I2: We don't want any adventures here, thank you!

[Basil Benson]

Unlike some of the other parts of the school's chaotic situations, the library seemed empty and quiet, though occasionally one could hear a book being placed back on the shelf, so perhaps it was not entirely devoid of life this afternoon.

(open)

[Chase Delacroix]

After seeing nothing that sparked any memories in the standard fiction section, Chase was exploring the science-fiction and fantasy section. Just one familiar title would make his day.

[Basil Benson]

After a moment or two of browsing, Chase would hear someone coming towards him. If he were to look up, the book cart seemed to be moving on it's own in time with the steps he was hearing. It stopped short of him by ten feet, and then a book mysteriously moved from off the cart to the top shelf.

[Chase Delacroix]

He tensed.

Stop being paranoid. An invisible Lotus assassin wouldn't announce themselves. Or get wasted on me.

He relaxed almost completely.

"Uhh... hello?"

[Basil Benson]

"Good day!" The unseen being, apparently male, greeted him back. "Is there something I could help you find?"

[Chase Delacroix]

"Not really. I'm just looking."

[Basil Benson]

This didn't seem to much deter the chipper fellow, eager to be of assistance despite the fact that thirty seconds ago he didn't bother to announce who he was or that he was coming either visually or verbally.

"Well, what sorts of things are you looking for? Perhaps I could help."

[Chase Delacroix]

"I... have absolutely no idea," he chuckled uncomfortably.

[Basil Benson]

The voice laughed along politely with him for a moment before speaking again.

" I suppose the first step to finding a good book would be to figure out what you enjoy reading about. Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction?"

The speaker's accent was clearly British, but it was a clean, crisp, and properly enunciated one and thus far had been void of the use of slang. The tone was relaxed, though not lacking in emotional nuance. Were it a by gone era, it would likely be described as a 'voice meant for radio'. Nowadays, such a collected tone was strictly reserved for children's books on tape and video game voice-overs.

[Chase Delacroix]

"This might sound weird... but I actually have no idea there either."

[Basil Benson]

"Don't do much reading, eh? That's not a problem, many don't anymore.

If you had to choose between the ugly truth, or a beautiful lie, which do you think you would choose?" He asked trying a different approach.

[Chase Delacroix]

"I've had enough lies, but no beautiful ones."

[Basil Benson]

As Chase spoke, Basil took the opportunity to reveal himself as best he could. Holding his right hand up, he squeezed his fist to send a signal to his school issued garment to render itself visible, so that Chase knew better where the voice was coming from. It wasn't much to look at really, akin to a dark grey diving skin.

" I once heard it said that 'Honestly smells because it comes from deep inside you.' The truth can hurt as badly as a lie. Not many people document happy truths, but plenty weave wonderfully tall tales." Basil responded. Now that Chase could see him, he began to move about the cases Chase was looking at. He seemed to be searching for something.


"Hmmmmm....."

[Chase Delacroix]

"Honestly? I'm looking for something a younger me might have read."

[Basil Benson]

"Ah! Well, that's different then. For starters, even though we really don't have many children at the University, we still sort those out from the others so they're easier to find for the sake of reference.

How young were you thinking?" Basil was thinking quite a bit younger and somewhat hoping Chase wasn't thinking picture book level young as there weren't too many of those thanks to the lack of kids roaming about.

[Chase Delacroix]

"Thirteen or fourteen."

[Basil Benson]

"Ah! Good." He replied, sounding relieved. The tip's of Basil's gloved fingers tapped each other repeatedly in a pattern while he thought.

Truly, he was looking at the boy trying to gauge his age. He didn't seem as if he was any younger than himself, or not much off anyways. With a jaunty bob of his index finger, Basil seemed to have come up with a probable solution.

"Young adult fiction is this way." He stated, leading the boy a few shelves away from where he'd been looking, though not too far. Once Chase caught up with him, Basil began to point out books to him.

"I'm guessing it hasn't been too long since you were thirteen by the look of you, but not so recent that the new populars would have been around yet.

The most obvious choice during the time range you are suggesting is the Harry Potter series. The Hunger Games would have just started about the time you were a younger teen, and Percy Jackson was popular at that time....

And Twilight." The tone he used when referring to the last title he mentioned sounded a bit nauseated. His finger curled back as well when he pointed at it, as if it were coated in something disgusting.

"Of course, then if you were the sort that didn't care if you read to your age level, most don't, there's also "A Series of Unfortunate Events" and 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid'.

And then the classics... A Wrinkle In Time, Charolette's Web, Anne of Green Gables, The Narnia Series, Anything by Roald Dahl, and my personal favourite, The Hobbit."

Basil continued to point out what he was referring to as he spoke, so Chase knew which was which.

"Anything ring a bell?"

