u know what? ok. i trust netzach

[hasteful]

Comments

[abstractart]

You don't? Do you just not know a lot of people...?

[hasteful]

I don't get to talk to very many, no. I guess I'm the type that moves around a lot.

[an understatement,]

[abstractart]

Mm. I get it. For a while I didn't really get to talk to people outside the ones I worked with... it's still mostly them, anyway.

[hasteful]

[he laughs a bit,]

Right? I think I mentioned it... but for me, it's still my Gous. Aruji and others too, sure, but they don't need me as much as the others.

[a beat]

Ah, well, I think it's probably a bit presumptuous to say they need me... but I like to think they'd miss me, maybe.

[he really has no idea he's in a poly,]

[abstractart]

If you're that close... I'd guess they probably already do. Hard to lose someone that way.

[someone just being gone is one thing, but-- well. if he's dead, and they're not?

...little worse.]

[hasteful]

Mm... that's true. I'd be sad to lose them like that too.

[ . . . ]

It's just a little hard to feel real though, you know? When I don't... remember anything about it.

Have you gotten any of your latest memories back?

[abstractart]

Nah, but that's not really new... I've lost memories before.

[this is just another round of not knowing shit.]

[hasteful]

Oh -

[for buzen reasons, he doesn't like that. so he looks considerably more concerned]

... did I ask about something difficult? I didn't mean to.

[abstractart]

I got them back, so it's fine, right?

[he shrugs at that, a lazy little half-gesture.]

Don't have to worry about asking.

[hasteful]

Ahah... [a sheepish little laugh] I wouldn't want to upset anyone when we all just got here and are overwhelmed already, is all.

[and in general he's not the type to push or pry.... well anyway,]

But that's good. Do you think we'll get this set back too, then? How did your first set return to you?

[abstractart]

Maybe...? It was kind of specific circumstances the first time, but it was easier the second one... the rest of the times were just part of my job.

[hasteful]

... I feel like I understand less and less about being a librarian...

[abstractart]

I don't think it's a normal library.

[hasteful]

What kind of library is it?

[abstractart]

The kind that collects books, but doesn't really lend them back out.

[hasteful]

[ . . . ]

A hoarder library....?

[abstractart]

...yeah, sort of like that.

[it's. it's complicated.]

[hasteful]

I feel like I'm still not understanding very well... but that's okay. If you ever feel like sharing more, Net-san, I'll be all ears!

[abstractart]

I guess it's not that I don't feel like sharing, but... it kinda seems like you guys are from different places. Hard to know what I actually need to explain.

[hasteful]

Ah... Um... Are books like - normal books to you? Or does books mean something else?

What does the library collect them for?

[abstractart]

They're both, I guess. They're still books you read like normal, but... they can come from people, too. Anybody who dies in the Library turns into a book that holds all the information about their life, and all the things they knew.

The director's collecting them for that. The information in them.

[hasteful]

[ . . . help,]

... do people die in the Library on purpose?

[not necessarily by their own intention

but maybe by like

others',,]

[abstractart]

...yeah. They can't get inside without an invitation, and they technically have to agree to it, but... it's not as fair an exchange as it looks like it is. Is it really agreeing to risk becoming a book of your own free will, if you had no other choice but to sign? There's been people in that kind of situation who came to the Library too.

[hasteful]

Eh... You're surprisingly open and blunt about it...

[just a little surprised, but he doesn't sound judgmental at all]

How do you feel? As a Librarian.

[abstractart]

I don't like it.

[just as blunt about this part-- there's no reason not to be, anyway.]

Situations like that, where someone has to win and someone has to lose... I'm not a fan of them, or of fighting people, but we didn't really have another choice either.

It bothers me that she pretends to think it's really fair.