An Intro to Ted and Tim

 Library freewrite :D

"Hey Lois," I asked, pulling her to side. She twitched her nose as she looked at me, disguising her explicit dislike for being interrupted mid-task. "Do you mind? I was reviewing Griffin's application and was just about to send out a callback letter." I grinned, despite myself. "That'll be awesome. Alaethia's going to love having him here." She glared at my pointless addition to the conversation, and I swallowed nervously. She had never been one for polite small talk, so I hurried on to the next key piece I had intended to say. "Do we have a spare room we might be able to house a couple of children for a couple days?" She looked at me. Took off her glasses. Looked at me some more. I could practically feel her animosity and frustration building. "Do you," she huffed, and it frightened me. "Have any concept of the legal implications it will cause to house a couple of *children* here for days?" I shrugged, nervous. "Not really, but I'm sure we can work things out with the respective parties." "Do they have permission slips from their parents?" "They don't have parents, I don't think." Her face softened, and I knew I had her. For all her brusque talk, she was a softie. On her desk she kept pictures of all the foster kids she'd hosted or adopted over the years. When she went home, she ran a tight ship, but nonetheless, she had become well beloved by them all. She tsked and returned to her desk. "Why don't you send them on up here, and I'll get some information from them, and we'll see what we can do, okay?" I grinned. "Thanks, Lois! You're the best." Darting back to the kids' area, I smiled. Finally, I'd found somewhere where we could make a real difference, in all the chaotic wonderful ways we possibly could. On my way back, I ducked past Raz - the only vaguely bookish character I'd ever created - who grinned and waved at me. Everyone else I'd asked to come be a librarian with me had rolled their eyes or looked up from their knives and other weapons with a look of seedy distaste. And Enigma - well, I hadn't had a chance to ask her. Still didn't know where she'd gone. Fitting of her, if you asked me. By the time I made it back to the kids' area, Ted and Tim were both looking a little nervous. Both wore ragged clothes and had spent the past several days hanging out with the other kids. They had a few bad habits that the teen leaders were helping out with, but otherwise they seemed like pretty good kids. After noticing they had been coming several days in a row with the same clothes and had sat sullenly in the corner for some time, one of the teen leaders had approached me and asked if there was something we could do. Bet she'd thought I had more power than to run and ask Lois for help. Man, I love Lois. She's the real brains around here. Well, her and Alaethia and the rest of the Dialogue members being brought on staff. I was just down to run around and have fun and talk to the important people whenever I got a chance. Ted and Tim followed as soon as I explained what was happening, eyes averted. I pretended not to hear their hushed words back and forth to each other as I led them to Lois' desk in front. "She'll hook you up now," I said, smiling and stepping politely away. Lois gave me a look, but when she turned to face the children, her face radiated genuine warmth for them. Her tone put them instantly at ease as well. "Yessssss!" I said, high fiving the art piece on the wall next to me. Somehow, it'd stuck its hand out the wall and was angling it towards me. "AyyYyyYYYyyYOooOOOOooOOOO" it caught me saying. Then the phone in the corner rang, and I knew Tokyo was going to have questions. Biting my lip to hold back my sheepishness, I ran upstairs and started prepping the rooms.