Advisory Hazards [Cat]

[Vincent Verax]

Vincent was disappointed to find that Eli was not in his office. When it came to seeking advice (or company that didn't include Sammy, Robbie, or Fifi) Vin always turned to Eli, much to the librarian's chagrin. And with everything that had happened lately, Vincent really wanted to talk to his semi-friend-slash-stalkee. Sure, he thought of Eli as his friend, but I'm not sure what to classify their completely awkward and one-sided relationship as.

He was sulking out of the office with his head down and arms crossed when someone walked in front of him carrying an armload of books. It was the movement alone that caught Vinnie's eye, and he lifted his head to see the girl that was in the library almost as often as Eli himself. Okay so maybe he couldn't remember her name, but he'd seen and encountered her enough during his visits to Eli that he considered her at least an acquaintance.

He pursed his lips as in thought (which is a lie because you and I both know that Vincent does not think) before following after her. "Uh, hey, Chick?" Yes, Vincent. What a great way to start a conversation with someone. He scratched his head, trying to rack his brain for a name, but nothing came. "D'ya know where Eli is?" If she did and was smart (no doubts on that one) she would not reveal such information to Vincent.

Instead of his normal obnoxiously loud voice, Vincent was actually speaking an a library-appropriate volume, which was the first clue that something was wrong. And he looked a little more disheveled than usual. He folded his arms over his chest, running his hands up and down the sides of his arms, looking rather uncomfortable and out of place.

[Catherine Novella]

Eli was out for the day and Cat was working alone. She had gotten to know enough of the library that she was able to be left alone. Normally Eli was never out.Ever, but it seemed he had to take care of Tory. He had reluctantly left the library and took a day off. Thus his office was empty and Cat was working.

Was someone walking out of his office? Who could it be? and more importantly what did they want? Cat honestly didn't want anything to go wrong right now that would make her look bad. She still had the mount of books in her hands as she slowly walked towards the office wondering just who exactly it was. Wait... Cat desperately wanted to turn around and go the other way. This wasn't going to be a good day was it?

Maybe if she ignored him he would just go away. Or pretend she hadn't seen him. That might work. Cat then continued to walk, keeping her eyes on the stack of books and the floor in front of her. No use tripping. Then of course she head the question. Now how do I get out of this? Cat sighed then turned around to face Vincent. "My name is Catherine, or Cat. Please do not call me chick." Why couldn't he remember that? Three simple letters. Then came the question. " He took a day off." There that was true. Cat was fairly certain Vincent wouldn't go harass Eli at his home. She only hoped the location was a mystery. " Why?"

Though this was weird, that was for certain. Every time that Vincent had been in here, he was loud, obnoxious and did not have a sense of decency. This was odd. It seemed that Vincent wasn't as... vibrant. Cat thought long and hard. she didn't know what had happened but it was weird... she felt sort of bad for him. "I can take a message though."

[Vincent Verax]

He was actually somewhat glad that Cat didn't just keep walking and ignoring him. While his previous visits to the library had been fun for him, he could tell that she just wasn't as into the crazy behavior as he was and he wouldn't have put it past her to just keep on going as if he wasn't there at all. But she was nice and actually stopped to talk to him.

"Righ'. Cat. Sorry." Vincent apologizing? Now you know it's serious. Scratching at the back of his head in a sheepish manner, he tried to force up a polite smile, but it didn't come. Instead, when Cat enlightened him that Eli had taken a day off, his face fell. He didn't know what exactly it was about Eli, but talking to the librarian always made him feel better.

He bit on one of his piercings and sighed, "I jus'... really needed t'ask his advice." Downtrodden, Vincent kicked at the ground, looking away because he felt like the sadness he was trying to swallow was about to come up again.

When Cat informed him that she could take a message, Vincent pursed his lips together. "Can... can y'jus' tell 'im that... I really need t'talk t'him?" His voice cracked and he hated himself for it. How lame must he have looked and sounded, struggling to spit out a single sentence?

[Catherine Novella]

Was she going to regret not ignoring him and waking away? most likely, but it wasn't in her nature to just keep on walking. Like it or not he was a patron of the library and she couldn't do much else except help him. That was her job right? if anything else Cat was responsible about her job.

Cat blinked. Was this really the same person. He just apologized. This definitely wasn't normal. Cat had to repress the urge to put a hand to his forehead to check for a fever. That would most likely be the right reason why he was acting like this. That had to be it. The goth was sick.

