Glenn was good with language and voices, and so did pick up on something at the end there. He decided not to say anything on the matter. "Not an enthusiast, per se, more of a hobbyist. Or a, uh, lazy cleaner," he said, finishing off the steps and replacing the pen behind his ear.

"It's not really a matter of hope. Well, I guess that depends on what you need hope on. In the big picture, I hear it used more as a last resort. For the professionals." He stopped himself before syaing anything else, as it felt like he was stumbling a bit.

"If you want to try these kinds of things, be careful, though. They can turn out wrong." It was said with a smile, so if she was innish it would be taken on good faith, if she was unnish it would be taken as a bit of a joke.

For most, this twisting library would have been a nightmarish beast... For most, this labyrinth could have overwhelmed a student's senses, knocked them flat and shunned their entry from it's deepest recesses... For most, it would have been cataclysmic to become lost... But for others, this 'Ferguson Memorial library' was a refuge of peace and quiet.

The basement was a dismal place to be, a huge room as empty as it was vast, the floors and walls painted by chilly robes of shadows that were scarcely pierced by light that filtered through the broken windows. Cobwebs strung like decorations in all corners, a musty smell hung thickly in the air, like decaying paper and dust stagnated for years upon end... Not a great many ventured down into this cold region, and yet, even as her watch buzzed a five a.m. alarm, the singular figure who had taken residence there did not move from her dust laden chair.

By appearences alone, this figure, this girl of 19 or so, seemed to be a student, dressed in a collared white shirt and knee-torn slacks. Her striking red hair was done up in a spiny, boyish style, umber eyes focussing perfectly to the darkness, as she looked upon her discovery. A massive book had been layed out before her, open paged, the paper old and yellowed with a contrast of half-faded black lettering in some old language. This particular book had caught Robin's interest earlier... So now, she sat, captivated by the words of Mythology and Magic, as the morning prepared to wax over a dark sky outside.

She flipped to another page slowly, scanning over the ancient spell that had been written in some foreign language, squinting in concentration for a moment... And then swearing to herself, with a defiant shake of her head. "...Damnet... Why can't I read this..."

Glenn hadn't been able to sleep. When Glenn can't sleep, he reads. Unfortunately, he'd run out of things to read in his small apartment. Where else to go but the library? It had always been good to him, and he liked that.

The basement in particular had always yielded a nice cache of old, archaic books. He liked the ones with an impossible syntax and strange spellings. Plenty of those here. He browsed the shelves, walking quietly so as not to disturb the total silence. That was another plus of being down here. The rest of the world just seemed to fade away so all that was left were these treasures of the ages.

Glenn had the look of someone far too young to be here. He wore a blue shirt with a white pinstripe design and jeans, the slightly larger comparative size lending the image of a kid playing dress up. Another plus side to the silence here. No one to poke fun at him.

As he browsed, he heard a voice. "Why can't I read this..." Glenn couldn't help himself and wandered over.

"Hello," he started, the early morning giving him a warm, fuzzy, charitable feeling inside. "I couldn't help but overhear. I majored as a linguist, so maybe I could help?"

Hearing another voice suddenly break the silence, Robin went rigid in her seat, a chill shooting down her spine. Her eyes suddenly turned from interested to bitterly stoic, settling upon the so called intruder- gaining a somewhat flat expression as she spoke.

"...I doubt you could help... These spells... they're senseless anyway..."

She kept her eyes upon him like a wary hawk, secretly stewing over what to do... Turn the cold shoulder, or give him a chance? Robin forced herself to settle, drawing in another long sigh, and breathing out a bit of tension as thoughts settled. She shoved the book to the center of the table in one forceful motion (seeing as the thing was incomprehensibly thick).

"...you can try, if you want. ...Thankyou for the offer." Little did Glenn know, a thankyou was a rare and miraculous thing from Robin, a courtesy she rarely spared anyone...

"Not a problem," he responded, shifting the book to see it better. It seemed incomprehensible at first, but slowly it started to come into context. It became clearer, almost as if he was remembering it from a long time ago. Soon enough, he could read it fluently.

One pheonix feather
Two threads from the Shroud of Turin
Five locks of mermaid hair...

...and so on, describing the different methods and steps of the spell. It seemed rather gruesome to him, and so asked, "You sure this is the spell you want? It seems to be for skinning an enemy while keeping them alive." A small shudder ran down the length of his spine. He'd heard of things like this.

He wasn't sure how she'd react to him suggesting a spell more fit for a lady, as she seemed to the type to lift him by the collar and shake the chivalry out. He ventured on to read the next spell, wishing he hadn't.

