(no subject)

[hornedomen]

Date & Time: The following three days after this.
Location: Mainly the library but also the training facility.
Characters: Ico, OPEN.
Summary: Reading books and sleeping on books.
Warnings: None.


While he may not have trusted Koltira, he could not ignore his pain. He needed to find a way to help him. From the first day, Ico put two tables together in the library to begin his work. He was a constant presence there and surrounded with stacks of books. Anything that seemed even remotely helpful, he read through and when he could not understand, he read another book that explained it. He learned more legends about the undead in one day than all his mother told him his entire life.

It was not just about zombies and the undead that he read about. He read much more, including curses although he knew little about magic. While he could ask over the netbook, Koltira had so adamantly refused assistance that he thought it would only upset him if he saw it.

Ico could not spend the entire day reading, regardless of how much he wanted to. At times, he read until his vision was blurry and he slept on an open book more than once. When he found learning new material to be too frustrating, he went to the training facility and exercised. He also ate outside of the facility but soon he would return to the library and study again.

Comments

[feel_nevermore]

Raven had just picked one book from a shelf when she noticed the boy sound asleep on an open book. She would have just walked by him if she hadn't noticed he was starting to drool on the page under his cheek. Books had always been a precious thing to Raven, especially in a place like Exsilium where they were rarer as back home given all the technology that had superseded them. With a flick of her wrist, she used telekinesis to pull the boy from under the sleeping boy's head. ...Kind of a brutal way to wake someone up but the book came first.

[hornedomen]

Regardless of how brutal it was, it was certainly one of the worst ways to wake up someone with sharp horns amidst a fortress of books. Ico jolted up and his horn crashed into a stack of books. Books and pages of notes scattered the floor. All his hard work was a dishevelled mess but he was so exhausted that he did not respond emotionally while he cleaned it up. He noticed Raven moments after he started cleaning and it finally occurred to him that she woke him up.

“Please give that back, I’m not finished with it.” His voice was distant and calm. It took too much energy to be angry right now.

[feel_nevermore]

Raven looked at the boy cleaning up, noticing how oblivious of her presence he seemed to be. When he finally talked to her, she handed him back the book, still open at the same page he was sleeping onto moments ago.

"You were drooling on it."

[hornedomen]

“Oh. I’m sorry,” he muttered.

He wiped the book and set it on the table. The mess was not completely cleaned yet and he put the fallen notes into a pile. He planned to put them in the right place again later when he was not as sleepy. He looked at Raven once again before he turned to the open book. For now, he was too tired to ask about her and too focused on his task. He rubbed his forehead and resumed studying.

[feel_nevermore]

Raven's first reaction was to leave the conversation at that and walk back to her table to read the book she had picked for hersef. But after a few steps, she turned back glancing at the boy.

"What are you studying?"

[hornedomen]

“Magic, I need to know how to undo a curse.”

Ico blinked until his vision was clear again. Although the book was on the same page, he had forgotten where he left off. He had forgotten what the entire page was about and he turned a few pages back.

[feel_nevermore]

And this instantly got Raven's attention.

"A curse? What kind of curse?"

[hornedomen]

Talking to someone helped to wake him up. It was a distraction, but a welcomed one.

“It brings the dead back to life and it makes them hurt. Do you know anything about it?”

[feel_nevermore]

"I know of a dead man who was brought back to life." Slade, her Father's brand new minion. "He didn't seem to hurt though. Quite the opposite in fact." Unfortunately.

[hornedomen]

He looked down and felt the corner of the page.

“What sort of magic is that? I don’t want to kill him. I want to make it so it won’t hurt him anymore.”

[feel_nevermore]

"What sort of magic allows one to bring the dead back to life you mean? I'd say dark magic, obviously." At least for Slade it was.

[hornedomen]

Finally, something he knew. He read about different categories of magic a few books back.

“Thank you. Do you know why the man was not hurt by this curse?”

[feel_nevermore]

"Because he was given powers and wasn't truly human anymore. At least that's my assumption." She never asked him. Nor did she ever cared if he was hurting or not.

"This person you're wanting to help, why were they brought back to life?"

[theguideless]

Martin's tongue kept instinctively feeling over the new gaps in his mouth. Four — four in a week? He hadn't even hit anything, or...or fought anyone since...

For how certain everyone was that those things were fake, the consequences felt too real to deny. But he couldn't think about that. He'd drive himself crazy again. Again. He'd been so terrible.

Back inside. A big, black bird had driven him there. He'd been sitting still, very still, and it had flown down from somewhere (where do the birds even live here? he wondered; he didn't know a thing about it). Martin had let it be, stayed still, even when it drew close.

It bit him. Big, black bird. Back home, those were the birds who ate the dead and it bit him.

He'd fled indoors. It didn't matter where, just indoors and away. His feet led him to the vast, open training room without thinking, still trying to catch the breath that had fled in fear. His finger was in his mouth, sucking on the harmless bite, but all the while, he kept finding those gaps.

[hornedomen]

It was so frustrating. What little information the books had about curses were vague and full of vocabulary Ico did not understand. When he read another book that explained it, it was about magic, which he knew little about. Therefore, he had to take another book explaining the basics of magic. Everything was starting to blur together so he decided to clear his thoughts in the training room.

