Chapter Text
“And this will be your office.” Beauregard said as she gestured to the partially open door. “You’ve got the rest of the morning to yourself to get settled. I’m just down the hall if you need me.” She paused, “Don’t need me.” Then, without another word, she made her way down the hallway past a few other offices before turning into her own, leaving Caleb in the hallway.
“Scheisse,” He muttered to himself as he glanced around before opening the door the rest of the way.
It was a standard office, with an l-shaped desk, a few chairs, and a bookcase, though, unlike his last office, this one did have a big window that overlooked the science building. He kicked the door shut and dropped the things he had been carrying onto the desk. His satchel tipped over and spilled out a small stash of parchment, ink, and a few of his nicer pens. He might as well. He plopped down into the chair behind the desk. The ancient computer on one side of the desk had a thick layer of dust that he gently wiped off with one of the dried-out sanitizing wipes in a container on the desk, left there, he assumed, by the previous tenant of the office.
He began to arrange the few items he had brought with him on his first day around his desk. The pen cup to the left of the computer monitor, extra ink in the rightmost drawer, excess parchment in the cabinet that was right above the desk along the wall, a picture of his parents on the right side of the computer, slightly hidden by it so as not easily seen by anyone on the other side of the desk, a second picture of him with his orange tabby cat Frumpkin facing out towards the door to show that he was relatable and had something considered a life outside of work.
A knock on his door pulled Caleb out of his rearrange of the few things he had brought with him, “Come in?” He called out.
The door sprung open, and a younger tiefling woman with bright blue skin and hair bounced into the room. “Are you Caleb?” She asked. Her voice was bubbly and matched her very brightly colored dress. She carried a little Tupperware container with an obnoxious pink bow.
“Ja.” He sat in his chair a little straighter trying to figure out who the mysterious woman was.
“I’m Jester,” She walked in and up to the desk before plopping down onto the chair across from him, “I’m the head of access services, we didn’t have a chance to talk when you were interviewing. I was out visiting my mama on the coast. But Beau let me know last week that today was your first day and I wanted to make sure that I came and introduced myself and I brought you some cinnamon pastries, I made them myself. They are very good.” She smiled widely.
“Uh, thank you, Jester?” Caleb was a little taken aback by her overwhelming friendliness.
“Of course! How has your first day been? Who have you met?” She leaned forward like an eager parent waiting to hear about their child’s day.
“Busy.” Caleb said, looking down at the Tupperware and back up at Jester, “Mostly new faculty and staff across the university.”
“Well depending on how you feel when you’re done with your first day you can always swing by my department and I can introduce you to some people and you can come with us to dinner! We go out every Thursday, it’s kind of our thing.” She said as she wiggled her head a bit.
“Ah well thank you for the invitation.” Caleb did his best to smile, “We will have to see how I am feeling after the library tour with Beauregard this afternoon.”
“Of course!” She looked down at her phone, which had lit up, “Ope, I need to get back to the department Dr. Sheed is apparently complaining about some overdue books, again.” She stood up and held out a hand, “It was very lovely to meet you Caleb, I hope you like the pastries.”
Caleb gave her a polite handshake and walked her to the door. He watched as she seemed to skip down the hallway and back through the doorway to the public-facing front desk. What a strange woman, he thought to himself as he closed the door gently, going back to his desk. The container seemed to call to him as she sat down in the chair again. He sighed as he reached out for it and pulled the lid off. What sat inside looked like a mixture of a bear claw and possibly a franzbrötchen, puffy bread, and so much cinnamon. He tore a small piece of it off and popped it in his mouth. Somehow both to his surprise and not, it was quite delicious, the bread itself was light, and the cinnamon tasted fresh. He made a note to tell Jester that they were very delightful.
After finishing one of the pastries, Caleb turned and decided to start up the old computer that sat on his desk even though he recalled Beauregard saying that it was due for a replacement so someone would be by to install the new one at some point during the week. He pulled one of the folders he had gotten at the new employee orientation out from his briefcase and rummaged for the instructions to set up his password. By the time he finished cursing at the ancient machine, there was another knock on the door, and before he had the chance to answer it, Beauregard stepped in.
“How’s it going?” She asked. Her gruff voice continued to throw Caleb off a bit.
“I, uh,” He paused, trying to remember what, if anything, he accomplished, “I met Jester from access services?”
“Ah, Jessie, yeah she wanted to make sure to meet you today, felt bad about not coming to your presentation during your interview but, outta town.” She nodded and leaned against the doorframe, “She make you any of her treats?”
“These cinnamon pastries? I’ve only had one but it was quite delicious.”
“Oh yeah, she is a fantastic baker.” Beau nodded, “You ready for the tour?”
Caleb nodded and stood up. “Ja.”
“Great, we’ll start up on the third floor and work our way down and I’ll try to make it as quick as possible. No one ever likes the tours.” She said flippantly as she turned and walked out of the office.
Caleb followed three steps behind as she led him to the elevator and explained that the third floor was where the bulk of the collection was and was considered the silent floor. “However,” She said as they stepped in the elevator, “It’s summer break right now, and I’d say at least ninety-five percent of the students here go home for the break so we can talk up there and if anyone causes any problems well they won’t because I’ve probably had to talk to them before.”
As they wove through the topmost floor, Caleb felt a tiny bit of joy walking amongst the stacks and smelling the books. He felt like an undergraduate again going into the library for the first time and how one of the workers found him surrounded by a pile of magical theory books at closing.
“We’ve got a handful of study rooms up here as well as a few study nooks and carols, thankfully the people who use them all know the rules and don’t cause too much of a problem.” Beau said as she pointed out a few of the rooms.
Down on the second floor, they found the writing studio, a large amount of open study space, and special collections. As Beau talked about their partnership with the English department, Caleb noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye coming from the special collections room. A shorter and very well-dressed drow stood at one of the tables, partially bent over, examining a large manuscript that sat partially propped up on a book stand. His handsome features furrowed into a tight scowl as he looked over the item. Caleb hadn’t realized he had been staring until the man looked up and locked eyes with him.
“Ach.” He whispered.