[open/active]

[rainscented]

Characters: Rat (rainscented) and YOU.
Setting: Libraries, mainly the third floor one. 14th-ish
Format: Your choice! I'll follow you.
Summary: Four mice raid the library.
Warnings: foul language, probably.

[ there's a pissed-off teenager in the library. Said teenager is currently occupied tearing books from shelves, flicking through them with the speed of an experienced skim-reader, and just as quickly throwing them into a growing pile on the floor behind him.

It would be more dramatic if he wasn't dressed as a giant mouse. For one thing, the furry paws make gripping the books difficult, let alone turning a page. He keeps dropping them, or tearing out chapters. For another, there's a small troupe of real mice perched inside his fluffy, ear-bedecked hood, chittering complaints at him for making a mess. Occasionally one darts across to a shelf to sniff at book spines, but they always return to scold him.

What's he doing? Who the hell even knows. He's been looking for some time now; the pile is huge, and he hasn't found what he's looking for.

Maybe he's just venting. ]

Comments

[vermicompost]

[Kariya had come to the library hoping to use the network, but he'd found that it wasn't working. He'd had a vague idea of asking for help as Ruler had suggested, but he can wait.

Unlike most other floors, the library seems peaceful, not too warped or strange. It's someplace he wouldn't mind spending time, like the meadow. So he's decided to stay a little longer, and that's when he hears the commotion. He makes his way toward the sound.

The mice and the boy dressed as a mouse give him pause. His eyes widen. He's seen the costumes around the tower, but this is more than that. It's a spectacle. He has no idea what's going on. He can't say that it's wrong to be tearing up the library, considering all the strange things that happen here, but he can't say it's right, either. He wades boldly into the fray, skirting the pile of books.]

Hello--are you all right? Can I help you?

[rainscented]

[ Never underestimate the power of a diva throwing what is Definitely Not A Tantrum. ]

You can find whoever started this joke and tear them a new one. [ CRASH goes a volume of (terrible) alien poetry. He realises that he looks totally ridiculous like this, but that only makes him angrier. ] Better yet, you can find me even one book that'll tell me something about this shitty prison that I don't already know.

[vermicompost]

I wish I could do that.

[Kariya says this softly, but he means it. If he could stop whoever was responsible for this, he would. He would use all his power to do that. But he can't.

Not sure what else to do, he leans down to pick up a book of poems, smoothing its battered pages, even though some of them are torn out. He has a recent appreciation for ruined things.]

Either of those things.

We could look for a book together. I don't think this is helping.

[He tactfully doesn't mention the costume.]

sorry this is late!

[rainscented]

[ the soothing voice could have done one of two things: enrage him further, or force him to calm down. It's the latter, this time. Rat takes a single, long breath, audible even through the half-hood of his costume, and drops the book he's holding back onto the nearest shelf.

It's still not in the right place, but baby steps. ]

Sure. Since you're here, you don't have anything better to do either.

that's okay, i'm sorry this is late!

[vermicompost]

No, I don't, really.

[It's true. There are few demands on his time here, and he doesn't like that, having so much empty time, with nothing to occupy him. It makes him restless, leaves him with an uneasy mind, in the company of the worms.

He limps his way closer, picking up another few books. He has no idea how to put them back in order himself, but on a shelf is better than on a floor, he figures. This is something he can cope with. He gives a tentative smile.]

I'm Kariya. It's nice to meet you.

[savedbyasong]

Excuse me? [There is a angry looking boy in a wasp costume coming towards the rat. Everyone being in costume was difficult but Shion was annoyed that someone would be destroying books.] Please be more careful.

1/?

[rainscented]

[ in a voice muffled by a hood of furry fabric ] How about you shut u--

2/?

[rainscented]

[ please note these expressions are hidden by aforementioned hood and therefore purely for dramatic irony. ]

3/4

[rainscented]

[ Well that explains why the mice were going out of their minds, and also why the books are so bizarrely and pointlessly organised. ]

4/4 regrets nothing

[rainscented]

[ THIS IS NOT RAT'S VOICE this is the voice he used back when he was cast as Ariel in the Tempest. Or something. ] You the librarian, or something?

[savedbyasong]

I am one of the librarians. [Yep he is oblivious even if the rat costume was a bit close to home... He starts gathering the books.] Please don't throw any more.

