Aqua Utopia｜海の底で記憶を紡ぐ
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@tetheredapart
"Someone, somewhere might. But in my experience," and he does have experience, surprisingly enough, "getting across universes to track people down ain't easy." A beat of silence, "Hell, if your brother can, why can't you? I'd come with if you want. Immoral support."
Raymond snorted, genuinely amused. "Immoral support," he repeated. He was considering it though. There was one major obstacle in the way though. "... I'd still have to ask Cyril. Stealing is dangerous."
Ah, yes. He almost forgot about the portals of Raymond's tearing holes in his shop, temporary though they were. He cleared his throat then tried to hold himself upright in a professional and stoic manner. Harder than expected considering there was something new in his midst.
"Surely you must have an easier time of travel considering..." the angel waved a hand vaguely, trying to indicate that Raymond was here after all. "Well, it's not as if London is a mere stone's throw away from New York."
Ray opened his mouth to explain and paused. Closed his mouth. Then after a moment uttered a soft 'huh'. "I... never really thought about that," he admitted, a little confused himself. When their guardians were around, they weren't allowed that kind of travel. When they disappeared, well, Raymond had been busy upkeeping the library and looking for them. Then Cyril...
Now it would probably be dangerous. He could only really go where it was safe, and Dennis had vouched for this place. He had never been to Tibet. "... I suppose I do speak the language," he muttered to himself. That was something to discuss with Cyril for sure. Well then. "Uhm, you can hold the book if you want," Ray said, changing the subject to not further embarrase himself. "It's magically warded so you probably can't hurt it."
Cora, for all of her persistence, did thankfully know when to take a hint. This might as well have been a glaring flag waving around in her face. But maybe...hmmm...
"Alright! I can have him bring a list over! Then you can get back to your books!"
In the long run, that would not be to Raymond's advantage, but all he could think of right then was short term reward. He didn't mind Cora, but not having to dodge around in the conversation sounded like a relief. "I- That sounds good," he instead said with a little polite smile. "Good plan." Then he could indeed get back to his books.
"He could give you some suggestions then!" Her logic was, in her esteemed opinion, completely natural to assume that him not knowing what was in the library meant that the next step was talking to her father about what was here. They could exchange books or something!
It was getting increasingly hard to reason himself out of meeting another person, but he'd be damned if he wasn't going to keep trying. "Oh, uh, that's okay," he said, a little flustered because how would he get out of this?? "I have plenty of reading material here." He patted one of the book towers which swayed dangerously again, prompting Raymond to grab hold and still it. Again.
Judas grinned, "Sure would!" The magic bit got him thinking though. "What's the range like? 'Cause if you space it out all over, not only could you get away with it, but you could become some kinda multidimensional cryptid. Who's gonna believe anyone saying they saw some guy materialize in and out of a shop? Plus you get food so it's win-win."
Raymond stared like Judas had grown a second head before remembering an important detail. "Uhm, magic isn't... that impossible here. They might, you know... investigate." Though the idea wasn't... totally awful. Cyril would probably think it awful if Ray did it. "I mean... Cyril maybe could do it. Occasionally." If he didn't already.
"Mostly the same, dad likes the fantasy novels so I end up reading a lot of those. Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, Earthsea.." she listed off the most read novels in recent memory. Lord off the Rings and The Hobbit were certainly the most well read in the collection at home, she could practically recite pieces of it from memory. One of her first memories was her father reading the description of Minis Tirath to her after putting her too bed.
"You should talk to dad! Maybe you can give him some suggestions," Leaning is as if she was telling a secret, she continued. "He's practically read everything in the library at this point. He definitely needs new material."
Oh, not that much different from what he read at that age then. Less magic books obviously, but he remember reading some of the great fiction stories as a child. At the mention of her father though, he tried not to grimace. He didn't really want to talk to adults. The man sounded like he was well read, but still. "Uh, I mean, I don't really know what the library has yet, so I might not be the best... advisor, I guess? He- uh, he has good taste though, with what you've read. A lot of fantasy classics."
