One would think that, given the fact that the Ezra spent much of his time maintaining a library of his own, the last place he would rather be during his free-time was yet another library. Yet, here he was at the premier library in New York, slender hands tracing the spines of books as he idly skimmed the shelf. He rarely went into the library with a plan of attack. Ezra preferred to be surprised. He liked the happenstance-- particulalry since he was so well-read to begin with.

He was so absorbed in scrutinizing the shelves, that he did not take notice of nother library patron. Ezra practically stepped-on her! It wasn't until they were almost atop one another that Ezra noticed the woman, gave a bumbling, "B-beg your pardon, miss!" and stepped around her.

A new nervousness wound its way into his form, and he resumed searching the books.

Rebecca was settling into New York. The city was very different from her home in Rotterdam--it was polite to call it 'unkempt', but accurate to call it 'dirty'--but Rebecca was adjusting. She was settling in with the animals at work, getting familiar with her new colleagues, and now she finally felt like she had the time and energy to go out of the house.

The city was full of places to go, and Rebecca wanted to see a lot of them, but for now she started small, something nice and quiet. Like a library. Which is where she went; books were something she could find herself enthusiastic about in a relatively mellow way. Going to a new library was an exciting thing in itself, too; like finding a new television show to throw herself into, it was full of possibilities. A bit cheesy, but not inaccurate.

At the moment, Rebecca was enjoying browsing, looking around without any particular path; she could search thoroughly another time, for now she intended to just see what she found at first glance, what stood out, get a feel for the place. She was caught by surprise, then, when another patron bumped into her.

Rebecca gasped lightly, in surprise as opposed to pain, and stepped back from the unexpected intruder to her personal space. Almost as soon as she looked at him, though, he pulled away, awkwardly apologizing, and attempted to move on. It was odd, that such a conspicuous man was so seemingly uncomfortable in his own size. He had a funny smell to him, too, not unpleasant, but rather out of place given the rest of the city.

"Oh, it's okay. I wasn't looking either." Rebecca smiled at him, folding her hands behind her back. She didn't want to impose on him if he was so terribly shy, but he seemed almost distraught. She didn't want him to think she was offended by him. "What are you looking for? Something specific?" Rebecca tried not to seem too forceful; polite small talk seemed like a reasonable way to help the poor man relax.

Ezra's lips thinned in an uncertain frown, nodded imperceptibly when the lady assured him it was alright. But then... she kept talking. Why could she not just let him slip away in embarrassment.

>> "What are you looking for? Something specific?"

"J-just a book," Ezra murmured. Maybe that seemed like too abrupt, too rude of a response, "I haven't, ah, decided on a specific one. I'm just waiting to see what jumps out at me."

This last bit was said more hurriedly than his first remark. His golden eyes slid sideways, appraisingly. A cute, petite blonde woman was standing beside him, her hands tucked innocently behind her. The gangly man quirked a smile, a brief and uneasy flicker in his expression. Women were a mystery to him. Positively terrifying.

"E-even though books most- most certainly do not jump!" Ezra amended, "Y-you know... you already know that."

Well, it seemed to help. He was certainly shy, and didn't seem to be particularly open to conversation. Rebecca could certainly have left him be, but he seemed so despondent that she thought he might appreciate someone taking a little bit of interest in him.

"It's okay, always good to be careful. These are unpredictable times, after all." Rebecca hoped that joke wasn't in poor taste. Implicating mutants in any sort of mischief might seem to be rather prejudicial, though Rebecca would be loath to dismiss anyone's moral character for being mutants. "Though, it might be fun to see a dance troupe of novels. Best not to assume either way, I think."

There was something odd about him. Rebecca had caught his eye, or rather his eyes, which were a rather strange color. in fact, the more she looked, the more uncanny he seemed. His skin was a very strange, unhealthy-looking color, not to mention the web of scars some kind of broken nose, and what seemed like fresh stitches. It was certainly possible that he was a mutant himself; she'd seen a few very distinct looking people around. They were more common than she'd expected. That said, it was definitely rude to assume, ruder to bring it up, and absolutely awful to ask and be wrong.

Not wanting to stare, she turned her gaze to the shelf, scanning it while she spoke. "Joking aside, I'm more or less doing the same." Rebecca paused briefly. "I've never been here before, though. I'm not from the city, I only came here recently." Rebecca noticed a book, a thick and old-looking hardcover anthology of science fiction. She skimmed the table of contents, noting that she'd heard of one of these but the rest were unfamiliar and interesting. As she did so, she continued. "It's very different from Rotterdam."

She didn't mean to brag, of course; in Europe, it was almost trivial to visit another country, but Americans seemed to find such a thing a rare opportunity. Given that many states were bigger than entire countries back home, it was a strange thing to compare. Her (perhaps somewhat reluctant) conversation partner didn't seem American, though. It was something about his accent, which she couldn't quite place but seemed European, and his mellow movements rather than the frantic energy of most of the city.

"Are you from around here?"' She closed the book and  tucked it under her arm, then smiled at him again. She'd keep looking to see what else might catch her eye, but she could never have too many books.