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 Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 7:13 pm
Fascinating. So, he was interested in Arthurian legend? There was quite a bit of material on the subject, wasn't there? And no real consensus on whether Arthur himself was a real man. She thought that she remembered something about that, some ruler that had been identified as possibly the Arthur of legend... but she wasn't one hundred percent sure. She really didn't want to say anything about it until she had her facts straight. Now she absolutely had to look through his collection!
Amaravati was just about to answer Tony when in a peevish, irritable voice, there came: "The Library will be closing in five minutes." Oh. Oh dear. That... was kind of a problem. "Oh no! I haven't checked out my book yet! Can we do that here, or do we need to move?" Moving wasn't a good thought at all. But if the Library was closing... well, she couldn't stay there all night. Gingerly, she sat up, and while she went absolutely pale (as pale as she could go, at any rate), she did manage to get her feet on the ground.
"It's... for a research paper," she gasped, rather wishing that she hadn't put weight on her foot. That wasn't important now, though. She needed to hobble out of there, and get to her car. It was going to be bad enough driving home without putting it off much longer. $@$*ing ankle! It bloody hurt! She got to her feet with only a modicum of cursing, struggling to balance herself.
She wanted to talk about his collection, she really did... and she would. Just not now. How on earth she was going to get in touch with him again she really didn't know. Well, he was a Librarian, and he'd said that they couldn't fire him. That had to mean that he was fairly integral to things here. Aka, he put in a lot of hours. With an awkward hop-shuffle, she managed to head back the way they had come with moderate success, her purse slung over her shoulder.
She'd come back to the Library another day, and find Tony there. That was her only recourse, really, unless she wanted to go stalker and look up his phone number. ... That absolutely was not an option. The weight of the purse, as it turned out, was too much. Just about when she reached the door that would take her out of the staff area and into the main body of the library, her ankle gave out under her, and she went careening, windmilling in a very familiar fashion.
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 7:27 pm
Tony jumped a bit when he heard Carol's voice come over the PA, looking up on instinct toward the speaker. He frowned, wondering why she was personally announcing it, when they had a recording that did it. She had been acting strangely all day, even before this whole fiasco with the shelf.
"We can do that out in the main area. This computer doesn't have a scanner with it. I-I could type in the barco- oh, you're getting up. Be careful!" He watched her, hovering close. He had stood when she made to get up, holding the ice and watching her very closely, just in case she wobbled. She seemed to be on her feet, though, so he looked down and grabbed her sock so they didn't forget it.
He followed her as she hopped along, a cautious distance away, so he might be able to catch her should she-
"Oh!"
He moved to catch her when he saw her falling, successfully wrapping one arm around her and stopping her fall while the other moved to brace her shoulder and bring her up right. He had his legs askew, keeping himself firmly planted so he didn't end up falling on top of her again. Holding her against him for a moment, he looked at her with worry in his green eyes, not registering for a moment that this might be awkward for her.
"A-are you okay? Perhaps you shouldn't be walking."
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 7:34 pm
"I'm... I'm fine. I just need ..." Amaravati was not fine. Not at all fine, but she leaned on Tony when he offered the help. "Oh how am I going to drive home? What a mess." A terrible, wretched mess. "Yes, let's get that checked out, and all. Might as well take care of it while we're here." While her vision swam and she had dizzy moments. How she was going to get down those stairs... "And before I head home, I'm going to have to go down the stairs."
She could have facepalmed. She really could have. That was just awful. How the #$*# was she supposed to manage that? Well, maybe they had an elevator. That would improve things immensely, if so. She definitely ought to consider calling someone, or something. Maybe if her parents swung by her mother could drive her car home while her father drove her to the hospital. One or the other.
That sounded like a good idea, really. "If I don't walk, how will I ever get anywhere?" she asked him, and there was a note of panic in her voice. The idea of just... being stranded was not a good one. She did not, did not want to be stuck anywhere, especially so far from the dorm. The dorm, where her laptop awaited the final touches she needed to make on her research paper. Those she could only manage once she had the book with her.
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 7:50 pm
Tony helped her stand up straight, letting her lean on him to ease the strain on her ankle. He was glad he had been close. Shaking his head, he led her to the computer, handing the book to Carol and giving her the name to punch in. Carol sat there for the longest time, just glaring at him. He didn't quite know what to do with himself, frowning and asking her politely to help him.
She scoffed and mumbled something under her breath that sounded like 'taker' or something closer to it. Then she checked the book out, handing it to them without looking at them again. Tony took it, confused, but he would just have to talk to her about it all later. They still had a lot to talk about.
"Come on," he said to Amara, not letting go of her. He acted as her crutch, letting her lean on him as they walked slowly. "I'll take you the elevator. If you'd like, I can... ah..."
No, he couldn't do what he was planning on offering. She had brought her own car, clearly, and he couldn't just give her a ride to her home and leave her car. Unless she would trust him to drive her car for her. He frowned. "Do you know anyone who could come for you?"
