Save Me [OPEN]

[areallygoodbook]

WHO: Malchior, Nico, and whoever.
WHERE: New York Public Library
WHEN: March 27th, afternoon
WARNINGS: ... Flirting between a thousand-year-old-dragon and a teenager?
SUMMARY: Just Malchior doing his job at the library and looking to meet new pawns people or talk with the pawns friends he's already made
FORMAT: Paragraph, I guess?

Comments

[notyetwritten]

Fakir was busy doing the shelving; currently he was in the fiction section, sliding a collection of Grimm's Fairytales back into it's place on the shelf.

He liked this. Sure, he had homework to do; but working at the library as a page gave him an extra source of income and he enjoyed the peace and quiet. Here, amidst the books, he wouldn't be bothered.

[areallygoodbook]

Fakir was something of an oddity. Exactly what it was he could do beyond his decidedly average sorcerous potential was unknown to Malchior, simply because, while he could detect what it was, what precisely his spells were telling him about the boy were just infuriating tidbits that only named the ability rather than explaining it fully

ohh, I hadn't realized that he'd actually started teaching. can we talk about what he's learned...?

[notyetwritten]

And there was Malchior, his teacher and a fellow worker at the library.

"Yes," he said. "This week at school's been rather frustrating. I keep upsetting my history teacher becuase she's been getting facts of 19th century German history wrong."

Though the truth was his teacher wasn't wrong; history seemed to be slightly different here, in just enough ways that Fakir wasn't able to get above a C average despite obviously being able to write.

"My ballet lessons have been going well, though, as have my fencing lessons," he finished. "I'm looking forward to some time to myself to practice."

Truth told, the magic he was learning made him nervous. He wanted an avenue beyond his story-spinning that would let him protect his friends and loved ones against the threats this city offered, but magic was, as he knew well, dangerous. He still worried about what that kind of power would do to him.

Still. He needed the strength.

[areallygoodbook]

"That does sound rather frustrating, I must admit. Forcing a student to clutter his mind with false statements hardly seems to earn the title of 'teacher'."

Malchior smiled sympathetically, and, having a few spare minutes, took in his hands a couple of the books he had brought to Fakir and began to help the boy with his shelving duties.

"Ever so serious and driven. Admirable, though perhaps the smallest bit worrying in one so young as you."

In truth,it was more intriguing to Malchior than worrying that the boy was so dour, so focused at his age. In humans he had seen this in youth but rarely... and such traits were invariably brought about by one thing: tragedy. What the boy's tragedy was, he could not yet discern, but it was clear to Malchior that, once he knew, once he earned enough of the boy's trust to gain knowledge of that event or those circumstances, he would have Fakir right where he wanted him.

It would take time and effort... but if it meant his freedom, such things were trifles to pay.

[bossisawitch]

Nico took a deep breath, trying to swallow down a growl of frustration. Okay, so she shouldn't have assumed that she'd find some great big magical text that would explain this city and all of the stupid crap that Iron Man's suit was pulling, but a hint or three would have been appreciated. There had to be a rhyme or reason to the things that happened, an answer as to why some people disappeared or appeared.

For some reason, the thought that there wasn't a rhyme or reason to it all, that it was random chaos, was scarier to her than any grim grinning overload or alien Nazi pulling the strings in the background.

Nico teetered on the edge of a rickety stool, reaching for a book that was just out of her reach. Her black fingernails brushed the bottom of the spine every time she swiped for it, but she couldn't coax it far enough off the edge of the shelf to grab. She frowned, rising up on her tiptoes and mentally berating herself for not wearing her heels today.

[ooc: SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG D: I was moving! It took me a while to get

[areallygoodbook]

"Miss? Are you in need of some assistance

[bossisawitch]

She all but fell off her chair in shock at the voice behind her. She had been so engrossed in trying to grab for the books, she hadn't heard him come up. Then again, she hadn't really thought that she'd run into anyone back here in the stacks. It was like the deepest darkest pit of some kind of poorly-lit literary forest. The parapsychology section wasn't one that was frequented very often, it seemed like. Her balance pitched and she almost took a dive; Nico swore softly under her breath and grabbed the hard edge of one of the metal shelves.

Turning and pushing hair out of her eyes, she found that the voice belonged to a tall man with icy coloring and a thin slice of smile. He was clean-cut and sort of different. Nico felt gooseflesh pluck at her arms, the fine hair on the back of her neck, but she pushed the sensation aside.

"Uh," she floundered, embarrassed. "Hi. I was just...looking. I'm fine."

[areallygoodbook]

"Careful. You looked for a moment as if you were in for quite the tumble."

As he approached, the dragon offered her a hand, palm up, to help her back down, the picture of a gentleman.

"I must admit, it's rather rare to see someone in these parts, though this subject is a favorite of mine. Is there anything in particular you're looking for that I might be able to help you locate?"

As with all magic, a pawn was not merely something one merely commanded, but rather, a calculated transaction. Just as time and energy and mental effort were put into acquiring, learning, and mastering spells, into the fundamental bending of reality to give control and shape and form, so, too, were pawns an investment of time and energy and effort to acquire. Magic and pawns, both tools that he'd need, if he were to manage to escape this weak human shell. And with this girl, this surprising little find, as with all other pawns, the key to mastering her, to manipulating her and putting her to full use would be to find what she wanted.