.:: One Page = Two Boys?! ::.
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Sira slinked along the side of the building, silent and swift as a shadow. She tapped the small ear piece to her headset to get Jiro's attention. "Hey.. how close am I to the target?" she whispered in a low voice. Keys stopped clacking on the keyboard momentarily and she thought she could hear a mouse clicking as Jiro hummed under his breath while he was pulling up charts.
"Pretty close."
"Good," she smiled before falling silent again as mercury-silver eyes slitted faintly in the darkness as she peered around the next corner to make sure no one else was present. She approached a set of doors that appeared to be made of heavy wood. They looked utterly unremarkable to her and she squinted blearily at the small plaque before frowning.
"Uh.. Jiro?"
"Yeah?"
"This is a library," she informed him as she squinted quizzically at the doors. That didn't seem quite right. She was supposed to be at the estate of some wealthy politician that was in need of.. a rude awakening of sorts. "This isn't right."
"Ohhh..."
"Oh?" she murmured eyes widening slightly, "That didn't sound like a good 'oh.'" She sighed heavily and scanned the area around her once more. She didn't like making mistakes, and this was definately.. a very big one.
F.G. busied himself about the Library, despite the late hour. He tried his best to maintain his serious composure, but that was dashed as a shower of curly ribbons fell upon his head. With a smirk, he removed one of the offending streamers, which was hanging comically off his glasses.
"Pita!" He tried to sound imposing, but just ended up chuckling.
The fairy landed on the desk in front of the man, placing her hands on her hips, her posture huffy. "You could do more to help out, you know!" She wagged a tiny finger at the man. Sometimed he thought she forgot how small she was. "It's Eri's birthday, try to show some enthusiasm." She spat a sloppy rasberry at him before fluttering off, hanging streamers in the places that were too high for anyone else to reach.
"Damn bug..." He muttered, closing his book in favor of a pile of colorful decorations.
Ralph grumbled lightly in frustration as he approached his own destination. Apparently, he was supposed to be finding information of some kind in here. Why it had to be this specific library he wasn't too sure of, but that lovely brother of his was probably toying with his mind. He shrugged off the thought with a sigh as he walked up to the entrance, hands stuffed into his coat pocket with sunglasses settled at the end of his nose.
His hair flowed pleasantly as he increased his pace; heading straight for the handle, not even bothering to even notice that there was someone standing right next to him. He looked briefly to the woman giving an abrupt sentence as he turned the handle. "Sorry miss, but could you move a bit? I've got to get inside."
She jumped when she heard someone behind her and whirled around and pressed her back against the doors. She internally cursed inside her head. She'd been so distracted talking to Jiro about his being potentially hacked (and therefore had messed up his directions he'd been feeding her) that she hadn't noticed anyone else within the vicinity.
Her silver glazed eyes widened slightly when she realized just exactly who it was that had snuck up on her. Her head tilted to the side as she gazed over at him, causing her pitch black hair to shift out of her eyes momentarily. "What are you doing here?" she found herself asking before clapping a hand over her mouth a bit comically when she realized that Ralph didn't know who she was, and she'd... totally blown whatever cover she might have had.
Damn! And she was in her true form, too. She was a little on the skinny side, short, deathly pale (which made her jet black hair contrast oh so nicely with her nearly white skin), had elfin ears, and strange liquid-silver looking eyes. And Ralph.. was taller than her. She sulked at that and crossed her arms over her chest. She hated being short.
Pita froze mid-air, a steamer hovering from her fingertips. "Didja hear that?" She yelled down to F.G. from the rafters.
"Hear what?" F.G. moved closer to the fairy, looking up at her.
Pita looked at the doorway, then shrugged. "Guess I was hearing things." She cast a suspicious glance at the door before busying herself again.
The blonde had waited for the typical response of, 'Oh sorry sir' and have moved out of the way, but this woman had decided to question him? He let his hand go from the door momentarily, pushing up his glasses further to shield his eyes. It wasn't good if random people started knowing who he was.
He turned himself to face her with a quirk of his eyebrow. "I'm going to the library, what else does it look like?... but, you say it as if you know me. Which I don't think I do, miss." He rolled off the words as they were spoken with ease, most courteous, even though at that very moment he was about ready to just dash into the library since she had moved; but still he had to figure out how this woman knew him.
