fate

[recaption]

[diamondstuddedkitty]

A tale of two C(K)atherines

@spiderspines

Kitty was in the business of maintaining the library to the best of her capabilities. Of course, it wasn’t the biggest library in the city, so it rarely saw any traffic. Which left her plenty of time to run old films on the projector in the side room. Just as she liked it. Honestly, if no one came in from day to day she would be perfectly content. It wasn’t like she needed this job to pay the bills or anything like that. Oh no she had other methods of doing so. 

Still she found herself wandering the aisles and reshelving the books that needed reshelving. Her fingertips tracing each grey spine of each grey book. Occasionally there would be a red one, which always caught her eye. But she wasn’t necessarily here for the old books. 

Kitty adjusts the pearls on her neck, making sure the clasp was perfectly in the back.

She went back into the side room and began to load another film onto the reel, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, a favorite of hers. But before she could even make it past the first number she found herself interrupted by the bell at the front door. 

Letting out a disappointed sigh, she deftly stopped the reel and stood back up. Making her way back to the front of the store. She looked at the woman who walked in.

It was the hair that drew her attention most. 

 Red, crimson even, the color of her favorite lipstick, the color of blood, the color of fate. Kitty’s favorite color. And the rest of her wasn’t bad to look at either. Perhaps this guest might not be a total waste of time. Kitty plasters a smile across her lips.

“Welcome my dear, if there’s anything I can assist you with don’t be afraid to ask.” Her words floated out musically, with the tone of someone who had definitely studied Marilyn Monroe’s inflection. “I’d be happy to help you. My name is Katherine, but Kitty to my friends.”

[spiderspines]

        Catherine was waiting for a client; a small girl who twitched when she spoke but had sweet brown eyes that were as shiny as melting ice. Sophie was sweet, but her parents had died under mysterious circumstances that she was held witness to. Understandable that she wouldn’t talk about it; Catherine had her own skeletons in her closet. Still, she got closer with every session they had.

Still, as Catherine waited for the HRL agent to approach with the girl in tow, she found herself being informed that they would be late, the ETA now bouncing from five minutes to nearly an hour. Traffic had been bad; worse now that a few streets had been taken out in some unsavory fights between gang activity and cultists.

There were a lot of cultists in this city.

Still, she walked undaunted to a small library across the street; one she had seen but never went into despite her love of books. Time had never favored Catherine Liu these days. Her heels clicked softly across the pavement, the only sound in what felt like the only part of Olive that didn’t roar with traffic. She considered moving here; bringing James and starting a family.

The door creaked open under the press of a gloved hand, the cool metal underneath mirroring the sound with a soft ‘clink’ of its own. Vintage was a word to describe the place; it was cute, timeless. She could kill time here, perhaps even get a book for Sophie to read when the words wouldn’t come. She paused, glancing over the shelves and finding no one-

Not until a voice with the inflection of a gal from one of ye olden talkies bubbled from the back of the store. Catherine glanced up, meeting the eye of the librarian who appeared suddenly (she walked from the back of the store, idiot) and was stunned- she was beautiful, stepping as if from an old detective film. Catherine blinked, crimson eyes fixed on the woman’s own.

“It’s a pleasure,” She began, although she was unable to hide the bemused expression that was quick to overtake her surprise, “Hello, Katherine. My name is also Catherine.”

She turned and took in the library once more, this time not quite as confident that she would be able to find anything on her own. After all, she was a Social Worker, not- well, a librarian. “I’m looking for the childrens’ literature section. Preferably I would like to find something gentle, maybe about birds.”