Solo Among the Books

[Job Thread]

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This northernmost city is the home of Morwen, The Goddess of Winter, and her followers who dwell year round in a land of frozen wonder. [Lore]

Among the Books

Postby Lorelle on August 20th, 2013, 4:42 am

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Timestamp :: 5th of Summer, 513 AV

There is a reason Lorelle has never enjoyed the thought of having a job. It doesn't have to do with her feeling as though she can't preform what she is expected to do or that she will mess up. No, it isn't that. She can always work and improve and fix things like that. It is being watched. Feeling eyes surrounding her even if they aren't even focused on her. Just knowing there is someone else in the room who knows what they are doing more than she does make Lorelle nervous. Her mind is thrown into a whirlwind of thoughts as knots are created in her stomach. She begins second guessing herself, wondering if she is doing something wrong. The thing is, she knows that most of the time whoever is making her nervous probably isn't even thinking about her anyway. She remembers her mother telling her once when she confessed this fear to the woman years ago that more likely than not, people are more focused on themselves to have any time to think about Lorelle. Lorelle has always taken her mother's words and told herself that they are true but she can never shake the feeling of being watched.

She is having that feeling right now as she slowly finds the places for the books in her hands on the shelves. So far today there has been ten books returned and Lorelle is taking care of putting them all away. She is still fairly new and shaky with her job at the library. She does like the job. It is quiet for the most part and the others who work here are so focused on what they are doing that Lorelle is mostly left alone to do her work. Still, she never can shake that feeling of being watched. Especially when Jack is around. While the Skyglow has never really done anything to make her nervous about him, actually he has been quiet quiet and focused on his own work. He only focuses on her as far as she knows when she asks him a question like she was directed to do by Felix when she was first hired. He still makes her nervous though. Maybe it is his seniority at the library he has over her or just the fact that he is sort of like the person she reports to. She fears making a mistake and having Jack see it and tell Felix, getting her fired. She fears the unknown really. That is probably why she has never been all that adventurous, she is scared of what will happen when all the variables have been played.

Lorelle sighs, forcing herself to focus on her work. She turns to the next book in her arms. It is a storybook. Interesting, she hasn't seen to many of those. She sighs and moves towards the myth section of the library. She uses her finger to mark where she is on the shelf in trying to find the books place among the other books. She moves down till she finds the correct shelf and slides the book into place. She stands up from her crouched position and sees that she has only one book left. This one is on cooking. That makes Lorelle almost laugh to herself. The book is on something she very much cannot do. Something she should really work on. She looks down at the book. "Maybe I should take a peek..." she muses mentally, lifting the cover slightly before hastily closing it, "No, no, focus on what you have to do. Read on your own time." She mentally speaks to herself rather sternly before moving to the cooking section of the library. She is faster this time as the title starts with the letter "A" so it is on the top shelf. It is a little bit of a stretch to reach but after shuffling some stuff around and standing on her toes she reaches just enough to slide the book into its place.

After the last book is in its place, Lorelle moves to the desk at the front of the desk. She takes a seat in the chair there and looks around the library. There are about four people that she can see in the library. They are all sitting, quietly reading. Quiet, peace. Lorelle sighs happily before flipping open the ledger on the desk. She looks through it and makes sure that she marked correctly the books that were checked back in so far today. She sees that she has done it all right. Nodding her head contently, she is about to close the book and look around to see what else there is to do when she hears a voice in front of her. She looks up and sees one of the four people that have been in the library.


"Yes? How may I help you?" Lorelle asks the man who stands before her.

"Um yes, I would like to check this book out," the man tells her as he puts the book on the table.

Lorelle nods, looking at the book a minute to gather the title. She opens the ledger to the next free spot and starts marking down the information. The book is on the history of Avanthal and is titled "Story of the Snowy City". Lorelle marks this information before looking at the book to figure out what the due date should be. It takes her a moment. She has some trouble remembering how to tell. She feels like she is taking to long and her nerves set in when she starts wondering what the man must be thinking of her performance. The nerves don't help her move any faster, she is determine to figure out the due date though and refuses to go and ask Jack or Felix to help. After about two chimes she figures it out and marks it down. Looking to the man she gives him her most convincing smile as she hands him back the book.


"There you go, due in twenty-one days," she tells him, "Enjoy."

