Day 27: Library

[not_rly_fai]

Libraries, he'd found, were rarely as dull as people made them out to be.  Though he felt no magic in these tomes, they were still full of useful information.  Maybe some of them could tell him a little bit more about this world he'd landed himself in.

For that matter, why hadn't he run into any of the others yet?  They'd all been fairly close

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[roses_bleues]

Diva didn't like being the last, to stand and do nothing at the back of a crowd; it was like the ebbing of the tide when all the humans picked up and left for another area.

It had nothing to do with her sense of cooperation when she followed.

Light-footed and partially dazed, she promptly forgot all about the human man who had been talking and touching her shoulders - after all, the closer she followed the herd, the stronger the blood scent. Lots of old blood, old and new injuries. This really did seem like one of Amshel's places!

The nurse (a different one from before) was following the girl at a small distance. "Tell me, Ms. Frenier, how did you li - " As soon as Diva came into the Sun Room, however, she went for a side room at a run, cutting off any attempts to speak with her without warning.

Finally! It was about time she found one of them! But when she finally laid eyes on the boy, her senses seemed to be at odds with one another until she realized she had made a mistake. He definitely wasn't familiar! No familiar blood, not even nee-sama's, a hollow echo. Diva seemed almost childishly dismayed. "Ne, who are you?"

[always_a_victim]

Relaxing as the familiar story was to him, Kain still tensed slightly when a voice addressed him. He just wasn't used to being singled out for conversation (and he had already talked more than he usually did in a week), so when he looked up from the words to face the young woman, he had every intention of somehow foisting her off onto someone else.

That thought quickly fled when he met her eyes. It was unmistakable, the feeling of like to like. A pureblood. But after staring at her for a few moments in wary silence, he realized she wasn't exactly like a pureblood -- something new and strange.

Kain slowly closed the book, absently making sure he remembered his place in the story. How to handle this? He couldn't ignore the subtle warning playing over his skin, a sensation that something wasn't quite right.

"Kain," he finally, finally said, watching her. "Who're you?"

[roses_bleues]

Her expression changed accordingly, as though she were miffed by something. At what, who could say. There was much for Diva to be displeased by.

Not a Chevalier. Not even Saya-neesama's Chevalier.

"I'm Diva," she said, and then repeated again: "Who are you?" It wasn't names she cared about.

[always_a_victim]

He hesitated, unsure what the question meant, exactly, and unwilling to say anything without thinking it through first. His expression remained neutral as he tried to decide how to answer. The trouble was, he didn't know anything about her. It made not walking over a conversational land mine a lot harder.

"Tell me who I'm not, and I can tell you who I am." Hopefully.

[roses_bleues]

"You're not mine, but... I can hear it."

Hands absently clasping behind her back, Diva stepped forward, examining him closely with her impish gaze. Or maybe she wasn't. It was nearly impossible to tell with her; it made her innocent appearance all the more frightening for the average human.

"But you don't taste very good."

By this time, the sedatives were beginning to recede bit by bit.

[always_a_victim]

Kain didn't move, other than a subtle shifting on his feet. As Diva started to focus, Kain could tell more and more that she was a danger. He just wasn't sure if she was a danger to him yet.

"I don't belong to anyone, no." He studied her, then nodded slightly. "We're alike. That's probably what you're feeling."

Yet not enough alike to "taste good", whatever that meant. Kain thought it was probably a good thing.

[roses_bleues]

Well, she could tell that, at least. The ones that belonged to her were bright and their blood sang to her. That other Chevalier's did too, but in a different, underspoken way; he belonged to her twin, her opposite, of the same blood but not. Antagonistic.

But this... something had gotten one part wrong.

"No," said Diva. "We're not alike. Your blood is weak and runny." She giggled, because it was a funny joke to her - his blood seemed strong, but weak at the same time. Familiar but not. Not pure, though. Not even close. Only male, and that was why. "Tell me how you were made. You're weird."

[always_a_victim]

Kain had no idea how to react. It was true that compared to a pureblood his line was weaker, but that was just how things were. He couldn't change his heritage, and he didn't want to. It was with that thought in mind that he didn't react to the jab.

"I was born," he murmured quietly, setting the book back onto the shelf to slide his hands into his pockets. His back hit the shelves as he settled against them. "Can you make ... whatever it is you're asking about?"

