Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sound of heels clicking on the smooth inlaid tile floor of the library preceded the view of the girl wearing them. She looked every bit a law student. Dark brown high waisted pencil skirt sat over top of a sharp white blouse, and matching brown and white heels. Her black hair was left down, the black spirals swayed a bit as she walked. She had a notebook in her hands as well, and a bronze pen tucked behind one ear. She made her way up to the circulation desk almost as if she owned the place.

Today was Sunday, and the library was fairly quiet. A few people dotted here and there, mostly students trying to finish up essays before they were due the next morning. The circulation desk had no line though, which was convenient. Adira could only wait in lines for so long before she got frustrated. "Hello, any chance you could direct me to the Law section?" She smiled at the man behind the counter. He was relatively good looking, though obviously a fair bit older than herself. Adira guessed that he was the manager, though she wondered why he would be working circulation.

Regardless of why he was manning the front desk, the girl needed his help. She had only one law book in her collection; Adira wanted to check out some general all-purpose editions at the library first, before shelling out the hundreds of dollars to add it to her own collection. Plus, the library was walking distance to her loft, and there was a little coffee shop she wanted to try that was right across the street. So, it was like a two for one.

"Oh, I'm just looking for general law books this time." Adira vaguely wondered what kind of dangerous life the librarian held that would put his arm in a sling like that. Perhaps someone had tried to steal a book? It was a rather silly thought, but one she enjoyed anyways. "Thank you." She grabbed the offered paper with a bright smile, and proceeded to head in the direction the librarian had pointed out.

The sound of heels faded as she walked towards the reference section. She didn't get too lost on the way there, with the rows being clearly marked with the words 'reference' on them. The number he'd written down help with finding the law books as well, which were towards the end of the row of books. They were big bookshelves, and they looked older than the metal ones that graced the library proper.

Adira paged through the law tomes, looking for the general books that covered different types of law. The library resumed being quiet, sounds muffled by thick bound pages of paper. It was refreshing really, being somewhere so quiet. The girl breathed deeply, before pulling out the book she had been looking for. Perfect!

The girl began to exit the row, headed towards one of the quiet tables off to the side, where she could still see the rest of the library. Diving in the tome, she flipped through pages, trying to figure out how useful of a book it was. She'd already written down the name, author, and ISBN number on her notepad, just in case it turned out to be useful.

Snickering interrupted her thought process. So much for this being the quiet corner of the library! Rolling her eyes, she tried to resume her research. More laughing, outright this time, as well as some hushed talking. Really, was it too much to ask for some peace and quiet? Still, she attempted to ignore it.

The next five minutes crawled forward, full of people whispering, laughing, and Adira being generally annoyed. Finally she stood up and made her way towards the noise makers. "Excuse me, do you think you could please be quiet?" In response she heard counting.

Counting? The girl wondered what they were counting for- oh!

OH!

TO the rest of the library, it sounded an awful lot like an old wooden ship creaking and groaning under high seas. The creaking was followed by a very loud yell- high pitched and obviously from a woman. Then, there was a split second of silence before what had to have been the loudest sound inside of the library since its construction. An echoing boom hit, accompanied by the flutter of dropped books.

There was a little silence before another boom, and another, and another, and another. By the third, everyone at the tables was wincing, but no one could really see what was going on. A few had stood up and looked around, but with the library being as spacious as it was, the sound echoed from everywhere. The librarian at the circulation counter, however, probably knew exactly where the noise was coming from. The only stacks in the library that weren't updated was the reference section.

Another boom echoed through the library. Followed by another, and another. After a while it had stopped. A heavy silence hit the library, maybe a few book flutters here and there. A lot of people wondered if they had just been imagining the noise, or if construction had been going on next door.

Adira, on the other hand was trapped in the gap of space left between two stacks laying on top of one another. A triangle she'd managed to roll in to, unable to exit the row fast enough. And if this wasn't bad enough, she was also covered head to toe in what had to be the heaviest books in existence. It was almost comical, a single hand sticking out of a pile of books.

The hooligans, satisfied with their mess, had run out of the library, sneaking past the counter as best as they could, using the sound of collapsing bookshelves to cover their movements.

