Power Struggle: Like a thumb war, but not, Nef and Jackson

[NESM Admin]

Date: Day Before School
Time: 4 PM
ISO: Jackson Turner

It was the day before school. Nef walked along the corridor and stopped in front of a large wooden door. The sign up at the entrance stated that this was the library. Her shoes had found their way to the library many times, usually with her feet in them; once, without. She checked her watch and saw that it was 4:00 PM exactly. She had only one hour to copy some parts of an ancient runes text for class. They didn’t have to have it done yet, but Nef liked to be prepared, particularly for that class and she had been, by her standards, slacking. Besides, at this time and on this day, there wouldn’t be anyone in here. The door opened smoothly and silently, clicking shut behind her. She dropped her bag off at her favorite of the many rectangular pine tables and made her way to the ancient runes section.

It was towards a back corner, where books were alphabetized by school subject and then author. It was slightly untraditional, but made it much easier to locate materials relevant to classes. Books rarely spanned more than one subject, but if they did, that was what the registry was for. It was even computerized for the more efficient and technologically savvy students. It wasn’t necessary to go searching through the shelves for books, you could locate them from your butt; however, Nef enjoyed browsing the titles and pulling books out that seemed interesting. She’d run into a number of odd works this way, pieces normally not used in class, but definitely cool.

Ladders were placed every row, where they rolled along and allowed students to reach the books that were on the highest shelves. Nef climbed one and balanced comfortably along it. She ran her fingers against the spines of the books until a thin one, bound in blue cloth, caught her eye. She’d never seen this particular one before. The markings along the spine looked familiar… she started and lost her balance for a moment. It was written in hieroglyphs! Wait… oh. Someone had misplaced it. Her temporary excitement at having found some ancient book about ancient runes in another ancient tongue evaporated. She felt sort of silly. Ok, really stupid. It wouldn’t have made logical sense. Sighing, she continued the search for the book she needed. One feature of having a magical library was that although the books on some shelves were only a row deep, they were enchanted to reveal the title on both sides. It made it possible for several people to be looking in the same shelves without running into each other.

She found the book on the fifth row up, just above eye level. She reach for it and had a finger on it ready to pull it out when another finger appeared. The downside to this double spine was that you could potentially reach for the same book at the same time although it had to be incredibly uncommon. The two fingers strained in a match for the book. Nef frowned and tried to pry the book away. Finally, Nef gave up the silent struggle and the other finger pulled it out. She peered between the books that had been on either side and into the wide gap (it was a fairly thick book) where she saw through to one of her peers. It was none less than Jack Turner, a fellow ancient runes class mate and unruly young man. He wasn’t exactly her friend, but they had worked together in class before.

“Jack.” She twisted her lips in a sort of puzzled way. “Hi.” He looked different. Gone was the long hair and grungy clothes, replaced by something that just… wasn’t quite him, but was perhaps better. Also, why was he in the library at this time and on this day? “I didn’t know you studied. Or I mean” she turned slightly red, “came into the library.” Ok, so she’d meant to make her comment less insulting and had done the complete opposite instead, but alas. She reached up and tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear. “Are you actually going to need that book? Because you’ll probably just ask me to help you in class anyways.” She spent a fair amount of 'work time' in class sitting next to Jack pointing out obvious things he’d missed because he hadn’t been in class or wasn’t paying attention. It had become sort of routine, to the point where she had copied her notes so that he would shut up.


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It wasn't really Jackson's style to get any sort of schoolwork done before the last minute, but, then again, his style had changed a lot recently. It was a combination of things that saw Jack walking into the library in search of an Ancient Runes text to take notes from. There was something about the recent death of his father that had made him want to generally live better. The event had been the driving factor that got Jackson on a balanced diet and doing regular exercise. Then, to reinforce that, over the summer, he'd had a few conversations about what would happen when he graduated, and, despite all of the thought he'd put behind it, Jack really had no idea where the end of the year would see him headed. With a sort of renewed outlook on life and with his graduation approaching, it only seemed natural to him that he actually try harder in his classes this year. At least most of them. The Transfiguration teacher wasn't likely to see much improvement out of him.

