With each book she picked up off the floor, the senshi of wishes took a few moments to scan a few of the pages and fan through the rest. Nothing made sense; each one written in a language she couldn’t identify; however, several had pictures she found interesting if only because she had a love for stars.
“This is going to take a few trips” Drawing in a sigh she picked up one stack then placed it on the other; mindful to put the more fragile books on top. With her arms completely straight she slid them towards the edge so she could get her fingertips under the bottom book and used her chin for stabilization. They weren’t light that’s for sure and for a moment she considered leaving a few behind and grabbing them on her second trip but at this point she was already committed.
To herself she began to mentally hum the classic Christmas song ♪♫Put one foot in front of the other♪♫ as she made her way across the library and down the hall towards her room all the while trying really hard not to accidentally drop the precious cargo she was carrying.
Sleep normally wasn’t something which escaped him, he was rather good friends with sleep in fact, and yet since arriving here he was doing just that. It was not easy finding sleep here, in fact it was rather difficult. It wasn’t that anything had happened but rather it was just being nervous in a foreign place, a place so different from home and so far from home.
He was worried about how time was moving here, if it would affect school since that was due to start soon, and Caleb. He didn’t have to worry about his family, and them worrying about him going missing, but he was worried for the few he knew who weren’t involved in this - weren’t already here.
Sneaking around, something he’d been doing since the first night they’d arrived, Kiuchi was dressed in bed clothing as he moved about the darkened halls. Busy trying to keep as silent as possible, still not trusting how much freedom they were being given to wander around and explore, he didn’t notice the sounds coming his way and so it really was no surprise when he slammed into a stack of books.
Merkeb let out a surprised yelp, squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the inevitable clammering of books to resound through the otherwise quiet hall as she stumbled backwards and joined them sprawled out on the floor.
“Oof-” She rubbed her chin with one hand, grimacing with how tender it was, and her posterior with the other. That smarts…
One golden eye peeked out from behind a full set of lashes then released the breath she had been holding and let out a sigh of relief. Although several of the books she had been carrying looked to be falling apart at the seams they all appeared to be intact save for a few creased pages and bent corners. Hopefully the queen wouldn’t be too mad.
Movement to the side caught her attention however it was the sound of someone mumbling beneath their breath that made her relax just a bit. It was one of their own, a Dark Mirror Senshi she had run into not a servant or sentry meant to guard this place. “Are you okay?” She asked, crawling over to the corner where the two halls met to see who it was.
Shifting from his place on the floor, sitting up with his legs spread out and bent at the knees. His dark eyes blinking rapidly as he was rather stunned and that had seemed to wake him up some, it looked like sleep might be harder to find tonight.
Peeking around the corner, his hands pressed to the floor as he started to crawl around to see who he’d hit into, he was met halfway by the sight of a dark mirror senshi. “Oh! U-um yeah...I’m fine. I didn’t hurt you did I?” Though he hadn’t hit into a person, he knew he’d hit into books if the sound wasn’t enough to go by than the sight of books on the floor was. That meant she’d been carrying them and he’d likely hit them into her when he’d walked right into the stack.
“I wasn’t watching where I was going.” He was too focused on trying to keep silent, and too tired, to notice a thing...and he really hoped he hadn’t hurt her because of it.
“It’s fine,” She waived her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry. Really. It could have been a whole lot worse.” He could have pulled a Liam Neeson and hit her in the throat with one of the books. “I should have just taken three trips instead of trying to crap it into two.” She glanced sideways bashfully while tucking stray strands of blue hair behind her ear.
Biting down on his bottom lip he nodded slowly. “I’m glad...I thought I might have hurt you.” Trailing off he glanced about before moving to stand and help gather some of the books. “Let me help you, I mean I did knock them over - it’s my fault.” Never mind that she had said she could have made more trips. He had been the one not paying attention, she would have been fine had he not hit into her. So really it was his fault, he had to help her pick up the books.
