#ed1717
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Annasiel
At last, my peace. I found it in her eyes.
369
Aug 13, 2015 22:40:06 GMT
August 2015
annasiel
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Post by Annasiel on Feb 25, 2016 2:20:16 GMT
This was the third week in a row the unwarranted guest was present. The library was certainly a public place, but most faces wandered a bit, grabbed a couple books, and left, only to return after their time was up. But this face, this woman, did not leave. Again, that was expected in some cases... students studying for a magic exam, or maybe just the local bookworms... but this patron in particular had a habit of eating while doing her business. There was a strict law against foods and beverages among the bookshelves. Anyone who saw the sign posted by the 27th stack in the 34th sector of beta quadrant (Cory did not know these actual directions, but he knew fondly where they led) would be well acquainted.
Of course, the timid bookkeep didn't have the heart or the resolve to tell her off. She was a very attractive member of the female gender, and those types tended to turn the young Sunderlannite into a bucket of quivering codslop. No more use than to feed the fishes, his father always said with a laugh, somehow amused by his son's utter terror in regards to the fairer sex. So Cory watched. Not creepily... he hoped not creepily... but he managed to keep an eye on the hungry intruder whenever he had the chance. His chaotic routes would alter slightly to chance upon her favored spot, and he took extra long amounts of time organizing books in her vicinity. Heck, it was a miracle he was organizing books at all.
After a few hours of spotted spectation, which was all the woman seemed to need, she disappeared, leaving only her mess in her wake. And at these times the librarian would swoop in and clean up the remains, and calm would be restored until the next day she decided to come. This is how it went on for the better part of a month, the wary man wandering like some oddstruck hawk, until the day he decided to put his gawk-awkward foot down. He was teetering on the top of a swiveling ladder when the woman came in, sitting down in her usual spot. From his case-top perch, Cory watched her unwrap her goods, open a book, and begin to... draw.
"Ex-ex-excuse me... m-miss," he called down to her falteringly, leaning over a little more than he honestly felt comfortable doing. "Th... ea... eating in the lib-HUH!" at that moment, racing heart and shaking hands betrayed him. Voice cut off by an inbreath of panic, the bookkeep lost his hold on the rungs, and began to tilt over ominously past his center of gravity. He swung his hands like a windmill trying to regain his footing, hovering backward in some acrobatic act of sheer incompetence.
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Aug 15, 2015 17:44:50 GMT
August 2015
guest
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Post by Guest on Feb 25, 2016 3:25:04 GMT
Laniz knew when an animal was staring at her. Every few minutes she would steal a bite of her doughy loaf of bread and peek around for any signs of movement by the gangly shelf-dweller. She couldn't understand why the man had taken such a secretive interest in her whereabouts during the last few visits. At first she was worried about finding his shifty brown eyes outside too, following her home or stalking her through the streets like a famished spider after a colorfully flighty morsel. But he did not leave the sanctuary of the books.. Perhaps he was homeless? Simply hungry? Laniz recalled leaving a shameful mess after her first visit. In her rush to get back to the market on time she had forgotten to clean up her food. When she returned that night to amend her error there wasn't a crumb left on the carpeted floor. Who else could it have been but the lurking presence? Since then.. Laniz left her food where it fell as an unspoken homage to the needy lurker.
That day was no different until the weight of those uncertain brown eyes felt heavier than normal. Laniz could sense their intent as she settled to begin drawing. The pages of An Animal Study and Farmers Field Guide to Fauna had only just opened when a quivering voice called out to her.
" Ex-ex-excuse me... m-miss, Th... ea... eating in the lib-HUH!"
The poor creature's arms started to flap and twist like a plummeting fledgling in first flight. Lengthy limb and torso bowed outward in an attempt to regain purchase on the ladder her was perched on. Laniz's face contorted to an expression hung between concerned and baffled. She sprung up from the floor on bare feet toward the base of the ladder. Maybe if she got there in time she could stabilize it! "Hang on! Hang on!" She called back.
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#ed1717
2
0
1
5
Annasiel
At last, my peace. I found it in her eyes.
369
Aug 13, 2015 22:40:06 GMT
August 2015
annasiel
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Post by Annasiel on Feb 25, 2016 3:49:05 GMT
Both wobbling ladder and librarian began to steady, much to Cory's relieved disbelief. Finally, through some Herculean effort that used core muscles long forgotten, the lanky man pulled himself back up to a safer position. There he clung to the rungs like a baby koala on the chest of its mother, afraid to let go for fear of plummeting to a very unfortunate, narrowly avoided doom. Letting out a comforted sigh, he chanced a glance down to his rescuing benefactor.
"T-thank you, miss," he called, the slight quaver of anxiety still in his voice. That had been a narrow miss! If the bookkeep had been alone, he would have undoubtedly fallen to the ground... and while a three story fall was not always lethal, it was typically undesirable if one enjoyed the current positioning of their bones. Skeleton unsnapped, the librarian began to shuffle down from his lofty stoop, hovering his feet cautiously over each rung in obsessive deliberation. Finally, safely, the man made it to the bottom of the ladder, and turned to face the woman who saved his life.
Brilliantly blue eyes with the faintest tinge of green, and hair with various shades of blonde and light brown enrapturing the face in a cascading frame. This was she who stood before him, she who left the food in leaving after long hours of sketching images from books. It was no surprise the librarian's eyes had been captured, as much as they were beholden now.
Hey, ya sheila, you're might pretty. Wanna watch me recite pi to the 137th digit?
