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 Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 1:44 pm
Three PM had come and gone and Ever wasn't there.
He really had intended to be on time, for Tony. He'd intended to buy nice clothes and get dressed up, even if it meant rooting around through Bre's belongings to find the cash to pull it off. The plan had been a Sunday afternoon shopping trip, to a store with new clothes in a range of sizes, khakis that would fit...
But Sunday had passed in a blur. He hadn't thought that he drank that much, at the club Saturday night. A few drinks, a little bit of inappropriate behavior, entirely too many cigarettes, not enough food: and then the night had blurred away and he'd been left with no memory of how he'd gotten home. It had lingered late into Sunday evening.
Noon Monday, he'd finally gone hunting for clothes, with dark bags under his eyes and his skin too pale, lips chapped. Salvation army, the first khakis he could find, a battered collared shirt that had once been white, his ruined old shoes....he looked like a mess, and on top of that, didn't stumble in until nearly three thirty.
It was probably a missed opportunity, but he figured he had nothing to lose. And by all reports Tony was a sucker...so maybe he could get away with it.
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Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:24 pm
Tony wasn't worried. Yet. Right? Why should he be? Just because the young man he had offered a job to in an effort to give him somewhere to go and a way to make some money hadn't shown up yet for his very first day of work? That didn't mean he wasn't going to show up, or worse, was in some kind of trouble. Or... anything. Right?
Right.
Tony couldn't help but worry, of course. He thought that Ever was in a bad way. He was hoping that maybe a job would help the young man out, keep him out of trouble and a bit more put together. And money always helped, didn't it? The library had helped straighten Tony out, after all, when his life was a jumbled mess.
Maybe he was being silly, putting too much faith in it and himself, trying to take on a new 'ward' that needed his help.
He looked up when Ever did, finally, stumble into the library, breathing a sigh of relief. It was cut off, though, when he took in the other's appearance. At least he recognized that look. He felt a strange twinge. Jealousy? Something, but squashed it down.
"Good of you to show up," he said softly, walking over to him.
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Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:32 pm
Ever made a sound; it was supposed to be some kind of explanation, but instead it came out unintelligible and garbled, his hand going to his collar in an attempt to tidy it up to at least some degree, finger swiping roughly across his eyes. He looked like hell: still bruised from his blow to the face, and by now it was starting to go purple and green, a motley of color that looked worse than it had to start out with. Red eyes and pale skin.
If it was a hangover, it had to be the worst hangover ever, and it was remarkable he was still on his feet. But after a moment he licked his lips and struggled to find words, summoning up a twitch of a tired smile and focusing as best he could on Tony. Just on Tony, not the too-bright lights behind him or the buzz of noise that didn't even seem to go away in the quiet of the library.
"Um. Yes. Showed up. It's miraculous."
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Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 2:28 pm
Tony arched an eyebrow at the sound, not quite understanding its meaning as intended. He sighed, watching as Ever adjusted his collar. At least the shirt had a collar, right? A step in the right direction, at any rate, though he supposed the clothes weren''t the most important thing.
He had gotten to the library, that meant something, right?
He winced, taking in Ever's appearance and sighing.
"You look miserable," he pointed out, though he imagined Ever was aware of it. It was more a 'everyone else can see it' nod than an effort to inform him for his own sake. "Do you need some coffee?"
He motioned for Ever to follow him behind the front desk, to the work room where he might sit down and try to gather himself if he wanted to. Plus, Tony wanted to keep him out of sight for now, while they talked. He'd hear the bell if anyone needed help.
"Rough night?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 3:01 pm
"Don't really drink coffee." If Tony had offered tea, but -- well, Ever wasn't going to ask, just now. He drew in a breath and followed, with one quick look shot out toward the library: at this hour, it was just starting to pick up, people showing up after school, probably not exactly thrilled to be there. He made a noise and ducked into the back, perching on the edge of a table instead of sitting in a chair.
"...don't know what happened, either." He hesitated, licked his lips, looking around the staff area in a dull sort of way: without really taking it in. Then he plowed on, even if there was no real chance Tony'd believe him. "I didn't even do anything yesterday. Just...slept, mostly."
There was just a brief pause before he winced, words muddly. "'m sorry."
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Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 3:36 pm
Tony looked worried, nodding his head. The coffee wasn't the best today, anyway, since someone else had made it. Not that Tony thought himself the best coffee maker in the library, but still, whoever made this batch had not put much thought into the flavor of the beans they had chosen from the stock.
Tony's mind was wandering. He needed a nap himself, really.
He gingerly poured himself a cup of coffee, his personal mug shaped like a stein, though he only took a little sip before wrinkling his nose and adding more milk.
Tony looked at Ever when he said he didn't do anything the day before. It certainly looked like the young man was desperately hung over. Maybe he had done more than he wanted to talk about or think about in the daylight. Tony remembered those days well enough, though he sipped at his now very light coffee and grimaced again.
"Are you getting sick?" he asked, a subtle offer not to press the subject the way he wanted to, not accusing his new employee of anything the first day on. "If you're not feeling up to today..."
Sometimes even he noted that he was much too soft for his own good.
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Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 3:50 pm
"Um." Damn that was tempting. He licked his lips and fought down the urge to say 'god yes, later would be better'. Even if he left, after all, he'd have to wind his way home, and the effort of that sounded like too much work. Better to hang out back here, if nothing else.
"Um. No, I don't...I don't have a fever or anything." He swiped a hand over his forehead as he said it, blinking meaningfully up at Tony. It would have been easier if he did. And harder, because there was no way he could get the medicine...
"You don't uh. You don't need me to....run around...?" If it was mostly just sitting behind the desk, he'd manage.