The man just takes the book and nods before leaving. Lorelle sighs, falling back in her seat. She feels like the words she chose sounded stupid and feels annoyed with herself. She knows she will try to get rid of the embarrassment she feels right now but it won't go away as she has this thing about always remembering the worst moments of her life. She tries not to groan as she rolls her neck and let's her eyes fall to the floor. She isn't looking at the floor for long when she hears footsteps on the floor. She looks up and sees Jack moving towards her. That is enough to make her push past her current trail of thought and make her sit up and look at him. When he reaches the desk, she is afraid he is going to tell her she did something wrong, but he just puts a book down on the desk.

"This needs to be put back in it's place," he tells her before watching her nod in reply and then turning and going back to one of the other rooms of the small library.

Lorelle releases the breath she didn't realize she had been holding till Jack has moved into second room in the library. She stares at the door a chime, thinking he might come back and scold her like a little child before she finally gets up and takes the book he put on her desk in her hands and starts looking for it's place on the shelves. As she looks for its spot, she mentally scolds herself for being so jumpy and nervous that everything she does is wrong. She really needs to get some confidence, something she doesn't have in situations like this. She needs to get over this. Badly. And the sad thing is, she knows it.
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Among the Books

Postby Lorelle on August 20th, 2013, 6:39 am


After putting the book Jack gave her back in the place it belongs, Lorelle returns to her desk. No sooner has she sat down when someone comes up to her. This time it is a young girl, probably no older than eight or so. Probably here with one of her parents Lorelle is guessing. The older Vantha looks down at the little girl and gives her a smile. She leans forward against her desk so that she can see the girl. "Hello there, what can I do for you?" she asks with a gentle, friendly voice. She isn't scared of being judged by this girl, feeling comfortable for being the girl's elder. Younger people don't usually intimidate her. Just ones who are older and know what they are doing.

"I am looking for a book," the young girl chirps in her Vani that sounds musical and sweet even coming from one so young. Lorelle smile at her, enjoying the child. "Is that so? What kind of book?" she asks, trying to keep her tone friendly and upbeat for she doesn't want to bore the child and scare her away. The child looks up at her with shifting colored eyes. She shrugs her thin shoulders, biting on her thumb nail. She is silent a chime, just staring up at Lorelle as she thinks. She then motions for Lorelle to bend lower. Lorelle does as instructed, standing up and bending low over the desk so the child can stand on her toes and put her mouth to Lorelle's ear. Lorelle feels the child's hand cup around her ear before the girl's soft, budding Vani is whispered in her ear. "I want a book about ... Magic."

Lorelle is stunned. Magic isn't something generally talked about in Avanthal. She herself knows close to nothing about the concept. She moves and looks down at the girl. Where did someone so young learn about such things? Her parents couldn't have taught her. Right? Lorelle isn't sure. She is actually quite lost on what to do in this situation. With such a touchy subject and such a young child it confuses the older Vantha. She doesn't know if she should lie and say they have nothing on the subject or scold the child for speaking of such things or if she should just give the girl what she wants and try to find one of the few books that are in the library on the thing called "Magic". "Uh .. um .. well.." Lorelle stutters as she tries to think of what to say. She is actually quite lost for words. Then a thought comes to her. Maybe the girl doesn't mean magic in the sense of what the foreigners whisper about. Maybe she is talking about something different. Something that seems impossible, only found in dreams and storybooks.

"What do you mean sweetie?" Lorelle asks, trying to keep her eyes a calm brown instead of the dark blue, greyish silver color that they want to be to express her mixed confusion and fear. The child looks up, her eyes innocent and full of naive curiosity. "Tell me a story," the little girl says. Lorelle can't help but feel relieved and a slight bit annoyed. The girl made her worry but also it seems she has wasted energy on the girl. She smiles though, trying to still seem helpful and friendly. She stands up straight and looks down at the girl. "Well, I don't really have time to tell you a story but how about I find you a story book? Does that sound good?" she asks as she moves out from behind her desk. The little girl looks up at her and nods her head. Lorelle nods in response. "Alright, let's find you a book then," Lorelle says, moving towards the shelves.

