Poetry and Paper Cuts [LordTurtlus]

Browsing the towering shelf before her, Terrance skimmed her fingertips lightly over each book spine. This place was proving to be better than she had ever imagined, and she had only been on the island for the most part of a day- two at the max. She paused in the middle of the isle to take in the mixed scent of floor cleaner and musty pages. Something about the two scents mixed together made her feel oddly satisfied with her current surroundings. It had been a long time since she had felt so at ease. Perhaps it was because she was surrounded by others with powers, or the fact that she would have a fresh bed to call her own tonight. Either way, it was a feeling she hadn't been able to appreciate in quite some time.

Working her way through the maze of shelves, her attention was snagged by an old, worn out book spine at the end of a row. It was creamy white in color, but years of use had started to turn it a lonely gray. The gold title on the spine had been rubbed off by the hands of countless readers, leaving only a few pieces here and there but nothing decipherable. Terrance reached for the book and gently ran her fingers down it's soft spine before gently pulling it from it's spot on the shelf. "Mmh, should have known." she murmured as she turned the book's cover over. The words "Shakespeare" and "Poetry" could be read in dingy gold lettering that stood out against the worn cover.

Glancing down the isle in both directions, she watched for any signs of life before balancing the book in her left hand while using her right hand to flip through the crusted pages.  She didn't want somebody asking her what book she was reading or trying to make small talk, which was part of the reason she had wandered for far back into the shelves before picking a book.The pages cracked and coughed out dust particles each time she turned one over.  Perhaps she would look into one of those..card things for books. Judging by their fair collection of just about everything, there was a lot of reading to be done.


 

    Another day meant another trip to the library for Knell. While he would of preferred to sneak in after-hours and have the whole room to himself, he could only fit one decently sized novel into the inside of jacket and there were multiple books that had caught his interest the night before. With his only other option being several energy-consuming trips to get them all, Knell simply decided on showing up the following the day to collect his bounty the old fashioned way. And so here he was. 

    A problem presented itself as he made his way to the location of the first listed book however. A soft noise caused Knell to come to a halt as he was turning the corner into the isle. While his directional hearing was not the most efficient he could still make out faintly the turning of pages. The shade knew that could only mean one thing with his luck. Somebody had his book, and he was not going to stand for that. With a huff he marched out into the middle of the isle in a blaze of gaseous glory. 

    "WHAT DO YOU THI-," he was in the midst of making a thundering acquisition, finger pointed at the worm-creature down the isle and all, when just about every other resident of the library quickly turned in his direction and shushed him simultaneously. "...And people wonder why I detest you mongrels," he mumbled as he phased into the floor below. DarkSight(!!!) allowed him to confirm that yes, the book the peon was looking at was the one he had been after. With haste he incorporeally traveled from the the floor into the adjacent bookshelf and then down the isle to the book-thief.  "As I was saying, what do you think you are doing?" the question reverberated from the bookshelf, leaving no indication of the shadowy figure's actual location. "That book had been claimed by the almighty Knell, you will place it back where you found it at once."

The sudden outburst startled Terrance and she frowned to herself. * Apparently somebody doesn't know what a library is..* she mused to herself, flipping a few more pages as she glanced up briefly. She hadn't seen anyone enter the isle with her, and had assumed the person doing all the shrieking was a few isles over until they spoke again.

 "As I was saying, what do you think you are doing?" Without missing a beat, she let out a heavily irritated sigh."What does it look like I'm doing?" she retorted, raising her eyes to see the isle was still empty besides herself. "That book had been claimed by the almighty Knell, you will place it back where you found it at once." Terrance raised her eyebrows in mild curiosity as she scanned the bookshelf.* If this is some sort of initiation, they're doing a horrible job.* she noted to herself as she looked down at the book still balanced in her hand.

"The almighty Knell, huh?" she repeated, snapping the book shut with her left hand and watching musty dust particles shoot out from between the pages. " Well please do forgive me, your mightiness,[/color] She smiled pleasantly,"but I most certainly do not care."Her tone was syrupy sweet, heavily suggesting sarcasm as she scanned the shelves again in a casual manner.

" Unfortunately for.. Knell, she spoke again, turning the book over in her hands to inspect the bindings. " there seems to be no names or marking of any sort on this.. fine example of literature." She shrugged innocently, flipping the pages open once more- mainly for dramatic effect. Whoever this "Knell" person was, definitely had no idea what they were getting into. If they wanted to play games, that was certainly alright with Terrance." And since you seem to be the yelling type, I can only assume you don't fully appreciate the value of such a timeless piece of art. I now feel it's my duty to protect such a treasure.she pulled the book to her chest as if shielding it from the unseen figure." Perhaps you'd like a different selection of books-in the kid's section where your friends are waiting."

