Lunch. With have_no_mercy.

[olliequeen]

Oliver had arrived at Pastabilities five minutes early, and was waiting for Tess in the lobby area. It had been awhile since he'd been out to lunch, and even longer since he'd been to this particular restaurant, even though it was one of his favorites in Metropolis.

Sitting in one of the wooden chairs, he found himself thinking about the upcoming trip to Star City. Even though it was only going to be for a couple of days, he was looking forward to it immensely.

It wasn't that he didn't like Metropolis.

He simply missed home. Usually he stayed so busy he didn't have time to think about missing his home city, and things had been crazier than usual lately, and somehow the nostalgia had crept up on him.

Comments

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver can't help but chuckle at that, because it wasn't exactly what he'd been expecting. He gives her a wry smile. "You really are something else lately," he says with amusement.

[have_no_mercy]

"Same old Tess," she shrugs. "Well, same old changed Tess. Whatever." She points at him with more bread. "I'm taking your lack of denial as confirmation, you know."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver rolled his eyes good naturedly. "You wouldn't believe me even if I did deny it, so I figured I'd just save us both the energy."

[have_no_mercy]

"You're right. I wouldn't." Because it's fairly plain logic in Tess' mind. Which oddly doesn't seem to bother her all that much at the moment.

She'll attribute that to the bread. It really is amazing.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver nods slightly, bemused. Then he reaches out and picks up one of the breadsticks as well, taking a bite and chewing thoughtfully.

"How's everything else been?"

[have_no_mercy]

"You get the same reports I do, so you know how business is," Tss points out, as that's the first thing that comes to mind. "This library project of mine is proving to be a little more difficult to implement than I was hoping. Apparently librarians love red tape and not working together."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He grimaces at that, nodding a little. "Gotta love bureaucrats," he says with more than a hint of sarcasm. "Although I always thought librarians were supposed to be peaceful and easy to get along with."

[have_no_mercy]

Tess shakes her head. "As with everything else, it depends on the personality and how attached they are to 'their' library and how resistant they are to anyone changing anything about it."

Her expression softens briefly. "Some of them are very nice."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He notices the change and smiles softly. "I'm sure they are," he says quietly. "You haven't really told me much about this project. Care to share?" He takes a drink of water.

[have_no_mercy]

Tess appears a little surprised at the question and occupies herself with yet more bread while she mulls that over.

"It's nothing special, really. Just an attempt to get kids back into libraries and reading books instead of being stuck in front of video games or on a cell phone. Public promotion of library events, a reading program directed at children under ten with regular activities. That sort of thing."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver nods a little as she speaks, listening intently. "It's a great idea," he tells her sincerely. He pauses, thinking. "I don't know if you remember this, but at the library in Star City they used to have something called 'laptime.' Where parents would sit with their kids while a guest of the library would read a story every week."