"For Special Collections?" John asked, the fangs not phasing him a bit. Look, he slept with Navaan(?) fairly often. "Even if I did, it would be wrong. Thing changes its shape and organization as it wants, you just got to hope it feels like humoring the notion of cataloging."
"Consider those books your sacrificial offering," he continued dryly. "I can whip up a fresh pot of coffee as offering if that'll help. You're lucky it's the weekend - I only let it have decaf during the week. The real stuff might put it in a better mood."
Beat.
"Or help it come up with new and exciting ways to mess with you. 'Bout a fifty-fifty split."
"I think we'd better," Pinkie agreed. "Who knows what kind of havok I've managed to wreak on poor Fandom just while we've been standing here! I tried to teach me how to be nice and share, but I'm really not a very good listener." She flashed Constantine a bright smile (it was important to be nice and polite to those who helped you out, even when they were maybe part-dragon and even grumpier than Derek). "Thank you so much! We'll be superduperquick so you can get back to sleeping or drinking or whatever."
Derek kept up his trend of rolling his eyes at them both, stalking forward into a dangerous situation without putting much thought into it. Look, it was a Beacon Hills thing.
"I don't really see what's so bad about growing a tail," Pinkie said, swinging her own back and forth proudly (hope no one was standing too close behind her). "Tails can be superduper fun."
She trotted into Special Collections determinedly, her eyes narrowed and her tongue sticking out as she focused on spotting the book she'd used earlier. After several feet, she tripped and landed on her face with a disconcerting SMACK. All four of her hooves had gotten tangled up in vines.
"Huh. I don't remember there being a forest in here, last time."
//Welcome to Special Collections,// Jono explained, tucking the books under one arm and looking around. //We can walk in this for twenty minutes and find ourselves going around in circles, and then suddenly turn a corner and there'll be a castle there that wasn't there before. Or a swamp. Or a helicopter landing pad. This place has its moods, and it'll lead us around until it's good and ready to let us find the book we're looking for.//
He glanced up at what once was the ceiling before adding wryly, //or before it lets me put these ones away. I'm not just leaving them in th'woods, here.//
"I don't think he wanted to come," Pinkie noted. It was adorable how she thought that should make a difference to Derek. "This place is pretty spooky, huh," she said, and giggled. "Next thing you know, we're going to get chased by timberwolves."
//Yes, I'm certain the Special Collections wolves are quite literate,// Jono replied, his tone dry. //It's probably best we avoid those, mate. This place'll go out of its way to mess with a person, and at least a few of us are probably delicious.//
Or, at least, the pony was probably pretty tender.
Derek spared a look from Drac to Jono before he shrugged.
He rolled his shoulders as fangs grew and his eyes went red, a low rumble deep in his chest. The sort of thing that might have sent warning signs into that primal part of the brain for some.
//He had better be,// Jono muttered, the hand that wasn't currently full of Constantine's books reaching just slightly upwards, in case he needed to light something on fire. Jono never said he'd play nice with Special Collections, after all. They had a standing agreement, him and it, that he wouldn't light it on fire if it didn't try to eat him. But it had, admittedly, been a few years. //Right now I'd settle for any bookshelf it can point us to.//
Derek was squinting at the... wolf shaped pile of wood, head tilted in confusion. He growled slightly, pointing right like he could totally get a clear answer.
"When you said timber wolves I was thinking something different. "
Dracula was lucky Jonothon was a few paces ahead, or he might've gotten kicked in the shin for that one.
"The books in the library proper are well tended," Jono pointed out, because he was a little defensive of the place. He missed working in here. "Does he know the way to Pinkie's book, Derek?"
"I agree." Drac nodded as they followed, his cape held above the ground by his magic. "Books in general can't always be trusted." He was quite possibly thinking back to the ones that described the horrible evil untruths about Monsters. And the ones Monsters subsequently had produced about Humans.
