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?