Of This We Do Not Speak // [Umber x Baby]

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

It was late. Not so late that the library had closed for the night, but late enough that most everyone else had made their way out for dinner or once last sparring match before lights out. Baby's stomach rumbled uncomfortably; she was not yet used to the feeling Storm Adroxis assured her she would come to know as well as tired or sad.

She hadn't had the heart to tell him she wasn't all that familiar with either of those emotions. At least, not prior to her name being read from the slip.

Now she felt all those things and more, a tornado of feelings swirling inside of her chest. Every day her styling team but a little more coverup beneath her eyes and every day she fought to keep her tears to herself.

She had not succeeded during the interview, the one chance she'd had to make a good impression for sponsors. And she knew - even without Storm telling her, even without reading a single book in the library - that if she didn't secure some very wealth sponsors, there was no help for her.

She'd seen the boys from Two and the girls from Four. She was definitely going to di-

Baby hiccuped instead of sobbing, the sharp sound echoing off the roccocco columns. Baby covers her mouth with one hand as she presses further into the section titled HISTORICAL FICTION. It's such an odd way to describe a book. Are they in fact history, which is true through and through? Or are they fiction, which is fantasy?

She doesn't know, exactly. But having spoken to the librarian, this is the only section to find what she's after.

And of course, reading the categorized spines closely, she finds the book bound in black with gold lettering. On the very top shelf. Not even a solid jump will get her there. So, Baby puts one foot on the lowest shelf, her fingers gripping the highest she can manage, and she's about to pull herself up when she hears the vaguest cough.

She freezes.

Then, slowly, looks under her armpit at the boy. "You don't happen to have a ladder, do you?" She whispers.

[umber vivuus 12b 🥀 [dars]]

There was something about this library, Umber found, that seemed to make people want to break the rules. His own first instinct had been to duck inside the Restricted Section just as soon as he'd learned there was such a thing. He'd caught Georgie hiding in the dark and reading with a flashlight so no one would find her. D'Arcy had kept him hidden from Eulalie's view after she chased him inside. He hadn't really made the connection that it all seemed to be happening in the same place until now, when he wheeled around the corner to find a girl climbing her way up one of the bookshelves.

Now, he was all for sticking it to the man, but what exactly was the plan here? Those shelves went up really, really high. He hadn't yet considered what the view would be like from up there, but he imagined it was high enough to give his stomach butterflies if he teetered too close to the edge. What's more, the girl doing the climbing didn't look like she was particularly gifted as a climber. He watched in silence for a few moment before an audible wince slipped from his lips when he noticed how dangerously close to the edge of the shelf her foot was.

She looked over- down- at him as if she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"You don't happen to have a ladder, do you?"

She had large, curious blue eyes and a roundness to her features which set her closer to his age than the older kids. He wondered if she meant to make her voice sound so chipper. Umber wasn't sure how to explain it, but it intrigued him. He could've easily imagined the two of them sharing a classroom together back in District Twelve, though she was definitely giving Square vibes with the blonde hair and the... naivety.

"Nope... Fresh out! Are you, uh, climbing that for business or pleasure?" He asked, his concerned expression flitting between her precarious hold on the shelf and the curious gaze staring back at him.

"I just- you're gonna fall if you're not more caref-"

While he stared at her shoe dangling along the edge, he heard a looming groan from somewhere higher up. He glanced up just quick enough to see that the shelf the girl was holding with her hands tipped forward, as if trying to dump her over the edge, and then slid right back into place, not a book disturbed. Action over thought, Umber surged forward with his arms outstretched to try and catch her- "Crap!"