[crow]

Ciri laughed. “How'd you guess?”

“I was beginning to wonder if there was something interesting about the ceiling that I'd missed,” Chen returned dryly.

“I guess I was, wasn't I?” Ciri mused. Chen was already returning to his own work, fingers tapping rapidly along his keyboard. Ciri watched him for a moment before asking, “If you had to entertain someone by talking but you couldn't think of anything to talk about, what would you do?”

Chen snorted. “What, like Scheherazade? Is someone looking to execute you or something?” he asked, rolling his eyes. “I don't know. Read them a bedtime story.” He continued to type, not even bothering to turn to look at Ciri, but the younger man didn't notice. He tapped his pen against his cheek, considering the idea.

“A story, huh?” he murmured, looking out the window at the sparrows perched in a tree. Slowly, he broke out into a grin. “Hey, that's a great idea! Thanks!” He held his hand up for a high five, to which Chen responded with a look that could probably have withered fruit on the vine. Ciri let his hand go slack again, but he was still smiling.

Chen heaved a sigh. “Look, if you're not going to work, could you please at least let me? Some of us have our jobs to worry about.”

[crow]

On the way home from work that day, Ciri took a detour and stopped by the local library. He ended up walking to the checkout with an entire stack of children's books, which earned him a few dubious looks from the librarian handling checkouts. This was perhaps the only time he regretted his decision to walk. Most of the books were hard cover, and it was a longer walk home from the library than it was from the studio. Ciri kept himself in reasonable shape, but he preferred running to the kind of exercise that would help with carrying heavy things over long distances. By the time he reached his apartment, his arms felt like rubber, and he was forced to be glad that his floor wasn't a higher one.

He spent the entire night poring over the books, trying to choose one to take with him. The next day, he showed up bright and early at the warehouse door with a copy of 'Rapunzel' in his hand.

Rapping smartly on the metal door, he said, “Hello! It's me again. You didn't miss me, did you? Aww, well, I missed you too. It's been real busy at work, but not to worry; I wouldn't forget about our special visits.”

[crow]

He brandished the book proudly, despite the fact that there couldn't reasonably have been anyone watching; the door didn't have any windows. “Tada~ Today I thought I'd read you a story. Do you like fairy tales? These might be a bit immature for you, but I like them.” And if they were, maybe she'd speak up and say so. That would be something, wouldn't it? “I guess you can't see the pictures. Should I describe them? No, wait, I guess it's more fun if you imagine them yourself, isn't it?”

Sitting on a stray cinderblock that hadn't yet been overgrown completely, he opened the book to the first page. He found himself smiling almost without realizing it at the flood of nostalgia as he read the publication notes. He hadn't ever read this particular edition of this particular story, but the feeling was the same as when he had been a child, sitting next to his mother on the bed as she read him a bedtime story. “Once upon a time, there was a man and a woman who wished for a child for a long, long time...”

[crow]

She had never heard a story before. She knew they existed, and she could read, but she had never had the chance to read one herself, much less have it read to her by someone else. She vaguely remembered the old man reading books to the children in their rooms before they slept, but all she could recall was the rasp of his voice, never the words.

She wondered if he had ever read this one.

At first, she listened to it as she listened to all the things Ciri told her, but as he read on, she found herself getting swept up in the story. Ciri was a good storyteller; she could picture everything he described, almost as if she was there herself, with everything playing out in front of her. She leaned forward, waiting anxiously, as the man journeyed into the witch's garden, gasped softly when she caught him, and worried for the child when the witch made him promise it to her.

[crow]

“When Rapunzel was twelve years old, the witch shut her into a tower in the middle of a wood. The tower had no stairs and no door, but near the top there was a little window. When the enchantress wanted to go in...” The lull of his voice was like a spell, but a tiny thought niggled at the back of her mind as she listened. Was he... Was he likening her to Rapunzel, locked away in her tower? She bit her lip. If that was the case, then he was wrong. She wasn't the prisoner of some witch. There wasn't anyone else keeping her here. She could have left if she wanted, but where would she go? What would she do?

But she stayed silent, and Ciri read on. “The prince said, 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair to me!' Immediately, the hair fell down and he climbed up.” She narrowed her eyes at that. Had the prince come to gawk at the girl with the endless hair? Had he come to kill the witch? Would he mistake Rapunzel for her? “At first, Rapunzel was terribly frightened when he came to her, but the prince began to talk to her like a friend...” Ah, so the prince is him, she thought. Well, it was a better fit than she was for Rapunzel. If that meant he was in love with her, however, he was going to be sorely disappointed.

[crow]

All the same, she found herself clenching her fists as she listened to him narrate the witch's discovery of the prince. “In anger, she clutched Rapunzel's beautiful hair, seized a pair of scissors with her opposite hand, and snip snap, cut them clean away... On the same day that she cast out Rapunzel, however, the witch tied the braids of hair to the hook at the window, and when the prince came and cried, 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair to me', she let down the hair...”

Yes, and then? And then? she thought, leaning forward with wide, impatient eyes. But Ciri broke out of his narrator's trance with a yelp. “Crap, I'm going to be late! Uh. I'll read the rest for you next time, alright? Sorry! Just be patient and wait for me.” She could hear the sound of his footsteps as he ran off. All the tension that had been building as she listened left her at once, and she slumped back against a crate with a sigh. The rat that had been sitting in her lap nibbled at her fingers.

