Marking my territory once more on Library

Zack Dill

January 26, 2006 6:09 PM

Marking my territory once more by Zack Dill

Zack had a favourite table in the library. It butted up against the wall, directly beside a window that overlooked the Labrynith Gardens. He liked the seat on left side of the window (so he didn't keep hitting his elbow against the sill while he was writing). He became very sulky and grouchy if he did not get his seat and tended to glower at whomever took it until either they or he left.

Zack did know that the people of Earth were creatures of habit. Consequently, the day after everybody arrived for the new year at Sonora, Zack left the Aladren Common Room very early in the morning to stake out his spot. As the common room was directly accessibly to the Library, he didn't even need to wait for it to formally open.

He took his spot at five thirty in the morning. Nobody was going to start developing habits of taking this table if he could help it. He would not leave this spot except for meals, classes, and to sleep for the next few days. Until all the other new Library regulars got used to tables that were not this one.

To discourage new habits of a social nature, he spread his books over the entirety of the four person table and placed his bookbag in the chair across from him. The books he had chosen for this varied. Some were related to his classes - the Astronomy ones were especially prevalent. Most were not. Paperback fiction novels (almost exclusively science fiction and fantasy) published by companies that did not know magic existed outside of the covers of their products were piled up on one corner.

Science texts, however, had the greatest concentration and these were the ones that were open directly in front of him. He scribbled on college lined looseleaf paper, covering it with numbers and symbols with a concentration and diligence that proved the books weren't just for show.

Five thirty was early even for him and he'd been drowsy when he first arrived, but once he started into the end of the chapter questions of his physics book, he'd forgotten all about such things as sleep, food, and time. All too aware of his inability to notice the world around him when he really got into his books, he'd prudently set a time ward to remind him when it was getting close to his first class. In the mean time, somebody could be standing beside him and he'd never know it unless they did something to make him notice them.\n\n

1 Zack Dill Marking my territory once more 40 Zack Dill 1 5

Oscar, the library <s>cat</s> God

February 01, 2006 11:34 AM

Just so long as you don't do that like I would... by Oscar, the library <s>cat</s> God

Of a night, Oscar liked to patrol. The gardens were a favourite haunt, chasing anything small that didn't smell too dangerous. It wasn't that he was a barbaric hunter. It was mainly the sport of it, pushing his limbs, feeling agile and useful and enjoying the fresh air after days in the stuffy library and library office. He didn't need to hunt to feed himself, although he liked to demonstrate that he could be independent of Tarquin if he chose. He liked the idea of his independence, and liked it to be well established. Tarquin was the insecure sort, and it would also serve to keep the human on his toes if he knew that Oscar didn't need him. Simply chose. For now...

He occasionally partolled the library, making sure that nothing was up to things it shouldn't be in there. He generally returned in the very early morning, to indulge in some well earnt rest before the day's exertions. It was as he was returning to the office, to take up his spot on top of the filing cabinet, that he smelt and saw the familiar boy.

Oscar paused under a table, watching curiously. The boy was in there often enough that Oscar knew he wasn't a threat. He also knew that boy regarded that table as his territory. He seemed interestingly paranoid over it, to be huddling over it at this hour. Oscar supposed he had to use cunning, as he didn't have the physical prowess to defend the table, if it came to a fight. Oscar was blessed; he was both wonderously intelligent and a specimen of physical perfection.

He watched the boy for some time, made curious by the lack of a reaction that his intense stare drew. He began to inch forward. It was a game at first, seeing how close he could get before he was noticed. Only when he realised that the boy was simply oblivious did the fun of true stalking enter into it. He slunk, on his belly, up to the table, and leapt (with absolute elegance) landing (with poise and grace) on the book in front of the child, and turned his large orange eyes to bore into him. That usually disturbed them.\n\n

0 Oscar, the library <s>cat</s> God Just so long as you don't do that like I would... 0 Oscar, the library <s>cat</s> God 0 5

Zack Dill

February 01, 2006 2:47 PM

Yeah, well, if you keep scaring me like that I just might by Zack Dill

He'd vaguely heard a quiet thump, but it didn't really register as Zack was concentrating very deeply on figuring out the amount electrical current going through point B on the diagram shown in Figure 8-12. Biting his lower lip, he looked up to check the resistance of the wire when he came eye to eye with a very close orange gaze.

