三角関係!

Mar 28, 2010 21:25

Who: Maggie, Howell
What: Howell, he gonna play
Where: Staff Break Lounge
When: Monday at lunch (slightly forward-dated)
Warnings: Howell is a player.

But aren't you with...? )

howell, maggie

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hywelincymru April 5 2010, 00:40:21 UTC
Howell wasn't in the habit of taking his lunch in the teacher's lounge, but there were some times where he simply had to escape his students. Some of them were particularly enthusiastic about learning - and some of them were particularly enthusiastic about him, something he attempted to stop before it started. America was not forgiving about that kind of thing legally.

But he disliked sitting alone, so when he saw a pretty woman with her nose buried in a book, he took the liberty of sitting down at her table. "Not exactly the type of reading I would have expected, Ms. Mui," he said with a smile. His own thick, leatherbound volume got placed on the table next to his lunch.

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paper_animals April 6 2010, 03:17:53 UTC
She looked up suddenly-- first edition creatures were drawn so differently than most art nowadays, and she was surprised at how vicious they seemed in this game. She'd read through one of the newer versions some time ago, and it was interesting comparing them together. She still did not know how to play, but she could probably quote rules to you if you asked.

"Professor, hello..." she said quietly. She glanced side to side quickly, noting that there were plenty of open tables, but that Howell had chosen to sit with her nonetheless. Adjusting her posture slightly, she nodded, and blushed slightly. "I found it behind some old shelves," she said timidly. Something about Professor Jenkins was overly cool to her-- perhaps it was because she expected that he read as much as she did.

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hywelincymru April 6 2010, 04:21:51 UTC
"Please, it's just Howell," he said with a smile. "Professor is for my students to call me." He busied himself with unpacking his lunch. It was really too bad that there was no stove or kettle, or at least hot water pot, in the teacher's lounge. Maybe he would have to bring one in - if only because he was getting tired of horrid microwaved tea.

He leaned over the table, taking a closer look at the illustrations in the sourcebook. "Amazing how much detail the creators put in to this sort of thing, isn't it? Almost reminds me of some of the illuminated manuscripts I've come upon."

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paper_animals April 6 2010, 04:40:25 UTC
Immediately he had all of her attention at just those two words. She set the book down almost involuntarily, her mouth slightly open, her eyes widened. "You have those? Like, real ones?" she said, wide-eyed. "I've only ever transported one before, never got to read one..." she said, pressing her index fingers together and trailing off at the end of the sentence. She glanced at the leather tome he had brought with him. What was he reading?

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hywelincymru April 6 2010, 05:47:22 UTC
He followed her gaze to the book he was carrying and slid it across the table to her. It was a complete copy of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in Middle English - an accurate reproduction of the manuscript that lay at Oxford, with the text cleaned up so it would actually be readable. "It was a graduation gift from one of my professors," he said. "I don't have any of the actual manuscripts of course - they're too old and too valuable. I'd have to pay a mint just to get the privilege to read it."

He smiled, turning back to his lunch. If she wanted to read it, he wouldn't be offended. He knew what it was like to covet the written word.

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paper_animals April 6 2010, 06:37:04 UTC
Slowly, she reached out, let her fingers trace the leather cover, its embossed letters, its binding stitches. She felt the edges of the pages, could almost smell the glue in the bind. Her skin rippled with goosebumps, and she withdrew her hands, surprised. This, this was a nice book. This was a quality print, too, not some fake. She knew people who'd like to have this book.

Hell, she'd like to have it herself.

Clearing her throat a bit, she spoke up again. "Do you have other books like this one?" She could feel the almost sensual rush from touching the Canterbury Tales still fading in her body.

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hywelincymru April 6 2010, 06:55:30 UTC
"Not many," he said, brushing his fingers over the cover as well. Might he have accidentally-on-purpose brushed her hand? Probably. "They're expensive and rare - honestly, I was surprised Professor Davrish gifted me with this one. Always thought the bastard didn't like me," he muttered the last bit.

Then, as if he'd suddenly remembered something, he sat up. "Oh! I can't believe I've never told you about my personal library, you'd love it!"

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paper_animals April 6 2010, 07:05:09 UTC
Personal Library. Heart rate up 5. Personal Library. Eyes widen extra 3 millimetres. Personal library. Body temperature up 1.5 degrees Celsius.

She almost drooled.