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Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:04 pm
Tony watched Ever, as if this was suddenly a test. A test of what? Character? A trick to see if the job was really wanted and should have been offered? Nothing like that, really. Tony was just interested to see if Ever wanted to go home, and if he would be alright.
He couldn't help it but be worried first, then think about getting tricked or used later. Which, of course, often resulted in both of those things happening before he could stop them.
But Ever seemed to be a bit more trustworthy than that...
He smiled, nodded his head. "Well, if you do think you're getting sick, or don't feel up to anything I show you today, just let me know. It shouldn't be too rough, just some learning, getting used to things, but it might be difficult to retain anything if you're... uh. Run down." He offered a sympathetic smile.
"No running around, no. There's plenty to do right here at the desk."
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Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:59 pm
Ever's eyes twitched down to Tony's coffee, to his unusual mug, and then around the staff room again. No, he didn't look like he was going to retain much at all, but he could try, at least. It was just a library.
He didn't quite realize how much computer were involved in 'just a library' these days.
"...can I steal a glass of water?" he had to work his mouth to get the words out, straightening slowly away from the table, still wobbly. "Or something? Then we can...whatever."
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Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 5:13 pm
Tony looked at him, concerned by his behavior now. He looked bad, even for a hangover. A really bad hangover. He nodded his head and moved quickly to get some water from the cooler, getting a clean cup for him and offering it carefully.
"I think sitting down is the best job for you right now," he said, trying to make a joke. He smiled, almost feeling proud that Ever had, in fact, showed up, even late and in a mess. True, he still half thought the condition was due to too much fun the night before, but even if it was it was still some kind of assurance that he came in anyway.
Right? Maybe he was just being aggressively optimistic.
Tony motioned for him to follow, when he was ready, standing in the doorway before leading the way out to the front desk once more. No one was waiting for any help, but he supposed the dreary feel to the day could be blamed for that.
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Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 5:39 pm
Ever trailed him by a couple of steps, clutching his cup of water in both hands, only kind of awake. It was noisier, now, the sound of kids moving around in a library still enough to make him grimace, and if that damned dog jumped up on him today, he might just kick it in the face. Then he'd finally be in trouble.
"'m not sure...um. I thought it'd be...shelving books?" Though, behind the desk and sitting sounded amazing right now. He took a long, slow gulp of his water, and looked around uncomfortably for the beast.
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Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 12:41 am
"I can handle the books, if you can handle the desk," Tony said, motioning to the front desk. There the bell for service sat beside the computer Tony used to check books out to people. It was a fairly old monitor and tower, not exactly built for speed or heavy thinking, but it got by when just running the library's program.
Next to the monitor was the card slider for library cards and the hand scanner for book codes. A drawer where the stamps were kept was underneath that and next to that, still under the counter, was the de-sensitizer so the alarms didn't go off. The big one was for books, the one next to it was for video tapes and cassettes. Using the larger one for tapes would just erase them.
All this he explained in detail, with examples of how to use each. He explained the program for checking out books, what to click, how to scan. He pointed out where books that were being returned were dropped off, explaining that they didn't accept them at the counter and people would try to just leave them there, but it was protocol to have the books in the return boxes for proper sorting and checking in later.
He would teach him about shelving and call numbers later.
"Following so far?" he checked in. It was all rather simple and something someone could probably pick up on their own if left to it, but Tony liked to be thorough. Dogby was sitting at his desk, on his chair, curled asleep and kicking her back feet.
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Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 3:37 pm
"...um." Judging from the somewhat-baffled look Ever was giving him, overwhelmed, it was probably a good thing he was taking the time to explain. The little things, those he understood, but when it came to the actual computer and programs and knowing what to click...well, he'd learn it eventually. But for now --
"Okay. Yeah. Sure." He licked his lips, considering that and reaching forward to move the mouse a little. He reacted a bit like he feared it would bite him. "But can we do a cheat sheet, maybe?"
The look he gave Tony, through bruised eyes and a fringe of hair, was definitely hopeful. Step by step cheat sheet and he could get the hang of this much more quickly.
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Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 12:25 pm
Tony looked back at Ever and saw the young man's baffled expression. He frowned thoughtfully, realizing that he had lost him somewhere in all the explanations, but hadn't noticed where. He shook his head.
"Ah. Uhm. Well, don't worry about it, you don't have to remember everything until you actually need to do it, so you'll learn properly then. I'll make you a cheat sheet if you really want, but you could just as easily just ask me to help you when you're confused."
He sighed at the look he was being given. It wasn't like he could say no to a bruised, exhausted, pitiful looking person, anyway. "Maybe I can go type something up for you, just to make it easier. At any rate, just sit at the front counter and see if you can't help a couple people. It's been fairly quiet around here."
He pat Ever on the shoulder, a vote of confidence, before wandering to his own desk not too far away.
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Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 1:28 pm
"...hn." He watched Tony go, quiet for a moment, and then sank down to sit behind the computer at the counter, looking over the machine with a certain air of wariness. Ever's father had owned a computer; he'd used it once or twice, under supervision. Mostly, though, the machine had been tightly password-protected with limited access. A few games of 'Reader Rabbit' when he'd been young did not mean he knew how to use the damned thing.
But. He poked at it restlessly, eyes skating over the library, and was only too glad that it was busy. And for now, while he didn't actually know much about check-ins or check-outs, while he wasn't confident actually ringing somebody up, at the very least he could help people find things, to a degree. A girl hunting down Wuthering Heights for class was easily pointed in the right direction. Another asking for Twilight was met with a blank book, and then offered Dracula when she explained it was vampires.
All in all, despite the lingering pounding headache, Ever could manage.
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