The door is {OPEN}

[Eli Morrison]

Elijah Morrison had always been a reader. Even when he was very little and his super-human intelligence hadn't fully manifested itself, he'd been clever. Reading and speaking in full, complete thoughts by the time he was two, writing and analyzing material before he was six... well, it was hard to pinpoint exactly when his power had manifested to the point where he knew he could learn just about anything the world threw at him. Probably somewhere around the time he was thirteen.

He just couldn't handle it all. And on some days, he couldn't handle it at all.

Eli usually sat behind the main counter of the library, leaning back in his chair, a stack of unread books on one side of him and a stack of read books on the other. Depending on what point in the week it was, one or the other of the stacks would be taller. But today he was hidden, back in his office. It wasn't that he couldn't see anyone that day, no, he would have called in sick in that eventuality. Eli just needed a little bit of alone time, and left the door to the office open. If someone wanted to find him, they could.

In his spare time, Eli had been trying to track down some information on his family. Unfortunately, he'd actually come across some information that was relevant. A newspaper article from two years prior.

Though he'd already read the words on the screen several times, he had to read it again. And again. In the years since he was eight, when his mother had left, he'd often wondered what had happened to her. Was she alive? Was she safe? Happy? He wouldn't have minded any of those, even happy. He understood why she left.

What bothered him was that she was alive, safe, happy, and forgotten about him. She was beaming in the wedding announcement he stared at. She'd gotten married?

And he hadn't even sent a card.

[Willow Kovacs]

There was a steady 'click, click, click' of heels on the tiles of the library, but if one were to know anything about basic human composure, they may have noticed the feet were rather stomping than moving. The possessor of these feet was not amused.

Willow was walking at a steady pace, but a bit faster than what she liked. Why, one may ask? Because people, were stupid. It was that simple. The young adult had ordered a book - not even requested a book to be order, no, legitimately ordered a book through this library two weeks ago. The infuriating teenager who at the time was working the counter had rudely informed her that it would not arrive for a week, when she knew for sure it would arrive in four days. Not a week. But she let that slide, because there was no helping it. But it had been two weeks now, and her patience had warn quite then.

Willow held her jaw tightly, eyebrows drawn slightly in an almost menacing look. Stalking through the mostly silent library, not expecting many children to be inhabiting the quiet rows of books in the early afternoon. Classes were still in session, and Willow had to go on a recruiting mission the next day. She wanted that book. She would not ride on a plan for four and a half hours without something sufficiently interesting to read.

This book was one of many language books she had brought into her possession - this particular book was that of advanced Russian phrases - a few things she had yet to learn from the language. Though the woman was almost entirely fluent, there were still these particular phrases she had yet to master. And that did not settle well with her, making this situation even more fragile.

The door to the librarian's office was open, but the raven still paused at the ajar door, raising a fist and knocking on the door frame. The annoyed look still on her face, "Excuse me." It was curt. "I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but perhaps you could help me with something?" There was little sincerity in her voice. No, sympathy for this situation ended a week ago.

[Eli Morrison]

He'd heard the shoes coming, but there had been a tiny portion of his mind repeating "Walk past. Walk past. Walk past." But he wasn't that lucky, now was he? Not that he believed in luck. It was all just chances and percentages. It was something he'd probably even be able predict, given enough data. Perhaps he should start compliling some? Then he would be able to give a reasonable likelihood of someone with clicking heels showing up at his door. Eli didn't like clicking heels. They reminded him uncomfortably being in high school.

As soon as he looked up, he knew exactly what this was about. Willow Kovacs didn't stop by at his office just to chat. Very few people came by to chat with Eli, but Willow was absolutely not one of them. Not even on a good day. He respected her greatly, but often found the woman to be a little abraisive. Even during the days they'd been at school together, he'd never particularly had the inclination to talk to her. (And though he'd stayed at Hammel after graduating high school--age fourteen, the year before Willow--because his teachers were afraid that the weaknesses, the drawbacks of his powers would eventually reveal itself, and if he was still at Hammel, they would be there to help him. Nine years later, he was still there, still waiting.)

And really, it just didn't make sense for her to adopt a "smarter than you" attitude around him. Eli just found her a little bizarre for that. At least she was polite about it. Today. "Yes, I probably can, Willow." With one last, lingering look at the newspaper article onscreen, he minimized it, and turned his focus towards her. He could deal with residual feelings about his mother later.

[Willow Kovacs]

The raven offered a tight, forced smile at the young man in front of her. Oh, she remembered him from school. Probably the only bloody person at Hammel who was smarter than her, and that was on account of his biologically bestowed ability. She hardly praised him for his genius - in fact, she sort of thought of it to be "cheating" really. And ability to allow one to know anything and everything, well that was something the woman could work with. Instead, she was a scaly, creepy reptilian. Not that she minded, no. Willow did actually adore her ability, it gave her a sense of "freedom" that really nothing else could. But at the same time, knowing everything seemed like something she would use more often than being able to walk on the ceiling and scare children.

