to have a pet dinosaur, you'd definitely have a cool one."

... That was sound logic, right?

"What about the dinosaurs from ~~meta for~~ The Land Before Time, though?" Gert countered. "I think a couple of 'em are boys."

Oh. Um. Evan hadn't taken that into consideration, either. Not that he'd seen that movie, mind.

Which was probably for the best, because he'd probably cry like a baby after that part where Tinytoes' mother was taken out by the sharp-tooth...

"Are they? Well... are they cool boys?"

His pop-culture knowledge was totally failing him now.

"Yuh-huh." Gertrude nodded. "They go on an adventure together and they learn not to be prejudiced or be bullies. Which, actually, if you say girl dinosaurs are the coolest, that's a little like prejudice, kinda."

Oh boy.

Evan could not possibly have predicted this turn of events. He was pretty certain that if this conversation was a sporting event, he'd be losing it, and losing it badly.

"I guess it is, isn't it?" He even looked a little shamefaced at that. The tiny clone of the crazy sort-of-god of mutant supremacy really should have known better than that. "Then clearly I'm wrong. All dinosaurs are equally awesome."

"Yeah," Gertrude agreed, nodding decisively just the way her older self did. "But mine's a girl."

All that circumlocution for that, Gert? Well then.

She had the decency to look cheeky, at least.

"What kind of dog do you have?"

Edited 2013-11-17 22:08 (UTC)

Well played, tiny Gert. Well played.

"He's a mix," Evan shared. "Half husky, and half corgi. So... he mostly just looks like a husky on really stubby legs."

And he was hyperactive. And smart. A dangerous combination.

Gertrude actually gasped. "Can I come over and meet him sometime?" she pleaded. "He sounds really cute."

"He's adorable, and he loves meeting people," Evan replied, laughing. "You can stop by to visit him any time, okay?"

Evan liked having the company, too! It worked out nicely that way.

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Library, Sunday

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