15 Dustbuns (1/2)

Mandy crossed her arms, now then - should she read up on various creatures or head to Elemental magic section right away? Some time had passed in reading the undead book and there was no telling when she would get to come here next so her decision leaned more towards studying up on magic, but she was still curious enough to at least skim info about dustbuns, as she knew Chilli and three of her kind even lived inside of August - what if any of those come out for some reason - being clueless in a situation like that seemed like a bad idea.

Figuring she might as well find the book by looking for the letter 'I', she was surprised to find it awfully easy due to Ian still being by the shelf. He was reading while sitting down on the floor, legs crossed, book placed on his legs, with Chilli floating around him like a little satellite.

Mandy planned not to bother Ian, just float over to the shelf to get another copy of the book (there ought to be at least one), but Ian noticed her approaching despite her not making any sound.

”It's there,” Ian pointed to the bottom part of the shelf behind him.

”Thank you,” Mandy replied as she found it. Almost half the bottom shelf was covered in copies of this book. She had expected there to be multiple, but not more than thirty, and the covers around indicated that this book was special in its abundance. Other books in the two shelves around them had three to five copies. It was almost as if a whole classroom of kids would come at times and read it all at the same time... perhaps that's exactly what happened? Except, would a kid be able to even lift this book? It looked heavy as heck.

Not too heavy for her though - telekinesis had the book slide out and Mandy flipped to the back first to find the index right away.

She was in the process of flipping to the right page that first mentioned 'dustbun' when August found them with his laptop in hands and two white colored plastic brick like things on top of it. The bag was missing, August was disheveled, one of his sleeves had a piece chipped out and there was a green leaf sticking out from his hair... what had happened just now? Mandy squinted. His expression too was resigned and hopeless.

Ian too noticed August's presence and looked towards him with a similarly questioning look to Mandy's.

”You two can stay here for around a week,” August said. ”If you go out, just ask the librarians to give you access again.

It sounded like August would be going away first. Mandy tilted her head. Now that she had read the ghost parts in a book on undead, she was aware that you could only move about a kilometer from the person you were haunting. The library was not that close to home. Her expression showed that doubt.

”The range should be fine this time,” he said to Mandy, interpreting her expression correctly.

”This time?” Mandy asked. August knew more about ghosts than she did, if he said it was fine, she had no reason not to believe him, but she couldn't change being curious about it.

”I'll explain another time,” August said, looking too tired to bother.

Mandy nodded. She didn't wish to derail the point either. August had been in the middle of trying to tell them something and she was worried, he seemed kind of feeble like he might pass out soon.

”That said, this place might be safer for you than moving outside. The library is a neutral zone, conflicts are rare and, unless you meet someone insane, that tattoo on your wrist should work as a deterrent,” August said, dragging the words a tad.

Her eyes stayed on the chipped part of his sleeve... someone insane? She had a strong feeling that the chipped sleeve and August's appearance had something to do with Sarah and Gerald, but she didn't think that August considered his relatives to be insane... had the spooking been too effective? Had August jumped out of a window and fallen into a tree? His appearance could be explained that way... But could you actually fall out from these windows? The place did have windows but without the barrier this was a tiny windowless service floor, wasn't it?

August shifted his hands to hold the PC into one, then used his other hand to take out his phone from his pocket. ”Take this, and,” only when Mandy took the phone, August started passing more things to her - both the white plastic bricks that had been placed on top of the pc and a wire that had been stuffed in his pocket.

Mandy took all of them, having them float by her. She wanted to ask what this was about, but didn't want to interrupt him right now. One thing she did ask: ”What happened to your bag?” If she recalled right, the computer and rest had been in a beige leather shoulder bag.

”It ran away,” August replied as he placed his PC in a shelf, above some books, then took a hold of his floating smartphone. Before Mandy could ask anything more about the runaway bag, he said: ”This is the unlock pattern.” August demonstrated, drawing a square shape. ”Here are the contacts, tap any to call, Tia is your best bet if something goes wrong. If you must use the internet, head to the staircase, the connection in here is blotchy. This is the browser. If anyone calls tell them that I'm hibernating--”

Hibernating? By now Mandy was certain that August would be leaving her behind in this place, but hibernating? Was he a bear?

”--and to call in a week, except... this guy.” August tapped to show a contact named Benjamin Dallas. That was his agent, wasn't he? Mandy recalled him being called as 'Ben' or 'Benjamin' in the meeting about the telenovela. ”If he calls, tell that I have a cold and am sleeping with a fever, and ask if it's something urgent. If it is, then tell him I would call back when I wake up. In that case, come home and wake me up.”

August really didn't give her a space to interject, so Mandy didn't attempt for now. Being from an older generation Mandy was unaware of smartphone etiquette and how personal those usually were, so she didn't see a problem in using his phone. From the part of waking him up Mandy could figure that it was fine for her to stay here 24/7 otherwise. Mandy nodded to show she understood.

Ian pursed his lips at it, but didn't comment as he listened in. They were talking right next to him, so if this was a personal conversation they were at fault for making it right next to him - or so his gestures seemed to imply.

Then August's expression turned dark. ”If anyone asks about Sarah or that church mongrel, pretend you have no idea what they are asking about.”

Mandy looked sideways. He wouldn't be referring to Gerald that specifically in a conversation with her if he wasn't aware that she had met them... that part bothered her more than the fact that August had totally done something to them. Done something bad enough for them to be missing for a week, at least. Sarah's spooking had gone a little 'too well' and Gerald had done something bad enough to earn a nickname. August hadn't seemed happy when talking about paladins, but he used the word 'paladin' in an insulting tone, not 'church mongrel' previously.

