It's a quiet night at the library. Since it is a library, it's always quiet. But there's always fewer people here at night. And there's even fewer people here at night on a weekend. And during summer when there are no book reports or college papers due? Perhaps it is best to say that the library is all but deserted. One of the scant current occupants, Nicodemus, is in one of the more remote aisles on a far side of the library's stacks. He's sprawled out, face down, on the floor in front of an open book. A short pile of half a dozen other books are stacked and scattered recklessly nearby.

The silence is, if not broken, at least bent by the noise of boots on the staircase and the movement of the swinging door at the top as Bernie makes her way into the stacks. Letting the door drop shut behind her, she pauses, closing her eyes, and inhales the uniquely Library smell, breaking into a small, oddly reverent smile. Reopening her eyes, she adjusts her backpack on her shoulder, glances at a small square of paper in her hand, and disappears among the stacks.

Nicodemus unscrews a skull motif cap off the top of a silvery flask leaning up against the books lined up on the ground level shelves and pauses in his reading ruminations to quaff a gulp of its contents. The skull is carefully screwed back into place so as to prevent accidental spills. He's clearly violating library policy and is going to go straight to Library Hell.

Bernie passes through two or three of the stacks in Dewey Decimal order, the fingers of her free hand trailing idly across the spines of the books in the middle shelf as she goes by. Her path brings her to a far aisle, where she's forced to stop in her tracks to avoid trampling the goth sprawled across her planned trajectory. She blinks twice, startled, and opens her mouth to say 'Excuse me'. What comes out is, "...nice jacket."

Nicodemus looks up from the book, which looks to have lots of scientific- or math-type diagrams on the right page. The goth uses an index finger to push his glasses up on his nose to see who's he's talking to before responding--or maybe if a response beyond a grunt is even merited. "This old thing? It's nearly four years old. Practically retro. Nice belt," he comments in return. "Very Mad Maxesque, if a bit 80's and domestic."

You paged Nicodemus with 'What topics are we currently surrounded by?'.

Nicodemus pages: Current book is on microwaves. The pile has "The English Civil War", "Kalahari Wildlife", "Matrix Algebra", "Roman Artwork" and "Bigfoot Legends of the Pacific Northwest."

Bernie grins a little. "Guess that'd make it fully retro," she replies, "...anyway, thanks." The diagrams catch her attention, and she tilts her head a bit to get a straighter view of it, squinting even with the aid of her glasses as her gaze strays to the other books surrounding the man on the floor. "Read that one," she remarks, gesturing toward the book on the Bigfoot legends, "...int'restin'. Good narrative style in th' retellin' parts." The open book gets another curious look. "What =is= that? Looks kina physics-y."

Nicodemus glances briefly at the pile. "Really? I was looking for something more X-files'ish. Might make for amusing bedtime reading, though. It's some really early writing about microwaves back when they'd just recently discovered how to play around with them," he says, refering to the yellowed, currently open book. "Pre-microwave oven era stuff."

It's relatively certain that the library would frown upon the use of skateboards in the stacks, but nevertheless a skinny stringbean of a girl is doing just that, rolling along slow enough for the click of bearings within electric-blue wheels to be clearly audible. She's wearing a giant black coat with numerous pockets, probably what she hid the 'board under, and looking for-- something or someone. A tall book with a blue cover is tucked under one of her arms.

Bernie's eyebrows rise slightly at that. "Yeah? Cool. 's for X-filesy ones... try, um... Th' Creature, or maybe Bigfoot 'cross America. Mostly th' books on supernatural shit in gen'ral have morea that flavour..." She trails off, suddenly feeling odd at discussing such cheesy books so freely, and runs a hand through her curls, relieved at the distraction of the sound of the wheels. A few steps back to the end of the stack and a glance around it confirm her suspicions. "Hey, there y'are. Don't hurt th' books, yeah?"

"I'm okay," the girl says as she rolls along, drawing to a slow stop somewhere near the pair. "Unless," she adds, an ominous edge to her voice, "they start jumpin' around or somethin'." She holds the tall book out towards Bernie, grins. "Look, I found it!" It's a simple cover-- blue on blue on blue, with _Ocean_ written along the top.

Nicodemus glances at the other recent disturbance, spending all of a couple seconds sizing her up before returning to his current book, keeping enough of a tab on them so that no one steps on or rolls over his fingers by accident.

Bernie gives the book an appraising look, then a nod as she breaks back into a grin. "Cool beans. Let me jus' find th' ones I'm lookin' for, an' we'll get inta 'em, yeah?" Looking back to Nicodemus, sprawled on the floor of the aisle, she this time successfully manages, "...'scuse me. Y'mind 'f I step over you?"

Most people might, at this point, pick themselves up off the floor and excuse themselves. Nick doesn't. "Don't cut yourself," he advises, seeing as how Bernie is already aware of his potentially hazardous jacket.

