Clarity Is A State Of Mind

[Neriah Hamilton]

Books. So many books. Romantic books. Crime Books. Non-fiction books. Books after books after books, all lined up and neatly packed away in their respective aisles and yet none of these books were the books that Neriah was looking for. The longer she spent walking back and forth between each section the more in despair she felt. Where were the books on religion? What, was it wrong to have them in the library? Did people not bother to read such things anymore? Neriah looked around, glancing up at the sign ahead. Educational books. "How can you even call this an educational book.." She muttered under her breath, pulling out a book, her eyes narrowing in on the title. "Microsoft word for idiots." She shook her head and stuck the book back in its place. "Excuse me.." She turned around as the corner of her eye caught sight of a woman who looked like she might work here. "I think I'd like to make a formal complaint." She crossed her hands and took a defensive stance.

"I don't entirely understand what kind of institution you run here, but for a library I think it's absolutely appalling that there is not one religious book under the educational books section, and what in the world is Microsoft words for idiots? Where is the serious educational books? The ones that matter the most?" Neriah shook her head. "I thought this was meant to be a library not a bookshelf for tech newbs! Shouldn't they be learning technology in a class or something?!" She let out a shaky breath before her eyes fell upon the Religious books section she had missed entirely. Neriah swallowed hard, glancing nervously back and forth between the woman and the aisle. "I uh.." She ran her fingers through her hair, her tongue sweeping along her newly dried lips. "I guess I didn't see that area of the library.." She let out a cough, straightening herself up just then. "Can I just say, you should really make it a little more obvious. Why should the religious books be all the way at the back? Are we scared it might offend people? The word of God is not offensive." She shook her head, leaving the woman there on her own looking dumbfounded and confused while Neriah went off to find the book she wanted to look for to take out.

[Miranda Williams]

Miranda was spending her afternoon at the library, she had finished off the book she was reading and she was looking for a few more to check out. She wondered the aisles, occasionally stopping to glance at the bookshelves. She stopped when she came to the educational section, seeing if she could find something interesting here to read. She was about to pick up a book off the shelf when a woman started speaking to her. She turned her body to face the woman as she told her she wanted to make a complaint. Miranda took a quick glance around to make she she wasn't talking to someone else. She must have assumed she worked there. Miranda simply stood and listened as the woman continued on, complaining about the set up of the library. 

She was about point out the religious section at the back of the library but before she could the woman seemed to notice to herself. She simply shook her head and chuckled slightly as the woman went off, but not before one last complaint about the set up. Miranda turned to watch for a second as she walked off. She was pretty sure she recognized her. Following her back into the religious section she glanced at the books, looking for something to read. "Neriah, right?" She asked glancing back over at the woman. "If it makes you feel any better, I think they have this section back here because it's the biggest. But I'm not completely sure." She reached out to the book shelf and picked up a book, glancing at the author's name. 

[Neriah Hamilton]

The horrific realisation of how badly set up the library was stayed on Neriah's mind even as she moved on to skim through the books in the Religion aisle. She was struggling to comprehend the reason why any good person would think that sticking one of the most important sections of the library in the back would be a great idea and she really did want to make a formal complaint about it. Not as if anyone would listen to her ramblings anyway, they never did. The last time she complained about the dim lighting on the lamp posts at night she didn't even get a response! Go figure! They would rather save money on electricity than make sure that the citizens of the town had reasonable visibility of the pavement and roads. Hearing her name being called out of nowhere startled her and the book she had in her hand fell in a loud thump on the floor, the corner of the hardback book hitting her foot on the way down. "AHHH!!!" She yelled out, bringing her leg up and holding her foot, trying to soothe away the pain. "Ow it hurts. It hurts. Who are you? Why do you know my..ouch..my name." She turned to face the woman she had been speaking to, the one she had thought worked in the library.