"Yes, Elijah." The curt tone still in her voice as she took a few steps into the office. The way she walked, held herself, gave off an air of superiority, with a raised jaw and straight spine. "Two weeks ago, to the day, I ordered a book from this establishment, as I have done many times, if you recall," Yes, she did have the nerve to speak to him like he was stupid. "I was told it would take a week to reach me, which I found completely absurd considering it's always taken less time for previous books to reach me using the same shipping company, and even the same warehouse ordered from. And I find that it usually, on average, takes four days to arrive." Her arms crossed over her stomach, raising her eyebrows. "It has now been two weeks - a fairly ridiculous amount of time to wait on a piece of literature that should have reached me seven, if not ten days ago?" The woman, tilting her head in question, looked down at the genius with a bit of expectancy - as if to ask if he had a sufficient explanation for this.

Which was a lost cause, there really wasn't one. At least, not in Willow's mind. And that was all that really mattered.

[Eli Morrison]

The use of his full name made him wince. For years, he'd been insisting that people called him Eli, and only Eli. Or Morrison, on occasion, but Eli was his name. No one called him Elijah except for his family. So no one called him Elijah. "Just Eli, please."

He listened to her complaint, nodded, and opened up a program on his computer. He'd need to find the exact order form. Book orders...two weeks ago...Kovacs... "Okay, I found the form. It was filled out two weeks ago, towards the end of day. I didn't see it that day, and the day after was my day off. I approved and sent out the request the next day. And...we don't have it yet." Eli hated saying dumb things like that, the kind of self-evident statement that people were prone to. (Other classics include "It's really hot out there." and "You're pretty tall." Eli knew his height, he knew the temperature, and he knew Willow knew that the book hadn't arrived.)

"I'm checking the warehouse site now." A few more clicks, and bad news. He really didn't want to be the one having to deal with this. "They don't have any in stock, and the site says that more copies are being ordered. I can call and see how long it will take, or if you want, I can order it through the library system." Another program, quick search....."I can get a copy sent up from Montpelier."

[Willow Kovacs]

As the younger adult continued to speak, the more pressure began to form on the woman's frontal lobe. A headache twisting behind her eyes and making her eyebrow twitch irritably. Of course she knew the book wasn't there yet - this man was supposed to be smart, right? But nevertheless, she remained standing with a pointed look, arms crossed strongly over her chest, hip jutted in her neutral stance of dominance. Willow resisted the urge to tap her foot impatiently, which she was prone to doing, especially with new recruits at airports. They could be nauseatingly slow sometimes.

When Elijah finished, she exhaled lowly, lifting her hand to rub at her temples, annoyed. "Excellent," She seethed with an exasperated tone. Momentarily, she was silent, her mind racketing for a solution to this problem... A few moments later, she still had no solution. "Bloody brilliant," Said in a hushed tone with a click of her tongue her brown eyes flashed back to the man behind the desk. "Well then," The tone still sharp with distaste, "That's unfortunate, seeing as that would take..." Calculating, "Four to six days to arrive and my plane leaves tomorrow." Useless - why was she still talking to him?

In a sort of ironic way, Eli had already proved himself to not being as superior to her. Of course, it was all in Willow's mind and perception because the man was, undoubtedly, more intelligent than her. How could he not be, he had all the knowledge in the world. But through the reptile's mind, this ordeal could be held accountable by him. Thus proving his inferiority to comprehend the simple task of receiving a book she was absolutely positive the warehouse had in stock when she ordered it. Another tight, annoyed smile, "If you would ship the book from Montpelier, that would be lovely." She didn't bother hiding the tone in her voice - she was definitely talking down to him.

[Eli Morrison]

The longer Willow stood there, the more Eli disliked her. What did she expect from him? A magic summoning of Russian phrasebooks? She knew what his power was. Pretty much everyone at Hammel did, by now. And there was no amount of looking angrily at him that would make him able to produce the book.

"Well, that's unfortunate then. I can't change their scheduling." He opened another program on the computer, and pulled up Willow's library request history. After scanning it, he frowned. Was he going to catch a break today? Ever? "I'd recommend another book, but it appears you've already borrowed every Russian-language volume we have."

With a shrug, he put in the library order, though he didn't authorize it just yet. "Probably longer than that, actually, because we're not technically part of the intra-state library system. I've put the order in through the branch in Pilot Ridge. You should see it in a week to ten days." That was, if he actually authorized it that day. That would depend on Willow. (Calm and mild-mannered, yes, but he was capable of being vindictive, same as everyone else.) "Is there anything else I can help you with, Willow?"

[Willow Kovacs]

If the raven wasn't so competitive (and socially challenged for a woman of her age), she would have probably been attracted to Eli. He was only a few years younger than her, and already, by default, could keep up with her extensive knowledge. And he was fairly attractive, in a boyishly cute kind of way. But no, Willow really couldn't deflate her ego enough to take a look at any emotion besides pride and annoyance.

