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Here he was now, feeling more like a bum who got lost in the wrong district than a worn-out noble. His suit smelled of roses and smoke and ashes and people, and he felt sweaty, and in dire need of either a bed, a bath or a bathtub worth of coffee. Almost he wished he could have it all at once, right here, right now. But no, he wouldn't head to his mansion now, he had work to do 'in the office' later on the day, still. Miss Longway, dear Timka, would beep him up if he didn't show up by three pm and most likely reward him with him a nice lecture. Even if she knew full well she was in no position to criticise him, she still would.
Hopefully Misha would have refrained from planting chicken eggs under his chair polstering this time -he failed to see what was so funny about it.

But all no matter, he wasn't in the lower district yet, and he didn't plan on hurrying, either. He hadn't become this old to be ordered around by his own employees. It was bad enough his far relatives could force him to tire himself out like this... Until the early hours they'd kept him busy, hearing him out, requesting his opinion on a myriad of trivialities, and the obligatory round of bingo with the family elders, who still treated him like a youngling.

At this moment, he was headed towards the library. He might pick up an encyclopedia about a field of magic here, older records on suspicious topics... Nah. All he wanted was to find a nice, trashy romance novel so sweet it made his guts twist, to read around midnight before going to sleep.

Making up his mind at last, he entered the building, finding it suitably aired out and silent at this time of the day.
Just... don't... sit down on a bench, or he wouldn't get up again. Already they were beckoning him to lower his noble behind on and sag like a sack of carrots. At least on the outside, only his slightly disheveled hair and the dark marks under his eyes betrayed his state. Catching a glimpse of how he looked in a reflection in the window, he undid his hairbow, gathered it up again and fixed his ponytail again, then dove into the bookish world to find what he wanted.

"Welcome. If you need any help I'll be right here."

Banning stood still for a moment, traced the sound back to its source and made out the fine young woman who had so politely welcomed him.

It was a nice change for once to encounter personnel that didn't feel the need to pester him. If not for Doctor Mei he'd have stopped believing in such mythical concepts such as politeness and business-like conduct.

"Ah, thank you madame. I will find my way." Good, she at least knew her priorities. Back to work already hmm?
With his usual focused strides he ventured between the shelves, to try and orient himself. Already he wondered how many minutes it would take to get a library pass later, but that trail of idle thought was cut short when he felt the inexplicable need to.. peep on her?

He strafed to the end of the bookshelf, and, with one raised eyebrow, leaned past it and stared at the lady. Why did she seem so familiar now... Ah yes.
Ah no. That can't be right. He briefly slipped back behind his cover, pinched the bridge of his nose. Going over his expansive mental database of people he knew or should know, he traced her face and stature back to a name, and... No, he didn't remember what that Alicel did nowadays, but he was quite sure nobody had mentioned anything about a library position. He'd have to find out before SHE recognised him here, she might wonder why he hadn't gone straight 'back home' like a proper nobleman, and why he was straying towards the middle district. Darn that elite that had nothing better to do than BE elite and watch each other's business like starved hyenas.

He stepped from behind the bookshelf completely now.

"... Miss Alicel?" His tone clearly indicated that if she indeed was the one she looked like, he found it a preposterous idea. 'What are YOU doing here?'

Hmm. Well, that was baffling. It would have been a revelation either way. So, this woman wasn't Alicel. Banning couldn't help watching her more closely now, and tried to find what was different in her. Not easy when you have to compare to a rather vague mental picture of the other lady.

"Ah, excuse me for the mixup, then. Police, you say?" Oho, interesting potential blackmail material. "... nevermind." Stay awake buddy, that was an uncalled for foot-in-mouth. He never blurted things out like this, unless... he was like this, yes. Tired, annoyed, confused, AND intrigued. Oh, and let's add 'awkward' to that, too.

"Her lover? Why, miss, whatever gave you that idea?" He tried not to stare at her. That had been a rather out of the blue suggestion. Hell yes, it wasn't her business, but why? He hadn't ever pursued a lady before, at least, not in a purely romantic sense.

"... May I ask who YOU are then, milady?" he tried to move the topic elsewhere, and he still desired to find that out. The resemblence was uncanny.
Any urge to find reading material was gone now, erased from his priority list.