((OOC: Sorry for any spelling errors! The wifi at school sucks today and it kept wanting to put [/font] after everying I wrote -__- ))

    From the bookshelf came a haughty chuckle. While he had been annoyed that someone had dared to touch his book of interest, the misplaced sense of superiority many of these worms displayed never failed to amuse. "A lowly creature such as yourself would not know what to do with an actual timeless treasure. What you are holding is a book containing whimsical tales written by a long dead fool that your race seem to believe important. None of it is, of course," Knell explained as he materialized out of the bookshelf.

    With his usual chesire grin the god reached over and snatched a different book. "In fact, I will not hassle you anymore about dear Shakespeare. Look closely enough and all books tell the same tale of human pettiness, failure and fear." He flipped through the pages as he spoke, but with featureless eyes it was impossible to tell if he was actually looking at the contents or just staring down the worm before him. "I do not know why I am bothering to tell something like you all this though. You will probably just make another adorably pathetic attempt to hurt the feelings of a god."

    The shade returned the book to where he found it with another little laugh. A daytime trip had not been such a bad idea after all if the library would be filled with morons like this. And the mention of a kid's section only brought forth a nostalgic memory of when he had to learn this horrid maggot-language. "Funny thing about children's books, I was actually stuck reading some just earlier this year. You've proven to be the humorous fellow yourself, so would you mind if I shared a laughter-inducing tale?"

Terrance watched as the figure emerged from the bookshelf. If he hadn't been speaking to her, she would have thought it was some kind of illusion. Her eyebrows raised as she studied the interesting figure from head to toe, wondering how such a being was even possible. Then again, she was on an island with a school specifically for people with powers. It really shouldn't have been so surprising.

"What you are holding is a book containing whimsical tales written by a long dead fool that your race seem to believe important." He sure wasn't shy about his opinions. "Ah, you have my race totally figured out. I guess we'll have to start singing your praises now?"[/color] Terrance questioned, attempting not to roll her eyes so obviously."Look closely enough and all books tell the same tale of human pettiness, failure and fear." Terrance smiled to herself, shaking her head. "I disagree." she shrugged, watching as this creature..being..thing pulled a book from a nearby shelf." Although the Ugly Duckling started out as a tale of failure, it ultimately becomes a tale of learning self love."[/color] She gave another casual shrug as she reached up with her right hand to tuck a few stray hairs back behind her ear.


What an interesting, being. It was obvious he thought highly of himself, calling her a "lowly creature" and sticking his nose (if he had one) up at her choice of reading. Why had he made such a dramatic entrance if he didn't want the book in the first place? She didn't know, nor did she care that much, but it was still intriguing nonetheless. One moment he was acting as if she was the scum of the world and the next he was offering to hell her a "laughter-inducing tale". Interesting indeed. Looking at the clock on the wall at the end of the isle, She hesitated before letting out a huff of breath. " Sure, why not. I've got time to kill anyways." she mused, shifting her weight so she was leaning her shoulder against the heavy shelf. Even if tis "tale" turned out to be boring, she didn't mind hanging around to stare at this shadow figure for a while longer. In all honesty, she wanted to know if he had any other expressions other than mimicking the Cheshire cat from Wonderland.

    Knell reached into his pocket and pulled out a small notepad and pen. "The ugly duckling you said?" he asked as he jotted something down, though he did not wait for an answer. "I might have to read that myself if it is so grand. Although I am fairly certain a name like that indicates the book is trying to teach you the old 'Don't judge a book by it's cover' message, which if anything enforces the fact that you little creatures can do nothing better but find reasons to discriminate against one another."

    He tucked the pen and paper back into his jacket while taking a moment to ponder the pathetic mortal before him. She seemed a bit taken back by not just his sudden appearance, but his appearance in general. He could not recall seeing this one before, so in all likelihood it was probably a new student if it was so taken aback a non-fleshbag. Probably a Lyra-maggot too considering how it had practically been worshiping a book instead of KNELL's majesty.