Ancient Runes, though, was something Jackson actually enjoyed. He'd slacked terribly in his first year in the subject, but he'd managed a decent enough grade. This year, he aimed to put effort into the course. He'd found himself idly wandering the hall earlier in the day, then decided he ought to get a head start on his note-taking.

Although definitely not a regular, Jack had at least happened upon the library a few times in his former three years at Waymon's. He was familiar with the system, and while he thought it was kind of cool, he didn't fully appreciate the ups and downs of it - at least not on the level that someone who frequented the library might. It was a bit of an odd occasion - usually, if he had to go to the library to find a book, Jack would pull up the title on the computer and head straight for it. But, today, he found himself actually browsing the book shelf in search of the Ancient Runes title he needed. Mostly, it was a lame attempt to put off the note-taking a little bit longer.

Jack stepped on a handy ladder to scan the area he suspected the book he was seeking would be shelved. None of the titles surrounding it piqued his interest in the slightest, and when he finally saw the book he needed, he was glad his mini-search was over. He tried to tip the book off of the shelf, but it didn't give. He frowned as he saw another hand attempting to get the book and a mini power struggle ensued. Jack's competitive streak shone through and he stole the book away from the other questing hand.

“Jack.”

He looked up, through the bookshelf, to see Neferure and he couldn't help the little triumphant grin. "Hi," he greeted, resisting the urge to do a ridiculous little victory dance. He chuckled at Nef's little crack about him not studying. "Well, I never really did before. I mean, I've BEEN in the library, when I had to, but I've never frequented it."

“Are you actually going to need that book? Because you’ll probably just ask me to help you in class anyways.”

Jack rolled his eyes, feigning an insulted look. "Psch. Come on, I did the work sometimes. Sort of." He grinned again. "I thought I might actually try the class this year. I figure I'll need all the head start I can get." He examined the book he'd won. "We're probably doing the same assingment. Unless, of course, you're a few chapters ahead." He lifted an eyebrow. "Are you?"


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Nef started wondering where her mind was getting to. Well, perhaps that wasn’t the right question. More like, why had she not noticed someone else on the other side of the shelf? It’s not like Jack was a light little sprite that floated around. She was losing it, her skills for noticing detail, because she wasn’t at the excavation pits like she should be! She worked herself into a momentary panic and then settled back down within a second. It was the books faults. She had gotten far too caught up in them. She glared over at the titles for a second before snapping her attention to Jack.

She raised her eyebrows in mock disbelief as he claimed he had indeed been in the library before. And then defended himself.

"Psch. Come on, I did the work sometimes. Sort of.

“If you count excitedly pointing out runes you knew from chapter one.” She teased him slightly, before he revealed something amazing.

"I thought I might actually try the class this year. I figure I'll need all the head start I can get."

She pretended to stagger for a second, grasping the bookshelf for support, and opened her mouth wide in shocked, dramatic disbelief. Perhaps his body had been taken over by an alien? Or maybe someone had taken Polyjuice potion and decided to be Jack…

"We're probably doing the same assignment. Unless, of course, you're a few chapters ahead." Jack raised an eyebrow and Nef frowned a bit. "Are you?"

Ah. Good question. Would Nef normally have had this assignment done yet or not? Well, it depended. She wasn’t as omgifIdon’thaveeverythingreadI’lldie as when she was younger, and so the answer was no. That didn’t mean she was a slacking student however and although he probably did not intend it, she got slightly competitive over such a question.

“No, I’m not. I haven’t started actually. I was intending to this afternoon, however, I need the book. Obviously, I can’t do my work if you have the book and I like your fresh start, but seriously, how long do you plan to keep it up?”

She walked around the end of the pine bookcase so that she was now face to face with Jack, rather than looking at him through the distorted view of a small hole in a bookcase. She was about an inch shorter than him in height and so could look him directly in the face. With one hand on her hip, she placed the other in front of her and cocked her head slightly. Her body language reflected her request although she wasn’t sure he would give it up so easily. It had not occurred to her that they could work together because Nef did not work with people on schoolwork. She understood its purposes for archaeology, but homework? That she did alone. She was in the top percentage of her classes after all, so there wasn’t much to learn from the other students. Intellectual snob! Oh my. Perhaps. Secretly though, she liked that title.


