In search of the uber nerd [OPEN]

[Megara]

Ancient gods. Greece's Costumes. Religions of the World. The rise and fall of ancient religions. The Iliad. Why god is a myth. Fashion rules for redheads. What? Not everything had to be work. 

Megara groaned loudly as she put the heavy amount of books on the nearest table, not minding to annoy whoever was sitting there. She never paid attention to other people anyway. This was just her luck. An encounter with a creep at a chapel and now she had to find a way out of the mess she created. Did she insult Zeus or anyone else to deserve such luck? Well, she did, constantly too, but that wasn't the point. The point was that life was unfair to her because she was like the nicest person alive and still all she got back was shit. So to hell with the gods! She groaned loudly again. Oh right. That was exactly her problem. Hellish gods.

She moved to stand by the table and loudly pulled back a chair, making as much noise as possible as she dragged it. She was unhappy and her actions had to convey just how annoyed she was! She flopped down the chair, another loud groan following. She hated having to do actual work. It wasn't even hard, it was just so time consuming. Well, whatever. First book. Ancient gods. Okay. She pulled it open. 

"Page one." She whispered, "Ancient history." Ancient. She snorted. It was just a few days ago that ancient meant the present. Ah, how life changed and turned. "At the beginning of time, history was- Ugh." She closed the book loudly. This wasn't working. She was never going to find a way out on her own. She needed help. Her attention turned to the other person there. Doing work, maybe? Well, this WAS a library. They had to be annoyed by this point, right? With all the noise. Maybe she could convince them to help her so they could get rid of her? It was just a few books. 

"Hey," She called with a smile, "You seem like the 'library' type." Her smile widened, "Care to help me with a little something?" 

[Bartok]

There was not a book in this library called How To Tell Your Best Friend That You Lied About Being A War Hero. Bartok knew that, because he had been looking for this book for at least an hour now. Nor was there How To Fake Being A War Hero, or even War Heroes For Dummies, which had been his very last option. In short, he was pretty much out of things to search for, and had buried himself instead in a book about evil sorcerers. Evil sorcerers terrified him, but it was a comfortable sort of terror, one he was well-acquainted with, and it was a far cry better than the self-loathing he had been experiencing after his failed book search. He was just setting in on a particularly gory chapter about an evil sorcerer who put someone's eyeballs on the palms of their hands when someone else in the library said something to him.

Bartok, who had somehow managed to miss all of her other loud activities (so absorbed he had been in his fruitless search for reading material), immediately assumed that she was talking to someone else. He sat up a little straighter, and craned his neck to look over one shoulder, trying to see who she was speaking to.

There was no one else there. In fact, Bartok couldn't see anybody else in the library at all, and he was forced to conclude that for truly unfathomable reasons, she was talking to him. Just to be sure, he motioned towards his chest with his fingertips and raised his eyebrows in an unmistakeable who, me? sort of gesture. Him? The library type? Well, he was in a library, and he was reading, which was the kind of thing one did in a library.

"I would love to help you," he said in a sort of whisper-shout. He got out of his chair and moved over to the other side of the table from her, resting both of his hands on the back of the chair across from her. "What do you need help with?" Please let it be a song and dance number.

[Megara]

Megara grinned her sweetest smile and moved her chair closer to the guy. "Yes, you, mister-" She looked down at what he had been reading and rose an eyebrow. The words 'bloody' and 'eyes' almost turned her smile into a grimace. Just her luck to have found yet another weirdo in this place. What could she possibly say now? "Mister." Yes, that would have to do for now. And when he offered her help her smile widened. "Well, aren't you a true hero?" She teased, pushing her book towards him and setting it on top of whatever he had been reading. Hopefully, he wouldn't mind her rude behavior, but Meg wasn't one to stall.

"See, I find myself in a bit of a hiccup." Her smile turned into a soft pout, trying to appear as sweet as possible, "See there's this very bad situation I'm in and I really need some strong..." He didn't seem that strong though, "gentleman to help me out figuring how to get out of it." Maybe she should've chosen some laws and contract books. Well, first things first. "You could help me look up some things im these big books?" She pulled yet another book down. "And we're looking for contracts with gods." Maybe she shouldn't share she sold her soul to a god. How pathetic was she. "No reason behind it." She added. Of course not. He wouldn't ask, right? "Pay attention to anything...underworld related or..." For someone from ancient Greece, she truly knew very little about her own religion, "Smoke and sparks." Yeah, that would have to be enough for now.

Meg leaned back on her chair and sighed, grabbing the one book she'd grabbed before that had interested her, but the thought of eyes and magic, was it? wouldn't leave her head. "What were you reading anyway?" She wondered. He wasn't going to poke her eyes out or something, was he?