”Ian, is that clear?” August cast an intimidating look at Ian. From this, it seemed like August was certain both of them had met Sarah and Gerald.

”...you didn't murder your sister, did you?” Ian asked with a frown, although it did not seem like Ian fully believed an idea like that either. Alas, he completely gave away that the two of them had met.

Mandy didn't think August would murder Sarah, but it was true that Mandy was curious what was up with it as well. Sarah was supposedly immortal so murdering didn't even seem like something useful.

”Read on untrals in the travelers section before you ask stupid questions like that,” August replied with a sigh.

”Okay,” Ian agreed under the impression that it was not murder ”do I need to hide I know them at all, or...”

”You can say you met them, but no mention on where they were about to go. Also, none of you go to or even mention that section.”

Mandy's eyes and mouth formed straight lines again. ”They are fine, aren't they?”

”Alive and unhurt,” August said with a sigh and a very done expression. ”There's even food around if they need it.” August picked up his PC from the shelf.

Mandy and Ian exchanged looks. He had locked those two up, hadn't he? Although the fact that he asked them to avoid the section also implied that if anyone stumbles on it, then those two would be found and possibly released. Where did August get food to leave for the two, though?

”Charge the phone using those and see that it doesn't run out of battery,” August pointed at the white plastic bricks, having Mandy finally figure out their purpose, that distracted her from asking about the mysterious food. ”I set an alarm for when you need to go home and wake me up.”

”Alright!” Mandy nodded.

”If you encounter something fishy on the way home, call Tia,” August said. His gestures implied he found the option to be troublesome, though.

Was he worried about her? That was sweet. If it really was about that, of course. He might as well just be worried about not waking up in time, Mandy thought as she nodded. ”Will do!”

Mandy did feel like it might be good to at least check up on August in a day or so. To see if he's okay in that hibernation thing. But perhaps that would wake him up before he should wake up. Hibernating bears are bad to poke, after all. In that case, perhaps staying here for a week and picking up useful knowledge and maybe some skills might be better.

August turned to head away.

”You forgot the pin code,” Ian mentioned as if by the way.

August stopped in his track. ”If the phone shuts down, restart it and when it asks for PIN enter the year of the battle of waterloo.”

”Got it!” Mandy replied. Although she was surprised by the roundabout way of saying the number, it is true that saying 1-8-1-5 wouldn't be as memorable. Mandy had majored in humanities studies, so knowing most historical dates was a given, but she was aware that most people wouldn't really know them. Did August take a gamble with that? Or did he think she could easily look it up in case she didn't know? Or did she strike him as a person well versed in humanities? The last one would be flattering to no end considering people had mostly assumed she was a silly girl with feathers for brains for who knows what reason.

”See you, then” August said and left, carrying his laptop under one arm. Mandy saw that there were green streaks and scratches on the underside of the laptop like it had been dragged through greenery-- the theory of August falling into a tree became stronger in her mind.

Although, now that she considered it, August had never treated her like someone dumb. He could be unfriendly, but... it was never the kind of unfriendliness intelligent people directed at her before, the condescending type. In fact, even her brothers hadn't considered her to be as capable as August casually implied to consider her as. He might be doing it because he couldn't care less and was too busy to bother explaining, yet as a result, Mandy felt better about herself when she was around him. Other people might have complained at the scarcity of instruction, but to Mandy, being trusted like that was both a fresh and empowering feeling, she was always the type who liked to figure things out on her own if she could.

Yet that said, none of the people she had met after death had treated her like she had been treated as a living human. Mirrors no longer showed her appearance, but from the body, clothes and hair she could see, Mandy had a feeling her looks hadn't changed one bit since the day she passed away. It was true that now her first encounters (other than with August's family members) were either cautious avoidance or outright wariness, before it had been a varied mix depending on age and gender of the other party, although it was true that she somehow always ended up in the same group with the looks concerned girls and party people and was treated like one of that group outside of it too. For that reason alone, she was so easily caught up in talking about books with Samantha from that nightmare, having conversations like that was a luxury.

”Is hibernating a normal thing for him?” Ian asked after August turned around the bookshelf and was too far to hear their conversation.

”I don't know,” Mandy replied, snapping out of her thoughts now that August was out of sight. She was curious about that part too. ”I only met him around a week ago, he hasn't hibernated in that time.” Was that a half-ghost thing or was that an undead dryad thing? No, if it was an undead dryad thing August wouldn't make that as the official excuse for his absence to all people other than his agent.

Ian cast a surprised look towards Mandy, then his face turned confused.

Mandy made a wry smile at that look. She had said she was haunting August during her introduction to Gerald and she had also said she was from a generation before PCs became as widespread, it didn't take any time at all for Mandy to figure what Ian might be wondering about, but she didn't want to tell him the details on haunting others.

Wouldn't that make a bad misunderstanding? Like she was some loose girl who started following around an eccentric (albeit beautiful) man only after a few days of knowing him. No, wait, the information she dropped was plenty to assume exactly that... Mandy started despairing. What if there was no misunderstanding at all and she was a shallow person like that, only into pretty faces... Of course, Mandy had already forgotten that August had looked like a zombie when she first met him - sleep deprived to the max, messy and mad to meet his deadlines. Ian too had first met August in that state.

Ian looked back to the book to avoid Mandy's despairing look.

Mandy noticed Ian had returned to reading and after a small sigh of relief, she returned to looking through the index. If anything... Right! She had a whole week of studying time, meaning she could look up all the creatures she had wanted to! Her mood improved as she browsed through the index and soon she was lost in reading about Dustbuns.

”Dustbuns are the most common household pet in Ahea and most common household astral in Urea. As they are freely born in both places and suffer no consequences if smuggled over dimensions they are classified as both native astrals and 'Contra' class travelers.”