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 Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 3:01 pm
The librarian looked at Sigmund with something like sympathy tinged with remorse. “I'm sorry,” she offered, with a sad little sigh, “You've just missed it... A boy took it out not an hour past!” The librarian at Makai Royal Academy took pride in the grand collection of rare books she presided over, and valued Sigmund as one of her favorite students because of his interest in them. More than that, though, his passion for knowledge and his willingness to discuss the topics he researched, so different than his normal reticence, made him genuinely engaging. This made it so much worse to have to tell the boy no, because she wished to know just WHY the boy wanted a tome dedicated to dragons so badly. She wouldn't have a word out of him if he didn't get the book.
“... Oh,” said Sigmund, already retreating back into himself, losing his motivation to carry the conversation on. He liked the librarian, though, and he needed the book, so he'd speak a little while longer. “And there are... no more copies? Who took the book out...?” Sigmund didn't know many people in the school; he generally kept to himself in his classes, only interacting with other students when he needed to borrow a book or give assistance for a project. He devoted all of his time to his studies, but there was always the off-chance he might know the name.
“No, no, no more copies, I'm afraid,” the librarian murmured, sounding defeated, “And the boy who took it out is... a bit hard to approach. His name is Branek. Loves animals, very knowledgeable, like you...” Sigmund tuned her out as he fell behind the curtain of his thoughts. He'd heard the name before, yes... Though he'd never seen the student first-hand, he'd heard rumors of his aptitude for confrontation. Words had a funny way of meaning very little, though. Sigmund would be very interested in meeting this Branek.
“I'll figure it out,” Sigmund interrupted. He turned briskly and began stalking away at a respectable clip, throwing a “Thank you.” over his shoulder.
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Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 8:26 pm
The current keeper of the book had lingered in the library for awhile after obtaining it... but that didn't last long. Once other student's started pouring in, especially the more studious types, Branek high-tailed it out of there. Didn't want to get caught up, or bothered by those geeks... With the precious book tucked under an arm, and his jacket slung over the opposite shoulder, the flat faced boy had taken to perusing the school grounds. He just wanted a quiet, and undisturbed place... but at the time, that was hard to come by without leaving the territory. There were students at practically every corner. All so boring, and annoying... and all just the freaking same. His demeanor held a laid-back vibe, his eyes hard and intent before him, refusing to stray for any reason. A few of his fellow peers would spare glances at him, whispering occasionally... those were the one's who were met with a sharp, snapped glare, instantly shutting the lot of them up. What did they know? They were too wrapped up in their own worlds, and he his own.
Branek's gait was long, and fluid, taking him to an open courtyard that was often times give space due to it's over crowding of shrubbery, and somewhat aged appearance. It's aesthetic appeal didn't please most students. To him, it wasn't so bad at all. There was untamed vegetation everywhere, vines, bushes, tree's, grass, and the like. In truth, it was quite inviting to the rebel. Tucked against a honeysuckle-type plant was an old bench. It's seat and backing were made of wood, metal keeping it all together. The style held an antique feel to it, the details hard to see, but if they were, showing a very out of time design. Approaching it, Branek looked over it's condition, brushing the few branches, petals, and leaves that'd littered onto it. This would do... Tossing his jacket along the arm of the bench, he plopped himself on down, leaned back, let one arm rest ontop of his jacket, the other placed on his lap, legs nice and splayed for comfort. Comfortable, he went onto reading where he'd left off. His eyes flitted along the pictures illustrated first, and onto the paragraph just beside. A forest dragon... made of earth, that grew tree's, flowers, and other flora species. Such a magnificent creature... Their lore fascinated and entranced him, easily getting him engrossed into the literature entirely. Homework could wait...
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Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:20 pm
Sigmund was having similar issues with droves of students, as well. He had no idea why they had clustered in such numbers; maybe some teacher had let class out early, or perhaps a class hadn't convened at all. Sigmund didn't quite understand why they all felt the need to stand around just... talking. Why even come to school if you don't intend to learn? The thought that his fellow students would work so hard to get into the academy, only to waste their time pursuing their social lives rather than their academics, nearly offended. Sigmund himself intended to utilize the facilities until they had nothing left to offer.
Sigmund knew, though, that basing the other students against himself was no comparison at all; they simply hadn't dealt with the same sorts of issues. How could he expect them to show the same dedication, the same devotion? They attended Makai simply because it was the thing to do, while Sigmund had specific goals to accomplish, and research to facilitate it while he had it readily available to him.
