Hanzo waited all night for his brothers to return to the apartment, but they never showed. He had finished reading his five scrolls and nodded off for a couple hours, but still no sign of them. After snagging a few more hours of sleep, which came against his will, Hanzo awoke to the familiar sounds of people shuffling along the alleyway next to his apartment. Judging by the type of shuffling going on, it was probably Hunky Eruption recovering from an alcohol-fueled rampage at Binge Kitchen the night before. It was already daytime. He peered around the apartment, and noticing his brothers were still gone, became worried. He distinctly remembered a trip to the library which lasted longer than he and Hachidoku had desired. Perhaps his two siblings had fallen asleep in some corner of the labyrinthine complex known as the Bibliotheca Conscientiae.
As he stood at the bottom of the steps leading up to the entrance, he looked up just to marvel at how massive this place was. Upon entering he heard the terse reprimand of a woman speaking in his direction off to his right side. "Hey! You there. You forgot something." The voice seemed like it was targeted directly into his ear so as not to disturb any other library-goers. Surely she could not be talking to him. The last time he was here, he had left in a hurry and in disguise. There was simply no way he could be noticed. "Hanzo-kun, yes you. Get over here!" Kun? Hanzo-kun...yes, she did indeed say that. After only seeing her once, and not even interacting. How did she know his name?! Did she follow him? Were the ANBU involved with what he and his brother had found?
He turned and saw the brown-haired librarian who had called to him. Amaya was her name, he remembered. "Why are you giving me that look, Hanzo-kun? I thought you'd like to get your hands on that little something you forgot about last time." What the hell was she talking about? Hanzo was petrified by either possibility. Either she was referring to evidence he had left at the crime scene he had tainted, or in a weird twist of events this woman was coming on to him. He began to blush ever so slightly as panic set in, the room became hot, and his peripheral vision began to blur. He was completely focused on Amaya. Her next words would determine his reaction. "Your library card, dummy? You want it back? You don't look too well. Is something wrong?"
I am sorry, but I do not know you. We have met maybe once, if at all. You must have me confused for someone else," Hanzo stated politely. Amaya rolled her eyes and handed him a small, rectangular piece of thick paper. It had a girthy poundage to it. He read the front and was surprised to see his name on the paper along with the words, "Bibliotheca Conscientiae Library Card." He was taken aback. "When was this made?" he asked while confusedly looking at the young woman in front of him.
Amaya thought for a second, briefly looking at the ceiling pensively. "It's been about a week now, yeah," she said smiling a smile that appeared quite insidious to Hanzo. "It was after that date you took me on, remember? You took me to that dive, Binge Kitchen. We had half-priced drinks, and that creepy bartender kept winking at you every time he brought another round." She said that last sentence a little too playfully; almost like this was a joke that Hanzo was in on. Did she think he was kidding about not knowing her? Was this woman deranged?
"Date? What date? Look, Amaya, all I know is your name. And I do not ask people out on dates. Surely there must be some mistake. I do not remember coming here a week ago to get a library card." Hanzo was thoroughly confused, and his blushing had not receded; especially not since this woman implied there was some attraction between the two.
"I like it when you play dumb. Lets me know how big of a catch I am," she said as she giggled. After analyzing Hanzo's befuddled face she noticed something was off. "You really don't remember, do you?" She looked like she was about to cry. This woman, about whom Hanzo barely knew a single iota, had apparently just had her heart broken by him. "Fine, just go read your books. They're probably more important anyway!" she screamed, pitch raising as the sentence came to its violent crescendo relative to the silence of their surroundings. And off she stormed, arousing a bit of a commotion from library-goers in the immediate vicinity.
Thoroughly confused, and a bit crestfallen having struck out with an attractive woman due to no fault of his own, he began to browse for some books. He stood in front of the directory and contemplated what looked like a subject his brothers would read. He was here for a purpose, after all.
Directory
They would probably be looking up Lightning Country history. Ever since their home village plummeted down a fjord, the three brothers had been on a quest to collect and preserve as much information about the ancient settlement as they could. He set off in the direction of the E section, and upon arriving saw that his brothers were nowhere to be found. No matter, he picked out a few books on local history and began to read. He released his kikai to read two of the books for him, processing the raw data of the page and keeping it in their simple memory until such a time that Hanzo decided he would decipher their findings and absorb their knowledge. He also sent out another handful of the bugs to search for his brothers. They would be around somewhere, and Hachidoku's kikai would most likely set off an internal alarm of sorts for Hanzo's critters. It would be a simple scouting task.
He began to delve into An Overview of Small Settlements within Lightning Country. This would surely be a thrilling read, but Hanzo had chosen it on a whim simply to distract himself from worrying about his brothers so much.
