Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had been several months since Parker had visited the library. For most people, this wouldn't be anything special, but for Parker, it was like running away from home without leaving a note, or a sign of life. When he first got sent to Hillworth, Parker had made the library his second home, often falling asleep in the reading corners or dozing off on top of one of the philosophy texts his mother had edited. These books were the ones he visited the most, fingers tracing over the pages as if he could feel his mother in them. She had edited them, not written, but it was as close to her as he could get.

As he grew older, Parker lost his sense of innocence. His father's public trial made his name and back story public record, and the resulting teasing was something that Parker had never quite recovered from. Once he started dating Dani, his free time went to her, and once he was awakened as Sailor Taranis, Parker had become a ghost.

That day, he had come by to drop-off some old library books he'd found abandoned in the Hillworth courtyard. This place had been a sanctuary to him, and he wouldn't see its talismans disgraced. Tony wasn't stationed at his desk, which Parker found strange. But perhaps it was for the best? Parker was always uneasy with his relationship with the librarian. It swung between nurturing and uncomfortable, though the latter was largely Parker's fault. He never knew how to accept the warmth of others.

While he was there, Parker decided to poke around a little in his old stomping grounds. He headed deeper into the library, rounding corners and passing some DCU students studying for finals. Another row, another face and then -- "Tony." Parker's voice raised in surprise. "I didn't expect to see you back here." It wasn't really a greeting, but Parker had never been good at formality.

Any unease Parker might have felt was soothed quickly by Tony being -- well, Tony. A sheepish smile tugged at the corners of Parker's mouth. "Graduation is soon so I've been busy preparing for it," he said, as if that could explain anything. The senshidom and Dani-talk seemed a little inappropriate. Would Tony care to hear about Parker's new girlfriend? He didn't think so.

Parker noted Tony gathering up his things, stacking them together so he could move. "Not busy, no," he said. "I was dropping off some books I found in the Hillworth courtyard. I didn't want to leave them alone so... did you need any help with those?" It didn't look like Tony was incapable of carrying his load (he'd gotten it here, hadn't he?) but Parker felt compelled to offer to help. Tony had helped him through the years; it was really the least he could do.

Parker scooped up the assigned stack of papers, piling the load onto one hooked arm. He trailed behind Tony toward the desk, weaving in and out of the aisles. Tony navigated them like Magellan on the high seas; Parker was more of a kid in a sail boat.

It was easy to be comfortable around Tony, even for Parker. He had spoken to the librarian so many times in the past. Even with the passing of time, he fell into a rhythm. Tony asked, Parker shared. He was one of the only people that Parker felt that level of comfort with. "Hillworth is..." He sighed. "Terrible. I took the SAT, I wrote my essays, I applied to colleges." A portly woman rounded a corner. Parker murmured an apology and darted around her to keep pace with Tony.

"I got denied." There was a weight in the words, a guilt. "Across the board denied. I can only assume that Hillworth had something to do with it." A long sigh chased at the end of his words. Even though he had moved on to his job with GeekSquad and his apartment with Tate, it still hurt him to think of that rejection. Parker prided himself on his erudite nature, and he couldn't help but feel a prickle of shame to admit his shortcoming to Tony.

The office was as Parker remembered it, despite the lapse in time. He placed his stack of papers beside where Tony had laid his, and then stuff one hand into his pocket. He wanted to believe what Tony was saying, really he did, but doing so would make him an optimistic person. This was simply not the case. Even when he was happy, Parker tended to fixate on the bad. It was probably his worst characteristic.

When Tony offered to help, Parker laughed darkly. "I don't think any of it would matter now. DCU rejected me. DCU. I thought I could go to Purdue, Columbia, Northwestern, UPenn. I thought that a 1410 and a 3.6 would be enough. But it wasn't even enough for DCU." It had never been in Parker's nature to fix his problems, just complain about them.

He idly touched at a stack of books on the corner of one desk. "My life is depressing. Tell me about you. What have I missed?" It was hardly specific, but talking about his failures at college left Parker wanting for pleasant conversation.

Parker had a lifetime to complain about himself. He only had a limited time to be concerned for Tony. "You were jumped?" he said, lifting both eyebrows. He'd noticed the sling before, but he didn't really think anything of it. Parker wasn't always the most considerate teenager.

He stopped his fidgeting and turned to face Tony directly. "Who did it? Were you alone?" Parker could feel the shift in his mind as his senshi identity clicked into focus. Tony most certainly fell under the category of people Parker did not want to see hurt. If anything, he was even in the special category of people who Parker felt it was his responsibility to protect.

"Who would want to beat up a librarian," he mused. It was an attempt to soften the sharpness of his sudden concern.

The police were a sore subject for Parker. He considered them largely unhelpful in the fight against the Negaverse. If anything, they only caused more problems for him. The ones he'd met seemed wary of him. There wasn't the blanket hatred that he sometimes anticipated from DCNN reports. Both Negas and Senshi were 'terrorists' and the fake Sailor Nea had done little to fix that stereotype. Bullets had flown his way before, too. He understood the skepticism of the police, but it didn't make their involvement any less aggravating.

From what Tony was describing, it sounded like a normal criminal attack, nothing of the variety that Parker had expected. It was easy to forget that there were other evil forces in DC aside from the Negaverse. "I'm glad you made it out okay," he said. "A lot of people don't." The negatives always leaped to the front of Parker's mind before the good. It was a habit. "I read a story yesterday about an entire family that was found in their parked car -- all comatose." There was nothing more to the story. Parker just had a knack for sharing the gruesome.

Talking about Tony was a nice thing for Parker. He wondered about the kind librarian more than he expected he would. The truth was that the man had been a pillar of solidarity during a very tumultuous time in his life. He would never forget that. "How are you, otherwise? Seeing anyone? Read anything good lately?" Parker cared considerably more about the latter than the former.

"You're skirting my questions," he said. The knowing smirk said he wouldn't press. He'd known Tony long enough to understand that the man was a listener, not a sharer. And Tony knew Parker well enough to know that he couldn't miss an opportunity to make a point.

It was nice talking to Tony, like everything was normal and okay. Recently, Parker'd gotten better about not wearing himself out to the point of exhaustion with his senshi duties, but he was still working on it. There were nights when he stayed out too late, mornings when he slept in past classes, and many assignment that he neglected to complete. The fact that he was still managing to pass was a testament to his general booksmarts.

At least he and Dani weren't fighting anymore. "You have a point," he began, lifting a nearby book and reading the spine. It was a Twilight book. Parker held it up. "Doing an anthropological study on teenage girls?" He cracked the book open. Someone had gone through and crossed out every 'Bella' and replaced it with 'Frankie' instead. Odd. Apparently it was a damaged book.

All of this did little to prevent him from answering the question that Tony had posed. Unlike his older companion, Parker decided he wanted to share. It was about time. "I'm dating a girl named Dani. Have been for... five months? Something like that. I don't know if you know her. She doesn't go to the library like I do." Not that she wasn't smart. If Dani wasn't smart, Parker wouldn't like her. They just used their intelligence in different ways.