"Books that can change their shape and move about on their own and," he eyed the ones Jono was carrying, "possibly give you tails simply by holding them? That is definitely a book I do not trust."
He shrugged. "Not that I see we have much of a choice. Either we follow this one and get lost or we wander on our own and get lost."
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-01 05:00 am (UTC)"Consider those books your sacrificial offering," he continued dryly. "I can whip up a fresh pot of coffee as offering if that'll help. You're lucky it's the weekend - I only let it have decaf during the week. The real stuff might put it in a better mood."
Beat.
"Or help it come up with new and exciting ways to mess with you. 'Bout a fifty-fifty split."
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-01 02:13 pm (UTC)Derek was fifty percent sarcasm and fifty percent judgemental eyebrows. So.
"Can we get a move on then?"
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-01 02:28 pm (UTC)Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-02 12:20 am (UTC)"Then shall we? Jonothon?" Drac waved a hand to offer his friend the lead.
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-02 02:36 am (UTC)Jono was in no hurry to hang on to those books TOO long anyway. And who knew what mess the other Pinkies were getting into elsewhere on the island?
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-02 04:45 pm (UTC)"You probably won't grow a tail."
Derek on the other hand...
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-02 04:58 pm (UTC)She trotted into Special Collections determinedly, her eyes narrowed and her tongue sticking out as she focused on spotting the book she'd used earlier. After several feet, she tripped and landed on her face with a disconcerting SMACK. All four of her hooves had gotten tangled up in vines.
"Huh. I don't remember there being a forest in here, last time."
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 02:00 am (UTC)And then once more to the rear, just a little faster...
Uhm. "We did just walk into another room of the library, didn't we?"
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 02:25 am (UTC)He glanced up at what once was the ceiling before adding wryly, //or before it lets me put these ones away. I'm not just leaving them in th'woods, here.//
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 02:28 am (UTC)"Should have dragged the librarian along."
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 02:41 am (UTC)Something howled in the distance.
Naturally.
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 02:43 am (UTC)Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 02:50 am (UTC)Or, at least, the pony was probably pretty tender.
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 02:55 am (UTC)He rolled his shoulders as fangs grew and his eyes went red, a low rumble deep in his chest. The sort of thing that might have sent warning signs into that primal part of the brain for some.
Only then did he tilt his head back and howl.
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 03:00 am (UTC)Pinkie stared, fascinated. And then did her best to imitate his expression.
This was what that primal part of her brain did, okay?
Another howl came in return. There were glowing yellow eyes peering through the bushes behind them.
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 03:09 am (UTC)"I'm impressed." See?
He nodded towards the eyes. "So, is that someone offering to be our guide?"
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 03:14 am (UTC)Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 03:18 am (UTC)"When you said timber wolves I was thinking something different. "
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 03:22 am (UTC)The timberwolf growled back, creeping further into the light. It glanced back over its shoulder furtively, then whined.
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 03:36 am (UTC)Yep. It was still a timber wolf. "I wonder if his bark is worse than his bite?"
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 03:41 am (UTC)"The books in the library proper are well tended," Jono pointed out, because he was a little defensive of the place. He missed working in here. "Does he know the way to Pinkie's book, Derek?"
Could he tell?
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 03:22 pm (UTC)Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 06:07 pm (UTC)The timberwolf took one look at Pinkie and let out a terrified yelp, picking up the pace.
It seemed not even Special Collections had escaped pink pony trauma, today.
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 09:58 pm (UTC)"Books that can change their shape and move about on their own and," he eyed the ones Jono was carrying, "possibly give you tails simply by holding them? That is definitely a book I do not trust."
He shrugged. "Not that I see we have much of a choice. Either we follow this one and get lost or we wander on our own and get lost."
Re: Into the Woods (or, you know, the library)
Date: 2014-07-03 10:02 pm (UTC)A beat.
//He is made of wood, after all.//
And if there was a slight curl of smoke from under his wrappings as he said that, well, that was just something that happened sometimes, truly.
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