Unshelved (Noam)

[Aiden Harris]

There were few things Aiden excelled at, even before his meta-gene made itself known. He was an excellent climber, he could sign and translate for the deaf, and he could find lost things. It was almost amazing how much use two of his skills still got working in the library. A sigh escaped him as he felt around the top of the stacks. With kids who could fly, kids who could move things with their minds, and kids who flat out didn't care, it was amazing the places books could end up. Considering the number of times he'd scaled the stacks today, it was no wonder they put up with his ADD.

With a grin and a small yelp of victory, his hand finally made contact with the spine of a book. Aiden dropped to the ground, clutching his quarry close as he returned to the check in area. His eyes glanced over the list of missing books while his hands while his hands typed on the computer. After a few quick minutes turned up nothing, it was put in the cart with the others. The ritual was completed four times in total, and the number of books to be reshelved seemed to grow exponentially. Yay.

As he wheeled the cart towards the stacks, Aiden realized he couldn't be too upset. The constant movement and busy work meant he didn't have to sit still. And it was repetitive enough that he didn't have to worry about losing focus. All in all, a perfect job for him. He started returning the books to their homes, climbing when necessary and setting misshelved books aside as they appeared. At least it was keeping him busy.

[Noam Goldstein]

Noam hated the daily routine of days without training. Wake up, eat breakfast, attend boring class, attend kind of interesting class, eat more, attend more boring classes, do homework, eat dinner, do more homework, and go to bed. Repeat. All of this was tedious, and for someone who hated monotony, it was pretty much hell. Noam could usually find a way to make things interesting, though it usually involved annoying others... hey, a great victory always came with a great sacrifice, anyways... what was the big deal about annoying someone else a little bit? There were people he knew not to anger, like teachers, trainers, and kids who could use powers to harm him, but a little fun never hurt anyone.

The library was a boring place. It was quiet (scarily quiet) and had a few students studying on a usual basis, which was fine. Though, none of them appreciated a little bit of singing, unfortunately. A small rendition of a song from "Anything Goes" was old -- too many people knew his trick now. He had to move on to bigger things, and better. As he entered the library, he took off his beanie and stuffed it into the jacket pocket without a single word.

He wandered around for a little bit before setting down his backpack near a table, and removing his jacket. With a mischievous look around, he decided on a little...something. Finding a random book (he wasn't even sure what it was on), he jumped, his power of flight helping him a little bit as he sat down on the top a bookshelf carefully, not wanting to make it collapse.

He'd been sitting there for a few minutes before he noticed a library helper. Noam wondered how long it would be before anyone noticed... or at least, that teenager.

[Aiden Harris]

Why there were so many book out of order, Aiden couldn't even guess. There were kids here who could move in ways that defied human ability. Yet they all seemed to have an inability to return books to their proper places. There were so many to keep track of as he climbed about the stacks. And so many of them had to come from the higher shelves. If he'd been anyone else, Aiden would've been dragging the ladder along with him as he re-shelved. But he never passed up an opportunity to climb. Even if that meant climbing bookcases.

The tough part was trying to balance a book in one hand while using the other to climb. His mind was rapidly shifting focus. Move his hand further for stability. Glance at the title of the book. Reach around the right shoe to put the book away before dropping back down. He started towards the next shelf when he realized there was something wrong about that sequence of events.

He frowned as he pantomimed the actions he'd just finished. Climb. Glance. Shoe. Drop. That was it! "Helen of Troy!" he exclaimed, quickly clapping his hand over his mouth. No, that was the answer to the question he'd missed on the quiz earlier. Wait! Shoe! He looked over at the shelf, eyes wide as he finally noticed the kid sitting at the top. "I... um... are you.. are you supposed to be up there?" he asked, confused.