Books And Covers Thereof (1.18)

>Kitty: COSTUMES COSTUMES COSTUMES you love costumes and it shouldn’t be scary or embarrassing!

>Kitty: Suggest that you help with costumes. Pam and the officer can find the invitation. Mindy can search the day job.

“I’d like to do costumes!” says Kitty, immediately. Every turns to look at her.


“Costumes!” shouts Annie.


“Costumes!”


“Costumes!”


They both high five.


“That answers one question,” says Pamela. “There’s a costume shop just down the street. You should have no trouble there.”


“I need everyone’s sizes!” proclaims Annie. “And I have no trouble invading your personal space to find out!”


“She’s not lying,” says Kitty.


Against a background of suddenly frantic scribbling, Pamela continues talking. “I believe Mindy and Kiplin should handle Dante Ilucis’ day job. I will take care of the invitation.”


“You want me to go to his job?”


“Is that a problem?”


Mindy grinned. “Not at all.”

*     *     *

“Hey, barkeep,” says Pamela, sitting in front of the bartender.


“What’s up?” she asks.


“Do you have an invitation to the party?”


“Duh,” says Meb Faust.


“Right. Were you planning on going?”


“Nope.”


“May we have your invitation, please?”


Meb considers this for an entire, agonizing minute.


“Nope.”


“What? Why not?”


“Because.”


Pamela stares straight ahead.


She slams her head on the bar.


“Ugh.”

*     *     *

>Be Officer Kiplin

Ilucis Auto-Repair And Robo-Shop stands only a short distance away from the bar. It is a large, rectangular building with two large garage doors, revealing a small group of people crowded around someone’s sports car.


Mindy and Kiplin are inside the front office now, waiting at the desk. Mindy rings the bell.


“Let me do the talking,” says Mindy. “They know me here.”


A woman wearing a white shirt with overalls, her black hair tied up in a bun and covered in grease, pokes her head in through the back door. She looks a Mindy.


Mindy waves.


“Hey! Remember me?”


“Boss isn’t here,” says the woman flatly, and slams the door shut.


Kiplin slowly looks at Mindy.


“What?” asks Mindy. Kiplin rolls her eyes, vaults over the counter, pulls out her badge, and kicks the door open. She runs in, flashing it at the gaggle of confused mechanics.


“”Did Dante die?” asks a woman in jean short shorts.


“No,” responds Kiplin. “But we’re looking for him-”


Kiplin is rather nonplussed to discover that all of the mechanics have gone back to working.


The overall-clad woman storms up to Mindy and Kiplin. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but whatever it is, we’re very busy and we’d appreciate it if you would just get it over with and leave. All right? Dante’s office is in back, our newest hire is miss ‘Oreo’ in the short pants over there, Andrej in back probably hates our boss, and if this is some kinda murder investigation the boss is a die-hard pacifist so the most you’re gonna get on him is accidental manslaughter or negligence.” The woman blows a large pink bubble from her mouth, pops it, and then walks off.


Mindy and Kiplin glanced at each other, and then ran to the office door, Kiplin literally punching it open. Mindy shuts it behind them as Kiplin flips the lights on.


It’s a small but cushy office, soundproof and safe away from the hubbub of the garage outside. Air conditioned, too. A large mahogany wood desk dominates the area, with a television in the corner. There’s no computer visible, but the top of the desk has a variety of what are probably family photos. On one wall is a calendar. A disrobed woman appears to be attending to a car engine on it.


Behind the desk lurks a picture of Dante Ilucis himself, as noted by the plaque underneath it. He’s wearing a finely pressed suit, arms folded. A small amount of make-up appears to have been applied to his face at some point, culminating in an accentuating green on top of his eyelids, bringing out his also-green eyes.


Mindy flops in the chair before Kiplin can say anything.


“Ahhhhhh,” she says, putting her arms behind her head.


“What are ye doin’?”


“Sinking into his well-worn butt prints, presently. It’s magical.” Mindy opens up the desk drawers and begins searching through them at high speed as Kiplin moves around to look at the photos.


