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Post by Jane Ebonwood on Jul 12, 2010 20:22:19 GMT -5
Jane came back to the library two days after she had taken her book out, shortly after classes had finished. It had been okay, but not terribly interesting. The architectural style was nice, with all the ornamentation, but they were a bit too bright for her tastes. Maybe if they were made out of darker stone, with more gargoyles... in any case, she was done with it. She walked up to the desk to return it.
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Post by Parum Callidus Diabolus on Jul 12, 2010 20:35:36 GMT -5
Parum looked up from her new computer, noticing the book-carrying robe.
"Hello, have you come to return a book?"
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Post by Jane Ebonwood on Jul 12, 2010 20:54:11 GMT -5
"Yes." Jane held the book out across the desk. "Here you go..."
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Post by Parum Callidus Diabolus on Jul 12, 2010 22:36:29 GMT -5
Parum took the book back, setting it in a pile of books to be returned back to the shelves.
"Is there anything else you'd like to check out?"
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Post by Jane Ebonwood on Jul 13, 2010 15:56:36 GMT -5
"No thank you. Uh, I think I'll just be leaving now." Jane walked over to the door. She was about to leave when she started to think that maybe she should take out another book. After all, it was impossible to sleep at night, and she certainly wasn't going to go out hunting for a meal... so she headed back to the shelves to look for some fantasy novel or other. Picking one that didn't look too bad, she went over to her dark corner and sat down to read. Unfortunately, sitting in the dark for hours barely moving except to turn the page can cause things with inherent shadowmelding skills to blend in a bit.
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Post by Parum Callidus Diabolus on Jul 15, 2010 16:59:38 GMT -5
Parum looked up at the clock from her computer. As sad as it made her, it was time to leave her library for the night. After shutting down the computer and collecting her things, she flipped the light switch off and closed the door, and with a click, the library was locked.
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Post by Shihab on Jul 15, 2010 17:59:22 GMT -5
Shihab walked up to the library, and, noting the darkness behind the door, swore softly. Some people might have immediately decided, "Oh, the library is closed. Guess I'll come back tomorrow." Still more might have weighed the pros, cons, risks, and potential benefits of breaking into a locked library. Shihab was not most people.
With an effort of will, he focused on his fingertips, watching carefully through half-closed eyes as they grew rougher, upping traction, and grinned as claws sprouted on the ends of his nails. Setting his teeth, he slipped off his shoes, tied them together over his shoulder, and began to climb up the wall, stopping when he got to one of the vents. It was a tight squeeze, especially with the notebook held in his teeth, but he slipped through and dropped silently into the library.
Glancing around, he saw Jane in the corner. Raising an eyebrow, he nodded in a friendly sort of manner, and walked further into the library, back into historical tomes; he'd decided to try a different tack than his usual myth and lore search.
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Post by Jane Ebonwood on Jul 15, 2010 18:25:16 GMT -5
Jane noticed the outside world again when the lights went off. How long had she been sitting reading? She walked over to the door, but it was too late, the librarian had already left. She considered shouting out for a moment, but looked back at the library. It was an ideal place to spend the night. Lots to read, and nobody would come by... This might even be fun.
She started pulling books out, reading the backs for a second before putting them down. Instead of putting them back, she started stacking them in towers. She'd finally found one that looked good, and had sat down to read it when Shihab walked in. "Oh." She said, irritated. The night was her time. And if the door was open, she had no reason to stay. "Why are you here?"
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Post by Shihab on Jul 15, 2010 18:38:03 GMT -5
He shrugged, and grinned disarmingly. "Same reason you are, probably," he said. "I felt like reading, and didn't have anything to read."
The girl was strange, but, he thought, they were in a dark library, in a strange school, at night. And he wasn't exactly the shining star of normalcy, either. "Is it a problem?"
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Post by Jane Ebonwood on Jul 15, 2010 21:41:23 GMT -5
"Not really. I don't exactly own the library." Jane turned back to her book. "But there are plenty of other times to visit the library, times much more convenient for you. Why you feel the need to visit now during my solitude is beyond me. I must have sinned, to not even find peace in my torment..."
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Post by Shihab on Jul 15, 2010 22:11:42 GMT -5
Shihab let out a snort of somewhat shocked laughter. Was she serious? "Uh, sure," he said, amused. "Because obviously, my very presence in the same... what is this, half an acre? Yeah, I'm not going to disrupt your solitude, princess. At least, not if you don't disrupt mine."
Still rolling his eyes, he continued into the dark stacks, chuckling quietly to himself, and was soon lost to sight (well, normal sight, anyway.)
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Post by Jane Ebonwood on Jul 16, 2010 13:41:20 GMT -5
How very annoying. The little intruder had an attitude. And he seemed demonic, to boot. Jane picked up her book and stood up. The thirst was stronger every night, and she wasn't sure she could convince herself that harming this person was wrong.