So he wandered on amongst his fellow pupils, stopping only to hesitantly ask smaller groups of students, or individuals if it could be helped, whether they'd seen this Branek recently. He made very little progress, earning disdainful stares for his random question more often than actual helpful answers. Eventually, though, Sigmund found himself inside an antiquated sort of garden, and things got much quieter. Sitting opposite of him, on a wooden bench, was a boy reading a large tome that Sigmund gazed at with hungry eyes.
“Excuse me,” he called out, pushing his hair out of his eyes with an absent gesture, “But you wouldn't happen to be Branek, would you?”
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Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 10:19 am
It really was a fantastic book. It held everything there was to know about all the known dragon species! Man... if he could see one in real life... At times his fingers would stray from the edge of the pages to lightly trace along the illustrations wistfully. Such grand creatures they were... filled with majesty, and laced with never ending enchantment. Breeders of the things were rare, and almost unheard of. They were far to wild for most humans to manage, and sights of them in the wild were perhaps even more limited. There probably weren't any in the entire vacinity of the school grounds. Perhaps a few were kept up in the area's closer to the kingdom. Surely they'd have some on their side in case there was need for some real muscle power. But that was probably never going to happen. Smirking to himself, he gave a shake of his head, and brushed over the page to go on to the next. Sometime he'd get to see one of this baby's up close. Sometime...
Enthralled with his reading, Branek didn't even realize another had joined him in the courtyard. The place was already filled with the soft rustling's of branches, leaves, and tall grasses from the wind's dipping stream, that it could easily make any other sort of sound blend in. Such as footsteps, or the opening of a door. But when a voice uttered against the serenity, those brown eyes flickered up straight away. He stared at the boy before him... eyeing him a little, before meeting his gaze again. Not bad....
"Who wants to know?" he asked plainly. He'd never seen this guy before... at least he didn't think he had. Then again... he didn't really pay attention to most of anything going on around him that involved other students. At least he was easy on the eyes.
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Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:45 am
“... I do.” Sigmund met the glance of the boy who he assumed to be Branek (but hadn't confirmed yet) without wavering, but in his gut he felt the slightest flutter. The way the other looked at him seemed to do more than just see; probably-Branek seemed to appraise Sigmund. He'd spent nearly his entire life isolated from society, and in the few years since he'd returned, Sigmund had never once had a suitor, let alone been viewed in such a way, and he had no idea how to react. Hell, he didn't even know what the look MEANT, exactly; he could only infer. The rumors might have been true, and this hopefully-Branek might just be looking over him with distaste, but Sigmund had received his fair share of that since he'd enrolled at Makai, and this didn't seem negative.
“Sigmund, that is... My name is Sigmund. I am Sigmund. That's... what the 'I' replaces, you see?” All of a sudden, Sigmund was flustered, and his mouth was running faster than he'd ever known it to in front of other people. His hair fell back into his eyes as he looked about the courtyard, making sure it was empty, and he raised his hand to flip it out of his face against, running fingers through the loose strands that weren't held fast by the clips. His hair could be SUCH a nuicance. He was so flustered, and he had no idea why. It was starting to become frustrating.
“If you ARE Branek...” he added, haltingly, “Then that book is probably about dragons, yes? I'm... Well, the librarian told me you had it, you see... I was hoping we could perhaps share it.” If he could just break off conversation and get to reading with hopefully-Branek, maybe he could redirect back into familiar conversation, and this damned confusion could end. He didn't feel uncomfortable, he just felt... strange.
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 9:06 am
He watched with concealed amusement as the other boy fumbled with his words and tongue. A slight smirk did twitch at the corner of his mouth, though. How cute... His expression remained it's neutral, somewhat probing as he observed this curious character thoroughly. His eyes flashed to the tuft of hair that seemed to be causing such a disturbance, and the fingers that graced it. Branek's own fingers stroked slowly, and smoothly along the parchment of the book, considering this other fellow's desires. Sigmund, huh..? Weird name, but what ever. Simply staring at the flustered boy for a good long while, seemingly contemplating this idea, a half-hearted shrug was given in response.
"Take a seat. There's plenty of room." it had been decided. It'd been awhile since Branek'd had the company of a cute guy, and this one didn't seem to bad, or annoying. Maybe a bit strange, but nothing wrong with that. It was better than a preppy, bouncy girl, or Susey Housewife. His own eyes returned down to the book, clearly done talking. An arm lifted to push his white shirt sleeves back, so they'd scrunch just before his elbow's. Darn shirt was constricting..! Arms returning to their placements before, the book was simply left in his lap onto one page. He figured this Sigmund guy would probably want to start at the beginning again. Hopefully he wasn't some sort of speed reader... Not being the studious type all that much, Branek took quite awhile to get through a book, usually getting distracted, or lost in thought over even the smallest or simplest of paragraph's and sentences. Then again.. he was the one who'd gotten the book first... so a casual pace should be appropriate.
