Ollie wrinkled his nose. Elias...was not going to be easy to handle. So, he was going to do the most mature thing he could…ignore the man until he couldn’t any longer.
“Noted. Are all the doors on this floor closed to stop the possible spread of soot?” The ones he could see were, but he just wanted to make sure.
“Yes,” Winnie chimed, before adding, “Why don’t you go lie down? You look tired.”
“Sounds tired too,” Percy unhelpfully added.
“If you’re tired, we can handle things here without you for now,” Jahla stated.
Ollie couldn’t help but glare at basically being dismissed, before pouting and turning the look on Noble, who was currently standing guard to his right.
The man had removed his respirator and was just standing there with Ollie’s drink in hand, willing and ready as can be to stop him from getting up, while looking stupidly handsome with his bare square jaw, dumb high cheekbones, and narrow-pointed nose that bulged slightly in the center. Handsome and annoying, yet Noble also looked a bit tired himself.
Despite how exhausted and achy Ollie was, it was hard to sit there doing nothing while people walked back and forth in front of him. Stopping himself from getting up to help was basically a constant struggle. Like, he was feeling very twitchy with the need to actually do something…but also, as weak as a kitten. It took a stupid amount of effort just to lift his dumb donut to his mouth.
Ollie started to sigh, but cut the sound off at the pain that resulted from the action, and instead remained quiet as he continued to eat while they worked.
On finishing his donut, after leaning over to take a sip of his honey tea, to confirm he’d heard right earlier, he asked Noble, “A text and email was sent closing the library for three days? Today included?”
“Yes,” Noble murmured.
Ollie pursed his lips, eyeing the large room and all the books still inside. While the room was an open space, and there were no rows in the middle, the walls were lined with bookcases. Even if they worked from opening to closing, with the help of all seven of his librarians and Noble, he didn’t think it would be possible to finish by Wednesday night.
And that was just the books. The room itself would need to be professionally cleaned and restored, and they’d still need toattempt to wipe down the surfaces to try to contain the spread of soot, especially depending on how long it took to get the job scheduled with Kings Historical Restoration.
The books themselves, even after they wiped them down, would need to be sent out for professional deodorization. While Ollie knew plenty of methods to deal with odors, with this many books involved, it was just better to leave it to the professionals.
After a moment of thinking over what needed to be done, and what they could do themselves, Ollie carefully cleared his throat and hoarsely announced, “I need someone to send out notices across the text and email lines, announcing that the library will remain closed for the rest of the week, re-opening Monday the 28th, while the Fine Arts room on the third floor will be closed to the public and staff until further notice. That should give us plenty of time to remove and wipe down all the books, as well as wiping down the wooden surfaces as much as we can before the professionals come in.” After realizing he was assuming a lot, he quickly added, “That is, if you all are up for doing that. If you’re not, that’s fine too, as this isn’t technically your job…”
“Ollie, we wouldn’t be here if we weren’t planning to continue to help,” Fleur pointed out.
“Yeah, we came in expecting to be cleaning a lot of books after reading the wordfire,” Percy drawled.
Winnie giggled. “I came expecting to witness Ollie having a meltdown, to be honest.”
Ollie winced. Winnie wasn’t wrong, he had definitely had a meltdown, it was just that the meltdown was the cause of the fire rather than because of it. Though, he may be close to another one after realizing all the shit he now had to deal with on top of almost burning someone to death.
“Yes, well…thank you. I really appreciate you all showing up.” And he really did. It made his heart feel a bit warm and fuzzy that they had all showed up for him...even if he was slightlyirritated as it also meant they all had ignored the order to stay away. He was…mostly grateful.
“Specifically, for the rest of the staff, make it clear they are off with pay until Monday. Except for the janitorial staff, who I want to return to work Friday night, for a few days of deep cleaning.”
“Should we possibly call in the library assistants? It would make things go faster,” Hannah suggested.
Ollie gave the idea a brief thought before nixing it, mainly as the less people who saw the odd damage in the room, along with his face, the better. “I think it would be too hectic if we add more people, best to just stick with those already here. Our first goal is to get as many books as possible out of this room before closing it up, and starting to first vacuum the outside of the books before wiping them down. I can explain the process and demonstrate how to do that if anyone needs me to. But before that, I need someone, or a few people, to go on a supply run.
“We only have four handheld HEPA vacuums available, which is not enough for everyone to use. So, whoever goes needs to grab enough to make up for what we don’t have.
“On top of that, while I know I have a box of chemical sponges in storage, we may need more. Aside from the things we need for cleaning, we also need boxes and packaging supplies. I plan to have the books shipped off, mainly for professional deodorizing, but it likely will result in a second professional cleaning. Either way, it will ensure the soot and odor is completely gone before we bring them back into the library. Again, there is some of what we need in storage, but not even close to enough.
“Room-wise, I’ll contact Kings Historical Restoration today, as they’re the company I’ve been most impressed with from past jobs. I'll see when they can get out here to assess the damage.” He eyed the tables and chairs, wrinkling his nose on recognizing them as original library furniture, as he added, “We will attemptto restore the broken furniture, but we do, thankfully, have enough in storage to replace them. And now that I’ve said all that, and I’ve finished eating, I can?—”
Ollie’s words cut off as he went to stand and was promptly pushed back down into his seat by Noble, as the man sternly said, “Sit.”
“B-But—” he started to stutter.
“Ollie, you look and sound like death warmed over. Stay seated, or I’ll have Noble carry your ass back to your room,” Jahla snapped.
“I am not a child!” Ollie huffed, before wincing as it hurt his throat.
