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 Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 9:33 pm
The scent of ink and paper was as thick as the dust he gently brushed off of the tomes in front of him. The library had just gotten in a rather large donation of books from a family who was cleaning out the house of a deceased relative. Instead of going through all of the books they had just packed them all away and sealed the boxes, shipping them over to the nearest public library. If asked Tobias would have said that he was glad they had, because he'd found a few personal favorites among the rather well kept novels. The only thing he'd noticed was that some of them had a bit of water damage, and a lot of dust. He'd even found a squished spider between the cover of two books. It had been there for such a long time that it had crumbled when he'd prodded at it.
"Tobias?" A soft voice called out, pulling Tobias from his thoughts, hand still softly stroking the books under his hand with a rather dingy looking cloth. It had been white when he'd started, now it looked like it had never been any other color than a yellow-brown. "Yes?" He replied, standing. The chair he'd been sitting on slid back with barely a sound on the blue and purple patterned carpet. "It's been four hours since you started on those, please take a break, get something to eat." Miss Mari, one of the younger librarians, pleaded. She worked in the children's section and was too kindhearted at times.
Tobias sighed and told her that he would, brushing past her a few moments later. He wasn't hungry even though he'd been working at the library nearly all day. It was Saturday and so the place wasn't as quiet as it was normally during the week. Which wass why he had retreated into the staff only section in the back. He stopped by the mens room to wash his arms, hands and face after he relived himself. Afterwards he went to browse the shelves, there was a book that was recently returned that he'd been interested in reading.
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Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 1:19 am
Really? She'd hardly been at the school a week and she had a project due Monday? Lame. So horribly lame. But Nari trudged up the steps of the library that she'd known so well when she was little. She really wasn't feeling like working on homework, so she avoided going to the reference books for now, and found herself walking down the aisles of mythology. It wasn't really her thing, but it beat homework. She perused the shelves looking at the titles before passing. What should she read?
She passed through other areas of the library until something caught her eye. A well worn book, the leather binding worn, some of the gold leaf was still visible, but not much. She gently pulled it from the shelf and looked at the cover, running her fingers over the worn treasure before opening the book. She got lost in the first few sentences, not even realizing she was standing in front of the books, blocking others from accessing some. Not like there was much else she could do. All the good places to sit were taken anyways.
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Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 10:11 pm
As he walked through the aisles he couldn't resist the urge to run his fingertip over the spines of the books as he passed. It was a childish habit that he felt no qualms about indulging in. After all, it wasn't as if he hadn't placed some of these tomes back on the shelves a few days prior. He couldn't believe that he actually felt...gratification doing something for himself (and indirectly others) like he was. It was his secret and it was something he treasured. Of course, such as everything he did, the knowledge of the place had made its way into his journals but he'd kept the entry about it rather small. Something that would be passed off as insignificant.
He turned a corner and paused, there before him was a rather pretty girl standing with her nose buried in a book. In the middle of the aisle. Where he needed to pass by to get the book he'd wanted to read. He sighed in exasperation. "Miss." He started, voice bland, "If you'd like to read there are tables and chairs set up for that reason, if not I am told that the floor is also adequate and also leaves room for people to pass by."
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 8:35 pm
Nari jumped when she was addressed, closing the book and clutching it to her chest in one fluid motion. She stared at him a moment before blushing faintly. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to start reading while standing." She laughed quietly before looking down the aisle of books. From where she was standing, it looked like the tables were all filled with people.
She shuffled her foot nervously before realizing she might be in his way. She stepped to the side. "Did... you need to go through?" She still clutched the book to her chest like it was a great, important treasure.
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 6:23 pm
Tobias eyed the girl, now that she wasn't half hidden by her book, his hetero-chromatic eyes holding a note of boredom. "Yes please, but do not take offense at my words please." He murmured, tilting his head a bit to catch the name of the book. Even with half of the letters hidden he knew which one it was that she was reading. "Are you enjoying the novel? It is quite good is it not?" He asked, abruptly changing the topic. He didn't know why he was being so...social lately. He blamed it on the staff and his access to quiet solitude when he needed it. The responsibilities of being a volunteer varied from day to day. Some days he was asked to check over donated items for damage, others he was to return the books to the shelves, others to tidy up certain areas. But rarely was he asked to be in a position to interact with the visitors. But when he was he'd had to greatly brush up on his social skills, which at times, still failed him.
He hoped that now wouldn't be one of them. The girl in front of him was too pretty for him to hurt by falling back into older habits.
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Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:54 pm
"Oh, my, no no." She smiled sheepishly. "No offense taken. It's my fault for being in your way." Her face lit up a little more and she seemed relaxed when the topic shifted to the book. "Ah, I am. I had only just intended to see what it was about and glanced at it, but it seems I got hooked right away." She stifled a giggle before extending a hand to him. "I'm Nari." she said happily. "Well, Kaminari Laxdale actually. But please, call me Nari."