“...Why does he have two photos of himself in dresses?”


“Those are his sisters.”


“Oh.”


There are, indeed, two photos of woman strikingly similar to Dante aside from a few obvious areas. Olive skin, green eyes, dark hair. One of them is nearly identical. The other seems to be nearing the end of her teenage years. A third photo is of a young girl with similar features but shorter hair, around the age of twelve.


“I’m not finding anything so far,” mumbles Mindy. “But he’s probably got a key in here somewhere. You know, to his apartment? He tends to keep spares of things.”


“Ye know that?”


“I know a lot.” Mindy chuckles. “Oooh, here we go!” She pulls a key out from a stack of important looking papers, waving it triumphantly. “Little genius can’t even hide a key from me properly. Can you believe that?”


“I guess?


“Don’t think he left an invitation here, though.”


“Great.”


“Why don’t you wait outside? I want to do something stupid while I’m here.”


“...Okay.”

*     *     *

“Do you think we bought too many costumes?” asks Kitty.


They had to smash several tables together, such was the volume of costume bits that presently lay in front of them. Masks, hats, dresses, shoes, and other assorted, frequently animal themed costume pieces were piled together.


“Nah,” says Annie. Judging from the look on the shop owner’s face as they left, it had been the best day of his life.


At the bar, Pamela continued to try and argue with Meb.


“Could we just borrow it for five minutes?”


“Nope.”


“...Could we pay y-”


“Nope.”


Pamela slams her head down again.


“So,” says Kitty, impressively resisting the urge to leap out of her chair at the noise. “We should probably figure out what everyone is wearing.”


“We should, yes.”


“Yes.”


“Yep!”


“Yeah.”

Books And Covers Thereof (1.17)

>Kitty: Try not to combust with embarrassment as you approach the police officer


Kitty walks towards Officer Kiplin’s table, the scent of alcohol thickening into a musty soup around the cop. This seemed like a rather curious scientific phenomenon, and Kitty begins to wonder if she should tell someone. Maybe they would name it after her. “Kitty’s Beer Singularity Theory.”


The woman looks...Not as if she has seen better days, but as if those days had not existed at all. Her eyes have thick red cracks running from the edge to her irises, over pink eyeballs. Up close, Kitty can see that her nose has been broken before, probably more than once. Faint white lines on her cheek reveal old scars, and a bandage near her eyes hides a new one. The skin on her head and neck is pink, and peeling. Her red hair is short but wild, clearly presently uncombed.


The palms of her hands are covered in calluses. Her police uniform has clearly been ripped and sewn back up on multiple occasions, and this woman appear to have been built entirely out of muscle. She could probably break Kitty’s neck without a thought.


>Kitty: Attempt to speak with the officer. Fail to do so in the most dramatic way possible.

Kitty opens her mouth to say: “Hello, respected and hard working officer of the law. I see that you are clearly having a bad day. I am sorry, but there is an important matter upon which I must insist on speaking to you about, posthaste.”


With mounting horror, Kitty soon realizes that she actually said was: “Oh my god, you are an absolutely gargantuan person!”


The officer’s head turned up towards her, regarding her quietly behind thick blue glasses. “Ye weren’t usin’ that neck, were ye?”


Oh dear Lord. Kitty’s hands clasp around her neck. “Oh, no, no ma’am! I mean, yes I am, yes I am! I am quite fond of me neck. I mean, my neck! I meant no offense! I merely intended to compliment you on your well-defined and intimidating muscles!”


“...Oi, fancy gal,” says the officer.


“Er, me?” asks Pamela.


“Does yer friend always talk like that?”


“Only when she’s nervous.” Kitty nods emphatically, still clutching her throat.


Officer Kiplin regards Kitty a bit longer.


Kitty gulps.


“Ya!” The officer lunges forward suddenly, causing Kitty to jump back with a yelp and hide behind Pamela. The officer giggles uncontrollably, in a way Kitty did not expect from a muscular police officer.


“Yer all right,” says the officer.


“What’s wrong with you? Are you twelve?!”


“Yeah.”