His lip was bitten a bit as he looked down to her, being quite taller than people always made him feel a bit overpowering and amused him. Though, this one even crossed her chest seeming annoyed at that fact, which is why he tried to stifle his laughter before turning his expression blank.
A large stack of presents seemingly bounced down the lane of its own accord. They stopped abruptly near the door, where the first sign of a person peered around the pile. Her black garb kept her body from being noticed, expecially in the dark and behind such colorfully wrapped boxes, but her blue hair was pretty easy to notice.
She didn't recognize either person blocking her way, but if she didn't get inside to set the gifts down they would crush her soon. Clearing her throat loudly, DS took another step forward. "Excuse me, would you mind continuing your conversation inside?"
Basira eyed him for a moment before uncrossing her arms and placing them at her hips as she gave him a small smile. Her mission might've been a complete failure, but it didn't mean she wasn't allowed to have a little fun. Ralph had conveniently walked right up to her. "Soo.. how's Radz doing?" she asked with a bright grin. This would be a fun game.
Albeit it was a dangerous one. Ralph was a mob boss and taunting him wasn't nessecarily a good idea, but if worse came to worse, she could also change forms and skitter away before he had a chance to react. She was terribly good at throwing people off guard like that.
"Haven't seen him since the wedding. You didn't kill him after I left or anything did you?" she smirked, "That'd be a real shame. He's a charming fellow." She resisted the urge to giggle when Jiro's voice piped up in her ear to ask what exactly it was she was doing and who she was talking to.
She frowned when another person appeared, interrupting her little game with Ralph. Tonight was so not her night. She stepped out of the way to allow the person carrying what appeared to be presents inside. It had been a long time since she'd made so many mistakes in one evening.
"Ms. DS!" F.G. called warmly, walking toward the door to greet is friend and manager, and to take part of the load of boxes out of her hand. "I see you have company with you tonight?" His blue eyes fell on the two sating it he shadows of the Library. "Well, come on inside, all of you. Pita has already started decorating, and I've started a pit of coffee, so we won't be tempted to doze off in the midst of our plotting." F.G. placed a hand on DS's back, ushering her intot he room, and holding the door for the other two.
"How do... Radz?" He blinked taken aback at what she'd said. Radz hadn't mentioned her before, whoever she was. He didn't speak until he heard that last sentence. "You're the one... that got away... that time..." He muttered mostly to himself, as he opened the door suddenly for the person. "Sorry about that..."
He chuckled to break the awkward state, realizing that he should be inside and not, chatting to whomever this really was. "Um. Yeah, Radz is great, same old same old. And no, didn't kill him, he's been taking care while the... wait, I don't even know you and you know of my wedding?" He arched another eyebrow shaking it off not even wanting an answer.
"Look, I've got to get in here, stop by and talk to me, later or whatever." He walked along in, glancing at the note in his hand briefly before he looked inside the library he'd stepped into; more confused as he stood dumbfounded looking around. "Um..."
Even after he'd been escorted in by a man, another woman with blue hair appear, it hadn't cleared up anything except confuse him even more. What kind of library was this?
"You're welcome inside," DS said warmly, unloading the packages just inside the door. "We're getting ready for a party just now, but I'd be able to give most kinds of assistance. And anything I can't do, FG can. Though the party should be starting soon..." She bit her lip worriedly. "What do you two need?"
She lingered near the doorway for a moment before informing Jiro that she'd talk to him later. She removed the small ear piece and shoved it in her pocket before heading on inside the library curiously. It was definately.. an interesting place.
"Curiously," she spoked up as she moved to stand next to Ralph even though his towering height irked her some, "What's a mob boss doing in a library? Don't you have your own personal library at home." She snickered faintly at that before her gaze flickered towards all the people in the room and then back towards the door.
She felt a little uncomfortable with her back to do the door considering her occupation but then again, the library didn't seem all that threatening. The people inside it who seemed to be decorating for some sort of little party seemed equally tame.
Ralph folded his arms over, making his way to the side of the room to face the two others whom he'd met after entering the library as his ears fell back a bit after hearing her voice. "Looking for information that I don't have in my library." He grumbled out. What on earth did she want with him?
Well, it wasn't the time to ask such questions now; he needed to figure out what on earth was going on in this library, which was just leading him to more questions by the minute and not enough time to answer them.
