A Bookies Delight

Gaia had managed to snag a job for once. Looking at her, one would think she's a prude with her long sleeve turtleneck sweater, and black leggings under her skirt, and even a hooded cloak over her shoulders. She was far from a prude though. She wanted to go out and do things for herself, and go on a slight adventure, as well as never go back to where she once called 'home.'

Since running away from home, she's been trying her hand at magic, but kept it to herself. Around her neck, tucked behind the back of her collar, was a fluffy little boa that looked much like a ferret even. The girl had short black chopped hair, with her bangs to her breasts. She was a short one, but she tries to walk like she's taller, even in her boots. She reads the paper over, a sweet old lady wanted a book. Something that she felt was easy enough. The woman wanted a book that was no longer in print apparently, and was called 'The Love of the Nine Northern Winds'. A library nearby had this book though, and Gaia was eager to read it through before she gave it to the woman. She snickers as she adjusts her glasses upon her face.

She stuffs the paper into her little bag on her hip. Honestly? Gaia didn't know where the library was here... She never been to Peace Village till now. Stopping, she looks around till she approaches someone to ask them for directions to the library. She clears her throat and runs a hand through her hair. "H-hello... would you happen to know how to get to the library here? I've never been here... and I'm a bit lost." She asks as she puts on a soft, sweet smile while holding her hands behind her back and crossing her right leg behind her left, balancing on one it while the tip of her right foot touched the ground. Her burnt sienna eyes were bright as she thought of the many books within the walls of the library that she could read in under an hour.

The white thing started to wriggle a bit on her neck, opening a large black eye, the ferret peered at the person whom her owner was talking to. A few people nearby were watching the girl, trying to undress her a bit mentally from all the clothes she had on, and their faces went to shock at the sight of the little ferret on her neck when it moved. Gaia snickers softly as she reached a hand up and patted it's head softly, coaxing the little animal back to sleep on her.

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Kyran was coming off of a long day of hard work when a beautiful nerdy woman came up to him to ask a question. He had been trying to put the town back together after the disaster that had struck it only a week ago. The damage had been significant and Kyran felt partially responsible since it had been his job to protect the town. As a result, his shirt was off, soaked in sweat. Kyran felt the blush creep across his face before he could stop it. He grabbed a towel and looped it around his neck. There was nothing he could do to hide the tattoos and the scars on his chest or back. Might as well play it off cool. As he opened his mouth to speak, Malinda put in her two cents. Ssssshe'ssss a sssshy nerd. Bet sssshe's a freak in the ssssack. You should give her a try, hosssst. You might enjoy the outcome.

"Its understandable that you are lost, miss" Kyran said with a grin. The smile hid his discomfort at being in front of an attractive woman while partially undressed. Woman were usually repulsed by his scars and his tattoos. "The town is kind of a mess after the attack a week ago. Library? I can lead you there. I'm terrible at giving out directions and you might end up more lost if I gave them to you. Besides I love the library." Perhaps being in Onyx Moon was helping him. Before, Kyran would have barely said two words to the woman. Now he was forming whole sentences. That was a massive improvement. He waved to the crew he'd been working with before setting off.

Kyran noticed the ferret when he turned to look at the woman and smiled. It reminded him of Tamaria for some reason. "So what are you looking for at the library? A good book? I can recommend a few if you wish. I've read through almost their entire fantasy section." He rubbed the back of his head. Perhaps he had a little too much free time on his hands. Though fantasy had always been an escape for him. He devoured the books when he read them. Kyran led the woman to a massive building that looked like a steeple. It was funny that books would be held in a building once meant for worship. At least, in Kyran's opinion. "Here we are" He said gesturing to the building. "If you need anything else, just ask the people where Kyran is. That's me, Kyran is. I'll come help if I'm able." He smiled, bowing slightly.

