unfinishedlibrary | late night reading

Entry tags:

late night reading

Who: Konrad Curze, Kaiisteron, later on: you?
What: Making Mistakes
When: sometime after 'night', it's obligatory (several days before Storytime)
Where: Somewhere in the Stacks, it's a big library. Probably time-out later. Maybe worse places.
Content warnings: Violence, daemons, primarchs, gratuitous bodily harm, the problems with uncontrolled powers, making a mess.

Sooner or later, someone in power is going to regret the group of misfits that have been taken here as Editors.

Like Konrad. He's been more or less behaving since arriving, aside from commandeering ALL cardstock of a particular color and texture, collecting singing bowls of a dozen sizes and leaving them in little clusters in the kitchen and bunks, and leaving a trail of fine, tiny glitter for several days on everything he touched. His efforts to find a way out of the Library are ongoing and unfruitful, prowling the Stacks without bothering to sleep more than once in several days.

But this time his path through the endless shelves of books is for a different purpose in simply putting as much distance between himself and the other people dragged here as he could. He has no control over when his 'gifts' chose to strike and drown him in the worst outcomes possible, but he does know when it's coming, and here there's no locked room with reinforced doors to make use of. Distance will have to do. There is a point, in the rending pain of things that haven't even happened yet, where Curze can no longer tell where he is now in favor of where he will be then.

It makes for a pathetic sight, something his size on the floor with his head in his hands in the shadows between towering shelves scaled towards his height and not human average, back pressed against the cold rows of books.

The sharp scent of blood is probably fine too. Ignore it. Everything's fine here.

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Nara'a is no good with bows, but that does not mean he is not a hunter. He's been getting better and better at navigating the stacks, and there's the fact that he has a decently better smell for blood than a human does. His tail is held stiffly and his ears are pointed high, clear indicators for anyone who knows felines that he's both alert and anxious.

He and Kai walk through the stacks, Nara'a in his paladin armor, before he pauses. He smells blood, and a significant amount of it - and not from the person next to him. He looks over at Kai and nods, peeking around the side of the shelf. "There you are." He doesn't sound anxious, but he is at least being cautious.

Kai doesn't say anything, simply nodding back, and he stays out of sight for the moment- he doesn't know if Curze's reaction was because it was him, after all, and he doesn't want Nara'a to get in the crossfire if that was the case. He keeps a hand on the intention on his chest, ready to sling it out at a moment's notice.

He will also try to figure out a way to get closer within Konrad seeing him- though since he's still got blood on him, that whole thing might be moot.

Konrad, minus his own armor, does not strike such a gleaming figure as Nara'a does. Quite the opposite, really. There's not much clean and bright going on over there, and he's leaving fingerprints on everything. As the miqo'te peers around the side of the shelf, he's watched unblinkingly with solidly black eyes not entirely unlike Kai's. But one's a daemon, the other's just a monster.

One who sniffs the air like a hound. "You've brought my victim." He sounds much the same. Looks much the same if one ignores the lingering red that isn't his. It's a little frustrating how as soon as anyone else shows up everything scales to some point in between their heights, and now everything is inconveniently rather smaller than he likes. The lightheaded disorientation has mostly passed, but the tiredness and ache lingers. He keeps it mostly hidden, and seems alert enough. "Vengeance, perhaps?"

Edited (SOMETHING'S MISSING AND IT'S ANNOYING ME) 2025-11-11 14:50 (UTC)

"No." Nara'a steps forward and stops a little bit further than Konrad was from Kai previously. He crouches down and smiles a little at the bloody man. "I just wanted to talk, and I mean that."

Considering how to proceed, he taps at the side of his head. "I get visions sometimes. I saw the fight. ... It looks like you were having a vision, too. Do you want to tell me about it? ... You don't have to." He adds the last part quickly, realizing that it might be private.

"... I wanted you to know that you're not alone."

Well, fine then. Kai emerges out from behind the stack, the veil still secure over his face. In case Konrad had any really doubt that he was the one attacked, the large, bloody stain right around his heart should confirm it pretty well. Even if he is remarkably much more alive than he should be.

