Don't Panic (Amber)

[Danielle Cooper]

It was a good library day. Dani sat tucked away in a corner, her nose buried in a book. Haruki Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World to be exact. It was her favorite book and she had decided to reread it. When reading, Dani was always was in a quiet place; she didn’t like to read anyplace that had loud noises or distractions. It happened to be raining out, so going outside under a tree was out of the question, and her she didn’t want to be distracted by her dorm-mate, thus why Dani chose the library. Not to mention, Dani enjoyed being in the library in general.

She had been there for several hours already, and had already blown through half of Hard-Boiled Wonderland. Earlier that morning, she had gone to the library with the intention of finishing J-Pod by Douglas Coupland, for she only had one-hundred pages left and she was eager to read more because it was such a fun book. After finishing it, she searched the library for more books by Coupland, but unfortunately could not find any. Dani made a mental note to go to a bookstore to find more of Coupland’s books before she grabbed Hard-Boiled Wonderland and dove into it for what was probably the fifth time.

Dani was completely engrossed in her book. She sat on one foot in her chair with her head propped up by her hand. As she turned a page, Dani reached for her mug of unsweetened green tea and brought it to her lips, only to find it was empty. Darn. Dani placed her mug down and told herself she’d go grab another cup of tea… once she finished the chapter.

[Amber Krasenski]

Rainy days limited available activities and saw many bored students in the lounge or occupying the halls or causing mischief in their dorms or even, heaven forbid, studying.

That last option was what Amber should have been doing, particularly given that it was a Monday on a long weekend and he'd had rather a lot of homework that he'd neglected to do. But while he had headed for the library, he had zero intention of being responsible with his schoolwork.

Instead, he was browsing the fantasy section, idly scanning book spines to see if any titles caught his eye.

"Ugh, there's nothing to read," He muttered, unfairly. There were plenty of books available; he simply wasn't in the mood to read them.

Unable to make a decision, he pulled a book at random, flipping it over to see the cover.

A man in goggles and what looked like a rapier peered back at him.

So did a giant wasp.

The image was only an illustration, but that didn't stop Amber from going into panic mode, dropping the book as he shifted into spider form, skittering away from the book and, without noticing, onto someone's foot.

[Danielle Cooper]

Had Dani been wearing her sneakers, she probably wouldn’t have noticed anything, but she had ditched her shoes a while ago to be more comfortable. She felt a little tickle across her foot and looked down to see a spider on it. Just the site of one gave her shivers, but this one was actually on her person.

As an immediate reaction, Dani let out a panicked squeak and shook her foot to get the spider off. As soon as it was on the floor, Dani retracted her leg to the safety of her chair, bringing both her legs up to her chest.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no.” She kept her eyes on it to make sure she didn’t lose track of it. The only thing worse than seeing a spider was losing track of it and just knowing it was there, ready to get her. She had no idea the little spider was a student, and wasn’t quite sure what to do. If she went and got help, then it might disappear before she got back, and she definitely couldn’t kill it herself. “Okay. Don’t panic. You can do this, Dani.”

So she did the first thing that came to mind. Dani grabbed her empty tea mug and turned it upside down. Making sure she didn’t get any closer to it than she had to, Dani carefully placed the mug over it, successfully trapping it. Or at least, it would have trapped a normal spider.

[Amber Krasenski]

Before he even had time to register that he was on someone's foot he went flying through the air, landing dazed and confused on the floor, struggling to right himself, eight legs waving in the air.

That moment of confusion was perhaps the reason Dani was successful in planting her mug over him. In fact, he had no idea at all what had just happened -- one minute he was staring up at the underside of a table, and then....

Darkness.

He managed to twist back onto his feet, scooting towards the edge of the mug, feeling along the edges to see if there was some way out. The panic over the wasp illustration was gradually morphing into panic over being trapped in the dark; not because he disliked being in the dark, but because the suddenness surprised him, and he didn't know what had happened.

The unknown element was terrifying.

