" Umm... Hello?"(Eli)

[Catherine Novella]

Waking up that Saturday morning Cat was in a pretty good mood. It was not often that this happened, but it was always a joyous occasion for her. Smiling she got out of bed and quietly made her way getting ready as to not disturb her roommates. Cat knew for a fact that something was going to happen today, she just was not sure what. Whatever. Cat was in a terrifically splendid mood. Cat, once showered, dressed, and fully assembled for the day made her way out of the dorms and into the cafeteria. Grabbing a few apples and some milk Cat sat down at one of the tables. She silently and orderly ate her breakfast, cutting the apple into slices and eating it that way. Taking her time was the way to go today. Especially for Cat.

Cat knew that she had to get going to the library soon at any rate. She did know the way, she did feel it was pretty simple to get there from here but eyeing the clock cat felt she better go. It was best to leave time in incase she got lost again. Smiling Cat made her way to the door. She was able to successfully maneuver her way out the cafeteria, which was now swarming with students who were just waking up.

Once outside Cat made her way to the Library, mindful of the landmarks she used. There was the giant rock, and the just starting tree. The pathway under her feet was of a cobblestone pattern that cat did particularly like. It was really amusing to watch the pattern as she walked. Wait no Cat, don’t do that. You’ll end up lost somewhere. Smiling Cat Made her way up to the Library steps. Taking two at a time she made her way to the big doors. Looking at her watch Cat smiled. She had made it just a few minutes late. It was pretty good on her part, as she ended up getting lost almost every time she went somewhere.

Today really was a good day was her first thought as she went into the main room of the library. She was able to see the stillness of the library. Cat felt as if a smile could solve anything today. It was just a good day. Setting her bag down by the door, in her usual spot of course, Cat took a few books from the return box and began shelving them. Smiling she thought about the different types of books that had been checked out. They were from all over. Not in any specific order Cat made her way around the library to put the books back in their specific place.

Cat always felt a sense of it being just right when a book went back where it was supposed to go. Cat looked down again at the books in her hands. There were so many stories. So many Imaginative words. Cat knew for a fact that she was weird. It was ok for her to admit it, but it was also ok to relish the fact that the people, the characters, the settings, and the plots were all apart of a master plan. That each word was put there for a reason. Smiling Cat realized she had finished and was able to just sit and let her mind wander. Pulling out own personal book Cat became so absorbed in the words she was able to be fully absorbed and made into the words.

Cat finished what she was doing and smiled. She realized she had never actually met the librarian. For some reason it just never occurred to her to do so. The more she thought about it the more she wanted to know what sort of person ran the library. She knew from experience that a library often reflected the librarian themselves so she was really curious to see what sort of person the librarian was. She wondered if she was even sussposed to be doing things like Shelving books and checking people in and out, she didn’t really have a clue as to why it would not be good or anything, but she figured it was better late then never to ask.

Going up to the Door which had the words Librarian inscribed on the brass placard above the door, Cat took a breath. She hoped that he wouldn’t say she could not keep doing what she was doing. It would literally break her. She couldn’t stand the thought of not having a place to go that she could truly be herself at. She knocked slightly. “Umm.. Hello?”

[Eli Morrison]

Eli had never thought that he wouldn't like coming into the library on a Saturday. He liked his job at Hammel, liked the long time he could spend in his office or behind the front desk, reading and occasionally recommending something to the students who bothered to ask him. There were thousands of books at Hammel, and he'd read approximately half of them. He figured if he kept working at Hammel for a few more years, he might eventually read all of them.

Though actually, that probably wasn't going to happen, for the same reason that he wasn't too enthusiastic about being there on a Saturday morning. (He couldn't wait until the extended hours surrounding exams were over. Once those were done, he could go back to just working on the afternoons during the weekend.) He actually wanted to be back home, which was pretty novel. Since he and Zero had moved in with Mii, he'd actually enjoyed being home a lot more. Sure, Tory was at the age where he spent a lot of the time crying, but Eli had overcome his fear of picking up the infant and could actually help care for him now, even if he wasn't great at figuring out what it was the baby wanted.

