damned_institute | Day 27: Library

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Day 27: Library

Libraries, he'd found, were rarely as dull as people made them out to be. Though he felt no magic in these tomes, they were still full of useful information. Maybe some of them could tell him a little bit more about this world he'd landed himself in.

For that matter, why hadn't he run into any of the others yet? They'd all been fairly close together when they'd left Rekord, but he hadn't seen a trace of any of them. He was able to communicate easily with the people here though, which led him to believe Mokona was within a mile or so. Unless the ones running this little game had some other way to let all these other-worldly people communicate amongst themselves. In which case, the others could be very far away indeed.

The library had that wonderful smell of old books, and Fai traced his fingers along the shelves, skimming titles and pulling books that struck his fancy. Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The War of the Worlds, and with a smile, he found Bram Stoker's Dracula as well. Raven had been telling the truth then, in spite of his own lies. Ought to be a good start. He sat leisurely at one of the tables and began flipping through his selections.

[waiting for Tamaki~]

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Valyn immediately began to answer, but the harsh noise that came out and the pain in his throat stopped him. Sighing internally, he fumbled one handed with the book, trying to close it without losing his place and gather up his paper and his pen.

After much near-dropping, Valyn managed to get to paper.

I don't know, he wrote. I've just started reading it.

He couldn't talk? The young man's injuries were worse than Kenshin had originally thought. Poor kid.

"Ah, this one sees," he said, nodding. The rurouni smiled. "This one is called Himura Kenshin, by the way."

Valyn.

Himura Kenshin had an odd way of speaking. Valyn didn't think he'd ever heard anyone who spoke like that. Referring to themself as though they were another person, almost.

I'm sorry, I'm not much company right now. Long day and all.

Long, frustrating day. And it would probably be another long night, as well.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Valyn." He had a little trouble with the V and the L, but his accent was much better than it would have been at home.

Especially because he didn't speak English at home. This was all very bizarre.

"Ah, yes. Of course. Would you rather that this one leave you alone?"

No, there's no need for that.

He'd chased enough people away so far today. He didn't want to chase away another. And he doubted that this Kenshin person was about to ask him probing and uncomfortable questions.

Have you been here long?

"If you say so..." Kenshin said reluctantly. "This one doesn't want to force himself on you." Not with night coming. Even if Valyn was going to say in his room (which he hoped he did, since he was in no position to be wandering the halls), he would need his strength. Kenshin didn't want to tire him.

"Oro?" Had he been here long? It was only a few days, and yet it felt so much longer... "Hmm. Three or four days."

You aren't forcing yourself, it's fine. It wasn't as though Valyn had been terribly absorbed in his book, anyway. He didn't understand it and he'd always preferred histories to stories anyway.

Valyn nodded to the answer to his question. He hadn't met very many people who had been here much longer than him, come to think of it. A few, on the first day or so, but other than that....

Do you have friends here?

Did he have friends here? Kenshin smiled, in spite of himself. Enemies he had in spades, even the ones that had been dead for over a decade. But when it came to friends...

"No, this one is afraid that he is the only one. There are...acquaintances here, but we didn't part on the most pleasant of terms." Well, that was one way of putting it. But it wasn't as if he wasn't used to looking over his shoulder, anyway. It seemed like every time he beat one enemy, another popped up within a matter of days or weeks. Peace was hardly ever lasting, but he sure enjoyed it when it did.

"Do you, Valyn-dono?"

What had he just called him? Valyn regarded the human with a mild expression, but didn't ask.

A few, he wrote. Was that an indication that Kenshin had enemies here? Or just people he'd rather avoid? Valyn supposed he was lucky in that, at least. He didn't have anyone who actively wanted to harm him. Others weren't so lucky. Friends from home. One just arrived today.

Kenshin gave Valyn a crooked smile. "This one isn't sure whether to express his happiness or condolences at that," he said honestly. On the one hand, it would be nice to have people here with whom he could really talk to about the home they had left...but on the other hand, he would never want to see Sano, or Kaoru-dono, or Yahiko in such a place.

They can both take care of themselves, Valyn explained. And they could. He did worry, there was no helping that, but he knew both Keman and Shana could handle themselves.

I know I can rely on them, if need be. And it was nice not to be alone. Or to rely on people who could never truly know him. He had opened up some to Renji and Raine, but....

"Oh, well, that's certainly good to hear! But...you still worry about them, don't you?" That was from personal experience. It was impossible for Kenshin not to worry, even about someone as independant as Sano. It was just in his nature.

He smiled gently. "That's always a relief. It's nice, to have people to rely on." It had definitely taken some getting used to, in Kenshin's case. Normally he was perfectly content to just go it alone...but now he was part of a team.

Kenshin-gumi, or so Yahiko had called it.

Suddenly, he felt very, very homesick.

I think anyone would, was Valyn's reply. Of course he still worried. And he would worry. There was nothing he could do to stop it. And they'd worry about him. But at least he had the good graces not to be so horribly obvious about it!

"It's part of being human, isn't it? Worrying, this one means." And it was one of the great things about being human, to have the potential to be concerned for the safety of others.

I'm not human.

It was something Valyn was used to pointing out by now. Unless someone looked closely, or were used to different races, they rarely even thought twice about what he was. But he was elven, and felt the need to point it out.

But I'm close enough.

...........

"Oro?"

How could he not be human? Even Shishio and Jin-e, monsters that they were, had been human. So...what...?

Valyn cocked his head and winced as the wound in his throat pulled. He assumed that he'd confused the man. He was used to a bit of confusion, at least. As far as he knew, in most worlds, his kind were only legends.

I'm an Elven Lord, he added, wondering if that would clear some things up. Though he wondered if Kenshin's world had any legends about elves. And what they were.

Kenshin's world did not, in fact, have elven lore. Not yet, anyway. They had gods and demons and spirits, but no elves.

"Begging your pardon, but...this one has no idea what an 'Elven Lord' is."

That's alright. But it's what I am.

Valyn just didn't feel up to the history of elvenkind right now. We aren't that terribly different from humans. We live longer, we have skills they don't have, we look slightly different.... He figured he could at least list the specific things that made him not human.

"Ah," Kenshin said eloquently. "This is new." Maybe there was something to these rumors of other worlds, after all? He had accepted the fact that he was in the future pretty readily. Why not the rest of it?

Either that, or Valyn was completely mad.

You haven't met someone who isn't human yet? That was surprising. Valyn knew there were quite a few patients who didn't quite qualify as human. Though there were more humans, he had to admit. Which certainly didn't matter any to him.

"Well...there was one who said that he was some sort of demi-god," Kenshin admitted, "But this one didn't believe him."

I'm not sure what a demi-god is, but he may have been one, Valyn wrote. I think this place has all manner of people. Human and not.

He supposed he could understand not believing. He hadn't believed Keman was a dragon until he'd seen it with his own eyes, felt it with his own hands. In retrospect, it had probably been rude to run his hands all over his friend like that.

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Day 27: Library

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