Welcome to Gaia! ::

Flipping the wafer thin pages, the male let his eyes wander across the elaborate illustrations. One one page was the picture of a large winged snake with its mouth full of heads and another held the image of the god Tyr getting his hand bitten of by the wolf Fenrir. Certainly not the type of book a seven year old should be looking at but she wasn't the type to request thing often. Shutting the hardcover book the male let out an exasperated sigh. It was a good thing he had decided to check out the contents of the book before purchasing it. In fact, he had learned the hard way after purchasing Noa a book about Aphrodite. Which to his disdain contained a rather heafty amount of nude images of the goddess. This was one of the disadvantages of having an unusually smart child.

Standing up off the bench, Jezabroux picked up the book and began walking towards the nonfiction section to place the book back on the shelf. Yet stopping when a vibrant shade of purple flashed through his periperhial vision. Such a rare yet familiar sight... Taking a couple steps back Jezabroux stopped to observe the person. Yes... they had met before... but where? Of course! Gaia United's coat giveaway. Miss Ebony Shade. Should he bother her or not? It appeared that she was searching for something but what? Come to think of it, she had dark circles under her eyes. Perhaps she was under some emotional burden?

Taking slow steps the the male approached her. "We met last time at Gaia United didn't we? Ebony Shade was it?"

"Ello Jezabroux. How have you been?"

Jezabroux was just the slightest taken back at how different her voice seemed from before. Had he remembered her voice incorrectly? It was lacking the energy from before. From afar he had only noticed the dark circles up close he could tell that her complexion wasn't at its peak conditions. Most likely from stress and lack of sleep. "Fine. Thought I don't think you could quite say the same. Is something worrying you? You look -pardon my speech- horrible. Dark circles and the works." It was albiet rude, but he couldn't help but point it out. She certainly didn't seem like the type who was normally like that.

Straightening out his t-shirt the male couldn't help but wonder what she would think of his apparel. Unlike at the coat drive where he had worn a moderately decent pair of slacks and dress shirt, he was instead dressed in a grey splash graphic t-shirt, ripped jeans, and a beanie. The actual occupants of his closet. "Maybe we should go sit down at a bench somewhere first. You look as if you're about to fall over."

"... do some good? I think it would do you a lot of good." The words had been mumbled, rather for himself than for Ebony but there was a good chance that she had heard it anyways. The male waited patiently as Ebony shoved stuffed what appeared to be either a notebook or a packet of paper into her bag. Not that it was any of his business but the male had managed to catch a glimpse of words regarding the title of the notes. He wouldn't say anything right now, he'd ask her when she was nice and relaxed and outside.

Taking large sweeping strides, Jezabroux quickly closed the distance between himself and the door. Wrapping slender fingers around the handle the male yanked the door open sending a large draft throughout the library. The gust of wind ran across the table tops flipping the pages of unoccupied books. This also garner the male a rather nasty hiss from the patrons, Jezabroux however responded with a smile.

Turning to Ebony once more the male asked her a simple question. "Should we go to a coffee shop? Or would you prefer just to sit on the bench?" It was her choice really, he wasn't picky about it. So long as he got around to finding out why she looked so damn haggard. Obviously it doesn't take a genius to notice that Ebony was less than the usual pale that is accompanied with lack of sleep and excess stress. Without a doubt there was something heavy on her mind and Jezabroux couldn't help but make it his personal mission to figure out what it was.

He was definately way to nosy for his own good.

"Not down the block. Across the street and past the bus stop. Less than twenty feet." Without awaiting her response the male continued to make his way down the entrance steps. Barton Town was quite... prosaic but the library itself was a case of its own. Either a very imaginative architect had managed to get himself on the case or someone had simply gone overboard trying to make it look grandoise.

Whist the male was walking, he had to agree with Ebony's earlier comment. When did it get so bright out? It had been dark and gloomy only moments ago, with the forecast being rain. He certainly hadn't anticipated this and his eyes were beginning to hurt. Furthermore his prescription sunglasses were back inside the library. Stopping the male shut his eyes and further covered them with his arm. They burned. It was as if someone had taken a bucket of cold water and splashed it in his eyes. Painful. A slow pin like feeling at first but quickly progressing to something worse.