"I'm just here to make sure you don't try it again," he says simply, arms crossed; he's to the side of Nara'a enough that Konrad doesn't have to look at him if he focuses on Nara'a, but near enough that if the man did try to attack he could dodge between them. He has some experience in being an immortal bodyguard, after all.

This place truly is rife with psykers. As Nara'a approaches and crouches, something suspiciously like a chuckle arises, low and terribly dry. Given the past twenty minutes or so could he blame them for treating him like a wounded animal?

Or as if he would speak to a mortal about his difficulties when he didn't venture it even to his brothers. "Will you be coming with me then, when I leave this place? I think not. Your fate lay elsewhere, and I will live as I will die." In solitude.

He seems lucid enough at least. Though it wouldn't be hard to cross the distance between them he makes no move to do so, but he'd struck before without warning. "... You were not my intended target. Nor any other in this library. You have broken no law that I know of, as yet. I have no need to try again so long as I have a choice."

"So you saw him as someone else." If he wasn't the intended target... "... Does that happen often? And... are you okay?" His ears fold back a little bit. "I know whatever visions you have can't be easy to deal with."

He glances up at Kai and then back to the man on the ground. "I'm glad that you aren't intending to harm people here. I just... we all need to work together here, as trite as it sounds." His tail flicks behind him, and he lets his shoulders fall a bit. "And while I can't - and won't - claim any authority here, I am an adventurer of some experience. If I need to drag you both by the scruff to work with other people, I will." He chuckles a little bit at the mental image.

"Most of all, though... I really did want to check on you. I don't believe in punishing people for things they can't control. You don't deserve that. Kai didn't either. You both deserve care and trust, and I wanted to make sure you knew that."

Kai is somewhat regretting coming along. Not because of Konrad at all, but because of the lecture from Nara'a he is now getting. He opens his mouth to protest, loudly from the looks of it, before shutting it and forcing himself to not growl. "I wasn't going to attack him if he didn't attack first," he says instead, though he hasn't gotten rid of his prepared intention yet, "I wanted to make sure you would be fine." He does not mention that he was working with others, was doing it right now in fact, because that felt a bit too petulant for him.

Admittedly he does not care if Konrad is fine. He objects to anyone who supports an Empire on principle. In fact, he aims towards the other man, "What about you? I'm a little surprised you haven't already tried to murder every non-human here, given what you've said."

Edited 2025-11-11 18:28 (UTC)

"You are allowed to attack back, if you wish. Blood pays for blood, and I have done you harm." Well it's healed now, but still. He can't say for certain he saw anyone specific at all or if he'd simply been reacting to the images of what would be in years down the line. Was Kai simply overlaid with someone else or did he lash out blindly and manage to hit someone? He doesn't know. "Often enough." Often enough where there are protocols his closest astartes are expected to adhere to the moment he begins acting awry.

Curze is, in fact, not fine. Nothing feels right. He doesn't say so. The concern might be genuine but it's also utterly foreign, and he doesn't know what to do with it beyond ignore it. Easier is the rest. "I would like to see you attempt to drag me anywhere at all," the bemused primarch says, and there is the distinct sense he means it. How would such a small felinid ever manage?

Kai's ire about empires and its servants seems to strike the Night Haunter as entertaining instead of irritating, and even prodded verbally like that, he just grins. It's not very friendly. In contrast, his tone is one of perfect even coolness. "The status of the beings here is, at present, indeterminate. As such, I am not authorized to enact summary judgment until species, location of origin and status under Imperial doctrine is determined." That sounds both like he's quoting someone and terribly, painfully official. It probably is. Bureaucracies. "Until such time, sentencing and extirpation must be deferred. The felinid pair are a known quantity and permitted, for example." Nara'a is indicated idly with one still blood-tinged hand.

Maybe he could have even done it, not long ago. Now.. something's different. "Please be patient."

Edited 2025-11-11 22:02 (UTC)

"Blood does not pay for blood, it only creates more." But he's getting the sense that Curze really does not want to talk about it. He'll leave the discussion of whether or not he can push someone his size around for another point.

He recognizes that tone. He's heard it many times, and it sounds awfully Garlean. His own complicated feelings about Garlemald aside, he still doesn't like it. It's very... distant, and he's concerned about the other being here, now. "I will try to be patient. I will defend people here, but that includes you. From yourself, if need be."

