so it goes.

round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.

[arborkinetic-blog]

Lotus || Tom and Anais || V8 W3 || Monday Afternoon

[arborkinetic-blog]

“That would be appreciated,” Anais said, smiling a less-forced smile than she was used to. She had appreciated the suggestion- it wasn’t something she had originally thought of. She was ambivalent towards humanity in general, but any useful experience with plants was much appreciated.

“Oh…” Anais said to herself, standing straight and a two feet away from the man. She hadn’t gotten that far, “Remedies, I suppose. I am not sure where to begin…” She admitted.

[librarytom]

Tom relaxed, slightly. The student seemed a little less hostile, so he supposed he’d managed to say something right. Anyway, he was more comfortable with machines than people. They were easier; they never spiked his visions and they only ever required two pieces of input: yes or no. Zero or one.

He said, “Okay. I’ll do a search of our catalog and see if we have anything relating to remedies.”

He frowned at the screen and said, “Uh...looks like the best recent book I can find is on East Anglian plant remedies. I’m also seeing a number of articles from the Journal of Ethnopharmacology. I’m sure I can pull some issues, if you like.”

[cole-grimey-grimes]

Holistic Detectives || Cole & Tom || V8 W3 Wednesday Morning

[cole-grimey-grimes]

Cole simply nodded and smiled softly, not wanting to say on that topic any longer than they need to. He could understand why people would have questions, and sure, Cole was curious, but this Tom seemed like a nice guy - there was no use alienating him further. 

At the other man’s question, Cole shook his head, laughing a little. “Uh, me? No, not really. Unless comics count? I uh, don’t really have the attention span for that kind of thing so uh, nah. But I mean, I’m wanting to try again, so uh, what would you suggest? What kind of things do you read?”

[librarytom]

Tom smiled a bit, grateful for the distraction. He could talk about books. About items. Those were easier than people.

He said, “I guess I like a bit of everything. Maybe science fiction and fantasy more than other things.” He shrugged. “I like comics, too. And, I mean, those come in a lot of variety. So, uh, what do you like? Ever read Alan Moore or Warren Ellis? They’re quite good. A bit dark sometimes. Um, if you like space---kind of like a really messed up Star Wars---there’s a new series that just started last year. I’m not sure we stock it, but I can order in the first trade. I mean, collected volume.”

He scuffed the toes of his shoe against the floor. “Or not. I mean, I know you didn’t really come down here for books.”

[cole-grimey-grimes]

Holistic Detectives || Cole & Tom || V8 W3 Wednesday Morning

[cole-grimey-grimes]

Cole was, admittedly, a little confused by the reaction, but figured the guy must have his reasons. “Oh uh, no problem.” He said, somewhat sheepishly, though with a small smile. 

Cole couldn’t even imagine having something a damn depressing as that. “Honestly dude, with something like that I’m impressed you’re standing here. I’d just be a stone cold mess 100% of the time.” Maybe it wasn’t right to talk about, but the depth of shittiness that could come from abilities always managed to surprise him. “Seriously, you’re a stronger man that I. But uh, I mean, you probably don’t want to talk about it so I’ll uh… stop. Books!” He pointed to the shelves, smiling at Tom awkwardly, hoping he hadn’t made him feel too bad. “Those certainly are a different topic we can move on to, if you want?”

[librarytom]

“That’s...you know, not many people look at it that way. There’s usually questions and, well. You’re right. I don’t like to talk about it.”

Tom smiled, a small ghost of a smile, and said, “I appreciate you saying that.”

He drummed his fingers across the empty coffee cup in his hands, thinking, for the first time in a long time, about actually, willingly, shaking someone’s hand. He said, “I, uh, I do like books. Obviously, I guess. I work in a library.”

He glanced down at his shoes, trying to decide what to say next.

Anything. Just. Say. Anything.

“You read much?” he said.

[cole-grimey-grimes]

Holistic Detectives || Cole & Tom || V8 W3 Wednesday Morning

[cole-grimey-grimes]

Cole felt instant regret as soon as he saw Tom’s face fall. With the confidence of most of the people in the school, he forgot that not everyone wanted to talk about their powers. He could understand it, of course; some people had really picked the short-straw when it came to abilities. 

Then Tom actually said what his power was, and Cole seriously wishing he’d kept his mouth shut. But that was what he did, wasn’t it? Speak without thinking? Cole looked at him with a frown. “Dude, that sucks. Doesn’t seem fair you’d get lumped with that.” 

[librarytom]

Tom braced himself, prepared for the multitude of questions that always followed his admission about what his ability actually was: how does it work? Can you predict when someone will die? Can you see how I’ll die? He hated it. But it didn’t come.

He looked up at Cole and blinked. No one had ever said that to Tom before.