“You’re just as weird as Mi-Yargh!” Kitty is momentarily interrupted as Mindy shoves her face into her field of view.


“Hey!” says Mindy.


“Don’t do that!” Kitty shouts. Pamela puts an arm around Kitty, gently moving her to sit down in a chair.


“You know, Kitty, maybe I ought to talk to them.”


“These people are insane!” Kitty shakes with panic and frustration, sweating.


“It’ll be all right. You did good. Lady’d be proud of you.” Pamela gives her a tight hug. Kitty blushes, putting her head down as Pamela lets go of her. She listens to the rest of the conversation with her eyes shut, trying to control her breathing.


“Mindy.”


“Snrrrrrk-What?”


“You know what.”


“What’s goin’ on ‘ere?”


“Don’t worry about it. Officer, miss, my associates and I-”


“I’ve always wanted to be an associate.”


“...Mindy. As I was saying, my associates and I, that is, Mindy and Kitty-”


“That rhymes.”


“-are trying to get into a party so we can confront Dante Ilucis.”


“...Th’ well-known playboy son of Lord Ilucis, well-known middle-aged playboy, himself th’ son of the late well-known senior citizen playboy Lord Ilucis?”


“The very same.”


Kitty jumped a little as Kiplin’s bottle of alcohol was slammed on the table.


“I’ll do it,” she says flatly.


“...Do what? We were just going to ask if you knew anyth-”


“I heard ye talkin’. Everyone else’s goin’. I’m not doin’ anythin’ better. Should probably investigate it anyway, as long as I’m on duty.”
“You’re on duty?!”


“If ye were on th’ traffic assignment my squad was on, ye’d be drinkin’ too.”


“...So do you have any information-”


“Probably nothin’ ye don’t know already.”


“...Anything useful you can do?”


“I can knock down doors and have a cheerful an’ sunny disposition.”


“...I will just jot that down.”





* * *



Within minutes, the bar - it’s patrons having realized they were all in on this conspiracy together, and having also realized that Meb Faust didn’t really seem to care much as long as they were shoving coins into her hand periodically - was a hub of activity. Annie and the mysterious unconscious man had both been brought inside. Presently, the latter was in a backroom, laying on the floor and being watched in shifts to see if he would wake up. The former was currently firmly attached to Kitty’s side, arms wrapped around her and leaning on the side of her head.


Mindy and Kiplin watched in fascination. Pamela quietly went over her notes next to them. The french woman was presently watching the unconscious guy.


“Ye an’ th’ princess, eh?” asks Kiplin.


“No comment,” clarifies Kitty. “It’s complicated,” she says, backpedalling quickly.


“It’s an open relationship,” responds Annie. Kitty rolls her eyes.


“How do you know each other...?” asks Mindy. Over the course of idle conversation, Kitty had gathered that Annie knew each other. Not in a very personable way, but in the vague way that people who are forced to go to the same parties growing up are required to know each other.


“We played together as children,” said Annie.

“Er, what? How would you have met-”


“Ahem,” says Pamela, putting her notepad on the table. “I have outlined our goals...” Everyone leaned over to read it.




1.) Acquire someone’s invitation to the party.


2.) Search Dante Ilucis’ day job next door for any clues.


3.) Purchase costumes at the shop down the street.


4.) Enter party in a convincing fashion.

“Where would you like to start?” asks Pamela.

Books And Covers Thereof (1.16)

> Ask about the ring.




“That’s an interesting ring you have,” says Kitty, eyeing it. “Kind of have a...double Ouroboros thing going on.”

Mindy just grins, the same one as before. Kitty begins to wonder what it’s hiding.

“You like it?” Mindy says, cheerily.

“It’s...interesting. What does it mean?”

“You don’t know that, either?” says Mindy. Pamela rolls her eyes. “Oh,” says Mindy, seeing this. “Right.”

“It’s a symbol of marriage in the Dragon tribe,” Pamela explains. “At least, among members of it.

“You’re married?” asks Kitty.

