Chapter 8
Violets mouth was slightly agape as she saw the beauty of the sunrise from the mountaintop. The rosy rays coated the mountain top, reflecting the glaring white snow from the lower peaks. Violet steadied her breath, recounted all that lead her to being here. Listening to the excited sounds of the other dolls remarking the beauty of the scene. Violet couldn't help but agree, taking one more look before turning to head inside with the rest of the dolls.
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The heavy wooden doors opened up to reveal a surprisingly vast atrium, with numerous dolls and scholars already chatting away. Immediately Violet felt out of place, never knowing how to behave in crowds such as this.
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Standing there awkwardly she began to look around at the massive rows of the library. Thinking to herself how many of these thousands of books had to be handwritten. However her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden calling of her name.
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"Violet! Hey its Violet!"
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Looking over Violet saw her friends from doll school. Smiling Violet went over to greet them.
"Violet its been sooo long"
"Hey-ya Violet"
"I hope you've been well"
The 3 girls exclaimed rushing over to Violet through the crowd. "Lucillia, Bluebell, Iberis!" Violet said rather excitedly. And to their surprise the blond had a smile on her face. "I'm so glad your all are here!"
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The group spent the next hour conversing about their various jobs, with the trio being welcomed surprised on how expressive their friend had gotten. However their conversation was cut short as the head of the facility announced himself.
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"Welcome I am Le Verrier the Chief of The Astronomy Headquarters. Its a pleasure to meet all you wonderful dolls who will be assisting us in the upcoming weeks." As if on cue Violet joined the standard doll greeting of a curtsy, and a thank you. Much to the surprise of the scholars who craned their heads to get a good few. With a few audible "whoa's."
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(Continuing on the Chief described the various duties of his staff, eventually leading to the point of the hiring of the dolls.)
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"...as recently we have acquired an enormous shipment of old transcripts, these transcripts must be preserved. That is where you come in! Each doll will be paired with a transcriber, you will work together to help restore the manuscripts."
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As the Chief began to rattle of the pairs Violet waved by the Iberis who was paired with a young man named Kyle Zenith. Bluebell playful nudded Iberis forward toward her partner.
"And next Leon Stephanotis you'll be paired with Violet Evergarden of the C.H postal company!"
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Hearing her name Violet sprung to life, however she felt strange inside. As if her stomach was twisting in on itself. This feeling of nervousness happened only rarely before she was adopted. The conversation with the dolls at the restaurant played back in her mind. But nonetheless she still stepped forward to greet her partner.
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Surprised to see Violet noticed that the boy was significantly younger than his peers who were all around 19-20. She thought to herself how he must have been the youngest of the transcribers much like how she herself was the youngest of the dolls present.
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Going over to greet the boy Violet did her curtsy, and recited the dolls greeting line "I will run as fast as I can to wherever my customer desires. I am the Auto Memorb Doll Violet Evergarden…." One of her bad habits that she picked up on during the war was analysing people.
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His shade of skin is not common in this region, but blue eyes which are a staple of this region… along with black hair are also very common here… ahh I see one of his parents must be from a different province than this. Violet thought while looking him over. Much to her surprise the boy's face began to turn red as she realized how long she stared at him. Quickly looking away she felt embarrassed as she was scared that her old habits were going to out her as some kind of socially inept weirdo again. In an attempt to avoid further embarrassment she began to walk away from the atrium as she could hear other pairs being called off.
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To her surprise as she walked outside her partner finally spoke up "...im… Leon Stephanotis… sorry I just was got off guard a bit earlier." He said with a nervous chuckle.
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Violet however wasn't satisfied, as she had been practicing her social skills as much as possible with her parents. In her mind she thought it would be a good idea to explain why she stared at him for so long instead of letting it go. "Im sorry I didnt mean to make you uncomfortableIjusthaveabadhabitofoveranalyizing peopesorryifitmadeyouuncomfortabl…" her explanation turned into a mumble. As she looked down sad… thinking to herself how she embarrassed herself again in front of strangers.
