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Aug 9, 2022

Two Hunters Walk Into a Library || Rio & Aylin

TIMING: A few weeks ago (before Time Plot Shenanigans) PARTIES: @3starsquinn and @onlyaylin SUMMARY: Rio and Aylin run into one another at the library... literally. They quickly bond over language and their mutual love of learning. Neither of them are any the wiser to the fact that the other is a hunter. WARNINGS: None! Soft times for these two! (Actually soft!)

Rio had missed this library. He missed the familiarity of it. After almost a year, and even though some of the displays and sections had been moved around, he still felt like he could navigate the place with relative ease. He had always loved reading, but this place had served more than just a place to provide entertainment and knowledge. This had been his safe space growing up. A spot where he could disappear for hours without putting himself in danger. A place that could distract him from his reality. Before he had returned to the abandoned scribe building, this was where Rio had practically lived.

Ten books in hand, Rio was now heading towards an open table where he could crack open one of the books and distract himself for an hour or two. He had hoped to run into Leah here, another former White Crest relation he was hoping to reunite with, but he must have missed her for the day. He didn’t mind. He was a patient person, and he knew he’d be back at the library again soon anyways.

The library books piled in his arms towered above Rio’s own eyesight, a safety hazard he should have considered given his less than graceful history. He rounded a corner too quickly, running directly into another person and sending his stack of books flying through the air. One of those books ended up on the floor just as Rio stepped to regain his balance, and the thing slipped out from under him and sent him tumbling backwards, his back hitting the floor with a loud thud as the corner of another back stabbed into his side. He laid there for a long moment before finally muttering a quiet “Ow,” keeping his eye closed to avoid the reality he had just created.

Finally, Rio decided to accept this embarrassment, and poked a single eye open. He pushed up into a sitting position to see a girl probably a few years younger than himself. Clearly, she had been the one that he had run into. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” Rio asked immediately, readjusting again so that he was now on his knees and scrambling to pick up the lost books. “I can’t believe I did that. Some things really never change.”

Aylin had always loved the library. She’d been lucky enough as a kid to be able to go to her neighborhood one back in Dearborn practically whenever she wanted, and it had always been a sort of second home for her. Books were easy to understand, even when certain aspects of the rest of the world were not.

She’d only grabbed a couple of books today - she knew she was due to meet up with Ceyda soon, and she had a whole stack of books back at the house to read, but more was never a bad thing, was it? Aylin wasn’t entirely paying attention to her surroundings - though given that there were no werewolves in the library, she’d decided to at least try to act chill, at least as much as was possible for her to. Before she knew exactly what was happening, she’d collided with someone else and that someone else’s books went flying everywhere - as did hers, but she grabbed one of them quickly (too quickly, possibly, but she’d say that she just had good reflexes if anyone had noticed) as she stumbled backwards, ending up on the library’s rug. She rubbed her nose with her fingertips.

Ow. Aylin made a small, bashful face. She hadn’t thought that she’d done any real sort of damage, but for a moment she worried that maybe running into her had been a worse fate than falling on the floor. “I’m okay. Are you okay?” She grabbed a couple of his books and handed them over to him. “You run into people a lot?” She tapped her fingers against the cover of one of her books. “Were you reading while walking? I - my aunt and my parents,” she sucked in her lower lip briefly, “used to have to tell me all the time that I should look up where I was going, because I was always getting way too engrossed in books and walked straight into a tree once.” She hopped up and held a hand out to the boy. “You sure you’re okay?”

There was a collection of books scattered on the ground, and Rio wasn’t sure which ones belonged to him and which belonged to the girl he had just ran into. If she only had one book and all of these were the ones he had been carrying, that would be embarrassing. As the two scrambled to collect the books and pass them back and forth, he quickly realized that the vast majority of them were in fact his. “Currently dying of embarrassment but otherwise I’ll make it through” Rio sighed, sure that his face was currently three different shades of red. “More often than I should admit” Rio explained. He had never quite had the grace that his mother or sister had. His sister had excelled at sports, Rio excelled at tripping up the stairs.