There he could take out his frustration on equipment that could withstand his harsh blows. He had been there for a while and his breathing was heavy by the time Martin came in.

“Martin!” he exclaimed happily at first but his smile went away when he looked closer. He dropped his training sword and approached him with his head down to look at his mouth.

“Are you okay? Is something wrong?”

[theguideless]

Martin's reaction was delayed and a little over-the-top, all things considered. He startled, sucking air in a hiss against the finger as he recoiled, eyes big and unseeing for the first few seconds. Even as he focused and saw, he remained bristled, the hand against his mouth flexed out to expose his palm.

Oh...

No. Not...

He let his hand drop a little, hovering and hesitating before curling into a fist against his neck, settled on his collarbone. Fingers fished for bits of collar to cling to. He exhaled.

"Oh, Ico," he breathed, shaken still. "I...sorry...Didn't. Wasn't looking..." Distractedly, he shot glances over his shoulder and around himself. "Didn't see you..."

[hornedomen]

“It’s okay, don’t be scared.” Ico watched Martin with concern. “You should sit down. You look tired.”

Martin seemed as if he was behaving more strangely than usual and it alarmed him. While he was looking around, Ico did the same to see if there was anything unusual. He wondered if someone was chasing him. He clenched his hands and went to the door to look outside.

[theguideless]

Martin obeyed — something he was so prone to do, yet something he'd done little of in Ico's company. He shuffled away until he found a wall, pressing his free hand against it, then his arm and shoulder, sliding down to sit. His knees drew up, one arm wrapping around his middle while the other remained in place, hand still occupied with his collar.

Stupid, pointless...What was he afraid of? It kept happening, again and again, seemingly out of nowhere. The paranoia, the shaking...over teeth? No. Stupid. He forced himself to forget about it, sending his stare toward Ico as the boy peered around the door for invisible threats.

[hornedomen]

Ico did not see anything suspicious. It was quiet as well. He relaxed and returned to Martin. The wall looked comfortable enough and he sat next to Martin with his legs stretched out. As soon as he sat down, he noticed how tired he felt. He could not remember the last time he slept, only studying and training. His horn scratched against the wall as he turned his head.

“What happened?” Ico asked. It was a vague question but he did not know what was wrong.

[theguideless]

Explaining what happened only meant more thinking on things, and Martin didn't want to. At least, as much as he could get away with not thinking about it. Whatever it truly was.

He was confusing himself.

"Nothing," he said, sounding very unconvinced. He shook his head. "I mean, I don't know. Nothing's...happened, really. I guess. I mean." He huffed, sliding against the wall as he curled up a little. "I don't know. Probably nothing."

Getting nagged at by idle birds was hardly grounds to go into a panic.

[hornedomen]

He did not believe Martin but he clearly did not want to say it, so he did not bother him about it. He looked up and breathed deeply. Both Martin and Koltira had problems it seemed, problems that he did not understand and could not help with. His head was swimming and he was not sure if it was because he was at a loss of options or simple fatigue.

While he became contemplative, Ico completely forgot about how much time had passed and he did not say a word. However, he came back to reality when his stomach rumbled loudly.

“I’m starving!” Ico laughed. “Do you want to eat something?”

[theguideless]

The sound and subsequent laugh surprised Martin in a subtler way. He blinked, head lifting a little and turning to glance at Ico, baffled for a moment even after the explanation.

...Oh. Right. That. Food had been very far from his mind then, but if he thought hard enough on it, maybe he could make himself even a little hungry. It seemed almost mandatory; so many people, humans and others like, put a great deal of value on eating with company. Martin wasn't sure why it was so important in that way — food was necessary, not entertaining. But if the boy wanted...

"Uh, alright," he replied, dubious.

[hornedomen]

That was a good enough answer to him. Regardless if Martin agreed, Ico had to eat something soon anyway.

“Good. Come with me,” Ico waved over his shoulder and walked further into the Hold. The food here was strange but he did not complain. There were not many options anyway.

“Choose whatever you want, I’m buying.”

[theguideless]

"Al-alright..."

It was good, at least, that Ico was well-used to being followed rather than waiting up for someone; Martin could at least keep a pace-and-a-half behind and not feel too obligated to catch up further. Now and then his step would scuff, a little sluggish and distracted. And why not? Late afternoon was very early for him to be awake.

Of course, when the food vendors came in view, he was as tight-lipped as before, hardly glancing at the choices while Ico took control of the situation. His tongue slid between teeth again as he frowned around, scratching idly at his elbow. At least most of the stuff didn't smell bad anymore...something must've changed in the way it was made.

[hornedomen]

Ico already knew what he wanted and he ordered a pizza. At least it had fish on it, which he was familiar with. Before he exchanged money, he looked back. His horns exaggerated his movements when he tilted his head. Although he was careful about where he pointed it, the vendor stepped back.

“Martin,” Ico called lightly for his attention. “Choose what you want to eat.”

It would be easier, Ico thought, to choose for him. However, he did not want to give him something he disliked. He watched Martin but it was difficult to determine what was wrong when it seemed like everything troubled him.