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Skaia University Library | Open

Jane sat at the library's reference desk, her shoulders rolled back and her gaze angled upwards. Her eyes roved across the aging ceiling tiles, counting them for no other reason than attempting to alleviate her boredom. It was rare that she got past 48 before she lost both interest and count, and she sighed, begrudgingly deciding that she may as well start from tile one.

The library was deserted, with most students either in class or at lunch, and Jane had done just about everything she possibly could within the realm of productivity. She'd shelved all of the returned items, sent out emails to those who were tardy with books and fines alike, tidied up the library, and even put in orders for new volumes for their collection. Abandoning the fruitless counting, she looked out to the library at large, biting her painted lower lip. Once more, she sighed, figuring that if nothing else, she could always work on an assignment or two.

Jane withdrew a USB drive from her pocket and inserted it into the computer, pulling up a paper she had been working on. It wasn't due for another week and a half, but she figured it was better to work on it now than to be stressed about it later. She ran a hand through her already-tussled dark hair, and cracked her knuckles, ignoring the way her stomach grumbled in frustration. "Oh, hush." the chubby brunette chided, adjusting her red-framed glasses upon the bridge of her nose. Soon enough, her colleagues would return from lunch, and she would be relieved from her post. Patience, here, was key.

As she began to type, her lips formed the words she wrote, the paragraphs becoming a soft whisper beneath her breath.

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The young man's hesitant voice quickly caught Jane's attention, and she straightened, smiling as she pulled away from her assignment. For a moment, she was confused, seeing no one at her own eye level, but following the voice's source was an easy enough task. She beamed as her gaze fell to Tavros, and she cocked a brow, listening to his story. "A destroyed book?" She said, giving a little frown, but her eyes remained playful and kind as ever. "I dabble in book repair; all is not necessarily lost." She held out her hand for the volume, interested in seeing what kind of damage had been done. Many of the books stocked in their library were rather costly; she wanted to avoid the task of slating students with a sizable fine if at all possible.

Tavros felt his cheeks start to heat with, for the time being, a soft blush.

“Uh, well. I don’t doubt you, but uh.. I have a birb. I mean, bird. A pigeon. He, uh.. He likes to make nests and, uhh, well he kinda wrecked this one, uh.” His flush went from the soft pink on the apples of his cheeks to a deeper, richer color with the flooding of his blood to his face.

Tav didn’t wait much longer to pull the book out of his backpack, passing it up to her with a quiet sigh. If you didn’t pay attention to any part of the book other than the front cover, it seemed okay, but the second he moved to open it for Jane to look at, the cover detached and the shredded insides were visible. The Professor had done a rather spectacular job of digging a hole out of the inside of the book, just large enough that he was able to wriggle in and nest down.

“Yeah, uh. It’s ruined as far as I would say.” Tavros sighed, placing the book on the counter and letting his hands fall back into his lap, fingers interlocking and thumbs rubbing together from his nervousness.

“I will pay for it. Uhh, I just need to know how much it is.”

"Oh, now, that doesn't look so- oh." Jane's eyes widened as Tavros opened the book, fingertips moving to her lips in surprise. "Oh, my. Now, that is certainly a... A number your... Bird, was it?" the librarian asked, fingertips moving to grip the book delicately lest it fall into further disrepair. The volume was in shambles, tiny bits of paper-turned bedding still falling from its binding.

"Gracious me..." She trailed off, very obviously more interested than angry. "I must say, this is certainly a first, but there is no harm done. Here, let me find out what the total is. I recognize this book; it shouldn't be too terribly expensive." Placing the book back upon the counter, she returned her attention to the computer and held out her hand. "Student ID please, dear."

“Yeah..” Tavros trailed off in a shaky, nervous sigh. “He’s blind, uh. A rescue, sort of. Found him on the subway. He really likes textures, uh, especially nesting material. This isn’t the first he’s, uh, ruined. Just the first I haven’t owned. You should see the sketch book I left, uh, on my bed while I was making dinner. Tore it to bits. Found him, uh, sleeping in the papers when I came back.”

