Opening Day [OPEN]

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Opening Day

He swept his hand across the circulation desk and smiled at the trail he left as the dust clung to his hand. He peered at the gray fighting to keep its grasp on him but slowly falling back down to where once it had been. He grabbed the rag he had taken on his way to the front and wiped it across the desk as well. It only worked just as well as his hand. It amazed him how a hand could do just as much as other things that were simply a convenience rather than a necessity. He picked up the spray bottle from behind him and gave it a few squeezes until the entire desk glistened. He moved the rag across the counter once again and watched as that one part of the desk shone with life. He swiped his hand across again and again until the whole thing was busting with life as once it had before.

This was his favorite part of opening day. He loved to feel the library's soul come back from its momentary grave. When he had first arrived, a team of people had come to clean it as they always had for years before. The next year, he had arrived before them, and had started the cleaning process ahead of time. By the time they had come, Xander saw no reason for anyone else to do what he felt was his job, so he sent them on their way to prepare another place for the opening of camp. From that day forward, he opened the library on his own.

He spent another two hours cleaning the entire library. He wiped down tables and chairs, windows and doors, book shelves and displays. He turned the computers on and set everything up. He ran a quick run over the shelves to make sure each book was in its place. When he finished, he walked to the front doors, clicked them open, and turned about ready for the summer.


WORDS: 334
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OUTFIT: None as of yet
LISTENING TO: I'm Under Your Spell

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This was her break from it all. Most people went on a real vacation when they went on vacation, but not Claire. Spending summer in a library in the middle of some camp was her vacation. And really, it was perfect. There was no business to worry about, no people to please but the few who walked into the library. There was no hustle and bustle of city. It was calm, somehow. So maybe it wasn’t a real vacation to some fancy destination, but it was different and different was all she wanted.
Claire walked up to the familiar building and reached to open the front door. She knew it would open, knew it would be unlocked before she got there, because it always was. She was greeted by the sharp, yet oddly comforting smell of cleaning products still lingering in the air. Why it was comforting, she couldn’t quite place her finger on, but it made her smile.
“Honey, I’m home!” she called out with a laugh on a strange little whim. It was loud enough to let anyone who happened to be there know that one more person had now entered the library. It might have been a little bit silly, but that was certainly better than startling someone who wasn’t expecting her.
She stood in the middle of the entrance for what was probably an unusually long amount of time, just taking all in. She had called it home after all. It seemed like everything was in order, clean, shiny and new, even if there wasn’t much that was really all that new. With a little shake of her head, she spoke again. “Did you leave anything for me to do in here?”

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Xander poked his head out from around one aisle relatively close to the entrance. He had a smile before he looked to see who had come. Not a whole lot of people came into the library in the first place, but he knew her voice and her presence. It always felt the same each year. He liked routine.
"Now why would I leave you to do something like that?" He asked as he stepped out from the safety of the books. "You know full well that I have never once left you to do any of the dirty work of cleaning before. Why would I just up and change now?" He moved forward now working his way to her. No one had conversations when they were that far away from each other. If they did, then there was no connection in the conversations. Those kinds of conversations were no fun at all.
"And since when was this your home? Is it anyone's home?" Xander looked around suddenly distracted by his own strange thoughts. Maybe there were little creatures living in his library. It had been quite a while since anyone had been here. Rodents could have come in and made a little home. That was somewhat disconcerting. No one wanted little rodents living in his or her library. That was kind of disgusting. And strangely comforting in a way he did not want to admit.

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Claire’s smile grew wider at the sight of the not so random head the popped out from behind one of the nearby shelves. It was the sort of smile that few others, if any, were able to draw such a smile out of her. She stepped further into the building and closer to Xander so she could converse with all of him up close instead of the floating head that greeted her.
She shrugged at the question. Of course she knew he wouldn’t leave any of the mess in the library there for that long. Perhaps she should start showing up sooner to get there before he had all that fun on his own. But then again, he seemed to enjoy it an awful lot. There was no need to interrupt his annual cathartic cleaning. “I can always hope, can’t I?”
She hadn’t called it home on purpose, but normally she would have made a conscious effort not to say it. Was the library home? She was comfortable there and she enjoyed the time she spends there. Maybe it was a sort of home for her. But that was a little too much thinking at the moment. Claire could spend time thinking of home later. She shook her head to bring herself back to the question that Xander had asked, happy to see she wasn’t the only one distracted by the question. “Well, I’m going to be spending an awful lot of time in here, so I might as well make myself comfortable.”

