I'm still here on Library

Librarian Amelle Nicchi

January 20, 2015 8:33 PM

Help Wanted Sign Ups! by Librarian Amelle Nicchi

Amelle had spent the summer traveling and completely out of her parents reach. It had been absolutely amazing. She had only traveled around the United States, but it had been a pleasant time for her and she had met several interesting individuals along the way. None were likely to be very pleasant in her parents’ opinions, but that didn’t matter. The young early twenty something year old had needed the required ‘figure yourself out’ time and so she had it. She hadn’t had an epiphany regarding her life or anything such as that while she was away, but she did realize that getting her bachelor’s degree wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. She would, however, not follow her parents demand in what she did with her life or who she would marry.

Pulling her curls back into a pony tail, Amelle reread the post for the sign ups once again. She hadn’t really had time to write it before school began. She had gotten in from her travels late and so she spent much of the first evening and the next morning fixing up the library before she could even settle into her own quarters. Now she was behind with everything. Deciding the sign explained everything, Amelle taped it up on the library board for the students to sign.

The sign read:

Students are encouraged to help in the library during the school year. There are two roles that are available and two coveted roles that will be awarded to specified individuals (if the numbers allow for this).

Library Monitors (Intermediate and Advance Students may apply for this role)

The Monitors help to check books in and out of the library, organize the books in the stacks, answer any questions that fellow students may have, and complete occasional errands that may be needed.

Library Assistants (Beginner Years can only apply for this role, but all other years are also able to apply for this role)

This role has fewer responsibilities than the Monitor. Their role consists of returning books to their rightful place in the stacks and assist the Library Monitor with whatever duties that need to be filled.

The two coveted roles that will be elected to the individuals by the Librarian are the Head Monitor roles.

The two students who are granted this title will have the first choice in their work schedules and be Lead in deciding what duties each Monitor and Assistant will have for that day (should they so choose to do so), as well as other duties that may come about that the Librarian feels they are the best choice for.

Please note that only two Advanced students will be elected as Head Monitors and it will be based on their experience, responsibilities, and relationship with others. The Librarian will make the announcement to who was chosen when the final work schedule is posted.

If you are interested in either of these roles, please sign your name and the role that you are requesting. Prior experience will be considered for the role of Monitor. For any questions, please see Librarian Nicchi for assistance.

OOC: This sign up will be posted for 2 weeks RL time. After this time, a ‘work schedule’ post will go up with a list of what everyone is doing.

Subthreads:

Joining in. by Julian Umland

Playing the knight again. by John Umland

Yes, please! by Ava Fletcher

I'm still here by Clark Dill

Offering my help, by Chaslyn Brockert

Signing up by Willow Collins

Interested. by Jack Spencer

Signing up. by Keme RunningBear

Adding my name. by Emery Kijewski-Jareau

If it's not too late... by Barnaby Pye, Aladren

6 Librarian Amelle Nicchi Help Wanted Sign Ups! 32 Librarian Amelle Nicchi 1 5

Julian Umland

January 27, 2015 4:40 PM

Joining in. by Julian Umland

Julian was not an Aladren, and the more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that more of her family than not would have had that in common with her if more of them had come to this school. The Umlands worked as a team on everything from watching out for each other’s mental health to keeping their over-crowded house tolerably clean and well-organized, and Mom had a habit of copying Donne’s no man is an island entire of itself line onto the top of the weekly chore schedules she kept posted on the kitchen wall. Their obligation to pursue the Teppenpaw goals of personal improvement, helping each other improve, and working to improve the world had been drilled into their heads since birth, or at least as close as Mom could manage. Paul and John hadn’t started getting regular doses until they were eleven and five, respectively, but Julian thought they had gotten the general idea. John really was an Aladren and so had spells where he was either grumpy or gloomy about aspects of the codes they were expected to hold themselves up to, but he got the idea.

A glance at her house, though, would not immediately let on that they were all really very Teppenpaw-like. The house was all but overflowing with books and that was at least part of why Julian had always visited the library almost every day. When she’d been a first year and homesick, the place had allowed her to relax because it reminded her a bit of home and gave her a peaceful place to do her homework; now, it was still a place to study, something she had to do more and more of now that she was older and her classes more demanding, and a reminder of home, but also where she could most often find and check up on her little brother. Add in her work as a volunteer inside it and though she didn’t imagine herself one of Sonora’s most intelligent or even studious students for a moment, Julian thought she might be more comfortable in the library than anywhere else on campus.

