Librarian DiAnna Diaz
February 10, 2011 2:41 PM
Helpers this way, please by Librarian DiAnna Diaz
There had only been four students sign up to help DiAnna out in the library, and four was plenty. As two had asked to be monitors, one had requested assistant and the other hadn't specified, DiAnna decided to run with two of each. She sent out a short note to each student who'd signed up - Rachel Bauer of Crotalus and Samantha Hamilton of Aladren were monitors with a few more responsibilities, and the would be assisted by Renée Errant of Crotalus, and Daniel Nash of Aladren, who was also Head Boy - to inform them of their role and she'd like to meet them the next day after classes finished. It hadn't escaped the librarian's attention that only two Houses were represented in this small group, but as students were sorted based on personality traits then she supposed that make sense.As she'd left the sheet up to give a couple of weeks for students to add their names, it was a month into the school term before DiAnna held the first meeting. Luckily, this was sufficient for her to have found her way round the various sections of the library so she didn't look like she was completely clueless, but she could still use the extra help. When the new monitors and assistants turned up to their first meeting, they were greeted by several large piles of books to be returned. They were also greeted by the librarian.
"Hey, everyone thanks for coming. For anyone who hasn't bumped into me yet, I'm Miss Diaz, I can usually be found right here." Having just graudated from Sapienti University at the start of the summer, DiAnna was closer to the students' age than most of their teachers. She was more easily identified, however, by the long flowing purple and black velvet clothes, long black wavy hair, high-heeled boots, and a great deal of eye make-up. In addition, as already mentioned, she could usually be found in the library. "If you guys could just let me know which of you is which I'll do my best to remember your names." Daniel, admittedly could easily be identified, by being male, obviously older, and wearing a couple of shiny badges on his robes. The girls were less immediately distinguishable.
"If you guys just want to check in with me from time to time when you've got a free moment and want to help out then that will be great. If anything major happens I'll maybe drop you a note and ask for your help, but so far," she crossed her fingers, "it's been fairly quiet." It might change later in the year when exams happened, but she didn't have any fifth or seventh years among her helpers so theoretically they would be around to assist with the extra library users. "For now we have this small mountain of books," DiAnna waved her hand over the pile, "to put back. If you could give me a hand I'd really appreciate it."
Subthreads: Present and Accounted For by Daniel Nash II, Head Boy, Library Assistant with Renée Errant {Library Assistant}
I have arrived. Cower in terror, lesser mortals. by Rachel Bauer, Library Monitor with Samantha Hamilton, Samantha
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Librarian DiAnna Diaz
Helpers this way, please
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Librarian DiAnna Diaz
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Rachel Bauer, Library Monitor
February 14, 2011 2:37 PM
I have arrived. Cower in terror, lesser mortals. by Rachel Bauer, Library Monitor
She had kept an eye on the list, prepared to risk the trouble she’d get into if she were caught doing it to scratch it out if Raines’ name appeared, but when the day came for the library monitors and assistants to meet each other and the new librarian, her least-favorite person was still missing from the proceedings. Smiling a little more brightly than usual at Daniel, Renée, Samantha, and Librarian Diaz, Rachel couldn’t help but feel a little smug, even though she hadn’t so much planned this as had it handed to her by Fate in a kind mood. She had come up with the thoughts, and that was something.Rachel had, as it happened, seen the new librarian a few times – it was one of those things that came with having to skulk around so as not to be seen sitting at one table and studying too long – and had been wondering if she always dressed that way. It was starting to look more and more like she did. Rachel wasn’t sure if she should wince or just give the woman some points for having the guts, which itself made her wonder if she’d been spending too much time at a school where a teacher routinely walked around wearing a pink bubble hat. Anyone dressed in either Diaz or McKindy style would be unceremoniously banished from her mother’s presence so fast it would make their heads spin, but here she was, being kind of okay with it.
She looked down at her own outfit, just to assure herself that unconventional taste in fashion hadn’t begun to transfer itself by osmosis, but while she felt her slightly-less-high-than-the-librarian’s high-heeled boots and high-necked purple tank top, the neck surrounded by heavy beads cut to look like gems, were a little suspect, they still within normal social parameters. She couldn’t see her eyes, but was even more certain that her eye make-up was okay. Rachel thought her eyes were a pretty shade of blue, but they were too narrow, giving her what Momma called a too-determined look, so she had to be very careful about how she worked with them so the color was noticed instead of their failure to be wide and alluring. That meant really heavy stuff was just not an option. The rest of her make-up was beyond question, and, with her blonde hair smooth and shining and the smile, it did a lot to take away any suspicion associated with her footwear and top. She was still the second best-looking thing here, after Daniel Nash.