[rainscented]

[ like fuck is he gonna actually reveal who he is. With his luck, Shion's inner monster will go crazy all over again and if he's honest with himself, he'd rather that didn't happen when they were dressed like this.

On the other hand, here's someone he can safely antagonise.

He pauses for long enough that it seems like he's decided to behave, then just reaches over, picks up the nearest book, and throws it an impressive distance over the shelves. ] Fetch.

[savedbyasong]

[Shion felt a spike of anger that someone would throw the books around.] I said stop that. [He reaches out to grab the rats arm because he is not going to get that book.

Well he will later...]

[tohko_amano]

Tohko was wandering through the library, picking up some titles for reading when she noticed a boy in a giant mouse costume tearing through books, ripping out pages, and dumping them on the floor. She was not amused by this at all. How could someone do something like that?! Books were fragile creatures. Ripping out pages and dumping them on the floor like that was not good for them. It was akin to breaking the bones of a persona and tossing them off a building.

"Oy! You in the mouse costume! Stop ripping out the pages and dumping them on the floor!" Tohko yelled.

[rainscented]

"Or what?" said... the mouse. Sure, he was completely aware of what kind of dumb image he was presenting to whoever walked in on his not-tantrum, but he couldn't quite bring himself to care. "They're trash anyway."

[tohko_amano]

Trash? Trash?! In a fit of pure rage, Tohko smacked the guy on the head with her pumpkin bucket. She quickly picked up the candy the fell on the floor before proceeding to just hitting the guy with her fists.

"Books are not trash! They're full of wonderful, beautiful stories that can change a persons viewpoint, or save you if you're on the brink of utter despair! They can show you that you're not alone or help you solve a problem in the real world! They're also entertaining! They're fun as hell! To call them 'trash' is an insult to the people that have been helped by them! If you took the time to properly read them, instead of tearing them up and dumping them everywhere, you'd see that they're treasures!" Tohko yelled, all while smacking the guy has hard as she could. She usually wasn't like this, but..insulting her beloved books was never a way to put her in a good mood.

[rainscented]

"Wh-- oi!" He rapidly switched to defence, spinning and almost - almost - going for a grapple that would have broken something in either one or both of their arms, but ended up just standing there, hands half-raised, as the girl attacked him with a toy pumpkin.

The mouse suit took the worst of it, anyway. After a few moments of this, as he debated whether to just punch her or not, he caught her wrists with a quick movement and held her fists still. "Normally, I'd agree, but I need information, not entertainment. All the culture in the world isn't going to help me work out what the deal is with this prison."

[scorchedchivalry]

[A maid enters the library and seems to be looking for something. She glances at the pile of books and stops.]

What are you searching for?

[rainscented]

Information. Statistics. Records. [ he punctuates this with particularly vicious rips of pages. ] Anything useful.



[ he pauses, briefly, to look her over. ] You got off light with that outfit.

[scorchedchivalry]

That is a matter of personal opinion. [Said flatly. Saber hates her costume. It makes her look all... girly.]

Does such research always require desecrating the books or are you just providing nesting material for the vermin?

[rainscented]

Call it an experiment. [ aforementioned vermin manage to look rather offended at the label, chittering from his shoulder. ]

[forgetbeam]

[STOP RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCUM.

Incidentally, it's a teenager dressed as a cop who decides it's time to lay down the law. Of course, a regular police uniform is too much to ask from the tower. It really looks more like something that would be more suited to a male stripper, right down to booty shorts. It might be scandalous if Ishimaru didn't insist on wearing his normal white uniform over top of it anyway... even if the costume somehow found its way to the top layer when he wasn't looking.

So it just looks stupid and uncomfortable. But at least he's dressed decently!

Anyway, he's too busy being seconds away from causing an uproar to care about how he looks. He was glad to find a library, but not if this kind of thing was going on inside!]

What do you think you're doing?!

[rainscented]

Venting. [ he admits, easily. Another book goes sailing past Ishimaru's head. ] I'd say it's pointless - [ riiiiip ] - but it's making me feel better.

[forgetbeam]

[He flinches away from the flying book, because that looks like it would really hurt otherwise. But he's not giving up yet.]

Such vandalism is never the right way to express anger! You should be doing something constructive, instead!

[rainscented]

[ are you for real. ]

Like what?