[maramall-blog]

Wrapped Up in Books [Alar and Mara]

[mechgymleaderalar]

maramall:

    Mara nodded as she listened to Alar speak. He seemed well-rounded in his interests and experiences. He was a romantic, but he liked monsters - well read, but not necessarily the classics. 

    “No, only a few weeks now. Myrtle - er, Ms. Torris - she lives here, so you’re bound to see her more often than me. I only moved from Havencrest a month ago.” The job had fallen into her lap almost too perfectly. Barely moved in and desperately on the hunt for a job, Mara had happened to see a note on the bulletin board in search of an assistant librarian, which she had just the right credentials for.

    “There’s a bakery? I had no idea,” Mara said, surprised. It made sense that a town like Clearwell would have a bakery. Rather than having one supermarket, they probably had individual stores for every different type of food. She had been to the produce market, but nowhere else thus far. “You said the baker’s name was Lenna - do you know her well?” she continued, curiosity piqued.

    This conversation was turning out to be even more useful than she originally thought. Clearly this person knew a lot about the town. He also made her realize that she needed to socialize more - what other nice folks was this town hiding?    

“Right, yes, I know Ms. Torris. Usually she’s the one I go to for my books.” He rolled his shoulders. Standing on one place was beginning to make him restless. “She’s nice, we get along.” His fingers then began to tap on the countertop, though he continued to smile. Despite restlessness, he was in no way disinterested in their conversation.

“There most certainly is a bakery. Have you not gone?” He leaned back into the countertop. “Lenna is a great baker. Best place in town to eat, though I might be biased.” It was obvious that he had a sweet tooth, and perhaps unhealthy cravings. “She also makes really great coffee if you like coffee.” He thought Lenna had tea, too, but he didn’t know. He wasn’t the biggest tea person.

He began to think. What else did he know about Clearwell so far? Honestly, not much. He knew few people here, and those he did know he didn’t know well. He was working on that, of course, and getting somewhere with it, but he still didn’t know many people.

[maramall-blog]

    “Yeah, she’s really nice,” Mara said, admiration sparkling in her eyes. Ms. Torris had been exceptionally kind to her despite neither of them knowing each other very well. 

    “No, never been! Maybe I’ll go there tomorrow morning,” she determined, although she probably didn’t need another source of unhealthy food. Coffee, though! “If she makes good coffee, I’m sold.”

    “Is there anywhere else you like to go around town?” she asked. She wasn’t necessarily looking for useful places, just somewhere to go besides work and her house.

[maramall-blog]

Wrapped Up in Books [Alar and Mara]

[mechgymleaderalar]

maramall:

    She nodded in affirmation. Realistic fiction - it certainly wasn’t for everyone, but some of them were masterpieces. Mara struggled to hide her smile as he slowly encroached on more and more of the counter space. She couldn’t blame him - it was a pretty nice counter. 

    “Yeah, The Shining’s awesome! You should at least watch the movie,” she said, quirking an eyebrow. “I’m sure we’ve got a copy back there somewhere.” Jack Nicholson’s was not a performance to miss. 

    “The classics can be kind of a drag - just remember, it isn’t school anymore! You can pick ones that interest you, ones that are easy to read.” Anne of Green Gables was quite a peculiarity - she didn’t expect to lend it to him quite as fast as the romance novel. 

    They did have different tastes, but if they liked all the same books, they’d have nothing to discuss! Her mental list of things to look up and read was growing longer by the minute.

    “I’m Mara - the, uh, assistant librarian, as you can see.” She’d never met a mechanic before - he looked surprisingly clean for someone who probably worked with motor oil on a daily basis. It was quite impressive. “Do you get a lot of business? I’ve only seen a handful of cars in my area.” He was an intriguing character - a well-kept mechanic who liked romance novels and comic books. 

“Oh, yeah, I have seen it. Maybe when Fall rolls around I should rewatch it.” He thought about how it’d be his second Fall here this year. Maybe he’d do something other than buy every pumpkin spice treat that Lenna sold at the bakery.

“I remember we read one when I was in high school. Uh, I think it’s a classic. Jane Eyre? I guess? That one put me to sleep.” He laughed quietly. “We did read Frankenstein though, and I liked that one. It was a bit more fun, probably because it was all about monsters.”

