"I won't be bored," Ellyn assured Ophion. While her confidence had come easy when was practically hit on him (That's what it wasn't, wasn't it? Cover it up as she may), Ellyn was a little abashed now. "I'd do it either way, even if I hadn't just suggested it as a way to spend time with you."
Ellyn frowned and took a bite of an apple she had set on the side of her tray. "I did see the damage. It's going to be a lot to replace and sort through. Will they even be able to replace a few of the older collections?"
Ellyn had never thought about it before but was there some magical book supplier? If not, how did Manta Carlos separate fact from fiction? Fantasy, both high and urban, was a popular topic. Ellyn supposed, everything about magic was true until proven otherwise. The complete opposite of science.
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Ophion could only shake his head sadly. "No, probably not. Some stuff is going to be lost forever because of the damage. The most rare and valuable are going to be dealt with through time magic, but for things that are considered less valuable, it's not worth the amount of energy that time rewinding would take." That sort of high level specialized magic was supposed to be beyond exhausting, so doing it for the massive number of books that would need repair? Impossible."Some of mine survived because the dorms did okay, but a lot of them are gone. The school's already given everyone an automatic extra year if they need it, no asking required. I'll have to track down some of my sources again and try and redo what I can." It would be a pain in the ass, but it wouldn't be a huge trouble. He remembered the people he'd talked to at least well enough to find them again, and there wasn't much that was completely unreplacable.
Ellyn frowned at the idea of all those lost books. The idea of using time magic had never occurred to Ellyn; she wondered what it would take to train such high-level power? She had yet to meet a student with time-traveling abilities, but she imagined it would be hard on the body.
"Are you expecting to take an extra year? If you need a study partner, I'd be more than happy. I know you're in college and all, but help is help, right?"
Ellyn considered whether she would require an extra year. She didn't believe so, but she'd need to take the time to look closer at what she'd lost and make up any lost work. Ellyn didn't want to think too much about it all, it was too stress inducing and there was so much more to worry about.
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Ophion could only shrug when he was asked if he planned to take a second year. He hadn't really given it much thought. In truth, the idea of leaving academia did not actually appeal to him at all. He knew lots of people were pretty much tripping over themselves to get out of school, but the idea of getting a real job--especially in his chosen field--filled him with nothing but dread. It wasn't like the field of history was rife with job opportunities."I'm actually a grad student." Which some people considered college, and some people didn't. "So technically I'm here till I'm done. It might be an extra year, it might not be." Even before the tsunami he hadn't really had a good idea of when he was going to be finished, so it wasn't like the tsunami had made things any better.
"In truth, most of it isn't even studying. It's... researching, I guess. Trying to put together a solid thesis that I can present and feel proud of." Already he was dreading the question that more or less came with the territory of mentioning said thesis.
"What do -- or did -- you have for a thesis?" Ellyn asked, interested, both in this new piece of development and Ophion's ideas. She wanted desperately to sit there all day and converse, without much a clue of what to say and little to no time left to say it. How frustrating it all was!
The cafeteria was emptying slowly, people were moving along, getting to night classes, out on the town, or going home. As for Ellyn, she had places to be and people to see. She didn't want to leave, but that was the nature of life. Moving. Always moving.
Ellyn took a peek at her phone, which she slid from her pocket just enough to see the time. Uncomfortably, she said, "I have to go soon, but we have to meet up again soon. Not just at the library either. We should get some coffee tomorrow if you're free."
She watched him earnestly, if not a bit intensely, willing a yes from him.
You can time skip on your next post if you like. Either to the library or to the coffee shop. I just figured they couldn't sit in the cafeteria all day 
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Oh dear. Now she'd gone and done it. She'd asked the question. Ophion made a face that was halfway between cringing and sheer excitement. Thesis's were like eating some kind of exotic fish - tasty, but likely to kill you if you ate the wrong bit in your enthusiasm."It's a detailed comparison of the oral histories of sentient species on earth, and how they tie into human oral histories. It's an extremely interesting subject, but it's also a bit... ah, broad. Primarily I'm focusing on the oral histories of naga, dragons, and harpies, and how their own histories compare to the supposed histories they have in human lore." Some of it was very similar, and some of it seemed completely unrelated at times. He had to force himself to keep it brief, focusing on the elevator pitch and nothing else. If not, he'd be talking her into a stupor.
Having coffee sounded suspiciously like a date, and Ophion was quick to make excuses. "I'll actually be working in the library most of tomorrow. The sooner we do that work, the more stuff we'll be able to save, is the idea." So he'd be busy for the next few days. It was mostly true, but he was fibbing a bit. He'd have at least some time off - they weren't going to work him to the bone.
Ellyn grinned (somewhat triumphantly) as Ophion talked animatedly about his thesis. She leaned on her hand and leaned into the motion, wishing she had chosen to sit beside him rather than across from him.
Right, everything was made more interesting when you added the supernatural to it. When she thought of history, she thought of normal history. The kind she had learned before she'd come to the island. Things were different here, she was getting more used to them, but they were still different. That she thought that way meant she wasn;t as accommodated as she had thought.
"That's too bad. I'm very interested in hearing about your thesis in more detail. Maybe we'll talk some more about it at the library tomorrow? We could also have coffee when the library is fixed up, you know. It's not on a time limit." Her smile was radiant. She knew he was making excuses, trying not to spend time with her. Why was he being so awkward about all of this?
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Ahh, she wasn't letting it go, was she? Maybe he'd been too casual and not nearly obvious enough. Only how was he supposed to be more obvious without hurting her feelings? It was like trying to brave the rapids without any kind of map. He liked her well enough - but she was young, and that 'like' was strictly on friendly terms, even if the way they'd first met had been kind of awkward.Which meant he was probably going to have to put his foot down.
"Ahh, I don't think that would work out. Going out for coffee feels like too much of a date for me, since I don't normally go out for coffee like that." He wasn't really sure how much clearer he could get without saying the words 'I will not date you', and he immediately undercut his own point by trying to soften the blow. "I'd love to talk to you more at the library tomorrow."
"A date? It's just coffee, Ophion, but all right. No coffee then. I guess that means having lunch or dinner is definitely out of the question. You know, that doesn't give us a lot of non-work activities to partake in together." Ellyn grinned. "So what do you normally do with friends? I'm assuming I can call us that, although we don't know each other well."
Ellyn didn't seem to heartbroken about his "rejection." She just figured he'd get over himself sooner or later. It's not like she wasn't of legal age and he wasn't that much older than her. She figured she might as well bring it up now, rather than obsessing about it later.
"just for curiosity sake, why don't you want to get coffee with me? As a date, I mean. Is it because you're not attracted to me? You like someone else? Is it because I'm sixteen? That's the legal age of consent."
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If Ophion had been drinking anything, he probably would have choked to death the moment Ellyn said the words 'age of consent'. He might have been able to play off her not so subtle jabs about not being able to do lunch or dinner if not for that, but in the end there was no way for him to avoid it. He was going to have to be straight with her, and his pained expression made it clear just how much he was dreading the idea."It isn't about being of legal age." Not at all. Whether or not he'd legally be able to pork her was literally the last thing on his mind. "It's about the age gap, the differences in maturity, and the fact that I'm a TA. You seem like a nice girl and all, but you're almost ten years younger than me. When you were being born I was already nine. You're still in high school, and meanwhile I could be working a full time job if I wasn't so married to academia." He was doing his best to be as blunt as humanly possible, which... wasn't really working out for him. He really wasn't used to being blunt. He was used to being nice about everything and dancing around uncomfortable points, and no amount of dancing was getting his point across.