“Did you also guess that I’m still hispanic, or do I need to fill my conversation pieces with random Spanish words and phrases to remind you? Hermana. Biblioteca. El gato. La chica afirma lo obvio.”

Kitty frowns, staring at Mindy for a moment. “...Sorry. Um. Sore subject?”

Mindy tapped her orange nails against the table, thoughtfully. For once, the grin falls. “Arranged marriages often don’t go as well as people hoped,” she says.

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

The barest glimmer of a smile returns. “Anyway, it’s not important. Just let me know when you’re ready to leave.”

“...Yeah, okay.” Kitty gets up, and Pamela follows.

“We just need to talk to the officer,” says Pamela.

“Yeah. But, um, first...”

> Ask the bartender about her comment

“Excuse me, um, bartender, ma’am?” says Kitty, walking up to her.

“Yeah?”

“Um.” Kitty shuts her eyes, taking a deep breath. “You, um. Said something interesting. When she said the Faust sisters work mundane jobs...”

“I did.”

“Um...So...What’s your name...?”

The bartender looks at Kitty, and smiles a little. It’s a smirk, one side lifted just a little more. Kitty feels her face turn warm. The full lips, the confident grin, the tanned skin.

Are people outside usually this attractive?

The bartender takes out a notepad and writes something down. She slides it across to Kitty.

“That’ll answer your question,” she says, with a wink.

“Um. Thank you.” Kitty blinks, taking a step back and turning around.

“What is it?” asks Pamela. Kitty unfolds the paper and looks down.

125-555-8390

Ex. 11

“Meb” Faust

Call Me ;)

Pamela leans over her shoulder, raising an eyebrow.

“You’re certainly popular, today. Must be a lotta dames around that’ve got shy librarian fantasies.”




There's just one person left to talk to: The ginger haired police officer with the peeling red skin and the beer clutched in a death grip.

(Temporary?) Schedule announcement

Okay.  For right now, I’ve decided to go ahead and try putting TLG on an update schedule.

Until further notice, The Librarian’s Grimoire will be updated on Mondays and Fridays for certain.  Other days…We’ll see.  I might add another day.  I just need to keep things scheduled.  It should also be so much easier to catch up this way.

Books And Covers Thereof (1.15)

>Ask her opinion of Beret Lady! Can't hurt to hear both sides.

“So,” says Kitty.  “Do you know anything about the woman in the beret?”

“Eh?”  Mindy asks. Kitty points to the woman at the bar.  Mindy squints at the woman, who’s still watching them.  “I think I’ve seen her a few times.  I don’t know her though, she just comes in here and picks up some boy or girl every so often.  Why?”

“She...said some things about you.”

“Oh?  Like what?”

“Like that you’re weird.”

“I am pretty strange, thank you.”

“She also said you believed you were descended from a dragon.”

Mindy cocked her head to the side, raising an eyebrow.  “A what?”

“A dragon.”

A wide smile crossed Mindy’s face again.

“S-silly, right?” stammered Kitty.

“Yes.  Hahaha.”

“H-heh heh.”

“Hahahahaha, pretty silly.”

“Y-y-yeah, so silly, right?  H-heh heh h-heh heh heh heh heh h-h-h-h-heh.”

“Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!”  Mindy burst into a chain of gigglesnorting that rivalled even Annie’s periodic bouts of it.  She threw back her head and loud out a thunderous guffaw straight into the air.

Kitty exchanges another questioning look with Pamela.  Pamela shrugs.

“H-h-heh?  ...It’s not true, right?”

Mindy began laughing again.  

“...Okay then.”

>Kitty: Elaborate on the Faust and Ilucis dealyo. Who are these guys, eh?

 “So, er, you mentioned the Faust and Ilucis families.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Who are they?” asks Kitty, unironically.

“...Is she for real, Pamela?”

“She doesn’t get out much, Mindy.  It’s not really her fault.  Plus she lives in the Tiger district.”

“Ahhhhh,” said Mindy, suddenly filled with understanding.  She began to nod sagely.  “You’re practically foreign.”