"Ugh, this next one's worse. It's for shrinking the skulls, but not the brains." What made it so horrible was the graphic pictures at the end of the spell.

For as bitter and sharp as Robin fronted, she didn't really prefer doing things like "shaking the chivalry out" of someone... Shrugging in a surprisingly nonchalant manner, the girl glanced calmly across the page again- taking in the rather gruesome picture without so much as a cringe.

"...I have no prefference about spell types... these rotting texts are all useless anyway," she remarked coldly, shoving a lock of stray bangs behind one ear, and shifting her attention to the young man's face. She may have dabbled in spellcrafts, but actually believing in them was another matter.

Suddenly, a small question tugged at the back of her mind, playing upon the strings of curiosity within her, enough that she couldn't resist asking. "...Why'd you come down here anyway?... I didn't even think very many even knew about this level..."

She fell silent upon finishing, swiftly turning her dimmed eyes back upon the pages, nearly showing a hint of embaressment upon her inquiry. Social encounters were not one of her strong fields of play, and so, she felt a pang of guilt, burdening this stranger with even a single question. Maybe if the conversation didn't go awry with some snappish remark, Robin could dare to ask his name.

"Yeah, I guess they are a bit useless," he said. Internally, he thought, Must be unnish. He wasn't so sure she should be reading this kind of thing if she actually tried it out. Bad things could happen, even if they were unintentional.

"Down here? It's quiet, and most of the books don't think me a munchkin," he replied. "Not to mention the fact I've run out of things to read." He didn't mention where he'd run out, however.

Glenn picked up on a bit of awkwardness to her. He thought it best to try and be as polite as possible, and maybe she'd not be so ornery. She seemed nice enough, but she kept getting that cold tone to her voice, one step below a snap.

Having someone who was acting almost suspiciously kind made it awfully hard for Robin to maintain herself. She could feel her curiosity blossoming even more as a few beats past, eyes yet not taken from his face, as if... trying to figure out this boy's motives. Slightly less apprehensive (for it was starting to wear her out being so bitter), again, the girl spoke.

"You're not short." It was curt, it was upfront... But not entirely bitter. Infact, closer to some genuine nicety then she had displayed as of yet. "...What's your name?"

Ah yes, now for the question. Robin silent damned herself for asking it, yet couldn't have stopped if she'd tried wholly. Maybe it was the fact that she found his habits intrigueing, even interesting.. Maybe it was just that she was so starved for some bit of human contact that anyone could spur a conversation. She didn't care to ponder it.

"Glenn," he responded. "You?" he asked, flipping through the spell book absently. Not all of them were so horrible. He flipped to a different section of the book, where there were a few love potions and things of that nature. He checked the title, which translated roughly to Spells for All Occasions.

"As for not short, I'd like to see your basis for comparison." Even the book in front of him was big enough to swallow the linguist. Out of habit, he pulled the pen from behind his ear and scribbled down a quick spell. It was for a quick house clean. He could definately use that.

"...Cae." Robin responded curtly, "...Cae's what people call me." It wasn't her real name, but a self-proclaimed title anyway. He didn't have to know her true calling, after all... "Robin" was such an ugly name.

"...And..." For a moment, she seemed to hesitate, her eyes dark and brooding, thinking to answer, "you're just not short." It was a good thing that Glenn had taken his attention to spell writing, so that 'Cae' wouldn't have to try and explain her non-existant reasoning. The girl shifted her attention to his pen, and the letters being scribed swiftly down.

Damn this curiosity... it was making Robin far too open. "Why are you writing a jumble like that down?" Yes, the red-tressed girl was through and through unnish, and saw not reason to his methods. As far as her mind knew, magic was just a novel habit, and spells a past time without purpose. Perhaps it was his habit as well?

Glenn indeed did not attempt to follow up on her strange opposition to his lack of height. He was a bit busy copying down the old letters. When he had finished, he looked up with a smile.

"Well, Cae, it's nice to meet you. I'm writing all this down because I guess you could say I'm a bit of a child at heart." Mentally, he cringed. He hated having to use that analogy. "I mean, you never know what'll work until you try it." That sounded a little better, if still a bit juvenile in its reasoning.

It was a bit of a habit. He'd find something useful and write it down, usually a small spell or maybe a bit of something he didn't know, and then transcribe it to the blank books at him. He had his own small library, truth be told, but he'd never admit it.

Robin's stoic facade did well to cover her now piqued curiosity. This Glenn was getting to be continually more interesting character by the passing moment. Hunching over a little, the girl crossed her arms by the table's edge thoughtfully. "...A witchcraft enthusiest, I take it." The cynicism in her tone was dead, given way to bluntness, "...you may be an optimist, but having belief in things doesn't mean the world will become a magical fairy tale."

