treasure maps and dusty books [biddy]

[nicholasliamwolf]

Nicholas Wolfe

It was unclear as to what the short man in the library was doing amidst the seemingly endless supply of books. He clearly wasn't reading, because he would merely take it from among its booky friends, open it to the halfway point, and proceed in shaking it upside down. Thus done, he would place it back in the shelves where it was before being violated, and go onto the next one, taking it out, and shaking it as if something would fall out if he just kept at it. The man had been there for over two hours doing the same thing over and over again, and only once paused in his purusing to glance, rather longingly, towards the books he had set upon the table, seemingly to be read. For the very short professor hadn't come here to do whatever he was doing. He had intended on reading the books he had selected a few months ago when he came in with the same purpose in mind, and ended up doing the same thing he was doing now: trying to shake something from the books.

Down the line he went, carefully picking up one book from the shelf as if to cares it... and then promptly grabbing it by the spine, and shaking it upside down. Not enough to upset the poor book, but enough so the pages flopped up and down, and the professor would be satisfied after a few seconds of afore mentioned shaking when he realized that nothing was coming out anytime soon. The process continued, and even though the very short professor could only reached the fourth shelf up, he tried his best to do whatever he was doing. It seemed as if he would continue doing as such, before the professor grinned widely like a cheshire cat, and yawned. He hadn't gotten very much sleep the previous night, as he had been in here, trying to foil the pirates plan to hide their treasure. He wasn't having very much luck, but with the right attitude, and a whole lot of time, he was going to do this in all the free time he had.

Nicholas stretched his short body as far as it would go, his gray-blue eyes squinting to reach a book on the fith shelf up, and standing on his tiptoes. The very short professor (being a measly five feet, one inch -- that one inch being only there because he had shoes on. In reality, it would be like barely half an inch) simply could not reach it, and no matter how hard he stretched himself and squinted towards the book as if it would magically hop down (which it probably could, if he took the easy way out. Nicholas just didn't like to do anything the easy way, though, because it ruined the "fun"), it wasn't going to come down unless he brought a step stool over. Since he had nothing present, and the easy way out was hereby illegal, professor Wolfe was... stuck.

"It's only a minor set-back, though. The pirates aren't about to get away with this -- after all, why else would they create treasure maps unless it was for the maps themselves to be found? Thereby rendering secrecy and hiding the treasure useless and absolute folly!" With a huge smile, the nice, mellow (not too deep for a guy of his... stature) tenor blended into the silence until the last sentence blasted the silence for a few seconds, and had the professor smile at the very slight echo it caused, without reguard for the other people that probably startled at the sound of it. "Folly... heh, it's funny to say." He continued to mutter to himself, his lips occasionally stretching to bring forth another grin, before settling down into that usual smile of his.

Time was something lost on the professor, and before he knew it, another hour had been ticked away, slowly inching toward night when he would have to stop his searching for the treasure map, and go onto less important things like eating and sleeping. He also knew that this was one of those days that he wouldn't get around to reading the books he wanted to read, or cooking a good meal for himself when he arrived home. It was lucky that he didn't have to literally sit down and grade papers, either. Sure, occasional marks here and there, but... nothing much. "Unless those jackass' decide to shit with me some more." This was muttered, and for a few moments, his face turned to one of extreme irratation, one side of his grin morphing into a twisted version of it, and his head tilted to one side as if to contemplate something.

Then it was all gone as quickly as it appeared. The blunt tone of voice, the facial expression -- everything. Back was the nice grin and happiness playing on his face as if nothing had happened at all.

[/blockquote]

[bidelia.jamesina.cockburn]

BIDDY COCKBURN

Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;

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[/font]

If you were looking for Biddy, the first place you should look would be the library. She spent ages there these days, there was no school for her to attend (she was far too young), and no children her own age to play with. Her father was constantly teaching, so most of the day, Biddy deposited herself in the library and read (as much as a seven year old could). She knew when books were misplaced or when something ‘smelled’ of stronger magic—and when new presences aroused. She knew all the librarians by name, and knew their habits (although quite subconsciously). Madame Hettinger would always place the returned books back on their proper shelves at approximately noon. Madame Peterson would patrol the forbidden section of the library at the forty-five of each hour. Mister Hoare always took a nap right before her father’s third class ended.

So when Biddy, passing through a rather familiar length of selves—saw that the books on the lowest shelf were out of place and rather lopsided—she knew something was wrong. Madame Hinson always kept the story-book section perfectly straight, not lopsided like these books! Sure, some students could’ve come through here and destroyed the neat order, but not so quietly! Biddy would’ve surely noticed and tailed them the entire time, looking for new company (usually a few girls humored her).

Confused, the young witch slowly walked down the thickly carpeted isle, blue flats hardly making more than a small breath of air as she moved across the earth. She wandered through the mazes of books, ducking under the restricted access rope once or twice as she followed the unkempt trail of mystery. Finally, after about fifteen or so minutes of searching—Biddy’s ears pricked up like a cat’s at the sound of vague muttering, her head straightening forward. It sounded like an adult to her (no surprise there), and peering around a corner of an extremely tall bookshelf, no more than her eyes and the tips of her brown hair showing, and confirmed her suspicions.

