[Krista comes walking down the hall to Luke's office!  It's near all of the 
other English offices.  The door's closed, but she's been here long enough to 
know that offices are shared and typically unlocked.]
[Session Start.]
* Krista walks down the hall! She's looking nervous, which is no surprise, 
because here there be Hall Trolls (Gwar.) She has her backpack on and is looking 
over the nameplates... hopefully his office is marked!
[The office is a large room.  There are three desks and a book case for each 
one, as well as a few plastic chairs in front of the desks.  They're 
partitioned, though it's really easy to see if anyone else is there.  Nobody is, 
though.  Given this is still a passing period, that's not too surprising.]
[The desk closest to the door (must be 'cause he's new) has L. Mendel on the 
little nameplate.]
* Krista lets out a huge sighing breath when she sees nobody around... and then 
looks even more nervous as she goes over to his desk and looks around. Just with 
the looking, though! Like for books of the kind he dropped last week.
[The desk itself, outside of the nameplate, is still empty.  So are the shelves, 
save the cardboard boxes on them.  They might have books!]
* Krista murmurs, "God help me," before she bites her lip and looks into the 
boxes for books.
<Krista> (The best way to contribute to her delinquency is to have Vampyr right 
on top!)
<Ardweden> (You gonna have some confessing to do, girl.)
<Krista> (I've already got three things on my list.)
[Krista opens the first box!  It's a pretty big box.  On top is a plain, very 
worn, leather-bound book.  No title.]
* Krista pulls it out and ignores it! She doesn't have much time. At least it 
doesn't have a title. Makes it easy to ignore.
[A very cheaply bound book - or essay, or something - with a sticker label that 
says, "William The Bloody: A Doctoral Thesis".]
* Krista makes a face and goes, "Ew," before putting it aside.
* Krista adds, to herself, "He's certainly interested in macabre history..."
[Another one!  This one looks pretty ordinary and glossy, the sort that could be 
on anyone's shelf.  Honest.  "How To Make Friends and Influence People."]
<Krista> (Ha.)
* Krista puts it aside too and looks back to see if anyone's looking at her 
before looking back, murmuring, "Where is that book..."
[Under that's an old, cloth-bound book.  There's silver etching on the front 
that says, "ASm*tIS'TxC vt Grt%vcA."]
<RDMgryphon> (Somebody eteched a persentage sign on there?)
<Ardweden> (Yes.)
<Luke> (Well, you know, to the eye of someone who doesn't speak Tmw#tCw, it 
might look like an English percentage sign.)
* Krista blinks at the book for a second, then pulls it out and opens it to peek 
at something in the middle.
<Krista> (Roll San!)
[It's all in tiny print and totally, wholly incomprehensible.  Whoever it is 
doesn't seem to know about paragraph breaks.  Or punctuation.]
<RDMgryphon> (It was written by a Dadaist!)
* Krista makes a face and looks back nervously again, putting down the book and 
looking for another one.
[The next one's a really big, leather-bound thing.  "VAMPYR" is on the front.]
[The bell rings, signifying the beginning of fifth period.]
* Luke steps into the office.  He looks over to his area and sees... Krista.
* Krista blinks, finally finding the one she was looking for and glancing back 
again and... she goes pale white with wide eyes at seeing Luke.
<Krista> (FREEZE. ._.)
<Luke> "Good afternoon, Krista.  Not hungry today?"
* Krista 's mouth works and fails to... say anything coherent. "Ab... mrrr... 
ah..."
* Luke places his briefcase down on his desk.  "When I agreed to teach English 
here, I had hoped that the students would at least be beyond random vowel 
sounds."
* Krista stops trying to talk for a second and then gets out a weak, "I--I can 
talk, Mister Mendel."
<Luke> "I had my suspicions that you might be able to.  Now, what can I do for 
you, Krista?"
* Krista replies, "I... uh... um... you... didn't figure out anything about the 
fire, did you?"
<Luke> "Just what I told you before."  Luke circles his desk, since Krista's 
standing behind it, and leans back against it, idly sliding one hand back over 
the handle of the briefcase he'd deposited on the desk.
[Luke sees all the books on his desk!  Krista was putting them there as she 
looked through the box.]
* Krista nods. "R-right. Of course." Then she stands there, still caught red-
handed digging through his box o'books.
<Luke> "I bet you didn't even *try* Stephen King."  Luke grins.