He said, “Yeah. It...it does.”

He smiled slightly and said, “Thank you, Cole.”

[cole-grimey-grimes]

Holistic Detectives || Cole & Tom || V8 W3 Wednesday Morning

[cole-grimey-grimes]

“Oh man, don’t worry about it!” Cole said with a grin, surprised to see someone conscious about asking those sorts of things. Far as he could tell, everyone in the building was just waiting for someone to ask them that question. “I fix things. Molecular reconstruction they call it, though don’t ask me to tell you the science behind it. Okay so don’t worry, I promise I wont wreck anything, just watch.” Cole said as he took a random book off the shelf and tore a few pages from the middle. After showing that the pages were completely out of the book, he placed them back and smoothed his fingers over the tear, smiling slightly as he could feel the paper knit itself back together. “Pretty neat trick.” Passing the book over to Tom, Cole couldn’t stop his somewhat proud smile. “So you got an ability too, or you just study them?” 

[librarytom]

Tom watched, mesmerized, as Cole effortlessly repaired the book. From time to time, it still came as a shock that there were people who liked their abilities, who found uses for them. 

Tom smiled and said, “That’s pretty cool.”

The moment Cole asked about Tom’s own ability, he felt the grin slide off his face. Idiot. Of course someone would ask that. Of course of course of course. 

Tom took a long breath. He swallowed. He said, “Yeah, I, uh, I have an ability. It’s...it’s not....”

He looked down at his shoes, watched himself scuff the toes of his right foot across the floor. He looked back up and said, “I see how people die.”

[cole-grimey-grimes]

Holistic Detectives || Cole & Tom || V8 W3 Wednesday Morning

[cole-grimey-grimes]

“If you say so, but if it’s too much just give me a call.” Cole gave the man a smile, hoping Tom wouldn’t try and take on too much work on his own, he knew as well as anyone that working all on your own could get incredibly boring - an lonely. 

Cole shuffled on his feet whilst waiting to see if Tom was going to speak again, and grinned when posed the question. “Maintenance. Something breaks around the school, then I go fix it. I think I got hired ‘cos of my ability though, since it does most of the work usually.

[librarytom]

“Your ability? Oh...ah, I mean....”

Shit. Shit shit shit. Tom wasn’t supposed to just ask people about that kind of thing. It was private. Then again, Cole didn’t look like he’d minded.

Tom glanced down at his shoes and said, “Uh, sorry. I, uh, one of the reasons I came here was to study abilities. I didn’t...I didn’t mean to pry.”

[arborkinetic-blog]

Lotus || Tom and Anais || V8 W3 || Monday Afternoon

[arborkinetic-blog]

“I’m Anais.” She replied, with a curt nod.

If he wasn’t going to offer a hand to shake, then she wasn’t going to bother with it. That formality was archaic, and it didn’t make sense that a polite greeting infringed on personal space… Anais brought herself out of her thoughts to pay attention to the man.

It didn’t surprise her that he wasn’t good with plants. It seemed the bulk of the campus just took them for granted. “That is fine. Do you happen to know much about medicinal plants? It was suggested to me as a side project.” She stated, unsure if that information helped or hurt the situation.

[librarytom]

The student seemed angry, but he couldn’t tell at what, specifically. Him? His odd mannerisms? His lack of botanical education? 

Does it matter?

He sighed. It didn’t, not really.

Tom said, “Medicinal plants? Sure. I mean, I know some things. I know how to find more.”

He turned and walked over to a computer station and sat down. He glanced back up at Anais. “What kind of medicinal plants? Opiates? Herbal remedies? Poisons? I assume we don’t have the information in a book or you wouldn’t be asking.”

[cole-grimey-grimes]

Holistic Detectives || Cole & Tom || V8 W3 Wednesday Morning

[cole-grimey-grimes]

“Nah, just someone to hand that extra coffee to, but looks like you’ve got that covered.” Cole said with a grin, drinking more of his own coffee whilst absent-mindedly poking at random books that he would never read. “She uh, should be back in a day or two. Mere, I mean.” He said with a small nod. “Are you uh, handling things okay? I mean, if there’s anything I can help with, I don’t think anyone would miss me.”

[librarytom]

“Oh...uh...thank you,” Tom said. “Thank you, but no, that’s okay. Meredith seems to, uh, be pretty organized. For the most part. I mean, she’s been away, so there’s lots of re-shelving to do. But that’s okay. I don’t mind.”

He frowned and chewed on his bottom lip.

You need to say something else. 

Tom said, “So...what do you do at the school?”

[mr-robotdaily]

[illusioncreation]

Entropy || Tom and Mere || V8 W3 || Friday Morning

[illusioncreation]

“Ah,” Meredith said nodding. “Uh, nice to meet you too. Sorry I wasn’t, uh, here to greet you earlier…” She apologized with a grimace. She’d known he was going to show up, but she’d managed to miss him every time he was supposed to be around.