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 12:03 pm
Just when Sigmund thought his insides would tie themselves into a giant knot, Branek nodded and invited him over. His entire being crashed and resonated with relief, and he jumped at the opportunity to escape being the center of Branek's attention. He couldn't be sure of the cause yet, or the reason behind it, but Sigmund knew the surly boy's gaze mad him extremely anxious. Not because it offended him, but rather because he actually sort-of enjoyed it. The sensation was totally new to him, and discovering it delighted him somewhere deep, the part of his being that reveled in being alive. Stimulating it tickled him, but he didn't want to break into giggles in front of Branek and lose whatever respect he'd gained.
“Right, okay! I will, thanks.” Sigmund sauntered across the courtyard to the now-distracted Branek, his shoes sighing softly through the grass with each step. Gentle breezes played with the torso of his open academy jacket as he reached within and extracted a tiny notebook and a pen. He hoped Branek didn't read very fast, because Sigmund intended to take notes. He actually liked to read a page over several times, to ensure he had obtained everything from the words inscribed upon it. Even though he read fast, he actually ended up taking longer than most! He would have smiled if he'd known Branek had been worrying about the opposite.
“How far in are you...?” Sigmund inquired, softly, as he slid next to Branek on the bench, as close as he could get without bumping his own slender shoulders into the brown-clad boy's. The earlier insecurity and confusion had already started to melt away as he looked on with his new companion, fascinated by the detailed drawing upon the page. He'd seen works of fantasy that portrayed the winged lizards in a much more fanciful manner, but never a diagram so realistic and utterly awesome. Real dragons were some wonderful combination of terrifying and majestic, and Sigmund was already fascinated.
“I won't make you start over, if you're far in...” The scholarly boy knew just how much it sucked to be torn away from the current page one read in a book.
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Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 8:29 am
Branek's eyes subtly trailed a little while on Sigmund, watching as he approached. With the notebook produced, he could only smirk slightly. He was a studious guy, huh..? No matter. As long as he wasn't the overly serious type, things would be just fine.
As the other boy situated beside him, Branek let his free arm rise and rest on the back of the bench, behind Sigmund, clearly in a very relaxed pose. He lifted his knee a little so the other student could get a better look at what he was currently reading, tilting his own head a bit to get a gander at the amount of pages that remained on the right side, "Not too far.." he replied casually. A thought then came to him... making him spare a glance over to the white haired fella, "you looking for a specific page?" he asked smoothly. After all, it could very well be for school work or something that this guy wanted the book to begin with. Perhaps to look into a specific type of dragon for class, a project, maybe. Staring at Sigmund for a brief moment, he finally gave a lackadaisical shrug, eyes sliding back down to the parchment, "Can start where ever you'd like.." he murmured. It was to his realization that it really didn't matter if the guy wanted to start over, or go to a certain page. After all, Branek had mostly just been thumbing through it... to more or less look at the pictures and descriptions for types that caught his fancy. Though that was most of the pages he'd already progressed in...
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Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 2:00 pm
Sigmund had absorbed himself in the current page of the book, and began rapidly scribbling in perfect script upon the blank notebook page before Branek had even begun speaking. He'd already jotted down a little heading, underlined twice, as if to ENSURE he knew just what it was about when he opened to the page again. 'Mountain Dragons,' his page-topper read, for these were the subject of the page in the book. He'd jotted down a few hypothesis, question marks placed here and there, for guided reading the second time. He'd let himself get distracted, though, and had begun to sketch a (rather neat) recreation of a Mountain Dragon's head based on the few illustrations in the bigger tome when Branek's voice had finally reached him.
Not entirely Sigmund's fault, though, that he'd been so slow to respond to his new friend. Branek had a certain... smooth, quiet way of speaking that lulled the pale boy, always thrumming but never quite registering. He liked the sound, though. Branek seemed to be very calm and aloof, despite what he'd heard, and Sigmund liked that too. He really couldn't stand exciteable or constantly inquisitive people. The quiet meant more to him than noise ever could.
“No, I think you picked the perfect page...” Sigmund looked over to Branek, and almost immediately regretted the decision. The boy sat with his arm thrown behind him in that dominant way, his gaze only half-focused on the book as he murmurred on... It sent wave after wave of that new, unfamiliar feeling rolling through Sigmund's stomach. He threw his eyes back down towards the page, now acutely aware of the warmth of Branek next to him, and tried to finish his drawing to steady his nerves.