A perceptive listener might have picked up a whisper of depression in that last comment. Again, Robin began to brood within herself. "It's a good hobby though... I guess.... All this nonsense could give someone a little hope, if they were blinded by faith enough to think it was possible." How ironic these words where, and how little did she realize how close to touching the truth it came.

Ofcourse, this didn't mean writing down some of Glenn's translations on her sketchpad was forbidden. Perhaps she could keep a small stash of simple spells for herself, just for the hell of it. If they're good for anything, I could use them to make people think i'd lost it. Look at it all... demon fur, mermaid hair, stones and oils from god knows where.... it's aimless rambling. At this, she couldn't help but crack a little smile.

And yet, for some reason, her response wasn't exactly innish or unnish. The girl, instead, lapsed into a momentary silence- as though she were letting the 'joke' absorb itself deep into her mind.

"...Tell me something. Are you joking or serious?"

Ouch. Robin had never been one to beat around the bush on anything, and she had cut right to the chase... pinning Glenn between a figurative rock and a hard place. Her eyes focussed on him coldly, waiting for some hint of a response- pausing all her other actions. What could one say?

Glenn blinked. This was a surprise. It was best to come from a close friend, but somehow he didn't think she'd buy that. He decided to be frank with her. If she could be so blunt, so could he. He wasn't going to like it, however. He could remember when it happened to him.

"Well, um, you see..." Glenn's voice trailed off. He tried again and failed. Third time's the charm, and he started again, going for a more conversational rather than informational approach. "I'm serious. It's a lot easier than using the broom and mop and whatnot. Much easier to get the dishes done, you know?" He shrugged. "I'm not a witch or a warlock or whatever, though. Haven't got the credentials."

Several long moments ticked by in the dingy, dust laden room... Moments of quiet, of no emotion. Robin didn't hint at any response... until a thin smile cracked on her lips, blossoming into a full blown grin, then a muffled chuckle.

"...You're full of it Glenn... absolutely full of it..."

Well, it could have been worse... Atleast Rob was laughing, and not insulted by this apparent ruse of magic. If nothing else had been gained, atleast she was put in a much happier state of mind, so much so that the smile didn't even fade off yet. "...You're not like alot of people i've met..." Hesitation. "d'you think... you could stick around for a bit and help me read through a couple more pages? I... I can usually read basic language characters... but these are written... a little odd..." Asking for help? Was the icy girl finally letting herself relax for once?... Maybe.

Glenn let a smile cross his face. At least she didn't freak in one way or another. That was always a good sign. Unless she was in shock, but he doubted that for some reason. "Thanks," was his reply.

In response to her request, he nodded. "Sure. It's what I'm supposed to do, but no one seems to have need of me. Unless, of course, they need a book," he said with a smile. "I work at Jacoson's book store." An explanation.

Looking back to the book, he said "This one would cause trouble. I don't think the language has been used for a long time, and I'm not quite sure the origin is from anything modern. Don't look very latin, either, as the letters are... different." He shrugged, but went on again in a more professional manner. "Looking for anything in particular in here?"

"...Ah... I dunno what i'm looking for, really..." Robin suddenly felt like joking, so she indulged herself by relaxing further, a smirk quirking her thin lips, "...probably something exciting. Or Destructive... it's one in the same." Hopefully she was only jesting, on that last part... trying out some cryptic, explosive spell for the hell of it might just prove to be a little more then merely dangerous.

"...Actually, I was trying to find some pages about element based spells... I've been getting into that lately... Studying texts on potions got a little mundane, y'know?"

Her eyes seemed to betray a small smile in their pleasent lightness... Robin wouldn't dare to admit it, but she was starting to enjoy his company. This was, ofcourse, practically sacrelious for a loner like herself to speak or mention... Oh well. To hell with that! Despite his unusual stature, Glenn was quite a nice fellow... One of the few smart ones around, so she thought.

Flipping back to the table of contents, he scanned the different subjects covered. "Well, there's a few in here, but not as many as others. I think this is more of an ancient souvenir than a down and dirty spell book." Glenn took a last look at the page number before flipping back to the beginning of the elemental section.

"There's, um, fire, water, wind... guess they left earth out... what's this? Darkness, in place of it, I think?" He glanced up. "Which one? Fire's usually destructive and exciting." No doubt about it, fire usually was. Then again, he hadn't read much about dark.

"...Fire then," the girl responded, looking over the page he'd singled out with an interested eye. The pictures that went along with that particular section were definately an eye catcher, atleast- faded images of explosions, people burning... It was a slightly morbid subject...

