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Date & Time: early evening of april 30th
Location: unit 407
Characters: leo & oz
Summary: time for a house call because some nobles just don't know how public libraries work
Warnings: idk none?

[ If it were up to Leo he would never drop by Oz's apartment willingly, but this time it's not entirely up to him. Not when he owes the librarian for occasionally letting him spend the night in the library and especially when 'occasionally' was turning into 'often' by now. So when Leo dropped by the library after his work in the orphanage and caught the librarian's complaints, he'd offered his help after quickly realizing what the problem was.

Honestly, nobles.

He's marching down the apartment complex halls with a paper in hand listing the missing books and the appropriate fines, still clad in the clothing that made him seamlessly fit in with the natives that he's been prone to wearing whenever he visits the orphanage and with the Nightray sword dangling from his hip. Since Elliot wanted him to look after it, it meant dragging it around everywhere but at least Leo had gotten a belt to make it easier on himself.

Once he finds the right door, he stops to take a deep breath to alleviate some of the growing irritation before knocking. ]

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( one of the very last things oz would've expected to find, opening the door, has to be the sight before him now: namely, leo. there's a half-second in which he's tempted to look further into the hallway for someone else - ada, maybe, or break, or elliot. someone to coerce him into doing this.

but there isn't anyone, and oz isn't quite so transparent as to do that, so he offers leo a smile. )

Hello, Leo.

Oz.

[ That counts as a greeting, right? A very curt one, that is.

Leo doesn't waste any more time than that, not in the mood to exchange pleasantries, and he's holding out the paper in front of Oz's face an instant later, looking mighty unimpressed. ]

You do realize you need to return the books you get from the library before a certain date, right? [ Actually he knows the answer already, but he's making a point here. ]

I...

( he blinks at the sudden incursion of the paper, shifting his weight forward slightly to get a look at the text. he'd known that books from the library were to be borrowed, not kept, but the fact that there was a date to return by had slipped his notice - or, maybe more likely, he'd heard the librarian mention it and forgot, too used to gilbert or someone else handling that. )

Oh.

( he especially hadn't realized that the date they were due by had come and gone already. he breathes out, rueful, and then looks around the paper to leo. )

I'll have to take them back as soon as possible and apologize a lot, huh?

[ Leo lowers the paper slightly, still holding it out for Oz to take, as he smiles a distinct 'pleasant but not actually pleasant at all' kind of smile.

It's all nice and good that Oz realized his mistake with that, but Leo still had to make his way out here for that to happen. ]

That's right. There are fines you have to pay too.

[ He nods at the paper, indicating the numbers neatly written on it. ]

( he takes the paper finally, skimming through the parts of it that'd been harder to read from the earlier angle. )

Fines?

( really? he looks up, a touch incredulous, before looking back for the numbers. oh. )

They go up every day?

[ Leo drops his arm back to his side although it doesn't stay there long before he crosses both arms over his chest, almost mimicking the impatient librarian the way he left her back in the library.

Watching Oz's reaction is— a little satisfying at least. Irritation gives way to some amusement. ]

They do. You're unlucky, they're much higher here than back in the Academy. They must really value their books. [ said oh so cheerfully. ]

Well, I can't say I blame them.

( and it's true, with how difficult it is to get any commodity here, let alone something like books. there's a hand that migrates to the back of his neck as he finishes reading the paper, and then he glances back to leo. )

( and then he brightens - perhaps gratingly. perhaps on purpose. )

I'll have to get to it quickly, especially since you came out all this way just to tell me about it!

( the implication being, of course, friiiiiends )

[ Oh no, don't go there.

Leo narrows his eyes, expression souring instantly. ]

I owe the librarian. You're quite a pain to her. [ That's all this is!! ]

( oh yes he'll go there. and with the brightest of smiles! )

I'll definitely apologize to her. ( then: ) Thank you for letting me know!

[ He only squints more, disapprovingly. ]

You should hurry and get those books back. The library is still open.