She exhaled slowly through her nose, forcing herself not to snap at him gracelessly. Willow was not prone to being over-the-top rude to people. Snarky and conceited, yes. But to actually yell at someone for incompetence was below her. Mainly because over the years she's had to remind herself that people weren't as smart as her, and it was unfair for her to yell at them. But Eli... He didn't really have much an excuse. He did have the capability of all knowledge, and therefore should have had the decency to phone her a week ago to mention that the book would be late. She would have been unamused, still, but definitely not as much as she was now.

A certain smugness was sensible in the air around her as his face fell and he offhandedly mentioned that she had already checked out all the Russian books in the library. But she still thought that was sort of a give in - the woman spoke four languages - five, including sign language. When one studies a language, they study all aspects of it. "Yes, of course." She said dully, but still with a hint of pride. She let out another short sigh, pursing her lips at his question - "Well, I suppose you could order the book from Montpelier." The tone suggested that he should have already known this. "Do you have anything for the Thai language? Or perhaps culture?" The bite in her voice made it sounds like she was compromising quite a bit. A tilt of her head, looking down on him, literally.

[Eli Morrison]

In a way, it was probably for the best that Willow was not attracted to Eli. He would have had absolutely no idea how to deal with that. In his experience, people didn't find him attractive, they found him odd. And though he was often used as a resource for any number of topics at which he was an expert, relationship advice was something he was absolutely incapable of delivering, having no substantive, practical, empirical knowledge of his own, and the various media he consumed provided conflicting opinions. (Objectively, he supposed that she could be considered pretty, if one was to look for those kinds of things, but her condescension was more than enough for him to be glad whenever she left the library.)

As if it wasn't obvious enough already that she was annoyed, the slow breath--categorized by Eli as a "huff," no matter what she thought of it--was just one more reason he wanted her out of the office. He dealt with numerous book orders a week, and had no way of knowing that Willow expected hers at a rate that was by all means unreasonable. What was he supposed to do, predict that she would be in here, annoyed? (Though it wouldn't have been an unreasonable prediction. After all, she seemed to be annoyed just as often as not.)

He ignored the second huff, as he had the first. Really, it wasn't worth it, arguing with her. With a few clicks, he had the book on order. "Okay, that's done. Do you want me to cancel the other order? The one where you're buying it?" Eli didn't know whether she preferred to read resource books more than once. Apparently, not everyone remembered every word of what they read, all the time. How did anyone manage to learn languages that way? With a forced air of calmness, he looked through the book catalogue again. "Yes, we have one book on the culture, but none on the language, sorry." Another search. "But there are two on the language at the library in town. I could put them on reserve for you to pick up, or I can have them delivered here by tomorrow. What would you like me to do?" He looked up at her, trying to be more pleasant than he actually felt.

[Willow Kovacs]

This was becoming more frustrating than she had originally planned. Was it really that complicated to comprehend what she was requesting? "Yes, you can cancel the other order, if you'd please." Willow said with an exasperated sort of tone, still holding the bite to it that suggested he was incompetent for even suggesting something different. Why would she need two of the same book? That's just ridiculously redundant. The book probably wasn't even worth this much effort - she knew the Russian language. A few vocabulary words were still iffy in her mind, and after digging through the numerous copies of books she already had on the language, she had yet to find sufficient meaning to these words. This book was on advanced phrases, something she could probably figure out if she just thought about it. An annoyed sort of twitch going through her eyebrow as she thought about this. She hated being wrong, in every aspect. This waste of time fell into the category as time wasted if she had just thought of something different.

The harsh air around her depleted ever so slightly as her anger fell to a lower level. Now it was just disappointment with herself for not thinking of that beforehand and causing trouble. Letting out a short hum, a scrunched look of distaste on her features for a moment, "If you would please have the library send up those two books, that would be lovely." She said in a seemingly offhanded way. "I'll stop by before I leave tomorrow." Willow rose her eyebrows in questioning to see if it was appropriate.

Though she didn't seem nearly as biting, her attitude still held that sort of I'm-better-than-you feel to it. Brown eyes flashing around the room momentarily, studying the objects surrounding his desk and the strange man that sat at it.

[Eli Morrison]

"Okay then," A few more clicks, and the order was canceled, and he'd saved some poor district manager of a book shipping warehouse the pleasure of having an irate woman call and complain to him in a way that would probably make it blindingly obvious that she would be looking down her nose at him. Now if only he didn't have to deal with that in his own office.

Willow was only a few years older than him, but she still made him feel like the smart-ass twelve-year-old who was in classes with seniors in high school and obviously didn't belong there. It bothered him that he'd never gone to college, but the administration had asked him not to when he graduated, since he would draw attention to himself and the school, which no one needed.

It was no issue to get the books delivered to the school. Despite the sometimes-odd occurrences at Hammel, the page who did the deliveries for the library had never commented on the strangeness, nor even asked exactly what kind of school it was. Somehow, it just didn't phase him at all.

"Okay, they'll be here tomorrow morning, before nine probably. They typically send them over first thing after opening." And now all he had to do was get her out of his office. He really, desperately, did not want to have her in his office any more. There was only so much condescension he could deal with in a day.