He supposed he could try to find one to read now that he was older. He might find more appreciation for it now that he wasn’t in school, wasn’t obligated to read anything. That was something that had always made it hard on him to read–being forced to read something. He enjoyed those books less on principle.

“You’ve not worked here for very long have you? I’ve seen you around I think but not had the chance to talk to you.” Myrtle was the one he usually talked to when he was in the library.

“Mmm, automobiles not so much, but sometimes. Usually those living on the outskirts more. I’ve spent some time in the bakery though helping Lenna repair a few of her appliances, stuff like that around town.” He smiled as he spoke. He could tell she seemed a little surprised by his particular profession. Who could blame her–he valued looking clean. To him, Mara looked like your normal librarian. Mousy, quiet, but excitable, and it showed that she was passionate about books with how she spoke.

[maramall-blog]

    Mara nodded as she listened to Alar speak. He seemed well-rounded in his interests and experiences. He was a romantic, but he liked monsters - well read, but not necessarily the classics. 

    “No, only a few weeks now. Myrtle - er, Ms. Torris - she lives here, so you’re bound to see her more often than me. I only moved from Havencrest a month ago.” The job had fallen into her lap almost too perfectly. Barely moved in and desperately on the hunt for a job, Mara had happened to see a note on the bulletin board in search of an assistant librarian, which she had just the right credentials for.

    “There’s a bakery? I had no idea,” Mara said, surprised. It made sense that a town like Clearwell would have a bakery. Rather than having one supermarket, they probably had individual stores for every different type of food. She had been to the produce market, but nowhere else thus far. “You said the baker’s name was Lenna - do you know her well?” she continued, curiosity piqued.

    This conversation was turning out to be even more useful than she originally thought. Clearly this person knew a lot about the town. He also made her realize that she needed to socialize more - what other nice folks was this town hiding?    

[maramall-blog]

Wrapped Up in Books [Alar and Mara]

[mechgymleaderalar]

maramall:

    Mara found herself interested by his extensive knowledge on the various prints and editions of the series. Almost an equal match to her brother - almost.

     “Oh, ol’ Art and Craig?” she said, answering his previous question. “Spiegelman did an allegorical thing about the Holocaust - Jews being mice and Nazis being cats, of course. Thompson does kind of a variety. My favorite is autobiographical, Blankets - kind of an existentialist romance, if you’re into that sort of thing.” 

    “Yeah, sorry, that was kind of a curveball,” Mara noted as he stood thinking. When she heard his reply, she couldn’t help but smile. “I love The Little Prince! I truly believe the opening part of that book is one of the best moments in literary history,” she gushed, recalling a particular part about a drawing of a boa constrictor eating an elephant being mistaken for a hat. 

    “Stephen King is great too. I’m not usually one for horror but The Shining changed me.” Mara couldn’t remember a time when she had talked this much all at once, especially about books - especially about something she cared about. 

    Her favorite book? She probably should have been expecting that, considering she asked in the first place. “Well, Anne of Green Gables was really important to me growing up, so that’s up there for sure.” As a kid, Mara could always trust Montgomery to take her somewhere else with vidid descriptions of the scenery.

    Despite not even knowing this person’s name, she was glad she was having a conversation with them. She’d been weirdly isolated to just her cat and her boss, Ms. Torris the past few weeks. Being a generally introverted person this wasn’t too bad, it was just strange. She was very acclimated to constant background clamor.

    Regardless, she was thankful for this moment, right here.

“Oh, so that kind of stuff? Is it like, based on non-fiction but is it fiction?” He leaned into his palm, now taking up the whole of the counter. Good thing the library was busy, otherwise he’d definitely be in the way. “I’ve never really read anything quite like that. Never thought it’d interest me, but I mean. I’ve never gave it the chance.”

He filed away the names. No reason why he couldn’t at least give them a shot sometime. “I guess I should start out with something not overwhelming.”

Her excitement over The Little Prince brought a grin to his face. “The beginning was really great. I always enjoyed the moments with the Fox, myself.” He thought back over the last time he’d read the book. It had been some time. The Fox’s speech about friendship and taming one another had always stuck with him.

“Believe it or not, I’ve not actually read The Shining.” He laughed. How could you call yourself a Stephen King fan and not read The Shining?

He waited for her response to his question, then grinned. “Ah, is that one considered a classic?” They had such different tastes in reading material. “I’ve not actually read many classics.” He certainly hadn’t read Anne of Green Gables.