He screamed (at this moment, Library rules were really the very last thing on his mind) and jumped backward, except he was sitting down so the jumping didn't really work right, and he only toppled backward, banging both his elbows and his butt on impact with the floor. His head jarred backward, but he was expecting the force of it, so he didn't quite smash the back of his head, which was good. A concussion was not a promising start to a new year.

With his heart pounding a zillion times a minute, and adrenaline surging into his bloodstream, urging him to fight or flight, he manuevered himself up off his back. 'Fight' was an obviously ridiculous option, but he wanted at least to know what he was running from before he fled.

Still, he thought it wise to put some distance between him and those eyes, so he scrambled backwards and used a shelf of Chemistry books to hoist himself back onto his feet in a low crouch. Breathing in short half-panicked gasps, he looked toward his table, hoping to catch a glimpse of the creature that had jumped him. Surely the teachers had gotten rid of all the aliens by now, wouldn't they have? Surely, they wouldn't let the students back if the school was still compromised.

But maybe the aliens had been hiding all this time and nobody knew they were still here? Or maybe a subtler bunch had decided to infiltrate the school after it was cleared of the blatant invaders. Zack's leg muscles tensed, ready to run for Kijewski or Tarquin as soon as he identified the threat. Hopefully he could get to them before he was taken down with stunners or beamed away, only to wake hours later, abducted like Headmistress Marnett. If that happened, at least he'd know whether or not she was still alive.

His gaze finally landed on his table and his eyes took a too-long moment to process what he was seeing.\n\n

1 Zack Dill Yeah, well, if you keep scaring me like that I just might 40 Zack Dill 0 5

Ginger Silverstein

February 03, 2006 8:16 PM

0.o Should I be scared too? by Ginger Silverstein

It wasn't normal at all for Ginger to wake up this early. Back at home, Ginger would always play video games late into the night. She would usually fall asleep around two or three in the morning, and woke up at noon. Things of course were different on school nights, but she still stayed up later than the adverage person. However things went differently the night before, and this morning.

Instead of playing video games or reading comics for a long time, she wound up going strait to bed after the feast. The phrase "Early to bed early to rise," applied to Ginger. Whenever she went to bed early, she would automatically wake up early. In this case she went to bed at ten o clock. It was something about the comfort of her bed that made her drift off to sleep so quickly. It also could have been that she had no sleep the night before she came to Sonora. She was paying her last respects to Final Fantasy seven. She knew she wouldn't be able to bring her Playstation two to school.

Ginger woke up at about five ten in the morning. She was usually tired when she woke up this early, but since she did it out of her own will she wasn't tired at all. She was carefull not to wake up Cream (who was curled up in a little ball on Ginger's bed.) Cream was a tiny kitten that was a pleasent cream color.

She quietly got up, and picked out her clothes for the day. She decided to wear a light blue shirt with the characters of her favorite television show on it. There was a milk shake with a face on it, a meatball with a face on it, and a pack of french fries with a face on it. Below the characters the shirt read, Aqua Teen Hunger Force. She also put on a pair of dark blue jeans that had a whole in the right knee.She put on her black converse high tops with her Aqua Teen socks that matched her shirt. She combed her chin length blond hair, and put a couple light blue streaks in it with temporary hair color spray.

After placing a few things in her purse, she walked out of the common room, and into The Labyrinth. She managed to find her way inside, she decided to explore The Labyrinth later when it wasn't as gloomy.

She looked around for a while, and found the library. She could always see if they had any interesting comics, or fantasy novels. She had just finished Abarat, perhaps this library had the sequal. She searched a couple shelves, and found odd books with odd titles about charms.