---

STORY Time:ENGAGED

    "Splendid, it is so very rare that Knell gets to be the one telling the stories" He leaned up against the bookshelf as he prepared to tell his tale, not even flinching when a dusty book fell from the top shelf and hit him upon his smoggy face. "So, where to begin...I had just entered this wretched plane of existence, with no knowledge of your 'modern' world or its barbaric languages, and I found myself to be incredibly hungry. So I entered this one house I thought looked nice and begin to search for anything useful. Not a moment later I hear someone sobbing like they just found out everyone they know and loved was dead. I walk down a long hall and find this pathetic worm, just curled up watching some story for children on the image-box. And guess what he's just got in his hands and just staring at?" the shade asked, trying to hold back his laughter. Once again he was not waiting for an answer "Well In his hands he has a picture of himself and what I could only assume is his worm-family, and he is still just crying is eyes out. Naturally I decided to stand there for a bit just basking in the wonderfulness of it all. But I was a mission, so I went back into the hallway and just start looking around. One room I go into and find all these little books with all these basic words and colorful pictures in cardboard-boxes. The walls have exaggerated pictures of animals on them too, but other than that the room's empty. I know some very basic English by now, so I start reading the books to try and improve my vocabulary a bit, and next thing I know the crying worm is in the doorway just staring! I did not even know human eyes could bulge out like that!" The god actually slapped his knee and gave a small laugh. "Being the god I am, I try to talk to the poor thing and it just runs into the next room and slams the door shut. So I go through the wall and, well...I suppose there are somethings about you fleshbags I will never understand," the god finished his story with an uncertain voice.

Terrance smirked and chuckled to herself, though not because she found the story to be laugh inducing. She studied Knell, fighting to keep the subtle smirk from growing any larger, as if he had said something that was actually funny. He was hard to read but from what she could only assume, his version of funny and a "fleshbag's" version of funny were on opposite ends of the spectrum."What the hell is a fleshbag?" she snickered as her brows furrowed slightly.What was up with the kid in the story crying? Was he a home invader who could run through walls or something?

By this time she had lost her battle to control her smirk which had evolved into a grin, accompanied by suppressed laughter. Was this guy for real?? She glanced down the isle for a moment to see if she was being pranked by other students but found it was just her and the shaded figure. Realizing it was not a prank, she regained composure and her amused expression was traded for something a bit more serious. He had mentioned something about being a God, and seemed to find the child's sobbing comical, which had again caught her interest. " So, exactly what are you then? Why would a God decide to hang out with a bunch of kids-at a school of all places?" She questioned him, eyes narrowing slightly as she studied him a bit closer. She hoped he wasn't one of those goth kids trying to start a new trend or something.

Was he a giant gas bubble..thing? No, he had to be some what solid for that book to bounce off his head, right? Did he even feel it hit him? She was tempted the throw another book at him to see what would happen, but decided it wasn't the brightest idea. She would save it for another time- when she could throw the book anonymously and observe from a distance.

    Seeing as she was chuckling and grinning to herself, the god could only assume this peon had also found his story to be amusing. There did seem to be a bit of confusion emanating from the pathetic thing, perhaps it would be best if he clarified on some of the more vague details. "If you are curious, it turns out the meatmaggot's little family had just been terminated in a vehicular accident not even a week prior to that story. Only reason I know that though is because of a News article I found detailing a police investigation of the house shortly after I left," he explained. The article had also detailed the disgusting state that crying-moron had been left in, but mortals were often too squeamish for such details.

    While that might be a bit too much to explain to a newly met worm, Knell was always delighted to explain the obvious meaning of his little names for the various creatures on this abysmal planet. "It is simple really. A fleshbag is just one of you generic mortals. That is basically all you are after all, layers of flesh meant to hold in your organs." The term was almost interchangeable with worm for he Limbo being, though he normally saved fleshbag for worms that were especially pitiful. Perhaps this one was a fleshbag itself, seeing as it was currently staring down the isle instead of baring witness to Knell in all his grandness. 

    "Knell 'hangs out' here out of necessity. My actual body is still trapped inside itself in the plane I originally came from, and my petty siblings have made it impossible for it to simply force its way out. And before I can get to devising any kind of plans, I first need to get a proper understanding of this world. Obviously not many places are willing to assist me in my education." There was also the giant food supply readily available which was a plus. Aaaand maybe even some knowledge on how to get his true form here, but that was best not said out-loud. "What about you, what brings the mysterious and powerful worm to Foresta?"

"A fleshbag is just one of you generic mortals." This Knell guy seemed full of self confidence and perhaps a little bit of arrogance as well, but over all he was interesting to say the least." Ah, and here I thought I was in a meat suit." she mused, shaking her head. She would definitely have to add 'fleshbag' to her list of odd insults to throw at people.

Knell went on to explain what had happened to the poor boy in his story, and why he found it so humorous. Only then did it dawn on her that there was a strong chance that he was not from this realm. Her assumption was confirmed when he mentioned that his "..actual body is still trapped inside itself in the plane I originally came from..." If she hadn't been on this specific island, she almost doubted she could handle the information. All this talk of different planes and bodies being trapped. It would have made for a great episode of the Twilight Zone.

Words couldn't describe how intrigued she was by Knell and his casual tone as he spoke about his body being trapped in his home plane and being somewhat outcast from his siblings. The story sounded vaguely familiar as she nodded slightly to herself, making a mental note that Knell was a good one to jab at when she wanted to be entertained with weird, slightly disturbing stories.