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If you count excitedly pointing out runes you knew from chapter one.”

Jackson rolled his eyes, trying his best to look insulted at Nef's little jeer. It was useless, though. As good as he was in drama club, he really couldn't pull it off on a personal sort of level. Despite himself, he was half-smirking at his own gesture - mostly because what she'd said was true. He'd really been an awful student before, and it was a combination of luck and copying off of other papers that he'd managed to get a halfway decent grade.

He had to laugh at her dramatic reaction to his mention that he aimed to do the work for himself in the coming school year. Though she was over-playing it, it was a shocking thing for him to say. In his previous years at Waymon's Jackson had always had such a completely opposite attitude. School work hadn't even been on his priorty list and, if it had, it had been way down at the bottom, ranking beneath his friends, girlfriend and pranks.

“No, I’m not. I haven’t started actually. I was intending to this afternoon, however, I need the book. Obviously, I can’t do my work if you have the book and I like your fresh start, but seriously, how long do you plan to keep it up?”

Jack had to admit he was at least a little relieved that Nef wasn't ahead of him on the work. It would make it less awkward if he struggled and needed help on the assignment to do it alongside his classmates rather than start the year out trying to play catch up. It seemed the obvious choice to turn to Nef first to ask for help; she'd helped him before and while she certainly joked, she was nice enough about it.

He shrugged in response to her inquery, turning the book over in his hands and inspecting it, as if the answer to the question was printed somewhere on the cover. "Dunno," he replied, simply. "I don't really have anything to gauge how long it'd take me to do an assignment, given I really haven't before." He smirked up at her, and then without a thought, went on. "We could share it. I mean, if we're doing the same thing, anyway."


--------------------

Nef’s spirits sank as Jack shrugged his shoulders. Really, that wasn’t the attitude of someone about to hand over a book to her. Her mind flustered for a moment as he looked at the book. What was he thinking? Was he not going to let her use the book?! Would she have to enter into the semester without the first assignment done ahead of time? She worked herself into frenzy for a few moments as thoughts of failing the class and low scores soared through her mind. It was obviously just her absurd panicking, but she was quite afraid of doing poorly. It would prove to her that the decision to come here had been wrong and she would feel like she wasted her life on magic instead of archaeology. The negative and overwrought thoughts settled down momentarily as the boy spoke again.

"Dunno. I don't really have anything to gauge how long it'd take me to do an assignment, given I really haven't before."

Nef would have fainted if that wasn’t such a silly idea when he smirked at her. She watched the book plummet into the infernal depths of his mind, where – more accurately, she kind of hoped there was some way to get the book from him. Her dilemma was solved a second later, as he told her what they could do. SHARE a book. Oh, for Isis’s sake, like that would get them anywhere. She envisioned another session of his asking constant questions and assumed that they would get no work done. However, there seemed to be no other option. She was slightly dismayed that she would have to work with someone, when she had been looking forward to quality time with the old, crinkly pages. They were her best friends, pathetic as that sounded.

Stoically, (for a book lover, in her opinion), she nodded consent and walked over to the table where she’d left her things. The differences in reading speed and understanding would clash horribly, and her imaginative mind pictured her sprawled out across the table, pen plunged through her heart. Over-exaggeration, but that was a side quality to her constant day dreaming. Maybe she would luck out and he’d get bored and leave. The Jack she knew wouldn’t even be in here and a revised one could hardly have changed all aspects of the Jack personality overnight. Right? She kind of hoped so, but you never knew. And this Jack didn’t seem to be half bad. Perhaps she would be proven wrong. She pulled out her notebook and tapped the cover, so that her Ancient Runes notes were now contained inside. It was a clever device, allowing several subjects to be stored in one notebook, for lightness of transportation and … well, some other descriptive word.


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[Jackson Turner]

Jackson frowned lightly at Nef's reaction to sharing the book to get the assignment done. He half-considered just handing it over and letting her have it, but he knew how that would end up. If he left the library withuot doing the assignment, then he'd just procrastinate over and over again until it ended up too late to do it at all. He was really trying to get a jump on the term in hopes that he'd keep himself rolling throughout the year.

