[Kallile]

How long had it been since he had seen a city? Weeks? Months?

Runako knew the real answer was 'years' and the mere thought of the time spent trekking after the mysterious "firestarter" and her unlikely band made his shoulders feel terribly, horribly heavy. He had been away from civilization for far too long, searching for some so called "library" that he wasn't even sure existed.

Well, he knew were one existed, and it was high time he started seeking out his own answers rather than following around a bunch of odd ancient-race types. Even though the youngest lady was qquite fetching despite her possession issues...

Right, that was part of why he was here. Exercise her demons, or find out something about them, right.


[human form ref coming soon]

Looking around the shelves of medical books and other scientific research publications alike, Runako began piling them into his arms one after another. Demonology, Deities, Mental Health, Heredity...all of these subjects and more came to be cradled in his arms until finally his knees began to wobble and throb under the extra weight. Hefting his load to the nearest table, Runako let them fall out before him; a giant puzzle of words and theories that he had to piece together.

Flopping down into the chair he ran a hair through his nearly-white blonde hair and reminded himself that he was overdue for a trim. He must look like a complete schmuck with long "pretty boy" locks on his head, bent over a mountain of books like an ancient professor. With final heavy sigh he shoved it back out of his face and threw open the cover of the first book titled "It's All In The Family: Heritage and it's effect on the younger generation".

Well, it seemed a fair enough place to start.

[1/1]

[Jaykobell]

[ This is so exciting. 8'u ]

Today was his day off; a day off much deserved, too. And what better way to spend one's time other than visiting the town's main library? Because, of course, that was everyone's favorite activity, right? ... Right?

"Talbot! This is so boring!"



The young blond woman followed the fiery red-haired man all the way to the library, literally fuming with anger at the thought of wasting her alone time with her buddy at the local library. They could be doing much more entertaining things, like...! Like... Not going to the local library? Yeah, that sounded like a much better idea.

Much to her dismay, her complaints right over Talbot's head as he just continued to walk straight ahead until he got to the library. "No, Rhoda, I think you're saying that because you're not educated," he commented, looking over his shoulder with the biggest grin he could muster. Which, of course, resulted in more fuming from Rhoda, but she had to keep it down since they had already entered the library. She would have to smack him later.

However, in all seriousness, Talbot had a good reason for dropping by the library. In order to help his research, he figured looking up books in as many libraries as he could was bound to help. They weren't human, after all; someone just had to have written a book about people having weird parasites inside their body. The internet had proved to be a wonderful tool in his research in the early beginnings, but now that he was getting deeper into the subject, he needed sources that were more reliable than an internet page almost anyone could modify.

The first stop was the medical section, of course. Talbot put his hands over his hips as he scanned the shelves quickly until he sighed. "Awh... Man, I hate books, though," he complained as quietly as he could, considering this was a library. "I'm so sick of them after reading so many in med school." But, ah, you gotta do what you have to do, right? "Rhoda, don't go knocking down book shelves while I'm not looking."

The girl gave him a sharp look and a pouty face. "I should knock one down on your face," she threatened, but of course, it was just an empty threat. But it was something she kinda liked about Talbot: his ability to take life so carelessly, without really stressing over everything as most people did. "I'll go educate myself while you search your shelves, then," she said with a high-and-mighty tone, of course to rub it in after his previous comment. Challenge accepted: she would make this outing fun somehow.

It was while exploring the library that she eventually came across one very peculiar reader. Most of the people in here had only a few books at most, and sometimes they didn't even have a book; they were just typing and reading away on their laptop. But there was this one guy over there, with a pile of books so majestic that this was an obvious target for Rhoda. She slowly made her way up to Runako, stealthy as could be, until she got right behind him. He looked so focused into his book that she knew exactly what to do. "Hey, so whatcha reading?"

Surprise the heck out of them while they're not paying attention to anything but the book, of course.

[Kallile]

To say he was engrossed in the book was an understatement.

As Runako's eyes danced over the words, committing each to memory, his posture slowly evolved until it looked like he may burst from his seat and shout "Eureka!" at any given moment. Soon the book was cradled in a single hand, a finger flying line after line to help guide his eyes. The psychological heredity...of course, it all made so much more sense now. Just as his lips began to curl back in a triumphant smile, there was a voice directly behind him.

The book was tossed into the air with a short yelp of surprise. Ina  burst of natural reflex, his hands shot forward to recapture the article, only to inadvertently slam the pages together with an echoing snap.For a moment Runako sat there, dazed and casting his bewildered gaze across the halls as faces seemed to appear out of the woodwork to see what had happened to their silent paradise.

He slowly put the book on the desk and turned over his shoulder. He wanted to explode at the woman giving him the smug smile who had just embarrassed him thoroughly and made him loose his place. Instead, all he could manage was "Great, now I have to start over."

One might note a slight tremble to his hand as he reached out to open the book again (also that it stayed firmly planted on the table this time) as he heaved a sigh. "But I was reading about heredity, since you simply had to know."

(2/2)

[Jaykobell]

When Runako reacted exactly the way Rhoda had anticipated, it took every little ounce of willpower she had to resist the urge to burst into laughter (and tears). The yelp, the jumpy reaction, the book flying, the scrambling reflexes to try to grab it before it fell; he'd reacted to a T! Her day was now complete. She could go home and be satisfied with her adventure at the local library.

However, the thought of getting to know Runako better was rather intriguing. His first reaction to their meeting had been pure gold, so Rhoda was interested in testing the guy's nerves. To all those hype and rad teenage kids, she would probably earn the title of a mini troll.
And of course, she had to troll the poor man until Talbot realized she was the source behind the commotion.