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Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 6:09 pm
As Sigmund got straight down to business, Branek allowed for his own hazelnut eyes to stray from the parchment once again to peer at what the other boy had been jotting down. Thorough notes... This kid was serious, for sure. Though... a brow quirked as he spied the beginnings of an illustration. This was cause for another smirk teasing the edge of his lips. It wasn't too bad, either. Branek could appreciate art. It held his attention more times than not. It really was an intriguing skill to watch in the moment. Seeing a creation come to life... And this time was no different. The boy's dark brown eyes were held captive by the scritching utensil against parchment. Not too bad...
His attention was slightly redirected as Sigmund spoke again, but Branek didn't show much of a reaction to it. Maybe a very subtle, and idle nod, but that was all. The hand that was resting on the back of the bench let the adorned fingers stroke and smooth along the edge, tracing over scratches, and gashes that'd been made over the years from neglect and wear. He remained silent for a good long while, just watching, observing, and waiting until the other boy had his fill. However... his eyes did slowly venture up to peer at the pale profile. Had he seen him before..? Who knows. He didn't pay attention well enough to recall. Again, he idly checked Sigmund out; his neck, hair, the concentration now redirected into the drawing and scribbling. Finally, after what seemed a greatly prolonged response to... something, Branek spoke casually, "You into dragons, then?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 7:55 pm
Sigmund felt Branek's eyes upon his drawing as if he had placed his fingers upon Sigmund's own bare flesh. He supposed all artists felt that way when they were being observed, a slightly self-conscious thing where the artist would worry that the observer would be judging the work, rather than simply enjoying the process, as so many did. Sigmund wasn't artist, though, he really didn't think so. An artist was someone who created their work to express themselves, right? Sigmund drew not out of passion, but necessity. He needed some way of preserving the image in his own head, and drawing made the memories that much more vivid. He didn't sway to sudden bursts of creativity, but rather drew to recreate, using other images or objects as reference points. This showed in his diagram now, a startlingly realistic piece that faithfully recreated the dragon in the book Branek held.
Sigmund had just begun to relax again, losing himself in a second sweep of the page, when Branek's ever-watching eyes roved over him again. He didn't quite know HOW he could tell, but he knew that the student's eyes were appraising again, perhaps looking for something Sigmund didn't quite know he had yet. It was all he could do to avoid squirming under that gaze. He jumped at the opportunity to answer Branek's question, on the off-chance talking might be the rememdy to send this foreign sensation into remission.
“Mhmmm,” he confirmed, nodding and smiling the slightest bit towards the brown-clad boy on the bench next to him. “I became interested in them quite recently, in fact!”
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Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 9:34 pm
His leg's shifted a little to better distribute the book halves along his thighs. Also to sort of... keep himself preoccupied. The arm resting on the other side of him rose to move towards the book, fingers feeling along the ends of the pages, fiddling with corners from time to time. He was clearly ready to turn the page... he wanted to see some new pictures. But he was doing his best at being patient. Letting his eyes rest on the books picture of the dragon for a moment longer, he finally let his gaze drift once more. This time it went on to survey the courtyard, noting it's overgrowth, and clear neglect. Were students allowed here...? Didn't matter to him, but it was something to ponder on. After all, if it wasn't taken care of, then that must be the case... or it'd just been forgotten. The school grounds were expansive!
Brown eyes flickered back at his company, staring at the abnormally pale complexion to wonder briefly if the guy ever got out all that much, his head gave the slightest cant, "yeah..?" he murmured in a mix of a question, and just acknowledging the other student's reply. Recently, huh? Surely there was a reason for that. But Branek wasn't too sure he cared all that much. He didn't know the guy, after all. Wasn't his business to know. And so his wandering eyes left the boy alone once more to peruse the area, "they're cool." he casually muttered as if it were a mere after thought.
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 12:52 pm
Sigmund's hand worked rapidly as he worked on with his sketch. He had since finished the outline of the head, and had produced a pencil, seemingly from nowhere, and now rolled it back and forth into various grips as he shaded. He'd tuned the world out, for a moment, for necessity dictated he stay focused or lose his train of thought on his piece. Again, this wasn't art; this was reproduction, like a handheld Xerox machine that made copies with startling clarity. Nothing but the sound of the breeze, a dull roar because of the many branches on the many shrubs and trees that grew all around, and that vision of the dragon in the book before him registered on his mental radar, all other stimuli falling aside in his complete focus. His breathing had slowed and his eyes had half-lidded themselves as he fell into an almost-trance.
