Checking the library (Flick)

[Jeremy Fox]

Since this was Jerry´s first year at the Somnium Academy, he had not yet spend too much time in this place, not enough to completely get acquainted with every corner of the buildings and environment as he preferred. Still, the fact that he had still not had a look at the library was rather unusual for him and therefore he had decided to catch up on that now. He had some ideas for a project in mind that might work well with his 12th grade class as he walked in trying to orient himself around the shelves and signs that indicated different areas.

It was late afternoon and he spotted only a handfull of students occupying the chairs and tables near the other end of the library, probably busy with homework, as he headed for a shelf that looked promising.

[Flick Arden]

Flick liked to keep order in her library, she really did, and she frequently decided to wander through the shelves to make sure everything was okay, but today was not one of those days where it was particularly important. There weren't too many students about and no one really seemed determined to mess things up, so Flick's regime had been interrupted by a book that had caught her eye.

She prided herself, of course, on knowing each and every book that was inside her library, so she was fully unprepared to find a spine that she did not recognize. Upon further inspection, she found it to be a fantasy novel mis-shelved, which was a horrible thing indeed. She would need to correct that grievous error instantly.

...But really, there were so few books in the library that she didn't know, it was almost a shame to just take it...

And thus, it had all gone downhill from there. For the past twenty minutes, Flick had been engrossed this fantasy novel, leaning against a shelf and totally unaware of everything going on around her.

[Jeremy Fox]

It didn´t take too long for Jerry to orient himself around and find the English department. He had not been here before and had looked at the desk near the entrance first, wanting to ask someone who worked here where to find the books he was looking for (not that he was looking for one particular book, he was more collecting ideas), but had not seen a librarian around, had shrugged and started a search of his own. So far he had found four books, two of them rather big and turned the corner to another shelf that looked like there could be more of interest. The shelf where Shakespearean litereature was continued however was blocked. A young woman stood leant against it, obviously lost in a book she was reading.

"Excuse me." he said after clearing his throat, trying to get her attention.

[Flick Arden]

It took a great deal to startle Flick out of a book, especially one she'd never read before. Almost like pulling something out of a black hole, it was generally a pointless endeavour, not to be embarked upon by the faint of heart. Fortunately, for those people that wanted her attention, she tried to get a little bit less absorbed when she was working, since the fact that she was not readily accessible to the general public tended to get her in trouble occasionally.

So here she was, semi-accessible to the general public, and someone was taking advantage of that and interrupting her reading. It took her a few seconds to register so, when she heard the voice, she didn't look up instantly. Rather, it was a slow process. Eventually, though, she was blinking up at him, looking a bit baffled.

"Oh, I'm so very sorry..." she said, her voice as wispy and distracted sounding as always. "Did you need help finding something?"

[Jeremy Fox]

The young woman´s question confused him for a moment until he made the connection that she was possibly the librarian. A rather distracted librarian he corrected himself, slightly amused by how much she had been engrossed in her book. He tried to glance at the title, but couldn´t make out what it was.

"Kind of." he said with a sheepish smile, indicating towards the shelf she was standing at, unable to completely hide his amusement, "because if you move just a step over there, you´ll help me find a lost paradise."

[Flick Arden]

Flick drew her eyebrows together, looking baffled. She turned around to see the books behind her, not entirely sure what he was asking for since she appeared to be standing in front of the Shakespeare section.

"Do you mean Paradise Lost?" she asked, looking a little more clear, but still slightly baffled. "I think Milton's over there..." She gestured in a vague direction, her gaze following her finger as she did.

[Jeremy Fox]

"Oh." Jerry said. He had guessed that the shelves were not just sorted according to author but according to topics as well and since this was a school librabry he had figured it was small enough to have English literature sorted in the same shelf. Looked like he had been mistaken.

"Milton, yes. Thanks." he chuckled, stepping over to where she had pointed him, made a few steps and tried to balance the small pile of books with his left arm while his right hand went along the spines of books, his head tilted to the side slightly. For a moment, the pile of books almost lost balance and he had to make a somewhat hasty movement to save the books from toppling to the floor. "You´re the librarian?" he asked, catching the books between his arm and chin before he straightened the pile.

[Flick Arden]

Somnium's library, as anyone could see, was quite massive and things were sorted as its librarian saw fit. They had probably been sorted generically at one point in time, but Flick and her love affair with books sent her to constantly move them and move around with them. So one section could be anywhere at any point in time and no one but Flick would be any the wiser.

Milton and Shakespeare, however, would not have been near each other anyway. Milton was poetry, Shakespeare was drama, and then they were apart for miles alphabetically. But that was neither here nor there and this man was clearly having a problem with all of his falling. She hastened forward to help him, steadying his stack. Sort of. It was more just a light touch of her fingers against it that probably didn't really do anything.

"He's over here," she said, gesturing with her free hand toward another shelf. "And yes, I'm the librarian." She turned and gave him her dreamy, not-all-there smile. "It's lovely to meet you."

[Jeremy Fox]

Jerry somehow managed to steady the books again and looked around once more. Seemed like he had to get used to this place and the way things were sorted here, he wasn´t used to libraries of that size really. Or rather, to librabries with that big an English department alone. "Thanks." he said with a slight chuckle, referring to her attempt to help him with the books he had gathered already.

"Nice to meet you, too. I´m Jerry Fox." he said, and adding something that might pass as a shrug and a boyish smirk, went on. "I´d shake your hand, but that might cause a catastrophe again. I just started working here, so that´s kinda the reason why I can´t tell one shelf from the other here. I´m a complete newbie."