Still, Jack had been half-hoping that Nef might be a bit pleasant to work with. Maybe they'd chat a bit and joke around. Sure, the whole ordeal would take twice as long, but it'd be a lot less daunting. He really did know better. He'd had classes with her, after all, and he knew she wasn't the type to mess around. The only reason he even wanted someone to joke around with was the fact that the thought of actually buckling down and doing the work made the procrastinator in him want to cry. In all honestly, Nef was exactly the person he ought to work on this assignment with. He surely wasn't her ideal work buddy, but he was going to need someone to prod him along.

Ah, well. He was all in, then. Surrending the book now would just make her chide him for giving in and it would make him feel awful for not following through on the promise he'd made to himself. He laid the book down on the table, allowing himself a half-smirk at the mental image of Nef grabbing it up and running away with it. Jackson glanced at her as she prepared her notebook, frowning at how organized she was. He could never hope to have it as together as she did.

He pulled up a chair and sat down, needing a moment to dig through his bag for the proper notebook. It was blank of yet; over the break, he'd bought all new supplies in hopes that it might help motivate him a bit. He needed all the help he could get. Once he had his things ready, he opened the book to the proper page and wordlessly started taking notes, not noticing at what speed Nef might be going. He was trying and, for the moment, succeeding on staying completely focused on the task at hand.

[Neferure Emerson]

After checking the last page of notes she had taken, to make sure they was indeed where she had remembered leaving off, Nef began writing. Her pen was an automatically refilling quill, because she was fond of the scratching sound that the quill tip made on her thick note paper. After a few minutes however, her ears became sensitively aware of the loud scratching that her writing utensil was making.

She glanced sideways at Jack as they sat in silence taking notes and wondered if he could hear her quill. A clock on on wall ticked louder and louder, completing the cliché picture neatly. Well, obviously he could hear the pen, but was he thinking about it? It was starting to irritate her. Normally she found the sound comforting, but in the silence between the two of them it was almost obnoxious. Like it was screaming for attention. It was becoming rather distracting and upon reaching the center of the first page found that she could no longer concentrate properly.

She sort of cough choked and turned her face slightly so that she could talk to Jack a bit. “How are you coming along on your notes?” She raised her eyebrows a bit to emphasize the question. It was kind of a silly thing to ask... she could tell from her occasional glances that his handwriting wasn't exactly clean and he wasn't copying down the runes very well. Even though it wasn't on her notes, it bothered her. Slight neat freak. Oh well. That's what came from the anal organization that took place with archaeology.

Maybe she could break the uncomfortable silence. Maybe, (this was a spurt of real make-believe), she could make an actual friend from this study session! IF this new Jack was who he appeared to be. She wasn't terribly judgmental, but the old one just made her sigh and shake her head. He was part of that lot of people that made her raise an eyebrow. They were that group that didn't do so hot in school and somehow succeeded in life and she really wasn't curious to try it out.

“You know what?” Here she dropped her voice to a whisper so as to not be overheard by the librarian. Nef was not above mischief. “Maybe we should scramble the pages with a high level scrambling charm or make the words vanish when we finish.” A grin lit her face. She rarely showed this side of herself to people and she knew it might shock Jack just a little.

[Jackson Turner]

Jackson had, in fact, noticed the scratching of Nef's quill. There was actually a moment where, in writing his notes, he'd gotten so distracted by it that he'd written about it. He hadn't noticed, but it would provide a chuckle later on when he went back over the notes. It went something along the lines of: Naudiz, meaning need or extremity, craving or demand, etc, who really uses a quill, anyway?, is written as... He was doing his best to ignore all of the distractions in the library, (not that there were an incredible amount of them, but, well, Jackson was so easily side-tracked,) and he was faring marginally well, minus the bits of oddity in his notes.

Neferure coughed in a way that he assumed was meant to catch his attention, (although that was largely wishful thinking because, even though he'd only been taking notes for a few minutes, he was already back hoping that she might interrupt him for some conversation,) and he gladly looked up.

“How are you coming along on your notes?”

