Empty Books. [Open]

[Reikas Esterion]

"I don't mind," Reikas said, shaking his head. "Do what you have to to stay alive." And that was what he told himself. And it worked. It was interesting how Belial and Alexiel did the same thing when he reminded him that he was a slave. "There's worse things to be forced to do than kissing someone."

He bit his tongue to control himself and his amusement as Alexiel struggled to do the same with his...whatever the mara was feeling. He'd had a good idea something like that might happen, he really shouldn't have done that. It was just mean, and Alexiel was too sweet. But god wasn't it tempting. He was every bit as sensitive as Belial was, Reikas imagined, but so much younger, untouched. He even made the same noises. And in a library, nonetheless!

"Sorry, I should have known better than that," he apologized somewhat insincerely, removing his hands from Alexiel to retrieve the band-aids. "Belial's sensitive too. Maybe I should be the one giving the massage." He pulled out the band-aids and looked through them, judging the cut's size and selecting one to cover it nicely. "Sorry this has to go over the bruise..." He peeled off the various wrappers and tried to apply it in a way perpendicular to the widest part of the bruise. "I don't even know what you hit..."

[Alexiel BookMan]

Alexiel couldn't even imagine what could be worse than being forced to do something you didn't want, and this was partly because he didn't want to. He had read far too many books on some horrid and tragic lives people had lived, as well as punishment throughout history he would rather forget. Right now though he was hard to concentrate on anything, feeling the amusement of the other man and seeing the the reaction he had gotten because of the touch. The mara was still blushing because of it and it appeared to only get worse when he began to touch him again; though perfectly innocent it wasn't often that he skin was harassed this way and he tried his best not to squirm.

"I dunno if that's a good idea. I move a lot when I'm touched so I wouldn't make a very good patient." It was true, the mara didn't think he'd be able to cope with that kind of thing all at once, maybe a gradual thing - so he was really hoping the other man was having a joke with him. He seemed not to be watching Reikas anymore, as if he couldn't and a very strange feeling came over him he really didn't recognize. He would defiantly have to read a few more books and try and figure out what it was about his skin and touch that made this happen. "It's okay, I've fallen harder and much more painfully." He joked, trying to make light of the situation and forget his current strange mix of feelings.

The band aid hurt a little when it was placed, and Alexiel was a little sad this part of his skin would have to be covered by material for a while but at least it was over now. "I think I just hit the floor rather hard... handing on the shoulder rather than my neck luckily!" He had heard landing on ones' neck was a bad thing after all. "Sorry I'm accident prone..."

[Reikas Esterion]

"I don't know, I feel like you'd enjoy a massage a lot," Reikas said, enjoying Alexiel's discomfort and confusion as he patted the band-aid into place. He moved to clean up the wrappers. "Obviously not with oils, that might be a bit too much, but just a dry massage...When you aren't injured." Just to test exactly how truthful Alexiel was being, as he crumpled up the wrappers into a small ball together he rested his free hand on the mara's undamaged shoulder and squeezed it, working the ball of his hand gently into the mara's muscle briefly. He let go quickly and tossed the ball out in a small plastic paper bin next to the desk.

Reikas made a noise of sympathetic pity as Alexiel admitted that he was accident-prone. "You know it's not your fault but be careful, please. I don't want you breaking your neck, that would be awful..." It really would, too. For all of his skills and talents Reikas was not the greatest at dealing with severe personal injury like that. And if the mara had died...Jesus, that was chilling thought. He pushed it away, thinking about other things, like massages and Alexiel's reaction to them.

[Alexiel BookMan]

Alexiel seemed to struggle with the concept of someone touching him as much as Reikas meant to, a massage was all happy in his mind when it was him doing it; but he wasn't so sure about how it would go down, what with this strange mix of emotion falling in his stomach. The idea of oils was even newer to him, trying to work out just how that would work but those thoughts were quickly drawn out of his mind when Reikas placed his hand on the other shoulder. He seemed to squirm under it, almost twitching downwards to try and escape it; though it was nice, and a happiness filled his stomach, he couldn't help but make a strange uncertain noise. "M-maybe I'll accept the offer..." He hesitated.

The mara didn't even seem to notice Reikas had cleaned up after himself, but he was grateful for the man helping him. "Thank you~" He almost purred, calming himself down rather a lot and relaxing now that he wasn't being touched anymore. He did seem a little confused by the demon's comment about breaking his neck, and although still embarrassed and a little confused he had to ask about it. "Breaking my neck would just hurt a lot... I'd eventually get over it." He mentioned, rubbing his own wrists now for more touch, and a little more comfort. He was used to this part of his body being touched, so it calmed him and his strange heartbeat.