He further surprised Cat as he acted like that. Oh this wasn't good. Sighing Cat went over and plopped the books in his hands. "Will you hold these for me? I need to shelve them but their heavy." Cat gave a reassuring smile and started to walk. "Help me please? all you have to do is hold them." Cat smiled more and took one off the top. "Maybe I can help?"

"Well talk to me while we walk, and if you still need me to tel him I will." Cat had no intention of bugging Eli if this was something she herself could fix. "So what's wrong?" Cat didn't look at Vincent as she put a book where it belonged on the shelf. At least she was getting help carrying them all as Vincent would talk to her. Two problems one stone hm?

[Vincent Verax]

Vincent stood there awkwardly as Cat deposited the books in his arms, looking at her with a confused expression. Yes, she had to spell out what she was expecting from him, but thankfully she realized that or Vin would still be standing there holding books looking like a little lost kid.

"Uhh... okay." He followed after her in a robotic fashion. He figured at least this gave him something to do, because fidgeting like he was nervous or something felt really awkward. Vin had never been a nervous or shy person, always the complete opposite, but things always seemed to change whenever they involved Moe.

When Cat asked what was wrong, Vincent almost lost it. He had to bite down hard on his tongue to keep himself from starting to cry. "I... well... Moe... Moe's gone." His voice was sullen and he looked down at the stack of books in his arms instead of at Cat. "An'... it feels weird an' bad an' it hurts but like... on th'inside y'know?" Vincent was entirely too used to physical pain, subjecting himself to it for the entertainment of others, but this was a whole new sort of pain that his power didn't work on.

"An' I figured... 'cause Eli's like... y'know really smart, he coul' maybe make 't stop hurtin' an'... I miss him." Tears were stinging in Vin's eyes at that point, but he was holding them back. He really didn't want to break down crying here of all places. "I miss him a lot."

[Catherine Novella]

Cat smiled gratefully when he took the books. It had seemed he was a bit confused so she was glad she could help in that aspect at least. Now the chance of him running away, or starting the Macarena was little to none. We are all thankful for that.

Cat moved her way through the shelves after the affirmation from the much taller goth. She didn't know what had happened to the goth but this certainly was different.Vincent was standing still for lords sake. that was quite different from the chasing, Macerena- ing, jubilant goth that often frequented the library, if only to bug her boss. It just didn't feel normal.

Cat delicately took the top book off of the pile that Vincent was carrying. it seemed what she said had struck a point with the slumping persona. Then she heard Moe was gone. Obviously Moe was someone important but the fact of the matter was that Cat didn't know who Moe was. Honestly she lived under a rock. But then Vincent began to not look at her, which was hard since she was just about the levels of the books that he was carrying. Cat really didn't know what to say, there wasn't much she could say, this was all a bit too different for her. She didn't know the story, she didn't know the characters. All she knew was that Vincent was heartbroken, and there wasn't anything she could really do about it.

Ah there it was. Cat kept her mouth shut through all of what Vincent was saying. She was no where near level with Eli's intelligence and she hadn't gone through what Vincent had before either. She took a deep breath before she slowly took the books from him and set hem on the floor. She smiled up at him before tugging on his shirt a bit, before she reached up and pat his head. " I'm sorry."

[Vincent Verax]

Vincent began biting on his lip rings, something he had taken to doing when he was trying to distract himself. He was still pointedly avoiding looking at Cat, his eyes darting all over the library, looking for something to focus on. The shelves, the tables, the ceiling, the carpet, the stack of books in his arms, but no matter where he looked he couldn't quite find something to really hold his attention.

He started when the weight of the books left his arms, blinking rapidly and finally looking back down at Cat. "Huh?" Had he done something wrong? Was he carrying the books in the wrong direction? He looked just as confused as when she had placed them there in the first place. And then she tugged his shirt and patted his head and Vincent... well... he kinda lost it.

Without a moment's thought, he threw his arms around the small girl, pulling her into tight hug. He felt a wetness on his cheeks as buried his face in her hair and he squeezed his eyes shut tight to prevent any more tears from escaping. "I jus' dunno what t'do." He mumbled after a long moment, probably making Cat feel all sorts of awkward and uncomfortable.

[Catherine Novella]

She wasn't sure just what to do. Everything was weird with the goth. Nothing was normal. if it was a friend she would be able to do something to help. Vincent wasn't in certain terms a friend. He also wasn't an enemy either. Cat liked to think of him as a dinosaur in a human's body. he was huge, loud, and stomped everywhere. It didn't matter where she hid, he would find her. Especially if he was looking for Eli.