When the helpers’ sign-up sheet went up, then, signing up again was only natural, but she paused for a moment in mid-signature. It wasn’t strange to be in the library or help out other people in it, but it was strange to be one of the oldest people doing so. She didn’t notice older Teppenpaws disappearing so much as she noticed older library monitors; maybe it was just because they had all been so prominent in their last year, but she still sometimes expected to turn around a shelf and see Waverly Canterbury or Henny Boxton-Fox-Reynolds or Alicia Bauer among the stacks. They were gone now, though, and Melanie, and now she and, if they came back, Keme and Willow were probably going to be the very oldest here. Which was strange, since even though she would be seventeen in December, Julian still just didn’t think of herself as that grown up. Two more years and then she would be gone from this place, too, and be out there in the world. That was terrifying to think about, so Julian decided not to, instead finishing her sign-up: Julian Umland, Monitor.

16 Julian Umland Joining in. 254 Julian Umland 0 5

John Umland

January 27, 2015 11:17 PM

Playing the knight again. by John Umland

Library duties had proven less onerous in his first year than John had expected. Instead of being outrageously abused by the older students and spending much of his time defending the books against the evil plots of students who didn’t have the proper respect for them, his major memories of the previous year’s service involved sitting around playing cards with his sister. There hadn’t even really been any people tasteless enough to damage books on purpose (though admittedly, never knowing which books might bite or scream when damaged was probably a deterrent to some) and the older students were either good-natured or else found the thought of Julian’s wrath far worse than John would have expected them to. He knew she could have a temper if sufficiently provoked, but he doubted most people here did.

There were worse ways to spend an evening than gambling with his sister for candies, though, even though he lost more often than he won, and he had other reasons to keep it up, too. For one thing, he felt a sense of obligation. Since the school had been good enough to give him a fiefdom of solitude (it referred to it as a ‘single-occupant dormitory’) and the degree of privacy that went with it, he owed it service, and the service he was best suited to was guarding and keeping up the collection. Also, if Julian became the new queen (the school called this position ‘head monitor’ and Julian getting it didn’t seem too likely to him, but she could and continuing his feudal metaphor amused him), he’d neglect obligations he knew he had if he didn’t do everything he could to make her look like a better monarch of the library than any who had come before or would come for at least a while after. His sister was, after all, gentle and non-forceful when not severely provoked, so if someone else fell down on the job, she’d need him to do the job instead. And., well, it was good for him to look busy. No-one paid attention to the person who was too busy to be up to anything.

With all of that in mind, he signed up to be an assistant again beneath his sister’s name and then went to look for his latest armload of books. He had better sense than to mention it to anyone on earth, but secretly, he hoped to read every useful (he was content to allow a decent percentage of books intended for someone his age and almost all of the cheap modern romances and that kind of stuff to remain on the shelves) book in the library before he graduated, which was just one more reason why he couldn't afford to waste any more time than he could possibly avoid.

16 John Umland Playing the knight again. 285 John Umland 0 5

Ava Fletcher

January 28, 2015 2:18 AM

Yes, please! by Ava Fletcher

As Ava read the sheet for library helpers, the hand that was holding her quill wavered ever so slightly. More than anything she wanted an excuse to be able to interact with more book lovers and as Melanie Lennox had graduated, leaving no one to take over book club (as far as Ava knew) helping in the library seemed to be her best bet. Indeed she saw the two Umland siblings had already put their names down and Ava remembered talking to them at the book club last year, wondering if they like her were worried about the possibility of no book club that year. She desperately hoped that Julian would start a club up again as Ava had enjoyed her talk with the Teppenpaw very much and thought she would make a good head of club.

She stood before the sign for a few moments, before carefully writing her name down excited to perhaps join the ranks of the other students her age (like Emrys) currently held Responsibilities over Important Things. She was glad there was a middle ground for her to sign up for as she would never feel comfortable being in charge of advanced students but would have felt weird putting herself down as an assistant when that seemed to be created for the first and second years and she was a fifth year.

However, she saw that Julian had also written down monitor despite being an advanced student and Ava worried she would be confused for an advanced student if all the advanced students wrote down 'monitor' instead of 'head monitor'. The next year when she was officially an advanced student and knew for sure where she fell on the radar she could put herself down for head monitor but for now she was content to let the oldest students tell her what to do. So, she added one little bit to help the librarian see where she ought to go. Satisfied with what she had written, Ava turned to go to the back shelf and return to the Aladren common room which is where she had been on her way to when she'd noticed the pretty help wanted sign.

The newest addition to the sign-up sheet read: Ava Fletcher, Monitor (5th year) :)

10 Ava Fletcher Yes, please! 258 Ava Fletcher 0 5

Clark Dill

February 03, 2015 12:17 PM

I'm still here by Clark Dill

Clark looked over the sign-ups, not quite sure what to do for his own. He was a third year now, so he did qualify for the Monitor position. Now thirteen, he was also able to stay up a little later than he had been able to previously without collapsing in a chair or becoming a zombie, though he was not sure he'd be able to make it all the way up to 9:45pm quite yet. As an assistant last year, he'd begged his way to leaving a bit earlier to get his rest, but wasn't sure that would fly quite so well if he was a monitor.