The young girl tails Lorelle, watching as she moves to the shelf where she hopes to find a story book age appropriate for the child. The girl's watch with curious eyes as she careful moves through and looks at the title of each book. She moves down the bookcase till she comes to the second to last shelf. She is sitting on the floor now, her back not really enjoying crouching down so low. She is almost to the end of the current shelf she is looking at when she finally finds a book she thinks the child will enjoy. She carefully pulls the book out before standing up and starts walking back to the desk where she thinks the child is. She soon finds she is wrong though when she almost trips over the girl.
"Oh! Sorry, didn't see you there," she says, feeling embarrassed. The child doesn't say anything at first. "Did you get me a book?" she asks in the way only a child can. Lorelle smiles and nods before crouching down so she is eye level with the young girl.

"Yes I did, here it is," she says as she holds the book out for the child, "It is a story about a girl finding out her dreams are real." The girl doesn't really respond to Lorelle. She just nods her head, holding out her hands for the book. Lorelle doesn't hand it to her right away. "If I give this to you, do you promise to be careful and not harm it?" she asks, knowing Felix would not appreciate that. The old man is usually easy to get along with, but Lorelle doesn't want to know what happens when someone hurts one of the books. The little girl looks up and nods. "I promise," she says. Lorelle nods, satisfied as she can be. "Alright, good. If you want to check it out of the library have your mom or dad come to me, alright?" she instructs before handing the child the book. The girl nods once more before walking over and sitting on one of the chair in the library.

Lorelle watches the girl as she opens the book and begins to read. Lorelle isn't sure if she even can read, but she is guessing the child has her own way of reading. Besides it isn't to big of a book and if worse comes to worse she can check it out and have someone read it to her. After a chime, Lorelle stands up and moves back to her desk once more. She takes a seat, smiling to herself for no real reason. She relaxes in her seat, feeling as though she is starting to get the hang of things. At least she thinks she is. She hopes so. It would be nice to know that what she is doing is at least mostly right. She doesn't enjoy making mistakes. Never has. Probably never will.
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Among the Books

Postby Lorelle on August 21st, 2013, 7:05 am


Not much happens in the next three bells of Lorelle's day. Well, nothing of any real consequence. A few questions are asked, some books checked out a few books turned in that Lorelle records down and then puts away. Lorelle said goodbye to the little girl from earlier when the child came up and handed her back the book to put away before leaving with her mother. Lorelle gave the child a smile and waved goodbye before checking over the book to make sure the girl didn't hurt the book in anyway. The girl kept her promise. The book looks just the same as it did when Lorelle pulled it out. This makes Lorelle smile before she walks back to the shelf where the book belonged. After that, Lorelle returns to her desk and prepares to sit for the remaining bells of her shift.

The Vantha watches as people slowly trickle in and out of the small, mostly quiet space. Most of the people that come at this time in the day are older folks, in need of some piece and quiet. Not many of them come up to ask for Lorelle's help so she is pretty much free from having anything to do for the time being. Because of this, she has taken to taking out a piece of parchment and practicing her handwriting. Her handwriting has never really been anything special, just enough to get by and not make everything she writes look like a sloppy mess of ink. Working at the library though has made her want to improve. She enjoys looking at the books and seeing what care has been taken to make each letter of every word not only readable but also elegant looking at the the same time. Both in copy and original this can be found and Lorelle can't help but admire the work. It is a piece of art, it really is. While she doubts she will ever get that good, she does wish for herself to get better. Seems like something that could come in handy one day.

She sits, leaned over the desk as she writes with the quill dipped in ink on the parchment that rests on the table. She isn't pleased with her work, but she doesn't plan for anyone to ever see it. She doesn't want anyone to see what she is doing until it starts looking good. Especially not Jack or Felix. While Felix might encourage her, she has a feeling Jack will either be silent or tell her to give up. She is a Snowsong, after all. They aren't known for their artistic skills unless it is in music or carving. No, she doesn't want Jack to see it. Not at all.

Lorelle works on her writing with little interruption for two or so bells before she puts the supplies away and stands up. She makes sure everything is nice and neat for whoever is working the desk next before she steps out and pushes her chair in. She goes back to the office where her coat and scarf is. She sees Felix there and she gives him a smile. He looks busy, so she doesn't say anything. He doesn't either, just gives her a nod and his own smile. They both know she is leaving for the day, no need to speak the words. Lorelle puts on her coat and scarf before she steps out of the office and heads for the door that will lead her to the snowy land outside. As she passes the desk she sees that Jack has taken her spot. She gives him a goodbye nod before exiting the building. Once she steps outside her nerves come back to her and she wonders if she did something wrong that she will hear about next time she comes to work.