Who might have actually gotten hotter over the summer. Rachel was impressed, especially since the badges would normally be enough to dock at least two appearance points from anyone. It was completely pointless, since she was younger than he was and personality-wise he came across as way too uptight and the rumor mill had it he was Charlie Abbott’s, but she smiled at him as she joined the tiny group around the librarian.
“I’m Rachel,” she said when called upon to introduce herself. “Rachel Bauer, Crotalus. Great finally meeting you.” As opposed to ducking around, trying to keep Diaz from noticing that she’d been at the end of an awful lot of aisles in the course of one day. It would be so much simpler if she could just check out lots of books at once and take them back to her nice private dorm room, but she didn’t want to be seen levitating them down the hall.
Of course, she was about to demonstrate that she knew her way around the second-highest pile – Potions and Potions history, mostly, it looked like; her sister had been complaining about how Fawcett was the Source of All Evil, and Rachel guessed this was why – pretty well, so some of that was about as important as technically being a Monitor when one of the Assistants was the Head Boy. It was hard, but Rachel decided not to say anything. Momma always lectured her about seeming too aggressive – and the irony of Emily Layne saying that was not lost on her, but she’d learned that it was a bad idea to point it out – and Daniel could pull rank on her any old time he wanted, up to and including in here, since he’d been a Monitor before, and that would just be annoying.
“I’ve got these,” she said, taking the second stack. If something was over her head, which wasn’t too likely since she wasn’t really short and was taller thanks to her shoes, she could just levitate it. Which was how she mostly intended to move it around, once she demonstrated that she could lift it for the benefit of the other library staff. There was a difference between making a point and being an idiot who pulled a muscle and couldn’t admit it to the medic and had to go around sore for a while.
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Rachel Bauer, Library Monitor
I have arrived. Cower in terror, lesser mortals.
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Rachel Bauer, Library Monitor
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Samantha Hamilton
February 23, 2011 8:12 AM
Are you calling me a lesser mortal? by Samantha Hamilton
Seeing as she spent so much of her time in the library anyway, Samantha was happy to help out the new librarian. She was an Aladren, and as the past three years had taught her, this was the sort of thing that was expected of an Aladren. That sorting potion probably knew what it was talking about, even if Samantha knew she wasn't really a logical person. She liked books and she liked reading, and she had to study a lot for her classes because she thought otherwise she might get left behind - she was still slow at this magic stuff, and honestly felt that Muggleborns should have a crash course or something to get them started. There was stuff the professors mentioned that seemed to make perfect sense to most of the class, and go right over Samantha's head. It wasn't fair, but moaning about it not being fair wasn't going to pass her in classes, whereas studying avidly might. Hence she studied.When she met the other assitants and monitors, and the librarian for the first time poperly, Samantha first noticed she wasn't the youngest helper, which was great, and then she couldn't take her eyes of the clothes the librarian was wearing. She stared for a few seconds, and then while the other helpers introduced themselves, Samantha stared at their clothing, too. Renée looked okay, but Daniel and rachel looked like they were dressed up to go out somewhere nice, not to put away soem old books. Samantha herself was clothed in jeans that had tears on both knees, sneakers that were too tatty and should be thrown away soon, and a blue t-shirt with a purple Care Bear on it - practically all her tops were old sport shirts that had once belonged to her older brother, or cutesy motif tops that her Mom, step-dad, Dad, or step-sisters had bought for her in a vain effort to make her less of a tomboy. Good luck with that. Samantha was comfortable in her clothes (colorful cartoons aside) and they were certainly appropriate for the task of putting away books.
Having introduced herself along with the others, Samantha helped herself to one of Daniel's stacks and looked where she should be headed - most of them seemed to be herbology books, which was weird, because that wasn't even a subject taught at Sonora. Maybe someone was reading up on flowers or something, or maybe herbology books could be useful for other subjects. Like, maybe potions, as they cut up so many different plants. Whatever the reason, Samantha carried the books to their correct section, and ended up working near Rachel Bauer. samantha had never spoken to the older girl before, but guessed she was probably a relative of the other Sam, because Bauer wasn't that common a surname.
She worked silently for a couple of minutes, looking among the shelves for where her book should be and sliding it back into place, but then it felt awkward. Having always been chatty, Samantha said, "I like your top." She wouldn't ever wear it herself, but it sort of looked nice on Rachel, in a going out way, not really in a working in the library way.