[Danielle Cooper]

After placing the mug over the spider, Dani slowly got off her chair. She wasn’t sure what to do now that she had trapped it. “Umm…” She glanced around the library, trying to find someone relatively close to help her, but nobody was in sight. If she left for too long, for all she knew the spider could escape, and she wanted to make sure it wouldn’t, and if did, she would be able to keep an eye on it and possibly stop it again. Not that she actually thought the tiny thing could get out from under the cup, but if it somehow managed to, Dani wouldn’t know how to react. And then it would be out there… waiting to get her.

So what was she to do? Absolutely nothing. Dani sat back down on her chair, scooting it away from the upside down mug and bringing her knees to her chest once again. “Maybe someone will come by and help soon…” Dani mumbled, biting her lip.

[Amber Krasenski]

One of the downsides of shapeshifting was the surprise transformation during times of emotional panic.

One of the perks of shapeshifting was that no matter what reason one had for transforming, it would never last very long. Staying in shifted form was exhausting, and, combined with the exertion required to run around a tiny, enclosed space desperately attempting to find a way out, Amber very abruptly shifted back into human form, bumping his head on the top of the table as he did so.

"Ow."

That sudden change in size always seemed to result in running into something. At least whatever had been trapping him was forcibly removed; he heard the crash as it rolled off his head, hitting the floor.

Shakily he looked up, only then spying the person who had trapped him.

"Ummmm." He offered, still lying on the floor. "Hi. Were you sitting here?"

[Danielle Cooper]

Dani’s eyes grew wide as whatever was under the cup started to grow. A growing spider?! She hadn’t realized that instead of getting larger, the spider was actually transforming into a human. The idea of a giant spider made her jump, and thus resulting in her chair tipping backwards and crashing to the ground with Dani still on it.

She rolled backwards, rubbing her head where it hit the ground. “Ugn…” But then she heard the crash of her mug and another voice. Very slowly, she peeked over her chair to see Amber. Thank goodness, it wasn’t a spider, just another student!

“Oh! I was sitting there. I’m so sorry!” Dani was pieced together everything she had done and the guilt hit her hard. She scrambled to her feet and rushed over to Amber, “I didn’t realize you were a person, otherwise I never would have done that! I just thought you were a regular spider.” She offered a hand to help him up, “Are you okay?”

[Amber Krasenski]

"I...I'm fine..." Amber rubbed the top of his head ruefully. He hoped that Mr. Morrison hadn't heard that, or that if he had, he wouldn't tell Ms. Sayers. He really didn't want to have to explain to his trainer that he kept transforming and then smacking his head against things when he shifted back.

"It's okay. I probably would've done the same thing," He reassured her, feeling highly embarrassed at the apology. Truthfully he probably would have just run away; turning into a spider didn't make him any more comfortable with them. "I'm really sorry for....for startling you. And uhh..."

He glanced at the chair that was still lying haphazardly on the floor. "Knocking you over."

After another moment, he added, "Aren't you in my English class? With Mr. Maguire?"

[Danielle Cooper]

Dani gave an embarrassed smile and helped him to his feet. “I’m glad to hear you’re okay.” She said, “But you hit your head pretty hard… want me to get you an ice pack?” Although Amber said he was fine, Dani still wanted to make sure, and she also wanted to make it up to him considering she had intentions to get somebody to kill him about a minute beforehand.

“Oh, no need to apologize!” Dani gave a laugh, “I’m sure I startled you more than you did me.” She followed Amber’s gaze over to the chair. She had already forgotten she had fallen out of it until now. “Ah, don’t worry about it,” she picked up the chair, placing it upright, “I’m just a fool sometimes. It wasn’t your fault.”

“I knew I recognized you.” Dani confirmed, giving a nod, “You’re um… Amy? No, that’s not right… Sorry, I’m horrible with names. Uh, I’m Dani.” She stuck out her hand to shake.

[Amber Krasenski]

"No, no. My head is fine. Don't go get an ice pack, Mr. Jenkins might want to start checking me for concussions or something!"

Not that he had much familiarity with the school nurse, certainly not enough to be sure that he would forcibly check up on a student, but one could never be too sure when it came to grown ups.

