Renegade looked around the library with something akin to appreciation and awe. It was much larger than the one she frequented on her little juants to the uninhabited lands. There weren't very many shadows here and those that were called to her as she passed. Today she was focusing on not calling them to her, that was why she was here.
---
Her mind was clear, her breathing even as she chanted to herself to keep the shadows in their places, the only one that followed was her own. She passed people of every walk of life and was pleased to see that their shadows stayed still and calm underneath them, pausing only long enough to greet her as she walked by.
---
The hem of her pants slid effortlessly across the floor, hiding her shoes and making her appear as if she were gliding through the floor itself. She wore a plain red tank top and a black jacket to guard her from the chill of the Air conditioner as she waded through the marble floor towards the back of the library. As she found herself in the center of the library she looked up suddenly and was awestruck by the beauty and size of this place, and in that moment her concentration was broken and the shadows rushed upon her, surrounding her, calling happily to her and petting her.
---
Groaning out loud she took off at a run now, trying to hide before someone saw her and all hell broke loose, though it would be hard to miss the giant black ball of shadows running desperatly through the library. However, no one called out or shouted but Renegade found a dark corner and dashed into it, leaning against the wall to catch her breath and slid onto the floor.
---
This was so bad!! How come she couldn't do this?! Everyone else could control their powers, they never lost control like this! Other students never struggled with their elements suddenly converging upon them and marking them. This was so embarassing!! She groaned and put her head in her hands as the shadows swirled around her.

Greer carried an armful of books across the library. There were faster ways to get them from here to there, probably smarter ways too but the old fashioned ways sometimes seemed best, especially when it came to books.

He had put almost all of them away when he heard something like whispers, like the rustle of cloth, like a worried or harried thought. He poked his head around the end of an aisle and saw a girl sitting in a corner, surrounded by strange shapes like black ghosts. Like shadows.

No one was helping the girl, speaking to her, asking her why she was distressed or if the shadows were somehow harming her. Greer looked right and left, saw no help on the horizon and walked to the girl. He'd seen stranger than this in his time knowing Raelin.

Greer knelt in front of the girl. "Hello," he said, and paused. He tried to ask her if she was alright but had a feeling that was a dumb question at a time like this. Awkward silence tried to fall around him, so he forced a smile. "Hello," he said again.

It took a moment for Renegade to hear the man speaking to her, the shadows were talking in their excited voices, thrilled to have someone to talk to, estatic that there was another shadow there with them. That is how they saw her, she was not apart from them but the same, she was a shadow, the "Master Shadow" they sometimes called her. She heard a forgein whisper, something distinctly non-shadow.

Her eyes peeked up from her arms and she looked up to fully face the man in front of her. "Hi!" she waved shyly, still encompased by the dim shadows. "Uh...so...I'm fine, if that's what you want to know, I'm just really embarassed right now..." she cleared her throat.

Uh...so...I'm fine, if that's what you want to know, I'm just really embarassed right now..

Greer gave a little nod. "No need to be embarrassed," he said and almost left it at that. Come on, a few more words wouldn't hurt anyone. "No one else seems to have noticed anyway."

Curiousity was flowing through him. What were these strange shadows that had converged on this girl? He tried to remember if he had read about this.. yes, quite possibly, he read so much... but why, and what? He wished for a moment to touch one of them, study it, but knew that wouldn't be wise and this girl was already feeling bad enough. "Is there anything I can do?" he asked finally instead, very quietly.

Ren looked around and shrugged. "Not really, I mean...they'll go away if I want them too but they're just really excited right now..." she sighed. She watched the strange man curiously, he wasn't freaking out like most people would, sure he looked confused (wouldn't you be?) but he was distinctly calm.
---
Renegade calmly rose to her feet and gave a little flick of her wrist causing the shell around her to break apart, the shadows shrinking away then assuming an orbit like rotation around her. But at least she could see the colors clearly again. It was like being wraped in a zebra striped scarf. "Renegade Cross!" she introduced herself as she thrust her hand out to shake his. A loving shadow (her own of course) was wrapped loosely around her arm and examined the other person curiously, making tiny squeaking noises that could probably be heard but Renegade giggled because she understood them.

Greer looked at her hand, quite pale and thin and beautiful, as female hands go. Maybe it was because he was an observer and not so much a doer, but he knew plenty about hands... and this was a nice one.

He reached out and shook her hand, looking at the little shadow on her arm. "You have a lot of... friends," he said, bobbing his head towards the shadow. He blushed a little at his choice of words. Not exactly what most heads of libraries would say about something. He considered correcting himself but what to say in correction didn't come to him. He smiled instead. Again.