"I suppose I'm in the wrong place, I was looking for some information, but I guess it's the wrong library... you guys look kind of busy anyway."
F.G. looked over the pile of boxes in his arms. "No, not at all. If our doors are open, we're open." He shuffled the boxes to his desk, walking back to the man as he dusted his hands on his pants. Causally, he sized him up, a smirk crossing his face. Unreadable, save for the slight hint of amusement. "As for the activity, we're planning a party for one of our very special patrons.
"Yeah, and you should be more careful where you put your stuff!" Pita screamed, outraged as she pulled furiously on a piece of paper that was wedged beneath the boxes. "you...big..." A loud tearing sound silenced the room, and Pita suddenly stilled. "Uh...oh..." She quickly tried to hide the page behind her back, and would have been rather convinving had it not been twice her size. A set of ragged brown cords hung limply form the page.
"Pita, what is that?" F.G.'s eye twitched slightly, and he suddenly made a grab for the paper. The fairy squeaked, flying out of reach, but losing her grip on the page, which fluttered to the feet of their new guest.
Sira glanced down at her boot clad feet to see the torn piece of paper that fluttered down to the floor unceremoniously. It distracted her momentarily from antognizing Ralph simply because she could. She blinked before reaching down to snatch up the torn page. "This is certainly.. interesting," she murmured with a sort of puzzled look on her face as she idly toyed with the brown cords that dangled off the piece of paper.
She shrugged and smiled over at Ralph before her gaze travelled back towards F.G. "Uh.. here?" she grinned as she held the torn peice of paper out towards him.
A glare met Pita, who flew away over one of the bookshelves to escape any punishment that might be coming her way, if only temporarily. FG heaved a sigh and grabbed one of the boxes, moving it off the other half of the page. "Would one of you mind getting that? I'll be back in a moment, but I need to get my supplies to fix it... again." The last word was accompanied with force and another withering glance, and if the bookshelf hadn't been in the way, the fairy would probably be in worse shape than the page was.
Ralph took the paper from Sira's hand, unsure of whether to thank her or not, but decided to do it anyway. "Thanks..." He studied over it for a moment, wondering of how much importance it actually held. It didn't look very valuable, but it was tied together, so it must have been worth keeping in one piece.
He couldn't help but lean over to whisper down to Sira. "Is it just me, or are you completely confused of what's going on in here?"
"I'm just as confused as you, Ralph," she replied as she titled her head to the side as she watched the fleeing fairy and F.G. retreat to go retrieve his supplies to fix the torn page. She skittered forward to snatch up the other half that had previously been sitting under a box. "Hmm.."
"By the way, who are you?" He figured at least knowing a name... or something would work for now. He grew wary of standing up this entire time and decided to make himself comfortable on the floor with his knees raised to his chest level as he fiddled with his part of the page.
Both halves of the torn page started to glow, but that was only visible for a moment. Thick white steam poured out of each half, quickly surrounding the people holding them, the table, the boxes, and the bookshelves. It was hot and wet, yet everything it touched stayed perfectly dry. Visibility was next to nil, though somehow both people holding the pages would remain perfectly visible to eachother.
"My name is Sira," she replied before her eyes widened in alarm when steam started pouring from the piece of paper she was holding. She was no strange to magic and the sort, but it was still a bit unnerving. "Erm.. I'm.. the person who dropped your brother off at your doorstep..or uh.. office door, rather," she smirked though the expression was quickly lost and replaced by a look of concern as she glanced towards Ralph.
Ralph nodded with a smile at her name. Well, at least he could pronounce it. "...you weren't the same person though, he... or was it she? didn't look the same..." He continued on until the odd occurances were happening around him. "What next? Eh Sira don't look so worried." He held his page, deciding it'd be better to be next to her than alone in whatever was going on.
FG stumbled out of his office and into what at first he thought was the kitchen after one of DS's fauled cookie experiments. Coughing, he felt his way towards the front. It was fortunate he knew the library so well, or he might have been lost in the fog for hours. Luckily he reached the guests within moments.
"I apologize," he choked out, coughing on the steam. "I can set things right... however, I'm not sure you two will be happy with the outcome. Either way, I need the papers you picked up."
Both pieces of the page started to wiggle, each side trying to pull towards its matching half, while remaining in its holder's hand.
