Strawberry
(disguised as a boy)
The place was vast. Strawberry had only been in few other places this big, and the smell of dust and old things was familiar enough to her that it didn't bother her too much. But the atmosphere continued to make her feel uneasy. She felt that at any moment, someone was going to march up to her and insist that she leave. Nevermind that she hadn't done anything. She focused on stepping softly, trying her best to employ all of her stealth abilities so not to make any undue noise. Row after row of bookshelves went by, and she felt no closer to locating one of those rooms. Why'd that stupid guard have to pick this place, anyway? She continued grumbling in her head as she finally came to the end of an aisle. Ahead was a door, and she felt a ray of hope flare up as she hurried to check inside. Alas, to her dismay, she discovered that it was merely a closet for cleaning supplies. Brooms and mops stood waiting to be used, while feather dusters hung from hooks. She scowled and pushed the door closed again.
Turning to follow a new aisle, Strawberry wondered if she should have come earlier. By the time she found one of the rooms, it would be almost time to meet him. Or perhaps past time, at the rate she was going. She sighed softly under her breath, wondering if anyone would notice if she climbed to the top of one of these bookshelves. She felt like she was in a big maze or something, and the only way to find her way out would be to climb up to the top and find the route that would take her to where she wanted to go. Just as she was debating how hard it would be to climb one of these shelves, a quiet voice startled her. She spun around, breath catching in her throat. A woman stood there, holding a stack of books. In fact, Strawberry was sure she'd seen her before, somewhere. "Uh, sorry," She relaxed slightly once she saw that it was no threat. "I didn't know anyone else was nearby." She smiled faintly.
The woman had asked a question.. if she needed any help finding something. Strawberry's first instinct, of course, was to insist she needed no help and would be perfectly able to find everything on her own. But she had to face reality, she was way out of her depth here, and working on a time limit. She'd probably wasted half an hour already (or at least twenty minutes?) and she wanted to be further along in her plans by now. "Hm.. maybe you can help me," She decided after a couple of second's inner debate. "I um.. I was hoping to find some sort of quiet room, so I can..study." That should be believable. "Do you have anywhere like that here?" She was hoping there wouldn't be too many rooms like that. With any luck, whatever rooms they had for studying would all be close together, and she hoped to find a nice hiding spot where she could watch them all from a safe distance without being observed herself.