All in all, the librarian would have been happier if he'd been at home with his....family. That wasn't quite the right word, because his dog, his best friend, and her son really shouldn't constitute the majority of people he cared about, but they did, so they were his family. (And a better one then the one he'd been born into.)

All of this was on his mind as he sat in his office--so few students came in this early, he wasn't needed at the front desk yet, and the door wasn't closed all the way, so he could hear if someone called for him--reading the books that had yet to be processed into the library. The knock surprised him, but he recognized the voice. (He recognized pretty much everyone's voice. That was one of the many things Eli was just not capable of forgetting. "Hello Catherine. Please come in." He'd seen the girl in the library often. She was polite and quiet, which automatically put her on his good side, even if she had the bad habit of doing the work of the library staff by shelving. Honestly, if the computers at the front didn't require passwords, he wouldn't be surprised if she started checking in and out books for other students.

Maybe, Eli thought, she wanted the open library assistant position, and she thought he'd forget that he hadn't already hired her for it.

[Catherine Novella]

Cat politely waited for the man on the other side of the door to answer. She wondered what sort of person was going to be there. All she knew about him really was that he was tall and had a power that made him remember almost anything. It said so in the staff directory. She never thought he would not like being in the library. Especially on a Saturday, it was the day she loved to be in the library the most.

Cat as she opened the door to the office surveyed it with a curious look, with books piled everywhere and papers all over the desk Cat had to smile. She was not quite sure what to say now that she was in here. After all a mixture of curiosity and a feeling of responsibility had brought her here. A feeling of responsibility for what though was the question. Cat looked around. She spotted the librarian sitting behind his desk with books stacked there also. A few of them she had read a few she had not. “The one in your hand is a good read, but the one on the next pile is not. Its context is frivolous and has a low level of reading.”

Cat didn’t know why exactly she had chosen to say that, but it had come out of her mouth before her mind could tell her not to. Cat silently shuffled her feet and looked down. She really didn’t want to seem rude and she realized that what had come out of her mouth before had seemed that way. “Sorry.”

Cat looked down at her feet again. Maybe she should get to why she was actually here. “Umm… Mr. Morrison.” Cat thought. That was his name right?” I have sort of been filing books and putting things back where they belong after the students use them.” Cat felt that if she admitted it right off of the bat the punishment, if there was any would be less. “It just occurred to me today that I should be asking if it were ok to be doing these things. I just sort of took it over to make it less work for the staff and I really had nothing better to do. Besides…” Cat looked up at him straight in the eyes “Its fun.”

Knowing she was going out on a limb here Cat looked at the librarian again. She sincerely hoped that he would understand and would allow her to continue. In a small voice she spoke up again. “Please don’t make me stop…”

[Eli Morrison]

Eli quirked his eyebrow up at the girl, then looked down at the next book on the pile. He hadn't read either of them before, and he wasn't going to just take some little girl's word for it. However, it was rare that someone who knew who he was tried to give him advice on books. "What's wrong with frivolity? Hop on Pop is better than some textbooks I've read." (Why yes, Eli had bought multiple Dr. Seuss books for Tory, and had started reading to him often. The boy was still too young to understand, and probably would have enjoyed hearing someone read a textbook all the same. It was just hearing human voices that he liked, not necessarily the words. He'd grow into it though.)

The librarian put down his book however (on page 243, he didn't need a bookmark) and sat up, turning his full attention to the student. "I did notice that you've been doing shelving. I didn't stop you because you've been doing a good job of it, and I've never seen anyone volunteer to do so before." He stood, towering over the girl, and went to a filing cabinet, which was as disorganized as something could be and still be considered a filing system. Eli remembered where he put everything, and since no one else looked through it, it didn't matter so much if no one else could. "However, that's something that people get paid for. And you don't want to volunteer to take work away from someone who gets paid to do it, right?"

Eli pulled out a sheet of paper and turned back to Cat, smiling a little. "Here's the application to become a library page. We pay minimum wage, and you need to stay in good standing academically."

