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 Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2008 8:44 pm
Despite having been here for less than a week, she'd already carved the formerly impersonal office space into something that harkened back to home. Siona settled into the soft suede chair behind her desk and shuffled papers around, trying with all her might to concentrate on the things in the room that were done and not on the monstrous pile of books resting in front of a wall of cinnamon-wood bookshelves. For instance, she might instead think about the walls, which were suitably painted over in a muted, light blue shade, or the hand-woven rugs scattered liberally about the room (one of which she had made herself, and looked like it, to her chagrin, so it was placed under one of the two chairs for the students where it wouldn't be noticed). Her desk was organized, the computer set up, Steno pad ready should a thought strike...
All she had left was that pile of books.
Standing wearily, Siona pulled her hair back into its tight chignon and fastened it that way with a small net of golden wires. "No time like the present," she said, cracking open the first of eight boxes (and one bag, acquired on her only trip to the Chikami Mall). Inside were thick tomes with names like "Remembering: An Experimental and Social Study", "Confessions", "Nicomachean Ethics", "Magna Moralia", "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" and "The Birth of Tragedy". For a moment, eying these books, she wondered when the student she had asked for to help would arrive- it would be nice to get to know them all, even the ones not going into science or technology.
Then, with a sigh that didn't at all indicate a desire to get a head start, she started to shelve the books in the order of author's name and publication date. This child, Seibehn Nash, would either show or he wouldn't. Either way, it would have to get done.
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Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2008 11:59 pm
Nash was a child who had a lot of ups and downs. Both good points and not so good, currently he was showing a rather poor side to himself, a nervousness washing over him for volunteering his time to help one of the professors. It wasn't to say he didn't want to meet the person, he just had a hard time opening up where adults were concerned. They were the likes not to be trusted so blindly, still he had promised to help and this was a great chance to get to know Dr. Siona as he meant to do during the open house. His little feet carried him swiftly through the halls and winding corridors to the doctor's office. Peeking just behind the slightly cracked door he knocked softly pushing the door open to let himself in half way.
Not one to be rude he cleared his throat, least he frighten the poor woman and smiled when she acknowledged him. "I'm Seibehn... I came to help organize your books, ma'am." It was obvious by the slight shake in his voice that he was quite nervous but that would change in due time. Stepping timidly into the room he looked around at all the boxes each one holding a treasury of books. The slight sparkle in his eyes betrayed the nervous shake of his voice as he had not been this excited since exploring his father's personal collection of books. How long had it been since he'd had a good read? Though as he slide over to an open book and looked within slight frown etched his features belying the fact he was not familiar with some of the titles. No matter, that never stopped him before, he was more of an adventurous type, fantasy and mystery but maybe even books of this caliber held some interesting topics as well.
Kneeling before one such book he skimmed it over shifting it this way and that, almost forgetting himself in the process. Looking up a flush of red bled into his freckled cheeks as he looked down with slight embarrassment. "I'm sorry ma'am. I didn't mean to pry or anything. You have a very interesting collection though I'm afraid I don't know some of these titles." He confessed. With book in hand he gathered a few more staking them neatly outside of the box. "Um... is there a set up you have in mind?" He asked softly his violet gaze skimming the pretty woman before him. She had a mother's face, he suddenly realized, calm, soft and kind eyes... feminine. Well of course feminine but she just had the look a mother should exude. Staring more than intended he shook himself free of his trance and looked down at the books awaiting her directions.
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Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 12:48 pm
She had just tucked away a copy of the Essay Concerning Human Understanding when the boy entered, and she smiled warmly at him when she observed that he seemed nervous. Remaining silent, without prompting, Siona just kept an eye on him as she finished off her armful. "When we're done here," she said with amusement, "you may borrow one or two of them." With that said, she dusted off her hands and collapsed the box she'd finished while waiting for the boy to arrive; since most of the books in that particular box were already organized from her old office when she put them in, it had gone predictably quickly.
"No, I was hoping you could help me with that." (A lie, of course: the author-publication date scheme would work for all of her library.) She opened up the second box, expertly cracking the packing tape with her fingernails. "These are foreign-language texts," she said, running a finger down the spine of Voltaire's Candide. Wryly, the doctor continued, "Not all of them are written in the Roman alphabet- I keep them for the sentiments, you see." Flipping open the inside of the book, she showed Nash a letter written in Sanskrit on the inside cover. "What do you think I should do?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:20 am
Nash had stayed a considerable distance from the doctor, more out of an unconscious means then actually wanting it himself. When she spoke he looked up from what he was doing, collapsing a box the same as she had done and set it neatly next to the other. "Borrow?" He breathed, not expecting her to be so nice. He hadn't really thought of asking to even look at her books outside of reading the titles, all of which he realized once again were topics he had never known. He gave a slight nod of his head, swallowing down the lump in his throat as he moved about.