That sound of the wind rustling through the overgrown trees rose to the roar of clashing thermals as he lost himself in his own mind. A cacophony of sky-noise filtered into his ears as he looked below, and some strange countryside he didn't know rolled away from him on all sides. Everything teemed with green, and Sigmund couldn't remember the last time he'd seen something so... so CLEARLY. The beating of wings joined the other noises, of buffeting winds and calling birds, or rather, they came to the front. They'd been beating the air the whole time, but Sigmund was just now noticing. This must be how a dragon feels, he thought, with reverence. This freedom. This entire world laid out before them.
“Yes...” Sigmund mumbled in reply, like a sleepy lover woken from a pleasant nap, “Very cool indeed.” He perked up when he looked down at his drawing, and realized it had gained wings and a body, but they were very different from the picture in the book. They were in motion, conveying the appearance of flight, full of life and realism. As Sigmund looked between the book's dragon, which sat in regal stillness, inspecting the reader even as the reader inspected the dragon, and his own drawing, which looked up at the observer with something like a challenge, a dare to fly away with it, he realized that Branek wanted to turn the page.
“Oh...! I'm sorry, please, feel free to turn the page, I've finished up on the current two!” He gave an embarassed smile and averted his gaze by going back to his hair, which had slowly begun creeping back into his face again.
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 1:39 pm
There were a few area's of the abandoned courtyard that caught his eye. Typically places where there was swift, or brief unnatural movement. Such as the wind tickling branches in a strange manner, or the disturbance of some sort of insect or fauna moving about. But his eyes slid slowly, as if in no rush to get to the next point of interest. A comfortable breeze had gentle smoothed past the duo, ruffling the longer front hair of Branek's fauxhawk, making his own eyes become veiled slightly. It held a nice aroma. Natural, and earthy. It made him slouch a bit more in his seat, arm furthering it's progression behind Sigmund, on the back of the bench. By now he was at the other boy's level, the book just a bit further away though. Ah well..
As he enjoyed the bit of appealing scenery, his gaze did manage to backtrack to his current company, eyeing the boy just slightly at first, before fully staring at him. He looked quite different now. Features very relaxed, and subdued. A brown brow crooked inquisitively, studying this new side to his fellow peer. It wasn't bad. Clearly he must be in some sort of trance, a mantra, the expression very distant looking. Pleased with something that didn't seem really.. there. He couldn't be that delighted just by the book, could he..? seemed a bit far-fetched.. but who was Branek to say? He didn't know the guy. Indulging in the rather adorable state, his own head cocked a bit to get a better look, that grin twirked at the corner of his lips again, "Enjoying yourself..?" he asked calmly, with some amusement easily mixed in. The guy really must have been into his studies.
With the sudden flusterment, the grin grew minutely more, fingers just casually pushing the parchment to the next page, "It's fine.." he replied easily. Though his gaze didn't really deter from Sigmund, eyes following the pale hand that pushed back hair. "You know.." he started, leaning a bit closer for a better look, "you should fix your bone-clips there, so they can keep your bangs back.. if they're botherin` ya.." he offered, a bit surprised to see such a design on the boy. Didn't seem the type, by his personality. Or what little Branek was able to see of it.
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Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 3:32 pm
Sigmund fiddled with the clips a while before answering. His fingers fumbled clumsily with the accessories, and eventually, he threw his hands in exasperation and defeat, lest he make the problem worse. The last thing he wanted was to make himself look any worse in front of Branek. Because... well, he didn't know why. He didn't NORMALLY care what other people thought of him. His hair had always been a problem, but he'd never felt such urgency to fix it before. What was it about this boy that made him feel like he was so under pressure?
He smiled, though, weakly, trying at humor. “I try so hard, Branek, you have no idea. Hell, I have no idea! I just... I have no idea how to fix up my own hair, isn't that silly?” He chuckled, finding this so much easier to work through with the brown-clad boy smiling back at him. The truth was, he liked the way it looked, the way he wore it. And constantly having to readjust gave him something to do in the spaces between words when conversations fall into a lull, those times that normally made him feel so inept, that stopped his words entirely like some kind of dreary inertia. “Besides, keeping it neat and proper looks so... boring. My older sister always says, 'Form over function, little brother, damnit!'” He has attempted a rough imitation of Niamh that sounds nothing like her, to an almost comical point, so he laughs again.
As his laughter petered off, he looked up at Branek, and this time he doesn't flinch at how the boy has leaned in closer to him. He heaves a contented sigh, and steels himself for his next response, though it comes naturally. “Yes, I am enjoying myself, I think. A good book and, uhm...” He pauses, now, meeting Branek's brown eyes with his own murky silver pair. “... and good company.”
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