He saw Ms. Nicchi already had two monitors with Ava and Julian, but only one assistant with John. That made his decision.

Clark Dill, 3rd Year, Assistant

Clark studied his entry for a few more seconds, wondering who else might sign up. As he recalled there hadn't been a lot of older students last year. If anybody else signed up they'd probably be his age (Lena's name wasn't up yet, he'd noticed) or younger. Consequently, there was no guarantee there would be any more monitors signing up. He hesitated a moment more then added a qualifier to the end of his line:

(unless you need more monitors)

He didn't think it would come up, but if it did, he wanted to help the library in the way the library needed him most. But unless there was a shortage of monitors, he figured he'd help out best as an Assistant for at least one more year.

1 Clark Dill I'm still here 277 Clark Dill 0 5

Chaslyn Brockert

February 03, 2015 4:03 PM

Offering my help, by Chaslyn Brockert

Ever since the school year started, Chaslyn had kept her eyes peeled for any notices of clubs or activities. Other than Quidditch, she was expected to sign up for everything-in addition, of course, to getting perfect grades in everything and keeping up with every last activity that her mother had her involved in.

She was already exhausted, bags forming under her eyes that she made sure to cover up with concealer, for she couldn't allow anyone to see beyond the facade. She must appear perfect. Chaslyn thought she might have already lost a few pounds too, just like last year. It wasn't what she wanted, but she just didn't have time to eat satisfactory meals. At least not without scarfing them down in the most unladylike manner. As such, she found herself hungry a lot. When her stomach wasn't in knots from ever increasing anxiety.

So far though, Chaslyn had failed to see much to sign up for. While Quidditch recruitment was being pursued aggressively in both Crotalus and Teppenpaw, that wasn't something that affected her and she hadn't really seen many other clubs being offered. Maybe that would be a good thing, maybe she'd have time to work on her grades and socializing-though Mother didn't really approve of her one true friend-and practicing all the things Mother wanted her to not be mediocre at. Not to mention things like eating and sleeping. It wasn't healthy to not do those things and Chaslyn certainly couldn't afford to get sick. She'd be expected to persevere through activities though until her sister or one of her cousins noticed and dragged her off to the hospital wing. It wasn't as if she was capable of putting up much resistance even at her best.

One activity still being offered this year was library helper. Chaslyn carefully read the sign. This year she was an intermediate and could be a Monitor the way Mother expected. As far as she was concerned this was the only good thing about being a third year, what with Liac not being in her classes now.

She signed her name to the list.

Chaslyn Brockert, Third Year, Monitor

11 Chaslyn Brockert Offering my help, 281 Chaslyn Brockert 0 5

Willow Collins

February 03, 2015 4:25 PM

Signing up by Willow Collins

After an...interesting summer, Willow had to admit to be glad to be back at school. Even if all she had here was Keme-and she supposed, Portia-it just beat the discomfort of being at home. Autumn had been released from the hospital last March and was still at home, but after not seeing her for so long, it was just...awkward. And Willow wasn't exactly holding her breath on Autumn staying there for long. She wouldn't be at all surprised if her sister had relapsed already and just not been caught yet.

She wasn't going to think about it anymore though. She refused to. The Teppenpaw would always love her sister, would always care and would worry if things got seriously bad, but right now, she had her own life to live, her own things to do. Worrying about Autumn, expecting her to get better was futile. Even if she stopped starving herself, there was too much permanent damage already.

And if Daniel thought he could fix her, he was going to end up sorely disappointed.

Right now, there were more important things at hand. Willow didn't know if any of the other clubs would resurface. Melanie Lennox had graduated and she couldn't be sure that anyone else would take over the book club. Nor did she know if Keme would start up the archery club again, but there were still library sign-ups to be dealt with and she placed her name on the list just as she always had.

Willow Collins, 6th year, Monitor

She sincerely doubted that she'd be one elected Head Monitor. Julian was much more popular than she was and it possible that Keme would sign up too yet. In fact, she hoped he did. Being Head Monitors together would be fun but she just knew Julian would get one of the spots.

11 Willow Collins Signing up 253 Willow Collins 0 5

Jack Spencer

February 03, 2015 5:16 PM

Interested. by Jack Spencer

The only thing Jack loved more than flying on his broom were books. For someone who enjoyed the outdoors as much as he did, it was strange that he found the indoors just as pleasant when he had an interesting book on hand. He loved to learn, and he'd found himself to be the odd one out of his siblings. Studying for them was simply a part of the routine they were expected to go through, but Jack was genuinely eager to learn history and research and use his wand properly.