She was about to reply and inform Ralph that at the time she had indeed been a man, she was a changeling afterall and could assume any form she pleased if she made an effort. She handed her peice of the paper over to F.G., a little unnerved that it had been wriggling in her hand, though truly she wasn't that disturbed. She'd eaten things that wriggled like that, though she knew for a fact that they were far tastier than parchment... even if the handful of people she knew begged to differ.
Ralph blinked at the sudden appearance of the man whom he'd known for all of 15 minutes. He nodded, handing him the now wriggling paper, which would have seemed odd to Ralph, but he was in some odd library after all. Pages, people, fairies, fog... what more could he do than humor the man and give him the torn page.
FG took both pages, which seemed almost relieved to be brought together- the wriggling stopped almost immediately. The steam stopped pouring out too, though it took some seconds to disperse. The library soon had the unusual appearance of a haunted house crossed with a carnival, dark unlit foggy bookshelves mixed with balloons and streamers. Soon the majority of the smoke had vanished, and only a small area in front of FG was covered, though there was a large shadow apparently in the middle of it, far larger than a simple piece of paper.
Gulping, FG stood back. "Er... I hope you two are well aquainted? And that you have some free space at home..."
"Well aquainted. Right," Sira murmured as her gaze focused on the shadowed form. She idly ran a hand back through her dark hair, brushing it out of her face for a moment as silver eyes stared intently at the F.G. and the page in his hand, curious as to what was going on.
Ralph gave a bit of a glare to the man, only because if he had just asked her for her name... "What she said." He really wasn't in the mood for playing these guess who's here or not games. He folded his arms across his own chest this time, awaiting for whatever this whole secret was to be revealed.
"Right. Well... this library doesn't just have normal books. Many of them are magical, and several have those have been destroyed, or nearly destroyed. All that's left of a few are fragments, such as that page, which house the souls of the characters housed within them. With our help, and yours, one such soul is going to need guidance..."
As he spoke, the last of the fog cleared, revealing a dark-skinned boy dressed in rather foreign looking garb. He sat cross-legged, grinning to the pair. "Allo!"
"What do you mean, 'allo?'"
Another boy sprang out from behind him, in a far more conventional shirt and khakis. Leaning on the other's head, he rubbed affectionately, but with some frustration as well.
Two children from one page? It was unheard of, and yet, there they were...
"Pretty close."
"Good," she smiled before falling silent again as mercury-silver eyes slitted faintly in the darkness as she peered around the next corner to make sure no one else was present. She approached a set of doors that appeared to be made of heavy wood. They looked utterly unremarkable to her and she squinted blearily at the small plaque before frowning.
"Uh.. Jiro?"
"Yeah?"
"This is a library," she informed him as she squinted quizzically at the doors. That didn't seem quite right. She was supposed to be at the estate of some wealthy politician that was in need of.. a rude awakening of sorts. "This isn't right."
"Ohhh..."
"Oh?" she murmured eyes widening slightly, "That didn't sound like a good 'oh.'" She sighed heavily and scanned the area around her once more. She didn't like making mistakes, and this was definately.. a very big one.
F.G. busied himself about the Library, despite the late hour. He tried his best to maintain his serious composure, but that was dashed as a shower of curly ribbons fell upon his head. With a smirk, he removed one of the offending streamers, which was hanging comically off his glasses.
"Pita!" He tried to sound imposing, but just ended up chuckling.
The fairy landed on the desk in front of the man, placing her hands on her hips, her posture huffy. "You could do more to help out, you know!" She wagged a tiny finger at the man. Sometimed he thought she forgot how small she was. "It's Eri's birthday, try to show some enthusiasm." She spat a sloppy rasberry at him before fluttering off, hanging streamers in the places that were too high for anyone else to reach.
"Damn bug..." He muttered, closing his book in favor of a pile of colorful decorations.
Ralph grumbled lightly in frustration as he approached his own destination. Apparently, he was supposed to be finding information of some kind in here. Why it had to be this specific library he wasn't too sure of, but that lovely brother of his was probably toying with his mind. He shrugged off the thought with a sigh as he walked up to the entrance, hands stuffed into his coat pocket with sunglasses settled at the end of his nose.