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Xander laughed at her silliness. He doubted that cleaning was something she really wanted to do. It was not something most people liked to do. If she really wanted to do it, he would have known, and there would be changes made. He would not get there so early or clean so fast. Maybe he would make her come earlier just to save hassle for everyone and himself. But he doubted that was truly the issue here. It seemed to mostly just be her being facetious. "You can hope all you want, but it will never happen. You should get new hopes."
He leaned back one the end of one of the many shelves in the library as his mind came back from the possible rodents living in his library. His hands gripped the edges as support. He had always been rather clumsy. You would think he would have learned to be balanced by then, but he never really had. He was constantly tripping over things, falling out of trees because of distracting figures, and missing steps. It was a strange and yet very Xandery thing about him.
Her explanation made sense. Home is generally a place you spend a good deal of time in, and for the next three months, they would definitely be spending some time in this library. "So this is home." He looked around at the stacks and desks and chairs.  He finally looked back at Claire. "What if I don't want to share my home?"

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Claire sighed. It was such a terrible thing to reject all of her hope like that. “Oh, fine. What do you suggest these new hopes of mine be?” Clearly she needed help with this if Xander was just going to go and decide that she needed new hopes.
As Xander reached for support, Claire found herself moving a few steps closer to him, even though there wasn’t even the slightest chance that she would have gotten to him fast enough if he really had been falling.. It was not an uncommon occurrence for him to randomly fall, so maybe it was just force of habit that had her reaching out. She let out a small laugh, both at herself for over reacting and at him for not having any balance at all.
Her eyes wandered around the library for a moment, observing her new home, before her head bobbed a few times in agreement. She had to admit, such a well-dusted library wasn’t a bad place to call home for a while.
There was a dramatic change of mood in response to his next question. Claire gasped and put a hand over her mouth as though she was very offended by the suggestion. “You don’t want to share with me? Because if you don’t I can just leave.” She gestured over her shoulder at the door she came in. “I’m sure there are other positions I can fill here if need be.” Of course, there was no other place in the camp that she wanted to work. Luckily, Claire had a feeling he wanted to share this home of his with her.

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Xander shrugged. It was not his job to give the new hopes, he just suggested replacing the bad ones. "That, my hopeful friend, is between you and your God." That was actually funny. He laughed at himself on the inside but only let out a slight smile. Like Claire cared about that kind of thing. He did not even care about that kind of thing, and if anyone did, it would probably be him.
Actually, now that he thought about it, he wondered if he actually believed in a God of some sorts. He had thought about it before of course, but he had never really thought about it. If there was a God, as many told him so, would there be so much pain everywhere? Would people be alone when all they want is companionship? Would people have disease when all they want to health? Would there be deep rooted fights that tortured you to the point of seeking a relationship to be happy again even though you never will? If there was a God, would his mother be dead?
Xander pushed the thought aside not really in the mood to think about it. There were more important things to think about. More important people. Like Claire who made him happy and was not nearly as confusing.
"Hey, laughing is inappropriate." Xander was not sure what she had laughed at but he was sure it was inappropriate. Or mean. Or not thought of. Well, maybe not, but it could happen.
Xander shook his head. Now why would he go and share his home with somebody for no good reason? It was a perfectly good home, and it was his. Not anyone else's. But if he were to share with anyone, it would probably be her. She seemed to be his exception to everything. It just seemed to work that way every time. What made her so special anyway? That was a question he would never be able to answer.
"Nope!" He exclaimed shaking his head. "It is my home. Go get your own home." He crossed his arms over his chest and turned his head up and away from her. He could win this. When she kept talking he gave up. He moved forward and grabbed her arm. "Now don't do that. You can stay with me." He pulled her closer to him. "Besides, where else could of go and not kill the poor children?"