It was a bit of a weak attempt at conversation, but he really didn't mind. Any sort of interruption was wholly welcomed. He smiled, tapping the page of the book with the back end of his pen to show how far he'd gotten. "Good, I guess. I'm about here." He frowned lightly at the awkward moment of silence that followed, having nothing to add to the conversation. He assumed she was done with the page and went back to his chicken-scratch copying, trying to catch up. (Nevermind that the notes probably wouldn't be very legible when he got back to them.)

She spoke up again and he abandoned his notes with the same touch of eagerness. When he saw the grin on Nef's face, Jack had to grin back. He recognized that glint of mischief in her eyes and seeing that look on someone's face always made him a little bit giddy. He was definitely surprised to see such a look on her face; after all, this was a girl he'd assumed was a total by-the-book, follow-the-rules nerd. Not that there was anything wrong with that, to each his own and whatnot, just that he'd never expected her to have a... playful sort of side.

It was kind of cute, that her version of mischief involved a sort of study aid. Jack made a mental note to see if she'd be up for some proper fun later on. For now, he discreetly pulled his wand from his bag, making sure Nef saw he was getting it out. He gave it a little waggle.

"Since you're obviously going to be faster than me, how about they'll turn a color when you're done and vanish when I am? We can get the pages to turn on their own, too, of course," Jack offered in a hushed voice to match Nef's whisper, still grinning.

[Neferure Emerson]

Nef wasn’t surprised at the success of her attempt to involve Jack in her scheme. He was clearly still easily distracted. No matter, they had to place the charms quickly and quietly, before the librarian noticed. He wasn’t a man fond of having wands out, as he believed that something would go wrong and his books might be destroyed or whatnot.

"Since you're obviously going to be faster than me, how about they'll turn a color when you're done and vanish when I am?

Nef nodded. She was quite fast at taking notes and is the were set to vanish when she was done, Jack would be out of luck.

We can get the pages to turn on their own, too, of course,"

Oh. Nef hadn’t thought about that. She pretended to contemplate it for a moment and then nodded again. “Just make sure you set it to your pace.”

She glanced around the library, making sure no one had entered unnoticed and turned her head just enough so that she could make out the librarian at the edge of her vision. She gulped. He was staring straight at them. Normally. He left Nef alone. No doubt the librarian was worried about Jack. Either Jack had done something he shouldn’t have here, or the librarian was watching the newcomer like a hawk.

Tearing a bit of paper out of her notebook, she scrawled a quick message in her loose writing. He’s watching us. She pushed it over slightly so Jack could read it better and almost started laughing aloud. It read like a note about a stalker in a scary movie.

“You know the various spells, right?” she asked quietly, scooting her chair in at the same time to mask the question. She was now shoulder to shoulder with Jack, in an attempt to block the librarians view. If they were caught messing up a book, well… she didn’t really want to think about it. Her reputation would be ruined, of course. People might start believing her to be a deviant child! Oh, the horror. She exhaled loudly as Jack muttered the first spell.

[Jackson Turner]

Nef nodded along with Jack's proposal, and he called up the proper spells in his mind, sorting through his knowledge of Charms to try and pick out the ones that would best serve his purpose. He'd just decided on which ones to use when she slid a bit of paper into his line of sight. He smiled, looking up from the note at her, a bit impressed. Someone less crafty would have just delivered the message aloud or been more obvious about the whole thing, but Nef proved she was smarter than that. Jack really hadn't ever pictured her as the sneaky type and while this wasn't exactly a jewel heist, he was still liking this side of her.

He wasn't surprised, of course, that the librarian was watching. His reputation amongst the teachers would have been enough to warrant the librarian keeping a close eye on him, but there was a reason that was more obvious to Jack. In his second year at NESM, Jackson had thought it would be great to make the text vanish from all of the books in the library. Unfortunately, he'd botched the charm and instead, all of the books had vanished themselves. The librarian had caught Jack in the act and word of the prank had never really spread, but since then, Jackson had sort of avoided the library. Well... he'd been avoiding it, anyway, but after the chewing out he'd gotten from the librarian, he'd kept all of his pranks far away from the books. In any case, he was prepared for the authority figure to be paying special attention to him. It was something he was rather used to in general, and it hardly ever put a damper on his mischief.