Glancing over at Kai he tilts his head slightly. "I told you I'd be fine, but I appreciate the concern." It's still amusing to him... but Kai doesn't know of all of his adventures. He'll tell him later. His attention returns to Curze and the blood on him. He sighs and stands up. "... If you don't feel like talking now, we can talk later. ... I know what it's like to be alone, seeing things no one else can see." His voice dips low and quiet. "And not just seeing the past. ... I don't know your situation, but..."

There's something stirring in the back of his mind. A feeling of amusement, but also exasperation. "... I was just concerned about you. If you want me - us - to leave, we will." The hand has been extended, and now it's up to Curze to reach out and grab it if he wants. "I don't want to make your suffering worse. And if I do, tell me and I'll do my best to change it."

Kai, personally, isn't positive that the 'please be patient' wasn't in reference to murdering every nonhuman in the place. He won't press on it though. Not here and now. That doesn't need to be Nara'a's problem.

"I'm not attacking you. Unless you try it again." It seems it was an accident of sorts, though Kai doesn't really understand; he will defend himself, and anyone else Konrad might try to harm. That's what he's holding to.

He won't say anything else. Nara'a is clearly better at the whole 'talking' thing.

Edited 2025-11-12 00:40 (UTC)

Garlemald would fit comfortably inside the Imperium. "Naive."

It absolutely was a very formal request that they be patient while he figures out who to slaughter and who to allow to live. As much as phrasing it that way was a deliberate choice in echo of one of his brothers' favored methods of documenting things, chances are spectacularly high Curze also means it.

"It is not something I try to do. There is also nothing that can prevent it." Being insensate to the world around him is in fact a crippling weakness and he's lucky it hasn't yet happened on the battlefield. Both Nara'a's strange concern and Kai's expected defensiveness gets the same answer. "When inevitably it takes me again the wisest thing you can do to save others is keep away and keep others away. Do not listen to what I say, do not heed what you hear, and wait for it to pass."

The offered hand, in its gleaming paladin gauntlet, is eyed with some amusement before he reaches out to grasp it. Can Nara'a pull eight hundred pounds of primarch off the ground? "Life is suffering. I have accepted it. Your concern should remain with those more fragile."

"Probably." He knows he's seen as naive. It's worked so far.

He nods as Curze explains a little more. "I'll clear the area if I see it happening. Do you need anything when you come out of it?" And he definitely can't pull that much weight, but he's doing his best to at least help. He is, notably, stronger than his small frame might lead someone to believe.

More fragile? "... I can choose who to be kind to. And I choose to be kind to you. Just because life is suffering doesn't mean we shouldn't hold on to those moments of hope, small and precious as they are."

There's something uncoordinated in the way Curze rises to his feet, perhaps it's having one hand occupied with a miqo'te paladin, maybe it's lingering effects of having his lethality sharply blunted by a visit to the naughty room. At least at his full height, Konrad is NOT as tall as the Ancient spectres Nara'a had stood knee-high to before. "Solitude." That's all he needs. Time to recover. Time to not have his weakness taken advantage of, time to resolve what's now and what is the future.

"..Oh please maintain that naive foolishness," the pale figure says softly. "Never let reality break your delusional belief in hope." He's having no part of it though. How can there be hope when nothing can ever change?

He nods at the request - he's not unfamiliar with the need, both for himself and others.

But at the latter part he laughs a little bit. "I'm very familiar with reality. I'm familiar with how things can shatter one's belief in hope. I've fought many things, been in many wars - and many other conflicts, besides. You think me naive, when I've more experience than you know." He takes a few steps back, giving the other some space.

"If you are in trouble, I'll be there to lend my strength. Either of you. And I don't break a promise." Not if he can help it, at least. "... But I shan't push my luck at the moment. Shall we head off? Either together or separately. Up to you."

How fiercely mortals clung to the ephemeral and illusory. There's no need for him to prove it wrong, as yet. "Seperately would be wise, yes?"

His tone's almost gentle, could be considered kind if it weren't Konrad Curze. It would be genuine, if it were Sanguinius. "Who wishes to linger around the smell of their own blood? It must be unpleasant. Is your curiosity assuaged?"