The book was a problem. She couldn't bring it with her because she'd have to fill out a form for it, and that would prove she was here. She put it back on the shelf, leaving the rest of the books in the pile, and went for the door. "You must be pretty sure of yourself, to trivialise the problems of others. Demon." She spat out the last word.
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Post by Shihab on Jul 16, 2010 18:24:51 GMT -5
Shihab was several aisles down the library, and had already started collecting books in one arm, peering very closely at the spines to check their titles, when he heard Jane's comment. His first reaction was to drop the books in his arm, out of pure shock. Had she just called him a demon? He hadn't heard that since...
His second reaction was a quiet, but intense, curseword in Arabic, as he realized he'd just dropped the books, several of which had dark covers, all over the floor.
His third reaction, more typical of his usual behavior, was to laugh aloud, quietly and long. "Are you serious? Your desperate need to have the entire library to yourself doesn't exactly need trivialising, Princess. It's not -your- library, or your night, you know."
He leaned backwards, peering past the shelves, and overbalanced, again with shock. "Wait! Don't touch the door!" he hissed as loudly as he could risk. He knew it was locked, but had no idea whether or not it was set with an alarm.
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Post by Jane Ebonwood on Jul 16, 2010 19:49:55 GMT -5
"You know nothing of this nightmare..." Jane had reached oout to open the door when Shihab had hissed his warning. "What now? Surely you must have entered this place, unless you can move through walls or something. Or... Am I truly locked in here with you? Truly, I have sinned greatly to be punished like this... A monster and a demon, locked in the same room. Maybe this is a new circle of hell." She laughed quietly.
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Post by Shihab on Jul 16, 2010 20:37:39 GMT -5
Shihab sighed deeply and stood up, leaving his books there. Having had enough of this nonsense, he pulled the lighter he always carried out of his pocket and, breathing a silent prayer that the smoke alarms weren't super-sensitive, clicked it on, carefully picking his way back to the door, where Jane stood.
"For pity's sake," he said, his tone still disdainful, but substantially less amused, "Can you turn off the angst for two minutes? First off, I have serious philosophical and theological problems with your insinuation that one must sin greatly in order for calamity to be visited upon their lives.
"Second off," he continued, stepping over her pile of books, holding the lighter very carefully aloft, "I am not a demon. Please stop calling me that. You may be a monster-- don't look like one to me, despite your best efforts with that cloak, but I am not a demon."
Having gotten past the stacks, he put the lighter away and crossed the open space in darkness, stopping just before the door to hold a hand up. "Wish my roommate was here," he said, grinning ruefully. "Seems like he'd be the type to know if there's an alarm or not. All I can tell you is there's no magic on the door." He turned to look at her, quirking an eyebrow playfully. "It's up to you, m'dear monster-girl. You can either take a chance on there being no electrical alarm, and head through, or you can go my route," he finished, pointing to the ceiling tile that'd been pushed aside, off the frame. "Significantly less risky, but not for the faint of heart, especially where spiders are concerned." After a pause, he added, "It's also rather claustrophobic-unfriendly," and suppressed a shiver.
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Post by Jane Ebonwood on Jul 17, 2010 19:56:58 GMT -5
He was a heathen as well, although that probably came with being demonic. "Oh. You came in through the roof. I suppose that makes sense." Not an ideal method of entry or exit, but beggars couldn't be choosers. If only the windows weren't so far off the ground... she'd survived some fairly large falls since her turning, normally when running from hunters, but she didn't feel like testing her luck while trying to leave a library. "I suppose I should get used to unorthodox entrances. I'll only be doing it for the next eternity or so."
Jane climbed up a bookcase as much as she felt was necessary, and leapt across to the opening. When she grabbed hold of it, her sleeves fell down, revealing numerous scars, mostly just darkened skin that had healed, but some more fresh. Normally, the crosses and passages of scripture on her arms were something best kept hidden, but she didn't really care right now, After a short struggle, she pulled herself up into the vent.
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Post by Shihab on Jul 17, 2010 21:10:15 GMT -5
Shihab opened his mouth, about to say something sensible like, 'The ceiling, not the roof,' or 'I asked you to turn off the angst,' or 'I can give you a hand up if you'd like,' but closed it without saying anything as she leapt off.
"Hey, by the way, you should come to the bonfire!" he called quietly after her. "Get drunk, take your mind off being a monster who's lived a life of sin and debauchery!"
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Post by Jane Ebonwood on Jul 18, 2010 18:40:07 GMT -5
"I can't drink." The comment about sin wasn't worth a reply. "But I'll consider it." It sounded like fun. Good, honest human fun. Maybe a bit much fire, but it wasn't like she had to stand next to it. In any case, she was out of the library. Time to find a place to be, preferably one that wasn't full of sleeping people.
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