"If you went through all of the trouble to check out the name on my library card then I have to say it's a little bit on the creepy side and I really don't think that you should be abusing your powers at work like that, isn't that illegal or something?" She raised her brow curiously at her, still rubbing at her foot. "No, it doesn't make me feel any better." She pouted. "I'm sorry. I know it's probably not your fault but I just…" She sighed, glancing back at the aisle expectantly. "I just think it's unfair." And maybe also a little on the discriminative side, but she didn't want to start an argument on her opinion any more than she already had. She looked back at the woman once more, finding some of her features to be familiar now that she had actually taken a moment to really examine her though she couldn't put her finger on where she knew her from. "Have we met before? Is that how you know my name?" Neriah set her foot back onto the floor and bent down to pick up the book that had dropped down. "You're not from that ward are you? I've told you guys I'm perfectly sane. I don't know why you struggle to believe me."

[Miranda Williams]

Miranda took a small step back when she realized she scared the woman, causing her to drop the book she had been holding on her foot. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." She put her hand on the woman's shoulder to help her stay study as she stood on one foot. "I'm sorry again, I thought you saw me there." She felt bad for scaring the woman, but that quickly turned into confusion when the woman started asking how she knew her name. "Wait what?" She paused for a moment to think about what the woman had said and shook her head. "No I didn't check your library card. I don't even work here." She shook her head. Now she didn't like to think too much of her self but she figured most people would recognize her as the mayor instead of mistaking her as a librarian. "Is your foot alright?"

"I suppose it is a bit unfair. But at least it's quieter back here." Miranda shrugged, hoping to find some sort of bright side for the woman who was obviously very distraught that the religious books weren't easier to find. "Yes, yes we've met before. I've here when I was a kid, we've spoken a few times before." Miranda figured she would remember that but apparently she was more convinced she was trying to stalk her. Miranda's eyes widened slightly at her question. "The ward? What? No I'm not a doctor, and I'm not a librarian either." She shook her head, a little understanding of why the said people at the ward might not believe she wasn't crazy.

[Neriah Hamilton]

Didn't mean to scare her? Yeah right! That was exactly why you would creep up behind someone and just casually call their name without at least waiting until they had turned around! And it wasn't as if she had called her from afar, she had made her way all the way up to where Neriah was and pretty much called her name just behind her ear, how was she not supposed to be freaked out?! "I'd say! You could have given me a heart attack!" Either that or she could have earned herself with a heavy book on her foot but the world didn't exactly work that way did it? "I'm okay, I'm okay." It was only a flesh wound wasn't it? Nothing too serious. Not unless she suddenly had troubles walking. Neriah shrugged the woman's hand off her shoulder and tested her weight on her foot, pressing it against the ground a few times as if to check whether or not it was truly okay. "I'm fine." She said mostly to herself. "It's okay, I didn't see you there but I did hear you, you just startled me is all." But everything was A Okay now.

"Wait what, why?" She looked back at the woman before her. "You don't work here, well that just makes this even more creepier." She scuffed under her breath. "I mean what are you, secret services or something?" Did those people even exist in the first place? "Foot is fine." And able too, she could walk on it without a problem! She had just checked to make sure after all! "Perhaps, but isn't the library supposed to be quieter in general?" Wasn't there like a rule of no talking in the library? If so they were breaking it right now. Maybe they should head to another area. Neriah stood there for a moment trying to recollect the time when she may have met the woman, only coming to the realisation of who she was when she spoke of meeting when she was a kid. "Oh my! I'm so sorry!" Neriah smiled politely to her. "You're Miranda right!" She let out a soft laugh. "I didn't recognise you, your hair is longer and well.. you have aged since the last time!" Neriah took a few strands of Miranda's hair and twisted it with her fingers. "It really suits you." She nodded. "No, you aren't..You're the mayor. Jeez, how could I not recognise you, your face is plastered on like every poster in town." She looked at her sheepishly. It wasn't as if she paid much attention to those things. "How have you been?"