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Leon feeling his cheeks tinge red again, reassured her bluntly. "It doesn't really matter its no big dea-" as he turned back around to look at her. Finally getting a good look he couldn't stop his face from turning red as an apple. He turned his face slightly away so she wouldnt notice. He summed up his courage to speak again to the now silent girl. "Cmon I think they are getting the dolls settled into their rooms you dont wanna miss out on that do you?" Braving a smile the girl seemed invigorated again giving him a curtsy before saying goodbye as she went over to her friends.
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~Soon After
A group of transcribers sat with Leon and his roommate. The obvious talk of the air was who they were partnered with, and Kyle nudged Leon with a big smirk on his face. "Hehe Leon I hope you noticed that the Chief did a solid for you?" Leon's face turned red as he sputtered out ":whatdoyamean!"
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"C'mon you really think it was by chance that the Chief paired the youngest of us aka you with the youngest doll…. Nah he's wing manning you!" his friend playfully shoving Leon.
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"Yeah she also seems super awkward like you are!" another scholar playfully added. While yes it was true that Leon didnt have many people who liked him at the Center he knew he could at least confide in with the people in the room. "so what do I say to her then…"
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This innocent reaction of the younger male seemed to get the rest in a frenzy. Maybe duo the big brother instinct, or maybe just wanting to prove to the others that they knew how to get girls they all began to surround Leon giving them their advice.
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"No No! Leon dont listen to Mark thats some shit advice! This is what you gotta d-"
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"Man shut up you dont know what your talking about."
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Leon continued to be jostled around as their advice giving session turned into them all arguing about the right first step. Kyle casually pulled Leon out of the small crowd and pulled him aside. "Alright lil bro check this… I know its kinda cliche but… maybe you should just be yourself.."
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~Same Time
Iberis, Bluebell, Lucilia, and Violet were all able to get a room together. After unpacking Iberis casually brought the topic up.
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"Sooo any winners here or is it too early to tell. Because from what I can tell mine hits a lot of my marks already. Tall, kinda geeky, pretty good looking, and most importantly rich family." Lucilia giggled "I barely even talked to mine but he definitely seems outgoing and bubbly…" Bluebell pouted "I got unlucky… My partner is already engaged to his childhood crush from the city."
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Lucilia noticing Violet gazing off quickly said "dont you think your gonna escape from this talk Violet" playful nudging the girl.
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"Yeah cmon Vi its clearly meant to be I mean what are the odds that the 2 youngest here would be paired up?"
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"Sounds like fate to me…"Bluebell said twirling her hair.
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Finally speaking up Violet said "b-but I barely even know him so how can I make such a big judgement call after seeing him for such a short time!" This small outburst caused Iberis to snicker. "You dont need to decide now dummy, hehe so young, cute and naive."
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"Well" Lucilia added "The idea of love at first sight while exaggerated isn't entirely a made up concept...tell us your first thought when you met him."
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"Well… I kinda have this bad habit…."
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"Yeah what is it?"
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"Well I kinda analyze people when I first meet them… so I kinda stared at him after greeting him."
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"Oh that doesnt seem to bad… for how long would you say?"
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The young girl's face turned slightly pink "about 30 seconds… maybe a minute" Violet mumbled while fidgeting with her brooch.
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"Violet I dont think you have anything to worry about." Lucilia said placing a hand on the girls back.
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"Yeah thats kinda weird but you can easily play it off as just being shy."
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"Well that's not all…"
"Eh?" the 3 girls said in unision feeling nervous for what she was about to say.
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"I also kinda… tried to explain why I was staring and I think it made it worse."
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"What did he say after you did that?" the trio asked in unison.
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"I think he was mad… his face was red and he was kinda trying to turn away to meet my eyes… and then he said that it was no big deal… and then encouraged me to go get my room ready."
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Feeling a wave of second hand relief for her young friend Lucilia smiled looking at the other girls.
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"Violet"
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The girl remained having her head down in embarrassment, shifting her weight slightly on the bed.
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"Violet!"
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Violet looked up at them and her face still flushed. "How bad did I mess up."
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"I would say your in the clear" Bluebell reassured Violet.
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"Yeah and by the way his face was definitely red because he was nervous too!"
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"Mhm it seems that way Violet, and he even covered for you since he noticed you were embarrassed by giving you an excuse to leave the conversation!"
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With the 3 girls reassuring Violet, the blond felt much better. Like a weight was being taken off her chest and she was able to properly breath, and think again.
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"Thank you all so much"