"My dad and I like reading too! What kind of books do you like?" She had, at present, no reason not to take what he was saying at face value, he seemed like a relatively nice if isolated person.
"I was looking for some new books to read! Dad's checking in the last stack at the counter," Lost in the books, eh? "That's okay! Dad does that too, all the time really."
Welp, there was probably no going back to reading at this point. It was okay though, she was friendly even if a bit pushy. And kids were a lot easier to talk to than adults. "Oh, uh, I like most books. I tend to prefer fantasy and science fiction and, uuuh," wait he couldn't say magic books, "some science books." Yeah, that'd work. "What kind of books do you read?" he asked, attempting polite small talk. Though he was also curious. He remembered what books he read as a kid, but he had a pretty good idea that wasn't a reflecting of other kids' reading habits.
"Bummer. Sucks you can't just magic yourself up some snacks. Or," Judas arched his eyebrows, "use your portals to sneak junk from store shelves. Wouldn't have to worry about working or going hungry then, yea? Works for me..."
"But that'd be stealing!" Raymond exclaims, a bit more flustered than what an innocent people might be. They had been teenagers though, stupid and reckless. "A-And besides, we could get caught using magic." Caught stealing? Manageable. Caught using magic? Very bad.
Some of the books didn't seem all that interesting to her, history? Bleh, she got enough of that at school. Or from her dad going on one of his rabbit hole ramblings at the dinner table. The Lord of the Rings novel in the stack caught her attention, though the library's copy was significantly less fancy than the one that her father had in their bookcase at home.
"No! Why do you have all these books?" Her tone was friendly and upbeat, hands behind her back not at all unlike how she had seen her father do so when he was standing around and simply talking. "There's so many! I'm Cora! Are you new to Jasper? I don't remember seeing you around."
Oh good, he wasn't in the way. Then he wasn't going to bother moving. His smile was a little more relaxed with the bombardment of questions. She was just curious and curious he could deal with. "I like reading," he responded at first, not thinking more about it. He was studying, but he couldn't really say why he was studying.
"I'm, uh, pretty new, yeah." It was a harmless little white lie. "I don't leave my home a lot though, so that's probably why. I'm Ray. Is there a book you're looking for? I didn't mean to hoard them like this, I got a little, uhm, lost in them, I suppose."
Aziraphale prided himself on his extensive knowledge of the written word. To encounter something unknown was not only rare, it was unheard of. Of course, humans were prone to lying, though he couldn't see what purpose Raymond would have to do so. It wasn't as if Aziraphale suggested he was looking for anything to buy; he'd spent the whole time stopping Raymond wanting to browse the shop's selection and trying to usher him out.
More curious than cautious, Aziraphale stepped closer, not quite prepared to admit ignorance. "Where on Earth did you find that?" A bit of space was kept between them and the angel leaned over for a closer look. Thankfully he wouldn't need any help with translation. If this were some sort of poorly planned trick, then surely there would be hints in anything he could discern from the writing.
Raymond had fully expected the angel to just take the book to study it, but perhaps he was cautious of hurting it. Understandable for the sorcerer as he was always very gentle with these kind of books. They were very old. Instead, he tilted the book slightly so Mr. Fell had a better view of it.
Curiously, he saw the angel's eyes moving, meaning he must be reading. Did he know tibetan? Actually, considering his status as a... heavenly being? he could know many language. How exciting!
"It's part of my collection. Well, originally part of, uh, my parent Teo's collection, he has a lot of these kind of books, I think he got them from where he originally learned magic. Michelle collects more european and american scripts. I've been... maintaining them, and building up on them. Tibetan stuff is hard to find in New York though."
Words would fail to describe just how overdramatic the sigh Aziraphale groaned out was. Ever-growing seemed the list of people who could enter his shop despite the lock. This wasn't Crowley. There was a chance it was The Librarian, but considering this feeling bore a striking resemblance to another he'd felt before, the angel would be putting his metaphorical money on the bright-eyed and curious man who called himself a sorcerer, though not without merit. Oh, what was his name again?
