Nicolai Dunham

Nicolai Dunham - Librarian - 23.

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

Busy bee || OPEN

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

natbyrne:

“The patients want to spend time with you? That’s a feat unto itself. I haven’t meant one who thinks that I’m a friendly human being.” Sure, as a security guard she wasn’t supposed to be their best friend. Something less akin to hostility would have been nice for a normal conversation. “It’s nice that you’re so flexible with them. Someone more jaded wouldn’t let some of that pass.”

“It takes a little bit of convincing them sometimes that I’m not evil... but then again I’m a librarian, I have neither the power to give them medicines or lock them up anywhere, I’m not exactly the most threatening of people,” he said with a small shrug, his smile faltering a little as she spoke again. “I just know that a friendly conversation can go a long way with some people... sometimes the patients blur the lines between staff and friend and want me to go play games with them on my breaks; so I get the fun task of trying to talk them out of it... doesn't always work. I don’t see any harm in being nice though. Especially when lot of them think everyone is out to get them...” he trailed off a little with a melancholy hint to his voice before he finished with his pile of books and went to get another.

“What experiences have you had so far with the patients?” he asked, deciding to switch the topic a little bit but not too far away from what it had been.

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

Busy bee || OPEN

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

natbyrne:

“What an answer.” She smiled to herself. It sounded so eloquent. Of course anything with wourds would be his favorite, he was a librarian. She was an idiot for asking. “I’ve got nothing to write about you know.  The best novels always have plots.” Hopefully he’d understand the joke. “You can always do it for me though. After all these books are sorted. Who knew patients read so much. I thought they spent their time sitting in the hallway just gossiping.”

“Having a plot does tend to help,” he replied with a nod and a small grin, almost placing the next book in the wrong place as the conversation distracted him a little from his sorting. “If I have the time to write anything... yeah... not all the patients read so much, some just like the quiet in here. But some do read... some like having stuff read to them and being told stories too... I guess it just depends patient to patient,” he said with a shrug, there were plenty of patients he knew... and had known, who liked the atmosphere of the library rather than the books.

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

Busy bee || OPEN

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

natbyrne:

“Books tell you so much more about a person that they’d know.” She smiled back at him. He was absolutely right, not that she needed to directly acknowledge it. Wasn’t everyone looking for a better future? That was the the American Dream, to continually do better than what you have.

“Not that I’ll be penning the next utopian novel, but it would make the genre easier to read.” She turned back to shelving books. “What about you Mr. Librarian, what do you read?”

“Oh that’s a shame, you could at least try your hand at it. You never knoew you could be the next big seller,” Nicolai said with a wide smile, glad to be having such a pleasant conversation with someone- and glad to actually be spending some time conversing with another member of staff as it was usually the patients that chose to socialise with him more than anything. “Me? I’ll read just about anything if I can get into it. Obviously I’ve got preferences but as long as there are words I’ll give it a go,” he said with a shrug, “when you look after a library it’s not good to be bias anyway.”

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

Busy bee || OPEN

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

natbyrne:

“Oh I guess they’re not always. But so often the future is bleak. Phillip K. Dick didn’t write a happy story as far as I could find. All the dystopian themes that populate the shelves these days. I can’t get lost in anything so glum. I’d like to think that in the future things will get better not worse.”

She started scanning the spines of books to sort things. “Some how the bleak past is not as hard to get through. There’s nothing we can change about that. Maybe it’s just one of my idiosyncrasies.”

“I suppose you’re right, there should be a few more utopia’s to balance out but I guess that’s not what sells at the moment,” he said with a thoughtful look as he continued sorting books. “Maybe it’s because a bleak past is acceptable but you’d like a good future to look forward to,” he suggested, glancing across at Nat for a moment.

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

Busy bee || OPEN

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

natbyrne:

“Got it.” She checked the spines of the stack quickly to make sure he was right before lifting it up and walking to the science section albeit slowly, the stack was heavier than she thought it would be. “Science fiction’s never really been my favorite. I couldn’t tell you why, you’d think something about the endless possibilities would be enticing.”

She set the books down in the proper section to start shelving them. “Every time it ends so dark though.”

“I suppose it’s simply just not everyone’s cup of tea... and that’s the way it is with most things,” Nicolai replied with a shrug, “I’m into fantasy and sci-fi and big adventures but I really can’t deal with anything historical and actually set like... on Earth... I just find it confusing because either it’s not historically accurate or it’s just a rewrite of something that was supposed to have happened... I just can#t seem to enjoy it much.”

“What do you mean every time it ends so dark?” he asked with a frown, not quite sure what she was trying to say...

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

Busy bee || OPEN

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

natbyrne:

“Nat, I’m security.” She gently took his hand and shook it quickly before letting go and looking at the stack of books. “I can help.” Her first round was in a little bit over an hour, she was just going to drink lukewarm coffee and read in her office. This would be a fine way to kill the time too. “Maybe someone else has picked something good.”

