Wanderlust

[Remle Boyd]

It was sunny today. Remle winced as she was assaulted as she walked out the door on her way home. She lived close enough to walk but there were days when she wished she drove even thought it would have been far more trouble than it was worth. Maybe she would start carrying an umbrella, or wearing long sleeves all the time. Grimacing she walked quickly but found herself trying to head off trouble by cutting down a dark alley and found herself facing the public library. There were dark places in the library, she could hide there for a few hours, maybe get a nap in the archives section or something. So thinking she hurried across the street and up the steps into the building, practically sagging with relief when she hit the coolness of the shadows.

It occurred to her then that she had lost her library card when she had moved out of town for college and that getting a new library card would be the most productive thing she could do with her day currently. She'd even be able to take a stack of books home to read when she couldn't sleep. She made her way to the desk to ask about a new card before filling out the required forms and answering the questions provided. She handed the form back and was pleased when not five minutes later she was handed her new library card. After tucking it into a safe place she set off in search of something new to read. She walked casually through the aisles, her purse thrown over her shoulder as she contemplated what she wanted to read. The minimal sunlight that touched her feet didn't bother her anymore as she found her way into a darker part of the library and read the sign on the aisle as "Science Fiction".

There was one other person in the aisle with her but their back was turned and she was soon too engrossed to give them much thought as she made her way through the titles, picking out one at a time and reading a little before putting it back or tucking it into her arm. Soon her left arm was balancing several volumes, her tattoo covered almost all the way from the amount of books she had stacked there; it was no surprise then that when she reached for another book one began to slip off the pile and tumbled to the floor. In trying to catch it...she promptly dropped everything else she was carrying and bumped into the person that she had now moved behind. "Sorry!" she said absently over her shoulder as she crouched down to begin gathering up the books she had dropped.

[Terrence Mathews]

As with every other day of the week, month, year and decade, it was a good day to be reading. The sun was shining bright and happy and it just put Terrence in a good mood. Warm weather was always welcomed in his books. Heh, 'in his books', he had too many books for it to be welcomed in! So, of course, he had gone to the library down in Pilot Ridge to get more. Like any other sane person with a good enjoyment of books.

He was a regular visitor, because he loved the library he worked at, at Hammel, but it... this one was bigger. And althought bigger didn't always mean better, it did mean more variety. Terrence happily scanned through numerous shelves, a warm, silent smile gracing his face. Some people like to talk to others with similar interests to them - you see them holding a book you've read, you ask them about it, simply put. Start a conversation, get to know each other, and you leave with a new friend. But... that wasn't how Terrence rolled. I mean, he'd done that once or twice, but not really that much... at all. And had it ever ended well? ...maybe.

As he always seemed to, the librarian ended up in the science fiction section. He loved practically all genres, but science fiction was most definitely his fast favourite. He ran a finger along the shelves, identifying books he had read, any books he wanted to read and anything new. He knew this side of the library like the back of his hand.

When he heard footsteps, he turned and looked for a second, but seeing nothing out of the ordinary; just a girl - a woman. A pretty woman... shut up Terrence. Seeing that, he turned his attention back to the books. Mmm... books. So booky and papery and... Terrence had lost it a little, then. After a few moments, he heard some clattering behind him and felt the... person bump into him. He was a little startled (and in the process of being, accidentally summoned one of her dropped books into his hands), but brushed off the apology, "N-no, it's al-lright..." He bent down and helped her, seeing as he himself wasn't carrying anything. Terrence handed them over and actually looked at her face for a moment... and something seemed to slot into place in his mind, "Remi?"

Surely she... was it really... her?

[Remle Boyd]

Remle hadn't been paying attention to who was helping her, only that they were helping and that a thank you was in order. As masculine looking hands helped put the books back into her arms she looked up right at the moment he looked at her. A heartbeat later her name crossed his lips. Not many people had called her Remi growing up; she could count them on one hand. "Oh!" Surprise registered on her face as she tried to place the man in front of her with a name. "Terr!" she smiled. He was probably the closest thing she had to a friend and it wasn't really as if they had done much more than meet in the library and study.

