fandomhigh | Library, Sunday

Face was going to hazard a guess this was the person he'd promised to be on his best behaviour for.

"I am," he said, then "Are you Cassandra's friend?"

Yeah, Face's best behaviour probably wasn't quite up to standard.

"I am," she confirmed. "My name is Lucille. I work here on Fridays, but I have been unable to find certain novels that Cassandra has showed me, and she said you could be of help."

Perhaps that wasn't the kind of greeting she would have expected, but being Cassandra's friend gave him a lot of leeway.

Never let him know that, Face and leeway were things that had even others of working great or terribly together.

"Well, I'm Face, and I know exactly the kind of books you mean." Which was how he'd been able to spin a fictitious shirt allergy into a makeout session last week. "And where to find them."

"Face?" Lucille guessed she had heard stranger names here, though. She smiled. "And I am happy to hear that. Cassandra told me that you appreciate them too."

Don't mention the makeout session, it would embarrass Lucille terribly.

At least one of them had a sense of shame. Of course, if Face had a sense of shame, he mightn't be so ready to admit to reading and enjoying this terribly high brow literature.

"It's a nickname," And it wasn't like Garik was exactly a common name on this planet either. "Now, were you looking for any titles in particular, or did you just want to browse that section and see what catches your eye?"

Lucille had understood from Cassandra's reaction that these books were perhaps not the best literature available in this time, but since they all shared this interest, it was acceptable to discuss them, wasn't it?

"No specific titles," Lucille said. "I would like to browse." And look at the covers. There should be shirtless boys on them, even of that made her feel a little awkward. Especially, show now realized, when she had to ask a boy to check them out for her.

"Or, of you have any to suggest?" she added.

Of course it was, but you know, teenage boy, societal expectations of masculinity and all that. Good thing Face didn't really give a mynock's about it.

"You can't really go wrong with the shieldmaiden series," he said, getting up from behind the desk and heading towards the shelves in question. "It's Cass's favourite. Which she probably mentioned."

Lucille followed Face.

"The one with the shieldmaiden who tries to save her lover from a horrible affliction?" One that resulted in shiftlessness, she had been told. "I think I would like it."

"That's the one," Face said. "Of course that's only the start of their problems."

After all, you couldn't stretch out a shirt allergy over that many books.

"Oh? Well, I should read them before you tell me," Lucille replied, excited. The excitement might not be too noticeable since this was Lucille.

"Perhaps if there are other books too, I could borrow them as well? Sundays are good for reading, I find."

Face was pretty good at picking up on subtle, just not being it if he didn't have to.

"You should be fine," he said with a grin. "There's not a lot of restrictions on borrowing from the general collections."

"A good library is such a treasure," she replied. "We had a good collection at home, but obviously nothing like this, and the books were old even for my time. The novels here are a lot more varied it seems."

She added, with curiosity that might be noticeable to Face if he was perceptive: "Where are you from?"

"It's certainly different to what we've got back home." What with all the paper books.

"Lorrd," he replied. "Though I was born on Pantolomin. They're both in systems very far from here." And yet somehow a Core worlds accent bore a remarkable resemblance to a British one.

"That must be another world," Lucille replied, by now a little proud of herself for saying that without hesitating. "Judging from your accent I thought perhaps that you were from England."

"Got it in one, well, two technically," Face said. "Yeah, I can see how that'd happen. It's kind of weird how many different accents on this planet resemble ones from back home."

"The universe is stranger than I could ever have dreamed of," Lucille replied, wanting to add something that sounded clever. "And not only because of accents, obviously. What is your home like?"

Face seemed friendly, and although that usually aroused her suspicion, she accepted it now because of Cassandra, and because of a shared passion for books.

Face's default mod was friendly, it was when he got serious that you really had to worry.

"Pantolomin's a water world, lots of islands, reefs, beaches, tourists," he explained. "Lorrd's a lot more out of the way, more into universities and the arts, music, acting."

Lucille had yet to grasp that worlds in this case meant different planets.

"Do you prefer one over the other?" she asked.

"Not really." Face shrugged. "Pantolomin's home, but I haven't been back in a while, and I've got family on both."

She gave a small nod in response, and then looked at the shelf, running her fingers across the back of the books. Pulling out one at random, she showed to to Face.

"Have you read this one?"

Oh, hey, he'd been wondering where that one got to. "I have," he said. "It's more on the risque side than others."

"Oh? In what way?"

No, Lucille wasn't blushing.

"The author is very fond of words like 'turgid manhood" and takes very opportunity to use them."

So there wasn't a whole lot of plot there.

Lucille's blush deepened No, in fact she turned bright red, trying to figure out how to get hold of that book without Face knowing about it. Perhaps it would still be there of Friday?

"I guess I shouldn't... I mean..."

"You know, I just remembered that there was a re-shelving emergency," Face said, because those were very common and an actual thing, yes. Nothing to do with any blushing. "Do you think you can handle checking out your own books while I take care of that?"

It was kind of him to make up an excuse.

"Oh, of course I can!" Lucille picked out a few other books at random, just so that it would seem less obvious.

"Thank you for your help. I very much appreciate it."

"Any time," Face said, with a half bow, before heading off into the stacks.

Lucille quickly made her way to the desk and checked out what had turned out to be a quite large pile of books. It would hopefully last her some time.

Library, Sunday

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