Who: Caius and Neil What: About a book. When: Thursday September 7th, morning Where: Point Pleasant Library Status: Complete
Mr. Edwin Honeycutt, the branch supervisor of the Point Pleasant Library, fancied himself a small admiral with his army of books. Neil liked him because he was small and non-threatening and also very punctilious. Perhaps 'like' was a word that was too strong. Suffice to say, Neil did not hate the man as Honeycutt could be an overbearing know-it-all. Nevertheless Neil didn't really have a problem with the man's reluctance to retire, mainly because it meant they would get a new boss and Neil hated change.
Honeycutt ran the library with a firm hand and was pretty spry for an old man, always involved in all events and holidays and fairly reasonable about letting Neil get away with not participating quite as much as the others since he knew the younger man hated those things. So Neil... liked him he supposed.
He was watching the old man rushing about the halls at a speed not befitting a small white haired man of his somewhat round stature, rambling to himself about how badly they needed to go over every single aisle to find all those stray books that tended to get put in the wrong places. It was a needle in a haystack job for sure, but it was something Honeycutt was quite fond of doing when they had slow days - especially if one of the assistants were working at the time. It was also a job Neil didn't mind. It meant he wasn't at the front desk and could mosey around the library organizing things.
Honeycutt disappeared to his office for a few minutes and the next time Neil saw him he had his coat and hat on. He never really told anyone where he was going when he left work but it always felt very important to anyone who was there to witness it. Honeycutt just wasn't the sort of man to abandon his place of work unless it was for work.
"Hold the fort, Wainscott!" he hollered as he stalked out of the building. "Hold the fort!"
Neil had been busy going through the lists of books that were missing or damaged, a nice and boring Excel job that he could do at the desk. It wasn't his favorite place to be but he didn't foresee it being busy until noon when he could switch with someone else. He watched with some amusement as his boss left, then went back to the computer, delisting books from the program.
Caius had learned and would continue to learn a lot about magic from his father. Anthony was his primary source of information, and Caius strove to reach his level of power ... and then surpass it. Which meant he had to find other sources to also learn from. It was only natural. The old man couldn’t know everything; there was a huge rich tapestry of history to draw from, one just had to find how to tap into it.
The thing about drawing on history was that most of the information came from the long-dead. Which meant he needed books. Esoteric, ancient, difficult to find books. Caius had had a few meetings with the branch manager of the library, Edwin Honeycutt, over the past few weeks, to see if he could be a source for what Caius needed. The man happened to have an interest in old and rare books in the subjects Caius was seeking, and Caius suspected he had a talent for magic himself, somewhere under all the bluster and red cheeks.
When Honeycutt had sent him an email that he’d found something Caius might be interested in, he’d wanted to drop everything and go straight to the library. He’d felt electrified all day long, once the headache he’d woken up with had faded a bit. The full moon had been the night before, and he could still feel the Obscurities settling into him, into every muscle and bone and cell of his being. He was changed, and he was eager to see how much more he could stretch. If Honeycutt suddenly had a book for him, maybe their influence was already working.
As soon as he could get a break from work -- he might have called out, but in spite of the pain, Caius felt good, and he knew he would go stir-crazy at home -- he went to the library. Caius glanced around as he walked up to the front desk. He didn’t go there often, so he couldn’t say he knew the guy sitting behind the computer even if his face was familiar, but that was all right. Caius didn’t even wait to be acknowledged before he spoke. “Caius D’Onofrio to see Mr. Honeycutt,” he said.
Neil knew Caius only in that way one small town person knew another. He wasn't in his circle - not that Neil really kept circles - and he hadn't really pinged Neil's interest. Not back in school and not after graduation. A non-entity to him, really. In Neil's books that came close to a good thing. He looked up from his work when Caius spoke, having hoped the man was just there to browse quietly like all the best customers did.
"He went out," he replied though the way Caius introduced himself made it sound like Honeycutt had been expecting him and that was odd considering his boss wasn't terribly scatterbrained about these sorts of things. It wasn't his problem though so he looked back at the computer, expecting Caius to leave now.
Caius had leaned an arm on the counter between them, and the guy’s response made him drum his fingers briefly against the wood. Well, that was curt and entirely unhelpful, wasn’t it? Caius stared at him for another beat or two before he cleared his throat. “Do you know when he’ll be back?” he asked, impatience already creeping into his tone. He didn’t have time to wait around all day for Honeycutt to return -- if he was even gone. But if it was a quick errand or some such thing, he could always occupy himself in a library, even if it was only with mundane books.
Neil looked up from his program again with obvious reluctance. "I'm a librarian," he said shortly. "Not a personal assistant." Meaning he did not know nor did he particularly care. With that he looked back at the screen because he really didn't have the patience or desire to talk to a customer unless he was actually doing his job and keeping track of Honeycutt was not it.
Caius’s eyes narrowed a bit as he looked at the guy, trying harder to place him now. Had they crossed paths badly in the past? Caius didn’t think so. Not even back in high school; he tended to remember significant conflicts, keeping a mental list of enemies as he went through life. This one wasn’t ringing any bells. Which just meant he was an asshole for no reason. “That’s obvious,” he muttered, then leaned in closer over the counter. “Hey librarian. My taxes pay your salary, so ... do you know if Honeycutt is gone for the day, or is he coming back?”