In order to continue this enthralling conversation, Rhoda sat down, crossing her arms on the table and leaning close to the book Runako was reading. "Eh, heredity? Why are you reading on that?" And yes, Talbot, she knew was heredity meant. "Oh hey, and what else is there in your behemoth pile over here?" she asked as she started to look through his pile, not really paying much attention to the fact the man probably wanted to read more so than get involved into a sudden babysitting job.

[Kallile]

Runako had figured the woman would simply laugh it off and be on her merry way, but imagine his shock when she plopped herself down into the other chair at the table and began talking to him again as if that was how a normal greeting happened. The young man could only stare blankly at her for a moment as his mind tried to catch back up to current events.

"Is that really an appropriate question to ask after trying to give a man a heart attack?" He finally replied as he reached a hand forward to slide the book away from her prying eye. He frowned, first at her, then the book, and finally back, before answering. "It's research related. Nothing you'd find interesting." He said, trying to come off as callous to bore her into a retreat.

The same hand came up to attempt to repeat the hoarding act with the other books, but they simply wouldn't budge. So, in order to try and save face (which it was already far too late for) he simply tapped in annoyance on the top cover. "Heredity, psychology, ancient lore, demonology--again, nothing you'd find interesting. Stuffy research and all that...don't you have parents that should be looking for you?"

The last he blurted out rather suddenly and much to his own chagrin. it was never a good idea to prod at something already a little on the devious side. He knew instantly he had done just that and as preparation for her retaliation sheepishly raised his heredity book in an attempt to look meek and utterly boring.

[Jaykobell]

Rhoda could only grin at Runako's first question. She couldn't have scared him that much. Plus, her question was legit, considering they were in a library. So asking what he was reading was totally the question to get some bonding time started. As for him trying to sound boring and — dare she say it — nerdy, she wasn't really phased, considering she hung out with a whole bunch of doctors. Oh, they could get boring real fast, really. Not to mention, the boring look of it was what urged her to go on with the pranks.

Although, when he asked if she had parents looking for her, the question stung just a little — more than she would've expected. She didn't let it show, though, knowing that this was actually a really common question. Not everyone could know that, oh, I don't know, you weren't actually human and therefore, you hadn't really been born to two people like everyone else. After a good twenty years of having to cope without parents — well, not really, Rhoda did have a foster mom — she had learned to let it go over her head.

Oh, but that didn't mean she couldn't play that same game. She grinned happily at Runako after he'd stuffed his nose back into his book. "Well, no, but I do have a foster mom, if you want to be technical. Ancient lore and demonology, huh?" she mused, getting just a little bit closer to him, just to rise the awkwardness level. "Well, I think that is interesting, considering my friend and I are kinda looking into that stuff too. I do like research considering I'm part of an unknown parasitic race that can use a human's body as its own and that can evolve the body in a way that lets it develop unnatural characteristics like supernatural strength." She put an elbow on the table and let her cheek rest against the palm of her hand, a satisfied little grin on her face. "Oh, but nothing you'd find interesting, I'm sure."
Well, okay, just telling what she was straight from the beginning wasn't a good idea, but hey. If this guy was researching stuff like demonology, maybe he'd heard about them. Talbot wanted to find info, right? And info wasn't just found in books.

[Kallile]

Well, this was just fantastic. Not only had he got her talking again, but he had said something she found interesting. Runako cursed himself internally; only he and his big mouth could spout out the one thing someone would find entertaining. Heck, girls weren't supposed to like demonology! Or he didn't think so at least. Granted, the only women he found himself in the company of were far from lady-like.

Or they were a complete heartthrob that just happened to have a vampiric brother who wanted to tear Runako's eyes out. But that was beside the point. Oh, she was still talking.

Blinking dumbly at Rhoda, Runako tried to catch up with the blabber he had barely been paying attention to. Foster mom, check. Interest in his books, check. Friend looking into the same....wait. His gaze hardened on the young woman in an outward attempt to focus more energy onto what she was saying. "...Parasitic race?" He echoed slowly.

The book slowly lowered back to the table and, in mirror to what Rhoda was already doing, Runako leaned forward onto his elbows and studied her closer. She looked normal enough. But then again, so did perfect, gorgeous Jyn and yet she was some demonic oracle always spouting nonsense or being used by demons themselves to speak. His eyes narrowed as he laced his fingers together.

"So, if you are researching demonology, does that make you a demonic parasite?" He asked with a small grin. Part of him wanted to jump for joy--maybe this was the answer he'd been seeking. "And how can you prove it?"

[Jaykobell]

At first, Rhoda thought Runako had been totally ignoring her, but he eventually became interested in here after mentioning the whole parasitic deal. Hah, who would've thought this would work like a pickup line? She ought to try it out with more male victims in the near future.

Just kidding. But she was surprised by his sudden interest in her, if only because she wasn't human. That in itself, actually, was pretty surprising. Usually, people thought she was kidding, or they thought she was trying to get attention. Others actually started fighting with her, claiming she was a freak of nature or something like that. The first kid who had picked a fight with her about that probably still remembered how she'd sent him flying with a single punch.

Wait, what? Demonic parasite? She laughed and waved her hand dismissively . "Demonic? I didn't say I was demonic. You're kinda stretching it," she said as she, too, got closer to him, to a point where they were almost nose-to-nose. "Well, unless you've got x-ray vision, I don't think you can even see me inside this body here," she continued, pointing herself with a finger. "If you want proof though, I can do this, too."

Without any warning, she slipped one hand under Runako's chair, and without any effort whatsoever, she lifted both him and the chair together, just a little bit over the table itself. Just to showoff some more, she moved the chair up and down slowly, just to show how little effort she needed to do something like that. "See, I can literally throw things out the window if I want to."

At the unusual sight of a man and his chair being lifted from the ground, many people stopped whatever they were doing to look at the scene. The expressions ranged from baffled to curious, to even upset and afraid.