Kiel Bacchus.
Sheesh, it'd taken her a lot of fussing to squeeze that out. Not like he'd asked her to recite Shakespeare in Latin or hoot like an owl, what was the hesitation and the extra flair for now.
No, she had a point there... only, Banning wasn't at all in the mood for mindgames and trifles like this. WHEN would people start being to the point again in? He'd had enough of this roundabout of teasing and mocking and pretending. The pretending the most.

Despite his aggravation, he listened to her calmly, his facial expression betraying nothing more than genuine interest.

Hypocrite.

"Well, miss Bacchus, I am Banning I DeLonghy." He voiced it oddly dry, as if to be a counterpoint to her melodiousness. A businessman had no need for such things as sounding lyrical. And if she didn't spout more information, why would he. The thought or reiterating his status and -faked out- occupation made him nauseous. Maybe for once he wouldn't be met with 'I've heard that somewhere, weren't you - '.

Soo... yes. She recognised the name, the manner or at least the general idea came through.

"Indeed, I didn't come here to keep you from your work." Okay, maybe he sounded just a niggle TOO numb now, but he couldn't be arsed to try and impress her even a little bit. The fact he thought so in himself, in those very terms, proved his ability to keep up a high standard had run out of steam now. Tsk tsk.
"Have fun, miss."

Gah. He'd do anything for some coffee now, to snap out of that off-key mood. He wasn't a snarky man, at least not in public.
As Kiel left, he turned around as well, and navigated back to where he'd been browsing earlier. His steps were still controlle and light, and he made almost no sound as he wandered, scanning idly, halting occasionally when the symbols on the book covers started to dance before his eyes. It wasn't too hard to get them to line up again, but it still irked him.

For the longest time, the silence lasted, and Banning wasn't planning on breaking it. He'd found someting that might be worth a more thorough look, and sat down on a reading bench by the wall, flicking the book open and scanning its contents briefly. He hadn't known there was a 'full guide to coping with feelings of inadequacy'.
The man largely ignored the lady working with obvious boredom, listened to the sound of covers sliding against each other and books thumping with half an ear. Then one, soon two. What a hypnotising noise... The sunlight hit the shelves here rather nicely... was that dust whirling in the rays? Ah... warmth.


Minutes later, the sound of slow, slow breathing filled the corner he'd taken. At least he didn't snore, that would have been embarassing.
Not that falling asleep in a public library late in the morning wasn't...

The short nap had been incredibly welcome but this rich scent was welcomer.

It worked like a charm, and Banning came to again, blinking a few times sluggishly, until he gave his head a little jerky shake and he focused, glanced down at the cup until he went a little crosseyed.

"Oh..."

Wha-, where, what now? Still a little disoriented, Bane stared at her until his wide eyes lidded to half-open again, back to his usual languid gaze.

"... I dozed off." duh. How undignified... He glanced aside, a little uncofortable with this situation, but the aromatic coffee lured his gaze back, beckoned him. He flicked his look from the cup, to her, and back and back. Somewhere deep in the gold was a little puppy Bane wagging its tail, begging her to officially hand it over, oh please please pleaaase. His tight control had returned mostly though, and he wouldn't beg now. Instead, he waited for her to 'give it to him', as it was rude to assume she'd brought it for him. For all he knew she could've been teasing him.

"Thank you..." Bane sounded rather disbelieving still, taking the cup from her and taking a careful sip.
"Black is good, very good. Thanks." It had slipped out before he could regulate the amount of eagerness in his tone. Made him sound like an addict needing his next shot of caffeine badly, but that wasn't far from the truth right now.

He glanced down past the little cup by his lips when she so boldly picked up his book. Have you no respect for privacy madam? One of his eyebrows rose a notch. Well oops. Yes, I was reading that what's it to you? He looked at her, finding eye-contact for a moment, long enough to show her he wasn't going to spout his motives this easily. When he broke his gaze away from her, he basically told her he was going to ignore that 'question' for now.

The next bit he found harder to pass over though.
"My... Oh. Well..." Hmm, how unpleasant. He tended to prefer looking neat and clean, but he did have an excuse to slip up bit... sort of. No excuse was good enough. He downed the last of the coffee, set the cup down neatly, then brough his hands up to his chest and began fixing his attire securely.

"I've had a long night..." he glanced at her while his slender fingers worked aptly on the garment.

How lame.
At the very least he'd avoided getting ensnared by her, umm... 'looks'. He could appreciate the female shapes, but he'd never indulged in them.