If Diva could, then he had to hope he could keep her interest like enough to convince her it might not be the best idea. If he could.

[roses_bleues]

The girl was, by all accounts, focusing on small things at a time. At that very moment, her attention lay on Kain, and the buzzing little thoughts about the walls around her were quieted.

Taking another step forward, closing the distance, she scrutinized the other through half-closed eyes. Born! Like those things. The things Amshel could create with her blood, those puppet toys. She could only think of this one in those terms, as he was different from Chiropterans, and yet lower than her Chevaliers. "My blood creates everything, from the weak ones to Chevaliers. Everybody like us knows that, don't they. Pure blood is the only kind that creates."

Another step, and a pace to his right, like someone looking in at a twittering bird caught in a cage.

[always_a_victim]

He had been expecting Diva to close the distance, had actually been a bit surprised that she had stayed back for as long as she did. Predators moved closer: They didn't stand watching for long. It bothered him though that, in this situation, he was technically prey. Still, he had faced a pureblood before (although the circumstances here were unique), and he kept his composure as she stepped to the side.

Kain let out a sigh, shrugging slightly, body otherwise still. "I wasn't created by blood. I was little. Then I grew. There are different ways to create things."

[roses_bleues]

She reached for his chin then, her fingertips lingering on the curve on the curve of his cheekbone before gliding lower. Her expression was rather unreadable. Her Chevaliers would have called it a look of wicked mischief. It wasn't that he tasted bad.

But the other one tasted better; he was afraid and at the prime of emotion.

A long moment passed before Diva gave what could only be described as a near smirk. Amshel would be snippy if she created too many Chevaliers out of the same place, and if she had to pick between this one and the other, it would be the other. Dropping her hand, she clasped it neatly behind her back again, and twirled around. "You're still growing. You'll be old and dead at this rate. That's so boring."

Now that everything seemed over and done with, it was a nice time to eat. She still had to find Amshel and a dress. Not necessarily in that order.

[always_a_victim]

Touch was a rare thing for Kain. Only two others ever initiated contact with him on purpose, but it just didn't happen very often, and it was usually in the form of a brief embrace. It was absolutely nothing like Diva's touch, and his hands balled into fists in his pockets as he resisted the urge to move his head away.

Fear and anger jockeyed for position as she turned, feelings that had been slowly boiling ever since he had woken up in a strange room alone. But in the end Kain felt those emotions calm. He just didn't have the sort of personality to maintain either for long.

When he spoke his tone was neutral and even. "You're wrong."

[roses_bleues]

"You're not a proper Chevalier."

So she wasn't wrong about anything. That answered it all.

She appeared to think for a moment, looking back and forth around the room, and then at the bookshelves, and back to the occupants again. Diva smiled. "But there are so many tasty people to eat. At least you won't go hungry. There are just so many people to try."

Like that boy...

[always_a_victim]

"You're wrong anyways," he said. "I don't need to be a Chevalier in order to think you're wrong."

For a very long moment he wished Gang Leader was here so he could deal with Diva instead. But he wasn't. It was just Kain, trying to make sense of this strange, dangerous woman when he was starting to feel exhausted.

He looked sincerely pained as he spoke, at least making the effort to keep his voice quiet. "No, there aren't a lot of people to "try". Not for you, or for me. You can't attack people randomly, and definitely not en masse."

[roses_bleues]

She frowned at that, looking more puzzled as more words came forth. "You grow, so you'll die. That's the truth." Whoever called her wrong? She was more than correct about that. No one knew more about Chevaliers then she did - even more so than Saya-neesama. She had mothered many more than her sister.

And she knew that he was not the same, but still similar in that he preyed on the humans.

"Why not?"

For someone like Diva, hearing such words spawned an immediate sense of curiosity. Was there something wrong with the people?

[always_a_victim]

"And if I stayed exactly the same with no end in sight, that would be boring," he said, sounding certain of himself. "Change is interesting. Not always positive, but interesting."

Kain wondered exactly what to say to explain why it was a bad idea to attack humans indiscriminately. Was it even his right to tell a pureblood what she couldn't do?

He sighed and lifted one hand to rake his hair back. "We're in a strange place. We don't know what the people in charge are capable of doing. If you stand out, then you'll draw attention to yourself and something bad could happen to you. For now it'd be better to blend in, and to do that you can't attack people randomly."