She gently sat back down, afraid that just dropping her full weight would pop her stitches. It would make for a memorable introduction, but not one that she had any interest in enacting.

“So, uh…” She didn’t actually know much about him. “What sort of things do you read? Like, when we do book order we can, uh, get something you’ll find interesting, too? Because we’re like, technically not a high school, we’re kind of like… a technical junior college or something…” Meredith trailed. “What I’m saying is, uh, we have freedom to get really neat, expensive books.”

[librarytom]

The way she moved, Tom could tell there was something wrong with Meredith. He didn’t know what and he didn’t want to ask, but he could see damage written clear across her, and if he looked in her eyes he could---

No. Stop. Don’t look there. Don’t do that.

He bowed his head and stared at his shoes, at the black canvas scuffed and flaked with mud. It was even easier with broken people to see all their deaths, all sorts of future horrors and torments. He didn’t want to look. He didn’t want to see.

He kept his head down and his hands in his pockets and he said, “I, uh, I like all kinds of books, I guess. I’ve mostly been trying to research abilities. How they work, how to control them.”

He shrugged and said, “I’ve been, well....”

Tom looked back up at Meredith, trying to will his power to shut off. Sometimes it listened. This time it stayed hazy, indistinct. Her face was her face, but it kept blurring out of focus, splattering with blood and---

Stop.

He looked down again. She was going to hate him.

He said, “Uh, I’ve been looking into magic. Not really magic. But there’s...people write grimoires...accounts of fake histories...hoax Necronomicons,” he swallowed, “anyway, stuff that dates back to antiquity. I’ve been---I don’t believe in magic---but I’ve been looking to see if maybe, some of these occult stories, if any of their points of intersection could maybe be related to people with ability. I mean, mythology is made to explain the unexplainable, right? And magic is science we don’t understand. So maybe...maybe some of this stuff...maybe it’s not black arts or blood mages or divination. Maybe it’s just people like us.”

He shrugged. “I guess, if you have anything like that.”

[cole-grimey-grimes]

Holistic Detectives || Cole & Tom || V8 W3 Wednesday Morning

[cole-grimey-grimes]

Again Cole waited a little awkwardly for Tom to speak again, and almost spoke himself before he mentioned seeing wild things. Cole laughed slightly and nodded his head, going through all the notable things that hadn’t happened in his city over the years. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.” 

Drinking more of his coffee, Cole pushed himself off the shelves and walked around a bit, unable to stay still for much longer. “I mean, a lot of bad stuff, but the people are great. Seriously, they’re a bit cold, but a New Yorker’s got your back.” 

[librarytom]

Tom cracked a small smile. He didn’t like people as a rule, but Cole seemed okay. Certainly he was friendly, and gregarious in a way that wasn’t overly self-absorbed. It was easier when the other person carried the conversation anyway.

He wasn’t sure he agreed with New York having your back; maybe it was different if you were from here, but in the few years he’d lived in America, that hadn’t been Tom’s experience. He had no desire to argue the point, though. Instead, he hmmed in acquiescence and said, “You were looking for Mere. Did you need help finding something?”

[arborkinetic-blog]

Lotus || Tom and Anais || V8 W3 || Monday Afternoon

[arborkinetic-blog]

“Are those new books?” Anais asked, gesturing to the book cart. They may have been, but probably not. The school’s collection was growing, but she wasn’t hopeful that there would be new things to pique her interest. Occasionally, things that had interested her showed on the shelves, and she’d requested some titles, but she expected a back-order.

It took her a few moments to realize that probably came off as rude- “Oh, and I’m Anais. A resident-student. The other librarian said she was planning on ordering botany books in…” Anais trailed. She had trouble reading his face, his responses to her comments, but she assumed that he was most likely bored of what she was saying.

“it’s not a problem, if not.” She ended, not sure what to say, if she should say anything else at all.

[librarytom]

“Uh, not new, no,” said Tom. “Just need to be re-shelved. I guess.” He shrugged.

He could tell he was being unhelpful, that the student was becoming irritated with him, but he wasn’t sure how to fix that or even if he should try.

Tell her your name, at least.

He hated introducing himself to people. They always wanted to shake hands and ask questions.

Keeping his fists in his pockets, he said, “I’m Tom.”

He said, “I guess if you have books on order, you’ve already been to the botany section. I’m, uh, I’m not really good with plants.”

That’s not helpful. Look at her. She clearly came here for something. Most people, they don’t just wander into a library to entertain themselves. You can find almost anything; help her research.

He said, “I’m a researcher, though. If you, I mean, if there’s something specific you’re looking for.”