[Bartok]

Mister Mister. Bartok supposed he could go by Mister Mister if that was what she wanted to call him. He had certainly been called much worse things by much worse people. He certainly didn't think he was a hero, though, and he had to look down at his hands when she said as much. She put her book on top of his, and he didn't complain because the book about the evil sorcerer had been making him pretty uncomfortable anyway. He looked down at the book she had put in front of him, then back up at her smiling face, and found himself smiling in return.

Contracts with gods. Right. Smoke and sparks. Underworld. Bartok, given his history, had a sort of sixth sense when it came to dark stuff, and this definitely sounded like something dark. She said it was for no reason, and he wasn't sure how much he believed that, but he wasn't going to pry. That would have been rude. People didn't like you when you were rude, and so far, this girl hadn't done anything to make Bartok think she was the sort of person he didn't want to like him. He looked over the page in front of him, scanning for any of the keywords she had mentioned.

"You know, the computer system is very helpful, sir," he said, a little distracted by the text in front of him. "I could help you search on there for the things you're looking for. I'm not bad with the computers." Maybe she didn't know about the computers, or the card catalogue. She asked about the book he'd been reading, though, and he took a peek at it under the book she'd given him.

"I was reading about evil sorcerers," he admitted. He didn't want to scare her off, but the evil sorcerer thing, that was part of his own history, and he was proud of himself for the way he'd gotten out of it. "I used to be indentured to an evil sorcerer," he explained. Maybe 'indentured' wasn't the best word for it. "Or...he created me, kind of, and wanted me to do his evil bidding, and then I decided I was tired of that so I gave him a whomp right to the curb and walked away to live my life." Bartok dusted off his hands as if he had just finished escorting Rasputin to the curb right at that moment. "Sometimes I read about these things because I think maybe it will help me understand myself better. I'm Bartok, by the way."

[Megara]

Did-did he just call her 'sir'? "Meg." She corrected before she could stop herself. No, stupid! Only your friends call you Meg. and given her 'no friends' policy, she had always made sure no one would call her that. Oh well. She sighed. He didn't seem so bad. Besides, he looked so happy to help, it was almost enough to warm Meg's cold heart. Well, not almost, since she was literally soulless, but still, he was being nice, which would usually have her running the opposite way, but now she needed help.

Wait? Computers? Yes! Internet thing and stuff like that (she was still learning). "You know how to do that?" She asked. He didn't seem that smart, what with how willing he seemed to help out he seemed like a bit of a doofus, but she could really take advantage of this. If there was a way to break her contract in some way then she had to use anything around her and that included people. "Yes, let's do that thing that you just said to do." Whatever the hell it was.

When he talked about what he'd been reading she leaned back on her chair, turning her body towards him in interest. Indentured to an evil sorcerer. That sounded awfully familiar. Guess there was no original story anymore. Meg leaned closer. He was created? "You mean he's your...father?" She so didn't know how could a sorcerer 'create' a person. She wasn't sure her situation was any worse than his. He wanted to do his evil bidding. She almost snorted, but she was too interested. But he just walked away. Just like that. No contracts? "Was this sorcerer..." She pondered, trying to pretend she wasn't that interested, even though her eyes were focused on him, "A certain counselor?" Maybe? It couldn't be Hades, right? But if it was, then maybe he knew how she could walk away. "You know, pretty boy, suits, talks too fast, kind of flamboyant, really annoying, gets touchy, really popular for some reason despite being so freaking evil?" Maybe he knew him.

Bartok. Right. As if she was going to remember that. "And I prefer Mister Savior." She teased with a half smile at the mention of his name, raising one hand and with a finger lightly tapping his nose. "Now, how about we go do... computers and the internetsss...es?" the word hung, since she wasn't sure she was using it right. Times were very different. "Maybe add some contracts and law work in there to be sure."

[Bartok]

"Meg," Bartok repeated. Not that knowing her name was going to keep the accidental sirs from happening when he got anxious (which was almost always), but it was nice to have a name to put with her face. "It is very nice to meet you, Meg." He gave her another large smile. "I know some things about computers, yes." He didn't want to make her feel stupid or anything, that wasn't a good way to make friends. If you knew more than someone about something, you had to be gracious about it, or they would resent you or think you were showing off, and that was certainly not what Bartok was going for here.

A counselor? For one terrible moment, Bartok thought his heart stopped, and all the blood felt like it drained out of his face. Was Rasputin here? Was he at the school? Pretending to be a counselor? He had to dredge up every ounce of self-control he had just to swallow down the sheer panic that bubbled up in his chest at that idea. But she went on, and he felt the tiniest bit like he could breathe again. Pretty. No, Rasputin wasn't pretty, unless you were really into people who could remove their own body parts. Suits? Nope. Way more of a dramatic robe guy. He was touchy, but he wasn't really flamboyant that Bartok could recall, so one out of...however many traits she'd just listed, that didn't sound promising. Unless Rasputin had changed his whole everything to come here in disguise, which Bartok would not entirely put past him.

