You decide to stay and help Lavinia with her work. It just seems like way too much for even her to do on her own and you're a little bit worried about her. Those dark circles under her eyes definitely don't look good.
She usually looked like she could handle anything that her job threw at her to the point where some people didn't even think she was a real human being. If the work was too much for her then it must have been too much for any single sane person to be ale to handle. She usually. Didn't even need to ask anyone for help with work at all.
You tell her that you want to help her with her work. You could have sworn that you saw the smallest smile of relief on her face for just one brief fraction of a second.
"I'll be glad to have the extra help."
You smile at her before picking some of the papers off of her stack, opening up your folder, pulling out your pen, and getting to work. It was mostly filling out names and places on blank lines. There were a few of the documents that needed the guildpact's signature. You put these into a pile next to the folder, one that would no doubt join the papers in the library after you were finished.
You didn't particularly enjoy this kind of paperwork, but it was worth doing just to make sure that Lavinia didn't work herself to death. You really did care about her and you had hit it off with her really well in the past few days that you had been working there. She was intelligent, knew how to get things done, and was beautiful.
But of course, you wouldn't say that last part out loud to anyone, especially to her.
Hours seemed to go by and you zoned out as you continued the work almost mechanically. You snuck glances at Lavinia every now and then, hoping to see her feeling a little bit better.
Her expression didn't change, but you could see her glancing at the pile of undone work less and less as you both worked on. This was a good sign.
As you kept going, you kept thinking about doing something that you had been working up the courage to do for a very long time. You wanted to ask her if she could hang out with you after work. And maybe...go on a date. A casual one of course.
Eventually, you were both finally done with your work. You grinned and put the last paper on the pile to go to the library. "Done!"
Lavinia gave you that slightly relieved smile again. It was rare but nice to see her smile.
"Take them into the library and put them on the unfinished wall. You've been a very big help and you can leave. You've been here hours over when you usually leave."
You grab your fingers, fidgeting nervously. "Hey Lavinia...? I was wondering if um...we could maybe go to a cafe or something on a day when were both off. We could hang out..."
You could feel your cheeks heat up and you really hoped that she didn't realize that you were blushing.
The smile didn't really leave her face, but you could see it shift into something you couldn't quite put your finger on.
"Im alright with going on one date _."
Your blush grew even darker. It looked like she was a little too good at reading people.
You put on the nicest set of clothes that you could find that weren't too formal. You didn't know how this would go, but you wanted it to go as well as it could.
You two had agreed to meet at a small cafe in the district where you both lived. It wouldn't be too loud and the two of you could sit down to some coffee that was much needed after your last week at work. The guildpact had run off again, but because of your extra help and at fact that you were putting in as much effort as you could to take the weight off of Lavinia's shoulders, the dark circles on here eyes were much less heavy.
She was there early of course, but that really didn't come as any surprise to you.
You sat down across from her after getting your coffee.
"So when do you think he'll be back?" You asked her.
"He could be gone for a while. He has a...predicament that forces him to travel at inconvenient times. Not that he couldn't have finished the paperwork before he left this time of course."
You had walked in when she had broken the illusion. One second you could have sworn you saw the guildpact working at his desk, but the next all you could see was an empty desk and a pile of work that had never gotten done. Lavinia had been furious and you had to try as hard as you could to clam her down.
You were getting good at calming her down though.
"How much work actually got done?"
She sighed and sipped her coffee. "Half a wall."
You gently put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll do it with you. We can make a paper fort next to the maze for when he gets back."
She smiled slightly again "We could build an entire house out of it."