Just then she heard a scream coming from a table, she ran to it to find the source. Was someone in trouble? Ginger didn't usually have the urges to save someone. It wasn't because she was selfish. It was because, she didn't think she would be much help in situations like that. Unless it was in a video game, or an RPG, or something like that.

She found a boy standing there that she had never seen before. "Um-ugh are you okay?" She said meekly. The boy didn't look harmed in anyway. He looked a little scared. "I-I heard you scream."

\n\n

0 Ginger Silverstein 0.o Should I be scared too? 1484 Ginger Silverstein 0 5

Günter Heindrich

February 11, 2006 6:31 AM

Wha'? by Günter Heindrich

Günter sat up quickly from his spot at a table behind a bookshelf when he heard a scream. He hadn't been able to fall asleep in his bed the night before so he had come into the library and curled up with one of his favorite books.Around two in the morning, he supposed, he had started to get tired, but he didn't have the energy to go up to his bed.

He knew he had been breaking the rules by being out after curfew, but he didn't like the common room much. It was too....open. But the library was filled with tables and bookshelves. He really didn't like open spaces, but he never told anyone about it. There was just no comfort in big spaces. He felt safer in an enclosed space as long as he had room to walk around. He was a bit clostrophobic as well, but not so bad.

Anyway, he stood up, rubbing his eyes and stretching. Bending over a table all night had really hurt his back. He walked out from behind the bookcase to see Zack Dill with his back against a shelf of what looked liked Chemistry books and he was staring with an odd look on his face...at an animal. He walked towards the animal and reached his hand out to see if the animal would let him pet it. "What are you so afraid of Zack."\n\n

0 Günter Heindrich Wha'? 0 Günter Heindrich 0 5

Ginger Silverstein

February 12, 2006 9:34 AM

That's exactly what I'm thinking. by Ginger Silverstein

Ginger slightly jumped when she heard movement from behind another bookcase. What was up with this place? Was it normal to hear things all the time? Was video game withdrawl already getting to her? She saw another boy emerge from behind the bookcase. It was nice to know that it was another human. She looked over to the other boy.

"Ugh, are students always in the library this early?" She asked meekly. She saw the boy make a slight petting motion. Was there an animal in the room? If there was, it didn't seem to be a very deadly one. She wondered what was up with two boys being in the library this early in the morning. The boy that had recently appeared from behind the bookcase looked tired. Was he sleeping here? Was she in another common room? Of course she wasn't she would have had to say a password, and she just walked right into the library.

\n\n

0 Ginger Silverstein That's exactly what I'm thinking. 1484 Ginger Silverstein 0 5

Zack Dill

February 14, 2006 8:25 AM

Mine were 'Ack!', but if you like 'Wha?' go with that. by Zack Dill

It took a little while, but his shock and terror faded. He barely noticed the girl, and, well, Günter was a bit more difficult to miss given his size but Zack only had eyes for Tarquin's familiar. "Holy freaking Zeus," he swore. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" He held a hand over the still wildly beating organ. Who knew cats liked to pulled practical jokes?

He glanced briefly toward the other two students, acknowledging their presence and concern. "It's all right, Oscar just snuck up on me and scared the living daylights out of me."

Surprisingly, he felt oddly disappointed that Oscar wasn't an alien and Zack wasn't about to get beamed up to the Mothership and experimented on. He suspected there was some kind of psychosis involved there because that didn't seem normal to him, but he dismissed it as irrelevant.

Though, come to think of it, there was a remote possiblity that there had been an alien there, but Oscar had scared it away. He didn't really think aliens would be intimidated by cat, though, so that probably wasn't it.

He pushed away from the shelf of Chemistry books, but his legs were still shaking too hard to fully support him. His momentum made it impossible to fall backwards against the shelf again, so his options were to either keep going forward and fall flat on his face, or let his knees give out and collapse straight down to the floor. That seemed the more dignified route so he picked that. If he was lucky, he would land sitting and it would look like he meant to do that. (Aside from the Oh, crap look that was on his face right now, of course.)