He weaved through the shelves with purpose until his uninvited guest was spotted. Aziraphale forced a tight-lipped smile, "Raymond, wasn't it?" In a knee-jerk reaction, Aziraphale opened his mouth to ask Raymond about placing the book in his hands back on the shelves...except that one didn't belong to the shop. He knew every single book in his meticulous collection by heart. He didn't even recognize the volume in the sorcerer's hands. Aziraphale floundered, caught between curiosity and wanting to usher Raymond out. "What...what is it you've got there?"
Raymond smiled, not really noticing the tightness of the other man's smile. "Ray is fine too," he said, wondering if he'd ever get Mr. Fell's first name. Maybe he didn't have one, he was an angel after all.
The smile widened as Ray practically beamed when the book was noticed. "It's something from my collection. I-I thought you might like to see it," he said cheerfully, holding out the book gently. "It's the original tibetan script for a book about the spirit and magic. It was, uh, translated to english some 10 years ago, badly I might add, so the translation sounds like it's talking about spirituality, which isn't really accurate, but, uh, you know. This is the original."
Starter for @thatsineffable
Raymond had timed it better this time. At least he was pretty sure he had, it was a little difficult to consider time difference in the multiverse. With a colorful swirl, a portal opened up in a dark corner of the bookshop and Ray peeked out. Well, it looked to be daytime... no one was around buying books though... It was probably because of the prices.
Excitedly, he stepped out and closed the portal again, clutching and old, old book to his chest. Ray had searched for it for a while and he was excited to show Mr. Fell something that was hopefully rare for him too.
Considering the angel had practically felt the magic previously, the sorcerer had a pretty good idea he'd be found quickly, so he wandered around the shop, looking for the man - and maybe getting distracted by some books.
"Didn't mean anything negative by it. Hell, I spend most of my time hanging out in my car, listening to tunes. Same stories, different medium. Well," he waved his hand to and fro, "more or less. Heh, and here I thought you'd managed to weasel your way out of hard labour."
Huh, supposed that was true. Raymond still struggled with how anyone could live in a car. It was a tiny place to live! Where would you even sleep? Instead of voicing his concerns though, he grimaced at the last bit. "Unfortunatly we still have to eat. Cy usually works more, but sometimes if he can't find a place, I'll look." Ray did not like to work, but it was necessary sometimes. "If you live in a car, do you not work?"
"Heh. It's like gambling but with literature. Considering the collection you've got going on, you're coming out on top though so that ain't bad." A beat of silence passed. "You spend a lot of time in here then, yea?"
Gambling? Well, Ray supposed that was accurate. Finally deciding to sit, Raymond fell into the lounge chair near the couch Judas was in. "Uh yeah," he said, fiddling with his chosen book. "All my time, basically. Well, unless I'm getting groceries. And sometimes I do work..." See, he was pratically a social butterfly.
Ray was not the only individual that was paying a visit to the local library on this day. Between needing to return a few books himself and subsequently check out more in the process, Cora was adamant about joining him on his grand adventure to the Jasper local library. She had a few books that she wanted to pick up too! So, ever weak to her pleases and the puppy eyes she gave him to con him into taking her with him, he had relented and decided to take her with him.
He hadn't been to the library since the...incident. Which was all he was calling accidentally falling through a portal and into someone's apartment/house/library in a different part of the multiverse so far removed from his own that it reached into uncanny valley levels of disorienting.
Still, what were the chances of anything like that happening again, right?
While he father was checking in their previous haul of books at the library desk, and as a result paying the inevitable late fee plus a little extra because her father was constantly forgetting to return books on time or push the button to renew the check out, Cora began to wander.
At first it was just in the immediate waiting area, the large open space of tables and chairs, the comfortable couches that people liked to read short novels on or type away on their laptops, taking advantage of the free wi-fi and the peace and quiet that came with, well, being in a library. Her adventure in the open area however, was short lived, as her father was sheepishly apologizing to the librarian behind the front desk for the late returns of five different novels and the subsequent fine attached to forgetting to renew for two months, Cora took advantage of him being distracted to duck into a row of shelves, running her finger down the spine of the thick novels that lined the row that was closest for an eight year old to be able to comfortable reach.