She had no idea that the young man before her was typically anti social, or at least socially awkward. She already liked speaking to him. He seemed nice.
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 9:14 pm
"It is a...pleasure to meet you Miss Lax- I mean Miss Nari." Tobias replied, catching himself as he started to call her by her surname. "I am Tobias Tsujinda a volunteer here." He stepped past her to pluck his book from the shelf and held it close to his chest. "Your book is actually a part of a trilogy, one that I enjoyed as a child. Of course my choice in reading material as a child was...advanced as you've noticed." His eyes lowered to the floor, remembering just why he'd learned to read books like the one Nari held, and felt an unfamiliar bubble of emotion build in his throat. He swallowed, trying to dislodge it and failed.
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 5:54 am
"I didn't do a lot of reading for fun when I was little. I had to study. I was learning Japanese with my brother, and Kuma-papa" She couldn't help but use the nickname for her friend's father "and studied Norwegian with my mother. So it's nice now to be able to read for pleasure. You know, having an advanced reading level just makes you sound really smart." She smiled. She intended it to be a compliment, and was openly impressed by Tobias's abilities.
"A volunteer? You must really like books then." She was oblivious to anything the other was feeling, and instead was getting comfortable talking to him in their low, near whispered voices.
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Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 11:48 pm
"I had to learn English and Japanese when I was little. As I grew older I started to learn a bit of french and German on my own. I haven't had a real chance to see if what I learned was good enough to hold correct conversations in, since I am self-taught." Tobias replied, "I didn't really have much else to do, so having something to read was a blessing." Oh how easy it was to hide behind books and ignore the world around him. If he was quiet and stayed out of the way he could avoid the snide comments, the empty words the pitying looks and false hope.
"It's quiet here and the staff are kind." He replied simply, as if those two things were all he had been looking for in a job. Which was true, partially. He'd wanted quiet, kindness, independence, and somewhere he could go hide when things became too hectic for him to handle. "The books are a plus because I get a little more leeway with them as well as first pick of the new arrivals."
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Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 5:52 am
"Aw, you're lucky. I was always so busy when I was little. Between studying for school, and languages and gymnastics, as well as the local festivals I went to to learn more about my heritage, I didn't have a lot of time. When I did have time, I was chasing bugs." She admitted the last part a little sheepishly.
"It's good though, that the staff here are nice. Wouldn't it be terrible if you liked the job, but couldn't get along with your bosses?" She giggled slightly. "Oh, so when you get new books you can read them first? That's amazing. It beats having to wait in a book store for days for ... whatever best seller is coming out. ... Not that I've done that. But I heard some people do. But they do that for movies and games too." She rambled.
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Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2011 1:36 pm
Tobias would normally have started to feel annoyance creeping up inside him at the girls chatter, but he was far too at ease now, there was something...about her that set him at ease. "I rarely watch movies or play games but I do know what you mean." He finally said, cutting into the chatter, "I don't always get a chance to read a book first, it depends on how popular it is." He made a small gesture with his hand as he spoke, "But thankfully we usually get at least two copies of the popular ones, if not there's another library close by. My Bosses are good about letting me place holds while I'm working, it cuts down on the amount of time I spend browsing through the titles when I'm re shelving the books."
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 5:25 am
"Bet there aren't too many here that you haven't read." She smiled. She was really liking talking to Tobias. He didn't even bat an eye at her chasing bugs. Normally people thought that was weird. "Last time a really popular book came out, I put off reading it for a year. I had to cover my ears and drown out my friends when they talked about it. But I had refused to go to those silly midnight releases, and then it was never in stock when I had money, and the library had a waiting list of some 7 or so months."
She was silent a moment, a look of contemplation on her face before she spoke again, with her usual cheerful expression. "Thank you. I mean, for shelving the books. I know it seems silly to thank you for something like that, but I don't think people realize how annoying it is when the book you want isn't where it's supposed to be. I would imagine that it can be a thankless job sometimes too. So really, thank you, and the other staff for being awesome about it." Ah! She was sure she sounded silly now, thanking him for something like that.
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2011 7:23 am
It was still a strange feeling, being thanked for something that just made sense to do. His job was a needed one while things weren't all converted over to digital. People would hardly be responsible enough to put things back where they found it, unless it was specifically in their job description to do so. Yet hearing it come from this girl...it made heat rush to his face and his eyes slide somewhere not on her figure. "Ah...thank you. It's...not a problem. I enjoy doing it. The rest of the staff and I know...how...it is..." He trailed off unable to string words together. Why was she making him so flustered over a simple thank you?
Tobias wasn't attention starved, Seyonne gave him as much attention as he wanted, and as many hugs as he could stomach. He was used to being ignored and in return ignoring people. But this girl had an aura about her that made it hard for him to try and ignore her, she was too friendly, kind that he felt that he would honestly feel bad if he tried to ignore her or brush her off to exit out of the now awkward conversation. What was wrong with him?
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