First, A Little Research (Sept 3)
Jul 10, 2018 22:41:18 GMT -6
Post by Snick on Jul 10, 2018 22:41:18 GMT -6
After being released by the nurse, Cam had taken a bit of a walk. Before long she found herself standing before the library. The old woman had given her a clue, whether she had realized it at the time or not, that could be the key to her getting rid of her magic. With a slight shrug of her shoulder, she made her way up the stairs and into the building.
Her leg was sore as hell, but she did her best not to show it. There was no limping or anything. She almost felt bad about disobeying the nurse about going back to her room for a nap, but Cam figured she could grab a few books at least for some reading while she lay in her twin sized dorm bed.
She looked through the stacks for awhile until she found the "I" subject section. She began looking at the spines in the hopes of finding information on illnesses. She found a few books of interest; ILL: Magical Maladies in the 20th Century, Incurable Magical Diseases and Illness and the Magical You. Pulling the three rather large texts from the shelf, another small book dropped down as well and landed on top of the small stack she had in her arms. Her eyes looked down at the cover and her brow raised.
Introduction to Maladies Near and Far was the name of it. With a shrug, Cam turned and headed toward the librarian. Or at least where she thought that the librarian might be.
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Kit stood on her tiptoes, reaching for the highest shelf. A strained noise came from her twisted lips as she stretched her arm up as far as she could. Finally, after several swipes, she managed to hook the binding of the book she wanted. "HA! Gotcha," she whispered loudly. "No.. nono waitwaitwait... CrapcrapCRAP! OW!"
In the middle of the row, she was ducked down with her arms crossed over her head. All around her feet, books were scattered and the entire top shelf of one section was bare.
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The sound of someone cursing followed by a series of thuds caused Cam to look down the next row of stacks. She saw a poor kid protecting her head from a bunch of falling books. She felt bad for the kid and set her books down on a nearby table. "They have step stools you know," she said before she bent down and began picking up the books to stack them neatly.
She couldn't help the slight chuckle, "You certainly know how to make a bang kid."
Slowly she hefted some of the books back on the shelf, not giving care if they were in the right order or not. Given that she was easily a head taller than the girl, she could reach the shelf fairly easily.
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"Thanks," she said softly, rubbing her head as she helped clean up the mess. "I didn't know about the step stools."
With all the books except the one Katrien wanted back on the shelf, thanks to Cam, she smiled appreciatively, wide enough to show the gap in her upper row of teeth. Looking to the books on the table nearby, she noticed the titles. The smile quickly fell.
"Are you sick?" Kit asked, looking worried. If Cam was, she didn't think she should be using her energy to put the books back up - some of them were considerably heavy. The one that left the goose egg on her head, especially.
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She looked back at the pile of books that she was getting with slight nervousness. Cam shook her head, "No. Just...some research."
"Did the books hit you?" she asked, trying to change the subject. Maybe if the kid started talking about herself they could get off the subject of her books on magical illnesses. In the back of her mind she wondered if she was going about it the wrong way. Maybe it wasn't a magical illness she was looking for at all. What if it was a muggle disease that she needed to be infected with.
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"Oh. Good," Kit's smile returned. "Yeah, some small ones and a really big one."
She was still rubbing her head, and her unblemished cheeks were a soft pink. Miss Dewsnip passed by the aisle, having finally managed to make it to their section after hearing the crash of her precious books. Seeing that the books were up off the floor (in the wrong order, it seemed, since the books were rearranging themselves), she nodded in approval. Before hurrying back to whatever she was doing, Miss Dewsnip smiled, dipped her head forward slightly, put a finger to her lips, then mouthed 'thank you'.
Katrien made a frog-like face, with wide eyes and an 'oops' frown, then snickered softly. "Research for what?" she whispered, hoping curiosity wouldn't kill the Kat.
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When the librarian finally made her presence known, Cam couldn't help but roll her eyes as the woman signaled for them to be quiet. It made the girl want to be louder and perhaps yell across the library just to spite her. Not that the woman had done anything to her. It was just the mood she was in.
"You should probably..." she paused. Had she been about to suggest the kid go see the nurse? The very thing she had not wanted to do? Wow, had the old lady really had that kind of effect on her? No. Just because she avoided medical professionals like the plague, didn't mean others should. But it wouldn't stop her from feeling like a total hypocrite. "Put some ice on your head or something. You probably have a fat bump there."
When the kid asked about her research, Cam sighed with frustration. "Just research. Do you always ask so many questions? What are your books for then?"
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Is she trying to get rid of me, Kit wondered. Or is she genuinely concerned? "I'll be alright. I've taken harder hits to the head," she waved her hand dismissively. "Softballs, footballs, soccer balls, basketballs, karate chops, the ground after falling out of tree houses, the road after falling off my bike, and lots of things that were on shelves much too high for me to reach. The nurses at Madigan recognize my head from miles away."
