⚕ // way to fall

[liquidouroboros]

Characters: Liquid and anyone in the Tower
Setting: The workshop and the library
Format: I'll try to match.
Summary: New (old) uniform, same sarcastic jerk.
Warnings: None yet.

[floor fifteen]
[Liquid was rarely an easy man to find in the Tower. Being a stealth operative by nature led him to make himself scarce; being highly paranoid led him to stay that way. He was rarely seen anywhere but the network, and even then only when someone amused or bewildered him enough that it was deemed a necessity to speak up. While he tended to speak loudly and at great length, there were few people these days that Liquid deemed worth the effort of speaking to at all.]

[Addressing his little 'gift' from the tower was something that took quite some time to call 'worth the effort' as well. It was something he'd discarded years before, something which held only what one could call 'sentimental value'.]

[Hatred was a sentiment, right? Then yeah, sentimental value.]

[But if that was the case--which Liquid repeatedly assured himself it was--then why bother wearing it? The old FOXHOUND uniform was nothing special: fatigues, combat boots, and a long dark brown trenchcoat. (No shirt, of course, because Liquid was the kind of man who spent around sixty percent of his time without one.) The coat was the only part worth notice; he recalled having once worn it proudly as a commander, and it was almost depressing to see what it had become. Bloodstained, singed, and with several bullet holes in it, this was definitely no longer the uniform of a commander.]

[So for reasons that perplexed even Liquid himself, he had found his way to the fifteenth floor workshop. He had nothing better to do, and simply burning the damned thing seemed impractical.]

[That was the story of how a 6' shirtless soldier with a snake and sword on his left arm came to be sewing up bullet holes in a trenchcoat he would never admit he might have still been attached to. Just a little.]

[floor three]

[It was strange to be wearing his old uniform once more; strange enough that Liquid made a mental note to just throw the damned thing back into his trunk later and never spare a thought to it again. The trenchcoat had a nice dramatic flare to it, but even the melodramatic former commander was regretting not having gotten rid of it immediately.]

[Scowling, Liquid focused on the bookshelf in front of him; there was nothing specific he was after. His current criteria was 'anything that could serve as a distraction'.]

[Damn could this place get boring sometimes.]

Comments

Third Floor

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko kept up with her library duties, as usual. Her right arm was starting to ache a little bit less, so it would probably be fine in about a month, which was good, as it was hard to fight and do things with only a left arm. Hard, but not impossible.

As she wandered around, putting books back into their proper spots, Tohko noticed a man just staring at the shelves. Not one to just leave a patron alone, Tohko walked up to him, a smile on her face.]

Good morning! Need help finding anything?

[liquidouroboros]

Hm?

[The British-accented soldier looked over his shoulder, scowl dialed back to mere annoyance.]

...No. I'm not looking for anything in particular.

[tohko_amano]

Ah, alright then. If you want, I could recommend you some good books to read.

[liquidouroboros]

[He wasn't much for social conversation, but Liquid did have at the very least a passing interest in literature reccomendations.]

[In short: sure, why not?]

Very well.

[tohko_amano]

[Not many people asked for book recommendations in the library, so actually being able to offer up books to people for once made Tohko happy.]

Alright then! If you haven't read, The Little Prince, then I really recommend that tale. You'll need it in here. It's a bittersweet story that's bubbling over with hope. You'll smile and cry at the very end of it!

If you haven't read The Master and Margarita, I recommend that one as well! It's a hilarious satire that's actually rather heartwarming in places. And you can't overlook Brave Story or The Demon Pope! Those are rather unique stories that can't really be found anywhere else.

[liquidouroboros]

...

[Tohko, sweetheart. Does this look like a guy who does 'emotions'?]

[Actually, Tohko seemed to have named only expressions Liquid was nigh incapable of. Which may have been the reason for his utterly dumbfounded stare and crossed arms.]

That hardly sounds like my particular taste, I have to say.

[And that may have been the first understatement that our friend Captain Overactor made in god only knew how long.]

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko tended to not judge a book by it's cover until the contents matched it. Or until the cover got too scary. Besides, the books she mentioned were usually enjoyed by people of all ages. However, at that comment, she sighed and scratched her head.]

Alright then. What is your particular taste then?

[liquidouroboros]

[Liquid was, unfortunately, more or less exactly what was on the cover: a socially inept supersoldier with an irrational hatred of shirts. To his credit, though, he did seem to be keeping his patience for a change.]

