@selflessgrace [ ♜ ]
hatter couldn’t help but hesitate as she stepped over the threshold into the library; it seemed––––well, a little wrong to have so much accumulated knowledge lying around for anyone to come in and peruse. libraries were an uncommon thing in wonderland, and the paperwork to get into them almost more trouble than it was worth; she half-expected an armed guard to spring from the corners and usher her out.
no such reprisal seemed forthcoming. hatter shuffled further in, eyeing the rows of books with a mixture of apprehension and unbridled glee. her true mission in coming here was nearly forgotten, lost to the temptation of these bookshelves––––unguarded! unlocked!––––until her gaze lit upon the librarian. she straightened up at once, shoving away both her nerves and the desire to seize every last book for herself.
“ ah––––excuse me. ” friendly smile. a polite lilt of the voice. she knew better than to be rude to the one who controlled the flow of literature in and out of this place. “ belle, isn’t it? i’m hatter. and i’m looking for a––––a particular book. if you’ve the time to help, of course. ”
belle was humming a soft tune as she (yet again) worked on reorganizing the shelves. were you to tell her of the dewey decimal system, she would laugh in your face- she had tried, and failed, to adhere to it and was horrified to learn that it was the most common classification system. since then, the library has suffered through three different reorganization processes (soon to be four).
on the bright side, the library continued to … lack in visitors who would undoubtedly be frustrated with belle’s indecisiveness. in fact, when she heard the door open, there was a sudden jolt of uneasiness. the main reason people had for visiting were of a more dire nature than merely appreciating the written word (much to belle’s intense disappointment).
glancing up from the book-littered table, belle’s shoulders relaxed a bit as she saw hatter. no life-threatening disasters, then? she certainly hoped not. she returned the smile and nodded at the question of her name. “ i would be happy to! just- uh, excuse the mess. ” a sheepish grin was given. “ what are you looking for? ”