(( ooc: Nope, not full. At least, I don't think so. Not including the spy that'll be bunkering with them, I think there's only one other person besides Sergei. ))

Harper waved to Vaughn and Sorren as Sergei made to leave. She followed him out of the still-crowded cafeteria and into the empty hall. It was quiet for a moment, no one saying anything. Harper was about to say something when Sergei spoke. She smiled and shook her head. "Well I guess they've put my stuff in my room, but I haven't been there yet. Room 114? I don't know where it is. I came straight to the library after the meeting."

She was still a little embarrassed about that, thinking he would assume she was a workaholic or an overeachiever, when really she just wanted to be prepared. She had only found out about any of it the day before and had been shipped out the same night. All in all she thought she was handling it rather well, considering. She had only ever seen two labs, not including this one. They weren't awful, but they hadn't been anywhere near as fancy as this. Harper was actually a bit upset that she didn't get to stay longer and see what the whole place was about, but she was also excited to get into the 'real world.'

The hall intersected with another and Harper turned left, remembering the way to the library from before. She looked at Sergei, wondering if it would be impolite to ask him what he was. Then again, Harper wasn't really all that concerned with manners at this point. She figured it was best to just say what you had to, let people know where they stood. For some reason this case was different. She really wanted Sergei to like her. She hesitated, but turned to him anyway. "I'm sorry, but...what are you? DNA-wise, I mean. You seem familiar somehow, but I can't place why..."

Vaughn muttered a goodbye to the others, watching with a little grin as they left. Then she turned her attention back to Sorren. "Oh, it's no problem! I have a bunch of different kinds and I've mastered most of them. You can come take your pick when you have the time." She turned to leave the cafeteria, but made sure that Sorren was coming before she exited. "So what about this secret place and the duck? Did you get its food?"

"Ok, thanks. I will," he followed Vaughn as she exited the lunch room. "The place is in the courtyard, by the pond. And I have the bread," he pulled out the rolled up piece of bread from his pocket. "And this," he pulled out a few breakfast buns, "I snitched this from our neighbors when they weren't looking." He handed her some.

"There's actually a lot of ducks living in the pond, but they enjoy roaming the grass, so you usually only see a few out in the pond."

Sergei smiled, making a mental note of her room number. 114. Besides his guy friends, he rarely tried to remember any female's room number. He didn't even know where Vaughn's room was. Sorren did, obviously, since he visited her. However, Sergei never asked. He wasn't sure himself why he bothered to remember Harper's. Sergei, up until now, had never had a girlfriend. And it wasn't that he couldn't get one, he just never made any moves. Why bother? He could never get close to any girl. At most, they could hold hands and hug. But anything more than like, such as a kiss, was out of the question. Plus, in a place like this, would a romantic relationship really last?

"I'll walk you to your later," he replied with a smile. Since she didn't kno where it was, it seemed like the proper thing for a guy to do. Escort her to her room. He turned the corner when Harper did. He looked staright ahead as he walked, until she asked him about his DNA. "Rough skinned newt," he answered, his smile fading a little. It wasn't because she asked, it was more because he thought about the disadvantage of being this species of newt. "And you're a snake...right?," he asked regaining a small smile, looking at her.

When they arrived at the library's door, he held open the door for Harper. "After you," he smiled with a gesture. The hall had been quiet, but the library was even more eerily quiet. Maybe it was just the atmosphere in the library that made it seem that way.

((Could Laurel be in Sergei's group? He's a warrior type...)) Laurel turned a right corner running...and then began to skid to a halt when he saw that two people were at the doors, after all he didn't want to run into them. It was puzzling. Usually no one was at the library..." 'Scuse me..." Laurel muttered and he turned to head into the library.

Harper's little smile grew when Sergei offered to walk her to her room. That was very kind of him, especially since he had already let her tag along with him to the library. Then, when he told her about his DNA, a little spark of recognition flared in her head. Rough skinned newt. Why was that familiar? "Common garter snake." She replied, walking into the library.