He had to nod when she assumed she had startled him, however. "Well, yeah, it isn't like I expect to be consumed by darkness without warning, but you didn't try and step on me so I think I can get over it."

He accepted her hand, shaking it vigorously. "Close! It's Amber. So that could be...a...shortening? I think Amy is better than Amby, anyway, but some people seem to think Amby is a hilarious nickname. So uhh...what were you reading?"

Better to change the subject from near misses to something safer. And it seemed a safe assumption that anyone who was spending time in the library was there to read.

[Danielle Cooper]

“Oh, okay. I’m glad you’re okay!” Amber seemed very determined to not let anyone know she was hurt – Dani wasn’t sure how to react, but Amber seemed okay, so she wasn’t going to go about forcing someone to the school nurse when they didn’t want to go. Dani certainly hated dealing with those sorts of things, too, so she didn’t blame the other.

She was glad to hear that Amber didn’t seem to be holding a grudge against Dani for attempting to take her life. Dani was sure that not everyone would be so forgiving, although it was an accident. Because of this though, Dani will think twice before killing any spiders.

Dani gave a firm handshake and grinned. “Ah! Amber! I’ll remember for next time, I promise!” She gave a light chuckle, “Amby is a pretty cute nickname though.” It was unique and interesting; Dani liked it.

“Oh!” Dani reached onto the table she was sitting at and grabbed her book, holding it up to show off the title. “It’s A Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami. It’s my favorite book. Ever heard of it?”

[Amber Krasenski]

Amber looked at the book Dani held out in wide-eyed wonderment. It looked intriguing, and the title was interesting. Perhaps here at last was the book he had been looking for, the book that would take him out of his reading slump.

"That's an awfully long title." He commented. He wasn't sure if he would remember it if he didn't write it down. "Isn't that Haru...whatever the name is....does she...or he? Write something about medical clones? I think I read a book review of something like that and the author's name was something similar I think..."

That was sure to be a very helpful description.

[Danielle Cooper]

Dani smiled, glad to see that Amber looked interested in the book. If she could share Haruki Murakami’s works with anyone, she would. “Yeah, this is the first book of his that I read, and the title was what caught my attention.” She extended the book out to Amber, “Here, borrow it. It’s my copy, I was just reading it here because it was quiet, and I’ve already read it before, so it’s really okay.”

“It’s Haruki Murakami.” She gave a giggle, knowing very well it wasn’t the easiest name to pronounce. Dani bit her lip, trying to remember if Murakami had ever written anything about medical clones. “I’m not sure if it’s the same guy…” But it sparked her interest, and Dani made a mental note to look into it in more detail later.

[Amber Krasenski]

"Really? You don't mind?" Amber squeaked, accepting the book and clutching it to his chest gratefully. "Ummm...what's it about?"

Evidently not medical clones, which was probably for the best. That seemed like a rather depressing concept, even if it was an interesting one.

"Ha-Roo-Key Moo-Ra-Ka-Me." He repeated, trying to ingrain that into his memory. He wasn't very good with foreign names, but Dani seemed to be more forgiving of that than some people were. He really should try harder, given how many people couldn't remember his own surname.

"Maybe it's not the same person..I don't remember. Just that it was by someone Japanese. I think it was called like...Don't Let Go? Or something like that?"

((ooc: this is the book Amber is thinking of))

[Danielle Cooper]

Dani grinned, glad that Amber seemed excited about reading the book. “Books are meant to share! I just hope you enjoy it!” She paused for a second, unsure how to really explain the book. It was a great read, but hard to explain. “Um, well, it takes place in two different universes. So every other chapter takes place in one of the two universes. And they’re kinda connected… It’s… kinda hard to explain.” Dani gave a nervous laugh, scratching the back of her head. “It sounds strange, but it’s really good!”

“Yup, exactly!” Dani clapped, her grin growing. “You’ll have it down pack soon enough!” At least Amber was trying to get Murakami’s name down; Dani knew a lot of people who just didn’t care enough to bother.

“Hmm, I don't think he wrote anything like that. But medical clones sounds interesting.” Dani would definitely have to check it out. She could read pretty much anything and be content, and clones? That’s just cool.