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 Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 9:44 am
Well, this little girl was certainly a good one for him to start with. Aquae was not easily upset or disturbed, and in fact found most of what Ardea was likely to do fascinating. She enjoyed learning new things-- still in those young stages where knowledge was soaked up like a sponge.
She watched the page as he read, trying to get an idea of at least where each word was as he read it, timing more than anything else, giving her some clues. When he turned the page, he had reached the end, and when he started talking again he was at the beginning...the rest was pure guesswork, but fascinating nonetheless.
Suddenly, there was a noise as of something rustling about the books in the back corridors of the library. The little girl blinked, turning to stare intensely in the direction of the noise. It had not been the bat..
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Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 9:52 am
On his little flight, Ink had been sure not to stray too far from his master. He heard the noise, too, with his tall, pointed ears, and, unsure of whether to disturb Ardea over the sound or not, settled on fluttering back to the Fey and landing on his shoulder.
Realizing he had not checked on the girl for almost five lines, Ardea glanced up from his reading about when Ink started trying to nest in the feathers on his shoulder. The scribe looked over at the bat in a bit of surprise for a moment before turning his gaze to Aquae.
Ardea had stopped reading aloud, and figured he would not need to start again when he saw she had turned away. The Heron was about to just go back to reading to himself as he had been before Aquae came into the library, but it seemed a bad idea to just ignore the girl now that she had lost interest in him.
He leaned down towards her a bit to try to see what she was looking at. "What is it, Miss Aquae?" Ardea asked gently and a bit hesitantly.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 9:29 am
The noise came again, and Aquae moved forward,
"Something..." she whispered, her watery blue hair falling into her eyes and being summarily shoved away at the motion. She continued in the direction of the noise, not sure whether Ardea would follow her, and less certain whether she wanted him to or not.
There, in the back of the library were...books. Fluttering about like birds or bats or something of that nature. On their own. The girl blinked, not having known that books were capable of such a thing, and reached out as though to touch one.
It snapped at her, and she pulled away, a small line of blood tracing along her arm where the book had touched her. She stared at it, a small tear of pain forming in her eye.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:00 am
Ardea quickly marked his page with the book's ribbon, snapped it shut, and rose to his feet. That was definitely not right. Perhaps there was some kind of enchantment somewhere causing the books to act like this? The scribe did not want to think about any kind of book, enchanted or not, that would harm a little girl.
Ink nestled down into the ruff of feathers that stood out from Ardea's shoulder, and peered at the books with round eyes. Good thing he had not flown over there, because the books appeared large enough to easily break one of his little wings. What was going on?
Well, it looked like Miss Aquae was about to cry, and it certainly was not Ardea's fault. Toddler or not, she was still a lady, so he figured he should do what he could to keep her safe.
"Miss Aquae," he told her, stepping up behind her and touching her shoulder gently. "Get behind me." The Heron kept his eyes on the books the whole time. Hopefully they would stay back. Having to damage books in self-defense would be... unfortunate.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:09 am
The girl didn't listen. While the pain itself had caused a tear to come to her eye, Aquae was indeed not -afraid-. She was -angry-. How -dare- that book hurt her!
She moved forward again, towards the book, and reached out, hitting it soundly on the spine before it had a chance to bite her-- ahh, but the dexterity of her mother had passed on to her in some small amount.
The book folded, falling to the ground, and others came to surround her, though none offered her violence. Apparently, they now considered her enough of a threat not to hurt her.
She peered up at the heron curiously,
"Books...?" she asked, thinking how to phrase her question, "Fly..?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:14 am
"No, Miss Aquae, they are not supposed to fly," the scribe told her. He was about to snatch hold of her arm to pull her away from the flock of books, but then she it one and it seemed to give up on its newfound ability, falling to the ground. So maybe if they just whacked all the books on the spine like that, they could ground them all?
Ardea stepped up to stand beside the girl, and took a swing at one tome. Just a strike with the heel of his hand, hopefully not hard enough to damage that precious knowledge, because the book he was, er, attacking looked quite old, meaning the information within would be very difficult if not impossible to recover if the book was rendered irrepairable.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:18 am
The book fell to the ground instantaneously-- the pages were bent a bit, in the process, however, just as though the book had been dropped upside-down. It didn't seem to be any worse for the wear, however.