"Oww..." It was a weak sound, muffled through pages and pages of reference books.

The girl underneath the books groaned as some of the pressure around her being lifted. It felt a bit like getting hit by a car, really. Not that it had ever happened to her, but she was pretty damn sure this is what it felt like. Thankfully, the voice of the librarian came through the muffled books.

As soon as she had registered the fact that most of the books were free and clear, Adira sat up. Or, at the very least, tried to sit up. She had pushed herself most of the way up, but her arms were wobbling to the point where it sent her crashing back down into the pile of books. A second try proved a little more successful, though she had to lean against her rescuer a bit to stay upright.

"I...I think I'm alright." She didn't particularly sound alright. Adira's voice was a bit shaky, and there were already square bruises forming on her arms, and a particularly noticeable one on her cheek, forming a 'V' mark where the corner of Gibson & Getson's Law Encyclopedia had crashed into her face.

The girl was a little dazed, to say the least. She looked around with wide silver blue eyes, surveying the dust clouds and destruction. They finally landed on an arm that was very near hers, but not her own. It was the arm that had previously been in a sling- he must have used it to try and help her. "Oh- your arm. Are you okay?" Her voice was still quiet, and it must have seemed silly to the librarian, coming from the girl who had just been hit by a whole bookshelf worth of reference books. Finally her eyes left his arm and moved upwards, meeting his and staying there. They looked a little lost, though she didn't say anything else.

Ah, so he was the manager then, at least judging from his statement of 'my library'. She laughed softly and shrugged off his reminder. The laugh turned into a cough though. The air really was thick with the kind of dust that really only accumulates in large old buildings. The dust that was usually a comforting 'musky' smell of books was now the overpowering and choking variety.

She nodded, Wrapping an arm around the shoulders of the taller man. She let the librarian lead her out of the little bookshelf cove, still a little wobbly. She was mainly alright though; nothing felt broken, and her ankles supported her weight just fine. Adira was simply shaken and bruised, which were both things she could handle. The girl made it to a nearby chair, plopping her weight into it without much thought.

"Thank you." She smiled up at her unlikely librarian rescuer. Adira blinked a bit, trying to remember exactly what had happened. "I was trying to look through the books you mentioned, but a few people behind the bookshelves were distracting me. When I got up to ask them to stop, I heard counting." Her sentence trailed off, allowing the man next to her to fill in the blanks. He had heard what had happened from there.

She moved to brush a lock of hair behind her ear, and winced when she crossed her face. It felt like a bruise. Inwardly, Adira cringed. The last thing she needed was a bruise on her face. Thankfully though, her bronze hair pin had remained in tact. The girls eyes met his again, smiling a little. "I think so... I mean, about as well as I can be after being sucker punched by a library." It was a little uncouth, but so was being sucker punched.

"I didn't ever see who was back there. I might be able to recognize a voice though, I guess." Either way, Adira didn't think she'd be pressing charges. The library itself would probably press charges on the culprits, and she wasn't politically crooked enough to turn the situation to her advantage by suing the library herself. She sighed at the wreckage in front of her. "All these books... such a shame." They were going to take forever to be sorted, checked for damage, and then re-shelved. All because of some dumb kids bad joke.

She realized she didn't even know the name of the person who'd dug her out of the books. "I'm Adira Perses." She looked hopeful for a return name.

"Pleasure to officially make your acquaintance, Mr. Darrow. Though, I wish it had been under better circumstances." Adira had a knack for being in the right place at the right time. Well, save for the fact that she had been in the bookcases at all. She really should have just ignored the loud teenagers all together and stayed at her safe, cozy, little table. Either way, the girl was glad that she'd managed to avoid being broken in half by the large ancient bookshelves.

The paramedics came in a few minutes later, probably pointed in the right direction by the man who was guarding the caught hoodlum. They looked relatively worried when they saw what had happened, obviously preparing for the worst. The two men turned the chair gently away from Mr. Darrow, and started to check her over. She mostly just let them, insisting the entire time that she was fine. They did what paramedics did- checked her responses, her wrist and arm movements, examined her bruises. And they came up with the same conclusion she had- Adira was mostly fine. A possible minor concussion, and bruises. They left with the advice to stay awake for at least 4 hours, take some ibuprofen and try not to do anything strenuous. If anything hurt, head to the hospital.

