So We Meet Again [Dark] *FINISHED!*

[seraaches]

Kelasia’s ears flicked back again –further- surprise. Partially because she didn’t understand why the idea had never occurred to the feline before, and partially because the cat responded with sudden, and unexpected, vigour. ”The, uhh, science section?” she repeated a bit bewilderedly. She rose to quickly gather the fallen books. ”Yes, well, it’s right over this way.”

As the skunk led the way to the science section, she suddenly realized that she’d seen the cat stick books in her bag. ”Uhm, don’t forget to check out those books, Minh.” Her tone made it a question. ”It’s always embarrassing when the alarm system goes off…”

The skunk left it at that, knowing that either Minh would remember or they would get buzzed by the system, something which had happened to her before when she got caught up in reading a book as she headed out yet before she’d checked out. The Ranger stopped before the science section and gestured at it for Minh. She didn’t often check out the science sections, but as this was one of the largest libraries in the area, this likely would be the best one available.

[Dark]

Minh gave the skunk a smug, sideways smirk—it was sweet that Kelasia was worried about her getting buzzed on her way out, but there was really no reason to fret. The library employed a ridiculously rudimentary scanner. The magnetic strips that they put inside the books were easy enough to deactivate—it only took a strong magnet of an opposite charge, and viola: the books wouldn’t set off the detector anymore.

She didn’t feel overly like sharing this fact with Kelasia, however. She didn’t think that Kelasia would exactly approve.

Scampering along, she quickly oriented herself with the layout and made towards the section she needed on grinding her own lenses and the metallurgy involved in creating the main body. Her new microscope would be a thing of high quality perfection. At least, she hoped it would be. What she’d probably end up doing is drawing of the schematics and handing them off to more capable hands in the final stage of production. But it didn’t hurt knowing the basics.

[seraaches]

The skunk soon fell into the research as well, her skills in the library shining forth as she figured out wot exactly the feline was looking for and began to help look for the books needed. It actually took a little work to discover the right sections; it wasn’t just learning about the process, but also how to do the process which fell into something almost entirely different. Despite the size of the library, information actually falling under their needed section was rather thin.

” There are a lot of references to books this library doesn’t have,” the skunk murmured under her breath. ”Where are these other books?” She pursed her lips slightly then abruptly wandered off, with one of the glass books in hand. She returned some time later with a hand-written list, but she didn’t remain, darting off another direction to return again with a stack of magazines.

[Dark]

At first Minh had been delightfully disturbed by Kelasia’s fanatic, inner-bookworm. It had seemed an interesting quirk, but nothing particularly beneficial seemed like it would come of it. Now, though, Minh was beginning to reassess that prior notion. Kelasia was probably the best thing that had ever happened to her—and she was most definitely the best research assistant to ever grace these prestigious halls. All Minh had to do was sit down at a table and spread out, writing down anything of relevance—and off Kelasia went in search of additional material. Minh hadn’t bugged in the last hour, and she was so involved in her near-genius that the books could have been appearing by magic and she wouldn’t know the difference.

Finally, the growing crick in her neck brought her slowly back to reality only to discover the shadows were substantially more pronounced than last she remembered. She’d managed to fill a notebook and part of a second with notes, and she was fairly confident in her final design.

“How about we get a bite to eat, Kelasia? To celebrate a breakthrough.”

[seraaches]

Kelasia gave a slow blink, as she paused in writing down the newest bit of information she’d found. Minh might have been surprised to look at wot the skunk had done; names and addresses filled the pages along with side notes that looked like article names, book titles, and other bits of side information. It took a bit to slide her mind from her self-appointed task and back to the real world, as it were. She nearly protested a disinterest in food when her stomach disagreed loudly with her own mental assessment. Kelasia flushed in embarrassment.

”That sounds like a good idea,” she agreed softly, then quickly jotted down one final note before closing her book. The number of cross-references she’d found were astounding, and, despite her frustration at not being able to find everything listed here, she had still managed to find names and sometimes addresses for the man and women who were using the techniques described now.