His hair flowed pleasantly as he increased his pace; heading straight for the handle, not even bothering to even notice that there was someone standing right next to him. He looked briefly to the woman giving an abrupt sentence as he turned the handle. "Sorry miss, but could you move a bit? I've got to get inside."
She jumped when she heard someone behind her and whirled around and pressed her back against the doors. She internally cursed inside her head. She'd been so distracted talking to Jiro about his being potentially hacked (and therefore had messed up his directions he'd been feeding her) that she hadn't noticed anyone else within the vicinity.
Her silver glazed eyes widened slightly when she realized just exactly who it was that had snuck up on her. Her head tilted to the side as she gazed over at him, causing her pitch black hair to shift out of her eyes momentarily. "What are you doing here?" she found herself asking before clapping a hand over her mouth a bit comically when she realized that Ralph didn't know who she was, and she'd... totally blown whatever cover she might have had.
Damn! And she was in her true form, too. She was a little on the skinny side, short, deathly pale (which made her jet black hair contrast oh so nicely with her nearly white skin), had elfin ears, and strange liquid-silver looking eyes. And Ralph.. was taller than her. She sulked at that and crossed her arms over her chest. She hated being short.
Pita froze mid-air, a steamer hovering from her fingertips. "Didja hear that?" She yelled down to F.G. from the rafters.
"Hear what?" F.G. moved closer to the fairy, looking up at her.
Pita looked at the doorway, then shrugged. "Guess I was hearing things." She cast a suspicious glance at the door before busying herself again.
The blonde had waited for the typical response of, 'Oh sorry sir' and have moved out of the way, but this woman had decided to question him? He let his hand go from the door momentarily, pushing up his glasses further to shield his eyes. It wasn't good if random people started knowing who he was.
He turned himself to face her with a quirk of his eyebrow. "I'm going to the library, what else does it look like?... but, you say it as if you know me. Which I don't think I do, miss." He rolled off the words as they were spoken with ease, most courteous, even though at that very moment he was about ready to just dash into the library since she had moved; but still he had to figure out how this woman knew him.
His lip was bitten a bit as he looked down to her, being quite taller than people always made him feel a bit overpowering and amused him. Though, this one even crossed her chest seeming annoyed at that fact, which is why he tried to stifle his laughter before turning his expression blank.
A large stack of presents seemingly bounced down the lane of its own accord. They stopped abruptly near the door, where the first sign of a person peered around the pile. Her black garb kept her body from being noticed, expecially in the dark and behind such colorfully wrapped boxes, but her blue hair was pretty easy to notice.
She didn't recognize either person blocking her way, but if she didn't get inside to set the gifts down they would crush her soon. Clearing her throat loudly, DS took another step forward. "Excuse me, would you mind continuing your conversation inside?"
Basira eyed him for a moment before uncrossing her arms and placing them at her hips as she gave him a small smile. Her mission might've been a complete failure, but it didn't mean she wasn't allowed to have a little fun. Ralph had conveniently walked right up to her. "Soo.. how's Radz doing?" she asked with a bright grin. This would be a fun game.
Albeit it was a dangerous one. Ralph was a mob boss and taunting him wasn't nessecarily a good idea, but if worse came to worse, she could also change forms and skitter away before he had a chance to react. She was terribly good at throwing people off guard like that.
"Haven't seen him since the wedding. You didn't kill him after I left or anything did you?" she smirked, "That'd be a real shame. He's a charming fellow." She resisted the urge to giggle when Jiro's voice piped up in her ear to ask what exactly it was she was doing and who she was talking to.
She frowned when another person appeared, interrupting her little game with Ralph. Tonight was so not her night. She stepped out of the way to allow the person carrying what appeared to be presents inside. It had been a long time since she'd made so many mistakes in one evening.
"Ms. DS!" F.G. called warmly, walking toward the door to greet is friend and manager, and to take part of the load of boxes out of her hand. "I see you have company with you tonight?" His blue eyes fell on the two sating it he shadows of the Library. "Well, come on inside, all of you. Pita has already started decorating, and I've started a pit of coffee, so we won't be tempted to doze off in the midst of our plotting." F.G. placed a hand on DS's back, ushering her intot he room, and holding the door for the other two.
"How do... Radz?" He blinked taken aback at what she'd said. Radz hadn't mentioned her before, whoever she was. He didn't speak until he heard that last sentence. "You're the one... that got away... that time..." He muttered mostly to himself, as he opened the door suddenly for the person. "Sorry about that..."
