Oh, Bloody H-...!!!

[Galen]

Being that I am an emo vampire and cannot stand the sunlight, there was only really once place for me to go to relax during my period of freeness. The library! Peace, quiet, books, and tables were I can draw at, and computers that I can hog and be a facebook whore when I'm supposed to be using it for school related activities. While all those reasons were good, I came mostly for the "books" part. There was a book I had been meaning to read, wanting to read, and I figured I could be a cheap bastard and just borrow the book from the library instead of going out and buying the darned thing. Unless I really liked it. Then I'd go out and spend a few bucks on it.

The book was by Stephen King, my favorite author of all time. And the book I wanted to read was titled Different Seasons. It had the novella version of The Shawshank Redemption, which in all honesty is also one of my favorite movies. And I just had to see how close the movie was to King's original version of the story.

One problem. The book was on the very top shelf.

Figures the one thing I came here for is literally out of my reach. But instead of using my head and calling for help from a librarian, I decided to man up and get the blasted thing off of the shelf myself. I stepped onto one of the metal shelves, and climbed up just enough that my fingers could wiggle the book out of it's place and into my palm. And that's where the second problem arose.

Never in my entire life would I have guessed that I weighted enough to make one of the shelves collapse under my foot. Honestly, I didn't weight that much to begin with! Were the books really that heavy?

Not that it mattered. I was buried under an avalanche of books either way, and created quite the ruckus when nearly the entire shelf tumbled down on top of me. Only my right hand was sticking out of that hill of literature.

But at least I was holding onto that book I wanted. Heh.

[pinefresh]

Now of all places for Pine to be he chose the Library. It wasn't that Pine minded the library because truth be told he loved it. He hated the librarian. He couldn't say he hated her but he didn't really trust her. It wasn't like many of the other members of the network thought differently than he did either. Too easy to offend, over estimated herself, played games with people she shouldn't, she was like a five foot six blond walking target. Though Pine had to admit, if she was his age, he'd be all over her like a fat kid on cake. There was no denying Valencia was hot. Blond, fit and Asian was the way to go in his mind. Behind blue haired, fair skinned, and mysterious of course. Plus Bix was much more interesting, every minute spent with her was a learning experience.

At this point Pine was just sitting there doing some math homework on one of the tables in the main area of the library. He did not know some dumb ass was trying to climb a shelf to get a book. Had he known what was going on Pine would have gone over there and kicked the kid in the face. Instead he sat there softly cursing as he tried to work his way through algebra. It wasn't until the sound of a crash and falling books reached his ears that he looked up and ran to investigate.

Upon reaching the scene he found a pile of books, a broken shelf, and a hand with a book in it sticking out of the ruins. Pine shook his head and rubbed his scarred face before moving over to the hand. Pine grabbed it around the wrist and pulled, none to gently, to free the boy from his literary prison.

"Should I even ask?" Pine said quizzically looking at the boy.

[Galen]

Huh. Should he ask? No, but it would be funny if he did. Not that any real answer would come out of this. Once I was free from the mountain of books, all I could do was flash an embarrassed smile and adjust the glasses that had gotten lopsided during the literary landslide. And then I glanced at the pile of books. I was... Probably going to have to clean this up. Frack. It was only a glance though. Within a fraction of a second I was getting a better look at the person who had pulled me out of my mess.

Auburn hair stood out on the shorter boy, and there were a pair of eyes which I could've been either blue or green, as far as I could see. But what stood out the most to me were the scars that decorated the boy's face. Somehow, it made him older, and more intimidating at that. It didn't take me long to decide that I'd rather not run into this guy in a dark alley in the middle of the night.

Despite that, credit was due.

"Thanks."

At the moment, I was a little bit thankful that he pulled me out. I didn't know who the librarian, or librarians, were, but chances were they'd have been pretty darned pissed after seeing what I had done to their precious collection of reads.

[pinefresh]

~I'll take that as a no~ He thought to himself as he looked the boy up and down.

