Library, Monday, 6/26

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler yawned as he opened the library; he had slept even less than usual the night before. He gripped his coffee tightly as he settled in behind the desk.

The library was open.

[OOC: New job = I'm here until about 1:30 EST and will pick up any tags after 10. Also, Bob is a ghost only Tyler can see; that thread is locked and Bob's presence is NFB unless the pirate can see ghosts.]

Comments

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

Bob emerged from behind one of the bookcases. He wasn't even paying attention to Tyler as he wandered over to one of the reading tables and sat down in one of the chairs. His huge pecs made it difficult to squeeze in close enough to read the book from the seat.

He didn't looked at Tyler the whole time.

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Help you?," Tyler said, more automatic than polite.

Then he registered who it was. "Bob?"

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

Bob looked up. "This is a good book, Cornelius. Tyler. Mr Durden. Sir." He seemed conflicted about which name to use. "It's about soldiers."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Tyler is fine," Tyler said absently.

He was on the verge of panicking; then he remembered this was Fandom. "Bob. Question? What's the last thing that you remember before you came here?"

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

Bob looked thoughtful for a moment before responding. "I remember everything. We were doing an assignment for Project Mayhem. The one with the ball and the coffee shop. Then the police came, and we ran, I ran, and then..." He trailed off. "You weren't there."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

No white light. No sense of peace.

Tyler walked over to the table and took a seat across from Bob. "I wasn't there."

There was a long pause. "Do you remember getting hurt?"

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

"I remember everything," Bob repeated with an innocence that didn't fit his appearance. "I saw them carry me home. I saw you. I saw you let them bury me in the back garden." He looked at Tyler. "I'm sorry." He shook his head over and over again and looked back down at the pictures of the soldiers in the book. "I wasn't a good enough soldier."

[strongestgirl.livejournal.com]

Pippi flounced into the library with the Squirrel books she'd checked out with Kurt last week.

"Tyler?"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler lifted his head from his folded arms. "Yeah. Yeah. Hi, Pippi."

He tried to make himself look normal, but it wasn't hard to tell he was quite upset.

[strongestgirl.livejournal.com]

"Hi." she said looking at him for a moment, holding the books against her chest.

"Are you okay?"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Not especially," Tyler said, with an uneasy glance at the chair Bob had just vacated. "Nothing you can help with, though."

[strongestgirl.livejournal.com]

"I dunno." she said smiling at him and offering a hanky to clean himself up with. "I'm preeety helpful. But that's okay if you don't want to talk about it."

She misinterpreted his glance as an invitation to sit. So she set the books on the desk and sat in the chair, and shivered slightly.

"Brrrr. It's cold in here. You should probably turn down the air conditioning."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"I'd rather not, sorry," Tyler said.

Uneasy, he went over to fiddle with the thermostat. This also kept him from having to meet Pippi's gaze. "Is this better?"

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin walked in, picked out a history book and sat down where he could keep an eye on Tyler.

Subtly.

For Anakin, anyway.

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler was so shaken by the encounter with Bob he almost didn't realize he was being watched.

Almost. "Can I help you with something, Anakin?" he mumbled, eyes still red.

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"I've got a book and a quiet, vampire puppy-free place to read," Anakin replied, looking up. "I'm good." He blinked. "But are you all right?"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Rory's dog?" Tyler asked dully. "And I'm ... yeah. Bad thoughts." It was clear he didn't mean the fun kind.

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry," Anakin said, sounding sympathetic.

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"I'll be okay," Tyler said, less because he thought he would be and more because there was nothing else to say.

[multi-madrox.livejournal.com]

Jamie walked and waved at Tyler. "How's it hanging fellow stickbug brother?"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"It's been a strange morning," Tyler said uneasily. "How's life for Jamie?"

[multi-madrox.livejournal.com]

"Relatively boring," Jamie replied with a shrug. "I'm thinking of reading the encyclopedia. And what kind of strange are we talking about? Because I read about the school washing machines having a strike to support the doors on the fifth floor or something and that's pretty strange."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Old problems coming back to haunt me," Tyler said, then thought about the word choice. "Literally. Or not. So ... probably less strange than sentient washing machines."

[multi-madrox.livejournal.com]

"Ah. Did that Marla girl finally track you down?" Jamie asked. "If so you have my sympathies. From what you've told me she's a firecracker."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"She sent me an email," Tyler said listlessly. "Not that, though. Wish it was just that. At least she's alive."