zoosemiotics (zoosemiotics) wrote in theinvincibles, @ 2015-08-02 14:11:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !log, alice liu, rhiannon kwan |
Who: Rhiannon Kwan [THORNBERRY] and Alice Liu [KRAKATOA]
Where: The Lock, in the Library
When: Backdated to July 28th, 2015
What: Rhiannon checks out books from the library and talks to Alice.
Warnings: None!
“So long ago,” Stevie Nicks crooned, “Certain place, certain time--” “You touched my hand on the way to Emmeline,” murmured Rhiannon. As the sound of keyboards and drums pounded in her ears, Rhiannon perused the shelves of the library. Normally, she didn’t bring the Walkman outside of her room, but today, Rhiannon needed a courage boost. You’re like Linus with his blue blanket, she thought as she examined the spines of the books in front of her. Rhiannon shook her head and began to read the authors. Martin, no, too gory, skip over the Os, onto P… Hey, Pratchett! And Pierce! She pulled Night Watch and Protector of the Small from the shelves. Ronnie would have called Tamora Pierce “kidstuff,” but Ronnie wasn’t here, and even if he was, Rhiannon would have told him he was being an ass anyways. Rhiannon walked over to the check-out desk. She pulled down her headphones, and placed the books on the counter. Breathe. Speak slowly, don’t try to force the words out. “Hi, I’d like to check these books out?” Oh, thank god. Alice smiled brightly back at her. "Of course!" she chirped brightly. She reached out to take the two books from Rhiannon. "You find everything okay?" She had desk duty for the afternoon, and unless the kids' classes had a library day, it was usually quiet. During the academic year, it meant a few hours of only occasionally interrupted study time, but with her one summer course over, Alice had instead been playing one of Bea's games on her phone. She pushed her phone to the side as she flipped to the backs of the books to pull out the cards. Rhiannon nodded. “Mhm! I’m kind of surprised that the DMS has such a big fantasy section. I thought it would more…” she tilted her “Science-y? Or classic stuff.” She flashed back to training several days ago, and to what Roxy said. Make some friends. Alice could be a friend, right? She was already a good acquaintance. “Hey, I don’t think I really thanked you for the batteries a couple weeks ago. I was still pretty new, I probably would have gotten lost!” A new song could be heard, faintly, through the fuzzy headphones. “It’s in the trees, it’s coming!” "Don't mention it. I'm happy to help out a new person," Alice said with a smile, as she stamped the date on the books' cards and tucked them back away. She stacked the books on top of each other, titles and library barcodes clearly visible. "I don't think it's that unusual to have so much fantasy," she added. "It's like -- giving us a way to escape, you know?" She held out her hand. "ID card, please?" “Yeah, that makes sense,” Rhiannon admitted as she handed over her ID card. “It’s just...well, when they talked about this place in school, it always sounded so--” Clinical. Grim. Dull. Miserable. Spooky. “--not Pratchett friendly. I’m g-g-glad that it is, though!” Oh, damn it. Rhiannon hoped that Alice didn’t ask her about her stutter. What could Rhiannon say about that? “The place that you call home is so scary to me that it’s making my stutter flare up.” Yes, that would go over well. Alice took the card and scanned it into the library computer terminal. Though Alice had known that Rhiannon was a Delta before they had even met, facing the actual evidence of the difference between their classifications -- the bold designation on Rhiannon's ID -- she couldn't help but sigh. For an electric moment as she held Rhiannon's card, though, she could imagine it was hers, and she had a Delta ID. As soon as she handed the card back, Alice snapped out of the fantasy, becoming only more aware of the "Alpha" badge clipped to her shirt. She scanned the two book barcodes, stacked them neatly on top of each other, and pushed the stack towards Rhiannon. "You're all set." Alice glanced around the library. It was pretty empty, and if Rhiannon left, she'd probably just go back to her phone game. As much as she liked Bea's work, Alice preferred to gamble on small talk. "It must be pretty weird still. You hear so much about a place, and then it's not what you expect." Rhiannon nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I’ve always heard that there was a lot of security here,” as she spoke, Rhiannon could see an RS agent walk down the hall, through the open door, “b-but I d-d-didn’t think there’d be s-s-so,” the agent walked further down the hall, out of Rhiannon’s line of sight. She sighed. “Th-there’s j-just--” Rhiannon stopped speaking for a moment, looking down at her feet. She inhaled deeply. “I just didn’t expect so many,” she finally said, “And they all seem so angry. I’m kind of scared of them,” Rhiannon admitted. "You'll get used to it," Alice reassured her. Having never known anything else, she couldn't know for certain, but all of her muggleborn friends had eventually adjusted, more or less. She saw no reason why Rhiannon would be different. "Sometimes, you might even forget they're there. The Agents aren't watching you anyway." Rhiannon nodded. “Y-y-yeah, you’re right.” An odd visual popped into her head, and she laughed. “M-maybe sometime next year, I won’t notice them, and they won’t notice me, and we’ll bump into each other!” Rhiannon paused, willing herself to relax. There weren’t any scary agents here, and Alice didn’t seem bothered by her stutter at all. It’s fine, you’re fine. Relax. Just slow your words down. “And there are places that I like here,” Rhiannon admitted. “Like Brewed Awakening, and here, of course,” she added, gesturing to the rows and rows of books behind them. “This place really does have a cool collection. Is it fun working here? I’ve always wanted to work at a library. Do you get to check books indefinitely? Or maybe pick what books the library orders next?” Alice laughed. "Nobody gets to check books indefinitely, but it's not a big deal when they're here all the time, and we can read when it's slow." Or play games on their phones, but Alice usually read, and she thought it made her sound more cool and smart only to admit to one of the above. "I don't really have a lot of responsibility here, since I'm still new," she explained. "I mostly just put things away and help people find things or check out books. I'm actually not sure how we get new ones. But I'm sure I'll find out sooner or later." She wasn't exactly going anywhere. “I always thought that would be the best part of working in a library,” Rhiannon said, “You could just check out a book on your coffee break, then return it when your break was over. Of course, you’d have make sure you didn’t spill coffee on it. Or tea! “You know, actually, I’ve been wondering,” Rhiannon added, “Are there any open spots at the library? I’m still debating where to work.” "Yeah!" Alice brightened. "They're always looking for people. Hold on, let me get you an application form." “Really? Thanks!” Rhiannon began to walk to the end of the counter, but caught herself. “I’m probably not allowed behind the counter, am I? Sorry!” "Not yet you're not!" Alice produced the paper form and handed it over the counter to Rhiannon. "It'll be so exciting if you could work here! You'd love it." Rhiannon beamed and took the paper from Alice. “It would be pretty cool if I could work here,” she agreed as she slipped the form in between the pages of one of her books. “I’ll bring it back it a bit! See you later, Alice!” And with another smile, Rhiannon left the library. As she crossed and entered an open elevator, she held her books at her side and pushed her headphones back on. Xue Kwan’s mixtape (“WINTER 1990”) should have reached one of her personal favorites by now. Sure enough, with just a hint of static, Rhiannon heard it: “People I know, the places I go, make me feel tongue-tied…” |