She started when someone rushed past her, muttering an excuse. She brushed it off and addressed Sergei again. "The section I was looking at is right down there," she pointed down an aisle to their left. "I think tactics is in the same one, but I'm not sure..." She trailed off, noticing how quiet everything was in the library. She suddenly felt guilty for having spoken so loudly, and resolved to try to keep her voice down to match the somber mood.

Laurel rushed to the entertainment section and pulled down several books; He decided to wait on the military grade stuff until later, he was going to be here most of the night anyways. He began looking for a suitable chair to read in.

When Harper replied and said she had the DNA of a common Gartner snake, his eyes fell on her. The name of the species was faintly familiar. For some reason, he felt like there was something about this type of snake that was worth remembering, but he couldn't. "Gartner snakes...," he repeated to himself. "They're poisonous, right?," he asked Harper.

Sergei moved out of the wall for Laurel to pass into the library. Obviously, Sergei and Harper weren't the only ones wanting to do some reading. He followed Harper into the library. His eyes skimmed around at the shelves of books. He turned to Harper when she pointed out the section of books where they could probably find their information. He nodded and trusted Harper when she said the tactic books were most likely in the same section. Although he had been to the library several times before, he never bothered to remember where each subject was located.

He walked over and started to skim the shelves as he slowly passed. When he reached the end of one shelf, he u-turned around the shelf and started to search the other side.

Ooc// Hey, I don't think I can keep up with this RP, and I don't think I'm fitting in all that well, either. Sorry, guys. You won't miss me, I'm sure.

See you guys later.

Satisfied with his pickings, he found a relatively comfortable chair to sit in and he began reading the first book of of his pile, which was Shakespeare. "At least I'm to the fun play" He mumbled to himself-e had just finished Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet earlier in the week. Now he was starting on A Midsummer Night's Dream.

((Violet, of course we'll miss you! But I understand...))

Harper nodded at Sergei's question. "Yeah, I'm poisonous..." she looked at the ground. She felt like people would fear her if they knew, that they wouldn't be able to relate to her. It could be upsetting, but Harper had learned long ago to just ignore it. There wasn't anything she could do about it. She knew there were other poisonous hybrids and eventually she would meet one or two and maybe they'd understand - or at least not feel threatened.

She scanned the books, quickly finding the spot she'd left when she'd gone to lunch. Her eyes swept the shelf in front of her and she located a book of Russian phrases that she might find useful. It hadn't occurred to her to look in the language section, but now she thought that might be helpful. She made a mental note to look there later. Then she ran her finger along the spine of the book and slid it from its place. It wasn't very big, which was good. She could probably just photocopy it and take it to study so she could have it with her on the trip itself.

She turned around to find that Sergei had ventured to the next aisle over. She hoped he was finding his book alright. Looking around, she spotted the hybrid that had run past them at the door into the library. He was reading...was that Shakespeare? She couldn't tell from that distance, not by a long shot, but the cover looked very familiar. She wanted to get closer without being creepy, but at last she decided just to approach the boy. When she got closer she recognized the title of the book - A Midsummer Night's Dream!

"Oh, that's one of my favorite books!" She gestured toward the book in the boy's hands. Her smile was sincere, if a tiny bit uncomfortable. She wasn't really worried about being rude, she just hoped she wasn't disturbing his reading. To her there was a distinct difference between the two. Rude was subjective and often ill-defined, whereas disturbing someone's reading could be very annoying, indeed. Her eyes shifted uncomfortably up to the boy's face.

Laurel had just reached the part where the fairy lord decides to trick his wife. Hearing the comment Laurel looked up from his reading to see who was speaking to him. Oh, the girl he had rushed by earlier. He grinned and replied happily "Really? That's awesome! I'm Laurel. What's your name?

Sergei stopped about midway down the aisle and placed his finger on a book, running his finger across the title. A Tactician's Field Guide. Next to it, was Strategy Play. Sergei smiled, pulling both books off the shelf at the same time. He held one book above the other. He opened the book at the laid on time, which was Strategical Play and started to flip through the pages, randomly landing on one page. He skimmed the page to see whether the book would be useful or not. "A wise leader is one who knows how to analyze the situation under pressure," Sergei read a line from the page. He closed the book and then opened the second book.

