Dayshift 22: Library (Evening Shift)

[high_prosecutor]

The intercom's announcement found Miles Edgeworth in a much better mood than he had been the previous shift. The conversation he'd had with the young Elven Lord Valyn had provided interesting information, even if hard to believe, and he finally felt as if he'd been useful to someone, rather than a hindrance in the setting

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[1imited_edition]

With Raine gone, Rein wandered the stacks freely again. The girl had seemed better when she'd left, so she worried only a little. After all, she'd see her again before the night set in. Reinforce never actually read anything, just flitted from shelf to shelf (as well as one could flit in a cast, at least), occasionally touching or removing a book but always replacing it quickly and moving on to others.

In other words, she looked about right for an insane asylum.

It was only a matter of time before a book in the hands of another patient caught her eye. Dracula... a classic but Earth literature, so she was only so familiar. Still, she held a fascination for the mythology surrounding parasitic immortals of any kind. In reality she was unique, so far as she knew, but in the strange dreams of humanity she had countless cousins...

And, she noted as she drew closer, the bearer had bright red eyes. Unseen in humans, and alike to hers. Could it be just a coincidence, or had another been drawn to it by the same thoughts? The patient-prisoners were all strange, and hadn't that man on the bulletin board claimed to be immortal? A blood-drinker even, quaint a concept as that was.

Now even more curious than she'd been about Raine's magic, she stared openly.

[madvampireking]

It was a book he had read many, many times over. To the point where he had every line memorised. But still, it was interesting to read all the different adaptations anyway. Already he had skipped most of the front pages, now halfway through and still flipping the pages rapidly. He was going to be done with the book soon, perhaps he'd pick up one of those magazines. Or any of Shakespear's works. Or-

Alucard caught sight of someone staring at him, just as his eyes skimmed through the upper half of one page.

He offered the girl a quick glance from over the edges of his chosen book. Maroon eyes. A shade darker than his maybe. It got his attention nonetheless.

"May I help you?"

[1imited_edition]

"You're very familiar. Does it have a special significance?" Reinforce went straight to the point. She wasn't sure why she cared- if he was the person from the bulletin board and had been truthful there, his view on his condition was very different from her own. Though she could not forgive any attempt to control her, she was happy to see much of what Landel's had sealed away gone.

Why she felt any desire to confide in a being who enjoyed preying on others was beyond her.

[madvampireking]

"Familiar? I am afraid we have not met," he replied evenly, now skimming the last few chapters of his chosen book. The girl was still looking at him. Alucard put down the book, marking the page he had paused at with a little fold. "Unless I've written something or the other on the bulletin board. It seems to be where most people go to when seeking others to speak with, or information."

"I leave my signature on some of my written notes. An elegant, simple A."

[1imited_edition]

"With Dracula." It really shouldn't have been hard for a living encyclopedia to speak plainly, but she never had. Of course, who would change when they were so well-rewarded for their indiscretion? She'd gotten such a clear answer for her vague prompt. In effect similar to the verbal tactic of letting an interviewee make assumptions about a question to draw out truths one didn't know to ask for.

"You are 'A'?" She reexamined him, as if expecting to find some obvious mark of inhumanity on him. "...you're really immortal?" It wasn't as if the bulletin board was to be trusted. The writers were always playing strange games on it, and the staff used it too.

[madvampireking]

"Hmph. Familiar is an understatement. I know the events in that book like the back of my hand." Only because he was there and was the main antagonist. But not everyone had to know that tidbit. Perhaps if she actually managed to guess he had some closer connection to the book somehow, other than taking an interest in it.

"A is for Alucard, which is my name. And I am immortal, I've been around for almost six hundred years...were you the one who asked me if I was an 'animaphage'?"

[1imited_edition]

"I am. My name is Reinforce." She blinked, as if struck by a sudden thought. "I've never met another before. Is there any custom?" She wouldn't be surprised if there was. If there were many who lived such long lives, wouldn't there would be those among them who would want to associate with others who shared the perspective such longevity granted? Wasn't that what she was doing?