“No. Not reading and walking.” Rio laughed. The books now sat in a stack on the ground and he left them there as he pushed back onto his feet. He didn’t bother picking them back up yet. It was just another hazard waiting to happen. “The stack was taller than me. Not that I need limited vision as an excuse to run into things either. It’s a whole thing.” It was fine. At least the girl seemed nice. “A tree? Nice. I’ve done my fair share of extreme tree hugging too.” He tried for a joke, scratching at the back of his neck nervously. Talking with strangers had never exactly been his forte. “Oh yeah. Collisions like this are pretty normal for me. I bounce back quick.”

“I don’t think you can actually die of embarrassment,” Aylin bit her lip, quickly turning a deeper shade of red, “I know that’s a saying, by the way - I - sorry, I’ve never been the best at joking.” His words were almost comforting, in a strange sort of way. “Your secret’s safe with me.” She winked at him, “I mean, there’s not like, many people besides my aunt I could even tell that secret to, and I don’t think I want to start with something that doesn’t highlight someone’s best qualities when I’m talking about them to her for the first time.” Even though she liked to think of herself as relatively coordinated, most of the time (years of training hadn’t been all for nothing), she was also acutely aware of how much more skilled Ceyda was than she was.

“Do you wear glasses? Or do you just mean from the stack of books?” Aylin raised an eyebrow at him as she offered a kind, shy smile. “What about extreme sliding? Because I also once went down a slide on accident when I was reading a book. Then my parents were all, ‘Aylin, you can bring books to the playground but you have to put them on the bench with us when you go and play’.” She pressed her thumb against the ring on her forefinger as she thought back to that memory. “I’m glad you bounce back easily, but if you wish, we could go sit at one of those tables? Unless you’ve decided that you want nothing to do with me, which I totally get!”

“Not yet at least, but I keep trying” Rio mumbled, mostly under his breath. Clearly it must be true, or he would have passed away long ago. He had a special habit of making a fool out of himself. If he didn’t do it by walking into something or tripping over something, he usually did it through rambling. “Very noble of you” Clearly this girl had never met his family. They had always specialized in highlighting his weakest qualities.

With his balance mostly regained, Rio finally swooped down to pick up his stack of books, this time splitting them in half and tucking two stacks under each arm. It looked awkward, and kept his arms outstretched at an almost uncomfortable distance but at least it let him see where he was going better. “Just the books. No glasses to worry about.” He hated giving any sort of credit to his hunter genes and senses, but great vision was at least one perk he had. He couldn’t exactly explain how he knew he would need glasses if he wasn’t a hunter, but all he knew was that the vibes fit. While the girl explained her slide scenario, definitely one-upping him in the oblivious category, Rio chuckled. He tried to keep the volume acceptable for a library. “Oof. Yeah you have me beat there, I’ll give that to you.” He considered his options. Take the books to some corner alone and then leave the library alone to go hang out alone, or try to converse with a random stranger at the library who at least appeared to be nice? He wasn’t super social by nature, but the friends he had made in White Crest over the last couple of years had at least cracked his shell a tiny bit. What could be the harm in trying to be friendly? “No, yeah. Why not? I have no plans” Rio shrugged, following her over to a table and dropping his two stacks of books on it. He shoved them in the corner before picking one off the top, “My name’s Rio by the well. Technically it’s Orion, but nobody really calls me that.”

“I mean statistically it’s - sorry, joke, right?” Aylin queried, “regardless, I think even though I’ve just met you that I would like to just go on record and say I’d prefer you alive.” She shrugged, “I don’t really think it’s noble, it’s just like - basic human decency, right? Treat those around you with the kindness you’d want for yourself.” She fiddled with her ring for a moment.

“Glad we didn’t have to risk ruining your glasses, and the books seem like they’re still in pretty good shape - or at least the same shape that they were in before.” At least the boy in front of her seemed to have a good sense of humor and a nice outlook on the world, though Aylin knew she couldn’t - or rather, shouldn't - make full judgements at first meeting, but the relief she felt around someone who was kind and didn’t set off her senses was incredible. “Surprisingly I didn’t end up too injured as a kid, despite my tendency to read books wherever I went.” Though she knew fully well that her genes were a good part of the reason to credit for that. “Okay, great! My favorite spot’s right over there,” she nodded towards a table in the corner, “and if you’ve got no plans, I’d - well, I’d be happy to be a reading buddy for you.” She made her way over to the table and set her books down, before sticking her hand out as he introduced himself, “like the constellation? That’s cool. Nice to meet you, Rio. I’m Aylin, which you already heard, but it felt like the right thing to do to say it again.”

