damned_institute | Day 38: Patients' Library

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Day 38: Patients' Library

The intercom rang out, disrupting what had turned out to be a rather pointless breakfast conversation, at least in Brainiac 5's eyes. He couldn't wait to put more distance between himself and Scar's blather of how logic, of all things, might not work the same way in this dimension. It was almost enough to make him believe that the man may very well have been a lion originally after all, as he'd never heard anything so very... ignorant and uneducated.

He quickly finished up the fruit he'd been nibbling on - he was no longer as hungry as he had been - and looked around automatically to see where Clark was. Unfortunately with the press of people around, some being led off to the library and others to the mentioned 'therapy sessions' - if that was what they really were - he had lost sight of the Kryptonian. Still there wasn't many places he could go, so Brainiac 5 would be able to catch up with him eventually to check on his condition and try and learn more about what had happened last night. That the Chapel had healed him - admittedly by passing his injuries to another - was interesting, but far more important in his eyes was what had happened to Clark and his powers. They hadn't been working correctly and that worried the Coluan boy more than he would normally have admitted. Without Clark's abilities... he wasn't sure what they would have to rely on in order to escape.

Another problem he would have to deal with was Grell... or, if he was to believe the notes on the bulletin board, the person pretending to be Grell. But that was going to require more careful planning before he made a move. Come to think of it, he had agreed to meet another in the library today on that same post that had sparked this whole mess. At least then he would have something of interest to look forward to, as he doubted any of the 21st century books were likely to be worthwhile to someone of his advanced intellect.

Following the nurses led him to what must have been the library; a reasonably large room filled with a range of archaic books on tall shelves, a few tables and chairs interspersed around the room. The Coluan boy couldn't refrain from wrinkling his nose in distaste as he entered the room, not liking the cumbersome books and the dust that he knew would have gathered on them; he much preferred the clean arrangement of his C.O.M.P.U.T.O. systems back in the Legion headquarters. It was much more practical then shelves and shelves of books on fictional worlds and dated information.

Trying to avoid as much of the room as possible, Brainiac 5 settled himself down on a chair to wait, keeping an eye out for a tall, dark-haired man with a red... something on his forehead.

[for Homura]

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"Maybe you are, old man," she continued before stopping in the aisle and bringing a hand to her chin. "So you admit you're a liar and senile. Maybe you fit the stereotype, and are a pervert like your student says as well."

She paused a moment to make him sweat, before closing her eyes with a smile. Too easy to make him upset. "A female ninja, hmm. I most likely have the movement down. You should see me throw diamond shards. I'm a bit more accurate than with medical scalpels."

Jiraiya actually DID sweat. Massively. Until he realized she was only teasing and still had no idea just how extremely very ultimately close she was to the truth.

"I only said 'maybe'," Jiraiya protested feebily after he realized he was still in the clear, mostly joking in his reaction now. "I can't even get discounts yet!"

"You do have the movement down, and the intrigue," but the diamond comment made him blink, then laugh. "Throwing diamond shards? That sounds both painful and expensive."

Jiraiya figured it was some sort of technique almost immediately, but he joked about it anyways. It was nice to be able to do that with a woman and not get immediately labeled a pervert. He didn't even have to force himself to behave, as Renamon always provided intelligent conversation that prevented his mind from roaming too far.

"You admitted you were a liar. So I can't believe that you're not that old. Unless you'd care to enlighten me otherwise?" she asked innocently.

"Expensive, no. They're made from my energy, to simplify. But painful... yes. Extremely." Her grin had a bit of a bite to it this time, as she remembered good fights she had had. "But I digress. Intrigue? Please go on."

Renamon smiled again, thinking offhand that she hadn't smiled this much in... days. Maybe even more.

Ah, she was getting him closer to a corner with that one--Jiraiya decided to give her a slightly clearer answer. "I'm only a bit more than half a century old, I'll have you know!"

"Remind me to never offer myself up as the target for target practice," Jiraiya actually laughed, almost able to see the poor souls that ended up on the wrong end of her attack.

He continued grinning as he pretended to inspect the spines of the books for something to read. "Well, you're interesting. You don't give out too much information about yourself, and what information you do give only raises more questions." Like the fact that she was a Digimon. There's a lot I don't know about you, but yet I trust you anyways."

