He couldn’t help but snort at the jab, eyes darting around the tent before going back to the shelves. None other of the books there seemed promising, and so he moved onto the next crate he had ignored in its favor. “Cluttered and a complete mess? Maybe when I stay up with paperwork.” He said with a chuckle, eyes darting to the book in Kliff’s hands before going back to his search. “We really need a dedicated ‘lost item’ box, sounds like the first thing to do when I sort out what actually belongs here and what doesn’t.”
Shifting through the box, he found not even a book, but plenty of parchments, and set it aside to read them over later near the chair he often occupied. Might as well make sure of the contents of each of these before he decides if they belong here or should be discarded. Man, this really was turning out to be a bad lead, and here he was hoping they’d just find it and everything would resolve itself.
“I was thinking somewhere along the lines of ‘not a very helpful friend’.” He says as he stretches, arms rising over his head, then twists his torso to the left, then the right, back giving a satisfying pop. “I usually don’t go to sleep at this hour, so I’m not losing anythin’.” Maybe time, but time spent with his friends was no loss to him. Clive would likely think differently, though.
Kliff’s suggestion, however, gives him pause.
And then, Alm promptly slaps his face with both hands. “Of course.” He huffs out, clearly irritated at himself. “Of course I’d forget about that.”
Of all the things to remember about this place being a repository of missing items, it was the fact that people had to write down what they brought that skips his mind. “It’s always by the entrance, that thick leather-bound tome with an inkwell and feather next to it.” Alm gestures to it with his left, starting off towards it himself when he… stumbles over something on the floor. “Wh-”
Recovering his footing with flailing arms, he steadies himself as his eyes fall on a small journal that seemed to have fallen off the desk after being placed there, now with some pages a little indented from his foot catching onto it. “… Huh.” Reaching down, he picks it up, turns it over, then shows it to Kliff with curious eyes, walking up to his friend so the other can reach for it. “This it?”
He blinked almost dumbly at the other’s reaction to his question. It was rather straightforward if nothing else at least. That little tossed out thought had been correct after all. Well, that at least provided some hope for the future state of this place and would make it easy to pick out what didn’t belong. Regardless, he didn’t hold it against his friend for forgetting. Not when Alm was kind enough to help in his search. And after long days of fighting, training, and formulating war plans, it was all too easy for just about anything to slip one’s mind.
With a nod, Kliff moved back toward the entrance, only getting halfway when he heard the stumble behind him. “ A-Are you alright ?! ” Quickly, the mage turned back around. Though they had a light source with them, it was still dim in the dying hours. Falling in a place full of crates wasn’t the most ideal scenario if one wanted minimal injuries. To his relief however, all was well and he let out a small sigh. A stern word of caution was ready to leave his tongue but died partway into its delivery when the journal was presented to him.
“ Ah... Maybe. ” It was definitely familiar but familiarity wasn’t a surety. Eager regardless, with a small shine of hope in his eyes, Kliff took the journal and threw open the pages. And it was indeed his scrawling inside. All those languages that sometimes changed with a single jump from one line to the next. Carefully drawn diagrams and notes hastily scribbled into corners with new discoveries. Never mind his prior settlement at the thought of not finding it and writing up a new journal, this would have been a terrible loss. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to sign his name somewhere for once. “ It is ! So it really was in here. Where did— is this what you tripped over ? Pfft... ” The laugh had escaped without even a moment’s attempt at holding it back. “ Tripping over a mere journal, are we ? I’d hate to have explained that bruise to a cleric. ”
His gaze shifted back to the journal with a quieted glee. Slender fingers taking care to smooth out the newly dented pages. It didn’t really matter, as it was bound to wear down over time anyway, but sometimes he couldn’t help but want his things to remain neat. “ Ah ! I should save this for later. Do we need to put anything else back ? ” Tucking the journal into his vest, Kliff gave the area a quick look over. They’d been pretty good about cleaning up in their search. “ And um... I know you said you don’t typically sleep around now, but I still appreciate the assistance. This could have gone on much longer, after all. ”