I will, I will. Are you going back, too?

( because all of leo's time spent there is hardly lost on him. )

I am.

[ It slips out before he realizes the implication in that question and his mistake in admitting that he's returning to the library. He has to bite back a groan.

He does really have to get back and fetch a book though. He probably should have taken it with him already so he could go back to his room now, but alas. ]

Let's walk back together! ( victory. ) Wait just a minute, alright?

( he leaves the door open as he goes back to fetch the books in his possession. truthfully, he doesn't really trust leo not to bolt, so he's quick about it and back to the doorway soon enough. )

[ It's a good thing Oz doesn't trust him because the answer was a resounding 'no' in his head that he couldn't voice aloud in time before Oz disappeared back into the room.

In fact, when Oz comes back Leo's already turning to leave. There's a very brief pause in which he adjusts the sword's position on his hip though, allowing enough time for the door to be shut before he actually sets off.

He did promise he would see to it that the books would be returned. ]

Can you even pay the fines? [ He doesn't trust a spoiled noble to have much in the way of money management, okay. ]

( it's little things like this that make him think - really think, not just hope - that it's not so hopeless after all, leo and him. after all, why not just leave the moment oz's back is turned? why bother at all?

so it's with a small pleased bounce in his step that he shuts the door behind them and sets off with leo, arms full with a stack of books. though - there is a slight falter at the question. can he? that's a good question. good thing the new month - and allowance - is in a day )

I'm sure I can!

( sooner or later maybe?? )

[ The falter doesn't go unnoticed and Leo shoots Oz a dubious look over his shoulder that already speaks volumes. ]

If you say so. [ The 'then you better' is heavily implied in his tone. ]

Just don't cause trouble for her again. [ He doesn't want to have to haul ass here again or be held responsible for a 'friend'. ]

I won't, I won't!

( and then, oddly, he laughs )

I've never had something like a library fine before. ( he should probably sound more unhappy about that, but he doesn't. it's a new experience! ) Usually, I got books out of the Vessalius collection or Pandora.

[ It's not like he expects Oz to react to it differently, but it still earns a mildly puzzled frown. From what he'd glimpsed of the fines, they weren't a laughing matter.

But it figures, really. ]

They're not public libraries, of course they wouldn't charge you anything.

[ And he bets Gilbert returned the ones at Pandora. ]

You're right!

( and it's entirely likely no one at pandora was very inclined to charge the `reincarnation of the hero,` anyway. )

Of course it's different.

You're just like everyone else now, it must be strange.

[ No nobility, no private libraries or servants, no 'hero' business.

Whether Leo means it mockingly or not is hard to tell. ]

( a look at leo is all the reminder it takes to think well, not just like. )

As for that - I could say the same to you, couldn't I?

[ A beat before he concedes with a nod. ]

I guess so. [ Just for him it's in a different way. No flecks of light dancing in the air, no voices whispering in his head. It is strange to see the world the way everyone else supposedly does. ]

But I imagine it must be a bigger culture shock for you.

( neither of them were quite normal, even outside of where circumstances took them; not with shards of shattered souls still lingering a hundred years later. but even with his point made, leo's is also true, and he concedes in turn. )

It's fun. Of course, there are a lot of things I'm still learning and making mistakes with, ( and he hefts the books as a case in point ) but it's nice to spend the days like this.

( in the sunlight, if there were any sun here to speak of, so much more peacefully and as if they were all normal people for real. )

[ It is nice, he agrees. Confusing and conflicting for the most part to Leo as everything has been to him lately, but nice too. Given the option, he's not certain if he would go home. There was nothing left for him there. Here it's different. They might be stuck in a war that wasn't their own, but Elliot lived, the Dukedoms didn't exist and he was free from 'Glen' and everything it meant to be Glen Baskerville.

Compared to what was waiting back home, it is more peaceful. However . . . ]

It probably won't last, it's war here after all.

[ It's just an illusion that can be shattered at any moment. ]

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