She grinned proudly, as if that was some special accomplishment. Well, most of her friends back home were in awe of her various head injuries. Then again, most of them were boys. Cam was very obviously a girl and might not have such an appreciation for Kit's hard skull. At this realization, Kit dialed her smile back a little. Then it completely faded away when Cam asked if she always asks so many questions. Was she really asking a lot of questions? She didn't think so.
"Oh, it's just The Phantom Tollbooth," she held it up for Cam to see, but the enthusiasm in her voice was gone. "One of my favorites. I left my copy at home by accident. I was so relieved when I found out they have more than just spell books in here. I have a little bit of trouble getting to sleep, especially when I'm somewhere I'm not used to, so I read to get sleepy. Anyway, I guess I should go."
Katrien turned and started walking away, shoulders slumped. It was pretty obvious, by Cam's attitude and tone, that she just wanted her to go away and leave her alone. She'd been shunned enough times to tell the girl wasn't even close to being interested in being friends.
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She watched as the girl went through a myraid of emotions and expressions. It was almost like her face was like her hair, adjusting with each mood. She looked at the book and nodded slightly as the girl said she had trouble sleeping in new places. Cam had been like that too. It had driven her dad nuts whenever they went camping or on vacation. For the first night she'd be bounding around the room and bouncing on her parent's bed, unable to sleep. It would last well into the next day until she practically passed out where ever they happened to be at the time.
The book that had helped her had been Where the Wild Things Are. Her dad had read it to her every night. Well, until her magic started getting out of control and he left for good. She tried not to think about that. When the girl suddenly slumped and walked away, Cam frowned. Having an idea she walked through the stacks until she found something and pulled it free. She then went in search of the kid, finally finding her sitting at one of the tables.
She plopped the book down on the table with a muffled thunk. "Do you always walk away in the middle of conversations too?"
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"Are you always so mean?" Katrien muttered, not lifting her head or her eyes. She just continued to pretend to read. She'd hadn't been a new kid since Kindergarten. She wasn't used to having to make new friends. She was, however, very accustomed to watching her friends find other friends and cast her aside because she was not like them.
"What's next? Gonna invite everyone but me to a sleepover?" she asked, turning the page so that her ruse would be more believable.
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"I don't do sleepovers," she said cooly as she eyed the girl. She certainly was an odd one. A bit angsty like Cam herself. "I wasn't aware I was being mean. But by all means, if you'd rather sit here trying to read a book upside down by yourself..."
Cam shrugged and turned, leaving the thin but large book on the table in front of the girl. Her own reading material was tucked under her arm like guys typically carried their books. She definitely wasn't all feminine and girly girl. She liked to think she was as tough as they come.
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"I like reading upside-down. More of a challenge," she quipped back, continuing to fake read, though a red was creeping into her cheeks - a mix of anger and embarrassment. "If you don't like someone, you should just tell them and keep your distance. You don't have to be such a di-"
Kit looked to the book on the table. Where The Wild Things Are - a children's book. What was that supposed to mean? Was she insulting Katrien's intelligence, presenting a beginner reader book to her? Or was there a less obvious meaning? Furrowing her brow, she finally looked up at Cam as she walked away.
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She turned her head back toward the kid, with a brow raised. Her hair was streaked as usual, blonde mixed with a sea green for the moment. "I never said I didn't like you. I don't even really know you," she said with a shrug. Her eyes fell down to the book and an odd sort of smile touched her face. It was more like a sad smirk than a traditional smile.
"My dad used to read that to me when I couldn't sleep. In case you get bored," she said with another shrug before turning her head back around. She didn't want to walk into a cart or something and end up back at the damn nurses office. If the kid still wanted to talk, the ball was in her court.
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"Ah," she tried not to look indifferent. What did she care what Cam's dad read to her when she was a little girl, and how was it supposed to help her? Her own dad hadn't read it to her. He wasn't one of those sensitive, sentimental dads. The man was all man and left that kind of thing to her mom. Kit's dad bonded with her like he would have with a son. It helped that Katrien liked fishing and getting muddy and bloody and all that.
Sighing loudly, she stood. A sudden pain surged through the knot at the top of her head, followed by a bit of vertigo. Groaning, she sat back down and rubbed the bump. "Maybe I will go to the nurse," she murmured, though she suddenly felt very stubborn and irrational and really didn't want to go even when she knew she really should. And she was so inexplicably angry. At everything. Only she knew what this was like, no one understood her, and no one liked her. Kit knew she was being very stupid and was frustrating even herself. What was this, PMS? A concussion? She didn't like it, at all, whatever it was.
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She turned back to look at the girl and watched as she stood, or at least attempted to before sitting back down again. Cam sighed. Maybe she had been too hard on the poor kid. Hell, not many people her own age could take her attitude at times. Tightening her grip on her books she turned and walked back over to Kit.
