This was not how she expected her trip to the library to go!
Who: Maia and Jane What: Jane goes looking for information Where: UCI library When: Thursday afternoon? Rating: R for innuendo Status: Complete!
Jane was on the hunt for information. Not scientific information for a change, but mythological. After her chat with Darcy and her dreams, she had decided to research Thor, Loki and Norse legends. It wasn’t something she had been au fait with and she preferred to have knowledge. Knowledge was power after all. She started walking along the aisles of books, looking for the right section.
Maia enjoyed her job. It wasn’t her real passion but she got to spend a lot of time researching. With her dreams, she researched a lot about dragons and demons now, and magic. A lot about magic.
She was reading a dusty book on international dragons when someone new came in.
Jane rounded a corner and spotted a woman look up at her from the pages of a book. “Excuse me,” Jane asked with a smile as she approached her. “Can you help me? I’m looking for some information on Norse mythology.”
“Are you?” Maia closed her book, and all but bounced to her feet. She sounded like she belonged in England. “Follow me! I know just where to look! I didn’t get much cause to study it but I’ve done some reading.”
“That’s great,” Jane smiled, following the woman past the books. “Thank you, hope you don’t mind but...your accent, can I ask where you’re from?”
“London, primarily!” She nodded her head down one row of books. “Come this way...lets see...No, not this one...wrong part of the north..here we go. Norse!”
“Cool,” Jane nodded as she followed the girl. “That’s great thank you,” she looked at the mass of books in the section. “Don’t suppose you have any recommendations?”
She started to take down book after book. “All of them! Well, I can recommend which ones to avoid because they’re complete and utter shite.” She put those ones back, then turned and dropped a bunch into Jane’s arm. “What else!”
Jane laughed at the woman, her enthusiasm was infectious. “That’s great, thank you,” she smiled. “I’m Jane, Jane Foster by the way,” she hefted the books under one arm and held out a hand to shake.
“Th- …Maia Amell,” she replied, taking her hand. She’d almost said ‘the Warden’ but that was just insane. “What sparks your interest in the Norse lore?”
“Uhh...” Jane shook her head, a little thrown by the hesitation, sensing there was something behind it. “I’ve been having some weird dreams lately, looking for some...context I guess,” she moved to put the pile of books down on a nearby table. “Don’t suppose you have any experience with it?”
“I was worried you’d think I was nutters if I brought it up.” She seemed relieved that Jane had said something. “My dreams have been positively crazy since I moved out here!”
Jane laughed at that, covering her mouth with her hand when she heard how loud it was. “Sorry,” she apologised quietly. “I know right, it’s crazy! Before I moved here I had normal dreams about running and space and black holes, now it’s just...” she gestured at the books. “It’s almost like its a story but I’ve not got half the pages to tell it,” she tried to explain.
“Normal dreams, she says,” Maia replied. “I know how that feels. I have..bits and pieces, but there are parts missing. I’m not sure I want to see the end.”
“Like in physics, normal is relative,” Jane told her with a smile. “I’ve woken up more than once with a new equation or experiment to try in my head,” she sat at the desk with the books. “Yeah, I’m just hoping I don’t end up falling for the guy in them...again,” she told Maia sadly. “I’m only just starting to get back on track it feels.”
“Falling for a dream person is a bitch.” Maia scrunched up her nose. “There’s this woman....” She sighed. “No use thinking on a bloke or a bird you can’t have, you know?”
"I know what you mean," Jane lamented quietly. "Not much comfort though, huh," she remarked.
“Not really.” She smiled at Jane, softly. “Not much comfort at all, I suppose, but you have to move on.”
"Yeah, I tried but I think being married to my work is enough for me," she joked. "This is just a side project, blow off a little steam, yknow?" she indicated the books.
“I can think of a few better ways to blow off some steam,” the Brit said, winking at Jane.