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_{That was just a silly idea, and he knew it. Claire laughed and rolled her eyes at the suggestion. It was the sort of laugh that was more of a forceful exhale than an actual noise. “My God vanished a long time ago, so I guess I’ll just have to be hopeless for the rest of forever.” What would have been a very unpleasant statement normally was made better by the tone with which Claire spoke. It implied a smile, so even though she meant the words she spoke, they lost the edge they would have had if spoken differently. Years of experience with her parents had turned what most probably considered a very serious topic into more of a joke for Claire. Prayer did held no value to her. Being pious did her no good. If there was an afterlife, and she often stressed the’ if’ in that statement, she had formed the opinion long ago that admittance ought to be determined by character and not by which god you happened to believe in. Claire lived according to her own set of morals, and God had little, if anything, to do with them. So who did that leave for her to share her hopes with? There were so few people she trusted, so few that she could count them on one hand. Better yet, she could count them with a single finger. She had no God, but she did have her Xander, and that made her smile more than most anything else could. Unfortunately, her Xander was being absolutely no help with these hopes.
Claire laughed again because Xander was being silly and she wanted to be a terrible person for laughing when it wasn’t appropriate. “What’s so very inappropriate about laughing? Have I broken that dreadful No Fun In The Library rule?” That would be a terrible rule. Whispering was one thing, but no fun probably crossed some sort of line somewhere.
As soon as he said so, Claire started pouting. It was the terribly sad, kicked puppy sort of pout that Xander had used on her so many times, though she didn’t do it nearly as well. She was just about to turn and walk away when he changed his mind. “That’s what I thought you’d say,” she said quietly. Of course he would never let her leave. Since he decided to close a bit of the gap between them, Claire decided to steal a quick hug, a ‘thank you’ for letting her stay, before she stepped back again. Her eyes went to the ground as though she was guilty of something. “Uhh… nowhere?”}

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Xander shrugged. He was aware of the utter absurdness of his suggestion, but he still had felt the need to say something. Not just any something, but something silly. He was an expert in silly. It had been something he had picked up from his mother when he was younger. She had been a silly woman at heart even if she had tried to change. He had seen it in her despite how she tried to just be a mother. He shrugged. “I know it did. He did? She did? Whatever. You don’t need a God. It can be between you and your… something else.” Xander looked around searching for something else that could help her with hopes. What did he have? He was sure he had some hopes, he just was not sure what they were. That was why he had people like Claire and his brother. They kept him afloat. But he doubted he would ever be much help and he was absolutely sure that Lyndon was absolutely no help whatsoever. Lyndon was never help to anyone for anything unless it was something utterly ridiculous and annoying. Annoying was his brother’s specialty.
Xander rolled his eyes. Why was she always so mean to him? He really needed to find real friends who would not be so mean. He crossed his arms over his chest and decided it was time for a nice pout. He nodded at her question. Yes, absolutely that was totally a rule and she was completely breaking it. He was against fun now and she was having it. No fun allowed. Fun was absolutely not allowed in any way. Libraries were for seriousness. He laughed at himself in his head. Like he could manage to be only serious. That was funny.
He liked hugs. There should be more hugs. They made him feel all self worthy and stuff. Of course, there were real words he could use in that thought, but he was too distracted to really think about words. Words were less important than hugs and the lack of pouting. If he was not the one pouting, it just did not need to happen. He hated pouts. They made him feel like he had done something terribly wrong, and that was not a good feeling at all. He could live without those. He nodded as she told the truth. Claire was not suitable for other places. “And that is why you will stay here with me.” Xander grabbed her hand and held it in both of his. “I will keep you safe from all the little children.”

