Book Worms and Trouble

[demitri]

Demitri sat with his pointed nose pushed into a book that managed to maintain a weight that was greater than his own head (over eight point five pounds). It was about the only exercise he was every about to allow his pasty body until finally he grew tired and allowed the book to collapse into his lap. The text itslef was older than he was and deeply frustrating. Although interesting, there were gaps in the text, as if someone had asked their dog to fetch it, chew it and then attempted to put it in the blender before the book decided to stand up for itself. Pages were falling from the loose bindings, as sullen green eyes followed them down; it was then Demitri realized: he was bored. Looking blankly at the dirifting pages and the fortress of books that were stacked around his old leather chair...
Good God...had reading finally lost it's flair. He started to panick in his head, without reading, what did he have? Personality, no, it was like a bad bannana filled with spider legs...Intelligence, fine, but who could understand a brain so superior as his own?
No one
Without his books...gloom and boredom began to steap around the room while his fingers dripped dramatically, the drops of black poison burning through some of the ragged carpeting as he failed to hold himself together.

[Miss Jack]

Alexander breezed in through the library door unannounced, waving at October at the front desk. He didn't say a word, but his presence seemed to shift and disturb the library's tranquility. This thing that had breached its boundaries was obtrusive, fiery and had an aura of anti-tranquillity about it.

Alexander stuck his head into the study room, grinning when he spotted Demitri. "Greetings, oh anti-social-one." He walked in and leaned over, studying the book in Demitri's lap upside down. He was fairly sure that he would lose brain cells attempting to read it. Actually (he squinted) he wasn't even sure it was written in English.

He helped himself to a pile of books, perching himself atop them like the King of Latin. He picked one up at random, flipping through to see if he could find any pictures. "I'm bored," he announced, as if this were some glorious revelation.

[demitri]

Sharp eyes glanced up as he snatched the book out of Alex's hand, "don't touch that, the grease from your hands will harm the pages. Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose Demitri adjusted his gloves peevishly,
"bored...well, theres something we have in common."
He began to fuss around his books, as if looking for something, muttering under his breath like a little old woman, "bored, bored, bored."
Ah...there it was. A text so old it had and iron cover and thin copper pages that shone in the dull light, making the book seem as though it were as though it was alive. The shifting shine giving the odd look of a breathing thing, slow and creeping as history itself.
"Here, help me with this."

[Miss Jack]

He rolled his eyes, considered wiping his nose on all the books just to irritate Demitri, but decided against it when he saw the book Demitri was gesturing too. Interest piqued, he hopped off the stack of books and approached it. He hefted it with both hands --it was surprisingly heavy-- and set it onto the desk in the center of the room with a soft grunt. He dusted off his hands and then settled them against his hips. "What is it?"

[demitri]

"Well, some people call them books, but you might understand it better as: 'thick paper thing with scribbles and no pictures."
He hefted open the thick iron cover, inside were runes and static drawings across the thin copper leafs. Gloved hands delicately turned each page until it finally landed on a space that held only one word in a language no one remembered,
"There, that should be enough to get your hamsters back on the wheel."
A smug smirk passed over Demitri's lips, as if he had just discovered fire, or invented the wheel (or had even gone the route of davincci and had invented a helicopter that didn't work but was still very proud of it).

[Miss Jack]

Alex glowered. "I know it's a book, smartass."

He leaned over, examining the pages, but not touching them, lest Demitri chide him about more oil deposits or whatever. He arched an eyebrow. "Sorry. I'm not fluent in Runes-Of-A-Dead-Language."

[demitri]

Demitri looked up, "oh sorry, what was that, apparently I'm not fluent in 'bitchings of a neanderthal'
A grin passed over his face, which was rare in a fussy old woman such as he, "The word is a description of a very old, very valuable, artifact. Since we were bored, I thought maybe we could try and see it, find it or if you prefer instead, steal it and risk our necks trying to get away with it simply for the fun of it."
The last sentence he threw away as if hoping that Alex just wouldn't pay attention, considering he hadn't meant to say it and didn't really want to steal anything, but tacked on that tasteless bit i due to a lack of mind-to-mouth-filter.

[Miss Jack]

Alexander considered this, his expression both thoughtful and excited. "Well, clearly, we couldn't just try and see it. What would be the point of that? Yes, we would obviously have to steal it." He nodded to himself with finality.

"If," he held up a tenative finger. "It's worth the time. What is it, exactly?"

[demitri]

"A book, a journal, a pile of blank pages. It has a lot of names. Before Nightmares ever became sophisticated," He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "it was said to have been owned to the one who founded Chimera, or at least the small tribe of ghouls who happened to live here...supposedly you can write out your own future, perhaps change your history. The book is blank by nature, you can even change past and present, but of course there are rules. Supposedly the fates gave it to him."
And that, of course, was where the danger came in, the fates had the book, and it would difficult to pry it from their old shriveled fingers.

[Miss Jack]

Alexander's grin was quick, sharp and a mixture of insanity, cleverness and malice all at once. "That's perfect," he said, thinking that the first thing he'd do was blot out the day he was born the second crown prince of the Isle of Morpheus. Fully expecting Demitri to attempt murder, Alexander ripped the page from the book and folded it into his pocket.

"Come on, then," he sauntered to the door. "The Fates..." he murmured, most to himself. That had definitely been on Daddy's 'no-no' list growing up.

[demitri]

Demitri looked at the page in shock
"you...you..."
Green eyes narrowed, "once we find that book, I'm tearing out your birthday."