These were definitely the adult books that she wasn't allowed to read yet and not the children's section, which she wasn't entirely too keen to visit at this point. Most of the novels there she had already read, or didn't appeal to her at all. Luckily for her, she was still free to select other books off the shelves, so long as her dad approved them for her to read before they were checked out. She grabbed one of the books off the nearest shelf, examining the picture of a knight riding a horse on the cover and beamed, before her face turned sour at the sight of a lady dramatically draped over the side of the knight's saddle. Ugh, a romance novel. Yuck. It was immediately placed back on the shelf before she continued ever onward, searching for titles or pictures on the covers that appealed to her interest.
Her search was short lived, when she turned around a corner to the full view of stacks of books. She had seen plenty of books in her life, her father's personal collection was something she considered to be massive, but just one person and all these books!? What were they doing with it all? Her curiosity sparked, she trotted over, black curls bouncing as she came to a stop at one of the stacks, looking over the titles on the spines before looking at the man behind the mountain.
"Hi!"
Raymond was deep, deep in a history book, studying what had been different of the past. He had yet to encounter any mention of these robot aliens Dennis had mentioned, but there were a few curious differences. History had never been Ray's strong suit, but when he had skimmed Lord of the Rings, he had found no differences and figured perhaps the fiction wasn't going to be that different. So deep was he in the book he hadn't heard someone approach.
Ray jumped, and one of the piled swayed dangerously. He dropped the book in his hands and quickly reached out to steady the pile of deep space books. It settled and Raymond breathed a sigh of relief. That would have been loud. Peeking around the books, the rest of the tension eased from his frame when he saw a child. Oh good, children weren't dangerous, he could handle that.
"Hi," he returned with a nervous smile, releasing the stack and picking up the book he had dropped, quickly checking he hadn't hurt it. He should probably get off the floor, but it was comfortable to be surrounded by books. Familiar. "Uh, sorry, am I in the way?"
"Huh. Never thought of audio books." They probably had some kind of musical score in the background, or maybe sound effects. Could be worth giving a try. "Well, how do you find your books? Like, how do you figure out which ones you're gonna like?"
Ray hesitated and thought honestly about it for a moment. "Well... I read them. I mean, if I really don't like it, I just won't finish it, but..." How to phrase this? He made a thoughtful sound, shuffling a bit on his feet. "I think all books have something to teach. Even if it's something I don't like to learn or something that's just so insufferably stupid-" Ray cut himself off, cleared his throat. "Uhm, well, even bad story can teach me why I don't like them. So... I read them," he shrugged. "And the synopsis is usually a pretty good indication, if they have one."
Closed starter for @hirvenxsoturi
It took Raymond a little longer to return to the library than intended. Once they had settled things with the space cop, Bev, Ray had wanted to go back to explore the books properly this time. Honestly, the odds were in his favor that he wouldn't encounter another agent or whatever. Especially because it was a big library. He just had to not use any magic this time.
Ray was also pretty sure Cyril wouldn't have let him leave, so he just... didn't mention it. While his brother was out working, Raymond took a deep breathe and tried to settle his nerves, fidgeting with the sling ring. Right, he just had to open the portal without being spotted, and then he could explore the books in peace. It'd be fine. Bev had turned out to be okay-ish. Scary but okay... ish. Ray was pretty sure Cy didn't trust him. But it'd be fine.
The portal was opened swiftly and Raymond quickly stepped through, taking a look around before shutting down the portal. He was pleased with himself. He had arrived around midday, it looked like, when the library was mostly quiet. He had a good spot out of the way, he hadn't been seen. Great!
The sling ring safely pocketed, Raymond started his research, getting lost in the books for hours and slowly building up a little mountain of scattered books in his corner.