He had kept talking while rummaging through his backpack for his wallet where he kept his ID, but it was taking him a few seconds longer than normal because of his quivering fingers. When he’d grabbed it, Tav was quick to bring it up to the counter and show it to Jane, tilting it enough so she could match the ID up with his face.

“Thank you, uh, for being understanding.” Tav told her quietly, eyes flicking down to his lap before his gaze went back up to her face.

Jane took the young man's ID carefully, all too aware of his almost trembling fingertips. A nervous one, he was. She scanned it quickly and returned it to him, deciding it best to don an encouraging smile. "Tavros Nitram?" she asked, a brow cocking high. As he answered, she flicked her eyes across the screen, easily finding the now decimated book. "That'll be 14.78. Not too much damage, it seems, hoohoo!"

“Uh, yeah. It’s a weird name, uh. My dad picked it out, and my mom went along with, uh, it for whatever reason. Sounds alright with his last name, uh. I guess.” Tavros gave a half shrug, not really excited about thinking more on his name since it was a reminder of his dead-beat abandoner father. He slipped the ID back into it’s spot behind his state ID, taking quick notice of how the pictures were equally dorky to each other. In both images he was wearing almost the same outfit; a graphic tee-shirt under a dark grey button down and his hair was all over the place, stuck up and nearly in his eyes, messy as it was in real life.

After he put the card back, he made quick work of pulling out the money he owed, giving Jane exact change, something he did often, subconsciously hating to cause more work for anyone handling his money.

“Thank you, uh, for being understanding, uh about all this. You have a story to tell, uh, for the day.” He cracked a smile at her then, setting the money up on the counter beside the destroyed book.

"I like your name quite a lot." Jane said, her voice sincere and her eyes matching. "Take this coming from a gal with the name 'Jane'." She continued, making little air quotations around her name. "Can you imagine how often I was called 'plain Jane' growing up? It is not very creative, but that didn't stop anyone. I would have loved to have a more unique moniker."

She counted his change quickly before placing both cash and coin into the drawer, sliding the book back across the counter towards him. "And certainly! Believe me, this will be all the library will talk about for the rest of the year. Hoohoo, we work with books, research, and lots of dust, buster. This will be a welcome subject, I can assure you. Please take the book back to your bird, dear. It is yours now... Or rather, his. I am sure he will appreciate the gift."

Tavros visibly brightened at the compliment she paid him, he hadn’t ever been told before that his name was worth anything but convenience for name calling.

“I can imagine, yeah.” He bobbed his head, taking back the tattered book and carefully placing it into his backpack. “Uh, I had the name ‘Tavrolls’ for a while. It doesn’t bother me know, uh, but you know. Kids, uh, they always find something to call you. No matter, uh, how plain or unique your name is. I like Jane though, uh. It’s a good name.”

His smile didn’t fade as he turned slightly to hook his backpack along the handles of his chair before looking back to Jane.

“Do you, uh, work here often?”

Jane frowned a bit at the name he gave, a soft 'tsk' emerging from underneath her breath. She didn't like bullies in any form, but how could anyone possibly poke fun at this meek, mild mannered young man? She smiled back to him, and nodded, tucking a flyaway curl behind her ear. "Oh, yes! Most days, really. I attend classes here as well as a grad student."

Tavros set his hands in his lap, fingers still for once as they rested on top of the soft pair of dark blue skinny jeans he had decided to wear today. Well, decided was maybe not the best word, since the reason he was wearing the pants that took him a fair half hour to pull on, was that he had skipped laundry day and these were the only clean thing left in his dresser. Even though they were a pain, they looked rather good on Tavros. Paired with the light grey button down and darker grey, almost black cardigan that he’d thrown on over top, the outfit overall was a successful effort for Tavros to be wearing.