And where there was a unique perspective there wouldn't be a unique culture? If it was so she wanted to show her respects. Belka had crumbled long ago... a culture of immortals would be the only one she belonged to anymore.

[madvampireking]

"A pleasure," he replied, offering a handshake. "There shouldn't be much custom, in my opinion...other immortals simply forget them as the centuries pass. A simple handshake would suffice, or a greeting," he added, clawed hand still extended. It was...almost surprising to meet someone else who would continue to exist past the span of a few hundred years. Live, and the concept of life were for those who could die. Culture was simply something he would engage in till he grew bored of it.

[1imited_edition]

"Then I am glad to make your acquaintance." She shook the proffered hand firmly. She wondered when he mentioned others how many there were, but held off on asking. This Alucard might have just dismissed the idea of a standing custom, but she did not want to break what air of formality there was.

Yes... though she did not yet understand why, meeting one who was a bit closer to her than the patients at large was indeed important to her.

[madvampireking]

Well, now there was one person who could at least understand where he was coming from. Perhaps an ally even, he had yet to taste her blood after all. That would come much later, he was quite full now. "Same here," came the reply as his slender fingers held the book's cover again.

"So...am I to assume that you are able to ingest the spirits of people as well? According to our little conversation on the bulletin board anyway."

[1imited_edition]

She nodded. "I could before I came here." Absorption, the perversion of unison, in which the ability to become part of and understand other beings and magic became the ability to corrupt them and make them part of herself. A curse.

"And you say you need to drink blood." She had to wonder at whatever twisted alchemy had given him such a specific requirement. She had a feeling she was going to be hearing something impossible again.

[madvampireking]

"Interesting...almost similiar to how I take other's souls. An ability to be sorely missed here, among others," he replied, a hint of resentment seeping into his tone. His pride was still bruised, he hadn't been the prisoner against his own will for a long while.

Alucard nodded curtly at her next remark. "I do. Blood is the coin of the soul, the silver of the will. It is also life itself. By taking all their blood I take in their lives. I already have quite the collection of a legion of souls."

[1imited_edition]

Reinforce shook her head slowly. "I don't mind not having those abilities. In my complete form I can only control them for a short time anyways. In the end those I care for are always consumed. My magic would be enough." Unfortunately, she suspected they were inseparable.

Her eyes narrowed at the boast. "That is not something to take pride in." She did not want to alienate a person she felt she could talk to freely, and as one who had been forgiven such great crimes as she had she did not want to judge him quickly, but to hear someone extolling those same acts was too much for her to ignore entirely.

[madvampireking]

That was...somewhat similar to his own dilemmas. Just that he did not consume the ones he cared for or -used to- love. They were simply taken away from him and that was that, again, and again, and again. "You'll get over it. We all do. If it's not ageless...it isn't worth the heartache."

And just because he reveled in the stealing of souls, didn't mean others had to do so as well. If they even had the ability to do so in the first place. "To each their own...I enjoy being a monster, but I'm not going to force my ideals onto someone whom I barely know."

[1imited_edition]

"Most were not. Some were." In truth the majority of her masters had been worthless, cruelly ambitious mages not deserving of her power, and she had realized that even through her programmed loyalty. But nonetheless they had been her masters, and their deaths at her hands constituted a betrayal. Betrayal was worth regretting.

She paused for a few seconds, thinking. "...my ideals are not so malleable. My duty demands I protect the others from such predation." That was certain. She couldn't allow a fascination with this man to soften her stance towards him if they became enemies.

[madvampireking]

"I've never known anyone immortal...I've outlived every single one of my masters, not that I cared for most of them, though I was loyal. Didn't have too much of a choice." Most of them only treated him as a tool, and Alucard saw fit to hold their feelings in total disreguard. Unless it was a direct order of course.

"Hah. I am charged to defend the mortals as well, and to kill my own kind should they interfere with that duty. My master used to keep a tight leash on me, but now that she's not here...I get to do whatever I want."

Which was a double-edged sword. While Alucard thirsted for freedom, he wouldn't trade it for Integral's life. But as long as the demon sorcery was still embedded deeply into his being, she was still alive. Somewhere. He hated the uncertainty.