"Miss Ebony.. I'm going to have to cancel that coffee break." Maybe she would catch the slight tension in his voice and maybe she wouldn't. Quite frankly he didn't care right now if she hated him for wasting her time. Right now all he cared about was the pain coming from his eyes. "I apologize in advance. If you could direct me to the library it would be great."

He would make it up for her later by running a coffee errand or something. For right now he just needed to get out of the light.

Though he had taken the initiative to shelter his eyes with his arm in order to prevent further light exposure; the bright sunlight his eyes had already been exposed to was causing him some excruciating pain. Most of it was carelessness on his fault but then again it was also wasn’t. There had been large masses of dark grey clouds floating up in the sky only moments before; this sudden burst of sunlight was something he hadn’t anticipated. In any case, he had to get out of the brightness and somewhere dark, like the library. Barton Library was not known for its bright lights; in fact it probably had the dimmest lighting system in all of Gaia. It was the subject of much annoyance to its general patrons and to the joy of photophobics like Jezabroux.

“Miss Ebony, I insist. Let’s go back inside the library.” His voice was tense, all trace of the prior joviality gone. The faster he got somewhere dark the sooner the pain would go away and he would stop looking like an a**. At least until he got around to explaining what was wrong, which would either be in the comforts of someplace dim or in a bright area with his sunglasses, something which he obviously did not have on him at the moment.

“…unless you’re willing to assist me back into the library so that I may get my glasses.” It was said with a slight hesitation. He did feel somewhat bad for recalling the invitation only moments after he had said it. Then again, it was always health over opinions when it came to Jezabroux. In matters concerning his health and the opinions of others on him, health always came first.

"Of course. As I was the one who gave the invitation in the first place. I am not without manners Miss Ebony. I know my duties." Keeping his eyes covered the male using the tips of his fingertips to navigate past the endless rows of bookshelves. He wanted the 14th book shelf. Countless prior experiences regarding the temporary blindness he experienced from strong lights had taught him to take note of all things regarding the environment.

Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Finally.

Taking a right the male proceeded to walk past two bookshelves before coming upon a table. As expected, his. Groping the table top with his hand the male let out a slight hiss as he rammed his knee into a chair. When he felt the familiar texture of the worn out leather back he let out a sigh of relief. Yes. What would he do without it?

Opening the flap, he reached inside and pulled out a small canister of bright yellow pills and a pair of sunglasses. Topping off the top of the container, Jezabroux swallowed two pills. Then slowly the male removed his hand and opened his eyes. The pupils were contracted quite sharply. Yet under the combined effects of the drug and dim lighting they slowly began dilating to a more normal size.

Blinking several times the male finally put on the sunglasses. The male surveyed the area before smiling. "Oh. Another person will be joining us." Approaching the two was a small figure of a child. "I hope you don't mind."

"No. She came here with Sherris and I. Though it appears that Sherris has left her post and my stuff as it appears..." The male let out an exasperated sigh and beckoned for the child to come to him. "Miss Ebony, I would like to introduce you to my daughter Noa Helianthus Ferenan. Noa, this is an acquaintance of mine, her name is Ebony Shade."

The child was small for her age and already the way at which she approached them gave way to her shy personality. Like Jezabroux, the child had white hair with black bangs. Either the strange trait was hereditary or the two were setting some sort of father-daughter hair revolution. Nevertheless it was oddly appealing on the child. Long side bangs with pigtail curls. Feminine and weak, yet elegant. Furthermore, her apparel also seemed to magnify the aura of innocence surrounding her. A white dress with gentle laced ruffles and black Mary-Jane flats.

Taking small steps the child approached Ebony. Clutched in her arms was an old battered book. Bestiary of Mythical Creatures and Beasts. She paused in front of Ebony as if contemplating whether she should hold out her hand for a handshake or not. In the end the child simply edged closer to her father simply buried her head against his legs. Peeking at the violet hair woman with slight curiosity.

"Ah, she's extremely shy. I should have told you beforehand." Looking down at Noa, the male ruffled her hair gently. "We're stilling working on building her confidence."