[cole-grimey-grimes]

Holistic Detectives || Cole & Tom || V8 W3 Wednesday Morning

[cole-grimey-grimes]

Cole thought for a minute he could see something akin to panic in the other man’s eyes, and over a simple question too. Not that Cole would ever call him out on it, it was just strange to think things he thought were straightforward could be so worrisome to others. 

“Oh cool!” Cole replied, nodding his head slightly and drinking more coffee. “This city’s great, I mean, you know, even with all the shit going on. I’m a Brooklyn man myself if that wasn’t uh, obvious.” He chuckled, referring to his own exaggerated accent.

[librarytom]

Tom was relieved to see that Cole hadn’t been put off by his accent after all. Or, at least, didn’t feel the need to comment on it. And he seemed happy enough to go on talking about himself, which suited Tom.

You do have to reply back. You can’t just let the room be swallowed up with silence. If you do, he’ll definitely think something’s wrong with you.

Tom shifted his feet and took another sip of coffee.

“You’ve lived here your whole life then?” he said. “Must have, ah, seen some wild stuff, I guess.”

[librarytom]

rupert thomas edwin pryce || character aesthetics

[cole-grimey-grimes]

Holistic Detectives || Cole & Tom || V8 W3 Wednesday Morning

[cole-grimey-grimes]

“No problem, friend, glad it’s not going to waste.” Cole grinned, waiting patiently whilst the other man decided whether to take the coffee or not. Taking a sip of his own drink, Cole leaned against one of the shelves and looked the new guy up and down. 

“Nice to meet you, Tom! You been here long? Seems there’s new faces all about the school I can’t keep up. Or uh, are you from the city? The accent’s telling me no.”

[librarytom]

Accent. Accent? Shit. Had he been slipping? He was usually so careful to maintain the neutral American voice pattern that would mark him as from no where in particular, USA. Or maybe that was what Cole meant, that he didn’t have a New York drawl.

Tom took a sip of the coffee, and then another. It was a good way to avoiding answering questions without seeming too rude.  He didn’t like talking about his history if he could help it, but since he’d been asked directly, dancing around the subject would probably draw even more attention.

He said, “I just started. I’ve been living in the city for a few years now, I guess. I wanted to try to help other people with abilities. So I came here.”

He shrugged and took another sip of coffee.

[illusioncreation]

Entropy || Tom and Mere || V8 W3 || Friday Morning

@librarytom

Meredith didn’t exactly feel better, but she was cleared for work so long as she stayed relatively sedentary and didn’t lift heavy things. Her brain still felt frayed at the edges, but at least she would be able to throw herself into work and away from thoughts of The Hunters. She’d been made aware that she would have an assistant, or something of that nature which she was grateful for.

She walked into the library, finding it already unlocked, and glanced around. Either he wasn’t in, or he was quiet, the latter being fine with her. Gently, she removed her backpack, and tossed it under her desk before she sat into her chair. Even slow movements like that felt awful. After the pain passed and she opened her eyes to see what she thought was movement in the corner of her vision.

“Oh, hey?” Meredith said with a wave, hoping that this was the new person. “Hey, I’m, uh, Meredith.”

[librarytom]

You need to stop hiding in the stacks.

He wasn’t hiding.

Go visit the rest of the campus. It’s a lovely, rainy day.

He had work to do. The books weren’t going to shelve themselves. And even if he finished, there was always research.

He turned a corner and found---someone. Another new person. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and balled them into fists. So this was Meredith. She was smaller than he’d been expecting.

He said, “Hi.”

Silence. Shit---why hadn’t she replied?

You have to finish talking.

He said, “Uh, I’m Tom. I’m the new assistant. Your new assistant.”

Hands still in his pockets, he said, “Nice to meet you.”

[cole-grimey-grimes]

Holistic Detectives || Cole & Tom || V8 W3 Wednesday Morning

[cole-grimey-grimes]

Cole was somewhat surprised that there was more than just Meredith working at the library, but maybe that would mean she’d get to relax a little more. “Well I’ll assume she’s not around here then.” He lowered his brows and looked at the two coffees in his hand. By the time he wandered around trying to find her, the other one would probably be cold. “You drink coffee?” Not one to waste a good drink, Cole offered it to the strange, before realising that he was a stranger and introducing himself. 

“Oh uh, I’m Cole, by the way, friend of Mere’s, fixer of stuff around the school, and occasional coffee bringer to workers.” He said with a smile. 

[librarytom]

Tom placed the book he was holding on the shelf and shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. He looked at coffee. He looked at Cole. He looked back at the coffee.

Finally, he said, “That would be nice. Thank you.”

He pulled one hand out of his pocket. He said, “I’m Tom. I’m the new assistant librarian.”