The way he stated it wasn't so much as giving her compliments, but more like stating facts. Renamon wanted a truthful answer, after all. The last part... just slipped in, though, and Jiraiya blinked in surprise.

He really did trust her, though.

"Ah," she answered with a smirk. "So you really should be wise." Renamon blinked her eyes lazily at Jiraiya. "Oh, and don't worry. I don't need practice."

Renamon didn't know if she was amused or if she herself was intrigued by his response. Most had mentioned things like that but none had went into details. She'd... have to think about it. "At least I'm interesting," she answered wryly.

But trust was a fully different subject. She bowed her head. "Thank you for trusting me." She straightened. "I... believe I trust you as well." As much as she could anyway. Renamon was never fully comfortable with anyone.

"I'm at least a wise guy," Jiraiya smirked back. "I didn't expect you to need practice, though."

Jiraiya shrugged in response, but was glad he hit the right note in his answer--she didn't seem bored by it, anyways; he could almost see those gears turning in her pretty head, even. "Interesting is always better--dying of boredom is always so anticlimatic. And makes for a horrible ending to a story."

He was surprised when she suddenly bowed her head, but looked pleased and a bit embarrassed. "That's good to hear, but ah--there's no need to bow...."

Normally, Jiraiya liked being acknowledged and respected to that extent. But it seemed weird, to have Renamon doing such. She wasn't his subordinate, and even if he was probably two or three times his age... It was just weird, even if it was just the tiniest bow of her head! And he wasn't sure why it concerned it so much, either. Not that he was overly concerned or anything...!

She smirked again. "I'm glad I kept you... interested, then. I'd rather not bore you."

This situation had a familiar ring to it, like a faded dream or something of the sort. Renamon had no idea why it seemed like she'd danced these steps before, but it remained in her mind... a comfortable deja vu. And a weird memory of snow.

The embarrassment was altogether too endearing. And too tempting to pass up. "It's how I am. Am I not to your liking?"

"I don't think there's any chance of that happening," Jiraiya answered truthfully.

And that's when Renamon decided to tease him again. It had been a long while since any woman managed to get him so easily flustered, but it had also been a long while since he had to walk a tightrope to make sure she didn't find out he had perverted tendencies. Most women could, at most, slap him--Renamon was actually dangerous, especially with them on equal grounds because of Landel's.

Which still didn't explain why his cheeks felt ever so slightly, almost imperceptively warmer, damnit. "Uh, n-n-no! Of course not! I enjoy being around you!"

Great, reduced to stuttering like a teenager, although he was more in fear of his life than about not getting any like he had been back then. It was a good thing Naruto hated books, because if he was in the library, he'd enjoy watching this FAR too much. And he'd never let Jiraiya live it down.

It would be too simple to keep pushing further and see what came of it. But she had more respect for Jiraiya than that.

Renamon let a smile grace her lips, and decided to let up on the man. "Relax, Jiraiya. I won't bite."

Jiraiya sighed and sagged a little in relief, very glad that he wasn't going to dig himself into a further hole. She enjoyed teasing him, didn't she? While he could understand why she enjoyed it, he wished that he could get her as equally flustered.

Although the idea of an exceptionally flustered Renamon nearly broke his brain.

He thought about her reply for a moment, and then grinned slowly, "But what if I like a woman that bites, hmm?"

She raised an eyebrow sternly. "Then I'd have to remind you that I am not a woman."

Though part of her was amused. Jiraiya was certainly less crass than Impmon, but at the same time, he was more brazen than the small Digimon. She wasn't quite sure which she prefered.

...Prefered? Renamon gave a small sigh. She had been a human for far too long already. She had no preference to people, only loyalty to those who earned it. Prefered, indeed.

She shook her head slightly. "So you're coming along to get weapons tonight?" Asking an obvious question to force a subject change. Very nice.

Jiraiya's bubble almost burst right there. It was true that Renamon was not a woman, originally, and there was a chance she'd not want to be with any being other than another Digimon, or anyone at all. Which meant that Jiraiya might have no chance at all with her.