He smiled down at the desk and stood to let his back stretch. He’d been living in Clearwell since the Summer, but hadn’t had the chance to actually talk to someone about books at length.

It made him realize he hadn’t actually read anything worth talking about in some time. Well, no, that wasn’t true. He read plenty. Just because their tastes were so varied didn’t mean his trashy romance novels weren’t worth reading. And hey–she had actually let him borrow one. She liked them, too.

“Oh, I’m Alar, I’m the mechanic here in Clearwell.”

[maramall-blog]

    She nodded in affirmation. Realistic fiction - it certainly wasn’t for everyone, but some of them were masterpieces. Mara struggled to hide her smile as he slowly encroached on more and more of the counter space. She couldn’t blame him - it was a pretty nice counter. 

    “Yeah, The Shining’s awesome! You should at least watch the movie,” she said, quirking an eyebrow. “I’m sure we’ve got a copy back there somewhere.” Jack Nicholson’s was not a performance to miss. 

    “The classics can be kind of a drag - just remember, it isn’t school anymore! You can pick ones that interest you, ones that are easy to read.” Anne of Green Gables was quite a peculiarity - she didn’t expect to lend it to him quite as fast as the romance novel. 

    They did have different tastes, but if they liked all the same books, they’d have nothing to discuss! Her mental list of things to look up and read was growing longer by the minute.

    “I’m Mara - the, uh, assistant librarian, as you can see.” She’d never met a mechanic before - he looked surprisingly clean for someone who probably worked with motor oil on a daily basis. It was quite impressive. “Do you get a lot of business? I’ve only seen a handful of cars in my area.” He was an intriguing character - a well-kept mechanic who liked romance novels and comic books. 

[maramall-blog]

Wrapped Up in Books [Alar and Mara]

[mechgymleaderalar]

maramall:

    “I didn’t know it was Archie! My brother used to love these,” Mara sighed reminiscently. She flipped through the colorful pages, smiling at the stylized art. “Maybe I’ll pick one up sometime, they look great.” Continuing to page through it, she answered his earlier question. 

    “I haven’t read a lot of traditional comics - like, superheroes and stuff. I liked Harley Quinn for awhile in middle school, but then I really got into - “ She paused, eyes narrowing,  trying to think of a way to phrase “graphic novel” without making it seem like comics were somehow below her or insubstantial. 

    Comics really were graphic novels, but then, what differentiated the two? “ - non-periodical stuff, I guess is the term? Stuff that reads like a book. Thompson and Spiegelman are my favorites, I think, but they’re really serious - not a whole lot of prankage going on there,” she said wryly. 

    Handing the book back to him, she looked up at him directly. “Do you have a favorite of all time?”

“Yeah! They’re still doin’ the regular digests every months, you know the Archie ones, the Betty and Veronica ones, the Jughead ones. But this last couple of years they’ve been doing some revamps, this is one of them.”

Mara would notice that the revamp was a bit thinner and larger, more like a regular issue comic from Marvel or DC. Quite different from their digest issues.

Alar didn’t recognize the two names she gave him, but that didn’t cut his interest in the conversation. “Ah, I don’t know their names–what do they write?” He leaned into the counter in thought. What was his favorite book? He’d read a lot of books. But did he really like most of them?

He continued to think–this actually was a fairly hard question. “Y'know, back in high school I first read The Little Prince, and that was a really good book. I ended up buying my own personal copy after we finished with our assignment in class.” It held sentimental value to him, and he brushed bangs from his eyes as he admitted this. “Either that or something by Stephen King.” He laughed quietly. “Fairly different genres, huh?”

“What about yours?”

[maramall-blog]

    Mara found herself interested by his extensive knowledge on the various prints and editions of the series. Almost an equal match to her brother - almost.

     “Oh, ol’ Art and Craig?” she said, answering his previous question. “Spiegelman did an allegorical thing about the Holocaust - Jews being mice and Nazis being cats, of course. Thompson does kind of a variety. My favorite is autobiographical, Blankets - kind of an existentialist romance, if you’re into that sort of thing.” 

    “Yeah, sorry, that was kind of a curveball,” Mara noted as he stood thinking. When she heard his reply, she couldn’t help but smile. “I love The Little Prince! I truly believe the opening part of that book is one of the best moments in literary history,” she gushed, recalling a particular part about a drawing of a boa constrictor eating an elephant being mistaken for a hat. 

