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 Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 2:39 pm
Having shown the card to the bus driver, he grinned at Ala and Reign and told the girls he'd let them know when they got to their stop. The bus moved on in the darkness of the night, mostly empty other than one or two others that had business out after dark.
The others were the first to get off, leaving the bus empty but for Ala and Reign. A few bumpy minutes later, the bus came to a stop.
"This be yur stop, girlies. Library's right over t'ere. T'at buildin' right t'eres. Sees it?"
Alaqua looked in the direction the man was pointing, spotting the old building and nodding. "Thank you, Mister!" Tugging Reign's hand gently, the two girls headed for the building.
Ala pushed on the door, leading her younger chimp sister inside. "Hello??" The girl nearly shouted, the call echoing in the quiet library.
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 3:03 pm
It was half an hour until closing time and the liberary was mostly silent, save for the one or two dedicated students, lost in research. A large circular desk, set up from the floor, stood in the center of the entrance way. A hole was cut in the middle of the desk, making room for three or four librarians to stand there at once. Slots labled 'Return', were cut into the desk.
At the echoed hello a stern woman stood up at the front desk from where she had been organizing books.
"May I help you?" She asked, ice dripping off of her voice. This was not a place for small children to be babysat. But liberary policy only allowed her to call the police if they were still here unattended at closing time. Half an hour away.
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 3:07 pm
Alaqua grinned as she spotted the woman, oblivious to the cold tone to the librarian's voice. "Yes. You gave my mommy Reign and... well, Mommy doesn't want to keep Reign anymore, so she told me to bring her back."
The koala child had let go of the chimp child's hand and stepped forward towards the woman. Reign frowned as she was not spotting any ice cream anywhere and... wait, what was that that Ala was saying? Mommy didn't want Reign? The younger girl frowned, pulling her thumb out of her mouth. She started to sniffle, trying to keep back tears. Why didn't Mommy want her anymore??
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 3:16 pm
A carefuly plucked eyebrow rose, higher and higher. A disbelieving snort exited the woman's nose. Said snort expressed, in one sound, how utterly preposterous this child's accusations were and exactly what she thought of children in general.
The brow lowered ominously when the younger of the two started to sniffle. Oh no. "I don't know what your talking about," one Professor Aziza stated. "But you'd best watch your sister. You are supposed to be quiet and she looks about to become dangerously loud." With that she pulled some returned books and grabbed a stamp.
Intent on ignoreing the spoiled children, honestly where were their parents, Aziza stamped the checked in book, marking that they had been turned in on time. Surreptiously she checked the clock. Still twenty seven minutes to go.
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 3:27 pm
Ala blinked at the woman. She didn't know? The girl turned as Professor Aziza stated that Reign was about to be loud. She shrugged and walked the rest of the distance to the desk.
"But... you gave Mommy this when you gave her Reign. That's how we knew where to come..." The koala girl dug the card out of her pocket and showed it to the woman. "This is here, right?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 3:34 pm
Reluctantly the woman took the buisness card. "Those..." her lips thinned, pressing together to keep certain words out and away from impressionable youngsters. Pointing to a hallway that led into shadows she nodded. "Go through there. It's in the Musaeum, not here. Look for Nara or Dr. Smith. *They* can take care of you."
She was being nice, really. She wanted to say they would deal with the brats but she had to be polite. Funding and all that. Twenty five minutes left. The woman stepped out from behind the desk, slipping throught the single opening. As she quietly led the girls to the hallway, she started on her rounds. Might as well kick the students out of the study rooms now.
The hallway was dark and dim and at the end a large solid door stood closed. As the two approached, it began to slowly swing open, a figure outlined against the bright light standing there.
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 3:40 pm
Alaqua glanced to where the woman was pointing. Musaeum? Oh, so she wasn't in exactly the right place. Oh well.
The two young girls followed the woman. As the started down the hallway, Reign grabbed Ala's hand, scared. Of course, Ala was as well, she just wouldn't admit it. But she was glad that Reign was holding onto her hand.
Alaqua gulped as the door slowly swun open, someone standing there. "Uh... hello?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 3:48 pm
Blink. Blink. Peer into darkness. Blink again. When the shadowed forms spoke Nara was, bluntly, relieved that she wasn't seeing things. Some times she wasn't entirely sure what the extent of her alterations were. What if she could see the ghosts of old scrolls? The ones that had been burnt in the fire.
But it was just ordinary children. The relic paused, revising her opinion. Ordinary children don't come to a liberary temple half an hour before it closes. Besides. One felt...familar.
"Hi." Nara stepped back into the room. "Are you kiddo's coming in here?" What did that one feel like? One of them felt like a scroll, but the only ones were Nathaniel and Reign. Both had a mommy and shouldn't be here.
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 3:57 pm
As Nara stepped back, the two girls could see her better. Alaqua recognized her and nodded. "Yup." She tugged Reign on into the room.
Reign looked up at Nara, sucking her thumb again. This person felt... well, not weird, but different. Not like Mommy or Ala. She had a... familar feel. Which made Reign give into the urge to hug Nara.