Detective novels, classic literature, perhaps mythology now and again. I'm not one for humor or the more sentimental sort of things.

[tohko_amano]

[Ah, alright then. With that, Tohko nodded, thinking.]

Alright then. How about a collection of Sherlock Homes stories or The Mystery of The Yellow Room? And if you want some good classics, you can't beat The Phantom of The Opera, Faust, or Dracula!

[liquidouroboros]

[Ping.]

[He tried his hardest to hide it and damn near succeeded, but the slight raise of his eyebrows gave Liquid's interest away like a flashing neon sign.]

...I hadn't happened across any Sherlock Holmes collections yet.

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko missed how Liquid raised his eyebrows, but she could tell by his words that he was interested.]

Well, then you're in luck! We have a few omnibus collections of Sherlock Holmes stories in the library. Just hang on a minute..

[Tohko would then run off behind a few shelves and come back a few minutes later with a large book tucked under her left arm. It looked like it could kill a man if properly used.]

Here you are! Sorry for the wait!

[liquidouroboros]

[And knowing Liquid, it probably would someday.]

This is...impressive. [A little more hesitantly, like he wasn't even remotely used to saying the next few words to people he barely knew:] ...Thank you, I suppose.

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko smiled as she held the book out to the man. It was hard slipping a book that large from under her arm and into her hand, but she managed.]

Oh, you're welcome! I'm always happy to be of help, especially when it comes to books. I'm just glad I could help out.

[liquidouroboros]

[He took it in one hand like it weighed basically nothing, clearly unsure as to what happened next. How did conversation even work?]

You've made yourself into some sort of librarian here, then?

[tohko_amano]

Well, the Administrators did assign me the job of being a librarian..but I'd probably be doing this even if I wasn't one. I am a book girl, after all.

[As if it's obvious what a 'book girl' was supposed to be.]

[liquidouroboros]

...Is that some otherworld term for 'librarian' I've not heard before?

[girl what are you talking about]

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko couldn't help but chuckle at that.]]

Nope! It's my title. After all, in my universe, there isn't anyone else who knows more about books or loves them as much as I do. After all, there aren't many people who cold tell you why Conan Doyle hated Sherlock Homes, or why Bulgakov burned his first draft of The Master and Margarita in despair, or why Dracula was not the first vampire story to ever be written down, and there are even fewer who can tell you that they've solved a murder-mystery using nothing more than their wits, luck, and love of books!

[liquidouroboros]

Doyle hated Sherlock Holmes because he wanted to pursue works he thought more serious, yet his followers persisted in their demand for more that involved Holmes instead. Bulgakov burned his manuscript because he believed there no future in the career of writing in the Soviet Union. ...Dracula was not transcribed first likely because mentions of blood drinkers were already in literature over one hundred years before hand.

[An IQ of 180 and not a lick of common sense to him. Liquid had practically recited most of that, pausing only to recall the third point; he'd never liked vampires, for some reason he couldn't quite explain.]

You may have me on the murder mystery subject, however.

[tohko_amano]

And Tohko's grin just grew when she heard that. Not many people recited the 'why' back to her when she brought them up, so this was interesting.]

You're missing a few facts with Bulgakov, but you have the general gist of it. And you're a little off with Dracula. The Vampyre wasn't released a hundred years before Dracula, but seventy-eight years, and while it was the first written vampire story, people had been telling them via word-of-mouth for much longer.

It's great to see that you have a love of literature as well! Not many people do, in this place.

[liquidouroboros]

It's been some time since I had the opportunity to read all that much, so I suppose I'm bound to have forgotten something.

[Liquid shrugged, though he was inwardly furious with himself for missing such basic details.]

It seems a common idea that most soldiers are thickheaded imbeciles. I pride myself on being quite the opposite.

[tohko_amano]

Oh, it's alright! It's nothing to worry about. I forget important details too, from time to time. It's nothing to worry about.

[Tohko then scratched her head at that remark.]

I suppose that is the stereotype..but I never quite bought that idea. After all, there are a lot of stories where soldiers aren't fools or morons.

[liquidouroboros]

I prefer to be certain there's no room for doubt in my own case.

[Because walking around shirtless screams 'genius', right.]

[tohko_amano]

[Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't.]

Well, alright then. It's not like there's anything wrong with reading and knowing things!

[liquidouroboros]

I would rather hope not, at least.

[tohko_amano]

Well..if people thought there was, I'd wonder why they thought there was and think that they were fools.