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Post by Valerie on Jan 27, 2008 16:23:26 GMT -5
*Valerie wore a plain brown dress and leaned her elbows on the counter, reading a Gothic novel she'd read twice before and humming. She was so bored she'd already scratched ME between the words Check and Out on the sign bolted to the front of the desk. It's not like anyone had seen her do it, and she could always blame it on the little twerps who were always going off to the medical book section and giggling at the anatomy pages.*
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Post by Alexei on Jan 27, 2008 16:30:33 GMT -5
*Alexei had realized he was back a few years on schooling, and, though he seemed to be caught up, wanted to make sure. He was drifting around the sections, picking up books his teachers had recommended (his mother had told him to pretend he'd been in India for the past few years and he'd talked to them all) and eventually made his way to the desk and plopped a huge pile of books down. His muscles were sort of obvious through his shirt and vest. He couldn't see the person behind the desk because of the books.*
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Post by Valerie on Jan 27, 2008 16:33:00 GMT -5
"Jesus. Did we run out of toilet paper at the fraternity house?" *she said flatly, meaning no real offense by it.*
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Post by Alexei on Jan 27, 2008 16:35:48 GMT -5
*He blinked at her.*
"Um, I have schoolwork to catch up on. Because I was in ... India. Yes. India."
*He'd momentarily forgotten his alias country.*
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Post by Valerie on Jan 27, 2008 16:37:08 GMT -5
*She raised an eloquent eyebrow.*
"Namaste." *she said dryly, placing her palms together and bowing her head slightly before she began to go through the books one by one and stamp their back pages.*
"You're pretty pale for an Indian," *she said, letting her eyes travel over his body.*
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Post by Alexei on Jan 27, 2008 16:41:39 GMT -5
*He turned a bit pink with confusion.*
"I... er... my family was there with the British military." *It was the first thing that came to mind.*
... my last name is Thenardier. Fuck.
*Whoa, when had he learned that word? Anyhow, he mentally slapped himself for not thinking of that. And of course it didn't really occur to him to lie.*
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Post by Valerie on Jan 27, 2008 16:45:06 GMT -5
"You alright?" *she continued stamping the books without having to look away from his face, slapping the covers shut with a practiced motion and adding them to the growing pile of checked out books.* "You seem a little...high-strung."
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Post by Alexei on Jan 27, 2008 16:48:37 GMT -5
*He blinked and cocked his head at her.*
"No, I'm just... nervous. Oh, wait. That's kind of the same thing." *he frowned for a moment at his own blunder. Stupid girls, they were too distracting.*
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Post by Valerie on Jan 27, 2008 16:52:01 GMT -5
*She looked at the pile of books.*
"...want to get a dictionary in there, too? Thesaurus? Anything?" *She shrugged and blew a lock of dark hair from her eyes.*
"Anyway, there's no reason to be nervous. Honestly. Did a librarian beat you for returning a book late or what?"
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Post by Alexei on Jan 27, 2008 16:53:40 GMT -5
*He smiled a little and chuckled softly.*
"No... just a lot on my mind."
Like the fact that I grew a good few years in one night.
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Post by Valerie on Jan 27, 2008 16:55:02 GMT -5
"Don't let it worry you too much. Life's too short. And worrying gives you wrinkles."
*She grinned and leaned on the counter.*
"And you're too cute to be spoiled by wrinkles."
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Post by Alexei on Jan 27, 2008 17:05:37 GMT -5
*This confused him as well. Girls were supremely confusing, he had decided. But at least she was straightforward.*
"I hope I don't get wrinkles, I guess." *He commented aimlessly.*
I'm not very good at this.
*He looked at some of the titles he'd been recommended.*
"Extended History of Modern Times... that looks... enthralling." *He said, grimacing a little at the thought of reading the whole thing.*
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Post by Valerie on Jan 27, 2008 17:06:56 GMT -5
*She hissed on an indrawn breath and clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth.*
"It's not. Trust me. Unless steam engines really get your juices flowing."
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Post by Alexei on Jan 27, 2008 17:12:32 GMT -5
"I get motion sickness." *His comments were really random. Dear God. True, of course, but almost entirely irrelevant. It was why he preferred teleporting but he couldn't really tell her that.*
*It was then he noticed he was floating at least two inches above where the ground was in order to see over the books.*
Shit.
*He attempted to cover it up and stand normally but he'd been floating long enough for her to have seen. And dropping two inches suddenl wasn't exactly inconspicuous.*
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Post by Valerie on Jan 27, 2008 17:15:58 GMT -5
*Both eyebrows shot up this time.*
"Well now, sailor, how's the shore leave?"
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