Jane giggled again, feeling her cheeks blush pink at the implication. She was by no means a prude, but it wasn’t a subject that came easily to her. “I know what you mean,” she grinned, thinking back to the last time she’d blown off steam in that way, a handsome, cocky man in a bar after a night of drinking who had taken an interest in her. Not only her appearance, but her mind too, at least for one night. It was enough. “I don’t have all that many friends to blow off steam like that,” she admitted, looking up to meet eyes with Maia.
Somewhere, Jim Kirk was grinning.
“I could maybe introduce you to some blokes,” Maia suggested, laughing softly. “Unless you’re willing to try hopping the fence for a bit.”
Jane made to reply but found herself stopping short, mouth gaping open like a fish as she ran over the suggestion in her mind. “You know...I’ve never thought about it until now, but if I meet someone and I get along with them I suppose it doesn’t matter,” she told Maia. “My uh...own choice in men seems to be...lacking,” she joked glumly.
"Want to talk about it? I can help you carry these books back over to a table," Maia smiled at her, expression flirtatious.
“Uhh, sure,” Jane smiled. “I warn you though, I’m not really good at this sort of thing. My friend Darcy says I’m hopeless,” she joked.
“That’s all right. And if we can’t find you a bloke, I volunteer.” Maia laughed, and then turned, walking away with an armful of books.
“I...” Jane watched her walking away, realizing too late that her eyes had trailed down to watch her walking away. She shook herself out of it and hurried after the girl. “Umm...was that...did you just...” Proposition me? she finished off in her head but unable to think of a better way to put it.
She turned to glance at Jane over her shoulder as she hurried to catch up. "Just offer myself? I certainly have, but no pressure, I know not every girl goes for that sort of thing."
“Well I can’t say I’ve ever really thought about it, let alone tried it,” Jane could feel herself about to start rambling. “Not that I’d disagree with the idea, but more that opportunities like that never really came up in college, I was a little too focussed on my work and younger than most of my classmates so we never really...” she could feel the words spilling out of her mouth and the blush rising in her cheeks sos he stopped and took a deep breath. “Oh fuck me,” she swore under her breath, instantly realising her choice of words and covering her mouth as if it would help. “Sorry, wrong thing to say right about now. I...” she paused, thinking about everything that had happened lately. The debacle of how she had dealt with Thor, Darcy’s turmoil over Loki and her eventual decision to face up to it and now being propositioned by a woman for the first time. Darcy had thrown herself headlong into the line of fire and got results, maybe she should take after her example. “Ok,” she said before she could regret it. Take life by the horns, Jane, she thought to herself.
Oh, university had been absolutely wonderful to Maia, where experimenting was concerned. She'd studied, but she'd made sure to have some fun, too.
She listened to Jane talk, an amused smile on her face as the woman babbled onward. "Okay? Not to pressure you or anything. Do you really want to try?"
This woman really was adorable. She was afraid she’d break her heart. That didn’t stop her from being a willing volunteer in this experiment.
“I...I don’t know,” Jane stammered, at a loss for what to say again as she covered her face. This was not how she expected her trip to the library to go! “Would you mind if I gave it some thought?” She asked meekly, peeking out from behind her hands. She was chickening out, she knew it, but she really wanted to speak to Darcy about this first, she always knew what to do.
Maia reached over, and stroked Jane’s cheek, lightly. “Take your time, and no hard feelings if you decide not to, I promise.”
Jane let out a shaky laugh as she looked up at Maia, then took her hand in her own. “Ok, thank you,” she said in a small voice. “In the meantime, would you mind helping me sift through these for some stuff?” she asked, looking at the books in front of them. She liked Maia, maybe getting to know her more would allay her worries about anything else that might happen between them. They had, after all, only known each other for about ten minutes and Jane was never quick at things like relationships.
"Of course, love! It's one of the things I like doing best." She opened a book and pulled Jane into the seat next to her. "Except pretty girls, of course."