Ofcourse, Robin wasn't one of those types who would cringe at something less then flowery. Infact, this looked like a very exciting and good thing in her eyes...

The only problem here was if her curiosity got the best of her... and she actually tried something of that matter. The results could be a small burn... or a burned down university dormitory... Hopefully, she wouldn't be stupid enough to actually do such a stunt...

"Fire it is." He glanced through the pages, looking them over so he could sum them up. "Uh... this one's for small fires, like a campfire... here's one for a... what's the word... conflagration? Yeah... and this last ones for summoning some kind of... fire demon." Not too bad of a summary, considering it was going from who knows what to english. Not many spells, though.

The fire demon looked like something out of a bad movie, with big leathery wings, horns, goat from the waist down. Not very imaginative on the part of the demon, or possibly the artist. Either way, Glenn just thought it looked cheesy. The other two were simple enough, though a bit unnecessary. He could do the same thing with a match, or maybe an old fashion lantern.

After deliberating them, he looked up at her again, awaiting her response.

Robin was busy jotting down all three of the spells across the margin of her notepad, simultaneously making a silly doodle of the firey 'demon' thing that was so amusingly stereotypical. It made her smile at the tastelessness of illustration, but still, her curiosity had been sparked into motion by this thing...

"Does it say in the index if there are other summoning things for more powerful... creatures?"

Again, her secretly knowing intuition was provoking something that Robin's waking mind couldn't wrap itself around... Little did she know, several ancient god-calling spells had been scribed with a careful hand in the back pages. Fun times, this would be...

"Let's see," he said, flipping to the back. The familiar and comforting musty smell of book rose to meet him. "Summoning... summoning... ah. Yeah, but not many. I think it's a... dust bunny? And umm... Dreams?" It wasn't such a great translation, but it seemed to be the same thing. "Capital D. And our fire demon from before." There was a few more, but he let her think those over for a bit.

((Bah to one paragraph.))

((I'll slow myself down a bit too, then...))

"...Dreams looks like it'd atleast be interesting," she commented in a nonchalant, distant voice, shrugging as the spell was scribed down in a rough translation across her notepad- which was, by now, completely filled with doodles and spell snippits.

Only when Robin had finished did she realize that a pale morning light was beginning to leak through the basement windows, illuminating streamers of the floor with soft hues of red and yellow. The sun was starting to rise. She rubbed at her eyes for a moment to make sure this was true, glanced back again, and sighed. "...Damn..."

"Dreams it is, then." Glenn looked over the summon, getting the important parts. It seemed a bit complicated, but not impossible. He just didn't like the fact that he would have to cut himself for it.

Glenn, too, looked at the light filtering though the windows. He hadn't been awake for too long, but it sounded like she had. "How long've you been here?" he asked, watching the dust motes dance through the light.

"...Ah... since... about three... I think..." It took several seconds for Robin to dig up the right time, rubbing the sleep absently out of her eyes. So long... Such a long, long time, she had been tucked away in this place full of dingy cobwebs and dark filth, "...I'm an insomniac sometimes... 'got an itch to go look up some stuff... so I've been here doing that."

She fought the biting urge to yawn now, a little less alert then before. Perhaps all this research was finally beginning to catch up with her....

((sorry for my shortness... i'm a bit braindead..))

"Three o'clock, huh? Well, maybe you should go home, get a bit of rest. Magic and lack of sleep don't mix so well." Again, this was said with a smile so she could take it however way she wanted.

"You can just check this out and if you need help," he paused here to quickly scribble a phone number on a scrap piece of paper had happened to have, "just call me and I'll be more than glad." He set the paper in the book and closed it, marking the place for the summon spell, then pushed the book toward her.

Though her face registered no clear response to Glenn's supposed jest, inside, Rob could still feel a twisting pang of curiosity nagging at her. Did he really believe in all this magic stuff? Well, as to where this thought lead, the girl swiftly killed it before she dared to speak of the matter again- forging a small, but genuine smile.

"...I'll do that..." Robin stood waveringly from her chair and gathered the book in her arms, noting how thick, how heavy it still was, despite wear and age, "...thankyou, Glenn... Oh... and just to be fair..." She set the mass down for a moment, tearing one of her sketches from it's bindings, writing a number down in some rough scrawl, "...My number... I'm pretty useless, but if you need it, it's there... Thanks again..."

And, without more then a final smile, she left, tired, but more then content. This meeting had been nicer then most, and perhaps her chance encounter had given Robin a friend of some loose tie. Glenn seemed to be such a kind young man, and intelligent. Robin admired that much more then most of the pompous, arrogant perverted teens that seemed to lurk the university in mass.

"G'night, Glenn." A last call, as the basement door squeaked open, and closed again.