"Thank you! It's not often that I meet someone who doesn't completely freak out when this happens, and it happens alot," she sighed with a fatalistic shrug of her shoulders. "I was doing so well today too, I came here to practice self control and I lost concentration looking around here," she frowned.
---
"None of the other avatars loose control like this, Master Tristan says it's because I'm different than everyone else, I'm not different I'm exactly the same!" she protested. She knew that the truth was a frightening thing and she wanted a way to explain why her powers were strange and new and why no one else lost control or could hear what was being said all around them.
---
"What's your name?" she asked finally when the silence grew too thick.

He watched her as she spoke, watched her mouth move and the fire in her eyes and her posture and gestures and everything. She must be really something. He didn't think crossing her would be a good idea, and thinking that almost made him smile again.

"I don't 'freak out' often. I think my reflexes are too slow... that's why I work in the library instead of with Mr. Piers or some agent. Books don't tend to do anything too quickly or unexpectedly."

What's your name?

"My name is Greer Maddox." It wasn't exactly Bond, James Bond but it had a ring to it. A nerdy, unique ring.

"Cool, nice to meet you," she said as she put her hands on her hips and looked around. "Well, I didn't see anyone freaking out when I was running so maybe I can come out...shoo shoo!" she said softly waving her hands around. The shadows all convered upon her, ghosting her with love before flying back to their respective places. Seriously who needed pets when shadows were willing to love you and you didn't need to feed them?
---
"Not an agent? WHat does that mean?" she asked as she walked out past him to get another good look at the library she had ran past in her embarassemnt.

"Oh. Oh, you know." Greer thought for a few seconds. "If I was with an agent and some creature of darkness came screaming out it would probably have lopped off my head or eaten my brain before I could put my hands up and stop it. Bad reflexes. You know." He watched her looking around and stared at her back.

"Maybe I can help you find something," he called after her.

"No, I can find it myself...do you have the magic cards?" she asked, then decided to elaborate. "You know, the magic cards that tell you where the books are? Where the isle is and what section, they have numbers on the back of the books!" she pointed to a book but frowned when she found that it had no number on it.
---
"How come you don't have the magic cards? Do you knwo know how to make them?" she asked it innocently enough, confusion and innocence written all over her face as she put the book away and looked around for the cabinet that housed the almighty magic cards. "I saw it in the library in the Uninhabited lands..." she sighed as she looked around again. "That's how I found Shakespeare and Elliot...and Tolkein and Einstein...and..." she trailed off mentally listing all the other authros she had encountered because of the magic cards.

Greer listened to her words, putting his hands behind his back and leaning closer to her. "Oh... magic cards." He thought about it a minute, what could she be talking about? And then all at once it came to him. "You mean the- the old filing system. From before. Oh, we- we use something different now, really." He picked up a book. "We use a completely new system. The old paper cards aren't really an option anymore, not as wise of a choice for- not as- We don't-" He stopped talking, sorting through his thoughts. "We don't use that anymore, Miss Cross. But I can find you all the Shakespeare you want."

His fingers itched a little, just thinking about Shakespeare, and his heart hurt for her. It was sad to talk to anyone who had seen the ruined libraries, who saw the broken shelves and dead books... the ghosts of authors and characters seeming to circle around forever.

Greer leaned close again. "Tell you what. You let me know what you want to read and I'll find every single book for you. No matter how many or how long it takes."

"Oh!" understanding finally dawned on Renegade. The cards were not magic, they were a filing system! She was suddenly quite proud of herself that she had learned how to read the cards now, she might need that knowledge some day.
---
"Well there really isn't anything specific that I want right now, I just want to look around. How are things organized around here?" she asked as she paused and looked around the corner. "I just found Shakespeare a few weeks ago, I loved Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet, my favorite line was "To thine own self be true..." she smiled as she reached up and plucked a book off the shelf.

"With Shakespeare, I don't think you could go wrong," Greer said. He watched as her face lit up with a smile and he smiled back at her. "There are too many wonderful quotes to mention... the man was brilliant." He walked down an aisle and came back just as quickly with a book. "This is a collection of some of his works." Greer paused. This girl was sure getting a lot of words out of him.

"There's a book," he said, "Called Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, written in the 1950's, about a future where books are burned and no one reads anymore. I thought about it a long time after I read it. The people in the book memorize the books and carry that memory around with them, waiting for the day that the books can be written down again and freely read." He held the book against his chest for a few seconds and then held it out to her. "That's what we do. Even if everything changed and some people think there's no time anymore for poetry or fiction, we carry it around in ourselves for the day when it's needed and loved again."

