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** **** Tidying Up The Underwater Library**

Under the calm surface of a lazy lagoon an axolotl dragon yawns as xey wake up on a Sunday morning and take xir time getting out of bed. Xir name is Nez and despite getting a generally healthy amount of sleep xey are still a little tired. Nez can only stay in bed for so long though as he has things to do today. So he grabs his glasses from the nearby stone night table and leans on that same night table as xey fully get out of bed and reach for xir walker that's close by. It's lightweight, mostly metal surrounded by a waterproof leather coating. After walking only a few feet away from xir bed Nez grabs the walker by the bulky handles and uses it as the mobility aid it always is, even underwater.

Now able to both move and see better, Nez temporarily shakes off any remaining tiredness to get through the rest of xir morning routine. He showers with a specially pressured nozzle that can work underwater but not be too rough for his soft body. Lotions up his knees, elbows, hands and anywhere else xir pink scales could become too dry. After that he's back to the walker to help xem leave the bathroom and head to the kitchen to start preparing some food. Nez checks that everything is in order in xir room before truly leaving it and making xir way to the kitchen. With all that done Nez starts to cook some eggs to make an egg sandwich throwing in some onions, some peppers and some shrimps for extra protein. Xey grab some hot sauce from the fridge but don't actually get to eat the tasty looking sandwich as a sound comes from xir library.

Fwoooshhh

It sounds like something rushing past the stone books of Nez's library, making them move and make noise as they rub against each other.

“Is… is someone there? Don't make me c-come in there!" There is a slight tremble, a hesitation in Nez's voice at the idea of someone else being in xir home but xey don't hesitate to grab the cane they keep in the kitchen for the convenience of having a free hand while still being able to use a mobility aid. They also grab one of the pots off xir stove wanting something more to defend xem than potentially just xir fist or cane.

Crashhh

With that second sound, this time of something seemingly breaking Nez bolts into xir library. What xey sees next almost makes xem bust out laughing. Just above one of the bookshelves is a closed window currently being rammed into by a confused looking pinktail triggerfish.

“Whew! Startled me half to death. Now how in the world did you get in here?" Nez asks this as xey adjust xir glasses and blink xir blue eyes while the triggerfish keeps trying to escape through the window of Nez's underwater home library.

When Nez comes closer to try and let the triggerfish out it starts swimming backwards with its special top and bottom fins. It then looks like it's about to charge the Axolotl Dragon who backs up till xey decide to take a different approach. Xey use xir cane to help xem zip back into the kitchen and put some fresh clams into the pot xey were holding as an improvised weapon. Nez takes the pot with the clams back to the library and tosses the clams out into the water where they float for a bit, sinking slowly to the floor of the library while the triggerfish inspects and examines looking for any possible threat or trick.

GlOOP

FwOsh FwOsh

The medium sized fish makes a deliberate noise this time as if trying to say something. And then from the shadows and several empty crevices in the shelves that may or may not have held books before several smaller triggerfish of the same species appear with similar if slightly varying dark green scales and those signature tails close to the same shade of pink to Nez's own scales. The triggerfish hungrily devour the sardines as Nez gives the feasting fish a wide berth knowing their typically aggressive and territorial nature. Nez does however maneuver around the triggerfish in a way that xey can open a window to allow the fish to be free. Eventually all six of the triggerfish finish eating and exit through the library window which Nez quickly closes after seeing the last of their colorful tails vanish off into the distance.

“Glad that's dealt with. Now I can get back to the work that needs doing." Nez thinks as he takes a minute to look over the expansive library he has and considers what needs cleaning, what needs doing.

First things first is looking for the remains of the book xey heard break, see if it's salvageable. Assuming it is just one book since Nez spotted multiple triggerfish coming from multiple crevices, about five fish overall. A frown finds its way on xir face as they see the pieces of about three books separately shattered at different spots on the library floor. The books are Stephen King's Pet Semetary, To Grow Algae: A Guide to Underwater Vegetation and Matching The Shape of Your Ectoplasm. They are all made of soft but firm pumice stone to survive being underwater. Each book coming from a different part of Nez's library like how Matching The Shape of Your Ectoplasm came from the paranormal romance part of it closer to the middle while Stephen King's Pet Semetary came from a section closer to the back jampacked with Stephen King books.

There's a table smack dab in the middle of the library where Nez goes sometimes to read or to work on adding to or fixing up xir collection of books. He places all the book pieces, properly picked up and organized in a way that there's no questioning if any book will have some wrong pieces going into it. Then he whips out a special adhesive able to actually work underwater and gets to skillfully putting these books back together again. It takes a little time but Nez transcribed them all on the pumice from their original land based source materials to begin with and has repaired more than enough books before, whether broken by sea life like fish or through different means. Nez glues these three books back together again from the not insubstantial amount of pieces they were and then places them on a waterproof metal wire rack for the adhesive to harden before they can go back on the shelves.

In the meantime xey check up on all xir other books; for any potential damages or cracks in the books, any gunk or algae growth that might be on them making them look dirty, and if there's any books that happen to be misplaced. Nez spends the next two and a half hours doing this. He goes through shelves of books of all sorts; books on botany, books on the paranormal, books on cooking, books that are considered classics like Animal Farm, books on anything else that has caught xir fancy. Xey end up switching about 2 dozen books to their proper place, readjusting about 3 shelves to be sturdier and have a more evenly distributed number of books, cleaning just about every book to be sure they're all clean and pristine as well as repairing some minor cracks on about 15 books. It's a lot of work but Nez knew it would be and he is happy to keep his library in the best shape he can so it can continue to keep xem fulfilled.

“There we go. Completed!" Nez says to xemself as xey finish fixing a crack in a book on proper scalecare and put it on a similar metal rack as the other books that were damaged and broken, needing a bit of that adhesive to be made whole again.

"Now maybe I can put those formerly broken books back on the -Grumble-" Nez gets xir thinking interrupted by xir grumbling belly. “Maybe I should go eat that sandwich first" Nez thinks to xemself this time.

Xey head out of the library grabbing xir walker as xey do and head into the kitchen. Nez sees the sandwich he left on the table hurriedly covered by a second plate and feels the hunger that's gnawing at xem. So xey waste no time in swimming for it barely keeping xir glasses on. Almost immediately biting into it before remembering to put some hot sauce on top of the eggs, shrimp, etc before closing the sandwich back up. Breakfast may have turned into brunch but a delicious and hearty egg sandwich is a suitable reward for all the work of tidying xir underwater library.