[crow]

“Don't do that,” she said, half-heartedly pushing it away. “You'll make it worse, and that's no good for you anyway.” The rat hopped down from her hand and rolled a pebble up to her, nudging at her to play, but she wasn't in the mood for it anymore. The rat tried a few more times to get her attention, but eventually it gave up and went to find its fellows instead.

She wondered when he was going to come back. He couldn't possibly just leave her hanging like this, right? It was her fault for getting caught up in it like that, but now she had to hear what happened.

She hoped he wasn't going to make a habit of this. She didn't know if she'd like his visits very much anymore if he was just going to keep winding her up.

[crow]

It was sundown by the time she heard the approach of footsteps again. She looked up hopefully, despite having promised herself throughout the day that she wasn't going to anticipate his return, even going so far as to sidle up to a hole in the wall so she could get a better look.

What she saw definitely wasn't Ciri. For one, there were too many people. Ciri had always come alone. She never knew why it was, but he never brought company with him, and she'd been quietly thankful that he had at least come alone. It was dark, and at first she feared that it might be Ciri after all, but as they drew closer she could make out their voices and their features.

Whoever they were, the lot of them were clearly drunk. One said something that sent the others into a round of laughter, while another kicked a piece of junk along as he walked. She ducked down quickly and waited for them to pass through, but they chose to linger near the back of the lot. The wall thumped as one sagged ungracefully against it, and she could hear the sound of bottles being smashed not too far away.

[crow]

This wasn't the first time something like this had happened. The warehouse was an abandoned, overgrown bit of land. Sometimes homeless people wandered by and tried to get in, and sometimes vandals came to trash the place or loiter. For a while there had even been a man who came by with buckets of paint every day, presumably to paint over the graffiti. It was nothing she hadn't encountered before. The drunks made her uneasy, and their company was unpleasant, but she could just sit in the dark and wait for them to go away.

Or she could have if Ciri hadn't been intent on keeping his promise, anyway.

“Sorry I'm late! Have you been waiting long?” The sound of the familiar voice startled her, and she ran back to her peephole as quickly as she could. Sure enough, Ciri was walking up with book in hand, ready to take up his usual spot next to the door, just as the drunks were coming around the building again behind him. She watched them both with a growing sense of dread. This wasn't going to end well.

[crow]

“And who the hell are you supposed to be?” said one, approaching him menacingly. Ciri whirled around, caught by surprise. She couldn't see what he was doing, but his voice sounded cheerful when he tried to address them.

“Oh, I'm just waiting for a friend,” he said. “It's a nice night, isn't it? Do you guys come here a lot? Say, you wouldn't know the girl who lives here, would you? I've been—-”

“The hell is he going on about? Hey, what's your problem, kid? You makin' fun of us?” His chatter didn't seem to do anything to diffuse their annoyance. The drunks advanced on him, and she noted with a wince that one was brandishing a broken glass bottle.

[crow]

The bottle guy giggled. “I say we have some fun with him. You wanna have some fun, kid?” he asked, walking up to Ciri and putting his hand on his shoulder.

“Oh, no, I... I don't think my friend is turning up after all. I'll be going home now. Have a nice evening, gentlemen,” Ciri said, backing away and trying to brush off the hand, but the others moved to surround him. He was still smiling, but it faltered slightly as they pressed closer.

“Aw, don't be like that. We've got time. Don't we, boys? The more the merrier,” said one. The others laughed. Behind the wall, her eyes darted from side to side as her fists clenched nervously. She shut her eyes. This was none of her business. If she waited, everything would pass. He shouldn't have come... Why did he come?

[crow]

“I-I-I'll call the police.”

Before she even realized what she was doing, she heard the sound of her own voice. Her eyes were still squinted shut. She was afraid to look, but their footsteps had stopped. Gingerly she peeked out again and saw that the men were staring at the wall. They couldn't see her, but it felt like they were all looking at her anyway. She wanted to shrink back into the shadows; if she didn't say anything else, maybe they would forget about it.

But then her eyes met Ciri's, wide with wonder, a small incredulous smile tugging at his lips. She sighed and braced herself, then spoke up again, her voice stronger this time. “I'll call the cops if you don't leave right now.” She did her best to sound authoritative, though privately she still thought she just sounded scared. The men looked at each other, some of them uneasy. One of them took a step toward the wall and she flinched back, but she said, “Hello? Yes, I'd like to report a disturbance...”

[crow]

“Shit, she's calling the cops. Let's blow this joint,” said one drunk nervously. They took off at a run, leaving only a slightly dishevelled-looking Ciri in their wake. He was still staring at the warehouse, and in the meantime his smile had grown into a grin.

She waited uneasily for him to say something. This was what he had been waiting for, wasn't it? She had meant for him to tire himself out and give up, but now that he knew she was in here...

But to her surprise, he only said, “Thanks.”

They stayed like that for a while, neither moving or saying anything, until Ciri perked up abruptly and brandished his book. “Right, I promised to read you the rest, didn't I? Well, here goes.” He opened up the book and began to read, picking up from where he left off with the prince calling up to the witch.