    “Stephen King is great too. I’m not usually one for horror but The Shining changed me.” Mara couldn’t remember a time when she had talked this much all at once, especially about books - especially about something she cared about. 

    Her favorite book? She probably should have been expecting that, considering she asked in the first place. “Well, Anne of Green Gables was really important to me growing up, so that’s up there for sure.” As a kid, Mara could always trust Montgomery to take her somewhere else with vidid descriptions of the scenery.

    Despite not even knowing this person’s name, she was glad she was having a conversation with them. She’d been weirdly isolated to just her cat and her boss, Ms. Torris the past few weeks. Being a generally introverted person this wasn’t too bad, it was just strange. She was very acclimated to constant background clamor.

    Regardless, she was thankful for this moment, right here.

[star-gaazer]

👀

[maramall-blog]

Wrapped Up in Books [Alar and Mara]

[mechgymleaderalar]

maramall:

    Mara leaned forward slightly and plucked the bookmark out of the book. “No worries!” She was glad he was being so cool about the whole situation. At first she had thought it too weird, randomly offering this person a book, but he seemed okay with it! 

   She watched as he pulled a book out of his own bag and handed it to her. Reading the back, it looked cheesy as anything - but hey, the cheesier the better, right? Flipping over the cover, she was pleased to see it wasn’t to overbearingly sexy. 

   “Thanks, that’s really kind of you,” she said, letting out a contented hum as she set it down on the counter. She felt kind of bad taking it but Mara had a feeling he wouldn’t take no for an answer. 

   “What about Jughead?” she said suddenly, feeling brave. She didn’t know a whole lot about regular comic books but maybe he could tell her something. 

Alar indeed would have not taken no for an answer, so it was a good thing Mara had agreed with no struggle. He would have insisted. “It’s no problem. It starts off a bit cliche, actually. I hope you enjoy it. It’s kind of wild.” He chuckled.

He started stacking his books back together when she spoke up. “Oh, Jughead? Do you like comics?” He leaned back into the counter, happy to continue talking. “Well these are from a new comic run.” He flipped open one of the issues, seemingly an issue number 10. “So they’re a bit different from earlier comic series from the Archie company.”

He flipped open to a random page, and a short haired blonde girl was trying to pull some form of magic-centered prank on the titular character. “But it still holds the same theme. Boy obsessed with food is kind of dense, people around him try to catch his interest, fail. It’s all slapstick somewhat.”

He offered the comic over to her to flip through; the issue was focused on multiple pranks between the blonde girl, seemingly named Sabrina, on Jughead. “They’ve been doin’ a bunch of reimagines somewhat the last couple years with the Archie series. Surprisingly they’ve actually touched in on a few important topics, too.”

[maramall-blog]

    “I didn’t know it was Archie! My brother used to love these,” Mara sighed reminiscently. She flipped through the colorful pages, smiling at the stylized art. “Maybe I’ll pick one up sometime, they look great.” Continuing to page through it, she answered his earlier question. 

    “I haven’t read a lot of traditional comics - like, superheroes and stuff. I liked Harley Quinn for awhile in middle school, but then I really got into - “ She paused, eyes narrowing,  trying to think of a way to phrase “graphic novel” without making it seem like comics were somehow below her or insubstantial. 

    Comics really were graphic novels, but then, what differentiated the two? “ - non-periodical stuff, I guess is the term? Stuff that reads like a book. Thompson and Spiegelman are my favorites, I think, but they’re really serious - not a whole lot of prankage going on there,” she said wryly. 

    Handing the book back to him, she looked up at him directly. “Do you have a favorite of all time?”

[lovelyetsy]

“Sofa Chic” Print by HNIllustration

[maramall-blog]

Wrapped Up in Books [Alar and Mara]

[mechgymleaderalar]

maramall:

   She gave the countertop a gentle squeeze, relieved, and couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “No need. Believe it or not, I actually remembered it because I’m re-reading it right now. Let me grab it from my bag, you can borrow it.” 

    She squatted behind the counter, dropping out of sight, leaving only audible sounds of ‘rooting around.’ Coming back up for air, she regarded the book for a moment before holding it out to him, cover down, for reasons concerning a certain smoldering half-naked man on the front. 