But then she abruptly changed the topic. His eyebrows raised a bit at that. Well. That meant she was forcing herself to not think about that subject, which meant she could be interested despite her protest and was trying not to be.

Jiraiya honored her wish and let the subject slide, nodding at Renamon's question, "My group needs weapons, so I'll be there. Where exactly do you want to meet?"

She was relieved that he let it slip, which surprised her. She would seriously need to analyze her behaviour soon to try and make some sense of it.

She was reminded of her conversation with Yukari from yesterday, and her cheeks momentarily flushed. Damn. She was supposed to have been working to rectify that.

Ignoring it completely, she replied, "I have business at the F-A hall, so I'll be there for a bit. If you need to talk to your student first that might work out, or you could just meet me there."

She was being uncharactistically obvious. Painfully so. Perhaps she should just stick to business subjects after all.

Oho! Renamon was now blushing! It took all of Jiraiya's many years of training as a ninja to school his reaction to that. So maybe his chances weren't totally sunk after all.

He was enough of a gentleman that he didn't bring up the blush, either. Renamon was ignoring its existence entirely, so it was probably better that Jiraiya did the same thing. No need to make her even more uncomfortable in her human body than she already was.

"I'll be checking up on Naruto before I go meet you," Jiraiya confirmed with a small grin. "I may have to punt him in the ass to get him moving, but I'll come meet you when I can. My room's M29, but I'll probably be in a nearby hallway if it takes me too long to come find you."

Focusing had made the warmth leave her cheeks, though the irritation from it was harder to vanish. She continued ignoring it. Playing their little game would allow her to be distracted.

She blinked innocently at Jiraiya, before responding in a lower tone. "Oh, I know your room number." A moment of pause, then she smirked and walked around another corner to the next aisle.

She was still oblivious to the possibility that their 'game', as it was, might be one of the causes of her emotional reactions.

Jiraiya had called it right, because it seemed like Renamon was irritated at her blush now. It was good that she was aware enough of her body to get irritated--it meant she was adjusting. Although the expression on her face at that moment was definitely edging towards "cute".

His eyebrow raised as she spoke before walking into the next aisle, "Oh, you do, do you? What else do you know about me?"

She didn't even play at looking at the books this time, and simply turned around fully to stare at Jiraiya with a smirk.

"What do I know? Hmm...." She brought a finger to stroke along her lower lip in thought. "Depends on which conversation you want me to reference. The one with Kakashi, or the ones with your student."

The fact that Jiraiya couldn't know what she had heard amused her.

While Jiraiya had been aware that she had overheard his conversation with Kakashi, he wasn't aware that she had overheard at least one conversation with Naruto as well. Although it wasn't hard to overhear Naruto, considering how easy he made it... She wasn't kidding about her hearing being good. If other patients had hearing of a similar quality, then he'd have to be careful.

He let out a sigh, but then grinned a bit. "I can guess what you overheard with Kakashi. Now, with Naruto... It's easy to overhear him, really, so I wouldn't easily know which conversations you could be referring to...."

She tilted her head. "Yesterday, I overheard you talking about one of your student's teammates being gay--the one with the sword, I believe? As well as discussing Naruto's history. And a lot of teasing," she added, giving Jiraiya a patiently amused look. "Which it seems like you like to do.

"And this morning..." Renamon paused, trying to think back. She was preoccupied with Yukari that she hadn't devoted much attention to that conversation. "This morning I heard your student yell... once again... that you were a pervert. And then you hushing him that 'she' would hear. But after that I was... preoccupied."

Renamon raised her eyebrows yet again. "Should I be concerned that I am that 'she', and your interest is only as your student so loudly repeats?"

The Digimon was mainly teasing still, but she still had an offhand interest. If Naruto claim was true in any way, it would affect how she acted towards the Sannin. But, it depended exactly what was meant. And it still might only be 'just a nickname', odd as that may seem.

At first, Jiraiya looked amused. The one with the sword was a hilarious way to describe Sasuke, if he was actually that way. Which he probably was, considering Naruto didn't mention Aidou being thrown into the nearest wall followed by Sasuke freaking out, regardless if it was a kiss or not. It wasn't as surprising as he thought it would be.