"Wow you're here? Do you live here still or just visiting?" she wondered. However if he was in the library the chances were high that he lived here and wasn't casually passing through. "What are you doing these days?" She would never be so forward to a stranger but she and Terrence had history of a sort, and of course that required various polite conversations to inquire about current events as non-invasively as possible. She rose from her crouch with books in arm and looked at him inquisitively waiting for his answer. She wondered if he was still as shy as she remembered.

[Terrence Mathews]

It felt like forever since someone had called him 'Terr'... because, well, that was the case. He'd only been called thar name by the select few people he had known at Hammel as a student, and happened to be friends with. Remi was one of those 'lucky' ones. He hadn't made a substantial amount of conversation with her, but... she was definitely the best friend he had had at Hammel. She wasn't a best friend, but... she was alright. And Terrence liked her. He smiled back, albeit still as awkward and shy as always. He may have known her... but it'd been a while.

Terrence sat back on his heels and rubbed the back of his neck, nodding a bit, "Yes, I, um... I moved b-back here recently." It'd been... about half a year since he'd come back to Vermont, to Pilot Ridge. And now, "Well, I... You kn-now Hammel?" Of course she knew Hammel, Terrence, she went there! With you! "I-I'm the librarian there n-now." He said with a small grin. He stood as she did and hugged himself, he loved being around books all day - he always would.

Terrence looked at the ground for a moment, and then his vision flicked up to her eyes, "W-what about you? You... been around long?" He hadn't seen her anywhere, if she had been around... he probably wouldn't have noticed. He still didn't really get out enough. "Doing anything... i-interesting?"

[Remle Boyd]

Remle smiled as she watched Terrence react to seeing her again, he hadn't really changed much and for that she was grateful. Her life had become unexpectedly hectic lately so it was nice to slow down and take a deep breath of familiarity. She showed a bit of surprise at his news of being the Librarian at Hammel if only because on some level that job required interacting with people and she didn't remember him being keen on that. Not that she had been miss-social-butterfly...but it was good, she decided. It meant that they had both grown up to a certain extent in their own ways.

"Oh well, I suppose many people find it interesting and I like it...I just moved back about a month or so ago and took over the late night radio show at WPRG. If you tune in from about nine at night to four in the morning you'll hear me doing my show!" she grinned at him, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Where did you end up going to school, after Hammel I mean?" she asked. This was the most human interaction she’d had while sober in the last three weeks and that was troubling, she wondered if Terrence would be opposed to getting coffee with her once in a while, otherwise her tack record was going to get worse.

[Terrence Mathews]

Terrence hadn't wanted to become a librarian because it meant helping people (although, that didn't mean he didn't enjoy doing so), he liked the idea of being a librarian because he could be around books all day and it was considered work. It was... different to how he expected, yes, but he still enjoyed himself. And helping other people meant his social skills improved too - it was a multiple win situation.

The librarian nodded as Remi described her occupation. It was pretty cool, and, "I'll... I'll try to listen in sometime. Maybe not f-for the whole thing, b-but... at least a bit." He sent her a smile; he was intrigued, but he wouldn't cause himself to lose sleep over it.

It was nice to talk to someone he already knew, instead of having to stumble over shaky introductions and awkward unknowns. Terrence wasn't a fan of talking about himself, but he was more comfortable around Remle, so it wasn't bad. "I... went to the University of New Hampshire. Got a master's in Librarianship." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. For quite a long time, when he had been reaching the end of his years at Hammel, he had known he wanted to be a librarian. It was just a kind of stroke of... luck that he did a 360 and ended up back at the school he now worked at.

"W-what about you?" He was good at sending questions back, apparently, "Where did you... go?"

[Remle Boyd]

Remle smiled. "Cool. I hope you like it!" She wasn't surprised to hear that he had gone to school out of state, she had wanted to go back to California for school but the sudden increase in sunlight would probably kill her and prevent her from going to school. It was much better to stay in Vermont where she was used to the weather and knew that there were more cloudy days than sunny to balance her out. Though moving anywhere else on the east coast had a little bit of a an appeal. She had often wondered what it would be like to live in the giant, autonomous, "one-ness" that was New York.

"Oh I just went to the University of Vermont. It was easier since going back to San Diego was out of the question. I majored in communications with a minor in music. I didn't know you could get a degree in Librarianship," she teased lightly. She thought it was called "Library Science" but suddenly "Librarianship" sounded so much better in her head and when she said it. "Was Hammel the first place you worked after you graduated?" she asked curiously.