In these volatile times

[Anonymous]

Things were stagnant back at House Wynter, and for the most part, it seemed like she wouldn't be needed for quite some time. There were skirmishes spread throughout the lands, small time cases of rampaging monsters threatening small villages, but Moriander was assured that she would not need to be called in for such miniscule disputes. Still, this unbalance in the air disturbed her, and she could not very well spend her free time twiddling her thumbs.

She made her way to Fallial, her spirit animal acting as her sole method of transportation. Vukasin, the twin tailed white wolf, traversed through the tall fields with ease, and she had arrived in no time. Fallial was quite a province — its exquisite architecture was nearly overwhelming, and its people were elegant, so much more refined than her simple villagers back in La'marri. She smoothed out her lacy skirt, the frills from her attire blowing in that cold wind her aura gave off, and waved Vuka away — a good friend, a good dog, he had done well to bring her this fall.

Fallial, she knew, was a province well-versed in magic — she had meant to comb through their libraries, to see if their public archives had any information on what could be causing this imbalance in their world. It was a small, subtle imbalance, but sometimes she felt as if she could feel the veil tearing — people crashing into this world from other far off ones, and it made her curious, eager to learn more. It might explain all of the things that she couldn't — why monsters seemed so much more angry and violent recently, perhaps...

The spirit mage entered the library — it was a public place, unattached to the university, which made research easier for the common folk. There were too many restrictions the university put on their information — if you weren't a study, they were wary to let you in. Mori, who knew there lay more to magic than what could be studied in books in tomes, only took to books for additional information. Learning real magic, she knew, only came through practice.

After combing the shelves, Mori furrowed her brows — there was a particular book she was looking for, but alas, either the library didn't have it, or it had already been checked out. It was a book on the theory of other worlds existing besides their own — she had figured it'd be a good place to start. She made her way to the librarian, who informed her that said book had been checked out already, by a strange man who was studying the tome, and others like it, on the top floor.

Who else, she wondered, could be interested in such a topic?

She made her way to the top floor of the library, as quietly as she could. Still, she brought that cold aura with her, the winter's chill of a yuki-onna, and couldn't very well help it. Her pale, ghostly visage might scare someone if she wasn't careful, she knew, especially if there was someone studying quietly up here. Finally, she came across a man buried in tomes, with hair streaked with nearly every color of the rainbow. Silently, she walked up behind the young man, and tilted her head curiously towards him, while keeping her hands crossed behind her back.

"Excuse me, sir, I don't mean to interrupt," she began, hovering behind him. The winter breeze she brought along with her made the room drop a few degrees in temperature, and the cold air that wrapped around her made it appear as if she was floating. Except for her bright yellow eyes, there was really no color in Mori's appearance at all.

"The librarian told me that you've checked out Other Worlds by Walter von Reinhart — are you still using it, by any chance?"

[Anonymous]

Traveling to Fallial had been a challenge. Wary of other beings, Salem had done his best to avoid commonly traversed routes and had taken little used paths. Occasionally he had even made his own trails. This was the first major province he had traveled too. At first he had visited small villages, hoping to minimize his contact with others. Unfortunately, they weren't known for their magical knowledge or their libraries, so every single one had been a bust. It wasn't entirely encouraging, but every time he had vowed not to give up.

Salem reached up a hand to scratch an itch and his fingers knocked into one of the golden chains. He winced at the light tug on his ear and nose. After having the delicate golden chains for so long, he didn't even notice their weight, insignificant as it was. He had traveled from the last small village he had visited straight to Fallial. He had been leaving villages faster and faster lately, due to various disturbances. What had everyone so riled was a mystery he was willing to let lie. He had his own problems and mysteries to deal with after all.

Once he had arrived in Fallial, he had decided to leave the university library for last. He had heard it was tough to get into if one wasn't a student. He didn't need to create more problems for himself then the ones he already had. His first library was public and easy to get access to. He had simply walked in and inquired with the librarian where the books on other universes were kept. He had then grabbed the first book that looked promising and took it out. Instead of leaving the library he had gone to the top floor, reasoning that it was where he was least likely to be disturbed.

Unfortunately, his hopes were to be dashed. A scant half hour after he had sat down with his book, he was interrupted. At first it simply started with the air becoming chilly. He shivered, pulled his coat tighter around his body, and leaned closer to the book. A voice disturbed the quiet and without even thinking about it Salem turned around.

He took in her ghostly appearance, the bright yellow eyes, and the eerie aura, and to his eternal embarrassment, screamed. He couldn't help it. On top of the being's looks, it was a she. His voice felt frozen and goosebumps and cold sweat broke out on his skin. As soon as the humiliating sound had escaped him he clamped his mouth shut with a squeak. There was no where to run as they were inside a building and on the top floor to boot. Quite suddenly he wished he carried something upon his person, a dagger or something. Maybe he would feel a bit braver with a weapon, even if it would be useless against magic.

"Y-yes, I am," he said quickly, hoping she would go away.

