Solo Fixing Another's Mistakes

[Lorelle]

Timestamp :: 5th day of Fall, 513 AV 
Takes place right after You Again?! thread

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Lorelle exhales. Meville is gone now. Good. That means he can't cause anymore trouble. Lorelle shifts uncomfortably in her chair. She feels a bit guilty for wanting him gone. He really isn't a bad guy. Just destructive and today had the annoying ability to get on Lorelle's nerves. True, if she had been in a better mood things would have been different. However, it is all in the past now. Now all there is to do is fix Meville's mess. Lorelle doesn't want to look at the shelf and see what mess he has made of the books. Knowing him, he has probably made an entire mess of things and it is going to take a long while to fix it all. A groan echoes from her throat. She should get up and go see the damage that has been done. She doesn’t want Jack to come in and see it first. That would probably not be very good for Lorelle.

Slowly, the Vantha stands up. She pushes her chair in before walking to the aisle where the glass bird decided to take the long fall to its demise. Lorelle looks towards the floor, trying to find any large glass fragments standing out. She doesn’t see any. Good. That means he did at least one thing right. Hesitantly, she looks up at the shelf. Husbandry. The books have been left just as he said they would be. With the binding pushed out slightly so they could be taken out easily. Lorelle takes a step closer. She bends down to look at the bindings of the books. Good news, they are on the right shelf. Bad news, they are sorted incorrectly. Lorelle groans. They all need to be taken out and resorted by title. Not by author like he has them.

The Vantha takes a step back, counting the books with the bindings pushed out. Seven. Okay, good. Not many of them have to be fixed. Though, she should probably check and make sure nothing else got shifted around while Meville was pulling out and putting back books. Lovely. Sounds like more work is in store for her. She groans again. She should really grow a better attitude about this. At least Meville tried. That is more than most might do. Though, she isn’t sure what is worse. A person who doesn’t do anything and just leaves the books out or a person who tries but fails in doing it right. She sighs softly, reaching out and plucking the first book out from its place on the shelf. The first is better. Then at least they will be put back by someone who knows how to do it correctly.

Lorelle hums a soft note as she pulls out the rest of the books. She really hopes that none of the books he had pushed out got pushed back in. That would be unfortunate. She stacks the books carefully on the floor. She sits down cross legged next to them. They need to be organized by title. Meville seems to have organized them by author. Well, that is what Lorelle thinks anyway. It is very hard to tell since that is not how the rest of the books were organized. She purses her lips softly, not to happy with the situation. She looks back to the books and reads the title of each one. Within the small group of seven, she puts them in the correct order according to their titles. Putting them on the shelves with come next, but first she wants to check the shelves for any glaring mistakes that need to be fixed.

Standing up, Lorelle is about to start carefully picking through the books when she feels something brush against her leg. She looks down, a bit surprised, only to see a child. She rolls her eyes. Not what she wants to deal with right now. Especially since this child reminds her so much of Meville. No wait, that can’t be right. This boy has dark hair, tanned skin and changing eyes. Meville is pale as can be, blonde hair topping his head and solid, never changing blue eyes. Lorelle rolls her eyes at herself. Great, now she is trying to see things that aren’t there. Perfect. Just what she needs.

[Lorelle]

”What do you wa... Hey! bring that back!” The boy takes off with one of the books. He goes running down the aisle of books, making Lorelle chase after him. Now she is seeing why he reminds her so much of Meville. She darts after the boy, needing that book. She almost has him when he turns and makes a bolt for the door. Lorelle groans. This should be easy. The child’s gait is much shorter than Lorelle’s. Overtaking him should be like nothing, but for some reason this kid is fast. Frowning, Lorelle follows him out into the snow. ”Kid, come on! I need that! You aren’t allowed to take books out without ...” her voice trails off. Why is she talking like this? The kid doesn’t give anything about what he can and can’t do. That is quite evident by how is continues to move around, being sure to stay far enough away that Lorelle can’t reach him but close enough to taunt her.

This is the reason she does not enjoy children. She finds them reckless and rude. They don’t listen and do whatever the snow they want. Sounds like Lorelle at that age. No, she refuses to think she was like that. She prefers to think of herself as an obedient child who did what she was told and didn’t break the rules. Groaning, she shakes her head. Who is she kidding? She was a rebellious child. She hated doing what she was told and wiggled her way out of whatever she didn’t want to do. Her mother would have to bribe her to do what she was suppose to. Lorelle tilts her head slightly at the thought. Bribe. That was what she would do.

The Vantha woman bends down, the snow cold on her knees. She looks at the child, trying to stay eye level with him. ”Hey, can I make you a deal?” she starts, ”How about, you give me the book and I let you help me with sorting them all and putting them back?” The child stops dancing for a minute, just standing there with the book barely in his hand that is now down at his side. The binding of the book is almost in the snow, making Lorelle wince. The kid is making it hard for her to keep a smile on her face. She waits for the kid’s reply, hesitantly putting her hand out to take the book back. The boy stares at her a moment longer before quite literately laughing in her face. He takes the book back up in his arms and holds it to his chest before turning and beginning to run the other way with it.

”Kid wait! No...” Lorelle groans, standing up. Yep, kids. Not her favorite thing in the world. It is a good thing she isn’t married. Then she would be expected to have and raise some. Married. The thought waves through her like a surprise shock. Petch. Something she has been avoiding all day has come up very present in her mind again. She isn’t married. No man is tied to her which means no children. She is pleased with that now, but she worries about down the rode. What if she wants that life later and regrets having pushed it away? That is probably what she fears the most. Not becoming an Ice Maiden or feeling older. But feeling left behind and lonely when she is by herself in a couple years.

