"Not ordered?" She repeated it after him, nose scrunching. "Why buy the first and fourth, and none of the others? No, someone must've taken the others..."
But he's right, there are lists they can check for culprits. "Aren't there meant to be officials in charge of this kind of place, to keep everything where it's meant to be? Ah, but we don't have any officials..." Her chatter was enough to last until she'd scrambled to her feet, and oriented herself towards one of the library terminals.
"Sounding like you want the job, ah?" She seemed fundamentally disinterested in librarianship, though she was perfectly happy to discuss it if it'd keep the guy invested. Not that he'd make a good official - too small. "If someone's going to steal, they'll steal whether there's a list or not... whatever, go and look, tell me if the others are here!"
"... Tell you what, if I don't find it in the next two minutes, I'll request them from the shop myself. How does that sound?"
Because he's been in this library more than long enough to become familiar with it, and if those interquels aren't here, they may well just not be here.
That sounds... remarkably generous, actually. She stops to consider him more narrowly, her memory of how many points each person has a little out of date. He has enough, she's sure. Mental accounting done, she huffs, and joins him at the computer.
"Maybe. Have you read them?" She slides the books onto the shelf, so he can see the covers.
His nod is echoed by hers, her blank eyes lighting up. Now she knew the ending, she felt much safer investing herself in the rest of the story. Disappointing endings were the worst.
"Exactly, it's-- ah, okay--" Of course, finding the others would take priority. She'd asked it, after all! But now she knew he'd also enjoyed them, the need to question him on the books hummed under her skin. She'd ask after, she decided. At least she didn't need to feel bad about suborning him, if he also liked them.
She follows him to the terminal happily enough. Worst case scenario, they'll end up with two copies if the others are somewhere on the train.
"The ending seemed good," she thinks about it. "Some things weren't resolved, but it ended happily. If there were more, wouldn't there have to be more problems to come?"
"But - doesn't that mean we get to decide whether to keep looking, outside of these two books? That we get to decide if those problems exist, at least on the train?"
Such power in the hands of children! Oh boy.
"We only have to get them if we want them; that's what having to order things ourselves means."
So, while it was annoying the train didn't make the carriage with books... it wasn't necessarily all bad.
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Re: Jelly 15 - for Alfredo
Especially when there's books involved.
"Missing... as in checked out? Or - could they not have been ordered?"
Though he'd admit that also raises the question of why.
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But he's right, there are lists they can check for culprits. "Aren't there meant to be officials in charge of this kind of place, to keep everything where it's meant to be? Ah, but we don't have any officials..." Her chatter was enough to last until she'd scrambled to her feet, and oriented herself towards one of the library terminals.
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There was a random books function in the shop, after all. Maybe it hadn't been planned...
Alfredo is definitely following her to that terminal, though he'll let her type the request in.
"I'm not even sure where we'd keep the standing list. On paper? The ICPs?"
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"... Tell you what, if I don't find it in the next two minutes, I'll request them from the shop myself. How does that sound?"
Because he's been in this library more than long enough to become familiar with it, and if those interquels aren't here, they may well just not be here.
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"Maybe. Have you read them?" She slides the books onto the shelf, so he can see the covers.
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"Yes, though it was a while ago. I liked this one more than the first, really."
Putting a conflict to an end and bringing sides together rang more personally for him than the first book's plot, anyway.
"I'll be right back."
And so commences the two minutes (max) of prowling the library, top to bottom.
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"Exactly, it's-- ah, okay--" Of course, finding the others would take priority. She'd asked it, after all! But now she knew he'd also enjoyed them, the need to question him on the books hummed under her skin. She'd ask after, she decided. At least she didn't need to feel bad about suborning him, if he also liked them.
Two minutes later, "So?"
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"We'll have to get them from the shops, at the end of the carriage ... I wonder if there's even only four?"
It's a fair question, but he sticks to the initial parameters of the request for now.
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"The ending seemed good," she thinks about it. "Some things weren't resolved, but it ended happily. If there were more, wouldn't there have to be more problems to come?"
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"But - doesn't that mean we get to decide whether to keep looking, outside of these two books? That we get to decide if those problems exist, at least on the train?"
Such power in the hands of children!
Oh boy."We only have to get them if we want them; that's what having to order things ourselves means."
So, while it was annoying the train didn't make the carriage with books... it wasn't necessarily all bad.