WC: 436

Immediately, as the stranger started to blush, Gaia begun to as well. She coughs as she lets her gaze go to the ground, and takes a deep breath to calm herself. Her hands come up front, and she fiddles with her fingers a bit. She quickly glances up and finally realizes he was shirtless, and noticed the scars and tattoos that were on his body. Her blush returned as she closed her eyes, pushing up her glasses with her index and middle finger on the bridge of it. As he spoke to her about leading her to the library, and mentioned he loved the library at the end, her head perks up a bit. A small smile was on her face. "Really?" She couldn't help but ask. The ferret looks to Gaia and moves her feet to get her master out of the la-la-land she was in. The girl shakes her head and takes a deep breath as she starts to follow.

She was silent as she glanced over to him and tried to see the tattoos on his body. She looks down to her own arms, and softly snorts to herself. Like she'd ever get a tattoo... it'd never be shown. When he spoke up again, the girl glances up to him, and stops dead in her tracks. "You've read all of the fantasy books in the library?" She murmurs and covers her mouth a bit. She couldn't help herself as she went over and grabbed his arm. "You serious that you read all those books? Did you use Gale-force glasses too?!" She lets go of him with one hand and pinches the arm of her glasses to wiggle them a bit.

The ferret moves and wraps around Gaia enough to get in her face. She gasps and lets go of the guy as her face gets bright red and she grabs the ferret. "Sorry, Noya... and sorry for grabbing you suddenly... I get excited over books too easily..." She admits softly, first talking to the ferret before talking to the guy, scratching her cheek nervously. When they got to the library, she observes the old church like place for a moment, before she clears her throat. "Why... Why don't you come in and help me, please? I'll get distracted by the other books... I'm here to check out a book for a sweet old lady... Ms. Wakowski. She's looking for a book called 'The Love of the Nine Northern Winds'. I think it is a Fantasy, Romance genre book... Supposedly it's out of print, and she wants to get it, but she's unable to come herself to get it..." Noya was wriggling in Gaia's hands before scrambling up around her neck again. She then blinks and gasps as she puts a hand over her chest and gripped the end of her skirt with her other hand, giving a short curtsey to Kyran after she realized he introduced himself. "I'm Gaia, Gaia Sabin." She says and looks to the door of the library.

The excitement for this place had come back already as she goes and opens the door quickly. As soon as she opens it, a few people who were the librarians of the place, were scrambling about. One of them looked up and sees the two at the door while making a fearful face. "I'm sorry! But if you came here looking for a specific book... you'll have a bit of trouble finding it... or not at all for a while. Someone decided to pull a prank and mix up the books." The guy says as Gaia's face dropped. She shakes her head as she starts walking in quickly. "What did you say? What about 'The Love of the Nine Northern Winds'? Do you know at least where that book is?" She questions in a pleading voice. The librarian looks to his companions, who were in view of him and heard Gaia and all shook their heads, before he looked at Gaia as well. "Unfortunately, we haven't seen that one yet..." He says to her.

Gaia bit her bottom lip rather hard as she looks around the library. "I'll help." She simply says as she looks to the cart of books, then to the shelf the guy was at. He was startled by her sudden urge to help, and slowly nods his head while sighing rather deeply. "Grab another cart, like most libraries, we have the book numbers and titles in alphabetical order." He motions to the end of the isle and Gaia quickly looks at it before she nods and goes off to fetch another book trolley and goes down and isle no one else was in. As soon as she started trying to search, she ran into an issue. She was a tad short for the shelves and couldn't see the top shelf too well... or reach it. She whines softly as she also wasn't able to find any of those stools nearby some libraries also had for the shorter people. She looks back to the trolley behind her, and takes a deep breath. This was going to be dangerous for someone as short as her. She steps on the bottom rack of the trolley and starts to push up a bit to slightly reach the top shelf, but it wasn't too big of a distance, and she felt the trolley creak under her even though she didn't weigh too terribly much, it was still too much for the trolly.

Words: 915
Total: 1,320

Kyran wasn't quite sure what to make of this girl besides that fact that she was really into books. He chuckled softly at her eagerness. He did quite like the deep red on her face whenever she was embarrassed. It made her easy to read and that was something Kyran valued. It kept someone from hiding secrets from him. Something went down his arm when her fingers wrapped around it. It wasn't all together unpleasant but he felt uncomfortable with her touch. He opened his mouth to ask her to stop when the ferret got in her face. The woman released him. Kyran couldn't help smiling. There was something about this girl that was different from anyone he had ever met. "I can tell that you get excited about books." Kyran chuckled. His eyes widened when he realized the demons hadn't spoken while she was touching him. That was a small blessing. "I haven't read all the fantasy books no but I have read most of them. I...I don't know what Gale force glasses are though." He gave her a nervous grin. Whatever those glasses were they probably helped with reading. Possibly reading faster?