She sighs before pushing away the thoughts. No, she can’t think like that. There is a task at hand and it needs to be done. The book needs to be retrieved, taken back and sorted with the other six. Meaning one thing, she has to convince that child to give her back what he has taken. Only problem is, that has proven to not be as easy of a task as it might seem.

[Lorelle]

Laughter fills the air. Lorelle is really starting to get tired of this kid. He seems to insist upon her being in even more of a sour mood than she woke up with today. She changes her mind. This kid is nothing like Meville. No. Meville at least has the decency to listen to her. Most of the time. Even if he drops stuff and puts things back in the wrong places, at least he doesn’t do this. He doesn’t take a book and run outside with it just to stir up anger from Lorelle. That is probably all this kid wants too. A good show. Something to keep him entertained. Isn’t that what children do? They do everything possible to see emotion out of people only to drop whatever they are doing to draw that emotion out when it has run out. That makes sense, right? Lorelle isn’t sure. She just knows that she is to the point of wanting to grab that book back and maybe even possibly hurt the kid in the process. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. No. No it doesn’t. Probably would only make him cry or do something even more angering than he is now. Best thing to do, just get the book from him.

Two steps forward and Lorelle is in front of the boy again. He isn’t far now, just a couple feet. Lorelle stops where she is, not risking moving any closer. The boy holds the book in front of his body, as if taunting her to come and get it. Lorelle takes a closer look at him. He doesn’t look to be anymore than seven or eight. Maybe nine, but Lorelle doubts it. Doesn’t look that old yet. She stares at him a moment before sighing. She crosses her arms in front of her chest to keep herself from reaching out and forcing the book from him. She is afraid of it getting damaged and she really, really, doesn’t want to have to go back and tell Felix one of his precious books has been damaged on her watch. No, she can do better. She can get this book back and on its shelf safely with no harm coming to it. She thinks.

”Alright boy, you win. What do you want in return for the book?” maybe she will have better luck taking this route. The book looks up, his eyes changing multiple colors as he stares at her. His facial expression changes between a few different emotions before he gives a nod. He walks forward, taking a few steps before he holds the book out to her. ”Plaid game, give book back,” the boy states simply, making Lorelle furrow her brow. The boy uses common, something she doesn’t use often. She doesn’t understand fully what he is trying to say, but the book is being held out to her. She looks at him before pointing to herself. ”I get book back?” she asks, struggling to use the common tongue. The boy gives a short nod before smiling. Hesitantly, as if afraid he will just take the book right back, Lorelle reaches out. Once her hand is on the book, the boy lets go. Lorelle feels the full weight of the book in her hand now. She grabs it tightly with one hand, holding it at her side. The boy’s smile widens before he turns and runs off. Lorelle watches, flabbergasted as he runs off into the snow.

What was that all about? Lorelle is very confused when she enters the library once more. It seems as though the boy was just trying to get on her nerves, make her upset. Yet, the way to get the book back seemed so easy in the end. What was the trick? Was the boy just tired? Did he want to see how far Lorelle would give in before being willing to give him almost anything just to get the book back. She sighs before shaking. She shouldn’t worry about it. There are much more pressing matters at stake here. Like the fact she has now been absent from her post and from fixing the books on the shelves. Not good, not good. Jack won’t be happy. That is, if Jack has to know.

Lorelle carefully moves back to the aisle where the books are still on the floor. She lets go of the breath she has been holding in. Good. Jack is nowhere to be seen. Lorelle nods to herself before beginning to move quickly. She takes the seven books and begins sliding them all into place. The first one is easy to find. It begins with the letter A so top shelf. Lorelle moves her eyes up there, finding the right spot to slide the book in. Once it is found she moves onto the next one. S is the first letter. She does the same thing as she did with the first book. When she is done with the second she moves onto the third. Then the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. Once she is sure they have all been correctly placed she moves on to make sure nothing else on the shelf has been displaced.

Checking over takes her awhile. About a half a bell. It is a slow job that could be done faster, but she wants to make sure she does it right. She doesn’t want to miss anything or make a mistake. A mistake would mean having not done it perfect and while there is no such thing as anything truly being perfect, doesn’t mean it isn’t something to strive for. Right? Is that correct? Lorelle isn’t sure. Her mother has always thought so and always told her that, but she isn’t completely convinced that her mother has been right all this time. Shouldn’t one just be content on being themselves and focus on being the best they can be? Lorelle shakes her head. That should be true, yes. It makes the most sense. No one can be more than they are made to be. Right? She isn’t sure about that either. Rolling her eyes at herself, Lorelle moves out from the aisle and walks over to the clerk’s desk. She pulls out the chair and takes a seat. She looks over the desk, making sure the boy stole nothing else. Everything is just as she left it. She nods. Good. Now she can move on with the rest of the day. Hopefully there won’t be anymore distractions.

.: End :.

~CONGRATULATIONS~ Lorelle : Skills Observation +1 Negotiation +1 Running +1 Organization +2 Lores Children: Does and Don'ts Don't Matter Work: Organizing books is complicated business Meville: Everywhere Comments: Hehe, this was very amusing to read. Even I got annoyed with the kid by the end. Great job at work!