#love that ur prompt was literally just 'autism squad being nerds?' like i love that for us

[creacherkeeper]

for the prompts: ayda teaching adaine or riz how to organize her library 💜💜

Intense scrutiny was never a thing Ayda had been good with. She knew she was skilled in many areas, and wouldn’t hesitate to inform others of that if they asked, because purposefully underselling yourself to make others like you always seemed like a double-edged sword (this Ayda had learned the metaphor of double-edged sword very young, because there were, in Leviathan, many actual double-edged swords around at all times). So, she knew she was smart, and was fine with others knowing she was smart, as well as very dedicated and practical and ambitious. She was, also, as a related point, impervious to heat as a half-phoenix. None of these things, however, stopped her from sweating under her armpits.

“How long until we get to work with the actual books?” Adaine asked, glasses being polished by her cleaning rag as Riz held both their notepads. “If I don’t get to breathe in old book smell in the next hour I might die.”

“I’m sure Ayda has a training process and we’ll follow it and be patient because that’s the best way to learn,” Riz said. He grinned at her encouragingly, all sharp pointed teeth. He didn’t look like he’d slept.

“Yes,” Ayda replied. “I do. I do have a process. And we’ll be following it. It’s- well, usually, it’s being followed by retired pirates who’ve had a few too many limbs blown off, and not high school interns, so- it’s- we’ll have to modify it a little, but that’s fine, and this is going to go fine.”

“It’s totally gonna be fine,” Riz agreed, handing Adaine back her notepad. “We’re going to be great interns and you’re not going to regret this at all.”

“Right.” Ayda blinked. “That’s correct. I won’t.”

Riz had a habit of saying technically encouraging things in a way that most people would find highly disconcerting, but Ayda reminded herself that he truly did mean it well and tried not to read the comment badly. Some people were thrown off by him ping-ponging back and forth between completely literal and menacingly sarcastic, and while Ayda at first found herself to be one of them, after spending more time with him (and explicitly asking Adaine through message cantrips) she was getting better at reading his intent.

“I’m so excited I could eat a book,” Adaine said, bouncing on her toes. She quickly continued, “That was not literal. I respect books too much to eat them and it would also likely kill me. I’m just very eager to be working here for the whole summer. Couldn’t possibly think of a better way to spend it. What are we learning first?”

Ayda tried to force her wings to smooth from their bristled state. Eating books was explicitly banned in the Compass Points.

“We’re going to be learning about the library’s organization system,” she said, slipping into her more rigid and formal vocal affect without really meaning to. “It’s unique to the Compass Points and will require dutiful study to master.”

Riz beamed. Adaine’s face skewed in confusion.

“You don’t use the Dewdrop Decimal system?”

Don’t bristle, don’t bristle. The quills of her feathers itched against her skin.

“No. My system was developed decades and decades before Dewdrop and is superior in every way. Dewdrop Decimal was basically a scam artist and is no academic in my eyes. If his organizational system were ever to touch the Compass Points, I’d rather burn the whole thing to the ground and start over.”

Tension crackled between the two girls. Riz grinned again, this time more of a face-wrinkling grimace. He held out his hands.

“Well, how about while we’re here, we just focus on learning Ayda’s system, since that’s what this library uses, and you can continue organizing all the shelves at Mordred by Dewdrop, and not try to reorganize anything here because Ayda might literally kill you?”

There was a loud pop. They turned. Aelwyn stood with a large, dusty tome in her hands, chewing slowly. She popped her gum again, then spoke.

“Is she being a nerd again?”

Ayda stared. “There’s no bubblegum allowed in the library.”

A pause.

“Rawlins gave it to me.”

“Well, Rawlins is expected to know all the rules here, so if that’s true, he’ll be punished swiftly and harshly.”

A few blinks. “I … I traded Rawlins some gum so I could look at this book.”

Riz stood on his tiptoes, neck craning. “Is that the book he keeps with him at all times because if he doesn’t have it, he turns into a pile of bones?”

Aelwyn shifted defensively. “I don’t see why I’m under interrogation here, I just came to say hi.”

Hands rising to cover her face, Ayda tried to breathe.

“Aelwyn, give Rawlins his book back,” Adaine said, short. “And stop stealing my gum, you know I need it for when I study.”

“None of you are any fun at all, but fine.”

The gum popped again as Aelwyn walked away.

Little flickers of flame heated Ayda’s palms as she breathed—deep, calming breaths in and out. Usually, if a new recruit didn’t work out, she could just drop them out the window and let them swim back to some other part of Leviathan while she put a new sign up on the banned patrons wall. But these were her friends. That made it more stressful, somehow.

“I’m really excited to learn about this organizational system, Ayda,” Riz said pointedly. There was a small thump, then a sound like a whap.

“Yes, I am too,” Adaine said.

Ayda dropped her hands. She stared at the floorboards in the space between them.

“Yes. Okay.” She cleared her throat, trying to speak more confidently. “The Ayda Aguefort Library Informational System was developed to revolve around the domains—both divine and scholarly. Some topics are obvious to sort. A book about frogs would fall under the Animal Domain. A book about the legal system would fall under Law. But all books are sorted by their primary domain and then within that, a secondary. So, a book about Leviathan, for example, would fall under the primary domain Civilization and then secondary Watery Death. It’s most important to know a book’s primary domain, and is usually easy to find the secondary following that, as long as you have adequate knowledge of what you’re searching for.”

“Watery death?” Riz whispered.

“Where’s the friendship section?” Adaine said curiously.

Ayda shifted. She blinked a few times, still not looking at them. “Primary, Community. Secondary, Joy.”

She risked a glance up. There was a broad, warm smile on Adaine’s face, eyes squinted happily behind her glasses.

“I take it back. I like this system much better than Dewdrop.”

Ayda’s chest flushed with pride. “Thanks. I do too.”

Footsteps. They glanced up as Aelwyn approached again, one hand on her hip and the other swirling the heavy tome in the air. “Yeah, I don’t know how to put Rawlins back together.”

Tension lessening, Ayda let herself chuckle. “Okay, we’ll take care of that, and then we go back to learning about the library.”

Adaine bounced up to her and linked their arms. The contact was warm and comforting.

“Lead the way, captain.”