   A small smile curved the corners of her lips. “I really hope you like it. Just bring it back when you’re done, yeah?” she said. Mara parted from the book with only a trace of sadness - she had been at a particularly suspenseful part. Regardless, she hoped that maybe this would be the first of several books she lent him. 

Alar’s smile grew larger at this; it made him feel good that she trusted him with her personal copy. He reached forward and pulled the book closer, read the back of it and smiled. It sounded promising. It sounded more like a historical romance, which got his interest some as well.

He flipped the book over and widened his eyes slightly. “Oh wow, ha.” The imagery caught him slightly off guard. It was a little racier than he’d thought it was going to be. “Ha, they’re both cute.” His voice had grown lighter and a bit of warmth shot through his cheeks.

He then noticed her book mark and realized she hadn’t yet finished reading it. “Oh, are you sure you want to let me borrow it?” He looked up at her, head tilting. He sat the book on top of his stack and tugged his leather bag around and dug through it.

“Mm, if that’s okay, then I’ll let you borrow one of mine that I’m not finished reading.” He handed a book to her, likewise face down. The cover wasn’t as racy, but it was still a romance. He’d never really had someone to swap books with; it was really exciting.

[maramall-blog]

    Mara leaned forward slightly and plucked the bookmark out of the book. “No worries!” She was glad he was being so cool about the whole situation. At first she had thought it too weird, randomly offering this person a book, but he seemed okay with it! 

   She watched as he pulled a book out of his own bag and handed it to her. Reading the back, it looked cheesy as anything - but hey, the cheesier the better, right? Flipping over the cover, she was pleased to see it wasn’t to overbearingly sexy. 

   “Thanks, that’s really kind of you,” she said, letting out a contented hum as she set it down on the counter. She felt kind of bad taking it but Mara had a feeling he wouldn’t take no for an answer. 

   “What about Jughead?” she said suddenly, feeling brave. She didn’t know a whole lot about regular comic books but maybe he could tell her something. 

[maramall-blog]

Wrapped Up in Books [Alar and Mara]

[mechgymleaderalar]

maramall:

   Oh. He wanted to talk. Woah. Was this really the first person who had struck a conversation with her? Wait, this wasn’t even a conversation yet. She was kind of just awkwardly standing there. 

   “Oh, it’s - um - “ When she had mentioned the book she hadn’t realized she would be summarizing its plot. “It’s just, like, kind of a typical romance novel. Beverly Jenkins, if you’ve heard of her. It’s kinda loosely historical, like, pirates and stuff - forbidden romance. Good writing, good setting - it’s just different from the others. Wait, I just it was typical. I mean, it is, but - “ Crap. She was rambling.

   Mara quickly cut herself off and took a deep breath. “Okay. Pirates, ocean, a regrettable night of passion - that’s the typical stuff. But it just kind of sets itself apart. It’s special - can’t explain it, y’know?” Wow, she was red right now. And she had just talked for thirty seconds straight without stopping. 

    She normally never talked this much at once, but things tended to spill out of her when she was nervous. Why was she nervous? People didn’t normally make her nervous. Then again, she didn’t know this person, or any person here. Mara breathed out quickly and started determinedly at her hands, anxiously awaiting whatever would come next.

Alar’s lips twitched into an amused grin as she rambled about the book. He leaned back a little into the countertop, listening with interested. His head tilted to the side just a degree. She had really gotten into trying to explain this book, so much to the point of growing red.

It was cute in a way.

“So what you’re saying is I should probably borrow this book too, right? Do you know if there’s a copy in the library currently? Or would I have to make a request for Havencrest to send it?” If she liked it so much, he figured he probably would too.

She seemed passionate about books, and he’d love to have someone who he could swap book recommendations back and forth with. He didn’t really know the library workers too well. This would be a good chance to get to know someone who liked books as much as he did, if not more.

[maramall-blog]

   She gave the countertop a gentle squeeze, relieved, and couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “No need. Believe it or not, I actually remembered it because I’m re-reading it right now. Let me grab it from my bag, you can borrow it.” 

    She squatted behind the counter, dropping out of sight, leaving only audible sounds of ‘rooting around.’ Coming back up for air, she regarded the book for a moment before holding it out to him, cover down, for reasons concerning a certain smoldering half-naked man on the front. 