"'Love of the Nine Northern Winds', huh? That was a pretty good book. First part of a quartet." Kyran rubbed his chin as he summoned up his memories of the book. He tended to have a pretty good memory when he read something. "I can't say I liked the protagonist's best friend much or the love interest in the first two books. The second half of the quartet, The Love of the Two Southern Winds and The Love of the Four Western Winds were much more enjoyable to me." He smiled then remembered she had asked a question. "Sorry I get a bit lost in books myself" Kyran rubbed the back of his head with a guilty smile. "I'll join you inside to help in a few moments. I'm going to wash this sweat off first. Should be easy to find though" A hose was curled up against the outside of the library. Kyran noticed her curtsy and bowed in return. "Simply charmed to make your acquaintance, Ms. Sabin." Kyran hoped he wasn't presuming to much by addressing her as single.

Once she was inside, Kyran wasted no time dousing himself with water. It wasn't a fun experience but he endured it. He didn't want to stink up the library. A few boys ran past snickering and Kyran watched them, curious. They were known to him. None of them seemed like the type to be so mysterious...or mischievous. Kyran finished cleaning up before walking through the doors. Water streamed down his naked torso as the doors opened. A few of the women inside moaned softly, probably unaware that Kyran could hear them. He didn't trust them however so their attempts at flirting had never been reciprocated. The bustle around the library interior was not normal at all. A raised eyebrow at a library helper got him talking. "Prank. Help the other mage, will you, Mr. Dyer?" Kyran nodded and went in search of Gaia. He found her doing something rather dangerous.

Instead of calling out to her--which would have made her fall certain--Kyran did the next best thing. He stepped up behind her, his hands falling into place on her hips. As the trolley collapsed, Kyran held the slight mage in the air. "Forgive my forwardness, ms. Sabin. The cart was about to collapse and I try not to let beautiful women get hurt in my presence." Oh my hells, can you be any more cheesy? Why don't you just toss your long luxurious locks or roll your muscles while the water slowly rolls down them? Ugh you are the worst. Malinda hissed. Kyran smiled at the irritation in the snake's words. He carefully placed Gaia's feet on a lower shelf. "Finish putting that book up, yeah? Then I can put you on the floor. Actually would you like to sit on my shoulder? That way you can reach all the high shelves and I'll deal with the low ones. Might make this quicker." Kyran flashed a smile even though she probably couldn't see it.

WC: 700
Total: 1,136

Gaia nervously chuckles as he noticed she got excited for books. As he mentioned he didn't know what Gale Force glasses were, she smiles and points to her glasses. "These! They're special glasses that allow you to read however many times faster. I got the times sixty-four model, so I can read up to sixty-four times faster." She muses. As he mentioned reading the book, she nearly tripped a bit. She honestly didn't expect him to have read it. "Maybe I should get the rest of the books for Ms. Wakowski then! She may like reading all of them." She muses after she had listened to how he described the books. "I haven't met anyone who liked to read like I had before." She gives him a smile with a soft blush to him saying he was 'charmed to make her acquaintance', before she had gone in the library on her own.

Gaia was just about to step down from the trolley when she felt hands on her hips, in which she let up a startled yelp and curled her legs up some while she was picked up. Her face was red as she looked back around and saw Kyran was the one holding her. It simply got redder as he called her beautiful. Slowly, she uncurls her legs to not be an uneven weight in his arms. "T-thanks..." She says as she reaches onto the top shelf when he held her up on the lower shelf. She takes a couple books down that were in the wrong spot, and turns to look at Kyran again. Her jaw hung slack as she wasn't sure how to respond to his suggestion of her on his shoulders. "Um... Erm..." She bites her bottom lip as she looks to the books for a moment, then nods her head. "Yeah... let me take my cloak off first." She murmurs as she sets the books, that she had just grabbed, on a lower shelf that either of them could grab before she unbuckles her cloak and tosses it on the edge of the cart. Most of her cloak had been behind her, out of her way, so he hand't placed his hands too much on it and it was easy for her to remove from him. She adjusts her sweater and looks to Kyran to see if he'd put her on his shoulders for real or not. Or if he was just teasing her. She had a soft blush on her cheeks as she inflated them. She didn't know how she should feel about him possibly teasing her for this.

