Kindling of a Flame

Four fingers twitched slightly, claws scratching against the wooden floor. A line drawn in chalk started next to Audi's hand, crossing and intertwining with others, forming a wonky, uneven sigil; there was a reason why she had never been given drawing duty back at Master's home. Still, she tried her best to remember what she could from peering over her brother's gray shoulder when he meticulously copied illustrations from old books, and her efforts were scribbled all over the floor, both in chalk and blood.

She was laying in the middle of the floor, watching the weird shadows cast by her body on the walls by the light of flickering candles. They were arranged in a neat circle around her - and that was the only neat thing about the scene, Audi laying there with splayed limbs, surrounded by chunks of coal, silver spoons, empty flasks, bits of bones, and all sorts of other junk along with a whole pile of books and papers with writing on them. She had chosen the room for its privacy, as nobody ever went there, and the furniture in the room was still untouched and covered in sheets. To be honest, Audi never really understood the point of furniture; the floor was enough for all intents and purposes.

Ever since the discovery on the Ball, she had done nothing but experiment, pore over books, scour her brain for annoyingly vague memories, leaving the room just to eat. Now, she was completely exhausted, feeling as if her brain had been doing back-flips inside her skull. But there was no time for sleeping, she would just lay down for a few more minutes, then continue studying. Even Esha's wonderful gift remained untouched in their dormitory. There would be time later for hobbies, there were things more important right now, more important gifts. In fact, she had received the most important gift of all.

A purpose.

If a few sleepless days and nights, her fur going into disarray from lack of grooming, missing classes and no social contact were the price to pay, then so be it. She sighed contentedly, eyes falling to half-mast as she did not dare shut them completely in fear of drifting off. Only a few moments of rest.

Since receiving his secret Santa gift from Esha, Chayne had been exploring the collection of books on the libraries third floor. Most of them were reference material, the sort of books that are to be used right there in the library. The library was almost always too bright for him to be able to read in though.

Tony would likely kill him if was caught, but Chayne had gotten in the habit of sneaking these books out through the nearby exit and reading them in the empty rooms of the third floor's east wing. If he drew the curtains, they made for a dark enough environment for him to read in. He always brought the books right back when he was done with them, so he didn't see much issue with it.

Today he'd borrowed a book about India and Hindi culture. He'd even brought the teapot with him, hoping to find some of the elaborate designs on it and learn if there was any real significance to them. Maybe they were just decorative. The spot of gold on it had gone forgotten, since Chayne could hardly even see it.

The corridor was pretty dark, so the small amount of light coming from around one of the doors stood out to him. He stopped in front of this door and had a miniature debate with himself about whether he should open it or not. Ultimately, curiosity won out and he opened it slowly and quietly.

Most details in the area of interest were lost in the of the candles. He could see the papers and the books and flasks? The stranger and more concerning objects were too obscure for him to him identify. Audi was perfectly visible in the center of all this though. It was the smell that actually concerned him. He could faintly smell blood. "Audi?"

Audi did not hear approaching footsteps, but the click of the door opening made her ears twitch. She should probably be nervous about being seen like that, with what she had made of the room, but honestly she was too weary. Besides, she had a good reason for what she had done, and it wasn't like that area of the castle was needed for anything else, right? Having come up with an excuse good enough, she was content to remain still and rest.

That is, until she heard the voice. Her eyes shot wide open and the memories of the events flooded her mind: the realization, the glomp and awkward kiss... It was so odd... The question of whether that had been just an expression of joy or whether she actually liked him was one she was happy to avoid by getting lost in work. But it seemed that escape was impossible for now, so Audi shifted pushed herself up on her elbow to look at him. He seemed... worried, somehow? She reached up with her hand to smooth over the disheveled fur on the top of her head, then blinked, looking to Chayne innocently with her tired, yet shiny eyes, as if completely clueless as to the reason for his concern.
"Chayne."

Chayne took Audi's response as an invitation, and he let himself pass into dimly lit room. The book he'd borrowed along with the teapot were in his arms. The kiss at the ball had practically gone forgotten, so immersed had Chayne been in his research since the event. He did remember it upon seeing the rat girl in front of him, but opted not to bring it up. Maybe Audi would find it embarrassing? Or maybe not. But if she did have a desire to talk about then she'd no doubt bring it up either way.

Chayne registered the small lights as being candles. Pretty big ones too, as he usually associated candles with birthday cakes rather than any sort of mystical uses they could possibly have. They were wax. What more could they possible be used for?

He could still smell the blood, but only barely. Audi didn't seem to be obviously injured either, at least, not that he could see. Nor did she sound worried about anything in particular. Actually, she sounded confused at the worry in his own voice. He gave a nervous chuckle, suddenly self-conscious about his apparently unwarranted concern. "What are you doing in here? Is it your birthday?" Of course, he was well aware that this was most likely not the case.

So, he decided to enter. She wasn't sure how to feel about it. On one hand, she had work to do and he was in a way interrupting, on the other, she was on a break after all. The past few days - how long had it been, anyway? - were kinda lonely, really. She missed people. So perhaps it was okay.

Audi sat up somewhat clumsily, watching Chayne attentively as she was curious as to his reaction to the scene before him. What he said widened her eyes with surprise and confusion. Her... birthday? How did he come to that conclusion? She shook her head a little, then looked around. A part of her wanted to share her excitement over her discoveries, telling him everything... but another part didn't want to, for some reason she didn't quite understand yet. Sweeping across the junk on the floor, her tail shifted to wrap around her.

"It's not." She gave an unsure, one-shouldered shrug. "I'm... experimenting."

Only then did she notice the teapot he was holding, and at the memories, a wide, involuntary smile spread across her face.

Chayne chuckled slightly at Audi's confusion. "It was a joke. Kind of." He gestured to the floor of the room with one hand, the arm of which was preoccupied with holding the teapot against his stomach. "The candles."

He took a few more steps forward, hoping to discern what some of the objects on the floor were. Distance did nothing to change the amount of light hiding them though. "Experimenting with what?" The word 'experimenting' in itself peaked Chayne's curiosity. He'd always been a scientist at heart, however didn't seem like any kind of experiment he'd ever seen.

His answer did nothing to clarify, and her smile faded as Audi tilted her head, her gaze going back and forth between Chayne and the candles. She still didn't see the link between candles and it being her birthday. Ah, well. He had a weird sense of humor, perhaps. It didn't matter. She shook her head quickly as to get rid of the thought.

Entirely without conscious thought and much to her surprise, she felt her hackles rising when he drew closer, as if she was preparing to defend this 'territory', along with all her work of hers on it, against him. But that was silly. It was hers, yes, and he knew that and would respect it, surely. Chayne was her friend.

Still, for some unfathomable reason, she didn't feel like telling him about her studies in detail.

Looking away from him and down to the ground, she swept off a sigil drawn in chalk and picked up a vertebra. "With magic." she said in a somewhat dismissive tone, then raised the bone to her mouth to chew on it idly.