“We’re not...foreign,” replies Kitty.  “We just live on an island, and are largely of East Asian and Middle Eastern descent.  In fact, according to, um, records, my grandparents were of Chinese and Japanese descent, and, um, going far back, a lot of my ancestors were apparently Egyptian, which, I was told, is an interest story-”

“And I’m hispanic, but who’s counting?” says Mindy.

“I don’t see how that relates, but-”

“Hey, look, it probably is interesting-Wait, does it involve dragons?”

“Not as far as I know.”

“Then save it for later, or I’ll never get through telling you about the Faust and Ilucis families.”

“Er, sorry.  Go ahead, please!”  

Mindy takes off her jacket, tossing it over her head like a hood.  She clears her throat.

“Drama,” she explains when Kitty stares.  “Shhhh.  Ahem.”






“For as far back as anyone can remember, the ‘Dragon District’, so to speak, has been ruled by four noble families:  White, Ilucis, Faust, and the so-called Dragon family, which is of course this district’s Matriarchal family.  

“They held these titles long before before the Sharks came, and even today they hold an immense amount of power.  All four are deeply tied to the infrastructure of the city;  the White and Dragon houses are heavily involved in politics, law enforcement, and even the day to day mundane chores of the city.  The Faust and Ilucis houses, on the other hand, have strong ties to crime and the city’s shadier businesses, and a long alliance that runs back generations.  The four houses are the pillars holding up the entire city, and if one of those houses should fall it would all likely collapse.”

“Not exactly humble, Miss White?”

“You asked me to explain!  Do you want to hear about the individual families or not?”

“Um.  Yes.”

“Then shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  Ahem.

“The Dragon family - as previously stated, IF you were paying attention. I see your eyes glazing over, Pam - is led by the Matriarch Lady Dragon, the youngest Matriarch besides, of course, the Tigress.  She’s known for being very...eccentric, but a strong leader for the clan.  She has a history of cruelty, but has attempted to soften considerably since having a child.  She doesn’t necessarily succeed.  Their home is at the north side of the district.

“The White family runs a lot of the city’s bureaucracy and day-to-day activities, attempting to keep everything...orderly.  My father is a higher-up in the police force, and my older brother runs the post office.  Our mother is a black hispanic woman from the Raven tribe.

“The Faust family...Let’s face it.  They run crime.  Everyone knows.  But they keep crime organized and under control.  Lord Faust is an...Effective leader.  Few people in the city aren’t afraid of him, and his violent outbursts.   He has two daughters, but they both work fairly mundane jobs.”

“You could say that,” says the bartender, abruptly.

“Wait, is everyone listening in?” asks Kitty.  Mindy doesn’t answer.

“And then the Ilucis family.”  Mindy grins again.  “They’re a very mysterious family, but closely allied with the Fausts.  They prefer to hang out behind the scenes, pulling the strings and all the other cliches about manipulative sorts.  No one really knows much about them.  They’re popular with the opposite sex - and the same sex, frequently.  There’s all sorts rumors about them, but what is known is that they run the Dragon’s Den Hotel - it’s really more of an excessively upscale apartment complex - with the Fausts.”  Mindy suddenly took off the jacket.

“...That’s it?” asks Kitty.

“That’s it,” says Mindy, waving a hand dismissively. Kitty notices a ring on Mindy’s ring finger.  It looks like two red and white serpents entangled together.

“Well...Okay, then.”

Officer Kiplin still glowers darkly from a corner, and the bartender continues to be mildly attractive bartending.

Tense trouble (Author post)

((Yeah, so, it turns out the tenses in the writing of the first few posts somehow got fucked up.  Everything is supposed to be present tense except in rare cases, for the record.  I don't know how this happened, and I apologize to people who weren't able to get passed this and read the rest.  I'll be fixing it soon.))

Books And Covers Thereof (1.14)

>Kitty: Okay, you can talk to her. Just relax. Imagine her naked, that will help.

After what happened with the bartender, Kitty has resolved not to imagine anyone naked if she can help.  Ever again.  Ever.

She will of course inevitably fail at this, because the life of a Librarian is rather lonely and isolated and one of the few joys known to generations of “Kitties” outside of books had been rather lewd imaginings regarding friends.

