fandomhigh | Library, Monday

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Library, Monday

Tip had let her guard down when they'd gotten to Christmas without the usual fall disaster happening, and she was kicking herself for that so hard as she came into the library for work on Monday.

Seriously. How had they all not been on high alert for something like this? It happened every year. Just -- you know. The new kids usually got a chance to settle in, first. Instead of going immediately missing.

She hoped her new sib was okay, wherever they were.

She looked around for any evidence of what people had been looking into yesterday, then went to pick up any books she could find on missing people and bring them out to the center tables. It was going to be a long day in the library, especially if no one found anything. . . .

[~~minor OCD coming~~ open!]

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Nina had hoped she'd see Elizabeth around, given that the last she'd heard of her friend was that she'd transformed weeks ago.

So while the size of the louse startled her, mostly Nina was just glad.

"Elizabeth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she said, kneeling down, delighted. Despite her excitement, Nina kept her voice low. She wasn't sure how sensitive a louse's hearing was.

Maybe it was the magic of hearing someone say her name. Or maybe Fandom was just tired of losing students.

Or maybe it was just irony, Elisabeth transforming back into a girl on the busiest library day she'd seen here.

But one minute Elisabeth was an oversize book louse and the next she was an oversized - and very nude - girl curled up in a ball on the floor.

Nina made a strangled sound of horrified disbelief because of all the times, really.

"Not that I'm not glad to have you back," she said hurriedly, looking around to make sure no one else was going to see, ah, anything they weren't supposed to see. "But, like, stay here and I'll be right back………………"

Nina grabbed a book off the shelf and hurried out of the stacks with it, only to return shortly with her bag in one hand and a blanket in the other.

The blanket she tossed over Elizabeth.

"Honestly," she sighed, settling down, "like, at least you're back, it's been ages, and I'm super glad I've got clothes in here somewhere…………."

And they were even clothes for Elizabeth. New ones.

Because Nina was like that. And because Nina knew good and well what it was like to not have many clothes, so this way she could give Elizabeth a new outfit without offending pride.

"What...what happened?" Elisabeth asked, peering up at Nina and clutching the blanket tightly around her. "One minute it was my shift and the next..." She looked around. "Why is everyone here? Why am I naked? Why was a book louse?"

"One thing at a time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, like, I don't know why you were a book louse in particular," she said, rummaging through her bag. "But the island usually picks our transformation animals to relate to us in some way?????????????????? Like, I'm a pink flying snake?????????????"

Both ridiculous and sneaky.

"The, ah, no clothes thing is because animal transformations are terrible and when you turn back, well, the island seems to think we don't need clothes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Which was absolutely horrible and Nina was sticking by that. "Ah hah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Clothes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Nina dug out a tightly wrapped bundle—once Elizabeth unrolled it, she'd find a dark green skirt, a long-sleeved blouse in a pale cream, dark stockings, and underthings which Nina had done her best to find the sort that Elizabeth usually wore rather than the incredibly scandalous modern things ladies wore under their clothing. A pair of thin slippers (also dark green) completed the bundle—and offered it to the other girl.

"Your feet will get wet," she said apologetically, "but the blanket on top of the clothes will keep you warm enough that getting to the dorms shouldn't be unduly trying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Book lice, of course," Elisabeth said, wrinkling her nose. "They're a common pest back in the Great Libraries at home."

And a semi-regular taunt from the other apprentices, but she wasn't getting into that.

"Oh!" she said, unrolling the clothing. "These are gorgeous. Where did - these can't be mine, i haven't anything half so lovely!"

"They are yours," Nina said loftily, grinning a bit at that reaction. "Like, don't even try to argue with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"These are too nice for an apprentice!" Elisabeth sputtered.

...But clung to them in a mixture of 'pretty' and 'oh god I am naked.'

"No, they're not," Nina said earnestly, fibbing just a smidgen. "See how the hems are unadorned and the cut is clean and simple???????????????"

Nina had accounted for Elizabeth's likely protests! The fact that hems were frequently unadorned in this world and clean and simple lines were considered quite stylish were beside the point!

"Besides," she said, "the alternative is going back to the dorms naked…………."

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Library, Monday

Re: Get your research on

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