When she pulled out yet another book explaining its contents he peered up for a moment to regard her before moving to see the book. "What to do? Well I wouldn't throw a book away if that's what you're asking." He ventured to say looking away for a moment then back to her. "How many books like this do you have?" He paused briefly in thought peering at the book. "Can you actually read this stuff?" It was all Greek too him as far as he knew, along with another book he held in his possession. They looked similar but he knew that dark book held some kind of ancient text, far out of his league.
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Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 12:21 pm
"Yes, borrow." This was going much quickly with two hands at the job, she noted, since Nash had already shelved a box. Checking, they seemed to be organized the same as the rest of her earlier work. That might have been luck, she thought, and wondered if the second box had been as well organized as the first.
"How I should organize them," she said, smiling again. "Two or three of these crates-" she toed the open one at her feet "-are already organized by publication date and author's last name. The others aren't, though, because they weren't in my office before. Do you think I should continue that way, even though it might not be the most expedient way to organize books like this?" She hefted the volume in her hands, then laughed. "I also own translations. Voltaire's Mamohet might be a good read for you."
Was he really so nervous as this? Siona canted her head a bit, waiting for Nash's answer.
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Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 7:16 pm
"You know there are other ways to organize books that give it a bit of flavor. I'm used to a color combination myself. Like taking all the red, blue, or green books and seperating them. Then putting them in order by the publication date and author. After doing that you can fix your shelf in an array of colorful patterns." He thought a moment then pulled out a few of the books from the unorganized crates. Setting them aside by the color of their cover he then organized them by the author and date. After he was done there was three small piles of oraganized books by color.
"See.. though this is just a few of them. But then you can put them on the shelf to give the room a splash of color on your wall. A bit of artistic freedom while still being organized." He shrugged looking off slightly with a hint of red to his cheeks. "It might take a while to organize but it's fun. And the end result is a friendlier atmosphere... at least I think so." He giggled, poking at some of the books in front of him. There was a moment of silence between them. He thought a moment about what he had suggested and figured he was being too much of a kid. Of course he was, that was so childish... organize books by color! Who thinks of such silly things? Though he was curious if she thought it were interesting or too complicated. Heck did it even make sense?
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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 6:33 pm
She laughed, not unkindly, just happily. "That sounds interesting. I always had problems with anyone being able to figure out how my books were organized." Settling on the floor near the pile of books, Siona gave them an incurious look. "I'm not much of an artist, though, and it looks like I have many more red books than green or blue... Putting them in order by their color doesn't seem like much fun either." With a reluctant sigh, she moved another box nearby and opened it, then started to organize the books by their dominant cover color.
"Would you rather organize them or shelve them, Seibehn?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:42 pm
Looking up Nash had expected a laugh for pity but the soft laugh that came from Dr. Siona was very warm. She didn't seem annoyed by his childish response and in turn he rewarded her with a slightly embarrassed smile; though more for feeling she'd be so cruel. "I can shelve the books if that's okay." He began but looked toward the higher shelves with a soft chirp of giggles. "Do you have a foot stool I could use for those shelves." They weren't that high but enough to need a bit of a boost on his part.
Between shelving the books and Dr. Siona organizing them, there was a bit of silence between them as they worked. Nash had somehow drifted into his own world where he often stopped in between to read the author's name from the book and glance at some of the pages. Though he didn't know what some of the books were about he was already filing away which books to borrow for later. They all seemed advanced but that just meant more for him to learn. After all magic didn't come easy and any information he could find seemed like it would help in the long run. Though as he shelved the last book on a high shelf he looked down to Dr. Siona with a curious cant to his head.
"Ma'am ..um... " He paused slightly wondering if there were a polite way to word his next question but figured it would come out the same either way. With a slight shrug he stepped down from the stool kneeling to collect more books. "I apologize if it seems rude and you don't have to answer but ... What made you want to come here?" Ack! Shut up! Shut up!
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Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2008 5:44 pm
"Why would I mind?" She passed two books up to Nash and continued to sort; she'd gotten through a good four boxes by now, leaving just one more and then the bag from the bookstore at the mall. (It would be nice indeed to get her purse back.)