[Miranda Williams]

Miranda was relieved when Neriah stated she was okay. Not that she thought she wasn't, all she had done was drop a book on her foot. May be painful but it couldn't cause too much damage, however Neriah seemed like the kind of woman that would over dramatize it and complain so she was relieved to hear she was fine. "I really am sorry for scaring you. Next time I will, wave you down first or something." Miranda thought she was pretty casual and shouldn't have scared her but yet she had so maybe next time she would have to wave something in front of her face or something.

"Wait creepier, how is that creepier?" The more this woman spoke the more confused Miranda got. Was it really that odd for Miranda to know her name? So odd that she thought she might be part of the secret services. She simply shook her head at the strange comment. "Well yes I suppose but...never mind." Miranda gave up trying to tell the woman why it might be good for the religious section to be back here, she really had no good reason and it was obviously Neriah wasn't going to be pleased anyways. Miranda sighed slightly, hoping she had something better to say to the woman but she wasn't great with socializing outside of her job and the set up of the library was not something in her job description. She did however smile when Neriah finally seemed to remember her and hopefully accept that she wasn't a crazy person. "Yes, Miranda Williams. It's been a while, nice to see you again. You've aged a bit yourself too." Miranda smiled slightly. "Thank you, your hair is nice too. It looks so soft and shiney." She laughed at her own comment. "I'm sorry that probably sounded creepy I just admire soft hair." Especially with this woman she would have to be careful sounding creepy because she seemed a bit jumpy. Didn't want her towns people to think she was some sort of stalker just because she complimented her hair. "Yes, I am the mayor. What is it that you're doing these days?" She may recognize her and know her name but she didn't know where she worked which was probably a good thing because then she would really think she was creepy. "I've been doing pretty well. How about yourself?"

[Neriah Hamilton]

Neriah didn't think she needed to start waving her down or anything, she just wanted a bit of a heads up before being called out of nowhere. She wasn't exactly keen on being freaked out. "It's creepier because obviously it means you know my name another way." And if she didn't think that was weird then that made her even more of a creep in Neriah's opinion. She raised her brow as she went on to talk, shaking her head slightly as she decided in the end not to finish her sentence. Well, seemed like she was confusing herself as well as confusing Neriah in the first place. Once Miranda had actually explained to her where she knew her from, Neriah found herself to relax. Sure, she wasn't exactly friends with the girl but at least she did know her from around town. It wasn't like she was a complete stranger which was always a plus - Neriah always had troubles getting to know people, especially those she had never met before. She was far too curious and standoffish to really make some kind of good impression, and though she only ever had the best of intentions at heart at lot of the times Neriah could come across as a cold person, or paranoid depending on what kind of mood you caught her in.

"Well, of course I have!" She laughed lightly. "It's been a long time since we've seen each other, and we never get any younger." That would be weird. "Thank you." Soft and shiny. She wasn’t sure if that would be how she would describe her own hair but if Miranda thought so then she would go with it. She tried to think back to what conditioner she was currently using that made her hair have the kind of texture that it did now but all she could remember was that it had some foreign name that she always struggled to pronounce. "It didn't, but now that you've said it.." She made a face, as if she was really creeped out for a second, only to burst out laughing. "I'm joking, it's not really that creepy. It's just hair, right?" At least she wasn't admiring her genital area or something, now that would be creepy. "I figured." Now that she really took a good look at her, she kinda dressed 'mayorish' too. "Oh you know, not much." She shrugged. "Been helping out at the church when I can, but mostly I just work at the Gun Shop." It was the only place where she could get some kind of peace it seemed. She liked the quietness that was the store most of the times, only a few people ever came in to take a look at the guns and even fewer actually went ahead with a purchase, the only times it was ever noisy was when they were testing out the guns or having practice shoots at the back, and even then the sound was oddly soothing to her ears. "Nice to know you've been doing well." What more could she expect anyway from a mayor? She was sure she was earning some big bucks. "I've been alright myself, just trying to keep a low profile." Never know who you might bump into, right?