Paper, dust and leather {OPEN}

[aluinn]

____________
BALLARI AMARE

What you see in yourself
is what you see in the world.
^{- Afghani Proverb}

the smell of old paper, leather and dust filled the air. White light filtered through tall windows along the far wall, each bordered by a tall shelf of books. They were the largest collection of books in one area of the small'ish room. It wasn't much f a library, really, it was more of a glorified office space. There were large maps of all sorts of kinds; geographical, temperate and regional. Some were old, they seemed as though they'd been collected since the beginning of time, then there were others that were new and state of the art. The entire library was a plethora and mingling of the ages. Old and new, residing together in one important place. Dust filtered through the air,dancing along the rays of light that trickled through the windows. Dust tended to collect in this room and it was up to one feline to maintain its cleanliness and order.

despit, or possibly even because of, the dreary darkness and stuffy nature of the small library, Ballari Amare rather enjoyed her time here. Though, no, she was not alone, she had long since given up trying to be alone. She was currently dusting off a stack of books which she'd left in one place for far too long. Last week she had re-organized the logs, which some of the apprentices had been studying and replaced in incorrect order. Lari had become frustrated and dropped all other projects in order to carefully replace every recorded log to its desired position in the cabinet where they were kept. Now she was returning to her normal duties, which included re-shelving and books that had been borrowed or misplaced throughout the library. Ballari lifted the top book; a leather bound copy of 'Sparrows for a Penny' which was written from the perspective of an explorer who spanned the globe during his exploits. Ballari flipped the front page over and ran her digits down the front page, her paw pads smoothly gliding over the paper's dry surface. It was dedicated to the author's daughter. Lari snapped the book shut and tucked it under her golden arm, gathered the other two books, and trod toward the far wall where the bookshelves were. You missed a spot on that book, you probably should fix that.

[/i] Lari ignored the voice.[/size]

she slid the novels into place and ran her paw down the spines of all the books on the shelf as she walked down the length of the shelf. There was a cushioned seat in the window where one might sit to read comfortably. It was vacant, however, and Ballari passed by, her golden-bronze eyes watching for anything out of place. There, just ahead on one of the tables provided for study, lay a copy of an encyclopedia. It was only one of almost a hundred volumes in the set. Ballari lifted it up. It had been left open on the page that was discussing technological advancements since the stone age. Someone was doing homework, at this age thats quite sad. Lari ran her finger down an illustration of circuitry, her nail trailed a swirling pattern around it, "Some are still in highschool, it may not be as bad as you think." Lari's nose twitched and she slowly closed the heavy volume. Her skirt rippled around her well muscled legs as she strode back across the room toward the shelving unit where all the dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauruses and the like were kept. Her dress was a pale blue color, the neckline was around and wide, the sleeves plumed before being gathered again at her wrists. There was no form fittedness the dress, it hung from her shoulders down to her hocks were its hem was located.

lari finished replacing the book and turned around to survey the room. The library was empty right now, and it probably would remain that way, save a few older members of the guild who regularly came to read their favorites sporadically throughout the day. The afternoon would be more busy when members were not working or attending school any longer and had time to study, or were required to do some research for an assignment of sorts. Amare tended to sit down with a book when her duties were finished and she had some time between jobs. Right now everything had been dusted, re-shelved and the two plants which Ballari had been attempting to keep alive, were watered.They were barely surviving, but she'd watered them anyway. You spend too much time with your nose in books. This job doesn't suit you. Go and fight something. Lari smiled smugly and wrapped her fingers around her favorite biography entailing the lifelong journey of enlightenment made by a young Serval, All this religious poppycock. You shouldn't fill our head with such things; its disgusting.[/i] Ballari blew out a breath and sunk into the overstuffed office chair which was behind the giant desk where she worked.[/size]
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[Raron]

Dimitri gazed upon the world he had entered. It was a world familiar and alien to him at the same time. A world the obeyed hidden rules and had it's own code. Where noise and chaos was strictly forbidden and punished by the walkers of the shelves known as... librarians. He looked upon the rows of shelves that coated the walls, covered the space, and created a maze out of what was normally an empty space. He sniff the air that smelled of staleness, dust, an silence. Each and everyone of his senses told him that his place. This world, was a holy one. One that should not tolerate those that would not obey its laws. He held his breath as he walked through the archway.

If he was to tell the truth the usually noisy furre never felt at home in a library though throughout his childhood he loved to devour books... granted every single one of the books involved his obsession. Firearms, tools of destruction, melee weapons, and even weapons of mass destruction. What furrekind had created to destroy he wanted to make. He wanted to be the one who others would look to for their weapons of choice. The one behind the scenes that made it so missions would be a success and due to his work the good guys would win and he would be one of the reasons. That was enough for him.

This was the reason he was in the library at the moment... or rather his superiors were the reason. It had come to their attention that Dimitri had not actually left the armory in three months except to get his treatments done. His sacrifice that he had given up had been sleep. The ability to sleep. This would normally involve huge side effects but several different treatments kept this at bay. He would need the treatments for the rest of his life and no one was sure how long that would be. This was not a surgery anyone had really done before so the long term effects were unknown. Unknown. That was something he didn't like but he could and would live with it. The real sacrifice he had made was making the duration of his future life the quality of it unknown to him. The furre who tried to plan for much despite his seeming unpredictability tried to plan things out in advance as he could... he had purposely removed that option. That was the price he had paid to indulge his obsession with the greatest group of armed forces the city had. That had been part of the problem.

Due to them finding out the information now he was banned from the armory for two days. They called it a enforced vacation but the plan was to see if in those two days he would find something worth doing that had nothing to do with guns, bombs, or other weapons of war. To see if he could get a hobby. Banished he had clad himself in his favorite outfit and walked his way to the library after an appropriate amount of moping time. He went in hope of finding a distraction, finding something to get rid of this boredom that intruded. He gazed upon the books and mumbled to his shelf as he read titles and scanned covers. His black t-shirt proudly proclaimed him to be the "Most well armed MoFo in the land". His denim pants decorated with the stains of his works and his green slightly slimy skin shimmered in the lights which hung over head. He looked upon the books and wondered aloud.
"Where am I?"
He realized he had gotten lost in the library...