RP: Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood
Date: 27 August 1999
Characters: Padma Patil
Location: Magical British Library
Status: Private
Summary: In which the page is turned and a new chapter begins.
Completion: Complete
Leaving the Prophet for lunch that day had been the very thing she needed, as she felt suffocated in that din of lies. She flooed directly to the Magical British Library and then dusted herself off as she walked to one of the central desks at which a librarian sat. The older man looked up as she approached, and she gave him a bashful smile. He knew what she was going to ask, because it had been the same question now for the last couple of weeks. "Excuse me, sir, but is the copy of A Treatise on Time by Temporia Fugillus available?"
Just like the many times before, he shook his head with an apologetic smile and told her, "No, I'm afraid it's still checked out."
Padma sighed quietly, but ended their exchange with her customary, "Thank you, sir. I'll try again later this week."
The man winked at her, which almost made her laugh, and she turned around and disappeared into the stacks. She moved along the rows and shelves, nimbly ducking a few books that flew overhead or around her. More than once, one of them would snap playfully at her as it passed, but she was too preoccupied to pay it any mind. She needed to be here, now more than ever, immersed in the one place in which she felt she could really and truly think, to apply her mind to the task at hand.
It wasn't just the quiet that helped her think. The smell of books, the quiet shuffle of pages being flipped or even the gentle creak of a binding protesting from too much use- they were like a boon to her spirit. Padma sat at a lone table, amid the towering stacks of books of such numerous and varied subjects that she was forced to concede that maybe she wouldn't get to finish them all- in her lifetime at least. There was always another, if she was very lucky. Still, it was fast becoming her favourite spot. On those rare clear days, just the smallest sliver of sunlight would work its way across the table from a window high above.
(It was surely enchanted to be that way, because they were under the Muggle British Library, but it was still an enjoyable fantasy.)
She sat with several scrolls of parchment around her, each bearing titles from their respective businesses or Ministry departments. It wasn't nearly as comforting as her normal books, but she didn't want to be distracted. She was starting over, after all, putting away one dream very quietly so that she could choose a new, even better one. There were so many places, though, and it was difficult for her to decide where to start. Padma, ever the organised one, began to place them all into stacks by the most interest she might have in them.
Near the bottom were the few retail positions she had seen, and even one for the clerk's position at the Hogsmeade Herald. She had been so badly burned by the Prophet that she thought very seriously about pitching that one altogether, but she held onto it for pragmatic purposes. After all, she did have a few months experience with a newspaper-- newsrag was more like it. But she wouldn't make snap judgements like that. She was better than they were, after all.
There were a few training positions at Gringotts that had caught her eye, but she knew that they wouldn't leave much if any time if she ever wanted to really go after her Runic mastery (which, in her heart of hearts, she still did). A few spots in the International Magical Cooperation department also kept coming back to her, but more and more, she felt drawn toward the various research positions that were available in the Department of Mysteries. Kevin seemed quite happy in his researching position, and, if she was honest with herself, she really felt the most relaxed and yet still productive when nose deep in some book, researching something that had caught her fancy- and lately the more esoteric the better. Her recent conversations with Kevin, and others really, seemed to veer off the beaten path more and more.
Before she had quite realised it, she had narrowed down the applications that she really wanted to submit into just a handful. Maybe she was supremely heading for a fall, putting all of her eggs into one single, albeit proverbial basket, but she knew, if she could swallow her pride, she could ask her parents for help if it came to that. But it wouldn't come to that, because she was a Patil, and a damned clever one at that. With a new determination that stemmed from actually reaching what she felt was a more or less well thought out decision, she pulled those few applications toward her and began filling them out.
Excerpts from The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (1916).
Characters: Padma Patil
Location: Magical British Library
Status: Private
Summary: In which the page is turned and a new chapter begins.
Completion: Complete
Leaving the Prophet for lunch that day had been the very thing she needed, as she felt suffocated in that din of lies. She flooed directly to the Magical British Library and then dusted herself off as she walked to one of the central desks at which a librarian sat. The older man looked up as she approached, and she gave him a bashful smile. He knew what she was going to ask, because it had been the same question now for the last couple of weeks. "Excuse me, sir, but is the copy of A Treatise on Time by Temporia Fugillus available?"
Just like the many times before, he shook his head with an apologetic smile and told her, "No, I'm afraid it's still checked out."
Padma sighed quietly, but ended their exchange with her customary, "Thank you, sir. I'll try again later this week."
The man winked at her, which almost made her laugh, and she turned around and disappeared into the stacks. She moved along the rows and shelves, nimbly ducking a few books that flew overhead or around her. More than once, one of them would snap playfully at her as it passed, but she was too preoccupied to pay it any mind. She needed to be here, now more than ever, immersed in the one place in which she felt she could really and truly think, to apply her mind to the task at hand.
It wasn't just the quiet that helped her think. The smell of books, the quiet shuffle of pages being flipped or even the gentle creak of a binding protesting from too much use- they were like a boon to her spirit. Padma sat at a lone table, amid the towering stacks of books of such numerous and varied subjects that she was forced to concede that maybe she wouldn't get to finish them all- in her lifetime at least. There was always another, if she was very lucky. Still, it was fast becoming her favourite spot. On those rare clear days, just the smallest sliver of sunlight would work its way across the table from a window high above.
(It was surely enchanted to be that way, because they were under the Muggle British Library, but it was still an enjoyable fantasy.)
She sat with several scrolls of parchment around her, each bearing titles from their respective businesses or Ministry departments. It wasn't nearly as comforting as her normal books, but she didn't want to be distracted. She was starting over, after all, putting away one dream very quietly so that she could choose a new, even better one. There were so many places, though, and it was difficult for her to decide where to start. Padma, ever the organised one, began to place them all into stacks by the most interest she might have in them.
Near the bottom were the few retail positions she had seen, and even one for the clerk's position at the Hogsmeade Herald. She had been so badly burned by the Prophet that she thought very seriously about pitching that one altogether, but she held onto it for pragmatic purposes. After all, she did have a few months experience with a newspaper-- newsrag was more like it. But she wouldn't make snap judgements like that. She was better than they were, after all.
There were a few training positions at Gringotts that had caught her eye, but she knew that they wouldn't leave much if any time if she ever wanted to really go after her Runic mastery (which, in her heart of hearts, she still did). A few spots in the International Magical Cooperation department also kept coming back to her, but more and more, she felt drawn toward the various research positions that were available in the Department of Mysteries. Kevin seemed quite happy in his researching position, and, if she was honest with herself, she really felt the most relaxed and yet still productive when nose deep in some book, researching something that had caught her fancy- and lately the more esoteric the better. Her recent conversations with Kevin, and others really, seemed to veer off the beaten path more and more.
Before she had quite realised it, she had narrowed down the applications that she really wanted to submit into just a handful. Maybe she was supremely heading for a fall, putting all of her eggs into one single, albeit proverbial basket, but she knew, if she could swallow her pride, she could ask her parents for help if it came to that. But it wouldn't come to that, because she was a Patil, and a damned clever one at that. With a new determination that stemmed from actually reaching what she felt was a more or less well thought out decision, she pulled those few applications toward her and began filling them out.
Excerpts from The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (1916).