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The previous night had been, for Ian, about as restful as a pep-rally. Not to say he had never slept a pep-rally before, but it had been a bit of a struggle to drag himself groggily out of bed that morning. He was infinitely thankful that it was a weekend, at least, and so there had been no pressing need to be awake before 11:30, but it was still a bit later than he had hoped to get up. He had a paper to work on, and wanted to go by the library in order to poke through a few books ... and also to guarantee that he would actually get a bit of writing done before he went back to playing something or another on the internet.

Ian ate breakfast in his pajamas, because it just felt like the right thing to do. Then he got ready for the day like it was an uphill battle, and put his laptop and notebooks into his messenger bag for what felt like would be an arduous journey to the bus stop.

After the bus came (felt like it was late), Ian popped his earbuds in and stared out the window. He was pretty sure he was feeling less enthused about the assignment the closer he got to the library, but at least there was a promise of at least a small amount of company - he knew that Mister Darrow would be working today. It had been a little while since he had seen his friend the librarian, mostly because he had been fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to be saddled with more math homework than research papers, and so had had little need for the library. Of course, Ian still visited for pleasure reading, but it was not very often, and he seemed to just happen to miss Mister Darrow every time.

It seemed like it took forever to get to the library, catching every red light and getting behind every slow driver, but Ian finally arrived and hauled his bag of school supplies with him into the building. Once inside, he headed straight for the information desk, letting his messenger bag rest on the carpet propped up against his leg once he was standing in front of it. The boy fixed his glasses and glanced around as one hand started to reach for the little bell on the counter, just in case.

... Part of him wanted to ring it anyway, just to see if it would help wake him up. But it might disturb the other patrons, he worried. Plus, the techno that was still playing into his ears had not exactly done the job, either. The red-haired boy paused his music player and removed the earbuds, tucking them into the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt, and was then overcome by a yawn. At least this paper only had to be three pages.

A whiff of coffee reached his nose from somewhere or another, and the boy's gaze darted back and forth momentarily as he perhaps instinctively attempted to locate the source of the scent. He had gotten the dregs of the pot with breakfast, maybe about half a cup, and it had not quite been enough.

At the sound of Mister Darrow's voice, Ian turned with his fist halfway into his mouth to hide the yawn, then wiped the corner of one eye with one finger and similarly forced a smile.

"Yeah, sorry," he replied, then added with a weak chuckle, "I have been reading, though, I promise."

He seemed to first notice the dog then, and blinked, tilting his head to the side slightly. "Oh, hey, your dog?" the boy inquired, getting the dumb but easy question out of the way. Hesitantly, he extended a hand to the corgi as he then asked, "Is it okay to pet him? Or her? I didn't think you guys usually let pets in here." Ian had heard the studies that pets reduced stress, too, and the thought crossed his mind that it was entirely possible that he would fall asleep again if he rubbed the dog's ears for too long.

Coffee in the library did seem like a bit of a farfetched idea - after all, it was not like this was a cafe or anything. The boy dismissed it as his mind playing tricks on him ... though he decided that he would have to get himself a cup later; perhaps on the way home.

His smile became more genuine as the dog, introduced as Dogby, approached to lick his fingers. Ian shifted his bag with his free hand so he could prop it upright against his leg without it tipping over, and then let go of the strap to avail the hand not being coated in dog slobber to scratch Dogby behind the ears. He considered himself more of a cat person than a dog person, but it was always easier to enjoy a dog when it was not huge and jumping on him.

"Nice to meet you, Dogby," he told the creature with a small laugh. Full introductions seemed appropriate: "I'm uh, Ian, and I guess now you know what I had for breakfast, too...."

He turned his attention back to Mister Darrow after a moment, though his glance strayed back to Dogby and her intent interest on washing his hands again every few seconds. "Yeah, my math teacher got all excited about interdisciplinary stuff and is making us all write papers about famous math people." The red-haired boy grinned sheepishly. "There isn't a separate section in biographies for math people, is there?"

Though dogs did not bother him at all, Ian was not entirely keen on having slobber on his hands. Half-fearing it may be interpreted as an insult, or at least a dislike of Dogby, the boy planned to wait until the librarian was not looking to wipe his hand on his pants; the proffered hand wipe was therefore a welcome relief. Once his fingers were less slimy, he reached out again to pet the eager corgi's head.

"Delicious," he repeated with a small laugh and patted the dog on the back.

Had Mister Darrow and Dogby really been keeping score, the former would have gotten bonus points from Ian for not drooling.

Ian looked back up to the librarian and nodded, feeling a small but profound sense of happiness that it was not just because he was a student that he was bored at the idea of crawling through the life of some mathematician. "Oh, nono," he hurriedly reassured Mister Darrow. "I mean, it is fine that the teacher likes math people, but I am not really too happy about it myself. Although I guess maybe people could be more interesting than slogging through equations."