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^{Of course he knew that. Xander probably knew more about her than anyone else did, so it was no surprise at all that he was familiar with her lack of a God. That was only the beginning of what was probably a very long list of things he knew. “My something else? Do you have any ideas what, or who, this something else is?” While he looked around, Claire kept her gaze fixed on him. She didn’t need to search. She had Xander. It could be between her and Xander if he decided to stop being difficult and let her share all of her lovely hopes and dreams with him. She didn’t need anyone else then, not that she had anyone else if she did need someone. Claire never really had people and she never really needed them; that was just how she went about her life. There was never an excess of people. For some reason though, Xander broke all of the walls and all of rules. In all her life he was the only one. How the heck did he manage to do that?
He was not allowed to pout at her. It was terribly mean and very upsetting and Xander was not allowed to do those things to her head. She didn’t even do anything and she just felt terrible. Claire could not let that go on. She reached out and gently pulled his arms down from the knot he put them in and without intending to, took both of his hands in her own. No pouting allowed. Pouting ruined all that not fun that was going on in the library.
Claire had no idea what she would do if Xander decided to kick her out of the library. It was her home away from home. She doubted she would fit in anywhere else at the camp anyway. At the mention of all those little children, Claire dramatically shuddered. It would just be terrible to have to deal with children at a camp for children. Xander was very nice to save her from that horror. “My hero!” she exclaimed with a look of exaggerated admiration. She considered swooning, but there was only so much she could do without injuring herself, so Xander was just going to have to settle for a subpar damsel in distress}

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Xander shrugged. How was he supposed to know what things should be between. Everything he considered was usually between him and Claire or Lyndon. Lyndon sort of demanded everything from him. He was a very demanding brother. It had not occurred to him before how very demanding his brother was. "That will be up to you." He could not go about deciding things for her. Except that when he did that sometimes. They had a complicated relationship really. It was like they could be one way, but they really weren't because of this aspect or that one. They seemed somewhat all over the place sometimes. He remembered letting Lyndon attempt to explain them once. It did not work in the least. He would try something and would find something to contradict it. It was more like when Xander was with Claire, he found an exception. Though he liked many people, he never was quite himself with anyone. Except Claire. Always except her. She was special. And needed to find something to confide in before he had to make it up.
Xander sighed dramatically. She was always foiling his pouting and terrible moods. What was her problem anyway? Why could he not just pout in peace? Well, pouting was only so much fun. Eventually, there were other things that were appealing to him. Like when she took his hands in her own. She cheated but that was okay. He really did not mind this time, but he could not let her know that. He rolled his eyes and made a sound of annoyance.
Xander put his hands on his hips and looked off into the distance as all superheroes do. One day, he would learn what they were looking at. If he was going to be a sufficient superhero, he needed to know everything about them. He then turned his head to face her giving his best superhero expression where he shoved one eyebrow down, the other up, and had a not smirk thing on his lips. It was one of his favorite faces to make. "Super Xander is her to rescue you," he said in a lower and more manly voice. All superheroes had super manly voices.

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_{Claire swung her arms a little before catching one hand with the other behind her back. She rocked back and forth on her heels, trying her very best to look like a good little girl. She’d learned from several very reliable sources that being a good girl was a great way to get what she wanted. If she was going to use that lovely little method on anyone, it was going to be Xander, mostly because she never asked for anything from anyone else. Claire had never liked requesting help from other people, but with Xander it was different. She knew that he wouldn’t think any different of her for needing help, or someone to share whatever it was she was supposed to be sharing with her nonexistent God. Before asking her question, Claire looked at Xander with just a little pout and batted her eyes at him. If she was going to ask him something that he’d already sort of said no to, she was going to make it very hard to say no again. “Can my something else be you?” she asked in the sweetest voice she could manage. Of course, she was sure Xander could see through her act, most people probably could, but it was awfully fun pretending for just a little while.
She shook her head and tried very hard to keep herself from smiling. This was a very serious moment; Xander was being terribly mean and difficult, pouting at her like that. He should stop that. If she wasn’t allowed to pout, he wasn’t allowed to pout either. “Oh, don’t you pretend to be all unhappy with me,” she playfully scolded him. “We both know you’re not.” Had he ever been really unhappy with her? Claire couldn’t remember a time when he’d been genuinely angry with her. She knew that she could never get angry at him, even if she tried though she couldn’t imagine wanting to, so it was very hard to think of him being able to either.
Claire smiled at Xander. He was a very silly Super Xander. “What would I do without you?” she asked, her own voice quite a bit higher than it normally was. Unfortunately, Xander was much better at being Super Xander than she was at being Damsel Claire. Claire was obviously not cut out for the damsel way of life, but she was going to try for Super Xander.}