Though Ezra enjoyed most of the students who frequented his library, it wouldn't be far from the truth to say that he preferred the library during class. It was quiet, and he had time to shelve books, to dust, and to decompress from the various shenanigans that accompanied working at a school for mutant children. The homunculus flitted down the quiet stacks of books, the wooden cart laden with books to be shelved squeaking as he moved about.

From the further reaches of the library, Ezra could not see the main doors to the library. He similarly did not hear the doors open, nor did he see the squashed, cylindrical robot get deposited onto the floor. Its wheels, which had previously been spinning uselessly in the air, suddenly gained traction on the carpet and propelled the machine forward. Snickering, the offending party scattered. DJ Roomba had officially been unleashed on Xavier's library-- and Mr. Pahlke, Xavier's librarian, was none the wiser.

DJ Roomba propelled with determination towards a desk, encountered a leg, turned, and promptly found his way beneath one of the many bookshelves.

Ezra, still unaware, surveyed the spine of a book, before seeking out its place on the shelf.

“THE WELLNESSGRAM PACER TEST IS A MULTISTAGE AEROBIC TEST THAT PROGRESSIVELY GETS MORE DIFFICULT AS IT CONTINUES,” DJ Roomba reported, at maximum volume, from beneath one of the shelves.

“What in the devil,” Ezra swore, tensing at the disembodied voice. DJ Roomba ran into one of the supporting legs of a bookshelf, rotated itself in the shadows, and proceeded in another direction.

“THE TWENTY METER PACER TEST WILL BEGIN IN THIRTY SECONDS. LINE UP AT THE START.”

It was official, the library was haunted by minuscule automatons. Ezra emerged from the stacks, a book clutched tightly in his hands and brow knitted. His gaze swept the ground, for the voice seemed to originate from somewhere low, but he couldn't find the source.

The door creaked open, snagging Ezra’s gaze, in time for DJ Roomba to report,

“THE RUNNING SPEED STARTS SLOWLY, BUT GETS FASTER EACH MINUTE AFTER YOU HEAR THIS SIGNAL. *BEEP!* “

Ezra cast a wordless and pleading glance at the figure in the door, distressed by the fact that he could not locate the source of the noise.

Classes were still going on when Auburn started down the hall toward the library. They had their headphones over their ears and a book in one hand that they was skipping the last part of a class they didn't technically need to return, and hopefully get some alone time before the other students were let lose. They bobbed their head along to whatever was playing ,and tapped along with the rhythm on any table and ornament they passed in a display that would probably have embarrassed them to no end if someone has actually seen them as they continued on their way.

They missed the announcement of the hidden robot as they opened the door thanks to their headphones but it didn't take a genius to realize something was up when they saw the look on the admittedly creepy looking librarian's face. "Is something wrong, Sir?" They slipped off their headphones and let them hang around his neck and reached into his pocket to turn off the ipod. "If this is a bad time I can come back later."

Ezra's gaze fell a rather svelte young... person. It was difficult to rule what their gender might be, but they were rather tall. Oversized earphones are removed, and they addressed the anxious librarian directly.

>> "Is something wrong, Sir?"

"Something is wrong, yes," Ezra confirmed, his troubled gaze sweeping downwards, "An unusual voice plagues me and I-"

"A SINGLE LAP SHOULD BE COMPLETED EACH TIME YOU HEAR THIS SOUND *DING*."

"-cannot, for the-"

"REMEMBER TO RUN IN A STRAIGHT LINE, AND RUN AS LONG AS POSSIBLE."

"- life of me-"

"THE SECOND TIME YOU FAIL TO COMPLETE A LAP, YOUR TEST IS OVER."

The voice appeared to be moving, at which Ezra turned helplessly towards the stacks again.

"-find it."

"THE TEST WILL BEGIN ON THE WORD START. ON YOUR MARK, GET READY, START."

Ezra began to pace past the shelves, his voice quivering with uncertainty.

"I was singing l shelving books, in the back, when it began," Ezra recounted. Were they even still listening? It was beyond him. The first *beep* reverberated off of the bookshelves.

He glanced back towards the raven-haired child, his mouth contorted in a frown.

*ding*

ooc: I request that any further participants ask permission prior to joining.

Auburn tilted their head to the side as they listened to the strange problem the librarian was having. So now there was strange voices in the library. There certainly wasn't a dull moment in this place that was sure.

"Is it bad that stuff like this is starting to seem normal?"

They put the book they had been carrying down on a nearby desk and walked over to where the librarian had been pacing.

"It's moving around so you think it could be one of the other kids?"

They started looking around the shelves as well. It wouldn't surprise them a bit if it was someone that could shrink using their mutation to hide while running around the library to prank everyone.

>> "Is it bad that stuff like this is starting to seem normal?"

Ezra inclined an eyebrow at the child. Stuff like this?

"Are happenings like this a common occurrence?" he replied hesitantly.

>> "It's moving around so you think it could be one of the other kids?"

"It seems possible-"

The homunculus broke-off, coming to a halt. Just then, DJ Roomba whirred across the aisle, emitting periodic *beeps* and *dings* before vanishing beneath another shelf.

"Ah! There!" Ezra ran down the aisle, crouching on the floor.

"I saw a- thing!"

He wasn't sure what that thing was, but it was escaping.

"It-! It's escaping!"

He noticed, from this angle, that he'd need to vacuum under the shelves, but the... disc... robot... thing seemed to be helping with that, marginally. Ezra reached after that, but was not able to get a hold of it. For, as he reached, it puttered beyond the bookshelf.

"Er well not exactly like this I just mean that some of the stuff that happens at this school doesn't exactly happen outside of it."

They had just turned around to look behind another shelf just in time for the librarian to exclaim that he found it. They nearly tripped over their own feet in their hast to get over to where he was on the floor.

"Did you get it?"

They kneeled down beside Ezra looking under the shelf to try and see what they were chasing.