Turning on the desk a little to look at Reikas, he stared a little. He wasn't sure where to go from here, and could tell that the demon was obviously thinking of something amusing and he raised an eyebrow. "Hm?"

[Reikas Esterion]

Reikas drank in Belial's happiness with a slight excitement. That had probably been a very bad idea, but he wanted to do it again. There was nothing like working for a meal, and he hadn't done that in a long time. Irina didn't give him much opportunity, and Belial was just a friend with benefits. Reikas liked to physically make people happy, and drawing forth that kind of joy even as reluctant as Alexiel was to feel it had been really nice.

He grinned. "Maybe after you've healed that bruise," he decided. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, it was too tempting to just touch all that exposed mara skin. It helped that Alexiel also calmed down rather quickly.

"Get over it...? Ohhh, right." He nodded. It was still a weird idea, just being able to recover from virtually anything given time. His eyes dropped to Alexiel's wrists as the mara played with them. He could sense the comfort drawn from the action, and wondered where that little security habit had come from. His hands flexed in his pockets. He was already full for now; he didn't even need to feed, but he still wanted to. If only this wasn't a library.

He had half a mind to ask the mara to show him where he slept, but then Alexiel looked at him and seemed to sense something was on his mind. He looked up and grinned. "Nothing," he said quickly. "Here, give me that shirt." He pulled a hand out of a pocket and offered it to the mara. "I'll wash some of the blood out of it before it all dries."

[Alexiel BookMan]

Alexiel seemed to stare for a while, it was obvious that this man was thinking of something that he may be too ashamed to talk about, or worse, a strange sort of thing that people in social circles didn't talk about. He kept rubbing his wrists though, as he often did; and now he was facing Reikas it was clear to see that he had a few small scars over this part of his skin, which was most likely the reason he played with them. Nothing serious, it just looked as if he might have had a few accidents or had a drip placed in his wrist at the doctors. "Nothing hm?" He copied, trying to work out just how things were in the other man's head, but it was little to no use.

Alexiel then looked down at his shirt and held it tightly for a few seconds before reluctantly handing it to Reikas. "I can wash it myself... I have a washing machine upstairs." He seemed very sure of this fact and he pointed up towards what had to be the upstairs of the library. "I've got all the home comforts, books, a bed, a kitchen... though I barely use that." Ah yes, the kitchen, the thing the mara didn't really like having. He didn't like eating, but when the librarian had been alive before he had been forced for a very long time. It was a purposeful act, but when Reikas took the shirt off him he made sure to trace his fingers over the demon's; feeling a surge of happiness again after such a small touch.

[Reikas Esterion]

Even though Reikas was very familiar with the general direction of an "upstairs" room and he did not possess X-ray vision, he still looked skyward when Alexiel pointed. He was surprised by ther list of things Alexiel had though, and raised his eyebrows at the mara as he mentioned some of them. A washing machine in a library? A kitchen in a library?? Now that just sounded dangerous. Somehow worse than smoking in one.

He couldn't hold back a grin as Alexiel touched his hand to trade off the shirt. He didn't even bother being anything but happy about it, glad that their relationship had already hit this level of fearless contact.

"I'll just get out some of it now though," he reinforced. "Especially if we stand here talking for much longer, it'll all dry and take some special care to fully get rid of." Not that Reikas particularly minded pretreating a stain, but if it could be prevented without wasting supplies, he was all for efficiency.

He looked around the library. "Bathroom is...?" Never needing one, Reikas didn't familiarize himself with the waste facilities of most buildings that weren't his personal home.

[Alexiel BookMan]

Alexiel jumped off the desk a little too enthusiastically and almost fell as one of his knees almost gave way, luckily he was feeling a little too strong from feeding and nothing bad came of it, standing there triumphantly afterwards. "Well if you are sure..." He muttered, trying not to stretch the shoulder that he had hurt, but he did still want to move rather a lot, making a strange little movement with his spine. It cracked a few times as his vertebrae seemed to change spaces a little but it didn't seem to bother him that much, turning to face which direction he would need to go next. "Bathroom is this way!" He said with a smirk, leading the way with his hands in his pockets. He was pleased once again to be needed, and with a small sort of noise he sighed happily.

He had a strange walk for someone so happy; Alexiel walked as if he had done something wrong, his head down a little when he wasn't skipping - which today he had decided not to. Today after so many accidents skipping would not be a great idea and the mara began to weave around some book shelves. It was almost as if his feet were leading the way rather than his head, and as they passed certain places he seemed to pick up books that had obviously been placed wrongly and started putting them back as if it were no effort at all; he had memorized everything around these parts, this was his territory and he had marked it out exactly how he wanted it. He turned to look at Reikas every now and then to check he was still following - it was a rather large library to be lost in if you wanted to.