For a moment, though, she was quiet. "Well, I was bored." With a shrug, she punched out the bottom of her box and collapsed it, too. "I retired early by thirty years- the field of research just didn't interest me anymore. Retirement turned out to be just as boring and, well... Here I am!" Siona smiled brightly at the student and opened another box to begin adding its contents to the pile. "Do you mind if I ask how you ended up here?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2008 1:57 pm
Nash flinched for a brief moment taking the book from the professor before deciding on sharing his story. It wasn't much too it he figured, unsavory living quarters, unappreciative parent, abandonment, neglect these sorta things would push anyone to leave their place of residence at the time. With a nonchalant shrug he spoke, "I was bored too." More like fed up, tired and ready for change. "My mother wasn't well it wasn't a savory living place at the time so when I was approached to come here it seemed like the plausible thing to do." He gave a soft smile, interestingly it was genuine. "Aside from that I'm still finding my way here. I really don't know all the details but its been like one big adventure for me. Almost like those stories in the books my dad used to read me."
He shelved the last book given to him looking at the bookshelf to inspect it for any minute detail that had been missed. His attention running over the professor for a brief moment. "I'm chasing a ghost right now though. Maybe I'll catch him, maybe I won't but it's something I have to do or I'll never move on with my life." He smiled satisfied with the wall, despite the few colors it still gave the office a nice display. For the most part it wasn't all that boring. He turned awaiting the remaining books to shelve...
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 9:55 pm
A ghost?... His father, or... Well, it wouldn't be prudent to push (yet) and Siona prided herself on her tact. "It's good to have goals," she said carefully. The doctor blushed a little as she unearthed the last three books- the author's tagline said Siona Hale in bold gilt letters on the first two, and her name was featured quite prominently on the back of the third.
"My thesis," she said, handing him the first red book. "My findings on Dissociative Identity Disorder." The second; "The who's who of my class from university." Finally the third book was passed up. She took a moment to shelve the books from the mall herself, against the wall to hide their more colorful covers. (They looked a bit like trashy romance novels, to be honest, but surely someone like Siona wouldn't read things like that?...)
She smiled, brushed off imaginary dust from the front of her sari, and said, "Well, now that we're done, do you want to borrow any particular book?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 5:40 pm
Nash smiled finishing with the last of the books before stepping down from the stool. He looked up to her with a soft smile and a slight cant to his head. "That book you just put away... what was that?" He asked though figured since she was in such a hurry to hide it that maybe it wasn't appropriate. Thankfully he had manners and didn't push the issue but instead looked up at the book he had just put away. "Your thesis." He spoke softly returning to the stool to retrieve it. "Can I read this one?" He didn't know much about such disorders but reading a book authored by someone he had only met sounded like fun. Maybe he could get a better understanding of the woman by the way she wrote.
Looking around for something else he wasn't sure on the other books so much. They looked rather hard to read or understand for that matter. Maybe another time when he was more confident. He smiled up from behind the book hugging it close. "I'd like to take this one please." Then his eyes sparkled, "And your other book too. Maybe I can learn more about you that way." He said hopefully hiding slightly behind the cover of the book he currently held.
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Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 4:25 pm
"Nothing of importance," she said, a blush flitting across her cheeks. Her dark skin made the color hard to see, for which she was grateful.
Borrowing her thesis... "Of course," she said, loosing the book her university had released from the shelf and offering it to him. Why would he want to read something so dry as someone's doctorate thesis, she wondered, then she smiled a tiny bit. She'd find out over time, wouldn't she? "What section of the school are you looking to enter, Seibehn?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 4:42 am
He flinched slightly at the use of his first name for some reason he couldn't quite stomach it but didn't bother to correct her... for now at least. "I'm actually going into magic. I'm thinking of taking S&T at a later time though." He looked at the books with a soft smile. "I'm still not sure how magic will benefit me but its always seemed as if my life was directed toward such a subject."
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 7:06 pm
She sighed, a sound of faint disappointment that effectively hid her interest at the student's reaction to her use of his first name. The boy hadn't protested, though, so she wouldn't ask. "Well, I'll miss having you in my classes. Do come visit me, please? I find I have so much free time." Not a dismissal, unless he wanted to go; just an acknowledgment that the assignment itself had been completed, and that he was free to leave if he so desired. "It's good that you know where you're going, at least," she said with a smile. "It seems like every boy I meet here has a defined goal already!"
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