Noya wiggled on Gaia's neck again, moving to get on her masters head, letting herself be known, and looking like a fuzzy headband as she had gone sideways on her head. Gaia sighs as she had wanted to take her down, but wasn't going to disturb the creature. She reaches onto the top two shelves and starts organizing them to the right shelves if Kyran puts her on his shoulders, and even still if he left her on the lower shelf. She was trying hard to concentrate, with her feeling a guy touching her, as well as Noya being unable to stay still on her. Gaia clears he throat and looks to the cart that was collapsed. "Could you fix that really quickly? We need to put the books that don't even belong over here, on it." She murmurs as she bites her bottom lip. She didn't know what to do in this situation. She closes her eyes a bit and takes a deep breath. She had to focus. A guy couldn't deter her from her job she was getting jewels for completing. And she was now redetermined to find at least 'The Love of the Nine Northern Winds' book. That was the focus. She nods her head as she reseted her train of thought onto the job for the most part.

Suddenly, Noya jumped off of Gaia's head, and she panicked a bit. "Noya! Come back!" She scrambled off of Kyrans shoulders, or out of his hands if he still held her, and quickly is running after the quick little ferret. "Noya!" She hisses as she skids around a corner of a shelf and dives for the little thing. She had the ferret caught between both her hands, and glances up. She gaps as she sees the book she wants, and goes to grab it. The book was tucked away on the bottom of the shelf in an area that no one had been organizing in just yet. Before she had the chance to grab the book, a kid had ran by her, almost stepping on her before he grabbed the book right off the shelf and ran away. "Hey!" She cries out and lets go of Noya while getting to her feet and running after the kid. Noya was running along side her. The kid was laughing his head off as he continued to run away from Gaia with the book she needed for the old woman.

Words: 844
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Kyran peered at the magical glasses, a slight frown appearing on his face. Why hadn't he heard of this before? He could have read so many more books if he had had them before. "Those sound useful for people like us. We can read many more books using them." He chuckled at her reaction to hearing he had read the book. When she mentioned getting them all for her client, Kyran held up a finger. "Well in that case you want to get The Love of the Seven Eastern Winds then as well. That way she'll have the complete set. Not my favorite but needed in order to fully understand the latter half of the quartet." He smiled down at her when she said she had never met someone who enjoyed reading as much as she did. Kyran didn't normally let people know how much he liked reading. It was a secret hobby of his though it only remained secret out of habit.

"I apologize, Ms. Sabin. I didn't mean to frighten you. The trolley was about to collapse and I didn't want to see you get hurt" Kyran rumbled turning his head to the side. He couldn't see through her cloak but it was more a matter of principal for him. He didn't want to seem like a perv, sticking his nose in her butt. Malinda attempted to uncoil but Kyran mentally grabbed the snake by the throat. He didn't need her interjections here. Kyran's face got bright red when Gaia removed her cloak. Where his head was at, the edge of her skirt barely covered her. He quickly put her onto his shoulders. A soft groan escaped his lips. Her soft thighs on either side of his head did not help his issues whatsoever. It might have been better to put her down and be rude. His hands moved to gently clasp each of Gaia's thighs. There was no point in risking her falling. He would have to bare with having yet another girl that didn't want him in close proximity. Hearing her question, Kyran looked up. And regretted it. His body wouldn't let him forget that Gaia was an immensely beautiful woman.

