sixwordstories | (no subject)

As long as you're not living here.

[Sorry stands in front of the desk, a catalog card in hand.]

[She offers a brittle smile that silently suggests that she might be living here.]

On the plus side, I know where everything is, if you need help!

[It's not her place to judge, but it can't be comfortable.

Keeping back a wince, she places the card down onto the table, finger tapping at the title.]

I was hoping to find a book on Japanese traditions, since it wasn't on the shelves, could you tell me if it's been signed out?

Oh well they're organized by subject alphabetically. What kinds of traditions did you have in mind? We have quite a few fine collections on Japanese demonology and ghosts.

It's a book on the more common youkai that one could encounter when travelling across the country.

The title makes it sound more like a collection of stories than straight fact.

Well most of the material is folkloric in nature, but I do have some journals from people who believe they have encountered such creatures if you would like to supplement your readings with that? [She suggests, sweeping gracefully from her desk in a rustle of long skirts and heading for the right bookshelves.]

Yes, that would be extremely helpful.

[Following after, she takes the time to scan the shelves, eyes lingering on the higher levels. The titles, when there, are hard to make out.]

[The texts range in age from fairly recent to a hundred years old. Some, much older, are closed in cases like glass coffins with a stern note that Evangeline must be consulted before they are accessed. The shelves are spotted here and there with strange, grim artifacts. Skulls with fangs and horns and other anomalies. Little, once-living things in jars. Obscene woodcuts of demons and devils. A photograph of a group of blank-eyed Haitian men, the caption reading something about voudon zombis in French.

Eva finds the shelf Sorry is looking for and gestures to it. It is marked by a specimen in a glass case identified as a kappa]

Here you are. This shelf whole shelf from top to bottom. More modern collections are in the middle. Texts in the original language are on the top. Transcribed journals and first-hand accounts are on the bottom. There are some lovely illustrated ones from the turn of the century as well. I hope what you're looking for is here.

[A quiet nod at the information.

She passes the specimen case when she moves up to the shelf, eying the bowl shaped head.]

I'll remember that. Thank you for your help.

[She keeps her hands behind her back, picking out the books she wants to look through first before physically retrieving any.]

[Eva is decent enough not to hover and trusts Sorry will conduct herself without harm to the books and retreats.]

Feel free to ask me if you require any more assistance.

[She waits till Eva is clear of the shelves before taking three books. One was what she'd originally asked for, and the other two at random (as long as they were topical), setting them onto a table set up for that purpose nearby.

Pulling a scrap of paper from her pocket, she leafs through to the pages indicated, looking up specific passages. She'll be at it for a while, though it'll be finished long before the marked closing time; even with the cross referencing in the other texts.

When done, she'll return the books onto the shelves, waving goodbye as she leaves.]