Aquae jabbed lightning-fast at another book, and it hit the ground. She blinked. She didn't really mind the books floating around her, though, so long as they weren't biting her. The thought made her look again at the cut she had acquired from the first book, and she sat down, staring at it for a moment.
Then, she picked up the book and looked at it. Nothing different from any other book she had seen. Maybe Ardea would see something different? He could read the black scratchings, afterall. Maybe these flying books had something special marked on them so that they would fly?
She held the book up to him,
"...read?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:27 am
Ardea winced a bit as the book crashed to the ground, but only hesitated a moment before striking at another of the airborne books. It looked by the cover like a cookbook, and, while Ardea did not like the idea of harming any book, cooking did not hold his interest quite like history did, so maybe this one could take a bit more abuse....
He turned as Aquae addressed him, looking momentarily confused. Read? Now? It was still a battle, though it was probably the most ridiculous one he could imagine. "Not now, dear," he told her, then edged closer to another of the books. "When no more are flying. Then I will read."
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:33 am
The girl stomped her foot angrily-- she did not like being told no, certainly. She very much remembered feeling the same way-- and usually getting what she wanted-- before the curse had shown itself. Something about being a "little lady" and all that.
"Read!" she insisted, holding up the book for his inspection. Before any sort of reaction could be made, however, the books all suddenly retreated to their shelves, looking, to all appearances, as though nothing at all had happened.
A deep, low rumbling sound could be heard from underneath them, however.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:50 am
Ardea swung and missed at the next book, the target having suddenly retreated. He was glad that was all over, regardless of how quickly the situation had both begun and ended. Standing straight again, the scribe took the book from Aquae and paged through it a little, scanning over the words.
He did not start reading aloud, though, because it was then that the Heron noticed the sound beneath them. "What on earth...?" Ardea asked to no one in particular.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:55 am
The book in Ardea's hands wiggled, trying desperately to get out of his hands, and, presumably, back on its shelf.
Aquae blinked at it, then looked at the floor, trying to figure out what was going on. She had never heard the ground make such noises before...
Slowly, she backed away. She had a -very- bad feeling about this.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 11:07 am
Ardea reflexively released the book in surprise as it moved, watching it until it was back on the shelf. Hopefully it was where it was supposed to be.
There were more pressing issues than a properly sorted library, anyway. "I think we should get out of here for now," the adult Fey told the younger one, though he himself stood his ground for the moment. With Ink so close at hand, all the sounds were sharper, clearer to his own ears as well.... Before he fled, Ardea wanted to stay a moment to listen and see if the rumbling sounded like it was getting closer, or staying where it was.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 3:53 pm
The rumbling was indeed getting louder. And louder still. Slowly the sounds of wood splitting could be heard, and then there were pieces of wood flying everywhere and a great gaping hole just before the two.
Aquae instinctively hid behind Ardea's tall legs. While the books had not frightened her, this was big enough to do so.
Dust rose out of the hole like smoke, and suddenly, a...creature...appeared to peak out. At first all that could be seen was a long forked tongue, silky in appearance.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 8:13 pm
Ardea bit back a handful of words that his mind associated with the taste of soap, and held out a hand to make sure Aquae stayed behind him. This... this thing wanted a fight here in his library? The scribe crouched, preparing for a fight as he drew his dagger.
"Miss Aquae," he instruced the girl carefully, hoping his tone would carry the message that what he was saying was not to be questioned. "Keep behind me, but do not stand close."
(( Where is the monster positioned relative to the door? Would they have to go around it to get out of the room? ))
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Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 5:43 pm
((Yes, they would. ^^ ...what fun would it be if they could get away that easily? ^_- ))
Aquae obediently stayed behind the heron, but not so closely that his movements would be in any way restricted. She wasn't entirely sure how that would help her situation, though. The monster could reach through his legs, probably.
It peeked out of the hole created, and upon further revealing itself, it could be seen that it wasn't...well, really a monster so much as a very deranged looking, magnificently huge...book. The 'tongue' was a bookmark of sorts, a bright red beacon tasting out its surroundings. The book raised itself above the boards and appeared to be inspecting them.
The books on their shelves trembled.
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