“I’m here as, uh, an English major. Still my undergrad, but, uh, I really like Skaia. I’m actually in the library, uh, pretty often. I’m surprised I haven’t seen you before. Uh, I mean, I’m glad I got to meet you. You’re, uh, nice.”

He was flustered again by the end of his speaking, but not so much that he rose to a point of incredible discomfort, just mild nervousness.

Jane's cheeks flushed ever so slightly with his compliment, and she beamed, an elbow moving to rest upon the counter. She rested her chin in her upturned palm and looked down to Tavros, grin light. "As are you. Believe me; it was growing rather droll here. Your company has been more than welcome."

“Oh! Uhh, well, thank you.” Tav smiled lopsidedly, looking down at his lap for a moment, his hand traveling up to rest in his hair, fingers gently pulling at the long fluff at the back. He brought them from the nape of his neck, all the way forward to where Sollux’s barrette was clipped into the front, left side of his mohawk, half hidden under the hair mop, but visible enough to anyone who looked. “I’m glad you’re, uh, nice. Sometimes people aren’t, uh, the best to disabled people who bring in, uh, broken items.”

Jane nodded with his words, frowning a bit as he finished. "I am sorry to hear that. Believe me, it has been an absolute pleasure to speak to you, dear." She offered another warm smile, and leaned forward a bit, trying to make it so that they spoke as close to eye level as possible. "Is there anything else I can assist you with today?"

Tavros gave a short shake of his head, looking back up at her and flashing the smile again to reassure her that he was okay, since he'd noted how her tone dropped to one of sympathy.

"No, uh. That's it. Thanks for letting me, uh, keep the book." His head dropped again, hand still stuck in his hair as he tried to think of whether he should keep talking, or head out. But his mouth choose for him and he began talking again without really considering his words.

"Sorry, uh. But do you want my tumblr or anything? Uhh, I post about birbs.. Birds! Uh, and books. And spam between my uh, date friend.. Uhh, sorry. I just figured.. Uhh."

And his face was right back to firetruck red, eyes pinned down at his knees, and if it was possible, he would have loved to have disappeared in the moment.

"God damnit. Date friend? At least you didn't say boyfriend. Uhhh. But you did a good job, uh, of word vomiting there, Tav. A+ word vomit."

"Oh!" Jane said, a bit surprised, but pleasantly so. "Sure!" She took a slip of paper from the desk drawer and scribbled down her username: thegutsygumshoe. "Hoohoo, feel free to follow! I post stuff mostly from the shows I watch. Parks and Recreation, Arrested Development, Poirot of course.... Oh, and problem sleuth!"

Tavros nearly lost his shit when she didn't scoff at him and turn away, back to her computer. He lifted his head when she started writing down her username, eyes widened in utter surprise, and that feeling left him silent till a few seconds after she finished talking.

"I.. Uh, I will definitely follow you. I'm adiosbullhorn, uh, in case you wonder why some blog just follows you. You don't have to follow back, but, uhh, if you want too. Uh, that would be cool. Thank you, uh."

He held his hand out to hers and took the slip of paper, holding it a moment before shifting his torso and sticking it in his pants pocket.

"I should, uh, get going, back to my bird. Uhh, but thank you for helping, and the tumblr. Uh, I'll see you around, hopefully!"

Tav still looked surprised at how that last bit of conversation had ended up, and while he did need to get back to Professor, he also wanted to leave before really ending himself in a pit of tangled words.

"I'll definitely follow you!" She said happily, sitting up straight again in her seat. "And you'll definitely see me around. Maybe we should have lunch one day." Jane continued idly, fingertips tapping upon the desk. "Either way, I'd love to speak with you again sometime soon!"

Tavros felt a spark of nervousness light up in his stomach at the mention of actually meeting up with Jane outside of the library. He wouldn't actively admit it, but he was desperate to make more friends around campus and had to hold back from jumping on the idea. "Uh, yeah! I'll message you, uh, on Tumblr. We could plan to get lunch sometime. That, uh, that would be fun."

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Skaia University Library | Open

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