TW: anxiety

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Mr. Croy led Rosie into the tower. Her anxiety was already high, and having to leave Droya at the door as if he was her uninvited pet dog just ratcheted things up a notch. Zete had tried to reassure her, but even with him fluttering at her shoulder, she suddenly felt a little abandoned. She breathed deeply and looked around the building’s lobby. It was cavernous, taking up nearly half the first floor of the large tower. Tall black columns covered in glittering black mosaics swooped up grandly from the floor to the high ceiling. Spindly silver chandeliers reached down like octopi frozen in mid-hunt, legs splayed and thrashing.

The black and white marble floor tapped under each strike of her heel, and she was acutely aware of the sound. It wasn’t loud, but it was loud enough. Many other people were scattered around the lobby – coming, going, or waiting. Their noises were enough to drown out her footsteps, but she still felt like they echoed in her ears. Rosie swallowed and raked her fingernails across the smooth surface of the folder she was clutching.

The pastel demon took her to a set of glittering silver elevator doors, pressed the button, and turned to her, smiling. His gray suit and canary eyes went well with his pale teal skin, but the overall effect was that he looked washed out, sort of faded. He did not match the tower’s décor in the least. Rosie supposed she didn’t either, with her bright red skirt and floral blouse.

Well, this place could use a pop of color, she thought, stifling a nervous laugh.

“How has your visit been going so far?” Mr. Croy asked. “Isn’t the Cainella House just lovely?”

Rosie nodded, a customer service smile stapled to her face, and said, “Just lovely, thank you.”

They took the elevator to the 9th floor and stepped off into a brightly lit corridor, then a few paces to the right and Mr. Croy opened the door for Rosie to step into a conference room. The table was immense and black, and the chairs were silver metal with black upholstery. There were several othersiders in the room waiting, and they all looked up when Rosie entered.

She beamed her smile at them.

Showtime!

“Ms. Everley, welcome.” A woman walked up to her and shook her hand. “I’m Yellette Morsse, from the council. It’s lovely to meet you in person, we spoke on the phone.”

She looks young to be a council representative, Rosie thought. But then, it’s an inherited position, so what do I know?

Yellette was a few inches taller than Rosie, and a few inches curvier as well. Her skin was brick red, mottled with black here and there. She had graceful, long, curved horns that sprouted from her forehead and swept back over her straight black hair. Her wings were lithe but large, and carefully folded at her back. Rosie noticed her smooth and shiny black claws as they shook hands. The demon wore a black pantsuit with golden accents that set off her solid gold eyes.

“Lovely to meet you, Ms. Morsse,” Rosie said enthusiastically.

“Please, call me Yellette,” she responded, her sharp white teeth barely visible behind red lips tinged with black.

“Ah, then please call me Rosie,” she chirped.

“Lovely,” Yellette said, blinking, her long black lashes sweeping over her golden eyes. “Let’s take a seat and I’ll explain the project and introduce everyone.”

Yellette showed Rosie to a seat at the end of the table, and sat next to her. The others all sat on the sides, closest to the two women. Rosie nodded and smiled through introductions, trying her hardest to force the names into her memory, with limited success. Zete quietly took a perch on an inconspicuous rail a foot above eye level that was placed there for that very purpose. He made ready to take notes on a clipboard and record everyone’s names and positions for Rosie, along with impartial observations.

“And finally, you’ve already met my assistant and secretary, Sevanall Croy.” The pastel man nodded and smiled at Rosie.

“Now, Rosie,” said Yellette, “I’ll review the project and then pass it around the table for everyone to explain their roles, then we can talk. I’m curious to see what you can add to the conversation.”

Rosie nodded, unsure of where this was leading.

“I represent a newly formed council subcommittee, Public Outreach and Enrichment, or POE.” Yellette’s eyes glistened and her wings stretched a bit. Rosie could hear passion in the woman’s voice.

“It’s been a long time in development. As relations with Earth have progressed, certain things have become evident in how Hell’s social structure is heading. The caste system is no longer officially enforced, but until the structural discrimination that is built into Hell’s economy and education system is addressed, we may as well still be under Imperial rule.”

Rosie’s smile had faltered slightly as she focused on following Yellette’s words. She was intrigued. Up until this point, the job of “consulting librarian” had been rather vague, and the phone interview had mainly covered Rosie’s past job experience and her schooling. She finally felt like she was getting some real information about why Hell needed to hire a librarian.

“An exploratory effort yielded a report that came to my attention, and led us, eventually, here,” Yellette said, gesturing at the room. “The POE’s first funded project is to develop one pilot location in a high-need area near Brulla. If it is a successful experiment, the council has committed to funding a wide-reaching system. I will act as the manager in the pilot location until the testing period is complete.”

“I’m sorry,” Rosie said, thinking she missed something. “A system of what?”

“Oh!” Yellette laughed, a melodic sound. “A library system. We are going to open the first public library in Hell.”

Rosie’s face lit up.

“The first?” she squeaked.

“The first!” Yellette gushed.

“How far along is the project?” Rosie asked eagerly, leaning toward Yellette with bright eyes. “Has a location already been chosen? Has a needs assessment been conducted? Do you know what the target demographics will be? Programming and collection development will be so important, is there-”

Yellette laughed musically and cut Rosie off with a wave of her hand.

