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 Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 1:22 pm
Who: Anastacia and Difni (with Zeke a little briefly in the beginning)
When: January 21st, 2016; noon
Where: Durem Central Library
Weather: Sunny and clear but cold
Anya had never been to this library before. Then again, she didn't often go to the library at all. Why rent when you can buy a book to keep forever? Winter, however, was not suitable enough for something as simple as that, especially this far into it with seemingly no end in sight. Zeke had suggested they come here after Anya lamented reading the same books several times over. They could make an outing of it, he had said, the library was massive and it was easily to lose track of time in the shelves. Besides, he was off today and was all for lessening some of his Frei's cabin fever.
As they had pulled into the library's parking lot, however, his phone rang. Even without seeing the screen, the ringtone was a dead giveaway for who was calling - the vet's office. The snappy tune Zeke had set cut off as he answered.
"Hello? Oh hey, what's up?" Immediately the Widow's shoulders slumped and she began to resign herself to her fate. Zeke would be needed because that was how things worked out in her life. She would have to go home or go with him to his job while he handled something some other vet should be able to handle but can't or won't because some arbitrary reason. "Oh that? That's really simple! Hang on a sec, okay?"
The Aston was pulled up close to the library's entrance so that Anya could beeline it to the door with as little time in the cold as possible. Zeke put the phone down as he turned around in his seat to smile at her.
"I gotta take this call, Anya. Shouldn't take too long but how about you head on inside while I find a place to park?"
"You don't need to go in?" She couldn't mask the surprise if she tried. Zeke chuckled.
"Nah. But if they try to coerce me to come in," he pressed his phone into the seat so that he couldn't be heard, "I'm outta town." He winked. Anastacia's shoulders came back up and she looked pleased.
"Okay." She was out of her seat belt lickity-split and only paused a second as she put her hand on the door. "Should I wait for you in the lobby?"
"No need. I'll text you when I'm on my way inside. You go have fun."
With that, she was out of the car and racing up the steps to the library's double doors. A blast of heat greeted her as she pushed the right one open and floated inside. Next came the smell of the place. It was a familiar scent, something like an attic with the mustiness and perhaps a little dust, but cleaner than that to be sure. Anya didn't mind it one bit.
Even though she hadn't had much of a look at the building's exterior, from what she could see of the room she was in the library was indeed 'massive'. The lobby was open and older looking with a nice tile flooring instead of carpet. Nearby, Anya saw a few chairs and a sofa, all of which was dark-stained wood with comfy-looking dark green cushions. Not needing to linger in the lobby for Zeke, she did not approach them further. Instead, her attention went to the dark shape in the center of the room. As she got closer, the shape revealed itself to be an equally large but circular desk.
As good a place to start as any, I suppose. She did feel a little overwhelmed. The place was even bigger than she imagined and she wasn't sure where to start first. She also didn't want to wait for Zeke, who was sure to be on the phone for awhile. She reached the counter and spied a bell.
Please ring for assistance read a neatly written sign next to it. She did as it asked. The ding echoed somehow loudly in the room and it sent the Widow scattering both to silence the noise with a hand over the bell and also see if the noise disturbed anyone else in the room. From what she could and could not clearly see, she was alone. That was good, but it still didn't rid her of creeping embarrassment the likes of which would have pinkened her cheeks if she had the blood to blush.
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 3:32 pm
Midweek was always a slow time for the library, college kids were early morning and weekend crammers swarms attempting to memorize half their textbooks before that day's due date, grade school didn't hit until shortly before the dinner hour when parents could usher them through with reading lists in hand. Not to mention noon was the time of day where any working stiff was shoveling their lunch in before getting back to the downward slope of the day. That included her own staff of course. The front desk staff and most of the shelf stockers she hired took their lunch together, a little gaggle of college kids that got together most days, leaving Difni to quietly manage the mostly empty library. Her normal crowd could handle themselves through the packed shelves and assorted seating areas, allowing her to process new inventory away from the desk, the service bell set out in case of anyone needing something specific.
Apparently the bell could sense when she was content and in a groove. The minute she had a stack of new books in hand, fresh prints of several old favorites, Woolf, Plath, even a couple Austen and Christie, the chime sounded, echoing off the arched ceiling down towards the lobby.
Almost as soon as it started it stuttered into silence and that caught her attention almost more than the chime itself. The books were set back down on the counter of the storeroom and stepped back out into the hallway. She pushed her glasses up into her hairline, heels clacking a sharp staccato down the old tile towards the desk. The desk itself was a large circle and she carefully ducked under the wooden flap that bisected the circle in half, stepping behind it before actually looking up to see who was actually standing at the desk.
Floating would be a better term.
“Welcome to Durem Central, how can I help you love?” It was rare she met someone as, perhaps, interesting, as her current guest. College kids, teenagers, middle ages mom attempting to hide the sordid romantic paperbacks that were dogeared in too many places. But never a pretty girl without legs and what looked like a couple extra sets of eyes. It was rude to stare but at least she had the excuse of good customer service to attempt keeping eye contact. “Looking for anything specific?”
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 11:24 pm
The chime, brief as it ultimately was, paid off immediately. As soon as the sound was cut it was replaced by the purposeful 'click click click' of heels on tile. A moment later and the one who was summoned appeared, though she remained a hazy mass of colors up until she stood up after ducking beneath the flap that served as the entryway into the circular desk.
The first thing that crossed Anya's mind was that the dark elf librarian was a beauty. The second was that this woman's outfit was on point. Her heels lofted her height to be sure but the top she wore, the slacks that went with it, the little things she wore to accent her being; everything about her was the very picture of grace, style, and something else that toed the lines of words like 'power', 'poise', 'confidence', and 'competence'. It was rude to stare but if Difni had been staring at her, Anastacia had not noticed. She was too busy staring right back at the classy stranger, to the point where only the dark elf's greeting was able to jog her out of her gape.
"Oh! Uh..." With a little start she blinked her human eyes and brought them to meet the other woman's. A little more embarrassment crept in and sent a tingling sensation up her spine. She really was lucky she did not have any color in her face to betray her although her crown did wiggle nervously around her face. "Thank you." She bobbed downward an inch and came back up again; a curtsy without the need for legs or a skirt. "I was wondering if you had a directory? This is my first time here and I ah..."
She broke eye contact long enough to do another once over of the room. When she returned her focus to Difni, she leaned in a little and lowered her voice even though there was no one else around to hear her truth of the matter.
"I have to admit I'm a little lost."
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