An Ever-Changing World MsBloom x Sheena-Tiger

[MsBloom]

Claire Anu Miller / Gemima Una Miller

Tuesday June 25 (Evening)

"Bored bored bored bored BORED. I'm so fucking bored," Claire Miller said to her twin Gemima.
"I just don't understand how people do it. Wake up, go about their daily routines, work, kids, shopping, eat, drink, fuck, sleep and then it's the same all over again the next day."
She threw her arms out and let out a scream.
"I'm going crazy here. I need something to distract me or I am going to explode with boredom."

Gemima Miller looked at her twin and nodded. She was perhaps less expressive about it but she too itched with restlessness. It had been almost a decade since they had last played their game and since then they had settled near Bucknall, a small rural village in Lincolnshire where they officially ran a rather exclusive nursing home for anyone who could afford it.

"There is always the girl who drives the books-on-wheels truck," she suggested which had her twin raise an eyebrow and nod.
"Yea," she said after a few seconds.
"So who do you want to be then?"
"You're better at being bad so I'll start as good."

And so it was decided. The life of Annuska Linden, a young woman who was originally from the Netherlands, and the world as she had known it up to that day was about to change forever.

The ancient twins Anu and Una were first noticed and put on record in the region that saw the rise of the first human attempt at civilisation but they were older still than Mesopotamia, much older. They had walked with the first modern humans, the first homo sapiens out of Africa but they were older still than those first migrating modern humans. No one knew how much older, not even they themselves were entirely certain anymore. They were in fact not even entirely certain they had been born on the planet called Earth, though it was all they remembered.

While they both looked very much like female homo sapiens they were not of that species at all, barely even related to them. What mostly separated them from homo sapiens (other than their seemingly endless lifespan and extremely slow ageing process, they both still appeared to be in their early to mid twenties) was their ability to get inside a person's mind and alter their reality. That was the game they played whenever they got bored which was quite often a few times every century.

Wednesday June 26 (Morning)

It was just like any other summer's day in the east midlands. The sun was out but it wasn't hot, at least not uncomfortably hot, nor would it be at any time of the day. There was nothing seemingly extraordinary or unusual about it. If anything it was an extraordinarily and unusually normal day. Janine Smith, head librarian of Lincoln Library and initiator of the books-on-wheels service, greeted Annuska, one of the three girls she had hired for the summer to prove the need for mobile libraries in the villages. She handed the girl the list of specifically ordered books.
"There has been a request from Nightingale House for live readings in the afternoons. If you like to add that to your Wednesday routine. It is your last stop today and it would only be for an hour, and it would of course be added to your work hours. Think about it and if you decide to do it you can talk to the managers yourself while you are there this afternoon."

 

[Sheena-Tiger]

Characters

Annuska Linden

Full Name:	Annuska Linden
Age (looks):	~20
Height:	5'5'' / 165 cm
Hair:	blonde
Eyes:	blue
Other Details:	works the books-on-wheels for the Lincoln Library

This job was not the best paying jobs Annuska could have had applied for but it was the most fun she could have had imagined. Other options had included being a waitress or working at a local fast-food and they might have had paid better, especially during the times when tourists visited the region, but surely she would have been fighting a depression by now with only 20 years of age. Making sure she had the drivers licence she needed for this little job had been a bit of a hassle for sure but in the long run, it would be so worth it. The young blonde woman, whose family originated in the Netherlands, loved books and she loved to bring the joy of reading to other people as well. Thus the offer from miss Smith had been a godsend and Annuska had not regretted a single day since she had started. Sure, it was only a thing for the summer but it was not the first time she was doing this and it helped her to save up on much needed money for the rest of the year.

Annuska scanned the list of books handed to her, few surprises were among them. Most names on the list were books, or at least the general direction of the books, she had recommended from her own experience. "Nightingale House?" she looked up, thinking hard. The name was not unknown to her but she barely had time and energy to actually look around the villages she visited. Her work was bringing her to 7 locations, each far enough away that she had no real chance to visit them outside work and visiting the 1st of 2 in a day in the early morning and having to be at the 2nd in the early afternoon still meant she had to take the time to bring the car back to the library with everything it did entail. But word and advertisement did travel around and the twins who were the owner of the Nightingale House were not an unknown. "That is the nursing home, isn't it? The one of the Miller twins?" Annuska asked. She was sure that was the answer. While the twins must have been only a few years older than her, they managed this exclusive nursing home. The young woman did not see herself ever being able to afford to live in such a place, if she ever made it to such an age in the first place.