Not long after they set out they were in front of a small old looking door that read: 'Gents' which was right next to one that read: 'ladies'. Alexiel had of course been in both of these at some point in his life out of pure curiosity; when you live in a library you can get a little bored at night and go exploring. "Here we are~"

[Reikas Esterion]

...Maybe his skeleton wasn't like a normal human's. Maybe those wings weren't the only extra bones he had. That was the only explanation Reikas could come up with as he watched Alexiel's legs and vertebrae do strange and unexpected things before the mara collected himself up and marched off. Reikas followed silently, choosing not to say anything about it.

He watched Alexiel's effortless rearrangement of books with just as much interest. He was starting to marvel at this absolutely strange creature. He nodded every time Alexiel glanced back at him, not really certain why. Just seemed like the right thing to do. He inspected the stain along the way. It was still relatively fresh and not terribly large. Promising.

"Thank you," Reikas said, heading for the 'Gents' room as if it mattered. He'd already forgotten the way to get here, so he hoped Alexiel wasn't about to wander off. It wouldn't be fun trying to find an open exit.

He pushed the door open. Maybe the mara would follow him in for all he knew. He headed to the sink and turned on the warm water, running a hand under it to wait for it to heat up.

[Alexiel BookMan]

Alexiel even held the door open for Reikas after the man had initially pushed it open, following him only a few seconds later to try and watch what he was doing; mostly to learn from this experience. He had a habit of hurting himself so he would take careful note of how to remove blood, since he was running out of clean clothes that weren't stained with either a little blood or ink from trying to write his own books. He wasn't planning on wondering anywhere from the demon, not only because he wanted to spend more time with him, but because no one was meant to be in here after hours unless it was him of course. He had to keep to the rules... sort of. The mara looked around and caught a glance of himself in the mirror, turning around to look at his shoulder and the bandage now on it carefully. He wanted to poke it, but luckily he knew better.

"Thank you for this Reikas." He smiled at the other man, now leaving the mirror well alone and concentrating on the other man with pure delight. He had not had anyone to help him with his washing in years and even such a simple thing made him feel a little special. He looked like a puppy though, waiting around his master's feet to get fed or played with and it was a little too cute; how had he gone through this world like this. Alexiel did start to feel a little silly though, and so he turned to the only thing he knew would make him feel better without touch; joking. "Don't know what I'd do without you~" He chuckled, knowing all too well that he'd have just spent the day with a cigarette in his hands and had gone without a meal for the day. He was pleased though, far too pleased that he had found someone to look up to and learn from.

[Reikas Esterion]

Reikas wasn't highly technical about cleaning the bloodstain, he just isolated it into a point of cloth, ran it under the hot water and folded the stain in half, rubbing it together and repeatedly squeezing out the pink and re-soaking it with clean hot water.

He smiled down at the stain and nodded. "My pleasure." He glanced sideways at Alexiel and grinned as he saw the mara's expectant stare. "I'd imagine you'd starve for another day." He winked at Alexiel, unaware that the same thought had occurred to the mara and rang out the stain again until it ran clear. He turned off the water and unfolded the shirt, looking at it. Most of the center of the stain was gone, and just a thin, dried outer ring describing its original shape remained.

"All yours, that's the best I could do," he said, offering it do Alexiel. "Are you going to throw it in the wash right now?" he asked.

[Alexiel BookMan]

Alexiel seemed happy Reikas was having the same sort of thoughts as him and he happily took the shirt off the other man, rubbing a finger alone the other man's hand once again before fiddling with the fabric of his shirt. If he wasn't keen on fabric against his skin dry, he certainly didn't like it once it was wet and he seemed to wince a little while rubbing it. "Starving isn't the best thing." He said rather fondly, still playing with the wet material, tormenting himself with the touch - he just couldn't help himself, it was like touching a flame when you know you really shouldn't. "Might be a good idea to, if you wanna come upstairs?" the mara seemed to ask without even looking at the other man. Not many people had seen his living conditions, and he had thought them completely normal; would Reikas?

With a grin and a slight skip in his step Alexiel went over to the bathroom door and opened it for the other man, rather politely. He hadn't even got a response from the other man but he had already assumed; the demon had stayed this long, surely curiosity would dig deep in him and he would want to see his home? He waited for his friend to exit the bathroom and followed shortly afterwards, making sure to lead the way to the slightly strange and hidden doorway to the stairs. It was right in between two very tall and slightly dusty shelves and if you hadn't been looking for it, you probably wouldn't even notice it, but Alexiel seemed to find it rather easily. He took the keys from his pocket again and started fumbling with them, looking for the oldest and largest looking one he could, unlocking the door with a rather loud clunk.