Pine was not impressed by what he saw. A scrawny boy maybe a few inches taller than him. Glasses, messy hair, plain clothing... Holy shit it was the male version of Nora standing right in front of him. Pine was unsure of what to do now. Same nervous smile, same fixing of the glasses and same love of books. Pine's eyes widened slightly as his little realization dawned on him. Perhaps if the boy was interested he could set them both up. It wouldn't be the first time he set up two people for a meeting.

Pine came out of his daze when the boy said thanks. Pine looked at him for a second before it registered what just took place.

"No thanks needed, we all have our off days. Yours involve being buried under books and mine involves getting a new scar. Then again...perhaps not the best topic of conversation...My name's Pine, like the tree." Pine shook the hand the was still holding onto. He leaned in slightly and spoke so his words would only be heard by the boy. "Not to mention I'm not to fond of the staff here so by giving them more work your actually doing good in my books.

[Galen]

Well, you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. Take Pine for instance. I thought he'd be one of those tough guys who beat people who looked like me around for kicks. But so far, he was turning out to be a pretty nice guy. Had a funny sense of humor too. It was the last thing he said that was funny though. Getting a new scar was anything but pleasant. The last scar I had gotten was when... Well, just advise your friends not to try to drive with their teeth, and you probably won't end up like me.

I smiled a bit, and chuckled while rubbing the back of my neck with my left hand.

"Well, I'm glad someone appreciates my handiwork," I said in reference to my mess. My clumsiness usually created awkward situations, but at least someone liked it. I'm liked! Hooray!

"Name's Galen Kao. Nice to meet you," I said, tucking my book under my left arm and holding out my right hand for the casual friendly handshake. If he shook my hand, he might be just a little surprised that a 'scrawny boy' like me had a had a pretty strong grip.

Hey, I needed a strong grip if I was going to tear a guy's tendons and ligaments. When I had to, that is.

[pinefresh]

Pine shook the boys hand and found his grip interestingly strong. There was no way this...Galen weighed more than 100 pounds how did he squeeze as hard as Pine. That did slightly raise some questions about the nerdy kid standing in front of him. Perhaps he was a trained fighter who threw off his opponents by the way he looked. It was either that or he jerked off way too much.

"Nice to meet you Galen. So you frequent the library or you just come once in a while to cause trouble."

Pine finished the shake and took his hand and placed in it his pocket. He watched Galen's movements closely now. He was looking for a tell that would let him know if this was a skilled fighter standing before him. When it came to fighting Pine never left anything to chance. Besides, if he had a useful mind Pine would be sure to recruit him into the ranks of Genaht.

[Galen]

Yay! He shook my hand! That mean's we friends now. Doesn't it? It was a good sign at the very least. I smiled as we exchanged a strong grip, and my hand moved up to adjust my glasses again before falling back down to my side. Funny. If I had run into him under different conditions, I probably would've probably shied away. I mean, seriously. How many people here would walk up to a guy with vicious looking scars on his face, who looked like he could kick your rear around like a soccer ball with one foot and a hand tied behind his back? I'm pretty sure you would, if you valued yourself at all.

I smiled a bit and rubbed the back of my neck with my right hand.

"Actually, this is my first time in the library. And my first day at this school," I said, enlightening Pine to my current situation. "I'm a newb."

Strange new state, strange new city, and strange new school. The faces were friendly enough, it seemed. Somehow, it made me feel not as lost. Or not as helpless.

[pinefresh]

"Fresh meat!" Pine said rather enthusiastically when Galen mentioned he was new.

"By that I mean welcome to Hircine high." He quickly corrected himself as not to seem so aggressive. "Sorry...force of habit I suppose."

So another new student had transferred here to the lovely Hircine. Out of all the schools the poor bastard could have chosen he came here. Why? Did he like to fight? Was he really a sadistic little bastard that loved to rip people apart with his fingers? Pine somehow doubted it. His eccentric mind said one thing and his gut told him something else. The thing was Pine was more likely to listen to his gut than his mind. Why you might, the answer is simple. His gut was wrong maybe 10% of the time where his mind was wrong 50%. The odds were against his mind.

Though perhaps this kid had a solid head on his shoulders. A fresh mind might do some good. Pine did like to mingle with the fresher blood to gain insight.

"So Galen you enjoying the school so far?"