Cory's heart was thumping, and it had nothing to do with his recent brush with injury. Realizing he was staring, the man jumped to rigid attention, and tried desperately to find an out to the potentially perceived awkward situation. If only he could scurry away to his little nook and forget this meeting ever happened. Socialization was terrifying, dangerous, more like a wargrounds with trebuchets and battlemages than the commonplace courtesy it was touted as. Frantically, he scurried through the tips and tricks he'd read in "How to Talk: An Ignoramus' Guide" until he chanced upon what chapter one had been on. Introductions! Of course. That was what normal people did.
"I-I'm Cory... the librarian, he... he... here. No eating in... in... in the li-li-library. A pleasure t-t-to meet you," he said as suavely as a duck with a beak full of marbles.
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Aug 15, 2015 17:44:50 GMT
August 2015
guest
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Post by Guest on Feb 25, 2016 5:08:18 GMT
"I-I'm Cory... the librarian, he... he... here. No eating in... in... in the li-li-library. A pleasure t-t-to meet you."
"A.." Laniz trailed off in a slow glance between Cory and the setup of literature and illegal lunch behind them. "A pleasure," she finished. Her thin tanned hand was already extended toward the bookish man in a slow force of habit. It was bony and cool to the touch. If she looked closely she could see the hints of a blue and red network of veins under his pallid skin. But his eyes reminded her of chocolate.. delicious dark umber swirls to match a full head of shaggy hair.
In all honesty she was piecing together the edges of a mental puzzle. She'd just met the librarian.. She didn't even know there was a librarian! Her understanding of such places was still evolving. Government and public buildings were not commonplace for the daughter of a long-time traveling merchant. The only books she'd been able to get her hands on in the past were those that had been offered for trade at her family's shop. There was no time or opportunity otherwise, even after she'd opened her own stables those few years ago. And here she was thinking this poor seemingly overworked librarian was some homeless beggar waiting for her mess.. Such a dolt!
"I'm sorry about the mess," she stressed. "I had no idea. I've never been here. I thought- Well, maybe you were-" What, Laniz? You thought that maybe you were feeding some sort of human stray? Like this is the appropriate place to do such a thing? "I'm sorry," she repeated. "I'll clean it up right away." It wasn't until she turned to retreat that she felt their hands unhitch.
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#ed1717
2
0
1
5
Annasiel
At last, my peace. I found it in her eyes.
369
Aug 13, 2015 22:40:06 GMT
August 2015
annasiel
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Post by Annasiel on Feb 26, 2016 1:08:35 GMT
Her hand was warm, lithe and tan, and surprisingly rough in the librarian's own grasp. He was a sheltered child and a hermit of a man, so his skin was unmarred by the tumbleplay his peers oft engaged in and the menial labor that many were fated to perform, but his hands weren't exactly silk, either. Years of turning pages (and accruing dreaded papercuts) saw to that. But this woman, she was a worker of some sort, no stranger to manual tasks. Her sunkissed skin helped support the assumption. Lost in his mind, Cory's ears skipped joyfully over her frantic backpedaling, all of his attention tied into the lingering handshake. It was only when it broke that the spell broke as well.
"NO!" The bookkeep bellowed, a little louder than he had intended. "No... it's alright. You can eat, if... if you like. Just b-b-be more careful."
He gave the lady an affirming smile that he hoped would put her evident anxiety at ease. With his luck and gaunt features, it was probably more of a malevolent skeletal grin. Well... t'was the thought that counts. He nodded, and with the smile still plastered on his face, turned to run back to a place where he could hyperventilate in peace. Mid-rotation, he made the resolution to continue turning, coming around to face the woman once more.
"Um..." he mumbled, poised like the least graceful ballerina in the world. "What... what's your name? I don't... I don't think I c-caught it."
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Aug 15, 2015 17:44:50 GMT
August 2015
guest
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Post by Guest on Feb 26, 2016 3:34:13 GMT
Cory's cry stopped Laniz short like nails through the heels. Wide teal eyes turned back round to face him with a look of apprehensive inquiry. Did she forget something? Was there a punishment waiting for her that she didn't know about? Part of Laniz hoped that none of the other patrons wandering the halls had heard the exclamation. She was embarrassed enough to feel her palms sweat without an audience! But she also hoped that someone was able to hear just enough in case the stuttering librarian turned out to be feigning his harmlessness.
"No... it's alright. You can eat, if... if you like. Just b-b-be more careful."
"Yes, sir. Of course," she replied quickly like a soft-spoken child in a hurry to escape judgment's second-coming.
In a rush she started to tidy up her small settlement of belongings. Bread, exotic sweets, and dried fruits were crammed inside the cloth pocket of a leather carrier bag. The sticky residue of the fruit made it easier to catch the breadcrumbs that had sprinkled across the floor.. and they tasted sweet when Laniz licked her fingers afterward. The shaky voice called to her again before she could gather her books and finish wiping her hands on the cotton of her blue dress. When it did she whipped her head to attention. Dirty blonde and honey-colored locks fanned out to follow the path of her chin and fell in a feathery heap over her shoulders.
"What... what's your name? I don't... I don't think I c-caught it."
The stablemaster smiled broadly. Every social instinct and learned skill for salesmanship kicked in with that simple gesture of interest.
"Laniz. My name is Laniz Breeder, I own the stables at the western edge of the rural districts." She stood up from her crouched position with a grin still stretched across her cheeks. "It's great to meet you, Cory the librarian," she added with her hands cupped casually over her hips.
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