Anneka seems steady atop her board, still save for small, faint adjustments in balance, the creak of wood and the click of bearings the board's response. A dozen small things that wouldn't be heard anywhere but in the dim, silent stacks of a library. Her eyes are fixed on the book, bright and blurry. "It's pretty cool," she says. "I was lookin' at a part 'bout how some kindsa fish live in rivers mosta th'time, but go out 'n th'ocean an' no one knows where they go." She glances at Nicodemus, then steps off her board and scoops it up into her arms, before inching her way around him.

Bernie doesn't seem to have expected him to get up. "Not plannin' to. Though I guess it does give new meanin' t' th' phrase "sharp-dressed man"," she comments absently as she carefully steps over his prone form. "Thanks." Her eyes flit back to the shelves, searching for the books she's closing in on. "Maybe they're goin' on vacation. Like... to Fishneyland."

Nicodemus, not intending to eavesdrop, can't help but wince.

Anneka giggles. "Maybe." She wrestles a bit with book and 'board, until the latter is tucked under her coat, the former under an arm. Her eyes drift along the stacks, bright though not entirely focused. "It's quiet up here." A moment of silence passes, then. "I don't have a library card."

"'s a'ight, we'll getcha one," Bernie replies, "not a big deal... hey!" Up on her toes, she's apparently finally found her book, pulling it down from the highest shelf she can reach without finding a stepstool. A glance at her slip of paper, and back to the shelf to find another volume a couple feet away. And another that just catches her attention.

Anneka's attention wanders from one book to the next as Bernie plucks them from shelves. "Whatcha been lookin' for?" She reaches up to brush her hair away from her eyes with a free hand.

Nicodemus opts to move as the two start removing books from the shelves far above his prone body on the floor below. He grasps the skull-topped metal flask in the moving process and closes the science book--either finished or bored to death by it. His attention drifts to the nearby couple's book hunting.

"Computer shit," Bernie answers a bit distractedly, still scanning the shelves for anything particularly interesting. "Mostly hist'ry an' theorya programmin' an' all. Figure it can't hurt t' brush up 'fore th' s'mester starts an' all."

"That's pretty cool." Anneka's eyes drift away a bit, her attention drawn down a long aisle. "I didn't know you could talk t'people with computers. Like-- through somethin', I guess. Like a phone." The girl is obviously out of her element, though she musters a cheery shrug. "Neater'n games."

Nicodemus quietly clears his throat as he looks up from picking up the books he's strewn around. "What specific kind of computer shit are you looking for?"

Bernie nods at Anneka, choosing another book and flipping to the index, then to a random midpoint, then putting it back. "Specifically? Lookin' for a good, recent history of computers and programmin', or one on each, that assumes you're not a moron an' that you c'n r'member what they told you in the first chapter... also, like I said, somethin' on theory, y'know, procedural, structured, modular, object-oriented, what all th' diff'rences are, when you'd want which an' why, how y'need t' think t' make 'em work, et cet'ra... an' prolly gonna grab somethin' on C++ in particular, they mentioned they were usin' it in th' catalogue."

Anneka blinks twice, reaches up to draw fingers through her sandy, tangled hair. "Oh."

"Idiot's Guide to Programming Concepts," Nicodemus recommends with barely a moment's hesitation. "It has a good overview of the history and basic concepts, despite the humiliation you'll get internally while buying a copy of it. And you'd do well to stay clear of any C++ class taught by Dr. Wagner. He's a closet misogynist. Take Weatherly instead."

Bernie gives Anneka an apologetic smile, and makes a bit of a face at the book recommendation. "'zat in any actual depth? Th' guide, I mean? 'cause that's what I'm lookin' for, more'n basic overview, y'know? An' thanks, for the warnin'... guess you go there? Or went, anyway?" She looks him over a moment, trying to figure out age.

Nicodemus looks like he might barely be twenty. "No problem," the goth replies. "You'll want to pick up The Analytical Engine if you're looking for a book on on history from inception to late 90's. Dull reading, though."

The girl looks confused, but she shrugs and grins and drifts off to walk along the aisle, lifting a free hand to run her fingertips along a row of books, hundreds of volumes tucked into neat shelves. Now and then she stops, glances at one before carrying on.

Bernie nods, filing that away for later. "Thanks," she says again, and glances over to Anneka. "A'ight. You wanna go handle that card thing, now?"

Nicodemus repositions himself indian style, PVC creaking in the relatively silent library, in front of his stack of books. "De nada." He selects the Roman art book from the pile, and begins slowly paging through it--skipping the text and just looking at the pictures.

Anneka stands up straight, turns about to look at Bernie. She grins. "Okay," she says, almost but not quite skipping as she walks back. "I saw a buncha cool books, when I was wanderin' around. Too much t'carry, though."

"Well, after y'finish th' ones you got, you c'n come get th' others. C'mon..." Shifting the books in her arms, Bernie starts out of the stacks, turning long enough to call (quietly, it IS a library) back to Nicodemus, "Thanks 'gain, nice talkin' t'ya," before she reaches the down stairs and begins to descend.

Anneka looks back to wave at the fellow and grins. "Hey. Cool pants, by th'way. Bye!" Then she's running to catch up with Bernie.