The layout of the library was pretty easy to get after having been in it a few times, she didn’t think she would need much direction. The majority of the books were probably hers. “Just give me a stack.”

“Security, right,” he said with a nod, making a mental note of that to try and make sure he remembered and didn’t end up asking her what she did in the future. “Maybe they have.” “Just uh... take that one there,” he said pointing to one he’d made earlier on a desk in the corner, “I think it’s mostly from the science fiction section so it shouldn’t be too hard to reshelve them all.”

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

Busy bee || OPEN

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

natbyrne:

Nat hadn’t seen this librarian yet. Not that she’d seen much of anything yet, but she’d just been leaving little post it notes with the books she’d taken out for a shift or two. Title, date, signed by her. Just because she couldn’t find the on duty librarian didn’t mean she couldn’t access the books. But today there was someone stacking books and bustling around in the space, it only made sense to assume his job. His stack of books was impossibly tall, but there were times when she was younger she would have stacked books even taller.  Her tiny guest bedroom would be evidence of that now.

“I was just, picking up something to read.” She greeted, gently setting her latest book on the front desk to be resorted. “I’ve no idea what yet, but my shift is six hours so it has to be interesting.” Hopefully her smile would give away that she wasn’t serious about the topic. If anyone could make her life terrible here it would be a librarian refusing access to materials, not a rogue patient. “Unless you need a hand.”

“Well you're in the right place for it,” Nicolai said with a bit more of a genuine smile than he’d greeted the woman with, putting his stack down at the base of the shelves and walking over to look at the books she was returning.

“You need some suggestions for books?” he asked, checking the books sat on the desk before putting them down underneath it to be put back later when he was done with the stack he was in the middle of putting away. “A hand would be nice sorting these but I don’t really need it, it’d just make things get done sooner since it’s a bit tedious sometimes... I’m Nicolai by the way. Librarian here although you’ve probably guessed that already,” he held out his hand to shake her since he figured it was appropriate between work colleagues.

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

Busy bee || OPEN

Nicolai piled books up in his arms and returned them to their places in the library, a heavy sigh escaping him when a few fell over as he tried to wedge one back onto the shelf between them. After a few attempts at standing them all back up with his free hand, he put everything he was holding down and just shoved all the books together in frustration... feeling a little accomplished when they didn’t proceed to fall down, but not much really.

The last month or so had been stressful, even keeping track of the days was becoming harder and harder and he felt like he was starting to understand when patients would tell him they weren’t sure how long they’d been in the asylum... he’d been there a while himself, but with family life - especially his brother getting kicked out of school and continuing to kick up a fuss- things didn’t look to be getting any easier. And Lou leaving. While he himself had been so busy with matters outside the asylum Lou had gone. He quickly picked back up his pile of books and carried on what he was doing- only pausing when he heard someone come into the library. Turning he greeted them with a nod and a smile, shifting the books in his arms a little since they seemed to be getting heavier.

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

c3rise:

Nick. That’s what she called him, and it took her a hell lot of time to realize this little slip. Why she did or where it came from both confused the brunette, making her reevaluate her level of comfort with the new friend.

“No, it’s fine. It’s one of my favorites, actually, so I’ve read it countless times. More than I can remember, even.” Cerise replied, shaking her head with a shy smile curving her lips. “So what brought you to Eichen House? You don’t seem like the type to just end up somewhere very remote because job hunting in the city is tough.”

“If you’re sure... Oh I uh... I was looking for jobs outside of the University where I did my degree and training... and I came across the job advertisement for the Asylum, figured it’d give me a chance to work with kids a little bit like my brother since he’s autistic... and I ended up getting the job.” Nicolai smiled and gave her a small shrug, “I really like it here though. It’s nice and I get to actually help people which you don’t tend to get to do so much in a university library.”

[tyrell-garner]

Lunch | Victoria & Nicolai

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

victoria-falconi:

Vicky nodded and smiled. “I guess so, yes.” She ate another bit of her mac’n’cheese and listened to his words. “Yes, that’s true. I still wish it was less though. I wish it felt less like doing the work for other people either, so yeah. Anyways, any super cool new books down at the library?” She chuckled softly and grinned.

“Super cool new books... depends what you class as a super cool book? You into reading anything in particular?” he asked before having another mouthful of his lunch and a sip from his glass.

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

Mess Made || Ivanka and Nicolai

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

ivanka-harp:

Ivy grabbed another book from the floor and checked the shelfmark. This one belonged in a shelf on the other side of the room. She furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head. Who’d waste that much energy on destruction? She picked up another on after she had placed the previous book on the right shelf. “How’s ‘Inkheart’?”

“Inkheart? It’s been a while since I read that. It’s a good book but it is a little difficult to get into to start with... It’s worth a read though, you’d probably like it,” Nico said with a smile as he stacked some books up on top of his arm, leaning against his chest as he carried them to a desk. “Have you ever read Fallen- by Lauren Kate? That ones half decent although  I’ve not gotten around to reading any of the sequels though.”