[Catherine Novella]

Cat looked at the librarian as he started talking about a Dr. Seuss book. Smiling she looked at him again. “ I am sorry let me clarify. There is nothing wrong with frivolity and childishness, some of the greatest books have been written and deemed as childish. I was just saying that that particular book was not necessarily my favorite style to read. As for Dr. Seuss I tend to go more for the book “The Sneetches” very fun.” Cat hoped that cleared any misconceptions that the librarian had about her. “That was all that I was trying to say Mr. Morrison.”

When the librarian set down his book she knew he was getting onto a more serious topic. She knew because she did the same thing. She stopped reading mostly only on serious notes. Cat stood straight and watched him. She wondered how he would take it, he helping. Cat smiled slightly as he began to speak. Looking down she felt the need to apologize again. “I am sorry. I know I am weird… but its fun to see what has been checked out and brought back!” Cat replied with a small ferociousness she did not know she had. Cat literally had to look up when Mr. Morrison stood and sauntered over to the filing cabinet. Gosh he was so tall. Well, she was also short so that did not help much. She watched in silence as he began to talk again. Yes she knew how to shut up. Most of the time anyways.

When the librarian started talking about how she was taking a job from someone she frowned. She didn’t want to take anyone’s money from them. That would be bad. She had honestly never thought about that. In all actuality she had never known that people had gotten paid to do that. At her old library she was just basically allowed to do as she pleased. Maybe it was because the librarians there had known her since she had first came to that town. In all actuality she missed them. With a smile at the memory Cat started to talk again. “I’m Sorry… I did not know. And no Sir I would not want to take money away from the people actually working.” Cat looked down. She was ready for whatever punishment that was going to be given out to her.


Cat stood with her head down as Mr. Morrison pulled a few papers out of the seemingly and highly unorganized filing cabinet. She was confused. Wasn’t he going to punish her Did he take that much delight in it to smile at her? Wait. He was smiling at her. Maybe Cat better pay attention to what was being said. As the librarian was talking Cat started to smile again although, she was still a bit confused. “ Wait I can do that? And you would pay me?” Cat laughed at the apparent absurdity of it to herself. She had just come in out of curiosity today and she might be leaving with a job. Again Cat could only laugh. “The grades are not really a problem.” Cat looked up at the librarian. Even though this was as confusing as anything she smiled. “Maybe this was a good day.”

[Eli Morrison]

"Don't say that." Eli rolled his eyes slightly, because he was more than used to the library lurkers referring to themselves as "weird" and if they were "weird" then he was obviously way beyond that. "You're curious about something. That doesn't make it weird. It makes you human." Well, she was at Hammel, so maybe not. "Kind of. You know what I mean."

The librarian quirked an eyebrow at the girl, recognizing that posture of looking down and apprehension. Dammit, she thought she was in trouble. He knew how it felt to be punished for doing something harmless and enjoyable, and he tried his best not to intimidate the students. (Except Vincent. He tried his best to intimidate the cretin, and it didn't really work. He was still getting molested frequently.)

"Yes, you can do that. We need someone who's willing to do the work." And since she was doing it on her own, without incentive, he doubted she'd do any worse if she was actually paid for it. "You'll also need your parent or guardian to sign some working papers for you, since you're still a minor, and you'll have to work on a schedule. Okay?" He tried to hand her the papers again. Though he'd be willing to hire her on the spot, they had to go through the whole applications process. He'd had a few so far that year, but the only person he'd gone so far as to hire had been a complete disappointment. She'd arrived late and spent her entire shift hiding in the stacks, reading. "And you won't be allowed to read while working...at least as long as there's actual work to be done."

[Catherine Novella]

Cat watched as Mr. Morrison elaborated and commented on calling herself weird. He tried to deny it and Cat looked down. It was true though! What normal teenager would want to spend all of their free time in the library? Normal people wouldn’t want to spend hours upon hours searching through books and taking them all in. Cat knew she wasn’t normal. She was weird. Smiling at his explanation she looked down again. “ Well as human as we can be.” She really did appreciate that he was trying to make her feel better, but the stubborn mindset that would always accompany Cat was something that was telling her that she was who she was, and she readily accepted the fact that she was weird.

