Readying the Hate-Seeking Missile [feeneeshed!]

[Satra]

[jkhsadvfksjhdf I wanted to wait to do this until I had the fic up about her backstory... but the muse was too impatient. XD

I want to say that I want to encourage at least two other characters, but no more than 4. There will be social interaction in the beginning, but then Shift will be by herself for a bit, then a touch of chaos will ensue. Just warning y'all. :3 ]

The smirk never left her face as she swaggered into the library, removing her goggles from her face and placing them to sit around her neck. She gave once last look back to her baby before letting the door shut by itself. The latest in Corvistowne automobile technology. Only two wheels. It wasn't very big, the engine, it was more like a bicycle with a small engine, but its noise and appearance got her the looks and attention she lived for.

She sniffed at the smell of books, refraining from wrinkling her nose. Oil. Engines. Fire. Metal. These were good smells. Musty old paper and vellum made her rub her nose in discomfort. She was here for a reason, though.

She took off her jacket and threw it over her forearm. It wasn't that it was warm. At all. She just enjoyed the looks it tallied up. The fact that she was a Corvistowne. The fact that she was far more solidly built than a vast majority of any of the denizens of this region. The fact that her spine flexed and glinted in the light with every sway of her hips (it was the only reason she bothered to keep it polished). The fact that under her now removed jacket she did not wear much. The fact that the thunk of each step with her heavy riding boots cut through the respectful silence of the library. All of it turned heads. It was hard to keep that smirk invisible.

[Bee]

Phaedra was in the process of reviewing information. She had her A-levels in Highlander three months from tomorrow, and she needed to be perfectly prepared. Not one noun would go mispronounced. Not one verb would land in the wrong tense. Her accent would be flawless.

Or Milton help her, heads were going to roll.

Clunk clunk clunk, went big heavy booties. Clunk clunk.

Phaedra gnawed her lollipop.

Clunk.

Past imperfect subjunctive...

Clunk clunk.

Phaedra glanced up to see a human. Not an Esterberry. (Clunk.) She wondered how such clearly disruptive people were even allowed within 200 meters of a library. Or Esterberry itself. Surely they had a special police force for this sort of thing. Bloody Corvies thought they owned the world, with their Mad Science and their gaudy neon coats....

Clunk clunk.

Well, since no one else was making a comment, she may as well take care of the mess herself. Honestly. Some people had no backbone.

"Miss," she said, with acerbic politeness, "if you wish to study, be our guest, but please remove your shoes. The noise is exceedingly grating."

[Nako]

The library was a huge one, of course. Even the smallest of buildings that housed the vast population of books would rival that of most countries, with no doubt far more books than citizens. Because of that, every noise was amplified; even the silence buzzed uncomfortably in a pair of huge, radar bat ears. The turn of a page made a definite slice into the quiet air, the delicate scrabbling of pen on paper creating a symphony of textured, lovely sound that was so pure and so genuine amongst the quiet. The occasional cough made the hybrid's ear flicked with irritation, but it would always turn back to the writing that was being scribed by impossibly long fingers. It was a sort of zen for Mikael, to copy his notes so very perfectly. Later he would read them over.. and over until they were permanently lodged in his mind to be recalled at his whim during his final exams.

This was the important one; his associates had meant nothing; in Esterberry that meant he had upgraded from jobs at a garbage plant to perhaps some library jockey sorting out books. No, he needed something better than that, and soon he would have it, a Bachelor of Arts that would open up a gateway to specialization of his choosing. A purr made his ear quiver once more, but it grew louder until finally it was a roar, a loud, racous 'cough' from Corvistownian engine causing him to jump, and consequently a quick, marring line to make its way from one side of his neat paper, all the way to the other with a signature, messy inkblot ending.

He frowned behind his mask as the culprit all but burst the doors open, heavy boots clanking noisily against the pristine library floor. He looked up; how could he not? This person was surely making a spectacle of herself, sturdy arms swinging by her side, and head held high. It reminded him of a Yarrow.. then again most strong women reminded him of Yarrows nowadays, and consequently caused him to subconsciously be wary of them. When one worked for Donnie, it was often easier to be safe than sorry! Blue was not a Yarrow color though, quite obviously Corvistownian. Still, he averted his gaze if her own happened to track his way; Mikael wasn't particularly keen on getting his ass handed to him today.

[Satra]

Not only did she annoy another person to the point of actually approaching her... but what did was a gorgeous little number. Her tongue flicked out to lick the corner of her lips as she look a good long look at the other woman. That... oh she could work with that. If she could ferret this one off into a private little corner somewhere in this library... Well, perhaps then this woman wouldn't be so bothered by noise in the library.

"My sincerest'a 'pologies, cutie," she threw in a wink for good measure. This woman was a pretty thing, but she was not about to stoop down and take off her shoes just because she wanted her too... unless other bits of clothing were going to be removed as well. Instead, she shifted to her Bipedal form. "Better?" What her feet now lacked in noise, her voice seemed determined to compensate for.

She had yet to notice Mikael yet, but his time would come.