As he stood at the bottom of the steps leading up to the entrance, he looked up just to marvel at how massive this place was. Upon entering he heard the terse reprimand of a woman speaking in his direction off to his right side. "Hey! You there. You forgot something." The voice seemed like it was targeted directly into his ear so as not to disturb any other library-goers. Surely she could not be talking to him. The last time he was here, he had left in a hurry and in disguise. There was simply no way he could be noticed. "Hanzo-kun, yes you. Get over here!" Kun? Hanzo-kun...yes, she did indeed say that. After only seeing her once, and not even interacting. How did she know his name?! Did she follow him? Were the ANBU involved with what he and his brother had found?
He turned and saw the brown-haired librarian who had called to him. Amaya was her name, he remembered. "Why are you giving me that look, Hanzo-kun? I thought you'd like to get your hands on that little something you forgot about last time." What the hell was she talking about? Hanzo was petrified by either possibility. Either she was referring to evidence he had left at the crime scene he had tainted, or in a weird twist of events this woman was coming on to him. He began to blush ever so slightly as panic set in, the room became hot, and his peripheral vision began to blur. He was completely focused on Amaya. Her next words would determine his reaction. "Your library card, dummy? You want it back? You don't look too well. Is something wrong?"
I am sorry, but I do not know you. We have met maybe once, if at all. You must have me confused for someone else," Hanzo stated politely. Amaya rolled her eyes and handed him a small, rectangular piece of thick paper. It had a girthy poundage to it. He read the front and was surprised to see his name on the paper along with the words, "Bibliotheca Conscientiae Library Card." He was taken aback. "When was this made?" he asked while confusedly looking at the young woman in front of him.
Amaya thought for a second, briefly looking at the ceiling pensively. "It's been about a week now, yeah," she said smiling a smile that appeared quite insidious to Hanzo. "It was after that date you took me on, remember? You took me to that dive, Binge Kitchen. We had half-priced drinks, and that creepy bartender kept winking at you every time he brought another round." She said that last sentence a little too playfully; almost like this was a joke that Hanzo was in on. Did she think he was kidding about not knowing her? Was this woman deranged?
"Date? What date? Look, Amaya, all I know is your name. And I do not ask people out on dates. Surely there must be some mistake. I do not remember coming here a week ago to get a library card." Hanzo was thoroughly confused, and his blushing had not receded; especially not since this woman implied there was some attraction between the two.
"I like it when you play dumb. Lets me know how big of a catch I am," she said as she giggled. After analyzing Hanzo's befuddled face she noticed something was off. "You really don't remember, do you?" She looked like she was about to cry. This woman, about whom Hanzo barely knew a single iota, had apparently just had her heart broken by him. "Fine, just go read your books. They're probably more important anyway!" she screamed, pitch raising as the sentence came to its violent crescendo relative to the silence of their surroundings. And off she stormed, arousing a bit of a commotion from library-goers in the immediate vicinity.
Thoroughly confused, and a bit crestfallen having struck out with an attractive woman due to no fault of his own, he began to browse for some books. He stood in front of the directory and contemplated what looked like a subject his brothers would read. He was here for a purpose, after all.
Directory
- General Works -------------------------------------------- A
- Philosophy, psychology, and religion ---------------- B
- History, General ------------------------------------------ C
- History, Old World --------------------------------------- D
- History, Lightning Country ----------------------------- E
- History, Kumogakure ------------------------------------ F
- Geography, anthropology, folklore, etc. ----------- G
- Social sciences, economics, business, sociology -- H
- Political Sciences ----------------------------------------- J
- Law --------------------------------------------------------- K
- Education -------------------------------------------------- L
- Music ------------------------------------------------------- M
- Fine arts --------------------------------------------------- N
- Philology, linguistics, language, and literature --- P
- Science ---------------------------------------------------- Q
- Medicine --------------------------------------------------- R
- Agriculture ------------------------------------------------ S
- Technology ------------------------------------------------ T
- Military Science ------------------------------------------ U
- Naval science --------------------------------------------- V
- Archives --------------------------------------------------- Z
They would probably be looking up Lightning Country history. Ever since their home village plummeted down a fjord, the three brothers had been on a quest to collect and preserve as much information about the ancient settlement as they could. He set off in the direction of the E section, and upon arriving saw that his brothers were nowhere to be found. No matter, he picked out a few books on local history and began to read. He released his kikai to read two of the books for him, processing the raw data of the page and keeping it in their simple memory until such a time that Hanzo decided he would decipher their findings and absorb their knowledge. He also sent out another handful of the bugs to search for his brothers. They would be around somewhere, and Hachidoku's kikai would most likely set off an internal alarm of sorts for Hanzo's critters. It would be a simple scouting task.
He began to delve into An Overview of Small Settlements within Lightning Country. This would surely be a thrilling read, but Hanzo had chosen it on a whim simply to distract himself from worrying about his brothers so much.
OoC said:MFT WC = 1,134