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Samantha Hamilton
Are you calling me a lesser mortal?
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Samantha Hamilton
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Rachel
February 24, 2011 5:19 PM
No, you're an equal mortal. by Rachel
Putting away the Potions books wasn’t too hard, mostly because Rachel was good at the subject and put a lot of effort into Fawcett’s supplemental assignments and got really familiar with the shelves of sections she spent a lot of time in because of how often she had to remember where a specific book went so she could put it back as though she’d never taken it down. She fell easily into a pattern of moving between the stack she had floating behind her to the shelves, scanning the shelves, and then shelving the book, and was so preoccupied by it that she didn’t even really notice that one of the others had followed her.Because of that, she jumped a little when Samantha spoke to her, but then looked over at the younger girl with a smile. “Thanks,” she said. “It’s really old.” Two years, nearly, which was practically ancient in fashion circles, but she didn’t wear it all that often, and had never really gotten into the habit of discarding clothes after a few months anyway. Probably one of the reasons why her step-aunt made so many comments about middle class just not washing out, but Rachel was firm in her conviction that everyone had at least a few favorite shirts.
Okay, except Alicia, but Alicia was special and Alicia was nine. She was still in that mode where she thought the things Momma said should be taken at complete face value, for Merlin’s sake. Half of that was acting, doing her best to do what no one did all the time for real because she’d been told to. Rachel thought she’d still had a little of that going on when she came to Sonora at eleven, and Alicia was the baby. She would have been a little over-girly and naïve even if their parents had still been married.
“Your outfit looks really comfortable,” she said, since that was the only reply she could think of that didn’t reveal she at least knew the basic theory of Care Bears even if she’d never actually gotten into that Before. “Especially the shoes. Even with charms, these things are usually murder by the end of the day.”
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Rachel
No, you're an equal mortal.
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Rachel
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Samantha
March 02, 2011 9:28 AM
*is an equal mortal* by Samantha
Rachel claimed that her top was really old, and Samantha looked at it again just to be sure. It certinaly didn't look old. maybe there were spells she could learn to keep her clothes looking new - that might be worth it - or maybe it was just old in terms of how frequently rachel bought her clothes. If she was anything like Gemma, Samantha's oldest step-sister on her dad's side, 'really old' could mean 'bought it last year.' Deciding not to ask which it was, Samantha put away another book and couldn't help smiling at Rachel's comment that her outfit looked really comfortable. She couldn't say it was nice, because that would almost certainly be a lie, but she had replied without lying. Samantha appreicated that."It is comfortable," she replied, sounding happy about it - she would much rather be comfortable than look nice any day. "I have some a bit like that," she gestured towards rachel's shoes. "They kill my feet to walk in," she said, "so I never wear them." She had lots of clothes she never wore - but then, she had lots of people buying her clothes or offering her hand-me-downs (like Gemma) and really it was entirely pointless, because jeans and t-shirts were what kept her happy. She supposed if she ever got invited to parties or went out somehwere nice to eat then she might make more of an effort to mark the occasion. As it was, she hadn't been invited to a birthday party since she was about seven, and the only place her step-dad ever took them to eat was a crummy local diner or to the big golden archways. There was just no point changing out of her jeans and sneakers for that.
It took a few more seconds of replacing books on shelves before Samantha took in what Rachel had said and realized its importance. "Wait, you said there were charms on those?" she asked. Sure, she'd said that by the end of the day they were uncomfortable, but Samantha's shoes and boots were painful after about half an hour. Maybe if Rachel could teach her the charm then she could wear them... but then would she even want to? Just to class? Maybe, under her robes... for fun... "Could you teach me?"
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Samantha
*is an equal mortal*
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Samantha
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Rachel
March 09, 2011 1:59 PM
Offering instruction. by Rachel
“The price of beauty,” Rachel joked when Samantha said she, too, had lovely but torturous shoes somewhere. Not really funny to her, but more right this second than it normally would be. Something about being in the library in the open, working with someone wearing a Care Bears shirt, and still having a slight feeling of having somehow gotten up one on Raines had put her in one of those rare moods where she didn’t take herself quite as seriously as usual, and she could see, from the outside, how vaguely funny her constant running back and forth to change clothes and redo her hair was.It was weird. At least half her life, now, had been spent as Jeremy’s stepdaughter, who was expected to do these things. She thought she would have forgotten that it wasn’t just natural by now. Probably Sam’s fault that she hadn’t. They weren’t on the best of terms when they were on terms at all, but he was still her cousin, and occasionally they exchanged two words in passing that were completely civil. Plus, they were in the same House, in adjacent years, so it was kind of inevitable that she was going to see him around, and that doing so was going to remind her that they’d once been closer than they were now. Back when she still wore sneakers, including a few pairs in not much better condition than Samantha’s footwear, which had been even before the divorce, but still.
