The two girls arrived at the library just in time for the reading circle. They walked through the grand marble entrance and across the red carpeted floors, past shelves of volumes and tomes until they reached a door off to the side that was decorated in paper flowers.
"This is the kids' room. Aw they have it all dressed up inside." Amy said as she looked through the small glass window to see paper streamers with flowers and butterflies wrapped around the pillars, paper plate suns from the crafting club taped on the wall, and even some cute little spring goodies laying on a table for them.
Iris looked inside as well. She saw the kids running around like idiots and started to second guess what she was going to do.
"I appreciate their festive paper mache, but these kids better sit down and listen like they are supposed to. I don't want to deal with little snots."
Amy shot a look over to her. "They are playing. It's what kids are supposed to do. If they start to bother you, tell them to settle down and stop. Gently! Do not scream at these kids, Iris. Pretend they are all your little friend, Cream."
Iris rolled her eyes. "If they were all Cream, I wouldn't have to scold them. She is polite, they are little brats."
"Whatever. Let's go, they are ready for you." Amy said as she opened the door.
The kids turned around and they all had big smiles on their faces when they saw Amy, who was a regular volunteer, come in. They looked curiously at Iris, interested in her as a whole. Amy pulled the librarian aside and told her that Iris was going to read to them instead of her. The librarian was ok with this as Amy sat down beside her. Iris walked up the front of the room and saw a chair was there for her to sit in, along with a stack of like twenty children's books. This would be an ordeal. She sat down in the wooden chair and picked up the first book titled, "The Littlest Fish."
Hell Help Me.
She thought as she started the long and arduous process of reading the books. It took her about a good hour or so to read them, all the while she was trying to trick herself into believing that she was reading a story to Cream during one of her visits. Some braver kids even touched her tails and wings during the session to see if they were real. One kid even poked the tip of her left ear, probably trying to see if it really was made out of crystal. Once she was done reading and the kids, parents, and even Amy clapped for her, she got up and just wanted to politely leave. That didn't happen. She got bombarded with all of the kids touching her scorpion tails, butterfly wings, and crystals. They must have been curious too while she was reading, but just didn't want to move. Then came the questions. Miss Iris, can you fly? Can you sting people? Are your claws real? Are the sharp? Do your tails have venom? How come you have snake eyes? How come you have crystals on your body? What kind of animal are you? How old are you? When and where were you born? They wanted her whole life story! Were these young ones planning on writing a biography about her?
"Yes, my tails and wings work and are real, yes my tails contain venom, yes my claws are real and are sharp, I have snake eyes because I'm reptilian in nature, also a demon. I was just born crystalline, I'm a porcupine mixed with something unknown, I'm 130 years old, I was born in the seventh layer of the Flame Core within a castle back in 1889 during the Victorian Era." Iris answered all in one go, as even more questions were being thrown at her.
Amy was going to step in, but she found this kind of funny and let the kids harass her longer.
What kind of demon are you? Are you a friendly demon? What are your powers? Are you immortal? Do you take souls? What is the Flame Core like? Are you royalty if you were born in a castle? Do you have siblings? Do you have friends? What about your parents? Do you hate heaven? Do you hate angels? Are there mean angels? If words were water, the whole place would have been underwater.
Iris huffed. "I'm the embodiment of Pride, I'm not really friendly, I have several powers which I will not talk about, I am immortal, Yes I take souls, The Core is very hot, I'm the queen, I have one full blood brother and five half-brothers, I have… acquaintances, My mother is gone and I never knew my father, YES. I hate them all immensely, and there are fallen angels, so, yes? And Now I am done answering things. Let me be, please."
They all dispersed back to their sideways glancing families who were glad to have their children by them again. Spare for one who did not go back and he walked up to her, disobeying his family's calls. He was a rat no older than seven and had spiky blue dyed hair. He wore ripped jeans, a black shirt that had a coiled-up snake on it, and had a small skull earring in his ear.
He quietly asked her, "Have you ever felt oppressed because of how you are? Like you just can't ever fit in?"
Iris kneeled down to the child's level and looked him in the eyes. "All the time. But you know what? I don't care about what they think, or say. The only thing that matters is what you think about yourself and what makes you happy. Plus, who wants to fit in? Variety is the spice of life. Without it, this world would be very boring. And If the people you know don't accept you for who you are, let them go. They are clearly not worth holding onto. I know you didn't ask for all of that, but.."
The little boy hugged her arm quickly and then let go before his parents came and took him away angrily.
"Huh. Your welcome…" Iris said to herself as Amy smiled at her warmly. "Don't smile like that. It's gross."
Amy dialed her smile back, but she was actually impressed with how she was with them. And she gave some good advice to a child who needed it. She must admit, she is fairly wise. Also, she had no idea Iris was that old.
"Come on Miss Popular, it's time to go back to my home."