A small part of Kitty’s brain makes a note to imagine the bartender naked again sometime this evening.

> Kitty: Tell her you need to talk to the other patrons for other possible quests first.


“II will certainly,” says Kitty in between attempts not to choke to death on her own tongue out of sheer awkwardness, “give some thought to that idea.  But I would REALLY like to talk to these other women first.”

“What would you want with them?” says the beret lady.  “That one is a drunk, and her face is peeling.”

“...Okay?  Yes, that may be, but that’s hardly a reason not t-”

“And the other one is one of those weird Dragons,” says the beret lady in hushed tones that were not nearly hushed enough.

“Is that so?” chimes in the Dragon bartender, bending over the bar behind beret lady now.

“Do go on,” says Pamela, leaning against it nearby.

“She’s one of those Dragons,” whispers beret lady.  “You know, the kind that really believe the Dragon nobles’ propaganda, about actually being descended from dragons.  She’s crazy.”

“What?”

“I know I’m descended from a dragon,” says the bartender.

“Me too.  In fact I often roam the countryside, devouring villagers,” adds Pamela.
“Living in caves filled with gold.”

“Eating men in shiny armor who show an extreme lack of common sense.”
Pamela and the bartender high five.  The sound reverberates around the entire building.

“And,” continues beret lady.  “She’s heterosexual.”

There is an awkward, confused silence on the part of all three listeners.

“Er, okay?” says Kitty.

“How...scandalous?” adds Pamela.

“Those damn straight people,” continues the bartender.  “Coming in here and taking all the good jobs away from us hard-working bisexuals.”

“H-half of them, anyway,” ventures Kitty.  “H-hahah.”

The bartender holds her hand out, reaching in front of Kitty’s face.

Kitty stares at it wordlessly.

“High five,” says the bartender.

“Oh, yes, right.”  Kitty swings at the hand.

“Little high.”

“Sorry, er.”  She tried again.

“Low.”

“Right, yes.  Here we go...”  SMACK.

“Ow,” said the bartender, rubbing her hand.

“Sorry.”

“Glad I didn’t ask for a fistbump.”

“S-sorry.”

“If you’ll excuse us, toots,” says Pamela, gently grabbing Kitty by the arm and politely wrenching her out of the grip of the beret wearing woman.  “We’ll get back to you in a minute.”

“Don’t keep me waiting.”
Pamela and Kitty both shudder.

“It would have been perfectly acceptable to elbow her in the gut,” says Pamela.  “That was sexual harassment and all.”

“I know, I just...Panicked.  I don’t get out much.”

“It’s okay, Kitty.  You’ll get better at it...’

They head to the woman with the orange jacket and blonde hair.  Up close, Kitty notices that she’s wearing a little black dress underneath.

“Dammit!” hisses Kitty, under her breath.

“What is it?”

“I underdressed.  Or overdressed, I’m not sure.  I should have worn a dress today after all.  Or something fancier than a stupid sweater and jeans.  Argh.”

“Kitty, don’t worry about it.  Dragon tribe just...dresses fancy.  It’s what we do. Cultural thing. Don’t beat yourself up trying to catch up with our egos.  Do you feel like you can handle this one, or should I?”

“I’ve got it,” says Kitty, taking a deep breath and approaching the woman.  “Excuse me, ma’am, uh, can I ask you a few questions?”

Vivid and...visceral was a word, a strange word, but the immediate thought in Kitty’s mind - blue eyes turned up to gaze at her.  Kitty felt a knot in her throat.  For a breath moment, she felt as she was being...appraised.

The moment passed when the woman’s blue gaze caught sight of Pamela.  Her lips - covered in a subtle orange lipstick - part to reveal a set of very white ivories.  Kitty could have sworn she heard a glint.

“Pam?  Is that you?” she asks.

“Hmm?  Er,” Pamela appears to be wracking her considerable memory.

“It’s me, Mindy.  Mindy White.”

“Right.  Hmmm...”