“I will let the experts go into the details,” she said, and gestured to the woman sitting to her left. Rosie was pretty sure her name was Keenah, but she couldn’t remember the last name. The woman was bald, navy blue, had six arms, and silver eyes. She looked every part a goddess.

“I am the Cataloger,” Keenah said, her voice deep and purring. “I will also be part of the Collection Development team, and Receiving.”

“We’re beginning with a very small staff,” Yellette admitted to Rosie with a delicate wince. “So everyone will have multiple hats to wear.” She gestured to the next person, a jungle-green-skinned man with chestnut brown eyes. Rosie couldn’t recall his name.

“I’m the designer and architect,” he said. “We have a location scouted, an abandoned building that will need renovation and upgrades. I have some concept drawings and ideas, but we are still in a flexible stage of development.”

Rosie bit her lip.

“Are the drawings here?” she asked. “I’d love to see them!”

“Oh, I can get them from my office,” he said, and Yellette gave him a nod. He smiled at Rosie’s enthusiasm and exited the room.

The next member of the group was not human-shaped. They had been introduced as Gisenna Brach, and Rosie tried not to stare as their long body uncoiled enough for a serpentine head to rise up to eye level.

“Gisenna is our contracts expert,” Yellette said. “She will be working with vendors and the government to negotiate database subscriptions and service contracts for any agreements the library will need to make.”

Rosie nodded at Gisenna. Gisenna nodded back.

“I will alsssso be assssisssting with collection development,” Gisenna said.

Another of the group was introduced as the technology specialist, another as acquisitions specialist, and another as circulation supervisor. Everyone was going to pitch in with collection development, but the acquisitions specialist would coordinate purchasing based on budget allocations.

“We have a very powerful team,” Yellette said proudly. “Well trained and very experienced, if in different industries. That’s why we decided to reach out on Earth.”

She turned her golden eyes on Rosie.

“We need someone with proper library training, someone with the degree, background, and enthusiasm to guide us philosophically and practically as we put this plan into action.”

Rosie didn’t know what to say. She was blown away by the thought that Hell currently had no public libraries. And to think of being able to design a library from scratch, to make it mean something to the underserved castes that really needed it, needed a way to step out of their fate… and maybe be a shaya that cooks instead of guards, or a pixie that models… it had her mind racing. A library, free information, it could open so many doors for so many people.

She was saved from having to immediately respond by the architect re-entering the room with a bundle of papers. He piled them on the table in front of his chair, and picked one out. He flashed Rosie a smile and unrolled it on the table.

“This is an illustration based off the 3D model of the site,” he explained. “It’s just a mock up, something I put together to help POE secure funding. The council loved it.”

Rosie stood and leaned over the table to inspect the artwork. It looked like an internal view from an entrance, with a seating area, a reception desk, a corner of a computer lab barely visible, and stacks visible in the background. It had necessary elements, but it was stale and clinical, dark, with hardly any directional signage. The floor and walls looked like concrete. It looked sort of like a prison.

“What do you think?” the man said proudly.

Rosie pressed her lips together.

“Rosie?” Yellette asked, after there was no response.

Keenah, the blue, six-armed cataloger, chuckled low.

“I am very experienced with nice human girls,” she said. “Rosie has this to say, I believe.”

She reached out with two opposing arms and picked up the drawing, then slowly started to rip it in half.

The man gasped and looked at Rosie aghast, as if she was doing it herself.

Rosie winced.

Keenah paused her tearing and tilted her head at Rosie questioningly.

Rosie froze.

“Rosie, tell us what you think,” Yellette said gently. “We need your honesty.”

Rosie closed her eyes and sighed, then looked at Keenah and nodded. Keenah smirked and finished tearing the drawing with pleasure.

“I’m sorry,” Rosie said.

The architect sat down, his face slack.

“Is any of it salvageable?” he asked Rosie.

Rosie smiled a pinched smile.

“The measurements looked very good,” she said.

The green man just looked at his hands.

“Rosie, we would be so honored if you would join our team,” Yellette said. She was still sitting, and reached up to take Rosie’s hand warmly. “I can offer you a bonus if you can start immediately. We really need someone who knows what a library is supposed to be about. What a library can really be to the people that need it. We can set you up as a long-term resident at the Cainella House, and maintain your personal assistant as well.”

Rosie’s mind raced through being shocked and popped out the other side with practical concerns. She could tell Yellette believed in her and wanted her for the job. But Rosie knew she would need to make some of her expectations clear to Yellette about the job as well, and about more long-term living arrangements. Rosie had to give this job a shot. Not just because she needed the money – and she really needed the money – but because this was a monumental project, something she was really excited about. Something that would really put more good into the world and help people.

But, she couldn’t go on living at the Cainella House the whole year she was working in Hell. It was too much. And Yellette had said Zete could stay… but she hadn’t mentioned Droya.

“I would be so happy to work on this, with you all,” she said, sitting slowly. She looked into Yellette’s attentive golden eyes. “But I do have a couple… conditions.”

“I’m sure we can work it out,” Yellette told her, squeezing her hand tight. “Oh Rosie, I’m so glad we found you.”