Bad Luck: Footfalls in the Book Walls (OPEN)

[Navi Holmes]

((I know this is late - I'm sorry. ;-; ))


The library was a wonderful place. So many books, and all sorts of different people hanging around all the time. Granted, it wasn't as fun as hanging out in the computer lab with Mr. Cohen, but sometimes the quiet was nice. And Navi liked to just sit with a book sometimes. Reading on the computer all the time would end up ruining her eyesight. (Probably already had, if she was honest, but she could still see the whiteboard so it wasn't too bad.)

In any case, the book she wanted just so happened to be on a shelf that she couldn't reach. And in the back of the library. Which meant no chairs nearby and no stepstools either. Hm.

Glancing around to find no one watching, the dark-skinned girl planted a foot on the shelf right in front of her and hoisted herself up, reaching high to the top shelf. Her tiny fingers barely scraped the book in question, so she pushed herself up higher on her toes to try and grab it. That time she got it, but it was a little tight. Inching it out with short little tugs, Navi didn't realize that her footing was off until the shelf dropped out from underneath her. Down went the thirteen year old in a pile of books and a clatter... and then the book she'd just been reaching for (a 'dictionary' on digital coding) fell and landed square on her foot.

It was not a small book.

"OW!" Clapping her hands over her mouth, Navi winced and looked around, hoping that no one heard her. Right, fat chance of that. But hey, she could wish.

[Alyssa Ramius]

No one in particular may have been watching the smaller girl as she made her valiant reach for the book just out of her reach, so that may have saved her some part of embarassment. Opposite of the same shelf, a blonde haired girl had actually intended to find a book on some form of craft, something to distract her mind from the thoughts that kept her up at night: the future, the advancement of her training, existensialism...no, she had to shake her head to keep those all out and preferably without having to shut off her senses.

But as it happens, it only took one sweep of a glance past anything that had to do with occult, astrology or mythology to make her forget what she had been looking for in the first place. Alyssa's eyes lit up seeing familiar names, favored topics etched into the spines of the tomes. She kneels and pulls a book about astrology from a lower shelf, two mythology books from her eye level...

And recoiled in alarm as she both heard and saw through the space absent of books a tumble and clatter of books falling off the shelf opposite of her side. And in such a quiet space, it was much louder than one would expect. Worry began to flutter in her stomach. Oh no, had she caused that? It couldn't be, she had not been handling the books that roughly in her excitement! She had started to make her leave, certain someone is boud to come investigate-

"Ow!"And a subsequent faint clap, stifling any further noise. By then, Alyssa had peered around the corner, seeing a small, dark-skinned girl in a pile of books. A shelf was tilted to one side and much of those books had taken a tumble. The scene would be humorous if it wasn't for the fact that the poor thing could really have hurt herself. The blonde puts her small stack of books down and approaches.

"Are you okay?" She whispered, kneeling down to pick up some of the fallen books, tossing a look over her shoulder in the meantime. So far, no miffed librarian...yet.

[Navi Holmes]

Looking up in mortified embarrassment at the girl who'd com around the corner, Navi's expression went from shock and pained to teary. No, she wasn't hurt, not really, but being caught like this when she'd done something wrong and gotten hurt was a little overwhelming. Ducking her dark eyes, she nodded, trying not to cry.

"Y-yeah, 'm okay. I just scared myself." Sniffling, the tiny girl pulled herself out of the pile of books and sat on the floor, wincing a little as her foot hurt. Must have been bruised. Certainly not broken or anything - she wasn't screaming, after all. But it still hurt a little, and so did her pride, and oh look at this mess.

Picking herself up onto her knees, Navi tried to pick up the books and right the shelf, but it looked like the metal had bent when it knocked her off. Great; just great. And she was crying. "'M sorry, I didn't mean to break it," she muttered, shoulders shaking as she tried to hold back the ashamed tears. "I just needed a book and it was too high and no one was around and... and..."

[Alyssa Ramius]

The girl's expression upon seeing her was not lost on Alyssa and the hope to take a quiet, gentle approach to ease her worries had been dashed. Not that she could blame the poor thing, it was quite a tumble she took and well, one look at the obvious bend of the metal shelf was not as easy to shrug off.

Oh no, tears! Alyssa tried hard not to let the panic wash over her. The only thought that cycled clearly in her head: stay calm and try to manage this without having a panic attack! Well, there was still the matter of the shelf, but one step at a time! At least not have the poor thing cry on her.

"Nono, don't cry," The blonde maintained her soft tone. "It was an accident, it's perfectly okay. As long as you didn't hurt yourself, that's the more important thing."

And no footsteps of a librarian yet, but certainly that was coming. The tumble had been amplified by the natural quiet, a place where a a voice just a tad above a whisper would upset the balance. Alyssa lifts her gaze past the girl to the other end. Her eyes lit up, there was an idea! She rises and moves past the girl, returning with a library cart. It wasn't totally the best idea, but it was better than putting them out out of place anywhere else. Much of the shelves around them were full!

"Here, see? We can put the books that fell on this for now. Then we should let the librarian know about the dent. If we're honest about it, I promise no one will get in trouble or yelled at, okay?"

[Navi Holmes]

The girl who'd come around presumably to see what the noise had been was being really nice, and Navi looked up at her with a small sniffle. She really hadn't meant for that to happen, but here someone was trying to console her rather than punish her. It helped a lot, actually, even if she didn't stop crying right away. "Y-yeah," she answered. "I'm okay."

She hadn't hurt herself too bad, though she might be limping a little from the bruise over the next few days.

The retrieval of the library cart had been (in the younger girl's opinion) a stroke of genius - brown eyes widened in surprise, then were covered a moment later as she hurried to wipe away the tears. Time to make herself useful; she couldn't just sit here while someone else cleaned up her mess. That'd be wrong.

"O-okay. Thanks." Offering up a smile despite her rather mixed emotions, Navi started picking up the books on the floor, taking up the smaller ones first and putting them on the bottom of the cart. Looking up at the girl again, she added quietly so not to disturb the rest of the library, "Thanks for helping. Um... my name's Navi - what's yours?"