* Krista blinks and says, "I--I don't really like him."
* Luke looks at what she's taken out.  "Seen anything that interests you?"
* Krista pauses and is quiet, her eyes flicking both to the doctoral and to the 
just found Vampyr before she gets out, "You don't really lo--look like you have 
trouble making friends."
<Luke> "Thank you."  Luke glances at the book.  "Oh, that?  A friend gave it to 
me, actually.  Sort of an inside joke."
* Krista laughs weakly, still nervous.
<Luke> "You can borrow it, if you like."
* Krista shakes her head. "No, that's okay." She looks towards the exit (and 
freedom) and then back to Luke. Why hasn't she taken her hand out of the box?
<Luke> "Was there something else I could do for you?"  Luke slides back a bit to 
actually sit on the desk.
* Krista just shakes her head, 'no'. She can't think up lies! That's crazy talk.
* Luke waits, watching her not say anything.  After a few second he says, "Okay, 
but in that case, do you really want to spent an entire period watching me sit 
at my desk?"  Luke grins.  "Do you at least want to talk about something?"
* Krista shakes her head and says, after a second, "I only have a half period to 
watch you sit at your desk." She looks to the doctoral again and then back to 
Luke.
<Luke> "I don't think you'd like that one.  It's rather dry.  And yet somehow 
oddly fangirlish."
* Krista blinks and says, "What?"
<Luke> "I was just commenting on the writing style.  That's my job, after all."
<Krista> O-oh.
* Krista pauses again before saying, "You... have a lot of strange books."
<Luke> "Oh, this is only a few of the ones I used to have," Luke says with a 
grin.  "You should have seen my collection back when I was a W- when I worked at 
my old job."
* Krista nods a little. "I--I wonder why you need all these books--I mean I've 
never heard of them and they won't be in any classes..."
<Luke> "Reading's fun, Krista.  And I'm not just saying that because I'm 
actually paid to say things like that."
* Krista nods. "Y-yes, it is."
<Luke> "Also, this was a bestseller," Luke says, pointing at "How To Make 
Friends and Influence People".  "You've really never heard of it?"
* Krista blinks and then blushes slightly, shaking her head. "No, not that one. 
I've heard of that one."
* Luke nods.  "Rare books are often more interesting, I find."
* Krista says uncertainly, "I d--don't find many rare books." She licks her lips 
briefly and then pushes up her glasses. "I guess these are all rare?" she 
comments.
<Luke> "Mostly.  There are a few exceptions."  Luke leans back a bit.  "There 
are a lot of rare bookstores in Chicago, you know."
* Krista shakes her head and says, "I wouldn't know... I'm busy. With singing. 
And church."
<Luke> "That's a lot of singing and church, if it doesn't leave you time to 
read.  You must get awfully hoarse.  No wonder you were having trouble speaking 
coherently earlier."
* Krista says a little defensively, "I-I read. I just don't go to rare 
bookstores." She looks at the really weird cloth-bound book.
<Krista> ('Especially if they have evil books like that! Hiss!')
<Luke> (Percentage signs aren't evil!  They're CN.)
<Luke> "You should.  You might find something to interest you.  Perhaps an old 
religious text, even."
* Luke walks over to stand next to Krista.  "May I?"  He glances down at his box 
of books.
* Krista blinks, then withdraws her hand from the box like it was burning her. 
"Oh, I'm sorry, I--" she takes a large unwary step back, probably bumping into 
something.
* Luke rummages in his box.  He pulls out a hardcover in a dust jacket, looking 
to be from the mid Twentieth Century.  The cover illustration is of a rural 
scene.  The title is "A History of Europe, 1100-1250".  "Are you interested in 
history?"
* Krista nods. "I'm in AP US..."
[There's a tentative little knock on the door!  Knock knock.]
<Luke> "Come in!" Luke calls.
* Krista does one of those little nervous jumps at the knock and then pushes up 
her glasses again.
[The door opens a little and Tabby pokes her head in, clutching a stack of books 
to her chest, as usual.  Her eyes go a little wide upon seeing not only Luke, 
but Krista there.  "I can come back later," she says hurriedly.]
<Luke> "Did you need to speak with me?"
* Krista smiles a little. Aww. It's Tabby. We love Tabby.
["Not right now, I mean, it's not that urgent if you're already talking to 
Krista."]
<Ardweden> (Deliberate comma splicing.  I'm so bad.)