"What about you, what brings the mysterious and powerful worm to Foresta?" The question almost passed her unnoticed, being so caught up in her thoughts about exactly what Knell was. She raised her eyebrows at him and gave a nonchalant shrug with both shoulders. " Eh, the usual I guess." She sounded a bit uninterested talking about herself which was partially true. She didn't like talking about her past, digging up old wounds that she still found to be occasionally tender. Instead of telling the whole story, she found it was easier to abbreviate her life story and leave out the boring details- basically everything." I just wanted to get out...see if there were people weirder than myself. So far, I have not been disappointed."

    And there is was. The backstory that was entirely too mundane for someone attending Foresta. Knell could not recall how many times he had heard a simple excuse such as that only to find out that the individual had actually been outcasted from society do to being a freak of nature. It was becoming almost monotonous for him, hearing the same thing over and over again. He just wanted someone to show up and say that they are hear to escape death by hanging after killing a whole bunch of people. "How odd. Almost everyone in this school has some horribly tragic backstory. Family got killed in a tragic accident, created to be a sentient weapon, chased away by family and friend after developing powers, really you'd think these maggots would be eager to share their sobs-stories so they could make a contest to see who's had it worse. But you're not like them, no, you left everything you knew behind just so you could meet some weird people. I should have known," he said with evident sarcasm.

    While it was obvious her story was a load of horse feces, the mortals lies did enlighten Knell of one thing: He had not an idea which dorm she could be in. Love for worthless poetry was a sign of a Lyra-infant, the obviously fabricated backstory was more of an indicator of a member of Serpens or possibly even a Pyxis-maggot, while her obvious curiosity in his godly visage was also a trait more evident in the lost souls of Pyxis. "So tell Knell, which dorm does one join when their whole reason for entering the Academy is meeting strange people?"

Terrance found Knell's response to be interesting. He sounded as if he was bored or unamused by the answer she had given. " "How odd. Almost everyone in this school has some horribly tragic backstory...But you're not like them, no, you left everything you knew behind just so you could meet some weird people. I should have known," the sarcasm was evident in his tone, and she gave him a one shouldered shrug. " If you're into sob stories, I can make one up for you," she offered, " But the way I see it, I wasn't wanted in my previous location so I figured I could efficiently waste my time elsewhere."

Why did she feel the need to explain herself to him? He was just assuming she had a sob story lurking in her shadow, but for all he knew, she could have been a spy of some sort hiding from the enemy. She made a mental note to keep her explanations to a minimum.

"So tell Knell, which dorm does one join when their whole reason for entering the Academy is meeting strange people?" The question made her chuckle." You're the mysterious God-figure.. thing here, you figure it out." She retorted, deciding that if he wanted to criticize her answers, he could first figure out the answer on his own.

    "No need, sob stories are much more fun when they are true," Knell said with a dismissing wave of his metal hand. It would just be a waste of his practically limitless time, so there was no way he would be sitting through a fake AND boring story. He did however take a mental note of the cryptic tale in case it would come useful down the line. The Limbo God was a firm believer in never being too careful. Or was it being too ambiguously evil?

    What really caught is interest though was the invitation to guess the mortal's dorm himself. She even made sure to mention that he was a god, which delighted Knell to no end. Before he got ahead of himself and began turning a guess game though, he first needed to clarify what she meant. "To be clear, are you telling me to make a guess on which dorm you reside on, or are you telling me to actually gather the knowledge required to identify the dorm? Because the latter would waste about five of your human minutes for me." he inquired. All of his hope was currently in her picking the former so he could get to work turning the simple process of making an assumption into some marvelously overly-complicated game that only he could win. 

""To be clear, are you telling me to make a guess on which dorm you reside on, or are you telling me to actually gather the knowledge required to identify the dorm? Terrance rolled her eyes at him, shifting her weight from one leg to the other." Just guess." she replied, starting to catch on to his shenanigans. Unfortunately she didn't have anywhere to be at the moment, and having her time wasted by Knell was better than trying to find something to do.

For being a creature of high intelligence, he seemed to have a child-like mentality. Perhaps that was just his ungodly amount of arrogance. In any case, she decided to put up with his game for a while longer until she lost interest. She wondered if he actually enjoyed taking part in  these weird guessing games. If she was a creature like him, she  assumed she would enjoy it to some extent- getting a chance to flex his intellectual abilities.  She wondered how far he would drag a simple guessing game out before coming up with an actual guess, smirking faintly to herself.

[ooc; Thread Inactive. Library. Please let me know if you want this revived and I will move it back and delete my post. Thank you]