[Dark]

Minh hummed in agreement—she had been the one to suggest a break, after all—and out of an overwhelming sense of wellbeing arranged all the books she’d used in the last several hours in neat piles for the librarians to come along and tidy up later. (And, simultaneously, she’d just fulfilled her ‘nice’ quota for the next month.)

“So, where shall we go to eat? I’m ravenous.”

And she really was—who knew creating your own super-powered microscope would be so physically exhausting. All the plans were complete, though she’d make sure to look them over again once she got some food and a bit of much deserved sleep. All there was left to do now was search down the necessary craftsmen of a satisfactory caliber.

She started down an aisle, trotting along with the assumption Kelasia was following. When she reached the end, however, she had to halt and turn embarrassedly back to her companion.

“I think I’m lost.”

[seraaches]

Kelasia’s mind was still on the people she had on her list and how exactly she would go about contacting them; her own sense of direction was, generally, quite terrible. Here in the library, at least, she knew her way, so it was with some bafflement that she noticed they were heading towards the children’s section shortly before Minh announced that she was lost. Kel gave a small smile, and tilted her head in the correct direction. ”This way,” she announced softly and led them successfully from the library. At least, until they reached the door and the pair of them caused the alarms to go off with an annoyed squawk.

Kel flushed deeply as she hurried them to the counter so they could check out their books; she still had her random books from earlier on her. She finished quickly; the librarians knew her very well and they joked softly with her as they scanned the books for the correct numbers and noted them. The skunk was still blushing as she held them carefully and waited for Minh to check out her books.

[Dark]

Minh winced as the alarm went off, and shot a reproachful look at Kelasia. The silly thing had drawn attention to them, and Minh didn’t like checking out books she was planning to keep indefinitely—better to deactivate them, and if her need of them ended she would occasionally remember to bring them back. She needed to do something, though, considering Kelasia had all but outed her—luckily Minh carried around something just for these occasions. The library in Corvistowne used a differently charged magnetic strip in their books—one which her magnet didn’t effect.

She approached the counter with a bashful smile—she absolutely hated being buzzed, and she hadn’t even been the one to set it off. She rooted around in her bag and withdrew the book, hoping to any gods that would listen that Kelasia wouldn’t protest.

“I was just doing research today, but I have this book from home that might have set the alarm off?”

The kindly librarians had no reason to doubt her, and they smiled in understanding—it happened all the time—before desensitizing it for her. She smiled, thanked them politely, and burst through the double-doors of the library into the waning light of evening. It was still warm, and she was still a genius.

[seraaches]

Kelasia made no move to correct the librarians; it didn’t occur to her that Minh would steal a library book so she assumed the feline had just brought it from home. After all, the cat had returned the others in the stack of books on the table. So she simply followed Minh out of the library, waving good-bye to the librarians and paused at the top of the steps to regard the growing dusk. Oh, dear! She’d certainly lost track of time yet again! She flushed, but at least it wasn’t just her unable to keep track of how late it was.

As they trotted down the steps, the skunk tried to recall if there was anywhere good to eat in the area. ”There’s a pleasant little bistro just a few blocks from here,” she suggested quietly. ”Perhaps we can go over there to eat.” She tilted her head slightly then brushed the silver bangs out of her pale eyes.

[Dark]

The bistro was a quaint, family owned eatery that served a filling meal of soup and bread and salad (if one was so inclined) for a reasonable price. Minh chose the house special—a white-beaned chili with a surprising zing of lime. It was love. The bread, though, was truly something else—rich, thick crust dusted with melted butter; baked full of sliced olives and garlic.

She tore a chuck apart rather viciously and dunked it in her soup with enthusiasm. This was one of the best meals she’d had since moving to the big city—it almost rivaled her brother’s cooking, in fact. It would be amusing as Hades to lord that over his head; he might even feel inspired to come visit her in order to scope out the competition.

Humming happily to herself, she smiled up at Kelasia, who up until that point had been relatively quiet, “So, how’s your lunch?”