Gathering Dust [Tony & Rein]

One of those days. Tony certainly hadn't intended to return to the monotony that he'd escaped from in the past year, but it seemed that ever since the library had recovered, things were returning to the same old routine. The main difference was that his offspring was there to keep him company - but even though she'd spared him a happy thought from time to time, looking after her had also become a routine. Knowledge. He was still craving knowledge, yet his daughter's origins proved to be nothing but mystery.

In one hand, he held a feather duster, of which he swept at the shelves, which seemed to be gathering dust faster than he could clean it. In the other, he held a small book titled Cracking Complicated Codes: A Guide to Cryptography, on the chance that it might come in handy.

All was well. Uneventful, but well.

He, honestly, had been sadly neglecting his usual table in the library that he had taken a liking to early in his arrival so long ago. Rater, he'd been pouring over some inherited journals in his own room diligently. He had figured it was about time to focus on himself and figure out the benefits of his species first before he turned to hoarding all the rest of the knowledge as he was supposedly supposed to do with his eternity.

However, he had run into some road blocks. The journals were...confusing at best. And some portions made reference to things he just wasn't familiar enough with. As such, he found himself returned to that table in the corner of the library, secluded in a place sectioned off by book cases. Before him was the journal in current question, and stacked around it were piles of books on lore and myth and anything he thought might hold something even remotely helpful. Long fingers flipped through the pages of an encyclopedia, with some frustrated haste.

"Ah. Nothing. Again." The tone was under his breath, and with slightly furrowed brow, he flipped the heavy book shut and picked it up as he stood, back of knees pushing the chair he had been seated in. Turning swiftly, he had been set upon to step a path that would return the undesired book to its self, but didn't quite account for the leg of the table that would get in his way. The top of his foot caught its edge and with eyes flying open, he tripped. Arms giving a flail, the encyclopedia went sliding a bit in front of him on the floor as he face-planted with a yelp. The jerk delivered to the table unsettled the towers of bindings and down toppled the books. They clattered to the wood surface, and some to the floor with resounding thumps.

Sprawled out on the floor, Rein winced with each one.

A loud thud interrupted his thought process - the sort of thud that was more than a stray book slipping off a shelf. He jerked with fright, immediately ceasing all his mindless dusting and reading. He'd felt that - a vibration across the floor. It was a crack in the routine, but an unwelcome one. Soon, he could hear the toppling of books, and he stood, cringing in silence. The noise was too, painfully familiar.

...Right. He was going to have to inspect that, wasn't he? He didn't dare want to see what sort of ruckus had been caused, but his obligation was stronger than his desire. Mentally both preparing and goading himself, he turned the corner of the bookshelf to see what had happened.

He squeaked aloud at the sight of the grounded boy and the books--- the books! "Heavens no! What happened here? Oh no..." Scrambling forth, he hopped over Rein's legs towards the fallen books - No! Some of the pages had been bent. Like he were soothing a small baby mammal, he gently picked them one by one, stroking their covers and inspecting their spines. None of them had been badly damaged. He sighed, bundling them up against his chest, before peering towards the fallen boy. "...What on Earth are you doing there? Pick yourself up! I want no silly rough-housing in this library! Oh, bother," he muttered, setting the books on the table again. Students, honestly...

It seemed rather sudden that a little creature came bounding over in distress as he had started the pained process of picking himself back up. He noted, but didn't entirely mind that the thing went to collect the books first rather than help him - but was a little annoyed that it had decided to blame him. I mean, yes, it was his fault, but-

"I tripped. It was an accident." Pushing himself from the ground with a pout, he got his legs back underneath him, feeling a little sore winded. Dusting off his pants, the lijk turned to help in the effort of righting the bindings to their correct orientations. Perhaps he should not have stacked them so high... "I was really just researching, I promise."

"Resarching?!" His voice had reached an icy peak, as if he found the notion entirely preposterous. "Researching what? How to make a great big ruckus in a quiet room? How to effectively collapse and damage a pile of books?  How to annoy your fellow librarian?!" His sharp chirps disintegrated into frustrated mumblings, paying little heed to the boy as he continued to return the books to their proper positions.  He wasn't satisfied with the books merely being in place, however, no. They had to be as straight as a student's back, uniformed, and in alphabetical order.

As Tony sorted the books to his inane standards of perfection, his gaze momentarily trailed towards Rein to examine his face.  Yes, he had been in his class before, hadn't he? A class which had long ended, but regardless, he still possessed the manuscript that he'd produced.