She worries about having done something wrong the whole time she is walking home. She doesn't even get to enjoy the nice weather that she would usually take the time to savior. Instead, she just walks right home to the Snowsong hold. Once she reaches the hold, she steps in and starts walking towards her Arvinta. She finally reaches the room and hears Eva whimpering inside. She smiles, wanting to just go and curl up with her dog for she feels tired after today's work. Instead of curling up with the two season old pup, Lorelle walks in and finds herself being attacked with Eva's pink tongue. The dog barks, bending down on her front paws for she wants to play. Lorelle laughs, rubbing her head.


"I missed you too Eva," she says before standing up. She looks around quickly, making sure Eva didn't decide to use their home as a restroom while she is gone. Lorelle knows her father probably stopped by once or twice today to let the pup out, he usually does that when he knows Lorelle will be gone. Elle still knows she has to make sure though. It would be rather gross to leave something sit and not know about it. After looking around she sees there is nothing different about the home aside from the bedcoveres being crumpled from Eva getting on and off the bed. Nothing strange there. "Alright Eva, let's go outside," Lorelle says, gaining a hyper bark from Eva.

Lorelle steps out of the arvinta, Eva following close behind. The thing about Eva is that she isn't all that trained, not really. One thing she does know though is to not stray to far from Lorelle. She is close enough to the Vantha that she as never run off or gotten lost for to terribly long. Lorelle wasn't very smart when she got the dog. She never got a collar or a leash, not really thinking and then later not finding a need for it. Eva has always come back. Now that she is getting bigger though, Lorelle is getting more worried that she will try to get away. So far though, she hasn't had any problems.

The two step outside where Eva goes into the snow and starts sniffing around. Lorelle let's the pup do her business and when she is done, Lorelle goes over and starts wrestling with her. Eva loves it, jumping around and barking playfully. Her tail wags none stop and Lorelle laughs, watching her spin and bark and make an overall nut job of herself. Eva makes Lorelle's worries of doing something wrong at work leave for the time being. She is happy right now. With life, her job, everything. Her embarrassments and mistakes are at the back of her mind. Now she is just with her pup, having some play time and enjoying it immensely. For the time being, this right here is what she lives for. Laughing and spending time with the one creature who is currently the only thing close to her heart. While having her job and doing good there is important to her, this currently seems to be taking priority. That is, till something else pops up in her life and proves to be more important. It is bound to happen. When though, that's a totally different question. One that will just have to be answered with time.

Eva let's out one last bark. Lorelle laughs before calling her back. The two go inside and Eva jumps on the bed, her snow filled paws making the blankets wet. Lorelle looks over and frowns as she shrugs off her coat and hangs it up.
"Eva, down," she demands, taking off her scarf and throwing it on the table in the room. Eva barks but doesn't move, her tail wagging. Lorelle walks over and gently pushes the dog off the bed. "Get off," she demands till the dog is down on the ground. Satisfied, Lorelle plops down on the bed, sighing happily as she is ready to get some rest. Eva has other ideas though, she jumps up and lands on Lorelle. Lorelle groans as she feels the dog's weight on her. "No Eva, no," Lorelle scolds before yawning. She is really tired. Eva curls up in a ball at her feet. "Fine stay, We'll have to work on that later. Goodnight," Elle murmurs before turning on her side and letting her eyes close. Soon enough her mind goes blank and heavy, steady breathing takes over her body. She is sound asleep and so is the snoring Eva at her feet. The day is done. At least, for these two it is.

.: End :.
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Among the Books

Postby Noblesse on September 22nd, 2013, 7:26 pm

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Lorelle Snowsong

Skill XP Earned
Organization 3 XP
Observation 1 XP
Writing 2 XP
Rhetoric 1 XP
Animal Husbandry 1 XP


Lore Earned
Fear of Being Watched
Nervous Around Jack Skyglow
Racked by the Nerves at Work
Picking a Storybook for a Young Girl
Playtime with Eva Wipes Aways Worries


Additional Notes :
This is lighthearted and feel good story, something which I generally like in a read. Despite being mainly a job thread, I enjoyed reading it very much. You really have improved a lot in your writing. There were no boring moments here at all. Keep up the good work! :)



Arise ye of noble heart

If you have any concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.
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Let them eat flavored snow!
 
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