“We went to private school together!  You know.” Mindy paused to make a snapping movement with her jaw.  “‘Python’.”

“...Oh!  Yes!  You’re right, I’m so sorry.  I didn’t recognize you.  You’re much oranger than I remember.  It looks...Nice?”
“Thank you!”  Mindy hops up and gives Pamela a casual hug.  Pamela looks left and right, and then pats her back.  “How have you been, huh?  Taking after papá?

“Yes, I am,” replies Pamela.  “Business has been pretty good. We’re on a case right now, actually.”

“Oh?  How’s your father?  Still, ehhh...”  Mindy makes a thrusting motion with her hips.

Pamela rolls her eyes.  It was all the response she needed.

“I see,” replies Mindy, not missing a beat.  “Who’s the new girl?”

“Ah, forgive me.  The young dame here is Kitten-”

“Just Kitty,” she adds quickly.

“She’s my client.  And a little sister of...you know.  Lady.”

Mindy thought about this for a moment.  “Oooooh.”  She winks at Pamela, then turns to Kitty.  “Nice to meet you.”

Kitty curtsies in response.  “N-nice to meet you too, ma’am.”

“She’s a skittish one, isn’t she?”  giggles Mindy, nudging Pamela in the rib.  “You don’t need to call me ma’am.  Or curtsy.  You’re not even wearing a skirt, it just looks silly.  You don’t have to bow before me either, though if you just really want to, go ahead!  Don’t let me discourage you.”

“I’ll...keep that in mind.”

“What’d you need to talk to me for, anyway?” she asks, the impressive and intimidating smile returning.

“We were wondering,” says Pamela after seeing the expression on Kitty’s face at being confronted with Mindy’s choppers and diplomatically taking the initiative.  “If you were familiar with Dante Ilucis?”

“Why, yes!  Yes I am.  I’d say we’re pretty familiar.  Why?”

“He hasn’t returned a book from the Library, and we’re...trying to get into touch with him.”

“I see.  Did you try calling him?”

Kitty looks down at the floor, embarrassed.  The thought hadn’t even occured to her.

“Mindy White, I'm sure you know as damned well as I do that the Ilucis and Faust families aren’t listed in the phone book.”

“Heheh, good thing I have it memorized, huh?”

“...Miss White, I am starting to believe you may be very familiar with him.”

“Not yet.  But soon,” Mindy winks.  “He knows it as well as I do.”

“...O-odd thing to say,” murmurs Kitty.

“But I’m guessing you want to talk face to face too.  Are you familiar with the Faust family’s annual ‘charity ball’?” says Mindy.

“We were thinking about getting in that way.  Somehow.  Would you be able to?”

“Technically, no.  My family was...uninvited a couple of years back, apparently.  I think something must be going on with Lords Faust and Ilucis.  Over the past ten years they’ve apparently been slowly crossing family names off the list for no rhyme or reason; I hear it started because of some sort of issue regarding one of the lost princesses and a teenage Dante, Lord Ilucis wasn’t happy about it.  They blacklisted the royal family after that.  My family is just the latest group of casualties.”

“How can we possibly get in, then?” asks Kitty.

“That’s the good news.  It’s a costume party this year.”

“...Ooooooooh,” says Kitty, her eyes lighting up.

“All we need to do is find some invitations off of someone who has them, get some masks, and we should be home free.  Well, at first anyway.  Actually getting to Dante is going to be a bit of a trick, if he’s not answering his phone.  He frequently ignores phone calls during the day if they’re not business or girlfriend related.”

“Who would have extra invitations?”

“I have no idea.  Ask around.  There has to be someone on this street who does.”
“This entire street?” asks Kitty, frowning.

“Yes?  Faust Boulevard-” began Pamela.

“Faust Boulevard?  First, who even has that as a family name?”

“-is named after Lord Faust’s family.  They’ve always controlled this area, as far back as anyone can remember..”

“Did they summon Mephistopheles? ‘Hey man,’” says Kitty, adopting a deep voice. “‘I think it’d be real swag if you were to rearrange the universe so that this street has my last name.  Oh, you need my soul?  No biggie, I ain’t usin’ it for anythin’, ya dig?  Coolio, maaaaaaaaaan.’”