As a result, Jack was in the library often. His common room was based in the library itself, making it even more convenient to stop by. During one of his visits, Jack noticed the sign-up sheet on the noticeboard. He looked closer at it, curious. Signing up to help out in the library meant volunteering here no doubt putting books away or maintaining the peace. It was something Jack hadn't considered, but it would give him a reason to be in here looking at new and old books.

There were already plenty of names on the sheet, and he added his on. Working at the library didn't sound like a bad job since he was here often enough already. The other Aladren John had signed up as well, so Jack put his preferred name on the sheet, his given name in brackets. Until his classmates and professors got to know him and recognise his name, he would have to continue to attach 'John' onto his family name. Hopefully, by his third year, he would be able to simply write 'Jack' and be done with it.

Jack (John) Spencer, 1st year, Library Assistant

40 Jack Spencer Interested. 299 Jack Spencer 0 5

Keme RunningBear

February 03, 2015 6:19 PM

Signing up. by Keme RunningBear

Keme’s summer had gone by pretty well. His sister graduated from university with a degree in fashion design. Keme didn’t really have any use for that, but the seamstresses in the Tribe are all excited at the prospect of creating new items of clothings with KoKo. Keme would have brushed it off as a ‘girl’ thing, but after spending all this time in the presence of Charlie, he knew that would be an inappropriate thought to have. So, he tried not to think about it at all. KoKo was also engaged to a tribal member, Mingan, who she had begun dating about a year ago. Keme’s parents weren’t very excited for the idea of such a quick engagement, but KoKo was an adult now and able to make her own decisions. Keme liked Mingan, so he was supportive of the engagement.

Aside from his sister’s news, Keme’s summer hadn’t been much excitement. He did the annual Archery challenge and won for his skill level, but more of his challengers are becoming increasingly better due to the fact that they are able to train year around. This meant that he would have to spend more time in the MARS room working on his skills so that he kept on top of his peers. He would still plan on doing the club because people seemed to enjoy it, so that would be helpful to him.

He still wanted to make somewhat of an impression with the staff and his peers when it came to the votes next year, even though he knew he would not gain the title of ‘Head Boy’, he wasn’t popular enough for that, but it would be nice to at least see his name on the ballot. This was one of the reasons he was signing his name up for the Helper spot. The other was the fact that he just really enjoyed the library.

Keme RunningBear, 6th Year, Monitor

6 Keme RunningBear Signing up. 249 Keme RunningBear 0 5

Emery Kijewski-Jareau

February 03, 2015 7:25 PM

Adding my name. by Emery Kijewski-Jareau

Emery was still really bummed about not getting the Prefect Badge. He didn’t really blame Emrys or anything because it hadn’t been his choice in it, but rather, the staffs and Emery just didn’t understand what it was that the staff saw in Emrys that they hadn’t seen in Emery. Emery joined all the clubs. He helped out his sister and any friends who needed it, he participated in class, and his grades were mostly of ‘O’s with the occasional ‘E’. He thought he had been the perfect candidate and now his confidence was completely shot.

He sulked around quietly since the start of classes, keeping mostly to himself or eating with Chloe. She kept telling him to let it go. Neither of their parents was too upset by the news. His mother said that it was always a random drawing as to who seemed to be chosen by the staff. Sometimes she never understood their reasoning, but it was what it was. Chloe tended to agree with their mother because adults never really made much sense to her, but Emery still needed time to heal his wounded pride.

Even though he wasn’t wearing the badge, Emery still enjoyed the things he had always done. One of those things was work in the library. Like a true Aladren, Emery liked to be around books. So, when the sign up sheet went up, he made sure to add his name there.

Emery Kijewski-Jareau, 5th year, Monitor

6 Emery Kijewski-Jareau Adding my name. 259 Emery Kijewski-Jareau 0 5

Barnaby Pye, Aladren

February 21, 2015 6:46 PM

If it's not too late... by Barnaby Pye, Aladren

Barnaby had just been lamenting that there were no real academic style things for him to participate in when he saw, on his way to the Aladren common room, a help wanted sign up sheet. He didn't know why it had never occurred to him to check the bulletin board in the library. Upon approaching it, he saw that there was already quite a long list of names. After doing a once over, he quickly signed himself up. The feeling of his quill against the paper was refreshing and he nearly closed his eyes, enjoying how the tip glided so smoothly.

Barnaby Pye, first year Aladren, Library Assistant

He smiled proudly. His script had never looked better, and he felt already better about his school career just looking at the sheet. Since he had a little bit of time before his scheduled study date (with himself), Barnaby scanned to see the names. He noted that there were a fair amount of older Aladrens on the list (names he had memorized and put faces to already because one could always want for more contacts with which to network) as well as his roommate, Spencer. Which was promising because it meant that in addition to being the Quidditch playing sort of Aladren he was also the bookish sort—or at least trying to appear that way.

10 Barnaby Pye, Aladren If it's not too late... 298 Barnaby Pye, Aladren 0 5