   A small smile curved the corners of her lips. “I really hope you like it. Just bring it back when you’re done, yeah?” she said. Mara parted from the book with only a trace of sadness - she had been at a particularly suspenseful part. Regardless, she hoped that maybe this would be the first of several books she lent him. 

[maramall-blog]

Wrapped Up in Books [Alar and Mara]

[mechgymleaderalar]

maramall:

    Mara tried to conceal her smile as she took the paper from him. “Hey, don’t be embarrassed,” she said, trying to be reassuring. “Romances are some of the best ones. Outlander, The Princess Bride - even the bad ones can be good. Captured is my favorite.” She quickly checked off his order in her record book and moved over to the holds section.

    “Jughead, Jughead,” she murmured under her breath as she scanned the short row of holds. Next to them she found the romance book in question. She firmly decided to spare him the embarrassment and not look too hard at the cover. Returning to the desk, she sniffed -  a self-conscious tic of hers - and carefully wrote the checkout information on the card in the back of the book. 

    When she got to the second book, she found that the checkout card was filled. “Crap. Gotta get a new one,” she said hurriedly, feeling bad for not giving him a chance to respond to her bad small talk. Returning from the back room and finishing the rest of the books, she gave him an easy smile, nervous as to whether he’d say anything at all or just leave. 

Alar glanced to the counter as she spoke, a light smile on his own lips. “I don’t think I’ve read any of those.” He intended to ask what Captured was, but she moved away rather quickly.

He leaned into the counter top and waited patiently, his chin falling into his hand while his weight rested on his elbows. He started to speak when she returned, still curious about the book, but as she hurried away to the back room, he looked down and let out a quiet laugh.

He would have definitely remembered her if he’d run into her before now to check his books out. When she finally returned, he looked at her with a smile and returned to standing. “So Captured, what’s it about?” He reached for his books and pulled them toward him, but left them on the countertop with his hands over them. There weren’t others immediately making their way to the check out counter, so he figured he’d have some time for small talk if she stayed.

[maramall-blog]

   Oh. He wanted to talk. Woah. Was this really the first person who had struck a conversation with her? Wait, this wasn’t even a conversation yet. She was kind of just awkwardly standing there. 

   “Oh, it’s - um - “ When she had mentioned the book she hadn’t realized she would be summarizing its plot. “It’s just, like, kind of a typical romance novel. Beverly Jenkins, if you’ve heard of her. It’s kinda loosely historical, like, pirates and stuff - forbidden romance. Good writing, good setting - it’s just different from the others. Wait, I just it was typical. I mean, it is, but - “ Crap. She was rambling.

   Mara quickly cut herself off and took a deep breath. “Okay. Pirates, ocean, a regrettable night of passion - that’s the typical stuff. But it just kind of sets itself apart. It’s special - can’t explain it, y’know?” Wow, she was red right now. And she had just talked for thirty seconds straight without stopping. 

    She normally never talked this much at once, but things tended to spill out of her when she was nervous. Why was she nervous? People didn’t normally make her nervous. Then again, she didn’t know this person, or any person here. Mara breathed out quickly and started determinedly at her hands, anxiously awaiting whatever would come next.

[maramall-blog]

Wrapped Up in Books [Alar and Mara]

    Another slow day at the Clearwell County Library. Either people weren’t reading enough or they just didn’t know the library existed. There were some usuals who seemed to drip and drab in around lunchtime, people who stopped in fifteen seconds before closing to grab their holds, and handfuls of students doing schoolwork throughout the day. Other than that, there wasn’t too much activity.

   Maybe it’s just a bad season, Mara thought. She’d only been working there a little under a month, after all. But this library was vastly different from the one back home; there were constantly seminars and workshops in the rec room, kids running around (albeit quietly), malfunctioning self-checkout machines (Clearwell seemed to exist on a plane where such newfangled contraptions didn’t exist. Hell, they still used a card catalogue.), angsty high schoolers in the YA section, and always, always people reading.

   The library was always her dad’s favorite place to go on his visiting days. It was vibrant, and kept his mind off other things. She wished this library had the same attractive, positive force - maybe she’d have to do something about that. In the meantime, she had holds to label and returns to put back. She was just finishing printing the last label when the bell rang, signaling someone’s arrival. At 6:45 PM? Wild! she thought, a tad cynical.

