Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had taken Evan a little while to find the library on his own, mostly because it had never seemed all that important before; as a Sun, his main objectives seemed to be fighting and...well, fighting. That was all well and good, Evan certainly had no problem with that, but the mission and the desert and his spar with Tuck had made him realize that he was woefully undereducated about some of the things--creatures, weapons, and God only knew what else--he might come face to face with in the line of duty.

It was funny how dying a few times made that jump right up his list of priorities.

Now that he was here, though, he couldn't seem to find what he was looking for. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the organizing system that he could make sense of; books just appeared to be stacked randomly on the shelves. Evan frowned as he slowly made his way down another row of shelves, frustrated at his lack of progress.

Evan absolutely did not know what he was looking for--and was actually starting to question whether or not he was in the right place--just like he absolutely, positively, 100% did not jump when a voice came out of seemingly nowhere to inform him that the library was reserved. He hadn't seen anyone else when he'd walked in, but that didn't mean much. It was a library, there were plenty of places to hide.

A normal person probably would have heard the voice and left to try again another day. Evan, on the other hand, had no desire to repeat this exercise in futility if there was a chance, however small, that he could get it done today. He crept down to the end of the aisle he was in and peered cautiously down the rows of bookshelves, frowning as no one turned up.

"Is the whole library reserved?" Evan tried instead. "I just need a book. Maybe two," he finished with a mumble. Hopefully he wouldn't need any more than that.

As a Marine, Evan had been trained how to deal with volatile, stressful situations that could change in the blink of an eye and how to react accordingly and with equal haste. To be caught off guard and unprepared on the battlefield, on patrol--hell, even on base, sometimes--was a death sentence.

As a Hunter in a quiet library, Evan hadn't been prepared for anything more serious than a paper cut, so when someone came up behind him and said his name, he jumped nearly out of his skin in surprise, muttering a curse as he spun around and knocked over a stack of books. His hand shot out to grip the edge of a bookcase; it was the only thing that saved him from tripping to the floor, too. He started to glare down at whatever a*****e had just scared him half to death and thought better of it once he saw who it was.

"Uh," Evan said eloquently as he straightened up, unconsciously pulling his shoulders back. He wasn't quite standing at attention, but it was a near thing. Gir was shrieking and howling with laughter in his head, and Evan winced at that as much as at the sorry picture he must have presented to Ami. He cleared his throat, ducking his head half in sheepish contriteness and half just to be able to see her. "Sorry, ma'am," he muttered.

Evan frowned guiltily down at Ami. He hadn't meant to break the books, they were just a casualty of circumstance. He watched quietly as she assessed the damage and restored everything to its proper place, shifting uneasily. It was obvious that this was very much her domain, and he couldn't help but feel like he had just marched right into the lion's den with a raw steak around his neck when she smiled up at him.

"I could help you out if you need it, ma'am," Evan replied slowly, unsure of what, exactly, he was agreeing to. "I've never been in here before," he admitted, "so I'm not sure how much help I'll be, but I'll do what I can." It was the least he could do, and maybe he'd find what he was looking for while he was helping her out.