Ala rolled her eyes as Reign hugged Nara, letting go of the koala girl's hand to do so. "Mommy doesn't want Reign," Alaqua told Nara. "She said to bring Reign back."
About this time, a very panicky Nikiana burst through the library doors, looking about her frantically. Good thing she had remembered the name of the library and was able to look it up for the address. It hadn't taken her long to figure out where Ala and Reign had disappeared to, after having searched the house and then spotted the missing business card from the fridge.
Cursing Alaqua under her breath, the woman had jumped into her car and, after circling the block to see if they had tried walking to the library, had sped across town to reach the library, praying that the girls would be there and she'd be able to find them.
But the woman wasn't spotting either girl right now. If it weren't for the fact that she held a very deep reverence for libraries, Nikiana would be shouting for her two girls right about now.
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 4:20 pm
With the desk unattended, there wasn't much to help guide the frantic mother to her girls. However, a small container of buissness cards stood on the desk. One half was for the liberary, listing all the librarians and their numbers and the other was for the Musaeum. It was called the rare book collection (if only they knew how rare) and listed Nara and a Dr. Smith on the card. A hallway off to the side had the same name written on a plaque.
"Mommy doesn't want Reign," Alaqua told the young woman. "She said to bring Reign back." A sudden flash of memory triggered off and a frown built in Nara's eyes. Reign was... the little girl who was clinging to her legs in a hug.
"Reign." Awkwardly Nara patted the girl's back. "Yes.. Miss Nikiana's daughter. And you must be her sister?" And if Ala thought that Nara bought the story for an instant Ala was a silly little girl.
If there had truly been a problem than Nara would have recieved a phonecall or visit from Miss Nikiana herself.
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 4:33 pm
Ala nodded. "Yup. But not anymores." She looked back at Reign, who was hugging Nara tightly. Good thing Nara didn't feel like trying to walk anywhere real soon.
Nikiana was in the process of searching the desk for a bell of some sort or another when she spotted the business cards. Well, okay, she saw them, but looked right over them. About six or seven times. Until she had spotted a bell and started to ring it. Because the cards were next to the bell. Oh, Nara! Good, a name she recognized!
Niki turned and spotted the hallway with the plaque reading "Musaeum", which was what it said on the card. Oh, goodie! She took off at a very brisk walk (almost a run, but not quite, she dearly loved her libraries).
"Ala! Reign!" The woman stated, spotting the open doorway at the end of the hall. "There you two are..."
Reign looked up as she heard her mother's voice, and the tears started flowing. "Mommy don't love Reign anymore??" The child cried, almost too slurred from her crying for anyone to understand it.
"What?" That brought Niki to a halt. Then the woman looked at Ala. "Who said that, Reign?"
Reign pointed at her older sister, which brought forth a sigh from her mother. "Come here, sweetie. Mommy loves you very much." A sobbing chimp girl ran into her mother's arms.
Standing, Niki looked over at Nara. "Heh. Sorry about this... Apparently Ala's still not used to the idea of having a sister."
The girl in question was standing with her arms crossed and in a very grumpy mood. Dang it. Her plan failed...
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 8:31 pm
"It's fine," Nara reassured the woman, not meantioning that she was relieved that they had run into her and not her partner. Awkward as she was around kids, at least she dealt with them. Unlike Mr So-and so who bluntly ignored the world. Nara shook her head and smiled. Ah well!
"Since your here. Would you like a tour of the Musaeum?" Nara asked, hoping to divert both children.
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 9:05 pm
Reign clung tightly to her mother, who picked the girl up. Mommy still loved her. That was good, very good. Ala was a liar. Ala was mean. Ala not love Reign.
"A tour? That sounds great." A relieved mother put in. She was going to have to figure out a way to punish Ala for this little stunt. She couldn't believe the koala child had the nerve to do something like this.
Alaqua, however, was already trying to plan another way of getting rid of the chimp girl that was taking over her mother. Mommy was supposed to pay attention to her, not Reign.
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Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:02 am
Smiling Nara offered Alaqua her hand, since Reign was currently being held by her mother. Oh woe to Nara, who didn't know that children hated being treated like babies.
Moving on with the tour Nara gestured around her. "Well. This is the Musaeum, we keep...special books and scrolls here. It's named after an ancient temple of the Muses." The relic wandered the one of the cardinal points in the round room, pausing next to an ornate carving of some adrogynous diety, face and gender obscured.
"And this is the Unknown God. Since you are...entwined with the Musaeum by Reign, I can show you something. But you must never reveal it to anyone else. Ever. There are enemies that would love to know this secret."
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Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:17 am
Ala didn't take Nara's hand immediately, but after a glare from her mother took the proffered hand. Hmph. Oh well.
Niki carried Reign along after Nara and Ala, gazing at the carving. What was that supposed to be. An Unknown God? Huh? Okay, that was a bit confusing.
A secret? The mother glanced at her older daughter for a moment, who seemed lost in thought. "Okay..." Niki said, nodding her head slightly.
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