Friendship must have really done a number on Rio if he was the one making jokes to a stranger right now. “Yes. Joke. At least an attempt at one.” Rio chuckled, hoping he wasn’t coming across as desperate. This was exactly why he had mostly avoided humor. He already over thought every conversation he had to analyze when and how he had said something stupid or cringey. The last thing he needed was a poorly landed joke to throw things off even further. “I think I’m honored that you’re so keen on keeping me alive? I mean at the very least it’s a kind gesture.” Yeah, this was definitely not his finest conversation. He should have known talking to a stranger would be a complete disaster, even one inside a library which should objectively be the safest place for Rio to find like-minded people to conversate with. “Just checking but… how long have you been in White Crest again? I’m not sure basic human decency is exactly the default state of mind here. At least not in my experience.” Not while growing up surrounded by hunters.

“These things? They’re practically indestructible.” Rio should know, he’s had a long history of tripping over things and throwing them across the library. “Besides, if I actually did damage a book I know the librarian would-” roast me alive. He almost said it as a joke before realizing that it hit a bit too close to home. Humor or not, Rio didn’t trust strangers enough to not take him literally. So he masked it with a cough before continuing, “probably ban me for life or something.” He read the spine of the book he had grabbed before abandoning it to check for another book. Now that he was talking to her, he wasn’t sure which book he wanted to start, if any. “A reading buddy might be nice.” She re-introduced herself, the same name she had mentioned earlier when talking about herself. He repeated the name silently in his head a few times as he tried to place where he had heard it before. “Aylin. That’s uh- Turkish right? Something moon?”

“It was a good joke! Sorry, sometimes I can be a little slow on the uptake of sarcasm. Blame it on me being homeschooled until I went to university,” Aylin hummed, “but no, I liked it. I swear, it was a good joke and I’m probably overcompensating and explaining myself but seriously. Made me smile.” She offered him a smile, “oh yes, it’s meant to be kind!” That and I was born to keep people safe even if I’ve failed at that and don’t really do that right now. “Uh, I moved here with my aunt within the last year. Why isn’t it a default state of mind? Shouldn’t people just like, naturally be nice to one another? I thought small towns were supposed to be full of that - or at least that’s the case in books and television shows.” She frowned. “I’m sorry that hasn’t been your experience.”

“That’s true, especially when they’re hardcover.” Aylin’s eyes grew wide, “you’ve got an in with the librarian? I mean, I know one of them too, but not that well, I just come here and ask her questions and borrow tons of books.” She shook her head, “well, I don’t want you to get in trouble, so I’m glad nothing happened. I can’t think of many things worse than being banned from a library.” Other than what happened to me just after I turned sixteen. “I’d be happy to be your reading buddy then.” “Yes, it is! Means ‘one that belongs to the moon’ or ‘moon halo’, depending on where you look.” The fact that he’d recognized Turkish made her smile grow. She hadn’t come across too many people here who did. “Türkçe konuşabiliyor musun?” Do you speak Turkish? “Your name’s a constellation, right?”

“Don’t worry, I don’t think I socialized with anyone until college either.” Rio chuckled, trying to level with the girl. He had gone through public education, a luxury that his parents probably never would have allowed if they weren’t so set on giving the illusion of a normal, put together family to the average townsfolk. Rio would never claim that he had enjoyed his high school experience, but it did provide a much needed escape from his house for eight hours a day. “And I definitely didn’t make jokes until then.” As sad as it was that might actually be true too, but it was hard to remember the specifics of a childhood he tried so hard to repress. “Ah well, welcome to town.” Rio shrugged, trying to pair it with a smile to make it seem more welcoming than it probably came out. Rio’s reflexive response to find out someone willingly moved here was never to welcome them, but to question what in the world convinced them to come here. But since that was rude and borderline suspicious, Rio always suppressed that initial reaction and stuck to the pleasantries. “Okay, that sounded bad. There are plenty of friendly and pleasant people that live here. But there are also a lot of not so friendly ones. So just uh- don’t take it personally if some people aren’t super conversational. This town is like simultaneously exactly like every young adult book you’ve ever read and nothing like it. I wish I could elaborate further, but I don’t know how.” He did actually, but he wouldn’t.