And he couldn't refute the fact that it was fun to mess with Naruto's head a bit every now and then, because the kid just had great reactions to practically everything. But the comment about Naruto's "history" made him a bit more serious, because that was something only a few knew, and the kid was still dealing with it himself. It wasn't common knowledge.

When she began talking about his discussion with Naruto during breakfast, Jiraiya actually paled a bit. While she had only heard some of the discussion (which was almost too much), Jiraiya was relieved to know that she hadn't known the specific topic. Except then she said something that changed his mood entirely.

Renamon implied he was only interested in her because of her body. He was angry before he knew it, but he wasn't sure at whom. Or how angry he was. Just that he was angry, and that he--

"I'm not that kind of man," Jiraiya stated in an even tone, his expression closing up. "For me to be truly attracted to a woma--" Wait, Digimon. "--female--she would have to be special. Women with beautiful bodies exist anywhere. Women--and men--with a mind like yours are rare."

He almost glared at her but turned to stare hard at a spine of some innocent book instead. "If a man saw you only for your current body, he'd be a damned fool."

So many remarks Renamon could have made to what Jiraiya said. She could have made any sort of remarks, teasing or somewhat thankful, based upon what he had said. She passed on the majority of them, writing off a few, and putting a select group to memory.

A slightly wider blink was her only reaction. Coolly, she stated, "That's good to know."

Jiraiya didn't say anything in reply to that, forcing himself to read each individual title of the books on the shelves. It was the only way to cool his head. Even though he knew better, he was still as hot-headed as he was when he was half his age--it just took prodding in a certain manner to bring it out.

He reached up to rest his fingertip in the binding of one book, almost as if he contemplated taking it down to read--but both of them knew that he wasn't hardly even aware of the book's title. Renamon wasn't leaving, even though he practically told her he liked her. Which was frustrating, especially since she didn't feel the same way about him.

"Sorry," he quietly muttered out, knowing Renamon could easily hear him--he was just embarrassed enough to not want others to hear him apologizing; he raised his voice a bit louder after that. "Got carried away."

"You said what you wanted to say," she said in that same cool tone. "And from your emotional reaction, what you felt."

Which was the opposite of Renamon at the moment. The Digimon was like ice, as cool as her diamond shards. There was no way to guage what she was feeling, or if she was feeling something at all.

"So don't apologize." Especially if the man wasn't even going to come out and say it, much like the children they both watched over.

That sounded like a rejection, Jiraiya's first thought was. And he wasn't at all surprised--almost enough that it didn't sting. Or he wasn't going to let it sting, perhaps. Right now, that should be the least important thing on his mind. He needed to be there for his student.

And Renamon wasn't human. Digimon possibly were unable to share that sort of attraction, considering they didn't need to mate. And he was used to it, really--

"--It's not fair to you," Jiraiya stated finally, glancing slightly in her direction. "While my emotions don't care that you weren't human, it's not right to expect the feeling to be mutual."

Then, he finally really looked at her, and smiled, "... I'm fine, though. It's just been a long while since I reacted this strongly towards someone. That's all. So don't worry about it."

Her neutrality had been half-teasing still, as stoicism and silence was one of the best ways to get a person to continue talking. And that had worked. The man had made it obvious from his previous statement that he had a fondness for her... and from the emotional outburst, a large fondness. His stating outright that he had reacted strongly towards her added to that, making it less of a generic like, and more of a... what was the word that Takato had used? A crush.

Hm.

Either way, first of all, there was some clearing up to do. Renamon stepped towards Jiraiya, invading her own comfort zone by stopping a foot away. "Don't respond like that," she said firmly. "I am not a child, regardless of the age of this body, and my own... shortcomings with emotions are my own--not for anyone else to choose as an excuse."

Which he had, really. Used them as an excuse for her to not like him. Like it was a decisive thing, already finished. Renamon was annoyed, and let that emotion reach her eyes.

"If you are going to say you like me, do so. Don't play this game." She paused her speech, leaning forward a few more inches. "I will make my own decisions on who I do and do not like."

~~At least she was admiting she could like someone.~~

Day 38: Patients' Library

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