Closed RP Between the Lions

[Katpride]

The existence of the library had been an amazing discovery for Adelyn. The grand stone building was home to more books than she’d ever seen in one place in her life!

Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one who had the idea of visiting the library that day, and by the time she left her jaw hurt from holding it tense whenever someone got too close to her. She decided to come back sometime it was less busy, if only to spare her Gramma’s cushions. In her defense, she didn’t even know that she had the instinct to stress-knead!

Well, this time she’s gonna be more prepared. She’s going into this new Shift armed with all the information a library can hold. If she can figure out how to get in, that is.

See, the last time she visited, the doors had just been open. But now all three sets of double doors are shut, and the lights are off inside. She even climbed up the wall (just a little bit) and checked the ground-floor windows, but none of them were open and she couldn’t really see anything inside that would help her.

There must be some other trick to it! This must be a challenge to prove that she’s really dedicated to reading, and Adelyn is determined not to lose. Maybe there’s another entrance? Or maybe she’s supposed to shimmy in through one of the windows?

Adelyn starts eying the second-floor balcony. If she jumps, she can grab onto one of the light fixtures that stick out between the doors. It seems solid enough to support her weight, she thinks. And there are grooves in the wall that could be toe-holds if she was creative about it. This must be the way! There must be an open window up there!

She doesn’t think about the open road to her back, or how exposed she is, just barely hidden from the illumination of the streetlights. She jumps, and her hands wrap around the sconce. Then she’s left kind of dangling there, trying to get her boots to make friends with the wall. They just keep slipping! “Darn boots!”

 

[UmbraSight]

Did she want to cook or pick up something cheap? Last time she had tried to pick up something cheap she had almost gotten robbed, but that couldn’t happen every time, right? But she would save more money if she did cook what she already had, but it was so late already and she really didn’t want to cook. She could just pick up a burger, couldn’t she? Oh with a milkshake too! Maybe strawberry or chocolate. Could you mix those?

Eli was locked in very serious thought with equally important considerations as she made her way to the bus stop outside the library. It wasn’t a bad night to be out, still a little warm from the day but cool enough to feel nice as the concrete sighed the heat of the day. Eli paused beneath the glow of a streetlight, finally looking up from the spot in the distance she had not quite actually been watching as she walked.

There was a scuffling sound? Wasn’t there? Eli took in her surroundings, which was quite a lot of dark just outside the ring of light. The scuffling was from the direction of the library, which was closed at this time wasn’t it? Maybe someone was using the benches? Was someone trying to break in? Did people rob libraries?

“Hello?” Eli called into the dark.

 

[Katpride]

The voice startles her, and Adelyn’s limbs lock up. She falls on her butt with a thud and lays stunned on the concrete for a moment before she can convince the dumb lizard part of her brain to calm down. It wasn’t even that bad of a fall, jeez!

When she can finally move again, she tilts her head back, the concrete under her scraping unpleasantly against her scalp. “Hell-- oh! Hi Eli! It’s me, remember me?”

She hadn’t recognized the voice at first, what with her hearing being so different, but she recognizes that hair. She’s already scrambling to get her feet under her, rolling onto her stomach and pushing up with her arms. She ends up tripping slightly over her boots, overcompensating out of habit born from long years of wearing too-large footwear, and skitters towards Eli with her fingertips skimming the ground before finally managing to get fully upright.

“Hi!” Her eyes flash in the glow of the streetlight as she finally enters its circle of illumination, her grin nearly as bright. The difference in her appearance compared to the last time they’d crossed paths is stark; her hair, previously white with gray speckles, is entirely black, and her furry ears are noticeably missing. Her gloves and boots are slimmer, but still made of the same leather, lovingly cared for, and something in her mannerisms is different, her arms drawn close to her body and her head tilting slowly from side to side.

 

[UmbraSight]

“Woah!” Eli bounced back as someone came tumbling down from the top of the wall. Well maybe it wasn’t the top, but still someone came tumbling down! Eli had her arms raised in a defensive posture when another girl came bouncing up to her feet and… “Oh… oh!” Eli said once she recognized her friend. Which, it did take a moment given that Adelyn seemed to look a lot different than she had last time. Was it rude to say less… muppet-y?