[Nako]

Hm... Corvistownian in appearance. Yarrow in disguise. His gaze flicked from his work to the shifting human, quirking a brow at her species as much as her advances on the Esterberry sugar glider. Attraction to the same sex was obviously not Yarrow exclusive, but the stereotype always made his mind go back there, especially with these sorts. If she came through with a swingblade and castrated all the males in the building then he'd have a guarantee. Yipes.

But yes... a hummingbird? Fascinating. Despite his gut instinct telling him to RUN AWAY, he couldn't help but stay where he was and inspect her from afar. Birds weren't the most common of creatures for sure, and a hummingbird, well, it was the first he had seen, anyways. A stout creature... not exactly his most ideal of body types, but still a well balanced model by any means. Despite himself, his hand was already at work scribbling a rough, inked sketch on the blank area of his ruined notes. Fascinating body structure. And was that.. a metal spine? His ears perked curiously.

The Esterberry looked familiar; no doubt she'd been in there before; hopefully the newcomer wouldn't start manhandling her, or he'd be forced to step in and.. well... get his ass kicked, most likely. Oh dear.

[Bee]

She was quite surprised that the woman removed her boots so quickly. Unfortunately, she replaced it immediately with another problem. That mouth. Sweet sacred literary canon, that mouth.

The woman's speech was loud and garbled; her presence itself was rather like screaming, actually. Phaedra wondered if she was one of those Corvies that experimented on themselves; she could picture the woman in front of her hooking herself up to some kind of electrical device and shocking the living hell out of herself FOR SCIENCE. She seemed to have some kind of noise-making contraption outside, after all...maybe it did something brain-damaging. She almost wanted to investigate. Their total disregard for responsibility of safe practices occasionally led Corvies to invent interesting things.

"Yes, thank you, that's lovely." Her brain didn't want to process any implications of winking and terms of endearment, so it didn't. "Now, if you would perhaps lower your voice a bit or find a private room in which to study, I think we could all be winners here."

[Satra]

There was a sudden bit of movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look at it. There was... whoa. WHOA. HOLY SHIT. Shift did a double take. What... What in the HELL was THAT?! It was... beyond surreal. She'd never seen anything like it. Between the gorgeous hard-assed Esterberry with a voice that made her sound like an adolescent trying to be mature and sexy and this downright odd-ball, Shift was a very conflicted little Hummingbird. If she wanted to explore both, she needed to make quick work of the little librarian-thing. Not really being one for foreplay, Shift concluded that she, in fact, would do an excellent job of making quick work of the Esterberry in time to come back and poke the masked thing. She'd heard of the Bog-dwelling folk who wore masks, but she was pretty sure white and blue where no their colorings.

"Well I ain't ever been in no fancy Ester-liberry b'fore," It was almost as if the corners of her mouth were permanently curled upwards, "Where're these private rooms that makes everyonna winner tha'cha speak of?"

[Bee]

Phaedra really did wonder what this woman was doing here; she appeared to have all intelligence typically allotted to an overripe piece of cantaloupe, if her speech and behavior were anything to go by. Why would she come to a place of learning and high repute?

Unless she were some kind of evil imp who got off on that sort of thing, on coming to beautiful bastions of learning such as this and trying to make them as unfriendly to learning as possible.

Wicked trolls! She had seen their type before. She would dispatch this menace before she could sow hate and discontent.

But maybe she was being uncharitable. Maybe this hummingbird was really trying to better herself but didn't know how, blindly seeking out an Esterberry library...And if Phaedra could show her the way, perhaps she would stop being so bloody annoying.

"Well, I suppose I could show you to one," she said, trying not to sound dubious. "We've got some good rooms just down the hall. I can fix you up with some lovely material to keep you occupied."

[Satra]

Her mouth twitched into an even wider smile. Pretty, oblivious thing (or a very good actress!) leading Shift to a private room and seemingly unaware of the implications the Hummingbird was putting on it.

"Thank ya kindly, miss--?" As soon as the Esterberry filled in the blank, Shift immediately forgot the name, if she was even listening to begin with, "I jus' follor you! An' don't worry yer pretty head 'bout findin' me some reading. I came here for'a real 'pecific reason." She followed along behind the other woman, not bothering at all to hide that fact she was staring at the other woman's behind most of the way. She pulled a piece of candy from her jacket pocket. She unwrapped it and popped it in her mouth, dropping the wrapper on the floor without a second thought.

"Say, you single?" she blurted out, speaking around the candy. Whatever the sugar glider answered wouldn't really change Shift's next actions, just how she would go about doing it... a little.

[Kari Muffin]

(( OOC: XD well, Satra wanted me to post. <3 ))

Having a her jaw free wire was one of the best things that had happened in months. The Esterberry canine-deer stretched as she looked down at her pile of books. Her professors hadn't given her that much time to recover. Still, she just needed to write one more essay and she would done with her backlog of assignments.

The beautiful silence was broken by a clanging. Petunia's head snapped around to find the source of the disturbance. What jerk would come into a library sounding like elephant? The answer was pretty obvious when her eyes focused on the source of the disturbance. A Corvie.

She growled to herself as she went back to her book. From the sound of it, she wasn't even worth the effort of being snarked at. The woman would get kicked out sooner or later for disrupting the peace, this library was good about things like that.