Of This We Do Not Speak // [Umber x Baby]
Oct 6, 2024 21:54:41 GMT -5
Post by Baby Wessex d9b [earthling] on Oct 6, 2024 21:54:41 GMT -5
It was late. Not so late that the library had closed for the night, but late enough that most everyone else had made their way out for dinner or once last sparring match before lights out. Baby's stomach rumbled uncomfortably; she was not yet used to the feeling Storm Adroxis assured her she would come to know as well as tired or sad.
She hadn't had the heart to tell him she wasn't all that familiar with either of those emotions. At least, not prior to her name being read from the slip.
Now she felt all those things and more, a tornado of feelings swirling inside of her chest. Every day her styling team but a little more coverup beneath her eyes and every day she fought to keep her tears to herself.
She had not succeeded during the interview, the one chance she'd had to make a good impression for sponsors. And she knew - even without Storm telling her, even without reading a single book in the library - that if she didn't secure some very wealth sponsors, there was no help for her.
She'd seen the boys from Two and the girls from Four. She was definitely going to di-
Baby hiccuped instead of sobbing, the sharp sound echoing off the roccocco columns. Baby covers her mouth with one hand as she presses further into the section titled HISTORICAL FICTION. It's such an odd way to describe a book. Are they in fact history, which is true through and through? Or are they fiction, which is fantasy?
She doesn't know, exactly. But having spoken to the librarian, this is the only section to find what she's after.
And of course, reading the categorized spines closely, she finds the book bound in black with gold lettering. On the very top shelf. Not even a solid jump will get her there. So, Baby puts one foot on the lowest shelf, her fingers gripping the highest she can manage, and she's about to pull herself up when she hears the vaguest cough.
She freezes.
Then, slowly, looks under her armpit at the boy. "You don't happen to have a ladder, do you?" She whispers.