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 8:01 pm
It was a little baffling, the way the lady at the window glared so, and behaved incredibly rudely. Oh, Amara had some idea that she might be jealous, but when she heard her little remark, it brought a flush to her cheeks. Defiantly, she held onto Tony, refusing to be scared away by an older, shrewish woman. Who knew what Carol was like on an ordinary day, really, but she had been nothing short of awful today. "Who... was that?" Amaravati asked when the book was safely in her possession. "She didn't look very happy at all."
While it might not have been nice to point it out to Tony, she wasn't so sure she cared right now. She was in pain, and hobbling around was awkward. Not her favorite, at all. "Hmmn. Well, I could call someone, I suppose," she said doubtfully, taking out her cellphone to look at the time. "The only thing is, I don't know that they'd be able to come for awhile. They're not off work yet." The Library closed earlier on weekends, didn't it? %*#@it.
Biting her lip, she stood there, trying to figure out what to do next. "I... suppose I can call a cabbie, or something." An idea which was made more awkward by the fact that she didn't have any cash on hand. She tended to pay for things with her ATM card, or the VISA Platinum card that she carried. It was ridiculous, really. One day she would learn to actually have cash in her wallet. "Only, I don't know... do they take credit cards, or ATM cards?" Looking rather flustered, and more than a little overwhelmed, she just shook her head. Foolish of her to forget that the Library was closed so early. She couldn't call her folks just yet.
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 8:17 pm
The Librarian looked down at her, frowning thoughtfully. He wondered if he could leave Carol to lock up, and just go and take Amara home. He didn't think Carol would like that very much, but he had to do something, didn't he? What kind of a man would he be if he just abandoned her, after all this? Not a very good one, and that just wasn't Tony's nature.
"Well, if you don't mind someone else driving your car... perhaps I could take you, and it, home?"
He ventured to offer because he thought it might be the easiest solution, if she deigned to trust him. If not, they could call a cab and he could pay for it with his cash, so she didn't have to worry about cards. He was certain cabs did not take them, after all. Most barely knew how to make change, let alone deal with credit.
Walking her to the elevator, he pressed the button and waited for it to come up. Carol had come from the office and was watching them, giving Tony a 'what the hell, man', look. Tony shook his head and told her to just wait for him, and he would be back to lock everything up if she just stayed and watched the front doors.
She sighed in exasperation and walked off.
The elevator doors opened and he helped Amara inside, heaving his own sigh. He would have to apologize for Carol once he was absolutely certain she couldn't hear them. That woman had sharp ears.
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 8:27 pm
"..." Huh. That... was a thought. That was definitely a thought. Amaravati stood there dumbly for a moment, and considered Tony's offer. "Sure, you can drive my baby. I parked out in the parking lot, of course. Shouldn't be hard to find. She's the red sports car." No, Amara could not have resisted getting a red sports car. Not at all. And yes, yes she did have to talk about her car in terms of 'she' and 'baby'. It was absolutely necessary. Surely Tony could understand that?
"But Tony, how will you get back to the library?" she asked, bearing in mind what he'd said to Carol. The Librarian was already helping her into the elevator, and she was glad of it-- she wasn't so sure that she could've made it on her own, and didn't want to test that theory. If he ended up having to stay for awhile before getting a ride... Oh, but wait. He probably had cash, didn't he? Maybe he could take a taxi back, or something.
Really, she didn't mind him driving. He'd been so nice to her, and taken care of her when he hadn't had to. More, he had made it very clear that it wasn't out of a sense of obligation. Awkwardly, she waited for the elevator to reach the main floor, a faint flush still on her cheeks. She didn't know what the woman upstairs had assumed about her actions and Tony's, but she certainly had done nothing to earn the woman's censure. Women could be so difficult! But ah well, it wasn't as if she had to impress her.
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 8:46 pm
Tony didn't seem too perturbed by the question. He didn't have a car, sure, but he was rather used to walking everywhere now. And while he hated to, he could either do the walking thing or, worse, take a bus. Or a cab. He did have cash on him, after all. So he wasn't too concerned about his options, just wanting to make sure she got home safely.
"Oh, don't worry about that, I can manage to get myself back here, believe me. Assuming how far away you are, I could take a cab or walk, or whatever, really. Please, let's just focus on getting you back without anything else happening to you."
He smiled, moving to help her once more when the elevator opened and allowed them out onto the main floor. The library was empty now, the student workers having cleared out all the people that had been visiting. He smiled at her, reassuring. Once he got her to the parking lot and found her car, which by the sound of it wouldn't be that difficult to spot, he would take her home and things would finally be settled.
And that was just what he did, after a minor detour. Carol had purposefully not desensitized the book, so the alarm went off when they tried to leave. He had to leave her leaning on the wall while he ran upstairs to use the desensitizer and then run back down with the book in tow.
After that, though, he did as he had set out to do. Parking lot. Car. Home. Library. Then he could go back to his apartment and feed Booder. All in a day's work.
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