Mindy claps softly.  Pamela covers her forehead.

“Isn’t Dante’s place of business just across the street?” Pamela says, attempting to move the conversation onward.

“Yes!  Yes it is,” says Mindy.  “I doubt he’s in right now though.”

“We might be able to find out something from his employees,” offers Pamela.

“Or break into his office,” adds Mindy.

Kitty frowns.  “...Is that your way of flirting or-”

“We’ll head there next, after we finish up with this joint. ...And call Dante.”

“Sounds fun!  I’m coming along,” says Mindy.

Kitty and Pamela look at each other.

“...Yeah, o-okay,” mumbles Kitty.

_________________________________________________________________

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Books And Covers Thereof (1.13)

>Kitty: Go talk to the dragon girl. After all, Dante is from her tribe, and both are related to nobles.

That certainly sounds like a good place to start, really.  That, and she hasn’t been eyeing Kitty, which seems like an extra bonus that likely means the ensuing conversation will be less terrifyingly awkward, and - hopefully! - won’t result in anyone being inappropriately naked.

She stands up and begins to make her way towards Mindy.  The path brings her closer to the beret lady than she’d like, but she’s pretty sure she’s giving her a wide berth...

>Kitty: Through a series of events beyond your control and exacerbated by your own nervousness, fall into the beret wearing lady's lap. Suggestively.

For one brief, glorious, wonderful moment that shall be long remembered in the annals of Librarian History, Kitty appeared to be home free.

But like so many other events throughout history, everything was abruptly brought down at the last minute by a shapely leg strategically placed in front of someone’s path.  In this case it was all quite literal.

Kitty didn’t see it, but she felt it as the beret lady’s leg casually lifted up.  Kitty’s knee slammed into it, sending her keeling over with a terrified yelp.

> Beret Lady: Pull Kitty into your lap.


With one quick and distressingly smooth movement the woman reaches out, grabs Kitty, and pulls the unfortunate Librarian onto her lap, sliding her arms around the Librarian’s waist in a gentle embrace.

It’s a fairly soft lap, at least.  ...Well endowed up top, too.  This doesn’t help.

“Bonjour,” says the beret lady.  Kitty can’t tell if it’s a real French accent or a badly imitated one, only that it appears to be thick, and either way indicates a high possibility that she was from the Raven tribe.  It was also, Kitty supposed, a fairly smooth introduction that she might have appreciated more if she hadn’t just been kicked in the knee.

“Uh...H-hello?” says Kitty, freezing up in the grip of the beret lady.  Not far away, Pamela puts a hand to the side of her head in mild exasperation, watching both cautiously.

“You are the Librarian, no?” says the beret lady, sweetly.

“N-n-no.  I mean.  Y-y-y-yes?  I, um, I am.”

“You’re a big nerd, then?”

“I’d, aahahahaha, hardly say I’m big.”

“I like big nerds.”

“...Oh.”  Kitty’s face went red.  She begins looking pleadingly at Pamela, beginning to miss Anilin’s comparative subtlety.  This was a thought she had never thought she could have without laughing, but here she was.  “I-I-I’m flattered.  U-Um.”

“What was it you wanted to talk to us about, hmm?  Maybe we could help each other.”  The beret lady twirled her hair with a finger, a soft but knowing smile.

Kitty glanced over at Pamela, who was inching closer while tightly gripping her cane.  Kitty watched her, waiting for some sort of indication that it was okay to ask.  Pamela nodded, stopping briefly.

“Ah, well, we’re looking for a, uh, Dante Ilucis.  Do you know him?”

“Oooh!  What a coincidence.  I am looking for him too, mon amie.  What do you want with him, eh?”

“He has a book overdue.  What about you?”

The beret lady laughed.  “Something like that.  Why don’t I join you and the glowering detective” - she turned her head and smiled brightly at Pamela - “in tracking him down?  We could share info and get to know each other, yes?”

You begin to wish you hadn't gone to a bar. What will you do?