After they had left, she turned to Anthony and gave him another smile. It was stronger than the other ones, and she stood slowly, brushing some of the dust off of her clothes. Somehow, she still managed to look fairly classy, covered in dust and bruises. "I suppose we should go see what became of the kid you caught running out?" It seemed a bit like it was down to business again. The girl left the book she had been looking at, pen, and notepad on the table, forgotten in the hubbub of everything that had happened. She'd probably call later on in the week to see if they had found it.

She was a little wobbly, and the shoes probably didn't help. Thankfully, they hadn't been damaged by falling books too much-maybe a scuff or two. But the heels didn't feel wobbly or like they were going to snap which was always a plus. "That would be helpful." She moved over to the librarian, looping her arm though his lightly.

Adira was steady on the walk over, and as they got closer to circulation there was arguing. One of the voices the girl recognized from behind the stacks- he had been the one counting. Turning the corner, the scene was an interesting one. Plenty of gawkers outside the library, trying to see what everything was about. News crews as well, though they were being kept outside of the library doors.

A boy, probably only two years younger than herself stood in jeans and hoody, hands handcuffed in front of him. He turned around when he heard the heels walking up, and looked pretty startled at Adira's appearance. Which totally made her feel awesome.

One of the cops approached them. "Excuse me miss, where you the girl in the stacks at the time?" Even though it was obvious, Adira nodded. The girl gave his arm a squeeze and let go, walking over slowly to the group of cops in order to give a statement. She looked fine, though she leaned fairly heavily on the circulation counter.

In Adira's case, the heel's were a height thing. Her own short 5'3" was easily supplemented by heels, which she preferred. Flats made her feel very, very short. At least she could pretend in heels; it was a subject of pride with her.

The explanation to the cops had been a short one. All in all, the girl hadn't really seen or heard much. She also mentioned that she recognized the boy-in-custody's voice, which they seemed to appreciate. It seems he'd had priors in destruction of public property. She wrote down her info for the officers, in case they had anything further to talk to her about. Adira knew enough to know she would probably be getting a call and a court summons, but she was more than prepared to deal with anything Destiny City's finest had to throw at her. After all, she was gunning to be a lawyer.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Anthony hovering behind her like a concerned parent. It made her smile a little, honestly. Adira Perses did not have parents who 'hovered'. She'd had minders and nanny's to hover, but they were figures who never really stuck around much. Her mother would tire of them, or thing they were doing something wrong and fire them.

The girl still looked a little shaken as she thanked the police, and turned back around to talk to the librarian again. Adira was determined to look as normal as possible. She'd already run a hand through her hair, getting out the dust and putting it back in the same place she'd had it before (almost). The dust on her clothes couldn't really be helped, but she took the time walking over him to wipe it off of her arms and hands. "I must look a mess." She sighed and smiled. "Any chance I could ask something of you?" It wasn't what he was probably expecting, but it didn't hurt to ask anyways.

"Its sort of a question in two parts." She brushed more dust off of her skirt absentmindedly. "Firstly, is there any way out other than the front door?" Adira would like to avoid the media outside if it was at all possible. It would be fairly obvious considering the state she was in to link her to whatever had been happening in the library. She didn't feel like having her face plastered all over the news about it either, particularly looking the way she was, and covered with bruises.

"And secondly, considering I would very much like to sleep but cant, is there any chance you would join me for coffee across the street?" Even with caffeine, it would be easier to stay awake with company. It was alright with Adira if Anthony said no, the man certainly had enough to deal with at the library. Cleaning up everything and getting everyone out of there would be a nightmare. But he was probably at least a little shaken by the events, and would probably benefit from caffeine as well.

Either way, the choice was his. She was going to go with or without him, because that was her plan from before. And no falling bookshelves would keep her from trying out the little cafe across the street.