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 Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 1:25 pm
School projects. Elena was occasionally amazed that teachers had the audacity to hand out such large scale projects, what with oh, everything else going on in Destiny City. But of course, she sighed to herself, they would have no way of knowing that senshi and Negaverse agents were attending classes. To be fair, she didn't know for sure that senshi were, but it seemed a reasonable guess. It was an occasional idle hobby of hers, trying to guess which of her classmates were probably senshi. Obviously she had no proof, or there would have been either more senshi serving the Negaverse, or more corpses littering the Crystal Academy grounds.
But it was a way to pass the time.
As she pushed open the door into the Destiny City library, Elena wished that she had the free time to actually hunt senshi. Instead, she was stuck running down to the rest of the city, because Crystal Academy didn't have the books she needed to do this never suffciently to be damned project. She rather thought her teacher had deliberately assigned such a comparatively obscure topic; as some sort of punishment, perhaps. Or maybe a test. Either way, Elena was here.
And she needed help. Looking around quickly, the bluenette found what she hoped was a reference desk. Parking herself in the small line queued in front of it, she twirled a strand of hair around one finger idly.
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 12:13 pm
Usually, Anthony Darrow did his best to be as hospitable and approachable as he could while at work, regardless of his personal condition, for better or worse. He had come to work exhausted, half hung over, fresh from the hospital, depressed, and so on, before. All because he was dedicated to his job: it was what made him happy, and when he felt the most at peace and useful. It was a point of pride, even though others might scoff when he beams about being a librarian.
They didn't matter: it was a personal thing, as much as it was professional.
Today, however, was one of those few days where he just couldn't smile like he normally did. Hell, he could barely stand. He was sitting in a rolling chair at the front counter, helping people as quickly as he could as they came to the check out, or to ask questions, if only because of the strain each patron seemed to add to his already battered body.
His doctor had recommended taking a few days off, a week off even, but Tony hadn't exactly listened. His ribs were cracked and bruised, his face dark on one side from bruising as well. He had burns on his arms, chest, back and legs, which he hid under his clothes save for the redness on his hands. He was exhausted and miserable. But getting dragged into a dream and then fighting with a negaverse agent was wont to do that to a civilian.
At length he got to Elena, looking up and recognizing her. At least that brought a thin smile to his face.
"Hello again. How can I help you?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 5:02 pm
Elena hadn't really been paying attention as the line inched ever forward, more content to play with her hair or unfold and refold the already heavily creased scrap of paper she'd scribbled on. So when it was finally her turn to speak to the librarian, her eyes flicked over him casually, taking note of the bruise on one side of his face, all without any glimmer of recognition.
Until he spoke, at least, which is when a genuinely delighted smile lit up the bluenette's face. "Hi," she practically chirped, unfolding her paper one last time. "I didn't know you worked here," Elena continued brightly. "I, um, have this assignment for English class about Shakespeare's sonnets, but Crystal's library doesn't have anything really worthwhile."
She paused for a quick breath and frowned at the paper. All of her nervous playing with it had smeared the pencil writing into an illegible smear. "And now I don't know what books I was going to look for."
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Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:17 pm
Tony looked a bit embarrassed immediately when he thought she wasn't going to recognize him, though he couldn't blame her. It had been one run in on the street, and she had been a bit preoccupied with other things at the time she had met him. Like falling down on the sidewalk. He would probably black that from his memory as well.
But then she smiled and he relaxed, not having to justify anything in his head any more and feeling much better for that.
"I might be the only person who actually does work while working here," he said jovially, his spirits lifting easily. He didn't have to worry about the same things he usually prepared himself mentally for each time a new person came up to the counter. Breaking the ice, not making them angry with him right off the bat, fielding any questions in a way that would seem harmless and helpful. Everyone was different, and finding the right tone, especially if someone was there about a book they couldn't find or a large fine, was difficult.
At least with someone he had even just met once, he could be a little more relaxed.