"I am more than happy to add it to my route" the young woman informed her employer. "Could you please inform them that I will be coming around once I am finished? Have they informed you about possible reading material? They are not mentioned anywhere on the list with any suggestions. I would not want to bore any of the listeners." the blonde seemed genuinely interested about the idea. She did not see herself as some kind of story teller or a possible candidate to read books for an audio format but she did not think anyone was expecting that level of her. Just some fun and diversion from the usual dull afternoons filled with the same kind of activities each and every day. The difficult part would be, picking out a good book, if they had not told Janine Smith any details. They likely did not want to hear old stories they might have read during their school days but the most hip and coming authors would be unlikely as well in Annuska's opinion. She could be totally wrong of course but might have to pick one of the books she herself already knew well enough so she could pick a passage to read that would be entertaining. Or maybe, since miss Smith had said "readings" the twins hoped to make it a regular thing where Annuska could read a whole book over a lengthy time. This was genuinely exciting for the young woman.

With everything discussed and cleared up shortly after, Annuska got herself busy with the list of books. Being a regular at the library, even without the job, it was not difficult for her to locate every single one and add them to the inventory of her car. Just in time to get on the road she finished everything and could start the engine. Her 1st destination for the day was a small village not far away. On the empty road, despite its not perfect state, she was there in less than an hour. Kingthorpe was the name of the small settlement, a bit smaller than Bucknall, the 2nd village and home to the Nightingale House, but no less beautiful. Janine Smith had organized with the authorities a nice spot on the local marketplace during their official market times. Some days it was not easy to work here with the market criers having an especially good day advertising their goods but in general it was a good time. The ordered books were picked up, others were given back while a good number was either in her inventory or noted down for the coming week. Her lunch was uneventful though with a great view over the local landscape and Annuska could start early on her way over to Bucknall. She would be on time without any worry. The Miller-twins would have their reading session.​

 

[MsBloom]

Claire Anu Miller / Gemima Una Miller

Wednesday June 26 (Afternoon)

Wednesday morning had been like any other Wednesday morning at Nightingale House. The staff had served breakfast to the residents who had then done an hour of light gymnastics or gone for walks around the estate. Lunch had been cold cuts with potato salad and assorted greens.

Claire and Gemima had been visible around the house and estate most of the day, both seemingly in a good mood and seeming to be excited about something. After lunch they had gathered the residents and told them that they had requested an hour of reading by the Books-on-Wheels girl every Wednesday afternoon. This news was met with nods and generally approving noises by the residents. Many of them had a hard time reading, even with their glasses, and thus they were left with audio books, and in some rare cases podcasts. But as Admiral James Cornell, on of the residents who had been there the longest, had said: "It's just not the same as having someone read to you."

There had then been a quiet quarrel about what book should be read during these Wednesday afternoons until the twins, almost with one voice, had put the argument to rest by explaining that they already had chosen a book, an often overlooked, almost forgotten classic, but they wouldn't reveal its title of author. It was to be a surprise and a debate broke out among the residents about which book it might be and that debate still went on when the Books-on-Wheels truck pulled up in the drive way an hour later. Though none of the residents had even been close to guessing the book. This was probably entirely because the book was one that before that morning had not existed, and yet, somehow it had been the last title on Annuska's list of pre-ordered books. Somehow it had been sitting there on the correct shelf at Lincoln library in pristine condition, bound on burgundy leather. The Book of Tales Long Forgotten and Some Not Yet Told; was its title and the author was given as Anuuna, no last (or first name) it was as the case was with those stories from ancient Greece, Homer had no last name, (or if it was his last name, if indeed Homer was even a he). The same was true with Virgil, (though he was Roman rather than Greek), Sophocles, Euripides and more.

And even though the book had not existed before it appeared on her list of pre-ordered books it was one that Annuska would vaguely remember having heard of as an almost mythical book which was sometimes, if not often, mentioned in the same contexts as other mythical, (presumed lost or possibly entirely fictional) books as The Necronomicon, and like The Necronomicon it contained tales of those who came before and those who walked alongside the human species, those who were hidden from history, whose names had fallen into oblivion, who had sunken into myths and legends long forgotten.

As the truck pulled up outside Claire came to meet Annuska with a broad smile on her face.
"I sincerely hope that you bring good news," she said hopefully.
Of course she already knew that Annuska would accept the request for giving an hour long reading every Wednesday afternoon because that was how the game she and her twin had set in motion the evening before was going to start.