Restless Research

[ref]

"Where is it?" Rose whispered to herself frusteratedly as she pushed aside dusty books on dusty bookshelves with profound annoyance. She heaved a heavy sigh, then stepped down from the small stool she'd used in order to reach the higher shelves. "Just when I needed a book the most, I find every one but the one I need..." Wondering if possibly the librarian was lying to her, Rose took a seat at a round wooden table that had been previously empty. The chair squeaked uncomfortably against her weight, for it had seen many years of use, and Rose gave yet another sigh. She placed her elbows upon the table and held her head aloft against her palms, wishing badly that she hadn't chosen to take a long perilous journey here when she only found that it was horrible here to begin with. All those weird dreams... Flashbacks of people she didn't recognize... That guy, Dustin... Did she inhale something she wasn't supposed to? Maybe it was that pollution... Either way, besides that, she'd been absolutely fine. She got enough sleep, ate whenever she needed to, and got plenty of exercise. It was like her mind was unstable, like she was travelling a slow descent into insanity...
Well, she thought, it had to be sometime soon.
---
Blackness... A faint smell of Coca-Cola and Sunkist... Voices...
"So this is the place..."
"Yeah. Isn't it the most amazing place you've seen? All the flowers..."
"I've got to say, you were right. This place is pretty cool! Where's the one place you were talking about?"
"Here." A pause... "See? It's filled with roses. This one's my favorite."
"Heh, a blood-red rose? What a vivid color..."
"Still, it's got this certain beauty to it. And its petals are so soft! They're like silk."
"Maybe you should keep it, then, if you like it so much."
---
"Tch..." Rose opened her eyes once the pang of pain reverberated within her head. "What...?"

[hieisorcerer]

Jack sighed and pushed his book away. He was trying to find ideas for his first pokemon, he had never thought that he would be searching like this for anything. Through books, he hated to read. So far he was looking at a Electabuzz, seemed to be interesting. Jack would decide later. He sighed again and pushed the book farther away.

There was only a handful of other people in the building, he could sense their minds though not their thoughts. Jack could tell what track their minds were on, he could sense one who was contemplating a girl. Another who was fighting with homework, and a third mind that was trying to find a book. There was a sudden shift in thoughts, Jack couldn't tell what was going on now. It was more interesting than what he was doing however, getting up he crossed the library searching for this mind.

Jack leaned against a book shelf, he felt the change in thoughts was her business. He couldn't help it, he had to ask her a stupid question. He didn't know what made him do it, Aven's memories affecting his own? It was a possibility, but he did his best to ignore them. "Can I help you find something miss?" Jack asked smiling, folding his arms across his chest.

[ref]

A guy? Why here? Or more importantly, why now? Rose bit her lip self-consciously. She was going to have to lie if she wanted to keep from weirding him out. He'd never understand... Goodness, she barely even understood herself, what with all of the things happening to her... Clearing her throat, she said casually, "Oh, I was just having a zoning out moment." At least that was a partial truth. Rose never had to tell him why she was zoning out, even though she didn't know herself. The words still echoed in her head, as if her mind was stuck on replay. "Sorry if I freaked you out," Rose went on, a deep red rising to her ivory cheeks. "I do that a lot."

[hieisorcerer]

Jack couldn't help but smile, "That's quite alright ma'am, everyone has their moments. I just thought I would help you find the book you were looking for." He had downloaded a complete inventory of the school's books into his nanomachines memory. It helped him to not have to talk to the creepy librarian.

Jack called up the list of the books for the row they were down, "So what book are you looking for?" The American asked looking around the shelves, "Oh, my name is Jack Edwards by the way."

[ref]

Me? Need help? Rose thought stubbornly. Why would I ever need help? I'm perfectly capable of getting it myself... I was just annoyed earlier, that's all. Unless... She thought of her mental status. The flashbacks. The voices. The profound sense that she'd been a place before when she knew she'd never been to before. I'm going crazy... I'm gonna have to get some help sometimes, anyway. Besides, this guy, Jack Edwards, was just trying to be nice, right? Heh. Rose glanced down at the pins pinned to the bottom of her jacket. Maybe, just maybe...
---------
"These pins... they're a source of power. They'll allow her to protect herself in my absence..."
"She's a very creative girl, you know. She'll be able to handle the powers quite easily and well."
"Still... I don't wanna let her go."
"She'll be fine... After all, her Imagination is strong. Any stronger and she'll be..."
"Yeah... One of us."
---------
What? A pang of pain flashed across her face, and bit her tongue. Another flashback? What was going on?! Rose softly gazed up at Jack Edwards, wondering if he'd seen her pain, then decided that if he asked, he would know. If he didn't, he wouldn't. That would be the end of it right there. She composed herself, acting as if nothing had happened in the first place, then smiled slightly. "I'm Rose Blackthorn," Rose introduced herself almost like she was quipping. "As for what I'm looking for... It's similar to a psychiatric encyclopedia. Don't remember what it was called... It had Psychosis or something on the cover, so the librarian said."