Who was he? Biddy certainly didn’t recognize him, though she was certain he must be a teacher. He father had told her that no one could appeariate onto the school grounds—and no visitors were allowed in during class time without a mark. This man had no mark, but carried the hefty air of a typical Hogwarts teacher. She watched for a minute more, disproving, as the man went through several odd motions of taking a book by its spine and flipping it upside down. Wiggling it. Then putting it back. Biddy winced. She had a fondness for books, more mature for any child her age. Spending all her time in here had taught her how old and precious some of these books were- and how delicate. One wrong flip and the page, and its beautiful pictures, could be lost forever. She hesitated for a moment, but as he continued with the odd pattern—Biddy quickly stepped out from behind the book-case, on the tips of her toes with a nervous, but pleading, glint in her eyes. “Please don’t hurt the books!”

[nicholasliamwolf]

Nicholas Wolfe

It was the sound of a higher-pitched voice than his own that snapped him out of his reverie. "Eh?" Nicholas asked in a rather bewildered tone, as his eyes (rather glazed over from lack of sleep) searched for the source of the voice. When found, his head tilted to one side like a puppy rather confused with the order it had been given. Why was a girl doing here that was younger than a high school student of on average fourteen and two thirds to eighteen and a quarter? She most certainly was not fourteen and two thirds, nor was she eighteen, and most certainly she was not twenty. Or twenty-two. More like kindergarten. With a high vocabulary... or was he just thinking that because he had a stereotype he established upon meeting each and every kid? The fact that she could speak clearly did not mean that she wasn't a child. Perhaps she had just grown up around books... maybe she was a resident here in this very library? Maybe even the guardian of these books, and in reality was really one-thousand seven-hundred and eighty-two? She taught herself how to read from dictionaries, and learned magic all by herself, and yet managed to stay in such a young form to fool people into thinking that she was actually seven years old! Her mother and father died when she was a baby and she lived off the juice of the universe, and the dew of the morning leaf? Her hair used to grow long, but then she had to cut it when an vengeful knight came to kill off the rest of her parents, thus bribing him to go away? Her eyes used to be so bright that they blinded everyone, so she put in contacts made from pages of old books?

Shaking his head to rid himself of drawing further conclusions, Nicholas grinned widely, shaking his head. He knew that some people (students in particular) thought him a retarded person with that grin, but he thought nothing of being happy and showing it. "Hurting them? Hurting them would be chucking them against the wall to explode in thousands of papery bits. This is just shaking them. The other option is rather violent, don't you think? Who would clean up the book guts?" His statement was rather blunt, and with the same friendly smile as before. Nicholas didn't like stopping himself right in the middle of a though, and so tended to just ramble on about what he thought on the subject. Sometimes it was painful for the listener to hear, but truthfully, something they needed. And at other times it was completely useless, and they would have to either interrupt him, or walk off. It didn't seem like Nicholas minded that, but sometimes, underneath that friendly face, he did.

But despite all that, the girl seemed like a rather nice person. Despite being a guardian of space and time, she looked really worried about the books. But, instead of getting the hint and putting the poor book away, Nicholas ignored it, and continued what he was doing. The treasure map needed to be found. Whatever the guardian wanted took backseat. "I know that you hate your subjects to be treated this way, but it must be done. Must! For the good of all, few must sacrifice. That's why I'm doing this revolting deed." At that, Nicholas gave a shudder, and placed the current book (after being shaken to satisfaction) back on the shelf where it was comforted by his booky friends. Or so Nicholas would like to think. Despite the books being violated in this way, Nicholas just knew that there had to be a treasure map somewhere, and the sooner he found it, the sooner he could get back to drawing stick figures and eating sweet things. That would be the reward (Nicky didn't care for the fame, he just wanted some fortune to spend on sweet apples and candy) for his diligent hard work.

[/blockquote]

[bidelia.jamesina.cockburn]

BIDDY COCKBURN

Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;

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[/font]

Biddy was rather baffled by this strange man who she had never seen before. Including his… rather strange way of saying things. Despite her protests, he merely gave some answer about subjects and continued going on with the potential damage of these rather delicate books. Her, subjects? Biddy had to think about that one for a minute, dimly watching the man continue with his actions. Weren’t subjects like, classes? Biddy had heard the older children talk more than once about their, ‘favorite-subjects’—and one girl had kindly explained to the baffled seven-year old, that subjects were classes. Still, Biddy had picked up that some words had more than one meaning. The meaning of subjects this time, the young witch didn’t know. All she was really concentrating on at the moment was that the man was picking up a particularly old and fragile book (barely hanging by the seams) and shaking it.

“What is more important than… my subjects?” Biddy asked, slightly panicked—as the leather cover of the book wavered—using her new word in a totally ironic way, really having no idea what she was saying. Then one of the threads on the top of the book snapped, and Biddy lost her nervous and panicky demeanor—eyes widening and filling with determination. “Don’t! I’ll call Ms, Hinson over, and she won’t be happy that you’re messing up… my… subjects!” Ah, context clues were lost on Biddy at that particular moment, she was just trying to sound more mature than she actually was.