Renegade took the book and smiled. "Alright, I'll read it, thanks!" she said as she turned and started looking around again. "So what do you do in a library all day? Do you read or do you help the rescourcers? I mean...it would be so cool to read all day, I swear books are the only things that understand me these days," she shrugged.
---
The shadows whispered around her and a few of them with more free will than they should have had broke free and surrounded her feet. "What else do you have in here?" she looked back and Greer and then back at the huge bookshelf she had just encountered.

What did he do in the library all day? That was one of those ancient questions.. he'd been asked that so many times that the question never collected dust, never got old or tired or worn out.

"I do everything. You can do everything in a library... learn things, help others learn things, repair old books, write new ones... lots of things. Right now I've been sorting out a batch of donated books. A lot of them are in terrible shape but when I'm done, they'll be readable. Thankfully I have a good memory. And resourcers come here for help... I know where to direct them, most of the time."

MSI people, people Raelin knew, people working for Mr. Piers... he knew them without them having to say a word. He knew them by their clothes and the way they stood, always ready, always thinking. He knew they would never ask for help, so he just walked with them, directed them as best he could and they appreciated it, in their way. No embarrassment of admitting you need anything.

Raelin. He sighed just thinking of her again. She'd been on his thoughts quite a bit lately.

"How did you get to be a resourcer?" Renegade asked suddenly. "I've always thought about becoming one, but I don't know how, we Avatars generally stay in our nifty alcove and learn how to control our powers, then some of use leave and become investigators ot become law abiding citizens of Nebula...but that always sounded boring to me..." she shrugged.

"Is there a way I can get my name on a list at least? I don't have to become one right away I mean...like is their paperwork or something?" she asked hopefully.

Greer silently listened to her questions, not moving at all, not even nodding until she was done. This was probably the most talking he'd done in a very long time.

"Well," he said. "I know." There he stopped, like it was the end of the sentence, like he had just said prize-winning words. Oh, Greer Maddox, what a clever boy you are! Two words!

Greer swallowed. "I know someone. I know a resourcer and I know... Raelin." Know her? Yes, he knew her alright. Knew her very well, like an ex-wife but with a little less paperwork. "I have a very good friend named Raelin and she knows everyone." He had to stop himself from saying she knew 'everything', though she probably did. He'd always known she was magical but after they'd gone their seperate ways, she'd somehow become even more special to her. "And... and I know Danae. And, well... they know Sir Antony quite well. Like they were his daughters. So I guess... Well, I know Raelin and Danae, yes. I don't know about paperwork but..."

He felt his face warming with a blush and quickly smiled.

"Oh?" she asked curiously. "Well I'm sure there are proper channels, I guess I should just work my way there..." she wondered out loud. She was looking up at the moment and saw a title that interested in her and looked around for a ladder so that she could get it.

"Greer, um...you're not uncomfortable talking to me are you?" she asked with a kind smile. His last answer was kinda strange but she figured it was because he didn't talk to many people. "I mean if you'd like to go back to what you were doing I can find what I'm looking for!" she offered.

Greer looked back at her, his eyes widening. "No!" he said, much too loud for a library. "No, no, it's not that. I'm just... I'm. Awkward. I'm a little awkward when I'm talking, I always have been. Too much information running through my brain and all that. I get ahead of myself. Sometimes I don't even bother speaking." He blushed a little again. "I embarrass myself so often, Miss Cross. It's not you. I've loved talking to you. Attempting anyway. I-I'm sorry if I've sounded like a complete idiot."

Renegade giggled and shook her head. "You're funny, actually I'm glad that you like talking to me, I don't get to talk to people that often!" she smiled. "So, wanna help me find a ladder so I can get that book?" she asked pointing up the giant volume of Poe poems that she had located. She hadn't read Poe yet, but he was referenced in some of her other things so she desperately wanted to read him. She thought that now was a good time and later she'd go to the uninhabited plands to get a copy for herself if she could find one.

"Oh! Sure," Greer said and hurried off to find a ladder. He brought it back to Renegade quickly and climbed right up it. "Ah, Poe. A good choice. Especially for dark moods. Bradbury also... Ray Bradbury had terribly dark books. My mother used to tell me only demented people read Bradbury. It probably didn't help that I was seven when I started reading him."

Greer held the book out for Renegade.

Renegade gave Greer a dazzling smile and took the book from him. "Thanks!" she said as she ran her fingers absently through her multi-colored hair. "I'm not really into dark moods, I just read about him in another book I was reading and I wanted to read some of his stuff, did he have a poem about a bird or something? Who would write a poem about a bird?" she demanded, displaying her very small, very random blonde side.

*it's so LAME forgive me *bows**