Quickly wiping the corner of her mouth with her sleeve, she swallowed hard and said, "You have a library of your own? You have to show me, prof-- Howell! We should go right now," she began, but then suddenly remembered that the school day was not yet over, and that Big Sis and that volunteer girl were going to be back in there waiting for her once lunch was over. Her shoulders sort of slumped a bit. "But Big Sis would get mad, and you have classes to teach still today, right?" she asked meekly, unconsciously fingering the cover of the book again. With both hands.

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hywelincymru April 6 2010, 07:10:17 UTC
Howell laughed a little at her enthusiasm. "It's not all that- I'm something of a collector, but there's certainly more here than at my flat." It was charming, how excited she got over the prospect. "I specialize in ancient literature so I have more translations than you could shake a stick at, and most of it is annotated - I'm afraid you'd be hard-pressed to find any Arthurian lore there without my scribblings in the margins."

His smile gentled a little. "And yes, I do have afternoon classes. Perhaps a later date?"

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paper_animals April 6 2010, 07:17:30 UTC
Anyone could see what this was. ANYONE.

Maggie was too busy thinking about his collection of ancient literature to realise she was being hit on. He annotates the books himself? He's like Nenene-neesan! said her mind, and she was beginning to get uncomfortably excited for this "later date" that he had proposed. Quickly she thought over her library schedule, and then nodded. "We close the big library at 5:00 every day, so if you want I can just go to your house after I am let go?" she said, squirming slightly. Big Sis would understand! Big Sis would let her go early, right? Right? RIGHT?

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hywelincymru April 6 2010, 07:30:02 UTC
Howell's grin grew a little wider. "I'll be waiting at the front of the school, then," he said, taking a long sip of his tea. "How have things been in the library? I hear you've gotten some new student help recently."

Honestly, Howell could tell that all the subtleties of the situation were flying right over her head. And that was fine - he was a very patient man.

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paper_animals April 7 2010, 00:54:51 UTC
She nodded, only half-processing what Howell had asked. "Her name is Parsee, and she's a nice girl. She's just shy, I think. Like me... But we are reorganising the whole east wing of the library this week. It takes a long time because Big Sis and I keep reading books, and miss Parsee keeps yelling at us to get back on task, but we are getting it done..." She'd have to tell Big Sis and Jushirou about the collection that Howell has, and if he'd let her, she'd really want to read some of them, too...

Her box lunch suddenly came back to her attention, and she unwrapped a sandwich that Little Sis had made that morning for her. "I'll let Big Sis and Parsee know where I'm going, and then I'll meet you outside, all right?"

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hywelincymru April 7 2010, 04:12:12 UTC
"Bloody reorganizing," Howell said with a sympathetic tone. "I try to re-arrange my bookshelves and I get halfway through before I'm knee-deep in notes for some thesis or another I never actually finished." He shrugged with a rueful grin. "Too many ideas, not enough time to publish them all!"

"And that most definitely sounds like a plan," he said, tucking into his lunch. "I only hope you'll excuse the state of the flat... I get distracted so easily, I haven't tidied up in weeks."

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paper_animals April 10 2010, 05:48:24 UTC
She grinned a little. "The only reason our house is presentable is because Little Sis and Jushirou make us arrange our books in shelves... Back when Big Sis was still single we used to live in an apartment in Shanghai that basically had no room in it because we had so many books. We've read so many books, it's crazy to try to count them." She paused for a second, then excitedly set her sandwich down. "Oh! Just yesterday I went downtown to the book store and got a first-edition copy of George Orwell's 1984! It was kind of expensive, but it feels so good to have one..." she said, trailing off as she thought about the book. "It's no manuscript, but it's really neat..."

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hywelincymru April 10 2010, 06:31:50 UTC
Howell laughed. "Jushirou does strike me as the type to keep a neat house," he said. "The man's so bloody organized I swear sometimes he knows my lessons better than I do."

He put his hand back over the book for a moment. "Coming across first editions - now there's a bit of luck. I always like them, makes you feel closer to the author somehow. And what's that then about Shanghai? I knew you were from out of town like myself, but that's the other side of the world!"

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paper_animals April 11 2010, 06:46:47 UTC
Oh, right... the professor was not aware of their previous history. "Big Sis, Little Sis and I... we used to run a detective agency when we lived back in Shanghai. It wasn't very successful, though, so after trying a few other things, we eventually ended up coming to America as translators, but... Big Sis and I get caught up reading too much, so working in the library is pretty much all we can do without getting fired a lot..." she pushed her index fingers together. "But if Shanghai is far away, so is Wales, Prof-- Howell...?"

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