Cat smiled as he explained about the perspective job further. She listened intensively when he started talking about the papers being signed by a parent or legal guardian. Uh-oh that might present some trouble. Cat’s grandmother was a while away and she really didn’t know the nearest time that her grandmother would be able to sign the papers. As it was Cat was not going home for break. It was too far for her to go home. “ Umm Mr. Morrison, the schedule thing is fine but umm the papers might take a while… My grandmother lives a while away and technology and her don’t get along very well.” Cat looked down hoping that this wouldn’t hinder her chances of getting a job. Cat nodded profusely when he said she wouldn’t be allowed to read if there was work to be done. “ There is always work in the library Mr. Morrison.”

[Eli Morrison]

Well, Eli had been the teenager who wanted to spend all of his free time in the library. He used to hide there after he'd graduated from classes. Between training sessions, there was nothing else for him to do. He couldn't afford a car, and hadn't old enough to drive anyway, so he didn't attend classes at a nearby university. Instead, he'd just holed up in the library and read all the time. Sometimes, Mii had joined him for a few hours of companionable silence, punctuated only by the occasional inquiry about pronunciation or difficult math problem. "You know what I meant, Cat."

It had taken him over a decade to accept that he was, by definition, inhuman. Coping mechanisms were difficult to overcome, sometimes.

Eli sat down again, still holding out the papers, waiting for the girl to take them. "We can't hire you until we get them signed, or we could get in trouble." Not that Cat was likely to get injured while in the library, he wasn't going to risk getting told off by someone about it. He could wait for everything to be in order. "You can mail them to her; we can wait. But I suggest calling to let her know they're coming, so she sign them and send them back promptly." That shouldn't be to hard to arrange, right?

"I know Cat, but what I'm saying is that if you keep on top of the shelving and there aren't a lot of people around, I'm not going to be mad if you read on the job." He wasn't good at giving hints. Because his voice was so monotone, he couldn't convey subtlety subtly.

[Catherine Novella]

Cat took solace in the library. She hoped that however long it took to get this job would not hinder that one place of her solitude. It was the place she could escape to… Whenever she got lonely or just wanted to hide she came here. Normally people just let her alone and did not bother her, but she was happy to help if they asked for it. Even though the library was her place, and would most likely always be hers and hers alone, she knew that she had to share. So she did so open heartedly. Cat looked down, maybe if she was a Library Page she could help others see the beauty in the solace of the toes and legends of the authors of the world.

Cat nodded slightly when Mr. Morrison talked about how she knew what he had meant. “That’s what I meant Mr. Morrison. I was trying to be humorous. This is why I hide in the library.” Shaking her head with a smile Cat looked down as he walked over to his desk and sat down.

Cat watched Mr. Morrison sit again and hold out the papers, nodding as he explained further. Apparently she could mail them to get them signed. Smiling she took the papers and looked at him again. “I understand Sir. I’ll mail them to her in the morning. It is probably a good idea to call her. You are right. If she got it without any warning she just might throw it out.” Cat chuckled to herself as she was moving towards the door. It was apparent that he wanted to get back to his read. And hey, who was Cat to intrude?

As Cat moved towards the door she looked back at the elusive librarian. All in all she thought he was not as bad as others had made him out to be. People just needed to take the time to try and understand him though, Cat had a feeling he could care less if others tried or not. She smiled good-naturedly when he told her as long as she had all of her work caught up then she would be able to read. “ Thank you Mr. Morrison. I really do appreciate it. I promise I will do my best when it comes to the work. After all, this is what I hope to be doing in the future. “ Smiling Cat silently made her way out of the library and back to her dorm room. Honestly she was still a bit in shock. She was getting a job in her favorite place and getting paid to do what she was doing before. Cat smiled as the thought finally settled in. Her grandmother was going to be so excited.


(( Fin~))