“You know the various spells, right?”

Jackson nodded with a little grin. "I may not be one for studying in general, but I've kept up on my Charms, at least." It was the one subject he never slacked in, minus a written assignment or two. Charms not only came easiest to him, but it was the most interesting and enjoyable, in his opinion. It was easy for him to see the practicality of the course, even if it was in relation to his pranks.

It was time to cast the spells, then, and Jack made sure his wand was well concealed under the table. He murmured the incantations quietly as he could, barely tapping the tip of his wand on the underside of the table beneath the book. The words on the facing pages all turned a sepia color, indicative that Nef had finished reading them. The next spell saw the words vanish, down to the last two paragraphs on the second page. To test the last one, the one that would turn the pages, Jackson finished reading them.

As he read the last word, the page turned with such vigor that it ripped straight out of the book and flew down to the end of the table. Jackson's eyes widened and he even blushed, surprised and ashamed of his failed spell. He winced and gave Nef an apologetic look, busying himself with repairing the book. He stood to retrieve the ripped page and set about mending it with his wand, not wanting to look to see if the librarian had noticed the accident.

[Neferure Emerson]

"I may not be one for studying in general, but I've kept up on my Charms, at least."

Oh really? “I'll believe you in a second.”

She was joking – she did believe him. Sort of. Just because someone didn't study really hard all the time didn't mean there wasn't something there were luckily good at. Key word was lucky.

Trying not to smile as he began was rather difficult. Nef didn't always go around doing this sort of thing, so it was rather exciting. She ruffled her notebook in another attempt to mask their actions and crossed and uncrossed her legs, as if she was trying to get comfortable. Distracting and normal enough that the librarian shouldn't suspect anything. The words first turned a sort of brown red color that reminded her of bugs; Jack kept spelling and then entire chunks of words disappeared as if an invisible person was erasing them. Impressive, he really did know what he was doing. So now it was time for the last spell. She waited, expecting the page to turn itself smoothly. She envisioned it for a second. Then they could put the book back on the shelf just like this and laugh manically as other students tried to use it. The librarian would probably test the book for spells and realize what had happened.

Her heart caught in her chest suddenly. It was going to be so obvious that they had messed up the book. Especially if the next person to use the book came in tomorrow or something. She bit her lip and decided on something radically different from her usual course of action. For like, the first time in her life. Maybe she would get caught, maybe she wouldn't. Her track record was perfect, so it wasn't like she could get in a lot of trouble for something like this anyways. Within a matter of seconds, the time it had taken Jack to finish the last spell, she had basically reasoned that it was ok to get in trouble. Clearly, Jack was rubbing off on her, and she'd been around him for what? 15 minutes? Ok, that was off topi-

The page started to turn and then tore and was suddenly free of the book, landing at the end of the table. Nef could not keep herself from gasping. Jack looked at her with a rather sorry face and got up to snatch the paper. Her eyes wide with shock, Nef could only watch as he picked up the now free sheet of paper and started trying to put it back in. Her heart pounding, (she never really got in any trouble, so this was a bit much) she glanced back at the librarian.

He had gotten up from his chair and was staring at them. Nef didn't know if it was contempt or anger etched on his face, but she was now scared. What was going to happened to them?! They would probably be put in detention, their teachers might be told, and if word got out about it... Nef was going to have to face the general conclusion that she was a hypocrite. Which wasn't true, of course. Just because she didn't endorse this kind of behavior publicly didn't mean she wasn't... occasionally grazing it. Yes, that was the way to put it. Nibbling on the edges of disaster. And now disaster had clearly stuck. This had been a bad idea. She shook away the oncoming rush of why this had been a terrible idea and instead steeled herself to face the librarian. What was the world coming to, when the best of the students were behaving like hooligans? The poor librarian.

She glanced back at Jack who was actually doing a decent job of fixing the book and turned herself so that she was facing the librarian. It had been her fault after all. She supposed she ought to do the talking because she was supposed to be adept at it. Stupid idea. In the library? Really.