Lupo

Chapter Nineteen: The Bodleian

Darcie couldn't help herself. Pausing, she half-turned to shoot him a disbelieving look."You studied here? At Oxford?"

Bash glanced down at some spot on the floor and shrugged. "Quite a few years ago, now. This bit of the library..." he waved a hand, indicating the subterranean rolling stacks of the Gladstone link. "Wasn't open to readers then."

Darcie's blanched, recalling some dim knowledge that the link had opened to students almost ten years previously. "Just how old are you?"  she asked rudely. "I mean really."

Bash folded his arms and surveyed her, his face unreadable. "I thought we agreed I was 28?" he asked at length, taking a step towards her, the corner of his mouth twitching into an almost-smile. 

Darcie braced herself to deliver a scornful retort, but as he came forwards, the light directly above them glinted off something on his chest she hadn't noticed before. It flashed again beneath the lapels of his leather jacket, and - blinking confusedly at the flickering silver - she peered at the spot through the gloom. Observing this, Bash halted and followed her gaze, to the two lozenges of metal which hung from a long, fine chain about his neck. He glanced up at her again and then caught up the tags in his fist, holding them out to her so that she might see them better. His hand stretched to just in front of her face, and Darcie flinched at their sudden proximity; Looking hastily away, she took a step back. 

Bash blinked at her for a few seconds before he withdrew his hand and began to tuck the chain out of sight beneath the collar of his shirt. "They're identification tags," he explained, and Darcie felt her stomach plummet for some inexplicable reason.  "My pack...We all wear them. You know, in case we ever get...um...taken out."

Darcie was now determinately examining the dog eared corner of Shakespeare and the four Humours, so felt, rather than saw, him reach out again to gesture over her shoulder. She had been unconscious of just how loudly they'd been talking until he continued in a whisper: "But I think that's a story for another time..."

She looked up at him and he jerked his chin meaningfully, again indicating a point just behind her. Stiffening, Darcie turned her face to scan the empty aisle behind them and the deserted opening to the library beyond. She had little time to wonder at what Bash meant, before, not a split second later, a very harassed-looking librarian appeared around the edge of the stacks and made his way towards them. A boney man with stooping shoulders- he peered angrily into the aisle towards Darice, his brow furrowed and his mouth half-open in anticipation of the reprimand he planned to deliver. Darcie blanched, groaning internally, and braced herself to deliver a groveling - whispered- apology for the noise; With a dull flash a panic, it occurred to her that he might throw them out regardless. 

Well at least then I have a valid excuse to go home and do nothing...

The librarian stopped just inside the aisle and blinked furiously at Darcie for a second or two, before he rose onto tip-toe to glare searchingly into the gloom behind her. She cringed, waiting for the reprove to come, but the little man only blinked in bemusement, his mouth twisting soundlessly with confused anger, before he contented himself with giving Darcie a warning look and stalking off again. 

For a few seconds, Darcie stared in disbelief at the place where he'd disappeared, before she turned around to face Bash again, frowning. She fully intended on telling him - in no uncertain terms - to fuck off, before someone really did kick them out, but the aisle beyond appeared completely deserted. Bewildered, she squinted into the shadows towards the solid wall at the end of the shelves; It was impossible for him to have exited the aisle without passing her, and yet she was - inexplicably- alone.  

After a few moments of gaping confusedly at the spot where he had stood, she allowed irritation to dispose of her surprise and she gave herself a mental shake. Muttering angrily under her breath, she forced her reluctant brain back onto the task at hand and consulted her book list again. It took her several attempts to read the titles before she actually took anything in.