   Looking up, she saw visitor had dark, fluffy hair and was quite tall. She didn’t recognize him, but thought maybe she’d passed by him at the beginning or end of a shift. He looked like the sort who’d be a regular.

“Hey, welcome. Do you need anything?“

[mechgymleaderalar]

Alar checked his wristwatch and sighed. 6:20pm. He had just finished tinkering on a motor that he had to send back to one of the Clearwell shops the next day, and he was a bit of a mess as was one of the tables in his workshop. He was pretty sure he had a hold at the library, so he was hoping to stop by before the evening closing time.

Cleaning up wouldn’t take too long. He wrapped the motor up in a cardboard box and grabbed his rag to wipe away the oil scattered along the tabletop.

As he finished, he tossed the rag into a laundry box near the sink and spilled pumice soap into his hands. The grease was layered up his wrists; who knew one motor would be so dirty to repair? He washed the grease and soap from his hands and flicked the water off, made his way inside, and changed into simple clean clothes.

He stuffed his wallet, keys, and the like into his pockets and made his way outside, door locked behind him and garage door pulled down and secured. He checked his watch a second time, 6:35pm. It wasn’t too far of a walk to the library, and he enjoyed the scenery of the town.

He walked through the door and smiled at the librarian who greeted him. He didn’t recognize her fully, but suspected he’d seen her a couple of times at the very least. “Hey!” He walked over to the counter and pulled his wallet out, then his library card. It was different than what he’d had in the city he came from–it was a simple paper business card-like card, with his signature and the library’s name on it. It had surprised him when they laminated it by hand. They were still in the card system here; it had an old-timey feel to it.

“I’m here to pick up a few books from Havencrest–one Havencrest rental and two personal orders.” He dug in his wallet for the paper from his last order. “Uh, the Jughead comics were the order. The rental is an, ah…” He seemed a little embarrassed to admit this. “A romance.” He offered the slip of paper to Mara.

[maramall-blog]

    Mara tried to conceal her smile as she took the paper from him. “Hey, don’t be embarrassed,” she said, trying to be reassuring. “Romances are some of the best ones. Outlander, The Princess Bride - even the bad ones can be good. Captured is my favorite.” She quickly checked off his order in her record book and moved over to the holds section.

    “Jughead, Jughead,” she murmured under her breath as she scanned the short row of holds. Next to them she found the romance book in question. She firmly decided to spare him the embarrassment and not look too hard at the cover. Returning to the desk, she sniffed -  a self-conscious tic of hers - and carefully wrote the checkout information on the card in the back of the book. 

    When she got to the second book, she found that the checkout card was filled. “Crap. Gotta get a new one,” she said hurriedly, feeling bad for not giving him a chance to respond to her bad small talk. Returning from the back room and finishing the rest of the books, she gave him an easy smile, nervous as to whether he’d say anything at all or just leave. 

[maramall-blog]

Wrapped Up in Books [Alar and Mara]

    Another slow day at the Clearwell County Library. Either people weren’t reading enough or they just didn’t know the library existed. There were some usuals who seemed to drip and drab in around lunchtime, people who stopped in fifteen seconds before closing to grab their holds, and handfuls of students doing schoolwork throughout the day. Other than that, there wasn’t too much activity.

   Maybe it’s just a bad season, Mara thought. She’d only been working there a little under a month, after all. But this library was vastly different from the one back home; there were constantly seminars and workshops in the rec room, kids running around (albeit quietly), malfunctioning self-checkout machines (Clearwell seemed to exist on a plane where such newfangled contraptions didn’t exist. Hell, they still used a card catalogue.), angsty high schoolers in the YA section, and always, always people reading.

   The library was always her dad’s favorite place to go on his visiting days. It was vibrant, and kept his mind off other things. She wished this library had the same attractive, positive force - maybe she’d have to do something about that. In the meantime, she had holds to label and returns to put back. She was just finishing printing the last label when the bell rang, signaling someone’s arrival. At 6:45 PM? Wild! she thought, a tad cynical.

   Looking up, she saw visitor had dark, fluffy hair and was quite tall. She didn’t recognize him, but thought maybe she’d passed by him at the beginning or end of a shift. He looked like the sort who’d be a regular.

“Hey, welcome. Do you need anything?"

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[agustinatommo-deactivated202202]

babe 💤

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Blankets - Craig Thompson

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b&w edit