“Adelyn!” Eli said brightly. She hesitated for a moment before going in for a hug. Was it rude to hug a friend out of the blue? Oh no. “Your hair is really cute!” Eli said, not letting stupid worries get in the way of her being happy.

She did, however, have to ask after a few seconds. “Also, why were you trying to climb the library?”

 

[Katpride]

“Eli!” Adelyn parrots in the same tone, sweeping the girl up in her arms and tugging her neatly off her feet, spinning the both of them around in a wobbly circle before setting her down again. Gosh, Eli is so warm! Was she this warm the last time they met, or is Adelyn just cold? Regardless of the reason, she sticks a little closer to her friend than she might otherwise.

“Aww, thank you!” She twirls a lock of said hair around her finger, holding it out so that she can look at it herself. She’s still not fully used to the new look, but she does like how the black almost shimmers in the light. It’s pretty!

At the mention of the library, she throws a pout in the building’s direction. She’s not one to judge other people’s trials, but it is a little mean to make so many obstacles between a girl and her education. “I was trying to get in so I could pick up a book I was reading the last time I was here, but the librarians must’ve done something different this time because I couldn’t open the doors!”

 

[UmbraSight]

“Oh!” Eli said as she her half-puppet-but-different-a-sort-of-puppets-this-time friend swept her most of the way off her feet to spin her around. Which, it was nice to be part of a swept-off-your-feet sort of hug, she had never really done one of those before as she squeezed Adelyn back. Part friendly hugging, part desperate to not go flinging off. And she didn’t go flying off when Adelyn placed her back down into the ground. Well, it wasn’t like she fully left the ground, but she did sort of leave the ground, so it was the same thing really!

“Maybe I could try dyeing my hair black sometime?” Eli said, lifting a lock of her own hair and rolling the pink tips between her fingers. “Though you might look really cute with purple tips, I think that would go with your eyes.[/b]” She added, before she looked up at the very closed looking library.

“It’s late, so isn’t it just closed?” Eli asked. She didn’t really know how late libraries stayed open, but it seemed like it was past the time one would be open. “It should be open tomorrow, I think. They should have their hours on the door.” Eli stepped past her friend as she made her way over to the front door, where the hours had to be posted.

And, it was only a thought, if they really needed to, she could always pick it.

 

[Katpride]

“Oooh, that would look cool,” Adelyn enthuses, already imagining herself with purple hair. Hehe, it sure would surprise her parents, if nothing else! There aren’t a lot of animals that are purple, at least that she knows of. Maybe it’d be nice to shake it up a bit. Oh, but what if she needed to be camouflaged? Hmm, maybe it wouldn’t be that good of an idea, in that case. Decisions are hard.

She eyes Eli’s light hair next, imagining it dark like her own. It sure would be striking. And they could match! At least for however long Adelyn keeps this Shift. “I’m sure you would look nice with any color hair, Eli.”

She trails after Eli as they make their way back up the steps to the library door, and finally takes a moment to actually look at the door itself. Sure enough, there’s a little slip of paper behind some plastic, with days of the week and hours written on it. She taps a gloved finger against it, reading the line for Saturday. “Oh. These aren’t just recommended times to visit?”

Well, now she feels a little dumb. She probably should’ve guessed that the library would close sometimes, but the library is so different from the shops she’s visited! She didn’t have to pay for anything, and they had chairs and things, and she can’t imagine why a place like that would ever close.

Adelyn rests her forehead against the door, frowning at the injustice of it all. “Aww, I don’t wanna wait for tomorrow. There’s gonna be people again.”

 

[UmbraSight]

“Oh, thanks!” Eli said, beaming at the compliment. She did think her hair was very cute and it made her very happy to hear that Adelyn agreed. Maybe they could try making their hair the same color sometime? Was that a thing friends did? Would that be weird to ask about? It was probably weird, wasn’t it. Instead of spiraling down into further worry Eli turned her attention towards Adelyn’s next question.

“Yeah, uh, the times posted are usually when they’re open.” The girl said, awkwardly scratching her cheek. Adelyn seemed really disappointed that she couldn’t read now, and as long as they didn’t stay too long or make a mess of things… it shouldn’t really be a problem, right? They just needed to not get caught, that seemed easy enough. Probably.

“I could, um, I do know how to pick locks.” Eli said, feeling a little less confident now that she had started speaking, but despite herself, she continued. “But we’d have to be careful not to get caught.” Oh no.