With the staggering total of books in the whole library, Ian could not fault his friend for not being familiar with every single one of them. He leaned his hands on the desktop and tilted forward, trying to get at a better angle relative to the screen of the computer sitting at the information desk. "I guess there's like, Isaac Newton, but I suspect half the class is going to write about him because he's easy." Feeling another yawn coming on, he stood up straight again and put a hand to his mouth--

- and squeezed his eyes shut, groaning softly. "Oh, man, I just realized I totally forgot the books I borrowed from you." Ian rubbed his face and sighed, distorting his features slightly and nudging his glasses upwards. "I had them right there on the table and walked straight out of the house without them." The yawn came and went, and the boy opened his eyes again to peer sheepishly at Mister Darrow. "Sorry. Been really out of it today."

"History is so much cooler, I think," Ian replied; he found himself unable to frown at the thought of maths, however, thanks to Dogby. Smiling a little, he obligingly scratched her back, then her tummy. "I guess maybe if math people did other cool things, too, I can try writing more about that than the math part, at least."

Leaning on the counter again, he tilted his head sideways to take a look at the call numbers, then looked around to scan the ones posted on the sides of the shelves nearby.

Then he let his head loll a little on its own, sideways, and stared blankly out the window. "Will you be here next weekend?" he asked slowly after a moment. "I can try bringing them then. Or after school one day this week?" The red-haired boy's fingers kept moving mechanically, much to the dog's satisfaction. Then his hand came into contact with Dogby's cold wet nose; this appeared to re-awaken Ian, and he flinched slightly, standing again before he allowed himself to completely melt onto the information desk.

"This is going to be a long paper," he sighed, having fortunately missed the librarian's yawn so he could not catch it back this time. Ian felt a little like another one was coming on again anyway, though.

"Maybe I'll step outside and get another breath of fresh air." It had not helped on the way over but ... well, he could not see how it would make things any worse.

"You're like, allowed out, right?" he asked haltingly, quirking one brow. The boy was pretty sure that sort of thing was generally permitted, at least within reason, but then Ian was unsure of what all the library's policies and such were. Just in principle, though, it seemed cruel to keep Mister Darrow completely cooped up all day. Unless he liked it.

But by the way he was looking over at the front doors....

"Just a few breaths of fresh air, otherwise I might want to fall asleep in the sun or something," Ian urged the librarian with a small smile. He stopped petting Dogby again to reach over and take the small slip of paper with his call numbers, which he studied momentarily before stuffing it into his pocket.

Then the red-haired boy picked up his bag again with one hand while fixing his glasses with the other, and tried to force himself to at least pretend to be bright and cheerful. "Come with me? We can photosynthesize or something for a few minutes?"

... Ian thought he caught something move outside out of the corner of his eye outside. He frowned, already starting towards the door slightly, though he was not even sure in what direction the thing had been moving. It had looked bigger than a bird, at least. Well, assuming it was not just his imagination.

"Did you see that?"

"Am I allowed out?" Tony echoed with a chuckle, "of course. I don't think there's anyone around to fire me for sneaking out." He shook his head, just trying to imagine who would be offended by him taking a break. Particularly because he seemed to be the only one these days brave enough to run the library in the day to day.

He moved to the edge of the counter, rubbing his arm as he went. He grabbed his cane from where it was leaning and nodded his head, not needing much more of an invitation to get away from the desk for a short time. There was no one in line or looking for help, anyway.

He shook his head.

Dogby was not happy about being forgotten on the desk, wanting to go with them. They were going outside! What if she needed to pee? They were just going to leave her in here? She whimpered and yipped at them, to remind them she was there. Tony pat her on the head, apologizing quietly and telling her to be a good girl and stay inside. She sat down, tongue lulling out the side of her mouth, head tilted to the side.

He looked toward the door when Ian said he saw something. He frowned, wondering if he had seen it as well. A flicker of a shadow. Instinct told him to investigate.

"Probably a bike going by," he said rationally, moving to the front door and heading out. True enough, he could have stood in the lobby between doors and seen out perfectly fine, but he wanted to come outside anyway. He didn't see the thing in the tree, though, his eyes not that keen.

Two tasty treats...

If the creature could sing, or trill, or something of the sort, it probably would have been. It hadn't a meal in too long and now two sacks of meat were just asking for it. The bird disguise was coming down as the creature, wyvern-like leathery wings stretching quickly, began to descend down the tree's trunk and into the nearby bushes of the library. It tried to keep out of sight, but was roughly the size of Ian's torso with a wingspan a great deal wider than that. It possessed very dark and mottled skin, deep in color like swamp water. As it slinked about in the bushes, it reached the stone corner of the building and waited for the redhead to turn his back.

There.

With a swift sweep of its wings, the creature propelled itself to be level with Ian's shoulderblade and leaped up with a hellish, gasping shriek. In the light, it looked somewhat hairy, stiff and dirty, long claws digging into the boy's shirt. Its stubbed feet were hanging on to the boy's shirt collar and pulling down with the weight of a large dog. Its attack method was simple - leap onto the smallest and weakest looking of a group, claw it up and drag it away to be devoured. It was now attempting to bring Ian to the ground and use its arms to steal him away to a nearby alley.