"You probably should," she said with a slightly raised brow and tilting her head to the side. "Be warned though, she's sort of an odd old biddy."
Her leg was sore as hell, but she did her best not to show it. There was no limping or anything. She almost felt bad about disobeying the nurse about going back to her room for a nap, but Cam figured she could grab a few books at least for some reading while she lay in her twin sized dorm bed.
She looked through the stacks for awhile until she found the "I" subject section. She began looking at the spines in the hopes of finding information on illnesses. She found a few books of interest; ILL: Magical Maladies in the 20th Century, Incurable Magical Diseases and Illness and the Magical You. Pulling the three rather large texts from the shelf, another small book dropped down as well and landed on top of the small stack she had in her arms. Her eyes looked down at the cover and her brow raised.
Introduction to Maladies Near and Far was the name of it. With a shrug, Cam turned and headed toward the librarian. Or at least where she thought that the librarian might be.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kit stood on her tiptoes, reaching for the highest shelf. A strained noise came from her twisted lips as she stretched her arm up as far as she could. Finally, after several swipes, she managed to hook the binding of the book she wanted. "HA! Gotcha," she whispered loudly. "No.. nono waitwaitwait... CrapcrapCRAP! OW!"
In the middle of the row, she was ducked down with her arms crossed over her head. All around her feet, books were scattered and the entire top shelf of one section was bare.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The sound of someone cursing followed by a series of thuds caused Cam to look down the next row of stacks. She saw a poor kid protecting her head from a bunch of falling books. She felt bad for the kid and set her books down on a nearby table. "They have step stools you know," she said before she bent down and began picking up the books to stack them neatly.
She couldn't help the slight chuckle, "You certainly know how to make a bang kid."
Slowly she hefted some of the books back on the shelf, not giving care if they were in the right order or not. Given that she was easily a head taller than the girl, she could reach the shelf fairly easily.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Thanks," she said softly, rubbing her head as she helped clean up the mess. "I didn't know about the step stools."
With all the books except the one Katrien wanted back on the shelf, thanks to Cam, she smiled appreciatively, wide enough to show the gap in her upper row of teeth. Looking to the books on the table nearby, she noticed the titles. The smile quickly fell.
"Are you sick?" Kit asked, looking worried. If Cam was, she didn't think she should be using her energy to put the books back up - some of them were considerably heavy. The one that left the goose egg on her head, especially.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She looked back at the pile of books that she was getting with slight nervousness. Cam shook her head, "No. Just...some research."
"Did the books hit you?" she asked, trying to change the subject. Maybe if the kid started talking about herself they could get off the subject of her books on magical illnesses. In the back of her mind she wondered if she was going about it the wrong way. Maybe it wasn't a magical illness she was looking for at all. What if it was a muggle disease that she needed to be infected with.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Oh. Good," Kit's smile returned. "Yeah, some small ones and a really big one."
She was still rubbing her head, and her unblemished cheeks were a soft pink. Miss Dewsnip passed by the aisle, having finally managed to make it to their section after hearing the crash of her precious books. Seeing that the books were up off the floor (in the wrong order, it seemed, since the books were rearranging themselves), she nodded in approval. Before hurrying back to whatever she was doing, Miss Dewsnip smiled, dipped her head forward slightly, put a finger to her lips, then mouthed 'thank you'.
Katrien made a frog-like face, with wide eyes and an 'oops' frown, then snickered softly. "Research for what?" she whispered, hoping curiosity wouldn't kill the Kat.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When the librarian finally made her presence known, Cam couldn't help but roll her eyes as the woman signaled for them to be quiet. It made the girl want to be louder and perhaps yell across the library just to spite her. Not that the woman had done anything to her. It was just the mood she was in.
"You should probably..." she paused. Had she been about to suggest the kid go see the nurse? The very thing she had not wanted to do? Wow, had the old lady really had that kind of effect on her? No. Just because she avoided medical professionals like the plague, didn't mean others should. But it wouldn't stop her from feeling like a total hypocrite. "Put some ice on your head or something. You probably have a fat bump there."
When the kid asked about her research, Cam sighed with frustration. "Just research. Do you always ask so many questions? What are your books for then?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is she trying to get rid of me, Kit wondered. Or is she genuinely concerned? "I'll be alright. I've taken harder hits to the head," she waved her hand dismissively. "Softballs, footballs, soccer balls, basketballs, karate chops, the ground after falling out of tree houses, the road after falling off my bike, and lots of things that were on shelves much too high for me to reach. The nurses at Madigan recognize my head from miles away."