Rio gave another scan around the library, maybe double checking to make sure that Leah hadn’t materialized out of nowhere. “I had an in with the librarian” he corrected, flipping his first book up to the first page and pretending like he might actually read it. “I just got back into town after like a year away so I may not anymore, who knows.” He found it hard to believe Leah wouldn’t work here anymore though. “It’s a really pretty name” Rio pointed out, because it was. Without context and with context, admittedly. She perked up immediately, and then said something that Rio couldn’t understand at all. He knew enough to know that it was Turkish, but not much beyond that. “Oh sorry- No I don’t actually speak Turkish at all. Just a fan of languages,” Rio nodded, “It is! I guess technically I’m named after the Greek hero Orion. But my parents only really knew about him because there is a constellation named after him. So yes.”

“That’s a relief!” Aylin exclaimed, “I mean, not that - I don’t mean that I didn’t think that you should have socialized, but I feel like everyone’s super good at talking to other people and though my aunt’d say I’m better than she is, sometimes I’m pretty positive she says that just because she loves me.” She bit her lip, “well I like your jokes, for what it’s worth.” She offered him a grin in response to his welcome, “thanks a whole lot! It’s certainly a beautiful town, I think.” Other than the issues on full moons. “That’s a good head’s up to have. I’m glad I ran into you, because you seem to know a lot about this place. I will try to not take it personally, and I get it, sometimes I don’t want to talk to people either. Except if I get nervous, then I ramble, sort of like what I’m doing now - not that you made me nervous, you’re actually super easy to talk to, but just - yes.” She took in a deep breath.

“Oh! That’s cool. Did you go traveling? I’m sure you’ll find a new in, even if you don’t have your old in anymore.” Aylin pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth, “I’ll give you my in, if you need one?” She felt her cheeks turn slightly darker at his compliment, “thanks, though when my aunt and I were driving around and we went into those shops at gas stations? Whatever those are called - my name certainly isn’t ever on any of those license plates or mugs or such, but that’s kind of nice? It makes me feel like my name is all my own.” Her expression fell for one moment as he admitted that he didn’t really know Turkish, but she quickly shook her head and offered him another smile. “Well, if you ever want to learn, I’d be happy to teach you - especially if you like languages, and at the very least I could teach you some basics - like hello, goodbye, and other relevant things?” Aylin appreciated the explanation behind his name. “That’s cool. It’s a neat constellation, and certainly one that isn’t too tough to find, which must be nice for you?”

Orion couldn’t help but laugh as Aylin tiptoed around the statement and tried to walk herself back from saying the wrong thing. It was mostly humorous because Rio spent so much time doing the exact same thing. He still did, admittedly. Although he had noticed that he had gotten better since being friends with more social and blunt people like Ari. Between this and the library, the two seemed to have a lot in common. There was something about the way she did that made Rio more comfortable in his own speech. Suddenly, he felt like the one comfortable in this conversation. It was an odd turn of events, but not an unwelcome one.

The topic of where he had been hardly seemed appropriate for someone he didn’t know. Who knew if they even knew about the supernatural? “More like visiting a family friend. But I got to enjoy some time away.” He enjoyed talking names and languages much more than he did about his year away from White Crest. “Yeah! Honestly those souvenir shops are overrated. I think there’s a certain bit of pride in not being able to find your name on one of those.” The thought surprised him a bit. Rio had never liked his name. Too many ties to his parents and what they had expected from him. “Wait, seriously?” Rio stopped everything immediately to focus on Aylin, “I love learning new languages. I’d totally take you up on that.”

There was something about the boy in front of her that made her feel relaxed, even with his laugh and even with the fact that Aylin still felt like she’d maybe misspoken or done some sort of terrible misstep. The fact that even if he wasn’t quite as awkward as she was, but still seemed slightly out of place and shy, at the very least, which she could respect.

“That’s nice! Family friends are lovely, I think.” Aylin wondered if the group of hunters back home could be considered that, in a way - because they were all some sort of family, even if they weren’t directly related to one another. “I hope that you had fun, wherever you were. I mean, I like this town,” usually, except sometimes and certainly not on the full moon, “but I guess if you lived here a while you might want to visit other places?” She offered a half shrug. “I’d agree, and my name connects me to my heritage, which is far more important than having a souvenir that says my name.” She beamed at his next comment, “yes, absolutely! I’d love to have someone else to speak Turkish with, and I like to help people, and you seem nice, so it seems to be at least a triple win, if not more.” She grabbed her phone and held it out to Rio. “If you want to give me your number, we can plan some study sessions?”

