(no subject)

[creepy-son-of-a.livejournal.com]

Who: Sephiroth, Riku
What: Solving a mystery
Where: The library
When: Afternoon, sometime in july
Warnings: None
Notes: None



Sephiroth was quickly becoming very confused.

People had been giving him strange looks all week. Like they were disappointed in him for some reason. That was odd since he hasn't changed his behavior significantly since his arrival in this strange world.

He'd also overheard bits of conversation about someone working in the library to save money to move out of the shelter. The subject was changed when people noticed him. As if it had something to do with him.

After the third conversation put on hold when he was seen he became very curious about this new library employee.

There was an unusual number of teenage girls hanging around the library when he got there. He could hear some whispering to each other and giggling occasionally from behind the shelves.

He ignored them and walked up to the front desk...

Comments

[silentcoast]

Lucky you, Sephiroth. You happened to catch Riku while he was working. Or sorting books, rather, but still working for the most part. And occasionally sending wary glances towards the shelves, causing the whispering and giggling to stop briefly while the girls pretended they were doing something else.

He had gotten used to it. They weren't harmful, and actually pretty nice...kinda weird, though.

He looked up when Sephiroth approached, pausing to stare at him for a minute. He looked really familiar, but Riku couldn't quite place where he had seen Sephiroth. Definitely not in town, but somewhere else.

Well, whatever.

He reached over, flipping open a notebook sitting on a shelf under the desk, taking out a notecard and holding it up for Sephiroth to read. He had made it after he got tired of writing 'Hi, how can I help you' multiple times.

Though the notecard actually read 'What can I help you with?'.

[creepy-son-of-a.livejournal.com]

Sephiroth couldn't help staring at the boy. It was almost like looking at a younger version of himself.

Several bits of overheard conversations suddenly made a lot more sense now though. He'd wondered why people talking about a boy's father leaving him to fend for himself in the shelter was a subject that was dropped the moment he was noticed.

He frowned slightly at the notecard.

"Just investigating the cause of some strange looks I've been receiving lately." He wasn't quite ready to come out and say that people were giving him looks because they thought he'd left a son living in the shelter when he'd gotten a better place to live for himself.

[silentcoast]

That staring got an eyebrow raise and a confused look. He hadn't heard any of the conversations in question, but then again, he didn't leave his and Sora's shared area of the shelter very much unless it was to go work or Sora dragged him outside. Literally or metaphorically.

He stuck the notecard between two random pages of the notebook and began writing on one of the pages.

'And that would be me? Or someone else here?' Here you go, Sephiroth. More reading for you.

[creepy-son-of-a.livejournal.com]

"I suspect it has something to do with you."

Sephiroth paused slightly to consider his wording. The boy didn't seem to have heard any of the talk about him and it wasn't every day you were suspected to be related to a stranger.

"Some people seem to have jumped to the conclusion that I've abandoned a younger relative to fend for himself." He was beating around the bush a bit but, he wanted to see if the boy would realize what he was talking about without further details.

The resemblance really was interesting. It almost made him wonder whether he had a family somewhere that he was unaware of.

[silentcoast]

Riku raised an eyebrow, considering that statement. He could see how people might think they're related--after all, Riku hadn't met...well, anyone with the same hair and eye color combination he had besides his mom and himself. And now the guy in front of him, although his eyes were more green.

'I can see why' he wrote. 'I dont think were related. Dont let them think anyones abandoned me or else theyll try to adopt me.' He set the notebook down, pointed to what he wrote, and then to the girls in the stacks. 'Them' meant the girls.

[creepy-son-of-a.livejournal.com]

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow in return once he read the note. It seemed the young man was acquiring some fans among the local girls.

"You seem a bit too independent to be... adopted." Even as quietly as he said that, it was still possible he was heard by the girls in the near silence of the library. And it was likely they were trying to listen in. On his side of the conversation anyway.

"I don't think there is anything quite so maternal on their minds." He wasn't sure whether the boy had the life experience to figure out just what he was implying to be on those girls' minds.

The sudden popularity of the library didn't seem so strange anymore. He could recall a similar situation with Genesis and a certain play. He was sure many of those women wouldn't have bothered with it if Genesis hadn't been so public about his obsession.

[silentcoast]

Riku rolled his eyes. He thought he was too independent as well, and besides, he was almost 17 and didn't need anyone to take care of him. Except maybe Sora, just a little bit. Sora was his voice most of the time.

'I dont think so either. I ignore them most of the time. Dont care what they do as long as they dont get in my way.'

He glanced at the books he had been messing with before. He needed to go shelf them at some point, but not right that minute. Besides, he was the only one available at the front at that moment, so that could wait until there were less people (besides the girls, who would likely follow him around).

[creepy-son-of-a.livejournal.com]

"There is little else you can do," Sephiroth replied.

He suspected the girls would eventually calm down. They didn't seem anywhere near obsessed enough to start some sort of fan club, at least. Everyone around this town seemed to be interested in those from other worlds. At least until they got used to them.

"I doubt you'd want to waste your money moving away from such a minor annoyance." The fact that the train tickets cost more than a month's rent on a decent place to live made that unlikely if the boy intended to return home in a timely manner.

If any of the girls realized they were the annoyance in question they didn't react.

He'd found out what he came for almost as soon as he saw Riku but, now he was curious to see if appearance was really the only reason for the assumption that they were related.

[daear-npc.livejournal.com]

The girls took advantage of the lull in conversation to come over, giggling slightly.

"So," one started, nervously eyeing Sephiroth.

"Are you really not related at all?" another interrupted to ask.

"Because that's really freaky. You look so much alike it's not even funny," one (who turned out to be a boy if the voice was any indication) finished.

They must have been burning with curiosity... One may have been staring at Sephiroth's hair and pondering whether to ask what kind of shampoo he used.

[silentcoast]

Riku rolled his eyes. Look what you did, you summoned them.

'Were not related. None of my family is here and this is the first time Ive met him.' he wrote, setting the notebook upright at the edge of the desk so that the group could read it. If any of them did.

The urge was strong to abandon Sephiroth and see if the group stayed to hang around him instead was strong. One of the girls seemed interested in Sephiroth's hair, and reached out to touch it, but pulled her hand back a couple inches away, as if it was going to bite her or something. He snickered at that.

[creepy-son-of-a.livejournal.com]

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at the girl who reached out towards his hair but, since she didn't actually go through with touching it he didn't say anything. She looked away guiltily when she realized the action had been noticed.

"No, we're not," he said, not bothering to read what Riku wrote. "I have no family." If he realised how creepy that might sound, he didn't show it.

"Ooh. Maybe time-travel could explain it," One suggested excitedly, ignoring how unlikely it was that the two were from the same world.

Sephiroth refrained from mentioning that it wasn't even possible in his world. Death tended to prevent such things after all.

[silentcoast]

Except that time-travel did sort of explain Sephiroth having younger relatives, if he acquired said relatives during the time travel. But Riku himself didn't support the theory at all.

'I dont see how that explains anything unless youre saying that we are the same person or something' was the next message from Riku. He set the notebook back up after he wrote it.

[creepy-son-of-a.livejournal.com]

"Unlikely." Before Sephiroth could consider trying to explain why he thought that he was interrupted.

"Oh, oh! Maybe you're gonna be his father eventually," the same girl that came up with the time travel said excitedly, pointing to Riku and then Sephiroth as she spoke.

The rest paused to consider it before turning, almost at exactly the same time, to look more closely at Sephiroth's face.

Sephiroth suddenly found himself resisting the strangest urge to take a step back. Not that he showed any sign of it.