Sergei gazed up from the book and looked around to see where Harper was. Through an empty spot on the shelf, he could see Harper was talking to the guy that hey had passed earlier. They seemed to be talking. From where he was standing, Sergei couldn't really hear them. He did, however, catch the phrase "that's awesome". Sergei eyes slipped back to the book in his hand before closing it. He did any quick scan of the row of books in front of him before heading out of the aisle and taking a seat at the nearest table to him, which was was about 3 tables behind Laurel.

He placed one book to the side and opened the other in front of him. Sergei didn't really want to check out more books than he had to so if he could get everything he needed from one book, that would be one less book he needed to check out.

"I'm Harper," the girl replied, extending her hand so Laurel could shake it. She tried to see the other books he was reading, but she couldn't see them very well. She turned her attention back to Laurel. "You like Shakespeare?"

Harper noticed Sergei sit down a few tables back and wondered if she should join him. Then he opened his books and she figured she would probably just be disturbing him by going over there now. She did want to know if he'd found the book he was looking for. She'd ask him later. For some reason she had a sudden urge to go look at the animal section, find out why she would have any recollection of his particular species of newt. She could do that later when she went to the language section. For some reason the two were pretty close to eachother.

As Sergei scanned the book, only reading the sections that interested him. Most of the other stuff seemed like common sense. Or at least, it was common sense to him since a lot of it, Project Diana had already engraved into his brain. If he was a normal teenager, this kind of book would have bored him to death. However, knowing this stuff would help him AND his team survive out there so it was crucial, hence, it made it interesting to read. He stopped at two sentences that made him smile. Never follow by the the book. It makes you predictable. Ironic, he thought. Here he was reading a book to help him and it tells him to not follow the book.

Sergei then looked up towards the table ahead where Harper was chatting with the male. Sergei closed the book in front of him, got up from the table, and headed back to the shelf where he had found it. He left the other book sitting on the table still. He searched the part of the shelf where he had picked up the book, wanting to place it back exactly where it was. When he found the spot, he slipped it into place.

Laurel shook Harper's hand. "Yeah-He was a cool playwright. This place has, like, everything. Really extensive literature collection. What do you like to read?" he asked her. He was...happy. Yes Happy-very rarely did he get to chat with anyone that wasn't in military training. Laurel's neck started feeling itchy. He would have to drink some of his water soon.

Harper let her hand fall after Laurel shook it and smiled. "I like...pretty much everything. Information is power, right?" She reached out a hand and pulled a chair out so she could sit down. "I'm a big fan of philosophy, actually. Locke and Hobbes are some favorites. What about you? Other than Shakespeare, I mean."

((Sorry it's so short...))

OCC: Is Wicker still here?

(( ooc: Uh, haven't seen her :/ ))

Sergei returned to his seat and pulled the other book in front of him. However, before opening it, he looked up at Harper who was still talking to that other guy. He smiled, glad that she was making more friends. However, as he looked down towards his book, there was a little part of him that felt a faint sting.

Sergei opened the book that was in front of him and started to skim it, trying to decide whether this book would be useful or not. His eyes glanced up at the clock. Lunch time was over. Fortunately, he didn't have any classes today so he could stay in the library for as long as he wanted. Sergei eyes then fell back towards Harper and the male. Maybe he go over and say hi? It seemed a little rude if Harper was his friend and she went over to say hi, and he didn't. He got up, taking his book with him. "Harper," he smiled and then looked towards the male. "Mind if sit here?," he said the male. He looked about the same age as Sergei. Sergei didn't really wait for the boy to answer and grabbed a seat diagonally across from where Laurel sat.

((Yeah, we haven't seen her in a while...maybe I'll message her and see where she went.))

Just after Harper had asked her question, Sergei came to sit with them. It would appear he was finished with the books he'd found. Harper smiled upon his approach, wondering if she should introduce the two of them, considering she had only just met the both of them. While she did feel strangely excited by the fact that Sergei was there, she also worried she was keeping him from something. Maybe he was just trying to be polite by staying?

She decided that introducing them was probably the best way to go. "Hey, Laurel, this is Sergei. Sergei, Laurel." She looked between the two, then turned to Sergei. "Did you find what you were looking for?"