Giving him a pat and apologizing seemed like the best course of action for the small bookworm. She couldn't do much else. Everything else was a worse choice of action. She wouldn't put it past her to use her intellect to outsmart him, and that wasn't a good thing. He wasn't even smart enough to counteract that. Given the state he was in it would have been useless anyway. Instead she just gave him a pat and an apology.

Then he hugged her before she could react. Before she knew it she was being squished. It was odd and quite unsightly. She was able to, however, flail one arm. The other had gotten caught in the hug. Cat wiggled to try and get out of his reach but honestly there was no way she was going to be able to. He was too big. Trying to look up at him Cat shook her head slightly. "If you don't know what to do, then just distract yourself. I'm sure you can find some sort of distraction." Distractions were always helpful.

[Vincent Verax]

He could feel Cat squirming in his arms, though he was too far gone to realize she might have been doing so because she didn't want to be crushed in Vincent's too-eager embrace. He sniffled, remaining quiet for several long minutes. Sometimes it just made him feel better to have somebody close by and, unfortunately for Cat, she had been the only one nearby.

When her tiny voice finally caught his ears, he released his hold on her and swiped at his face to get rid of any incriminating tear-like evidence. "A d'straction?" It sounded easy enough, sure, but when everything that Vincent looked at somehow reminded him of Moe, he had a feeling that it wasn't going to be as easy as he might have hoped.

"Like what?" Sounding nearly as helpless as he looked, Vincent shrugged his shoulders uselessly. It was just so hard to think of something else. Well, it was hard for Vincent to think in general, but there were extenuating circumstances this time around.

[Catherine Novella]

It was weird to be hugged and it was obvious she wasn't used to it. Hugging was reserved for friends and honestly she didn't think Vincent considered her a friend. Probably just someone to annoy because her reaction was funny. That in itself would make sense. Or maybe she was just the nearest person. All in all she just wasn't a touchy-feely person.

Cat was extremely grateful when she was let go. "Yes a distraction. Grades, work, hobby, something to throw yourself into to forget, or more of distract yourself from Moe." He was active enough there must be something he could do to distract himself.

Cat gave a hefty sigh when he asked her what exactly to distract himself with. For her it was reading and schoolwork. even in her books she could get lost and get lost forever. " I don't know, what is your favorite thing to do?" Cat smiled. "Just get reallllllllllllllllly good at that."

[Vincent Verax]

A friend? Well, maybe. He's already put some effort into trying to remember her name. And he hung out around the library and ran into her (sometimes literally) often enough that she should have been more than just a stranger. But the fact of the matter was that she was there and Vincent wanted a hug and it seemed logical that since she was the only person within arms reach that he actually somewhat knew, that she should be the one that he hugged.

"'m not good at grades." Vincent admitted petulantly. (No shit, Sherlock.) He went through several different facial expressions as he tried to think of things that he might be able to do in order to distract himself, but of all the things that Cat mentioned were not the sort of things that Vincent wanted to do.

When she smiled, Vin tried to offer one back. It was crooked and obviously forced, but he's trying to be nice because the poor girl was trying to help him and it was the least he could do. "Um, I like beatin' Sammy up an' playin' Mario Kart an' stealin' Evan's pants an' drinkin'." Although he had already tried several of those things to distract him, he thought maybe he just wasn't trying hard enough. "Y'think 'f I do all-a them then it won' hurt so much?"

[Catherine Novella]

Catherine was already getting used to being run into, literately. Frankly he was a giant dinosaur. He rawred, stomped around, and was huge. Dinosaurs really didn't belong in the library. That was just not right, and quitre frankly it wasn't logical. Disregarding the fact that Vincent wasn't logical of course. Oh well, really there was nothing that Cat could do about it, except run and hide from the giant scary dinosaur.

Cat gave a small smile and tried not to laugh at Vincent's statement. "Yes I know, but this would give you a chance to improve them, you know, graduate this year?" She actually wondered how old he was. She was pretty sure he should have graduated a few years back actually. " How old are you anyway?"

Cat's smile dipped a bit when she heard his "fun" activities. How in the world were those fun? "Why don't you try out for a team? or maybe you should volunteer to spend time with the littler kids," Cat had to give a grin. " I know some of them realllllly like to play dinosaurs." Ok so maybe Cat wasn't thinking straight, sending Vincent onto the little kids, but hey, he seemed to have that mentality, and he wouldn't hurt them. Vincent may be stupid, but he wasn't cruel. " I don't know Vincent..." Looking down Cat then turned to face him after putting a book away. "I think only time will help your heart heal."