I7DT: A quarry

[Sean Hall]

The next one was not so bad, but whoever organized these pictures needed a lesson that organizing them in a way that made sense might help.

It was a Sean even younger than the previous one though not by much. It was the fist time he'd used magic albeit inadvertently. He was lost in the dark and create a wisp of light so he could find his way, suddenly there were dozens of small flying lights moving at random.

The young Sean was giggling quite a bit at the amazing thing he was doing.

[Altamira Vazquez]

And Mira smiled, and decided to check one more before moving on...

[Sean Hall]

This one was the memory of the first time they'd met. It had apparently rated a position in the hall, which may or may not have been surprising.

[Altamira Vazquez]

Mira smiled. "Fair enough, Sean."

"So, the library was next?"

[Sean Hall]

"The library is down this way," Mira's copy said leading her through the hallway towards a rather unimpressive set of wooden doors. But when the doors swung open she witnessed something that was rather incredible. The library itself was massive, rows upon rows of books. Small spirits of air could be seen flying around while a giant dragons skeleton was suspended from the ceiling.

"One day perhaps it will be finished," Mira's copy said, "Here is where you can find Sean's knowledge, whether mundane or magical. You can also find histories, biographies, opinions, all sorts of things really."

Mira would see what her copy was talking about when mentioning it being incomplete there was scaffolding on the walls, and boxes of unshelved/unsorted books.

[Altamira Vazquez]

"Wow..." she whistled.

"Is there, like, a catalog?"

[Sean Hall]

"There is a card catalog," Mira's copy said pointing towards a series of wooden file cabinets, "Please feel free, otherwise you can ask one of the air spirits for help. They are typically happy to help."

[Altamira Vazquez]

"Thank you!" she said, and decided, why not, to look her own name up.

[Sean Hall]

She would see that there was a book with her name as the title. It was apparently in a section called "People, places, and things" and then in a sub-section "Important people" and then under the sub-sub-section "Romantic Partners". Whoever, had designed this library had not used a traditional organizational method.

The sub-sub-section when she found it had only one book in it. It was a large leather tome with The Ever Burning Flame: Altamira printed on the side in gold leaf. The cover had half a spanish flag and half a stylized phoenix.

[Altamira Vazquez]

She smirked a little, and opened it up.

[Sean Hall]

The book it appeared wasn't completely filled with information as of yet. The first page was a copy of the poem Sean had written on his first origami invitation he'd sent to her. The table of contents certainly gave a clue as to the contents.

I. Introduction
A. General information
B. Past as we know it
II.Favorites
A. Foods
B. Activities
C. Color
D. Media
III. Relationship
A. History

The introduction had a pencil drawing of Altamira, and as the contents outline had stated it was an introduction to Altamira or at least as Sean knew her. Strong, Passionate about others, Caring, Generous, and many more attributes were given to her.

In favorites the sketches were of Altamira doing the various activities or the colors in question.

Each section had several pages left over for more information to be added, which further added to the idea that this book was still a work in progress. The relationship bit was a bit more amusing it talked about Sean's initial shock at meeting somebody at random in the XUB who then invited him to a soccer game. How he felt he'd almost completely botched things at the soccer game by getting in an argument with her. Then the paragraphs seemed to grow in affection towards Altamira. It was a very gradual progression for the words.

[Altamira Vazquez]

Altamira just smiled at the book, holding it close to her chest.

Then...she got a little sneaky, and started to look to see what other books might be there---what other books Sean might not want to blab about, that is.

[Sean Hall]

There was a sub-sub section called "Failed Romantic Endeavors" an entire section called "Embarrassments, accidents, and Mistakes" there was also a fairly substantial section simply called "Magic".

[Altamira Vazquez]

Altamira decided the former was none of her business. That was for Sean to decide.

The third was Sean's secret; she had no right there.

That left...door #2.

[Sean Hall]

"Embarrassments, Accidents, and Mistakes" had shelves filled with books that looked a bit worse for wear. It also contained a sub-section each for Embarrassments, Accidents and Mistakes.

Accidents was fairly obvious there were books about falls, spills, trips, and all manner of accidental damages. Embarrassments was similar, but was broken down by location (school, work, camping, social) and then organized by age. Mistakes was a strange section with no real organization to it at all.

[Altamira Vazquez]

With no organization, and no REAL plan, Mira pulled a couple randomly offthe shelf.

[Sean Hall]

She'd pulled a book out called outdoors accidents with a cover that featured a rather straight forward image. The book had a few animated images inside of various pitfalls Sean had experience over the years including anatomical pictures detailing the damage that had been taken. It was honestly a bit gruesome all things told, and it showed that despite his magic Sean managed to injure himself with some frequency. Though it seemed his magic had kept him from getting killed multiple times, and healing wounds quicker than was normal.

The second was a book about some more embarrassing occurrences during elementary
school. It was all fairly standard fare for elementary school stories (pants tearing, getting sick, etc).

The third was a bit more interesting.It was a book of magical mistakes. It included diagrams of runes that shouldn't be combined, the why, and how Sean had learned that. It included among many stories one about a magic channeling mistake that had burned all the hair off Sean's face and head.

[Altamira Vazquez]

The first one was gross, and Mira put it down quickly.

The second was childish, and uninteresting.

The third, however, was juuuust right, and Mira read through it, giggling.

[Sean Hall]

The last story involved an attempt at a flying spell, which only served to try and lift the clothes of Sean's back. Apparently a word out of place or a line out of alignment made a fairly large difference.

[Altamira Vazquez]

"Well, I suppose I should be going..." Mira mused.

[Sean Hall]

Her copy stepped up behind her as an air elemental flew to the books and began to lift them up to reshelve them.

"Did you find the answers you were looking for?" Her copy asked with a smile.

[Altamira Vazquez]

"I found answers, yes. And more questions, but is that not how it always goes"?

[Sean Hall]

"It would hardly be a world worth living in otherwise," her copy said.

"You know the way out," Sean's copy said.

"Don't mind him, we can walk you out," Mira's copy said giving Sean's copy a reproving look.

[Altamira Vazquez]

"What's with him?" 'Mira whispered.

[Sean Hall]

"He's not...very flexible," Mira's copy said, "The idea of letting people in to all these places comes from the highest level, and it just hasn't sunk into his thick skull yet."

[Altamira Vazquez]

"Ah, I see.


Well...I'd best be off."

[Sean Hall]

"Farewell Altamira," her copy said then with a slight smirk, "Take care of Sean for us, you saw how clumsy he can be."

[Altamira Vazquez]

"Yeah..." Mira said, clearing her head..and thus, Sean's as well.

[Sean Hall]

Sean's eyes opened and rubbed his temple.

"That certainly felt a bit...odd," Sean said, "So did you get the answers you were looking for?"

[Altamira Vazquez]

Mira was quiet for a moment.

"Yes. Yes, I think I did..."

[Sean Hall]

"Were they the answers you wanted?" Sean asked with maybe a little trepidation after all she'd just looked into the deepest recesses of his mind.

[Altamira Vazquez]

"Yes," she said, quietly.

[Sean Hall]

Sean put his arm back around Altamira.

"That's good isn't it?" Sean asked with a big smile.

[Altamira Vazquez]

Altamira forced a smile.

"Yes! Yes it is..."

[Sean Hall]

Sean beamed at Altamira she could probably feel how happy he was it was almost a physical thing.

"That's good, that's good," Sean said, "See some people can see past the powerful cosmic entity at the girl beneath."

[Altamira Vazquez]

"Yeah," she smiled, leaning up against him.

[Sean Hall]

"Yeah," Sean said holding Altamira close.

((Fade to D'awwww))