He chuckled to break the awkward state, realizing that he should be inside and not, chatting to whomever this really was. "Um. Yeah, Radz is great, same old same old. And no, didn't kill him, he's been taking care while the... wait, I don't even know you and you know of my wedding?" He arched another eyebrow shaking it off not even wanting an answer.
"Look, I've got to get in here, stop by and talk to me, later or whatever." He walked along in, glancing at the note in his hand briefly before he looked inside the library he'd stepped into; more confused as he stood dumbfounded looking around. "Um..."
Even after he'd been escorted in by a man, another woman with blue hair appear, it hadn't cleared up anything except confuse him even more. What kind of library was this?
"You're welcome inside," DS said warmly, unloading the packages just inside the door. "We're getting ready for a party just now, but I'd be able to give most kinds of assistance. And anything I can't do, FG can. Though the party should be starting soon..." She bit her lip worriedly. "What do you two need?"
She lingered near the doorway for a moment before informing Jiro that she'd talk to him later. She removed the small ear piece and shoved it in her pocket before heading on inside the library curiously. It was definately.. an interesting place.
"Curiously," she spoked up as she moved to stand next to Ralph even though his towering height irked her some, "What's a mob boss doing in a library? Don't you have your own personal library at home." She snickered faintly at that before her gaze flickered towards all the people in the room and then back towards the door.
She felt a little uncomfortable with her back to do the door considering her occupation but then again, the library didn't seem all that threatening. The people inside it who seemed to be decorating for some sort of little party seemed equally tame.
Ralph folded his arms over, making his way to the side of the room to face the two others whom he'd met after entering the library as his ears fell back a bit after hearing her voice. "Looking for information that I don't have in my library." He grumbled out. What on earth did she want with him?
Well, it wasn't the time to ask such questions now; he needed to figure out what on earth was going on in this library, which was just leading him to more questions by the minute and not enough time to answer them.
"I suppose I'm in the wrong place, I was looking for some information, but I guess it's the wrong library... you guys look kind of busy anyway."
F.G. looked over the pile of boxes in his arms. "No, not at all. If our doors are open, we're open." He shuffled the boxes to his desk, walking back to the man as he dusted his hands on his pants. Causally, he sized him up, a smirk crossing his face. Unreadable, save for the slight hint of amusement. "As for the activity, we're planning a party for one of our very special patrons.
"Yeah, and you should be more careful where you put your stuff!" Pita screamed, outraged as she pulled furiously on a piece of paper that was wedged beneath the boxes. "you...big..." A loud tearing sound silenced the room, and Pita suddenly stilled. "Uh...oh..." She quickly tried to hide the page behind her back, and would have been rather convinving had it not been twice her size. A set of ragged brown cords hung limply form the page.
"Pita, what is that?" F.G.'s eye twitched slightly, and he suddenly made a grab for the paper. The fairy squeaked, flying out of reach, but losing her grip on the page, which fluttered to the feet of their new guest.
Sira glanced down at her boot clad feet to see the torn piece of paper that fluttered down to the floor unceremoniously. It distracted her momentarily from antognizing Ralph simply because she could. She blinked before reaching down to snatch up the torn page. "This is certainly.. interesting," she murmured with a sort of puzzled look on her face as she idly toyed with the brown cords that dangled off the piece of paper.
She shrugged and smiled over at Ralph before her gaze travelled back towards F.G. "Uh.. here?" she grinned as she held the torn peice of paper out towards him.
A glare met Pita, who flew away over one of the bookshelves to escape any punishment that might be coming her way, if only temporarily. FG heaved a sigh and grabbed one of the boxes, moving it off the other half of the page. "Would one of you mind getting that? I'll be back in a moment, but I need to get my supplies to fix it... again." The last word was accompanied with force and another withering glance, and if the bookshelf hadn't been in the way, the fairy would probably be in worse shape than the page was.
Ralph took the paper from Sira's hand, unsure of whether to thank her or not, but decided to do it anyway. "Thanks..." He studied over it for a moment, wondering of how much importance it actually held. It didn't look very valuable, but it was tied together, so it must have been worth keeping in one piece.
He couldn't help but lean over to whisper down to Sira. "Is it just me, or are you completely confused of what's going on in here?"