“I’m Kiuchi...by the way.”
“T-thank you.” Before the female senshi even had a chance to tell him it was okay he was already carefully closing the books that had fallen open and stacking them, though not as tall as she had them.
“My name is Merkeb.” She reached for the nearest book to help him out then paused when their fingertips brushed against one another. “I-” She paused for a moment then quickly recovered “I’m the senshi of wishes. Before you ask - I’m not entirely sure what that means. Most of the things I’ve wished for have gone unanswered.” There was a tinge of sadness in her tone as she spoke; barely perceptible but it was there.
“I heard about you...the senshi of clover mentioned you to me, when her and I met.” So this was the senshi of wishes. He really wasn’t sure what he expected, if he had any expectations anyway, but he had wondered about her magic when the other dark mirror had mentioned the senshi of wishes to him. “It seems you and the senshi of clover both have issues with magic...she still couldn’t figure out what her magic did last I know. Ohh...and I’m the senshi of gorgon’s…”
Handing over the stack of books to her, he took another stack for himself to carry. “I’ll help you carry them…”
“Oh, thank you-” Nodding her head in the direction of the bedrooms, a smile tugging the corner of her lips, she glanced down at the black floor and fell in step beside him all the while enjoying the company he offered.
“It’s been awhile since I have talked to Sadalsuud.” While she had seen the Senshi of Clovers on a number of occasions the opportunity to actually chat illuded them each time. True she could have reached out to her with their communicators but life got in the way. “She’s a sweetie, I hope she’s doing well.”
“I haven’t spent a lot of time with her either.” Not like he did with Acubens or even Crocus, both of whom he knew well. “I think I’ve seen her mostly at things like this - big gatherings.” Gatherings where things went wrong, and mirrorspace tried to kill them through various means. He liked meeting people, he was getting to like it a lot, but he didn’t like meeting people when there were things out to get them all.
“So, out of curiosity, what does your magic actually do?” She asked, hoping it would give her an idea as to what a gorgon was since the word, although somewhat familiar, illuded her just the same.
“Makes people sick...I don’t know how that fits gorgon’s but it does.” Hee answered with a glance over to her, letting her lead the way to her room. “Sadalsuud helped me figure that out. I feel bad about it - I really do.” He still felt bad for using his magic on other people, especially before he even knew what it would do. He doubted an apology would work, or was a good idea, but he wished it was a safe thing for him to do.
“I mean a person with serpents for hair and a gaze that turns people to stone….and somehow I make people sick…”
“Aww, poor Sadalsuud…” The corners of Merkeb’s pulled down in a deep frown. “I take it you two were just sparring and testing magic?” The same thing she had done with the Senshi of Clovers when they first met. Fortunately both of their magic seemed to be defensive if not dud’s.
“Not even a spar, just testing magic. I had only used mine against the other sides senshi in tight spots - to get away. So I didn’t know what it did, she offered to help me find out.” And he did appreciate it, a lot, because he at least now knew what his magic did. He knew what he’d inflict on someone else, at least to a point as he’d never been hit with his own magic.
The bluenet paused in front of a closed door which he could only assume was the room she’d claimed as her own. “Uh- hmm…” she paused, turned around to look for a table, then with a shrug resigned to setting her stack on the floor so she could turn the knob. “Could you set those on the desk please?” She asked while working to wedge her fingertips under the bottom book to pick her own stack back up.
“Of course.” Waiting until the door was open he stepped into the room and made right for the best to set the books down on top of.
“I should go...I want to take a walk around…” Nodding his head, though smiling lightly, he hurried off after wishing her a good night.
“Ok! Thank you so much for your help. Feel free to swing by later if you’d like!” With their brief farewells said Merkeb quickly hustled back to the library to get the last stack she had left on the table then set herself on a self proclaimed quest to make some semblance of sense from the texts she had procured.
Sleet Tempest Snape
