Library, Saturday

[not_harmless]

Instead of books, today the library was filled with… oranges. Oranges of all types. Terra had no idea what might have happened to the books- she hoped they’d been replaced by oranges and not transformed into oranges, because she’d accidentally stepped on a small mandarin when coming in today.

Hopefully no one needed to do any actual research today, because unless it was about juice they were probably out of luck.

Comments

Re: Talk to Terra

[not_harmless]

“Oh, yes,” Terra assured her. “Though keep in mind, of course, that they all tend to be terribly biased. No objectivity at all.”

Re: Talk to Terra

[outofthequiver]

"Do you think..." Libby ventured, head tilting, "most books like to be read? Or are they probably a bit like people, where some people would like the attention, but others might not like it at all, so they might try to make the case against being read or to go read a different book instead?"

It seemed a little counterintuitive, if you asked her, because that would only wind up making her more curious about that book.

Re: Talk to Terra

[not_harmless]

“So far, it’s been my experience that they want to be read,” Terra shared. “My guess is it’s something intrinsic to their very… book-ness. But it could also be the doing of whoever stocked the library in the first place. Perhaps they only made sure to acquire those volumes that would be enthusiastic about the idea.”

Re: Talk to Terra

[outofthequiver]

"That would make sense," Libby agreed, thoughtfully. Or at least it made as much sense as sentient books would make, she supposed. "No one would want to fill their library with books that wouldm't want to be read..."

Then she hesitated a moment, worried that this next thought might sound a little crazy, but, at the same time, they were talking about books with feelings and whether they turned into fruit, so...

"Can I check one out?" she wondered, lowering her voice a little as if to avoid getting in trouble for even thinking it. "One of the oranges, I mean? I'm really curious to see what might happen if I did."

And because it would be funny to say she checked out an orange from a library.

Look, she'd grown up very sheltered, it did not take much to amuse her.

Re: Talk to Terra

[not_harmless]

Terra gave the orange on the desk a thoughtful look. “I don’t see why not,” she said, after a moment.

It really didn’t take much to amuse her either, honestly.

Plus, she wanted to see what would happen when she scanned one of the tiny barcode stickers affixed to each orange.

Re: Talk to Terra

[outofthequiver]

"Then I would like to check out this orange, please," said Libby, picking the one on the desk up and handing it over to Terra. "After all, since it rolled off the shelf when I got here, it sort of feels almost as if it picked me, doesn't it?"

Re: Talk to Terra

[not_harmless]

“It really does,” Terra said, taking the orange and scanning it with the library’s barcode scanner, which beeped obligingly.

“You’ve got that for two weeks,” she told Libby, handing it back. “But do feel free to come find me before then if it turns into a book. I’d like to know which it was.” Sadly, the library’s checkout software offered no clue as to the title of the orange in question.

Re: Talk to Terra

[outofthequiver]

"If it stays an orange," Libby said, taking the orange back and holding it close to her chest now as if she'd been bestowed a precious item, "I'll probably return it well before two weeks because I can't picture it keeping that well for that long, but who knows, if it's really a magic orange. But honestly? I hope it's really a book, because I want to know what book it'll be, too."