Kai or Nara'a, for that matter. He's not suddenly springing back into violence, doesn't seem to intend to unless given a better reason. Sooner or later he's going to come to conclusions about the nonhumans here.. but that's for later.

"If that's what you wish." As for the smell of blood, he doesn't comment. He's smelled enough of it before, from butcheries to battlefields. And he wouldn't call it curiosity, but... well. He supposes that he's done here. "All right. Let's go."

That last bit is to Kai, who he turns to look at. He knows he's showing his back to the blood-soaked man. That's intentional. "We still need to wash you off..."

Kai has been keeping his position, just listening quietly to the exchange. He doesn't really care about the smell of blood either- more unpleasant is to have it sticking to his skin and clothes. (It's not like he can tell it's his blood from the smell, anyway. He wonders if Konrad can- probably, judging by how quickly the man noticed him.)

He just nods at Nara'a, keeping an eye on Konrad until they're out of sight of the man. It may have been an accident, but he's not going to trust the man any time soon.

He could probably remove the veil; probably is going to have to, once Nara'a starts asking the questions he's owed. But he's glad for it in the moment, to hide his expression. "Hope is a powerful thing," he says quietly, "More's the fool him if he doesn't see that."

Not that he thinks Nara'a needs to hear it. Except, perhaps, to know that there are people who don't think he's delusional for it.

He leads the other away, out past where Konrad is. He's not sure how far the man can hear, so he keeps going until he's certain he wouldn't be able to hear. "... Not foolish. Not pitiable. Just... hurt, I think."

Quietly, he stops and looks at Kai, just studying him for a moment. "I've seen civilizations fall for lack of hope. Destroy everything and each other. Try to invade places for scraps of land or resources. I'm not saying everyone can work together - I'm not that naive. ... But until I see proof that someone is irredeemable, I will continue to reach out to them. And hope that one day, they can reach out to others."

Kai makes a doubtful sort of noise, but he won't outright argue. "He might be hurt too badly to recover from it," he just says quietly. He feels like that himself, a lot of the time. Konrad seems to have it worse.

"I never said you were." Nara'a doesn't strike him as truly naive, not really. He reminds him... well. He's not going to think too hard about who Nara'a reminds him of. "I'm not going to say you're wrong. I just don't want you to be too disappointed if it doesn't happen. And to watch your back, just in case." He's quiet for a moment, not looking at the other man. "...Hope can get you through a lot. But sometimes you still need to prioritize what you hope for."

"Oh, of course I watch my back." He smiles at the other. "I'm feared by many for a reason." He pats the sword at his side. "But there are limits to even my abilities, and I'm aware of that. That's one of the reasons I try to reach out to everyone I can. No one can walk alone, even if the world should fall around them."

There's a brief haunted look in his eyes as he thinks of being alone, lost and afraid. ... He's been there, done that. He doesn't want to go back. "... I appreciate you caring, though."

Oh, Kai knows that look all too well. He's been there, too. After a moment, he tentatively reaches out to give the man's shoulder a little squeeze.

(It feels tentative, not in the pressure of the squeeze but simply in the way he moves. He avoids touch because other people don't want to touch demons, and he moves like he half expects to be thrown off or screamed at.)

"You're not alone," he says, and unfortunately for him, he means that. "...I don't think he is either. One of his 'brothers' is here too."

In response he leans into the touch, grateful for it in the moment. It feels warm - there's a caring part of this man, he knows. "Thank you, Kai." He reaches up to put his other hand on the one on his shoulder. "And I'm glad. He... needs support."

He knows he does too - that the weight of everything will crush him on its own. But what other choice does he have? "How are you feeling?"

Kai shrugs, letting his hand drop after a moment. "I've had worse." Maybe not in terms of immediate damage, but the Library healed him enough that he didn't actually have to deal with most of it. "I am going to have to figure out if there are any other clothes. I don't think I'll have much luck getting all the blood out and I don't want to set people on edge." Again... he's dealt with worse.

"I understand." He has too, but that can be talked about later. "And we can at least get most of the blood out... failing that I might be able to make something in the crafting room."

It wouldn't be 'finished', and he can't make anything fancy, but...

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bashasasdemon - 2025-11-13 02:01 (UTC) - Expand

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late night reading

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>.> <.<

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