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Creative Inspirations | Monday, period one

When today's class had been asked to meet on the Causeway, there had been no special instructions, no strange vehicle in wait for them to take them somewhere strange and exotic and dangerous. Just Jonothon and Hannibal, waiting near an open portal, like so many classes before this one, back in the summer sessions.

Jono, at least, was looking pretty pleased about all of this. He liked today's inspiration of choice.

//Morning, class,// he greeted, giving the students a nod. //Today, we're going to be taking in another man-made wonder, and one that's rather close to my heart.// Please nobody mention how his heart had been left behind in bits and pieces all over a coat room in London somewhere, thank you. //Today, we're going to the library.//

Hannibal looked equally pleased with today's jaunt, though his content expression was somewhat marred by a still-healing black eye and bruised jaw. He was in a very nice suit and looking as suave as possible to compensate. Or at least to avoid looking like an unsavory character. "Specifically, we're going to the Abbey Library of Saint Gall, in Switzerland. It's one of the oldest and most beautiful in Europe, so I'm told. There is evidence of a library there as early as 820, and its collection has become renowned over the years; it has been declared a World Heritage site."

//If you have any sense of appreciation for beautiful things that persevere, you might find yourself awed by the architecture and the books alike,// Jono added. //But please, be respectful of both. Much of what you'll see is very literally priceless, and libraries deserve respect.//

"If you have any questions, please let us know." Hannibal nodded at Cosette. "Most of the staff will speak French, and some will know English as well," he told the others, "although if you know German, that will be easiest." Hannibal knew them all, naturally.

After making certain there were no questions, he waved them through the portal.

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Their site is here (http://www.stibi.ch/en-us/library/lendinglibraryreadingroom.aspx), and you can actually walk about inside via Google here (http://tinyurl.com/q7929q2)!

Oh gosh. Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh!

It wasn't that Alluka was awed by the books (boring!) or the way the building looked (that was for old people!) but she was beyond thrilled becaaaaause this was the perfect place for a princess.

So she was going to be over here, clutching her stuffed bunny in her arms, and practicing sitting like a beautiful princess by one of the windows. Every now and then she'd get up and practice swooping over to the next window with as much dignity and class as she could muster.

At... least... she was quiet?

Dante strolled through it, mostly for lack of anything better to do. "Yeah, those are definitely books," he muttered. "...And more books."

There was something weirdly familiar about the place, though. But he couldn't put his finger on it, so he forgot about it. The other option was to let a stupid library make him unsettled, and that wasn't going to happen.

Eventually, Hannibal passed by Dante; he nodded at him pleasantly. "Did you have a question? You seemed very intent on our introduction." Or on Hannibal's bruises. One of those.

Was his teacher actually getting passive-aggressive with him, or was Dante imagining it?

Well. There was only one response to that, either way.

"Yeah. Who the fuck did you piss off?"

Less passive-aggressive, and more giving him either an opening or an out.

Hannibal chuckled. "Nobody, initially. Jono's world is home to a number of unsavory people. Some of them decided I would make an easy target."

It didn't really matter. You gave Dante an opening, he took it. He was just wired that way. Practically compulsive.

"So did you win or did you lose?" he asked, sounding like he was only faintly invested in the answer.

Hannibal thought about it for a moment. "With help, I won."

He was, after all, alive.

Hey, it wasn't like Dante knew if it was a to-the-death kind of fight. Other people didn't tend to have those so often, in his experience.

"Try to duck next time," he said, flashing a grin. "That eye's shining."

Well, to be fair, Hannibal wasn't most other people. And Jono's world was a bit warped, too.

Hannibal chuckled. "I was somewhat tied up at the time, but I'll keep it in mind should it happen again."

"Just don't let them string you along," Dante said, smirking a little."Some fights you just gotta cut short."

Seriously, though, now he was starting to get curious again.

Hannibal grinned. "It all depends upon your mettle. But fortunately, Jono came up with an off-the-cuff solution."

Maria was loving the books and the architecture -- even while she was quietly seething about the bruises on Dr. Lecter's face. How dare someone hit one of her favorite teachers? (She'd seen enough football player fights and had seen Max's face after some of Kyle's would-be friends jumped him to know what hitting looked like.)

So, she was here, trying to pay attention to the amazing library even while her mind was trying to think if she had something in her bag or in her dorm room among all of her oils that would help.

"You seem somewhat distracted," Hannibal observed. "I had thought you would enjoy this place." The only one they'd thought might not would be Dante, and at least this place was likely less traumatizing.

Maria gave him a small smile.

"I am enjoying it, really." Her voice and her eyes were sincere. "It's beyond amazing and I'm not going to want to leave when our time is up. But see, I'm also angry that someone gave you bruises, so I was trying to remember if I had anything in the home remedies my mother sent with me that I could give you to help."

She wasn't going to ask who had hurt him, because she knew that was none of her business. Prying with Liz or Alex or the others back home. Prying into the life of her teachers was something else entirely.

Hannibal smiled at her. "I appreciate the thought, but I am a doctor. At the moment, it's at the 'looks worse than it feels' stage, in any event."

Maria blushed slightly, not having stopped to think of the fact that being a doctor he knew better than a sixteen year old about how to make his pain diminish.

"Did the people who did that to you pay for it?"

Because obviously more than one person had to have done that. She didn't see just one person getting the jump on Dr. Lecter.

Well, there were all sorts of doctors; she wasn't to know he was a medical doctor.

"They did," he answered. "Jono and his friend came to my rescue." These two things were...not entirely related, but both absolutely true.

She smiled and nodded. "Good. I'm glad that they didn't get away free with hurting you. I have this thing about people hurting the teachers I like and respect."

Knowing the Pod Squad had made her have very strong opinions on people she liked being hurt or persecuted.

. . . oh, could she stay? Could she stay here forever?

Cosette wasn't even bothering to hide her awe at the sight of the place, constantly looking up at the ceiling with an enraptured expression, or peering carefully at the spines of books with the occasional soft exclamation of amazement.

Well, no, she wouldn't stay here forever, but she wanted to be able to come back again and again.

Hannibal smiled at her awe. "Lovely, isn't it?"

"I've never seen anything like it," Cosette blurted out, then looked abashed at having raised her voice. (For shame, library aide. She should know better, but -- look at this place!) "I want to read all the books, but I want to look at everything, too, and I think I should fall to pieces trying to do both at once."

Hannibal grinned. "Very likely. But we have our time here, and now you know it exists, you can always travel back yourself."

"Do you know, I rather think I will," Cosette said thoughtfully. "I'm so glad you and Monsieur Starsmore brought us here! How did you learn of this place?"

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Creative Inspirations | Monday, period one

Enjoy the library!

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