Biddy actually looked slightly threatening, like a kitten rubbed the wrong way. You weren’t really in any danger, but the kitten still had some sharp claws and teeth! Of course, if you took into account her appearance, the threatening demeanor was severally dampened. However, just as Biddy was about to talk one small step forward to try and reason with him more, a single piece of paper fluttered from beneath the book’s spinal cover—the girl stopping horrified, thinking it to be a actual page from the book. She was much too far away to see that it actually was… well,

A map.

[nicholasliamwolf]

Nicholas Wolfe

Nicholas' smile wavered for a bit, his forehead furrowing in concentration. "Yes. You know-- servant. Slave. Pauper to your guardianship. Mere ants under your feet that you can squish at any time you choose! That is true power!" He grinned wide enough for his teeth to be shown in full glory, his voice increasing in volume, and the tone becoming that of a charismatic speaker giving a pep-talk to minions. "THAT is something to treasured above all else! People that will throw away their lives at moments notice, just at your order alone! Loyalty over-flowing like a bottle of fine wine being opened right after the King toasts his knights after a big battle! A triumphant battle full of blood and gore!" Nicholas jabbed his finger into the distance (which happened to be a shelf of books on the psychology of lower ghouls), grinning widely, and caught up in his delusion of painting the ultimate picture. He hardly noticed when her face grew more determined after a tiny bit of the spine snapped at his over-eager explanation, or the fact that she was threatening him with getting the librarian.

Nicholas' hand continued shaking the book as he went on into details how the war would have gone before the King would have toasted his knights (going into the very fine details, and making it very depressing before the guardian-- this little girl-- came in to save them all), and the fact that books don't just die-- they go to book heaven, before a piece of paper floated down. At first, Nicholas didn't see anything, having gone into explaining what places the books would go in book heaven according to works. Once spotted, however, the professor' words stopped its constant flow. As if surprised, the silence itself rang in his ears, and you could almost see the proverbial wind blowing behind him and a dial tone as his mind tried to connect the piece of paper with what he was looking for.

"Wow! I found it! Finally! I found it!" Nicholas laughed out loud, snatching it up, dropping the book, and turning to the girl with a very excited face all in one confusing movement. "The pirates shouldn't have ever tried to hide their map in the library! This is why! Searching for two whole days finally paid off like winning ninety-six million on gambling!" Nicholas rubbed the paper with a type of reverence people dealt out to the holy grail, the first bible, and food after starving for weeks. He had found it, and now the professor was a very happy short man. Then he proceeded to almost skip to the girl, gathering her in a tight hug. "See? I told you! I told them all! The pirates were stupid in thinking they could hide this from me, and since I skipped eating breakfast and lunch today, I got even farther in my searching. It all pays off, now." With a content sigh, he released her, ignoring the book he had nearly stepped on in his steps to cross over to the girl.

Folding the piece of paper without giving further thought of it, those gray-blue eyes gave a tad bit more attention than they had before, when his mind was more focused on other things. Despite being as tall as him (perhaps a teeny bit smaller), she was awfully adorable. Nicholas had to resist the urge to pet her head like one would a tiny kitten, and instead covered up a yawn that had his eyes blinking slowly afterward. He had the map, though, and would go back to his average routine once he figured out what this guardian was doing here beside his mere mortal self.

[/blockquote]

[bidelia.jamesina.cockburn]

BIDDY COCKBURN

Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;

[/right][/blockquote]
[/font]

The girl frowned at the man’s definition. That was definitely not what she had thought the word to mean—but then again, this man had such an odd way of talking that she wasn’t sure whether he was really being serious or not. He seemed kinda’… off. Rambling on and on about power, and book guts—in which during that time, Biddy picked up few books off the ground, staring at him all the while, and managed to put three or four back on the shelf, and kept a rather small one in her locked arms—it’s worn leathery cover smooth and soft—not really trusting the man to stop his raid on the books, and keeping one close for protection.

“What’s so important about a piece of paper?” Biddy asked, again rather confused, arms crossed over the book—not really having got a good look at it from its position in the man’s arms. He was rambling on and on about lunch and breakfast and something about gambling, of course cuing the question from an overly curious girl, “What’s gambling?” and “Nintey-Six million… what? Is that a lot then?” as she had never known anything besides gallons and shillings and knuts. Maybe she really should call a librarian over—

But then Biddy started, like a deer frozen in headlights, as the man suddenly approached her—squeaking silently as he hugged her without warning—her feet lifting slightly off the ground, but no further. He really was a short man, wasn’t he?—surely, Biddy would’ve noticed him running around, more so one of his height. Releasing her, Biddy hobbled backwards a few seconds, not concealing the surprised look on her face. Then he eyed her head, like he was going to pat her on the head—and Biddy’s eyes narrowed significantly. If her ears had been on the top of her head, they would’ve flattened straight down in slight irritation, but more over surprised than anything else. “Who are you?” She said, in a rather demanding voice, now irriated to the point of slight fear of the unknown. “Why are you here? Are you a teacher?”

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OCC: Sorry it's short. xP I couln't think of much to write-- and Biddy's not a rambler. :3