* Luke looks over at Krista.
<RDMgryphon> (<Luke> 'You used improper English! You will die now!')
["It's probably for class anyway," Tabitha babbles.  "I can come by after 
school, okay?  Is that okay?"]
<Luke> "Krista?"
* Krista shakes her head and then looks over to Luke, then back to Tabby, before 
saying, "No, no, we were just talking. About books. It's not--come in, and I'll 
just..."
<Luke> "Tabby, did you need to speak with me in private or can Krista stay?"
["That's... I don't... what kind of books?"  Something Tabitha knows!  She 
pushes the door a little more open and does enter the room.]
* Krista freezes. Well, now she's in trouble..
<Luke> "Just some old books on history and folklore."
* Luke flashes a grin at Tabby.
* Krista nods a little. Yes! Old books. Those are safe.
[Tabby smiles shyly back (braces!) and approaches the desk so she's standing 
near Krista.  She looks down (over her own textbooks) at the books on the desk, 
processing what titles she can see.  She looks curious and opens her mouth a few 
times before saying anything.  Then she does: "My father tried to get me to read 
the Making Friends one."]
<Luke> "What did you think of it?"
[Tabby doesn't look up from the books.  "I didn't read it," she says, sounding 
almost ashamed.  "Which is stupid, I know.  I should've read it."]
* Krista reaches over and rests her hand on Tabby's comfortingly if she can. 
"It's okay, really... I've never read it either."
[Tabby's hands are full of books!]
[They look pretty heavy, but she's not putting them anywhere.]
<Luke> "It's actually not very good."
["Oh."  She sounds relieved.  "Can I tell him that?"]
<Luke> "Sure.  I can recommend some better ones, if you want."
["Okay."  Pause.  "What're those other books?"  OH NO SHE ASKED IT.]
<Krista> (You seem to be an accomplished liar!)
<Krista> (Unlike Krista. ;_;)
<Luke> "Persuasive Salesmanship by Daniel Bardot is a good start.  So is The Art 
of Networking by Maxine Yeltsin."
<Luke> "That's on that topic, of course."
[Tabitha starts.  "Oh!  Uh... I mean... thanks," she says lamely.  "But-"]
<Luke> "But?"
["I wanted to know about the other books on the desk."]
* Krista opens her mouth as if to say something and Tabby beats her to it, so 
she just nods.
<Luke> "Okay."  Luke looks over at the desk.  "This one's not in English, 
obviously."
[Tabby nods.]
<Luke> "That one's an old doctoral thesis on a British serial killer.  I picked 
it up mostly for the novelty value."
* Krista makes a face. "Novelty?"
<Luke> "The word actually means that something is new or unusual, not 
necessarily humourous."
["Is it good?"]
<Luke> "As I told Krista, not particularly.  The author's got a dry style mixed 
with a somewhat odd enthusiasm for her subject."
<Ardweden> (And then she turned into a vampire, but we don't talk about that.)
[Tabby nods again.]
<Luke> (Possibly not in this continuity.)
* Krista says, "...Oh."
<Luke> "That one," Luke points at the book with no title, "is a collection of 
prophecies from around the world.  It makes for interesting comparisons."
[Tabitha shifts her books in her arms.  She looks at Krista.]
<Luke> "Though perhaps they're only interesting to dull teacher types like me."
* Krista doesn't see Tabby-look, instead waiting a second before saying, 
"Comparisons? What sort of comparisons?"
<Luke> "Well, for example, Ragnarok and the Christian doomsday both revolve 
around great battles between the forces of good and evil."
* Krista opens her mouth and starts to say, "But it's not a battle in that..." 
and then her eyes catch a clock or something and she says, "Class!"
["That's kinda- what?  Oh!  Class!"]
[Tabitha looks freaked, too.  She might miss class!  "Thanks for the talk, Mr. 
Mendel!" she calls as she rushes for the door.]
<Luke> "See you later."
<Luke> "Is Tabby in your class?"
* Krista nods and says, "AP Physics, yes..." she looks between Mr. Mendel and 
the door and says, "I--I'm really sorry about everything and I really have to 
go..."
<Luke> "Okay.  It was nice talking with you."
* Krista nods slightly and takes one step away... two steps... and then turns 
around and shuffles off quickly too.
* Luke stands up and begins packing his books up again.  This time, he puts "How 
To Make Friends and Influence People" on top, before closing the box.
[Session End.]