"I can fix it temporarily but it wouldn't do any good long term." He looked down at the totaled cart. "You kinda destroyed it. Didn't anyone ever tell you not to stand on rickety old carts?" His voice was teasing. Unintentionally, Kyran's hands rubbed Gaia's thighs in a soothing manner. It was something he had done for Claudia. Yet the action didn't make him sick as it had in the past. Gaia had a soothing quality that let him block out what that bitch had done to him. When Gaia scrambled off, Kyran protested "Wai..." He happened to turn at the right moment to catch her skirt flying up just before she ran after the ferret. His cheeks turned bright red. For a few moments, his feet were rooted to the carpet. Never, since Claudia, had he seen a woman's panties. Malinda tried to slither out again but Kyran wouldn't let her out. Not now not ever if he could help it.

When Kyran started after Gaia, he saw a familiar face running past. When Gaia and the ferret ran past as well, Kyran had a good idea of what was going on. "ANTHONY!" He thundered, walking after the group. There was no need to hurry. The boy ground to a halt, turning with a sheepish look on his face. "Give the nice lady the book, Anthony and I won't tell your mother about this. Also you'll be helping put every book back in its rightful place, don't argue with me." He added the last part with the little boy opened his mouth. Anthony and his friends were the town trouble makers. They liked Kyran since he had helped them with a few pranks. However, they knew the library was his favorite place. This prank did not go over well with him. The look on Anthony's face was sad as he handed the book to Gaia. He knew Kyran was disappointed in him.

As she was on his shoulders, Gaia's cheeks flared a bright red color. She had placed a hand on his head to keep herself balanced, and takes a deep breath as she sat upon him. This really wasn't something she was used to, and slightly wriggles on him to make herself comfortable while on him. She thought she heard a groan or something from Kyran, but she couldn't quite place her finger on it if he did. Shaking her head, she goes to starting to adjust the books a bit, till he spoke to her. She starts to blush and pout a bit, till she felt her thighs being rubbed up on. Her cheeks got even warmer, and she arched her back forward as she puts her hands on his. "C-can you please stop? I-it's ticklish." She murmurs, closing her eyes as she felt embarrassed to admit she was ticklish on her thighs. She honestly liked the movement though, but it felt a bit too ticklish for her.

After she had jumped off of his shoulders, she didn't really look back at Kyran to see what he was doing. She was focused on her little ferret. Noya was half of her life. Her cards were the other half. And somewhere in there, she was in there with the mixture. She temporarily didn't care for her appearance as well while she had ran after the creature that ran from her, or else she'd of held her skirt down, or brought her leggings up more. Noya didn't even seem to be looking back at Gaia as she ran after her.

As she ran after the boy with the book, she hadn't expected to hear Kyran's voice thunder, and she tripped, head over heels, and into a wall, over the edge of a bookshelf. She pouts as she rubs her head, and looks to Kyran. Honestly? His loud voice scared her a bit. But she was quickly calming herself down and stands up while dusting her skirt off, and making sure none of the skirt was flipped up to expose her. She looks up and sees the book being given to her, and gives the child a sweet smile, even if she seemed a bit tired from the running. "Thank you~." She tells him as Noya came running up her leg and back into her collar. Gaia takes a deep breath, of course her trouble maker of a pet knew someone in the library was causing mayhem for her. She runs a hand through her hair, and stashes it in her bag on her hip. She'd have to remember to get it back out to check it out later. She then looks over to Kyran and smiles softly. "Thanks..." She pats the bag where she stashed the book, and looks around the library. She wanted to continue to help clean up the place.

She scratches the back of her head and glances to the bookshelves before back at Kyran. "Wanna help me where we just were?" She asks and glances over to more carts that weren't broken. She nods to herself and goes to start pushing the cart by. She glances to Kyran, before a blush is on her cheeks and she goes back down the same isle she had been down before with the other mage.

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Kyran looked up at Gaia curious as to why she had put her hands over his. When she told him it was ticklish, Kyran was tempted to do it once or twice more just to tease her. Malinda struck in that moment while his defenses were down. "You know what they say about a girl with ticklish thighs right?" She hissed in his ear. Kyran decided to ignore her. There was no point in indulging the lusty serpent. He did rub Gaia's thighs once or twice more, smiling innocently up at her. Malinda hissed her pleasure at his actions. He didn't let that ruin his fun.