She was surprised out of her thoughts on that and her shelving alike when Samantha asked about the comfort charms on her shoes. She was even more surprised to be asked to act as teacher, but couldn’t see anything wrong with it. Even those Crotalus girls used as a byword for low IQs were expected to know this kind of thing inside and out, and Rachel was pretty sure she was not known as a complete dunce. “Sure,” she said with a smile, nodding as she took out her wand. “Some of the more complicated stuff, you practically have to go to the boutiques for – “ stupid trade secrets – “but I can show you the everyday version.”
She floated a chair from the nearest table over and sat down, figuring her boots could use a refresher if she was going to be up moving around the library a lot this afternoon anyway. “You just take your wand like this – “ she made a long, oval movement around the sole of her shoe – “ and say mollis.” Instantly, the inside of it began to feel better, as though she were standing on a newly-inflated air bubble. “Easy enough, right?”
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Rachel
Offering instruction.
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Rachel
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Samantha
March 14, 2011 1:34 PM
Being taught by Samantha
Rachel agreed to show Samantha the spell, and the third year felt a thrill of excitement. Not just at the fact that she might be able to wear some of her clothes without them disfiguring parts of her anatomy, but also because she was learning magic outside of class - that hadn't happened before. An older student was teaching her a fashion spell in the library - that was pretty cool. The Aladren watched with interest as Rachel performed the spell - it looked easy enough, as Rachel said."Right," Samantha agreed, nodding. She thought she should probably try it while Rachel was there, to offer corrections if necessary, but the well-worn sneakers already were comfortable. Nevertheless, the third year took her wand from the small shoulder bag she'd deposited by her books, and prepared to try the spell. She balanced on her right leg, lifting her left foot up and bending her knee, so the sole was more or less accessible. She moved her wand like Rachel had done, and incanted the spell. Immediately the shoe was yet more comfortable, as if her foot was incased in a cusion of soft air, as bizarre as that sounded. "Hey wow," Samantha exclaimed, delighted at the result. She immediately cast the spell on her other foot, too. "That's phenomenal," she said, sufficiently delighted to expand her vocabulary beyond 'cool' and 'awesome'. She took a couple of steps in her newly comfortable shoes. If this spell made her boots feel like this then she might even wear them to dinner later.
"I feel like someone should have told me about this years ago," Samantha said. Admittedly most magic was still new to her, but things like this should be available to girls from the age of eleven; Samantha was recently fourteen. "Do you know any other spells like that?" she asked Rachel. "Like, to make a blouse stay flat without ironing it, or, I dunno, to keep your hair in place without hairspray or something?" Samantha's light brown hair was usually fairly neatly tied back in a ponytail, but she was rarely more adventurous than that. For one she still believed comfort was more important than looking good, but for another she detested the smell of hairspray - it made her choke.
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Samantha
Being taught
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Samantha
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Rachel
March 28, 2011 4:31 PM
You're a good student (WotW). by Rachel
Rachel laughed as the younger girl exclaimed over the effects of the spell. “It is, isn’t it?” she said, going ahead and re-charming her other shoe while she was at it. Doubling up didn’t make the charm last longer or anything that she could tell, but it could make standing more comfortable for a few minutes. “I couldn’t live without this stuff.”She nodded sympathetically when Samantha said she should have learned about this sort of thing earlier. It was stupid, really, how this kind of magic was regarded. It was practical stuff, some of it, but there was this stigma against talking about it. Rachel guessed she could get why they didn’t talk about it in classes, since the point was to seem effortlessly perfect (though she thought that was kind of stupid, too, and assumed a much lower brain cell count for males of the species than Rachel really hoped they had), but a girl couldn’t even talk about it with other girls, or read things about it, without everyone assuming she was a ditz.
Well, maybe they could do something about that. Maybe not on a big scale, since she really doubted she and Samantha Hamilton had much of a chance of starting a social revolution with two women, one of whom had to be as effortlessly perfect for other girls as she did for anyone else, but between themselves anyway. And have some girl fun in the process.
“All that and more,” she said, smiling, then glanced around to make sure the librarian wasn't about to descend on them. “Every girl alive needs to know how to get wrinkles out and keep hair up. Let’s finish putting these books up, and then I’ll show you all the tricks, okay?”
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Rachel
You're a good student (WotW).
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Rachel
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