"I'm just as confused as you, Ralph," she replied as she titled her head to the side as she watched the fleeing fairy and F.G. retreat to go retrieve his supplies to fix the torn page. She skittered forward to snatch up the other half that had previously been sitting under a box. "Hmm.."
"By the way, who are you?" He figured at least knowing a name... or something would work for now. He grew wary of standing up this entire time and decided to make himself comfortable on the floor with his knees raised to his chest level as he fiddled with his part of the page.
Both halves of the torn page started to glow, but that was only visible for a moment. Thick white steam poured out of each half, quickly surrounding the people holding them, the table, the boxes, and the bookshelves. It was hot and wet, yet everything it touched stayed perfectly dry. Visibility was next to nil, though somehow both people holding the pages would remain perfectly visible to eachother.
"My name is Sira," she replied before her eyes widened in alarm when steam started pouring from the piece of paper she was holding. She was no strange to magic and the sort, but it was still a bit unnerving. "Erm.. I'm.. the person who dropped your brother off at your doorstep..or uh.. office door, rather," she smirked though the expression was quickly lost and replaced by a look of concern as she glanced towards Ralph.
Ralph nodded with a smile at her name. Well, at least he could pronounce it. "...you weren't the same person though, he... or was it she? didn't look the same..." He continued on until the odd occurances were happening around him. "What next? Eh Sira don't look so worried." He held his page, deciding it'd be better to be next to her than alone in whatever was going on.
FG stumbled out of his office and into what at first he thought was the kitchen after one of DS's fauled cookie experiments. Coughing, he felt his way towards the front. It was fortunate he knew the library so well, or he might have been lost in the fog for hours. Luckily he reached the guests within moments.
"I apologize," he choked out, coughing on the steam. "I can set things right... however, I'm not sure you two will be happy with the outcome. Either way, I need the papers you picked up."
Both pieces of the page started to wiggle, each side trying to pull towards its matching half, while remaining in its holder's hand.
She was about to reply and inform Ralph that at the time she had indeed been a man, she was a changeling afterall and could assume any form she pleased if she made an effort. She handed her peice of the paper over to F.G., a little unnerved that it had been wriggling in her hand, though truly she wasn't that disturbed. She'd eaten things that wriggled like that, though she knew for a fact that they were far tastier than parchment... even if the handful of people she knew begged to differ.
Ralph blinked at the sudden appearance of the man whom he'd known for all of 15 minutes. He nodded, handing him the now wriggling paper, which would have seemed odd to Ralph, but he was in some odd library after all. Pages, people, fairies, fog... what more could he do than humor the man and give him the torn page.
FG took both pages, which seemed almost relieved to be brought together- the wriggling stopped almost immediately. The steam stopped pouring out too, though it took some seconds to disperse. The library soon had the unusual appearance of a haunted house crossed with a carnival, dark unlit foggy bookshelves mixed with balloons and streamers. Soon the majority of the smoke had vanished, and only a small area in front of FG was covered, though there was a large shadow apparently in the middle of it, far larger than a simple piece of paper.
Gulping, FG stood back. "Er... I hope you two are well aquainted? And that you have some free space at home..."
"Well aquainted. Right," Sira murmured as her gaze focused on the shadowed form. She idly ran a hand back through her dark hair, brushing it out of her face for a moment as silver eyes stared intently at the F.G. and the page in his hand, curious as to what was going on.
Ralph gave a bit of a glare to the man, only because if he had just asked her for her name... "What she said." He really wasn't in the mood for playing these guess who's here or not games. He folded his arms across his own chest this time, awaiting for whatever this whole secret was to be revealed.
"Right. Well... this library doesn't just have normal books. Many of them are magical, and several have those have been destroyed, or nearly destroyed. All that's left of a few are fragments, such as that page, which house the souls of the characters housed within them. With our help, and yours, one such soul is going to need guidance..."
As he spoke, the last of the fog cleared, revealing a dark-skinned boy dressed in rather foreign looking garb. He sat cross-legged, grinning to the pair. "Allo!"
"What do you mean, 'allo?'"
Another boy sprang out from behind him, in a far more conventional shirt and khakis. Leaning on the other's head, he rubbed affectionately, but with some frustration as well.
Two children from one page? It was unheard of, and yet, there they were...