[Anonymous]

The man screamed.

Mori stepped back as he did so, and let out a yelp of her own. She had scared the living daylights out of people, but they had never screamed before! She placed a hand over her mouth after she had yelped, and noted that he, too, had clamped a hand over his own, which made the spirit mage giggle a little. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she apologized, and was still laughing, shaking her head.

Her aura was probably coming off way too strong, was all — she really needed to keep a reign on it! The spirit mage, as she was laughing, repressed her mana, and she was not as cold as before, nor was the cold breeze that accompanied her so strong. Her feet were planted firmly on the floor now, no longer floating. It probably didn't help very much, but she wanted to come across as human as possible, even if she didn't have a drop of human blood in her. From her elfish ears, and the yuki-onna blood that ran through her veins, it was a little tough, relating to everyone else, sometimes.

A library walked past his study and glared iron daggers into Mori's soul, as if she alone was the source of the trouble. "Sorry, sorry," she whispered in a hush tone to the woman, who merely 'hmph'd' to herself, shaking her head, before walking away. Mori turned her attention back towards the man, and realized his appearance was a lot more exotic than she realized from the beginning. Not only was his hair so color — the very antithesis of Mori — but he had a multitude of piercings as well, some of them connected by a thin golden string. She had never seen anything like it before — didn't piercings like that have to hurt?

Oh, apparently he had checked out the book, which was great! But he was still using it, which was not so great. The spirit mage pulled up a chair and sat next to him, getting comfortable. "I should apologize again for scaring you — but don't feel bad for screaming! I've found that its pretty easy for me to scare people, even if I'm not trying to..."

She laughed, shaking her head, and peered over his shoulder — yep, that was the book! "It's not often that I run into someone interested in the existence of other worlds! It's a fascinating subject, don't you think? I've spent a lot of time studying the idea out in the field — I've found you learn a lot more through hands-on study, in any case." She grinned, peering at him, sitting cross-legged on her chair. "Are you reading for pleasure, or for some kind of research?"

[Anonymous]

It felt like his heart was trying to beat its way out of his chest. He hadn't had quite a scare like this in a while. The last time it had happened he had fainted. Thankfully a passerby had found him and stayed with him until he regained consciousness. Now he was just grateful that he had stayed aware. Salem blushed to the roots of his multi-colored hair when the being that had startled him stepped back and made a sound of her own. When she clapped her own hand to her mouth, he brought his own away from his mouth and transferred it to his leg, where he gripped the fabric over his thigh.

She giggled! What was so funny about this situation? There was nothing humorous about it. Yet she was apologizing too, somewhat profusely. Quite abruptly the cold didn't seem so strong, though he couldn't for the life of him guess why. He kept his eyes glued on his unwelcome companion, wanting to be aware of any move she made. He was startled when she turned her apologies to someone outside the room, but when he risked a glance over whoever it was had already passed. They turned their attention back on each other at the same time and Salem jumped in his seat a little in startlement.

Irritated with himself, but unable to help it, Salem tried to subtly scooch his chair away from her, desperate for some distance. It didn't exactly work out when she pulled up a chair and sat down right next to him. "It's a-alright. I s-should have b-been paying attention," he stuttered, voice shaky. She talked somewhat fast, the words flowing together and only sort of making sense. He latched on the last bit of what she said.

"R-research," he finally blurted out, after several seconds of tense silence. "Very important r-research. What do you need it f-for?" The stuttering was frustrating, but he couldn't help it. He did have as much trouble talking to men. What was it different with women? His mind tried to stray to the reason, but something was holding it back, protecting him from it. Maybe the answer was too painful to bear.

[Anonymous]

He seemed very nervous, although about what, Mori didn't know. Was he wary of her? Was it still too cold in here? She couldn't turn down her temperature any further, at the risk of getting too warm herself, but she certainly hoped that wasn't the case! Normally people were keen to settle down after realizing that she didn't pose an active threat to them in the slightest — unless they were a spirit monster or wild, rampaging beast, or something of the sort.

Apparently, he was researching! That was new — she also didn't run into many people who wanted to research a topic on this nature, one that only vague theories had been published about, and took more faith to believe in, due to the absence of hard facts about the subject. Still, she was even more interested in that answer. "Oh, no way! I don't run into other researchers often. This kind of subject is hard to dig up facts on, anyway." But she had done it — her library back at House Wynter was stacked full of books on the topic.

"I need it for some research as well. It's one of the few books that have escaped my personal library on this subject," she noted, nodding twice. That book probably was just a beginner's guide to other worlds or dimensions, but she had wanted to read it determine whether it'd be worth buying for her collection, even if she might already knew everything it entailed. "It just feels like... there's been some kind of disturbance," she related, wrinkling her nose. "Like more people have been showing up here than usual, or normal, if that sort of thing is even normal. I just wanted to brush up on my knowledge, of this sort of thing... But I digress!" She laughed, shrugging. "Has it been useful to you?"