"I don't think that's the same person," he said, doubtfully. "Rasputin is...sort of a skeleton, like, he did a very bad deal with evil to kill a lot of people and one of them is still not dead yet, so he was not doing so well the last time I saw him."

He was going to elaborate even further, but then she reached up and tapped his nose with her finger, and all the blood that had run out of his face in terror came rushing right back up into his cheeks in a violent blush. "Computers," he repeated. "Internets. Yes. I'll show you." He slid out of his seat and all but sprinted over to one of the computers at the various terminals throughout the library, grabbing another chair and pulling it up close to the one already there so they could both sit down. "See, you put your words in here..." He poked at the keys with one finger of each hand, typing out smoke contract law sparks underworld pretty boy suits into the field. "And then you hit the one that says enter, see?"

[Megara]

He was all smiles, wasn't he? Meg forced one back, feeling slightly uncomfortable. Were all people this nice here? Maybe he was just a tad dumb. That had to be it, right? Well, he knew computer stuff so he couldn't be THAT much of an idiot, considering she didn't know how to do that.

By the way his face changed when she described Hades, she thought for a moment they were on the same boat, although she wasn't sure 'creating' minions was Hades way. Was it? She was yet to meet anyone like that, but she wouldn't put it pass him. Zeus, she should've paid more attention as a kid when she went to the temple. Ah, but this man was called 'Rasputin' and that didn't sound Greek at all, so it was definitely not Hades. And this man killed a lot of people. She looked away from him. Wasn't this was Hades was making her do? No. Just make people become his slaves. Or 'stir the pot' as he called it, whatever that meant. "Well, at least you got out safe and sound." She said with a smirk, "And he didn't do a bad job at building you either, eh?" He was kind of cute after all, "You have to thank the man at least for that." But then something happened. Something weird. Meg blinked in surprise at his reaction when she touched his nose. He suddenly turned beet red and moved away, leaving her blinking behind.

"Well, well, well..." She said under her breath as a smirk broke her face. Wasn't that a curious reaction? Maybe he wasn't dumb, maybe he was just ridiculously innocent for someone his age. How old was he anyway? She stood, slowly walking towards him. He'd placed a chair for her. How sweet. She sat and turned her attention at the screen.

"I don't think-" She was going to say she doubted any book would show up with those words, but what did you know? Apparently this world had a thing for pretty boys in suits and underworlds? Although she wouldn't call a dungeon an underworld, but to each their own. For a second there, she hoped he wouldn't read the book descriptions, since it didn't seem very children friendly either. What the hell is wrong with this time?

"Maybe we should start small." She suggested with a forced smile. "What about 'Underworld god'?" Yeah, that had to be enough. She moved forward, deleting the words on the screen. At least she'd learned to do that much. Hit enter he'd said, right? That she did, and there it was. A bunch of books about mythology. Seemed like Hades had lots of names and he'd been around a lot of places.

"That's a lot of books." She commented. "So," She turned to him, "What next, Mister savior?" She had to admit, this was kind of fun.

[Bartok]

Bartok was definitely an all-smiles sort of guy, whenever he possibly could be. People liked you better when you smiled, as long as you didn't make it weird, that much he had learned. As much as he was trying to smile, though, an expression of abject horror passed briefly across his face as the results of his search loaded onto the computer screen. What was all that about? He glanced up at Meg, terrified of what her reaction might be. Certainly this was not what she was looking for, and hopefully she didn't think he was trying to show her horrible unseemly things.

"I'm sorry," he blurted, "I'm so sorry, I have no idea why that-...what that is, why anyone would..." He moved aside hastily as she leaned into type, and he had to admit that her basic query was probably a much better place to start, even if there were more results than he could possibly know what to do with. "Oh. That looks better." Less horrifying, anyway, although he didn't want to say that, with the way she'd been talking about this person she was trying to research. He got the impression that she and this guy didn't get along much, maybe because she'd described him as freaking evil, which was not the sort of thing that you called someone as a compliment unless maybe you were evil yourself.

"I think maybe you can narrow it down," he suggested. "You said contract law. Maybe add that. Underworld god contracts, maybe something like that, sir, and it might give you less books to read to start with." Literally no one in the history of the world had referred to him as their savior, so that combined with the previous nose boop had left him unspeakably flustered. He just wanted to help her find her books, maybe settle in and do some really dull reading about contract law, so he could center his thoughts and process what had just happened.