Rio smiled through the irony, conveniently forgetting to mention that most of the people that his family would have considered friends were awful murderers that Rio wouldn’t spend time with if he had a gun against his head. And he had, not that he would have mentioned that either. Aylin seemed nice, and approachable. And normal. Something Rio desperately needed more of in his life. “They certainly can be.” If you have the right family being the unspoken end to that sentence. “Yeah, I mean it definitely has some charms.” Sometimes literally. “But it was nice seeing somewhere new. I got to visit New York City for the first time. That was fun!” Jury was out on whether he actually enjoyed being back in White Crest or not, but it had reminded him just how much he had missed Ari. “Exactly. And having that connection to your heritage can be really important.” Rio supposed his name also connected his name to his heritage, in a way. Not a way that he enjoyed or wanted, but definitely in a way. “I need you to know that I’m not even like… half kidding. Or a quarter. Like I’m so excited to learn some Turkish. We need to pre-plan this language lesson like… now.”

“At least mine were - are? Most of them aren’t around here, so I don’t know which tense is the best to use, but…” Aylin let her voice trail off, shaking her head. Right now wasn’t the time to get sad, or to focus on things from the past. She was very much present with a new and nice person, and she knew that it would be better to keep her mind in the current moment. “New York City’s magical, I bet!” She chirped, “what did you like most about it? If that’s all well and good to ask.” She nodded, “I agree - my heritage is something that’s always been so important to me, so it’s nice to have a permanent part of that with me, always. I mean, obviously there’s just… me, but it’s nice to have parts that are not,” she gestured to herself, “well, this? I don’t know if I’m making any sense.” She felt her smile brighten, “Truly? I’m down to plan anything you want right now, or whenever. I bet you could even come by my house sometime - I’m sure my aunt would love you,” and would love the fact that I have a maybe-sort-of-friend even more, maybe, “but we can also just meet up at the library or a café or whatever works for you.”

There was definitely more to that story, but diving into family trauma seemed a bit too personal for a first meeting. At least, Rio knew that he didn’t want to unpack any of that right now while the vibes were upbeat and friendly, he assumed Aylin may be the same way. “It was! It was super cool.” Rio had a lot of fond memories from that trip. He shouldn’t mention that his favorite part of the trip was feeling like he had the upper hand with his sister for once. Seeing her so far out of her element and him so far into it wasn’t the best part of the trip, but it was certainly a highlight. “I mean, obviously Broadway is a highlight.” Rio began, “But I’m a history nerd. So visiting the museums and like historical sites like the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge.” He sighed, remembering what it felt like to see those sights for the first time, “I guess you learn about them your whole life, but when you grow up in a small town like this it’s different to actually see it in person.”

She made sense, just not necessarily to Rio. But that was just because he couldn’t relate to someone proud of their heritage. “I’m down for whatever. If it’s nice out we could also meet at The Common? It’s right next to the college campus. We could find a table or just lay out a blanket and work. I hang out there a lot to read.”

“That’s great!” Aylin was glad that Rio’s time away had been positive - or that it at least seemed that way. “I’ve heard of some musicals, though not many. Are they a favorite of yours?” Talking with him was easy, and she found herself more willing and ready to talk than usual, but she wasn’t going to put a negative spin on that. He didn’t deserve that, and she figured that she deserved a nice day, too. “History’s great. I like that, but I also like science - did you get to go to the museum of natural history? That’s sort of both history and science, so best of both worlds, right?” She nodded, “that must’ve been great, and yeah, they’re in history books - I was homeschooled, like I said, but I read some history books about early twentieth century America, which the Statue of Liberty obviously plays a large role in.” She smiled, “I mean, honestly, seeing the Atlantic ocean for the first time when I moved here with my aunt was pretty neat, so I can only imagine what it’d be like to see such important landmarks.”

Aylin nodded at his suggestion, “works for me. I like being outdoors, in open spaces. Inside’s good too, but I’m absolutely up for hanging out outside.” She grabbed another book and flipped it open, smiling at Rio. “I’m glad we literally ran into one another. I’ll text you about a first study session soon?”

#wickedswriting #c rio #chatzy #two hunters walk into a library #// i love rio and i love cody #with my whole heart <33