If he was really lucky, Günter or the girl might catch him and he wouldn't have to revisit the ground at all. \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

1 Zack Dill Mine were 'Ack!', but if you like 'Wha?' go with that. 40 Zack Dill 0 5

Günter Heindrich

February 15, 2006 2:34 PM

Re: Mine were 'Ack!', but if you like 'Wha?' go with tha by Günter Heindrich

Günter smiled at Zack as he said that Oscar had scared him. He guessed that Oscar was the cat that was perched on the table from the context clues. He had really wanted to laugh, but he didn't want to make Zack feel bad.

He saw that Zack's legs were shaking."Hey Zack, you okay, man? Are you feeling sick or something?"

Maybe Zack just needed to eat. Günter was usually shaky when it came close to a meal. Maybe Zack was used to having an early morning snack or something. He didn't know but Zack sure did look pale.

\n\n

0 Günter Heindrich Re: Mine were 'Ack!', but if you like 'Wha?' go with tha 0 Günter Heindrich 0 5

Ginger Silverstein

February 18, 2006 5:03 PM

I'll just go with "wow" by Ginger Silverstein

Ginger decided not to speak until everything was settled. She got closer to the two boys when the younger looking boy asked the other one if he was okay. She made a mental note that the older boy's name was "Zack". She looked at the both of them, happy that there wasn't something dangerous around the library. Neither one of them seemed to talk to her, did they even notice that she was here?

She didn't know what to do, but she felt very awkward standing still not doing, or saying anything. She had an urge to pull a candy bar out of her purse, but she didn't want to look stupid. When was brekfast going to start? Ginger was hungry. "S-so w-what h-house a-are you b-both in?" She managed to get out. She hoped she wasn't bothering either one of them for being here. \n\n

0 Ginger Silverstein I'll just go with "wow" 1484 Ginger Silverstein 0 5

Guenther Heindrich

February 20, 2006 2:28 PM

Re: I'll just go with "wow" by Guenther Heindrich

Guenther answered the girl quickly. "I am in Aladren and I think Zack is as well."

He wondered what she was doing in the library this early if she wasn't an Aladren. Most people didn't want to risk being caught out of their dorms this early. He wasn't sure if it was against a rule to be out this early or if the curfew had ended earlier but most people liked to sleep in during school days.

\n\n

0 Guenther Heindrich Re: I'll just go with "wow" 0 Guenther Heindrich 0 5

Ginger Silverstein

February 24, 2006 4:42 PM

I didn't bother you did I? by Ginger Silverstein

OOC: Zack would you mind if I mentioned that Ginger sees The Hobbit in my next post in this thread? Your first post mentioned that there were fantasy books.

Ginger smiled nervously after Guenther told her what house the two of them were in. She heard the name when she first arrived at Sonora. They were the people that turned blue. She wondered what kind of people they were.

Ginger had a bad feeling that she was trespassing. Perhaps it was her own insecurity. Ginger wasn't going to get upset over it yet. She smiled at him nervously again, and said "neat," it wasn't much of a response, but it was something. She was proud of herself that she didn't stutter this time. "I'm in Pecari, I woke up early, and decided to explore this place," she gave them both another smile. "I'm a first year, are you?" \n\n

0 Ginger Silverstein I didn't bother you did I? 1484 Ginger Silverstein 0 5

Guenther Heindrich

February 28, 2006 5:55 PM

Re: I didn't bother you did I? by Guenther Heindrich

"Yeah, I'm a first year. Guess we better stick together."

From what he had seen at the feast the night before and after hearing what had happened the year before, he thought it best to have at least a few friends. "So, what class are you looking forward to? I can't wait until Care of Magical Creatures. It's going to be awesome."\n\n

0 Guenther Heindrich Re: I didn't bother you did I? 0 Guenther Heindrich 0 5