She grinned proudly, as if that was some special accomplishment. Well, most of her friends back home were in awe of her various head injuries. Then again, most of them were boys. Cam was very obviously a girl and might not have such an appreciation for Kit's hard skull. At this realization, Kit dialed her smile back a little. Then it completely faded away when Cam asked if she always asks so many questions. Was she really asking a lot of questions? She didn't think so.
"Oh, it's just The Phantom Tollbooth," she held it up for Cam to see, but the enthusiasm in her voice was gone. "One of my favorites. I left my copy at home by accident. I was so relieved when I found out they have more than just spell books in here. I have a little bit of trouble getting to sleep, especially when I'm somewhere I'm not used to, so I read to get sleepy. Anyway, I guess I should go."
Katrien turned and started walking away, shoulders slumped. It was pretty obvious, by Cam's attitude and tone, that she just wanted her to go away and leave her alone. She'd been shunned enough times to tell the girl wasn't even close to being interested in being friends.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She watched as the girl went through a myraid of emotions and expressions. It was almost like her face was like her hair, adjusting with each mood. She looked at the book and nodded slightly as the girl said she had trouble sleeping in new places. Cam had been like that too. It had driven her dad nuts whenever they went camping or on vacation. For the first night she'd be bounding around the room and bouncing on her parent's bed, unable to sleep. It would last well into the next day until she practically passed out where ever they happened to be at the time.
The book that had helped her had been Where the Wild Things Are. Her dad had read it to her every night. Well, until her magic started getting out of control and he left for good. She tried not to think about that. When the girl suddenly slumped and walked away, Cam frowned. Having an idea she walked through the stacks until she found something and pulled it free. She then went in search of the kid, finally finding her sitting at one of the tables.
She plopped the book down on the table with a muffled thunk. "Do you always walk away in the middle of conversations too?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Are you always so mean?" Katrien muttered, not lifting her head or her eyes. She just continued to pretend to read. She'd hadn't been a new kid since Kindergarten. She wasn't used to having to make new friends. She was, however, very accustomed to watching her friends find other friends and cast her aside because she was not like them.
"What's next? Gonna invite everyone but me to a sleepover?" she asked, turning the page so that her ruse would be more believable.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I don't do sleepovers," she said cooly as she eyed the girl. She certainly was an odd one. A bit angsty like Cam herself. "I wasn't aware I was being mean. But by all means, if you'd rather sit here trying to read a book upside down by yourself..."
Cam shrugged and turned, leaving the thin but large book on the table in front of the girl. Her own reading material was tucked under her arm like guys typically carried their books. She definitely wasn't all feminine and girly girl. She liked to think she was as tough as they come.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I like reading upside-down. More of a challenge," she quipped back, continuing to fake read, though a red was creeping into her cheeks - a mix of anger and embarrassment. "If you don't like someone, you should just tell them and keep your distance. You don't have to be such a di-"
Kit looked to the book on the table. Where The Wild Things Are - a children's book. What was that supposed to mean? Was she insulting Katrien's intelligence, presenting a beginner reader book to her? Or was there a less obvious meaning? Furrowing her brow, she finally looked up at Cam as she walked away.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She turned her head back toward the kid, with a brow raised. Her hair was streaked as usual, blonde mixed with a sea green for the moment. "I never said I didn't like you. I don't even really know you," she said with a shrug. Her eyes fell down to the book and an odd sort of smile touched her face. It was more like a sad smirk than a traditional smile.
"My dad used to read that to me when I couldn't sleep. In case you get bored," she said with another shrug before turning her head back around. She didn't want to walk into a cart or something and end up back at the damn nurses office. If the kid still wanted to talk, the ball was in her court.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Ah," she tried not to look indifferent. What did she care what Cam's dad read to her when she was a little girl, and how was it supposed to help her? Her own dad hadn't read it to her. He wasn't one of those sensitive, sentimental dads. The man was all man and left that kind of thing to her mom. Kit's dad bonded with her like he would have with a son. It helped that Katrien liked fishing and getting muddy and bloody and all that.
Sighing loudly, she stood. A sudden pain surged through the knot at the top of her head, followed by a bit of vertigo. Groaning, she sat back down and rubbed the bump. "Maybe I will go to the nurse," she murmured, though she suddenly felt very stubborn and irrational and really didn't want to go even when she knew she really should. And she was so inexplicably angry. At everything. Only she knew what this was like, no one understood her, and no one liked her. Kit knew she was being very stupid and was frustrating even herself. What was this, PMS? A concussion? She didn't like it, at all, whatever it was.
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She turned back to look at the girl and watched as she stood, or at least attempted to before sitting back down again. Cam sighed. Maybe she had been too hard on the poor kid. Hell, not many people her own age could take her attitude at times. Tightening her grip on her books she turned and walked back over to Kit.
"You probably should," she said with a slightly raised brow and tilting her head to the side. "Be warned though, she's sort of an odd old biddy."