"Ah, you've come to the right place, then. We have quite the collection of Shakespeare books, and I'm sure you'll be able to find anything you could think of on the sonnets." Seeing the paper, he tilted his head at the smear. "Oh... uh... well. We could... run a general search on the computer, see if anything jars your memory?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 6:56 pm
Putting the smile back on her face, Elena laughed a little bit at his comment about being the only one working. "Not if you get hurt," she commented somewhat lightly while wondering what had caused his injuries. There was a brief twinge of guilt as she thought; had it been one of her fellow Negaverse officers beating up the librarian?
Unfortunately, it didn't particularly matter all that much. One of the prices to pay of being in the Negaverse was always wondering if someone knew had, well, killed or otherwise injured someone you knew.
The other reason it didn't matter was that wasn't why she was here today, and Elena was capable of focusing on something, as long as there was a point. "That would be really great," she practically chirped, completely unconcerned about the line behind her....and that she could probably use one of the library's card catalogue on her own. Someone was paying attention to her, and that's what was important.
Well, that and the homework.
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 11:47 am
Tony tried not to grimace when she mentioned him getting hurt. He was doing his best not to think about that fight, at least not when he was out and about, at work or going about his day. At night was another story. He replayed the fight, at least what he could remember of it, in his mind. He had taken a lot of hits, and he was sure he was missing some moments, seconds, where he had blacked out.
That Nega had been relentless. Cruel. She would have killed him.
He smiled at Elena, though, when it looked like he would be able to help her. There was something nice about helping someone he knew. Different to the usual work of helping patrons, which was, of course, one of his main duties. There was always a slight hopefulness and worry about talking with people he knew, wanting to make sure he was useful and made their days a bit better, or at the very least not any worse, by simply helping them find the book they wanted.
He nodded his head, not realizing she was happy because he was giving her his time, rather than making her go off and use the computer on her own.
"Here we go," he said, pulling up a search page on the computer and making sure the screen was turned so she could see it. "See? Ah. We've got books on the meanings of the sonnets, essays, dissections, even reviews. The actual sonnets, of course, in different releases or languages. Ah..."
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 6:22 pm
Folding the scrap of paper up one last time, Elena slipped it into her purse while Tony pulled up information on his computer. She couldn't imagine having to do this any other way. Her mother had shown her, once, what one of the old card catalogues looked like. The paper cards had seemed awfully archaic and inefficient to her at the time, and her opinion hadn't changed since.
If anything, she'd become more of a technophile; nowhere near as much as her mother, but enough to where she kept up with trends (mostly cellphones) and tried to have the latest device.
"Mmmm, probably the, uh, meanings?" she said, feverishly trying to remember what, exactly, her assignment had been on. "I think I only have to do a paper on the meaning of one of the sonnets." But which one? Or...maybe it was a series of them? She vaguely remembered that some of the sonnets were related, or had the same subject matter. Biting her lip, Elena shook her head sheepishly. "I guess I'm less prepared for this than I thought."
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 11:04 am
"Meanings it is," the battered librarian wrote down the call number for a few books. One was up on the third floor, for one reason or another, while the others were in the special collections area, where most of the books relating to Shakespeare were homed.
"Do you need help locating them?" He asked, after explaining where they were in vague detail, though without a map or an inclination if she had explored to library very much already.
It would have helped a bit more, as well, if she remembered her assignment. He had snuck in a couple of the other books, just in case she remembered her homework was something else, and she needed a different book. He wrote the titles down, so she knew which was what.
"Oh, don't worry. A lot of students have been in a similar spot. Some don't even remember the author or even a vague idea of the title of the book they want, so at least we know where to start looking? Maybe looking at some of these books will jar your memory a bit."
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 1:54 pm
Elena lightly drummed her fingers on the desk, not impatiently, more as an idle habit that helped focus her thoughts. "No, I should be alright," she replied with a grin. "Mom always thought we should know how to get around a library, and Dad agreed." The bluenette offered a small shrug. "It's less time consuming, I guess."
She glanced over the list and nodded, hair bouncing a bit as her head moved. "This'll help a lot, thanks!" A brilliant (and sincere) smile was the librarian's reward as Elena flipped a hand towards the line behind her. "I'll have to stop in again some time when you're not so busy," she remarked as she took herself off to look for her books.
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