[Chase Delacroix]

"Harry Potter and Hunger Games sound vaguely familiar."

What rock did this guy crawl out from under?

[Basil Benson]

Basil didn't spend too much time wondering why Chase was having a problem with this. Maybe he was a poor kid and didn't have any books. Maybe somebody stole all his books. Maybe he knocked his head and forgot who he was and also what books were.

Someone was talking to him, even if that someone seemed a bit odd. The invisible man had no room to judge about the peculiarity of others.

He pulled the first Harry Potter book.

"This one is about a boy who lives in a stairs cupboard and is abused by his aunt and uncle. Turns out he is actually a wizard and this imaginary world's 'chosen one'. There's a whole school for wizards and witches to learn the responsibilities of their birth gifts. Harry specifically must grow and mature for the coming time when he is prophesied to defeat the villain, Lord Voldemort. This one is very popular here. You look clever enough to me to deduce why that might be." The smirk he had on his face leaked into his voice as well.

He then grabbed the first Hunger Games book.

"This one is about a girl who lives in a apocalyptic future world where teenagers are forced to fight each other to the death in a gladiator battle to amuse a authoritarian government. She uses a bow as her primary weapon, and uses the games to defy previously mentioned authorities.

Both series are fantastic. Though I must confess that while I am partial to the world of Harry Potter, I have a bit of a school-boy crush on Katniss Everdeen." He stated, holding them out for Chase to browse to see if either sparked a note of recognition.

[Chase Delacroix]

To his surprise, both sounded and looked familiar. His delighted expression said as much.

"I've... I've read these!" he grinned.

[Basil Benson]

"Fantastic!"

They say a smile can be heard in a voice, and in this case much like his expression of sarcasm, his delight was also evident in the tone he'd responded with. He was helping. Nothing made Basil feel better about himself than that.

"Would you like to check them out so you can read them again? We actually have three copies of 'Philosopher's Stone' but two of them have already been borrowed so it might be a good time to snag this one before someone else beats you to it."

[Chase Delacroix]

He nodded enthusiastically. He believed reading them might help him to recapture some of his original self. Failing that, at least everything old was new again.

[Basil Benson]

"Very well then." Basil began to lead Chase back to the front desk, then called over his shoulder. " Did you bring your student ID? We'll need that to check them out."

[Chase Delacroix]

"Yeah, right here," he said, pulling it out as he neared the desk.

[Basil Benson]

"Excellent." Basil replied, reaching out to scan it. "Chase. One name. Like Sting. Or Bono." or Prince... Wait don't say that he might think you're weird. He mused as he prepared the books for Chase to take.

[Chase Delacroix]

"It's... closer to John Doe," he admitted awkwardly.

[Basil Benson]

"Oh? How so?" Basil asked
asked conversationally, oblivious to his own prying.

[Chase Delacroix]

"Memory issues."

[Basil Benson]

"Oh... I.. Apologies.I didn't know." Now it was Basil's turn to be awkward. "... But you know, sometimes the things we forget are forgotten for a reason. Sometimes, forgetting is better than remembering." He was not good at this.

[Chase Delacroix]

"Not for me it isn't," he said, his tone sounding distant but somehow suggesting the subject was closed.

[Basil Benson]

The young man fell silent for a spell, unsure of what to say to the other to cheer him. After what was far too long a time to be anything other than exceedingly uncomfortable, he made a squealching sound that was something akin to clearing ones throat, but watery.

Splendid job Basil...

"Ah, if you like these two we have all the others as well. When you return if you don't see anyone, feel free to call out to me. I am usually about."

[Chase Delacroix]

He took a few seconds to collect himself.

"And your name... is?"

[Basil Benson]

"Basil Oliver Benson."

If Chase thought about it for a second he'd notice something either very clever or very stupid about that name.

[Chase Delacroix]

"Nice to meet... wait... your initials spell Bob," he smirked, mood lightened.

[Basil Benson]

Basil chuckled. "Ha, yes. My parents over thought themselves into a tizzy to make sure I didn't lack in possible names. They may have overdone it, but you are welcome to call me Bob if you prefer. Many of my secondary school mates did."

[Chase Delacroix]

"Well my name doubles as a verb, so who am I to judge?" he chuckled.

[Basil Benson]

"Count your stars lucky that you didn't end up with 'lollygag' instead."

[Chase Delacroix]

"I have absolutely no idea what that even means."

[Basil Benson]

"It's much different than Chase, heh. It means to just kind of fool around, dawdle , and do nothing. "

[Chase Delacroix]

"I've certainly been doing enough of that," he smiled slightly. It was a nice change of pace. Granted, his definition of dawdling was fairly liberal. Simply not being bound to a strict training regimen felt like aimlessness.