"...What were you researching, anyway?" he asked, his tone containing a trace of suspicion. Of course, he couldn't contain his curiosity.

The boy ducked his head at the chastising, embarrassed. He'd gone silent in the other's vocalized frustration, and took the punishment. He still tried to help clean up the mess, even though the other seemed to just do it all his own.

However, after it all, and at the final question, Rein glanced up and over to the other. His air was apologetic and sheepish, as if he would get in trouble again. He always hated when he got in trouble with teachers, staff and the general authority figures. He tried to be good, really...

"Currently? I'm trying to translate some really old German, and find out something about some old preservation techniques used by old cultures on their dead." He shrugged his shoulders a little lamely. "It's in some old journals I'm trying to make sense of."

The plantperson didn't seem to have much regard for Rein; whether for how he was feeling, or the fact that he was trying to help. His assistance was not particularly wanted; could he be trusted with neatness at all? If he turned his back, the whole thing would go flying over again--  Irritated, he resumed the frantic tidying.

As he smoothed over the edges of the last book, he simply listened, idly nodding along, before looking up to him with a somewhat cutting gaze. "...That's an awfully interesting thing to research. I hold absolutely no doubt in my ability to accurately translate the German language, but--" He turned to face him fully, a hand placed awkwardly on his hip. "...Whyever would you be studying about the dead?"  The word was sniffed with a distinct tone of disbelief.

The tall boy nearly flinched. But...wait, what? Rein's brow furrowed slightly in confusion. The thing had little doubt in his ability to translate German? Was he offering to help, or just...assuming he was going to help? Had Rein even asked or hinted at wanting help at all? The lijk frowning, feeling slightly insulted.

"German, I could do with no problem. It's the fact that it's a tad ancient and in shorthand that's giving me a problem." Rein crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow a bit at the little plant thing. "As for the dead, I believe it may have some sort of attachment to the origin of my species. Or, something. Maybe." He then seemed more confused at himself now than otherwise, then simply shrugged. He didn't know yet, which is why he was trying to figure it out.

Rein's reaction was baffling-- at least, Tony had assumed that he had no reason to be irritated at all, especially since he hadn't said anything intended to cause irritation. Now if only he could read a book on the Causes and Effects of Social Interactions.

"Whyever didn't you ask for my professional assistance, then? I'm always here in the library," he scoffed, dusting at the leaves around his neck, which were now shrivelling to brown thanks to the approaching fall. However, the mention of 'species' did make him hesitate.  Of course, with eyes like those...

"...You originated from the dead?" He squinted, before taking a step forwards to leer more closely at the boy's face, stretching his neck as far as he could.  "Tell me more about this species of yours..."

He leaned back a bit as the other stepped forward, giving the other an odd look as if he thought the answer to the question a bit obvious or silly.

"Cause, I like it doing it. It's a project for me, I enjoy the research and the challenge it presents." The boy hesitated. "I...I don't know. There is a connection to death, but I'm not sure how it ties in with our origin. It's more like we're the living dead. All I know is that we do not function as normal humans do or should despite our similarities." He trailed off in thought before starting again. "I'm just trying to find out if the owner of these books before me figured anything out for me to use as a starting point. It's...what I do. What we do, I guess."

Rein shrugged a bit lamely, looking a little like he was feeling a bit out of place.

Tony's eyes was attentively pinned on the other, too much so. Every movement he made was met with a critical leer. "...I see." His fingers started twitching irregularly, and he found himself pulling away slightly, as if no longer desiring to stand so closely. "So... If I am hearing correctly, you are one of the ...undead?"

Well, he didn't look dead. Strange, peculiar, but not dead. He'd seen living creatures that looked more dead than him. Still, in any case, if there was an association, then caution was to be executed. Yet still, he couldn't quell the feeling that maybe this boy wasn't entirely dissimilar in situation to himself.

"I think you had better tell me more. Everything you know, in fact." He crossed his arms, expecting Rein to spill his guts right there and then. Hopefully not literally.

"No." His answer was nearly flat. "I'm one of the...immortal, I guess. Or...something similar." He shrugged lightly. "But again, that's why I'm researching it. But no, I'm not dead, never was."

The lijk put on a friendly, kind, disarming smile as he linked his fingers together. He looked the picture of an innocent, jovial youth.

"I'm afraid there's not much to tell you in the subject, yet. And so I apologize for having to decline that request. Besides, we're more of knowledge hoarders, really, not sharers." He shrugged again, smile bobbing with well-meaning nature as he turned to straighten some books, as if he were just going to return to his work and the other would have to just accept that answer as the final.