Arianna Whithall sighed quiet acceptance of her fate to herself. Her break was over; the work had to resume. She pushed herself up off the sofa in the communal room and straightened the creases out of her black pencil skirt, checked her hair and makeup were in order in the ladies' bathroom mirror, and headed back downstairs to the library. Her colleague, Pamela, smiled gratefully at her as she appeared, and rose from behind the desk to brush past her to attend her own break.
"Catch you later," she murmured, touching Arianna's arm in a show of friendship and reassurance.
"Enjoy the break," chirped Arianna, sitting down. She slipped her glasses out of her jacket pocket and slid them on, peering at the lists that lay before her -- of books returned and unreturned, inbound and outbound -- and the piles of books themselves. An intimidating display of collective knowledge and information about all subjects imaginable and more, to be sure, but Arianna was quite content with them; she had lived around and in her books for most of her life, and even the chunkiest tomes did not faze her. They had the great, thick trunks that were the books on the Light and priesthood to contend with -- hundreds if not thousands of them.
Picking out a sizable armful, she laid the relevant reference paper on top and set off, her high heels clacking across the carpeted floor.
Now
, she thought.
Let's see... 'The Doghouse of Economics' -- E27.
Stifling a faint snort of laughter at the book's cover, she ambled over to the aisle and wandered down it, scanning the towering shelves on either side.
Not a bad setting for a murder novel, one can't help but note
, she remarked idly to herself as she slid the book and a couple of others back into place.
Thick books act as walls on either side -- high walls at that... Numerous corners from which the predator might pounce or drag his prey...
---
It had been an exhausting day for Samantha "Sam" Collins. She gave the familiar, friendly, single nods to her fellow carpenters as she walked -- or staggered -- out of the keep. Her mind was a blurry haze, and she took little notice of those who passed her in the street, or the pigeon she almost trod on before it noisily flapped away in alarm. In amongst the reel of flashing thoughts, one repeated itself over and over, and eventually stuck:
Arianna, that soft, sexy thing.
Her lips subconsciously curled into a faint, knowing smile; she knew Arianna was still at the library, working.
What boring work that must be
, she thought.
Time to spice things up, love. And holy fuck, does she look good in that outfit.