The Librarian's: The Beginning

As the day wore on, the jet lag and workload clashed like thunder in the sky. She was visablly exhausted by the time he brought over the last work load addition, her temper frayed. "What the hell is your problem with me? I don't see you pushing anyone else the hard."

Alvin stared at her then leaned forward, his hands on the desk. "Not. My. Partner. You're an assistant. You haven't earned the right to call yourself my partner. Until you do that, don't you ever think you're my partner or getting anywhere near being more than just an assistant." He said, his eyes cold. He then shoved off the desk and walked away to go find some pudding.

Alana nearly shriveled under the animinity radiating off of him, baffled by it. Sure, things didn't start off well with them. But this anger seemed too extreme, the underlining cause beyound her. Jesh., did she run over his cat in a past life or something? It took a slow second to regather herself before she grabbed the cart and puuuuulled it along, sour.

"You shouldn't let him bother you," The Director said, appearing in an aisle next to the cart some time later. "He really is just a large teddy bear." She gave Alana a quick smile. "His last partner was his best friend and well there was an incident with Shakespeare's lost folio and the man who did it got away. He hasn't been the same since her passing."

Alana startled, the book in her hand slipping out of her fingers. She brushed a stray chestnut strand from her face and squinted through the books to see the women on the other side. "What? Who are you?"
One of those odd new York ciy folk, probably. She bent forward, scooping up the run away book.

"The Director," she said simply and stepped around to the other side of the shelf. "Your boss."

Alana double took, fumbling to right her disheveled appearance. "Ah, about that. There's been some sort of misunderstanding. I'm suppose to be interning Rome right now. Not.... " She gestured vaguely. "here."

"No, you're interning here," the Director said with a small nod. "They got your names mixed up with another young woman." She gave a slight smile that seemed kind. "I hand picked you myself."

Alana supposed she should be flattered, but she was too tired to muster a polite response. "No, you don't understand. I /have/ to be there. I hand picked that city /myself/. I researched for weeks! Can't you switch us back?"

"I'm afraid not," the Director said as she folded her hands in front of her. "I know all of the research you've done, but it's not where you are suppose to be. You were meant to be with the library."

Alana slumped, exasperated. "I'm meant to be in /Rome/, more than you can ever know. There's been a mistake. Please." She was begging, actually begging. Soak it up, cause that's rare.

The Director moved forward and gently put her hands on Alana's shoulders. "I know how hard you've worked to get there," she said as she watched her quietly. "But trust me, you have far more opportunities here to travel the world. Trust me on this. You'll reach Rome, in time."

Alana watched her, weary, then tiredly looked to the heap of books she still had to put back. "If you don't mind, I have work to do." Before he hands me more... She grabbed a book and went to walk around her. "'scuse me."

The Director didn't stop her and instead just watched her with an amused smile, disappearing before she came back.

Alvin, of course, was on the other side of the library, shelving a few books, trying to keep himself busy and to keep from thinking about the girl that was supposed to be his partner. "Over my dead body," he grumbled to himself.

At last, long past closing time, Alana finished the work given to her. She didn't bother going to Alvin to ask if she was free, knowing all too well he'd punish her further for simply existing. Instead she trudged up to her now constant source of nourishment -the vending machine- and tried to find something besides chips to scrounge for dinner. Apparently they didn;t have many granola bars.

Alvin came walking by and frowned at her. "Dinner's in your room," he said, though didn't stop. Instead he just kept walking and went to his own room.

Alana didn't acknowledge him, though her growling stomach did. She quickly gave up an retrieving her stolen quarter from the machine and made her way to her room, happy to devour something other than peanuts and granola bars. Once she was happily stuffed, she rummaged through her bags for pjs, too tired to unpack.
FInding that and fuzzy socks, she crawled across the unfamiliar bed and stared at the ceiling. The tiles and paint were alien to her; not something she was use to seeing. But she knew that one night, within the passing weeks, she'd look up to find that feeling had passed; that this was home. It always did.
She fell asleep, face pressed to her pillow.

Bright and early the next morning, Alvin was up and banging on her door. "Get up!" He called to her. "Get up! I've got something to show you!" A full three hours of arguing with the Director at two in the morning had him reluctantly getting ready to show her the Archives.

Alana jolted up, disoriented. She shouldn't be awake. It's only 2 am in Ro-... Oh.
She rubbed her eyes, curses as they throbbed. She forgot to take her contacts out. With a grumble, she repeated her morning ritual, leaving her hair down this time and flushing her red eyes with eye drops. Finally, she left her room, quarters in hand as she went to raid the vending machine.

Alvin caught her before she got to far. "Come on," he said as he gestured for her to follow. "You're late."

Alana ignored him, determinedly making her way to the vending machine. One, two, three quarters in and she scanned the rows, trying to find something breakfast worthy.

Alvin frowned and went over to her, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her away. "Now," he said determinedly.

"Hey!" Alana protested, struggling to yank her hand free. "I've had enough of you, let get me get some darn breakfast!"

"You can get it later when they serve something real," Alvin grumbled and sorta yanked back on her hand when she struggled. He took her through the big wooden doors that seemed to open on their own, and closed behind them. He then let her go, knowing she couldn't go back the way she came, and all the doors down the hall were locked.

Alana double took, her struggles dropping. "They...? You have food staff here?" She looked around, as if they'd just be marching through the hall with neon 'food staff' signs on their chest. It was then that she noticed she had not been in this part of the library yet. And trust me, she explored it /all/ yesterday.