Neil's brows shot up at that comment and he looked up again, taken aback. Now there was a line he hadn't heard before and it offended the hell out of him for some reason he couldn't quite pinpoint. Frowning, he shook his head and was tempted to inconvenience this man a whole lot more just for being a prick. "He left in a rush and told me - his not personal assistant - nothing." There, happy? His face said and he crossed his arms over his chest though this time he didn't look back at the computer. He didn't trust Caius and he wasn't going to take his eyes off him until he backed off again.
That arm-cross was almost comical. Caius wouldn’t have been surprised if the guy had huffed to go along with it. Being glared at didn’t faze him at all, at least now he had the librarian’s proper attention. Like he deserved. He did his best to smother the frustration that bubbled up at that. He’d told Honeycutt he would be there as soon as he could, and the old coot had up and left with no instructions about his book. Caius thought he could almost feel it back there, tucked away in some office, calling to him. He had the considerable sum of cash and everything. “Do you have a ... a phone number for him?” he asked The Librarian, attempting to retain his patience. “We have some urgent business.”
That actually got Neil's attention, though not necessarily in a good way. Urgent business with the branch supervisor could be something to do with books - which was okay - or the library status - which meant changes. "I suppose I can try his cell phone," he muttered though he wasn't about to give the number out to anyone, regardless of how important they thought it might be. "What is this about?" He tried not to sound too interested as he fished out his own phone, something he rarely did while working as it was frowned upon unless he was on a break. Mostly it was frowned upon by Neil but that was a different story.
Caius was annoyed with himself for not having more than Honeycutt’s office phone number, but that was how they’d communicated thus far. That and through email. He didn’t like having to wait for things, especially things he was eager to get and had already been waiting for. “It’s about a book he procured for me,” Caius told the other man, not really wanting to elaborate much more than that. It wasn’t this asshole’s business. He pulled out his own phone and went to Honeycutt’s contact. “What’s his cell? I’ll give him a call and see if he’s returning soon.”
"Oh," Neil muttered, lowering his phone. "If it's a book it'll be in the system. I can look it up for you." He could be helpful! If it was actually a part of his job and books most definitely were. If anything, people became less annoying to him when books were involved so Caius had earned himself a point there. Not that it really mattered when he was already at a minus in Neil's books but there it was.
“It’s not a book for here,” Caius said, more annoyance leaking into his tone. “It’s a book for me, a private transaction.” He glanced with some distaste at Neil’s computer, already positive that Honeycutt wouldn’t be so careless as to log his purchase anywhere in there. He’d better not have, at least; Caius didn’t want even an electronic paper trail. He had a considerable ego and often felt invincible, but his father had instilled a good bit of caution in him about keeping their family secrets. “Please, just ... let me call him.”
That didn't make any sense to Neil. They were running a library, not a book store, why on earth would Honeycutt have a book for Caius? As far as Neil knew they didn't have any connections that their local bookstore didn't have and for other things there was always the internet. "I will call him," he muttered briskly and raised his phone again, watching Caius with narrowed eyes once he'd found Honeycutt's number again and waited through the dial tone.
Caius’s jaw clenched with annoyance. Honeycutt wasn’t going to tell this dipshit anything over the phone -- at least he wouldn’t if he knew what was good for him -- and Caius wanted to talk to him. But maybe he could find out when the old man would be back. Once he did, Caius was going to get his personal cell number, for the next time this sort of thing happened. He stared right back at Neil, waiting for the connection to be made, his dark eyes intent and decidedly unhappy.
Honeycutt did not pick up the phone. Neil ended up listening to a recorded message and he hung up instead of dealing with that particular nuisance. "It appears you'll have to come back later," he said since telling Caius he was 'shit out of luck' was hardly professional. "He isn't picking up his phone." And thus there was nothing Neil could do since he did not possess the ability to mentally command people to do whatever he wanted. He was at this point fairly sure that Caius had gotten his time wrong since this didn't seem like Honeycutt at all, but Caius looked plenty irritated already so he didn't mention that yet.
If Caius hadn’t been able to hear the faint sound of Honeycutt’s voicemail message in the quiet library, he might’ve accused Neil of lying to him. As it was, the fact that he didn’t have a great reason to yell at the guy only served to irritate him more. He didn’t want to come back later, he wanted what he wanted now. Letting out a curse through his teeth, Caius reached over the desk and grabbed a pad of sticky notes that was sitting near the computer keyboard. He pulled his own pen out of the inside of his jacket and scribbled something down. Caius D’Onofrio, call ASAP Caius underlined the acronym a few times, then dropped the sticky pad back onto the desk. “Make sure he sees that,” he said shortly. He didn’t trust the guy to tell Honeycutt anything without him writing it down. The old man was going to come back to a very irritated voicemail message on his work phone, that was for sure. “Thanks for your time,” he muttered automatically as he turned to walk away.
"Have a nice day," Neil said dryly with no real meaning behind it. He didn't really care whether Caius had a good day or not, it was just something you were supposed to say to customers. Given the tone in Caius's voice he almost wanted to make sure Honeycutt did not get the message but there was a limit to how unhelpful he could be to customers before getting into trouble. Now he just had to refocus on his work and he worried he was too tense to really enjoy what he'd been doing.