It was then that the mara seemed to get a little nervous as well as excited. "You don't have to come if you don't want to by the way, anytime you wanna leave I can show you out?"

[Reikas Esterion]

"Agreed," Reikas said to Alexiel's comment about starving, enjoying the tiniest physical expression of fondness as the shirt was exchanged. He was about to answer the invitation when the mara answered it for him, opening the door for him. With a grin Reikas thanked him and made his way out, then followed faithfully through the library and to the unexpected door. Why didn't it surprise him that the biggest key was Alexiel's house key?

He nodded sharply as he felt something cloud Alexiel's joy. "Sounds like a plan," he said with a smile. "But I've still got nothing better to do today." He wondered what a flat above a library would look like. He folded his arms and rested his shoulder against a dusty bookshelf as he waited for the mara to open the door. "Lead on, I want to see your house."

[Alexiel BookMan]

Alexiel seemed really rather pleased that Reikas wanted to see his flat and with a happy movement he opened the door which led onto a rather large and dusty looking staircase; if the mara didn't seem to used to it, and the odd footprint in the dust it might have looked disused but locking the door behind both of them he began to walk up them. It took a while to get to his flat, mostly because the library ceilings were so high up and there was another level full of 'private and unusual' books that a lot of people were not allowed to see - Alex himself staying rather clear of them at time, unless curiosity over took him a few times in the night when he couldn't sleep. A few of the books had scared him though, and now he was more grown up he understood why, best not go in there unless you were up for some strange and unnerving dreams.

After a second flight of stairs the two men came to a rather strange and out of place looking green door; which had always reminded Alexiel of 'wizard of oz', looking as if it were the same colour as emeralds. "Home sweet home!" He cheered, opening the door which had never been locked since he began living there. The green door opened onto a rather large old fashioned room, wall papered just like the downstairs with a few book cases filled with all the of mara's favourite books. His possessions were little, but what he lacked in material goods he made up for in pure homeliness. Despite the large amount of books the room looked large, with a few photos on the wall of when the mara was young, learning to read with the older librarian - he looked even more curious and happy than he did now he was older.

The only thing that really stood out was a dusty bright purple settee that was big enough for maybe four people with a horrid silk red pillow (obviously Alexiel had fallen asleep on the sofa a few times) and there was a coffee table. Strangely, it was made from two rather tatty copies of 'war and peace' on their ends with a sheet of glass the mara had found placed on top of it. He had all respect for books... but war and peace - it had bored him to death. "Not that grand but I love it." It was wonderfully clean, with no feathers or pages out of place, just everything looked old.

[Reikas Esterion]

Alexiel really liked that locking thing, didn't he? He was either all about security, or maybe he was constantly afraid Reikas would just turn and bolt. It certainly gave the mara a good reason to walk Reikas out when the demon finally did leave.

He was surprised by the lack of security on the green door. And also its color, but doors and their color weren't of a particular interest to Reikas. As soon as the door was opened though, he was struck by the fact that the mara had more books. Yes, Alexiel had mentioned it, but...really? He lived on top of a library, what were these for? Convenience? A bit of a waste of floor space in Reikas' opinion, but he was used to large mansions with rooms dedicated to specific purposes, not studio flats with everything collected together. It was roomy though, and very comfortable, Reikas had to admit.

He smiled as he walked inside and looked around, his attention turning to the ghastly choice of furniture. He was sharply reminded of just how far removed from lower society just by the reaction he had to the "coffee table." Makeshift, possibly unstable...Absolutely ridiculous, and never mind that two-tone eyesore of a couch.

And yet it was sweet. Once his initial reaction had washed away, Reikas grinned as he felt a rising sense of affection for Alexiel. He didn't know what he'd been expecting from the mara, maybe something with a bit more taste and an eclectic air, but this was a perfect expression of everything he knew about Alexiel. Neat, unusual, and perfectly idiomatic. Absolutely adorable.

And pictures! He had pictures on the walls. Reikas wandered toward them. "It's cute," he commented, still grinning. "I love it, very 'you'. Is this you in these pictures?" Obviously. The figure with the human had red eyes, among other tell-tale signs. "You were adorable when you were younger. Who's with you?" His face looked familiar. Was that the old librarian? Reikas might have seen him before, when the demon was younger. He wondered who took the pictures.