It took a lot not to rush to Gaia when she crashed into the wall. Kyran wanted to go and help the girl. Yet such actions didn't quite come naturally to him anymore. Not after Claudia. It was difficult to balance his protective nature with his scarred soul. He smiled when Gaia came over to him. "No problem, Ms. Sabin. It was my pleasure helping a beautiful woman. Next time though..." Kyran leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Be more careful about climbing off people's shoulders. I was downright flushed when you flashed me like that." He teased her before straightening. "I am glad you found that book, Ms. Sabin. Perhaps you'll give it a read before you hand it over." Kyran smiled widely down at her before turning to help an over encumbered library helper push her cart. When Gaia asked if he wanted to continue helping her, Kyran flashed a grin over his shoulder.

"I would be happy to, Ms. Sabin. Just let me help Jessica get this cart to where she is going and I'll be right over to help you again. Maybe I'll take the higher shelves this time." Kyran winked at her. He was unsure where this playful attitude came from. It was common to pop out around certain people, he had noticed. It was always strange when it did however. Kyran finished things up with Jessica quickly before heading back to Gaia. He handed her a book. "This is a great romance I'll think you'll like, Red Waters under the Moon. Its about a mage who cursed himself never to love. In turn, a jilted lover cursed him to always die in a pool below his castle until someone could love his withered soul. A young female mage comes and well... its a great read." Kyran rubbed the back of his neck. He tended to get carried away when talking about books he liked. Hopefully Gaia wouldn't mind.

As Kyran rubbed her legs more after she confessed that she was ticklish, she puffed her cheeks up and pouts down at him for it. She had tried to not twitch from the feeling, and nearly failed at it. After she had received the book from Anthony, and Kyran started to talk to her again, she smiles to him, till he whispered in her ear. Her face lit red before she put her face in it. "I'm so... so... soo... sorry..." She breathes as she slowly crosses her arms over her chest, ducking her head slightly. She was nibbling her bottom lip as she looks away from him, face not even starting to go back to it's pale complexion.

She goes back down the isle she and Kyran were in before, still blushing from his previous comment, as well as his wink after saying he'd take the higher shelves. Once down the isle, she slowly slips out the book she needed to get for her client. Gaia sits down against a bookshelf, legs down to not flash anyone, and begun to read. She was using her glasses, so by the time he returned to her, she was nearly done with the book. When he came close to her, he'd see a soft glow from her glasses as she flipped through the pages rather fast. Slowly she blinks and looks back up to him when he hands her a book.

"Oh...?" Gaia asks as Noya perks her head up for a moment, before settling back in her collar again. "You don't mind me reading it for a few minutes then... right?" She asks as she was already reading the book. She clearly didn't mind about how he got carried away over talking about the book, she actually had been paying attention to him eagerly. She was the same way when it came to the books. She ends up laying on her side on the carpet of the library, immersed in the book till her glasses got her to the end. Afterwards, she had put it on the new cart she got, and started to work on the lower shelves and help get the library back in order. It took a few hours, but the library was mostly in order again with all the help the librarians got, and Gaia goes to check out the book. She didn't find the other three in the series, guessing others had it checked out or in other places with the few other stragglers, but she was fine with the one. As she was preparing to leave, Gaia smiles to Kyran. "Thank you... again, for helping me find here, and then get it back in order. As well as helping me find the book." She muses as she hugs the book to herself. She had her head ducked a bit as she reaches a hand back to scratch the back of her head.

Noya kicked her cheek a bit, making the girl glare at her creature. She then blinks and looks to Kyran again. "I... I, uh... I suppose I should go and return this to Ms. Wakowski... I'll... I hope to see you again, Kyran. You can just call me 'Gaia' also. And if you want a reading, I could give you one anytime you see me, just not yet... shouldn't let my client wait too much longer." She pushes her long bangs back behind her ear before she makes her way out of the library. Noya had her head perked up and back to Kyran as her girl left the library to return the book to the old woman, whom was delighted when she received the book and paid Gaia a small amount for the delivery of the book.

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