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

c3rise:

“Yes, well, one can never be too careful in this age.” Cerise hummed silently, watching him disappear to wherever it was that he needed to be. It was time to indulge herself in literature after a really long time. It could have been more than five months since the last time she actually read something that wasn’t science related. Taking one of the picture books, the intern sat quietly by the corner of the room. Alice in Wonderland.

“Hey Nick,” She called out, soft as the wind, “don’t stories usually start with ‘Once upon a time’ or something relatively close to that? I think this one’s missing the first page- or more.”

“I suppose you’re right there,” Nicolai said with a chucle and a shrug... “Yeah?” he called out when he heard Cerise call him, “Yes some stories do tend to start with that- It is? Let me see,” he replied, putting down a book he’d picked up and quickly making his way over to inspect the copy of Alice In Wonderland that she’d been trying to read. “Yeah this does appaear to be missing a few pages... I think there’s a couple more copies around the library, I’ll just go grab you one that you can actually read.”

[tyrell-garner]

Lunch | Victoria & Nicolai

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

victoria-falconi:

“Sounds fun. I only really do art with the patients during therapy sessions. They mostly just come around and do something on their own or they come around and ask for something they could do if they don’t have any ideas.” She ate some of the pasta and smiled. “I like that part and doing all the art stuff myself. I don’t exactly like the part where I write pages on reports about behaviour of the patients while working on their projects or in groups, or the analysis of their works. Needs to be done though.” She shrugged and started eating again.

“It does need to be done... guess it’s kind of part of the job,” Nicolai replied with a grin as he looked across at her before turning to his food and starting to dig into it.

“I suppose most people have to do some kind of paperwork for most jobs though... comes with working really,” he shrugged a little, he hadn’t really had any paperwork when he was working in the university library but being the sole person currently running Eichen house’s he’d found himself getting used to the progress. He was fairly sure he didn’t have the same amount as a lot of the other staff members to fill out.

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

c3rise:

“Are you always this nice to everyone? Because I’m starting to fear for your existence in a place such as this.” It wasn’t exactly just a tease, somehow, she meant it. Being too nice to strangers in a nut house can’t possibly always end in peace. It can also end in pieces. 

Cerise nodded at his kind offer. At that point, tea, coffee or any beverage offered would sound nice to keep her from further embarrassing herself. “Yes, please. Do you mind if I take a look around? I promise not to ruin anything.” She then walked around the nearby shelf and let her fingers slide through the edges of the books. To give him more space and time to take care of what he had to do, the intern took a children’s book about a young mermaid and sat on the nearest table. 

“Why would you fear for me? You worried someone’s gonna take advantage of me?” Nicolai replied jokingly, shaking his head at her, “No I try my best with everyone I meet... so far being nice has worked well most of the time.” “You’re more than welcome to take a look around,” he replied, waving his hand casually and giving her a small smile, “I haven’t gotten around to cleaning all the graffiti off the shelves at the moment though so just ignore that if you find any...” he murmured, trailing off

[metalliciisms-blog]

                                            the greatest thing                                                  you’ll ( ever ) learn                                                       is just to ԼƠƔЄ                                                            and be ℓσνє∂                                                                 in ʀᴇᴛᴜʀɴ.

[c3rise-blog-deactivated20171103]

“No, I do enjoy reading. I guess it’s just the fact that this library holds a lot more memories and sentimental value that it makes me feel anxious. I’m really sorry.” Cerise felt guilt more than anything else and if it were someone less nicer than Nicolai that she had met, she probably would have ended in a bigger trouble. “It truly helps that it’s someone as kind as you that I have spoken to today. Somehow it makes my failures seem tolerable enough, so thank you Nicolai. I owe you one.”

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

“Ah right, I see... well there’s no need to be sorry about that, it’s not your fault you’ve got memories and things here,” Nicolai replied in the softest of voices while he shook his head, “you really don’t need to be sorry,” he repeated quietly before taking a sip from a drink he’d been allowing to cool beside him. Cerise seemed nice although he did feel sympathy for her- coming back to somewhere with so many memories only for the people from them to be gone. He imagined it to be quite heartbreaking actually... Almost like going to a childhood home to find someone else living there.

“They’re not failures I’m sure Cerise. You owe me nothing,” he said softly, bringing his mug to his lips before glancing at her again, “Would you like me to make you a drink?”

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

Mess Made || Nicolai and Zachary

[silentzacattack]

Zachary nodded his head slowly looking at the books in the garbage pile with a sigh, “it’s a shame that all these books are going to waste because people can’t be respectful.”

[nicolaidunham-eichenhouse-blog]

“Hopefully we’ll somehow find out who it was and find some way of telling them off,” Nicolai replied with a shrug, reluctant to suggest punishment since enough of the patients seemed to simply see being in the asylum as a punishment.