[fic] TGZ: Into the Mystic
Sep. 17th, 2005 11:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ickaimpQuestion that has nothing to do with this fic:
Hey, does anyone know if the Anglican Church uses a cross or a crucifix? Or does it vary from cathedral/church to cathedral/church?
+++
"Aw, man..." Kaito stretched as they stepped out of the police station, joints popping as he did so. "M'glad that's over with."
The suspect was caught and had confessed, they were out of the station --that many cops always made him feel just a little bit nervous even if he wasn't doing anything wrong-- and they hadn't had to sludge through anything nasty this time.
Saguru gave him a tired smile in return, pulling out his pocket watch and checking it. "And it's only 2:07 in the morning." He commented drolly.
Kaito slumped. Trains did not run the entire night, it would be a few hours before they could catch the train home. Saguru's popularity seemed to run both hot and cold at the police stations. He was generally respected either way, but the fact that they were as young as they were and civilians meant that the officers generally ran one of two ways. Over protective or resentful.
If the officers ran over protective --which generally was on the overbearing side, but was well meant--, they usually could snooker a ride home. Unfortunately this was one of the latter times, both sides happy to see the backside of the other.
Which left them stranded in London until the trains started back up. Kaito -supposed- they could call Mum for a lift home or pay for a taxi, but that was kind of like giving up, admitting that they couldn't take care of themselves. And wasn't nearly as interesting as exploring the city.
Part of him itched to ditch the detective, just prowl the streets, see the nightlife from a less mundane angle. But that left the half-brit by himself. And while Saguru -could- take care of himself, Kaito was well aware of just what an easy target the blond looked. He dressed better than most people his age could afford for one thing.
Saguru closed the pocket watch with a thoughtful snap, a meditative look on his face. "We're near Soho..." He mused.
"And?" Kaito questioned, pulling his muffler closer around his neck. It was cold out, now that the warmth of the station was wearing off. He probably should wear a hat, but he still hadn't found one that looked quite right other than his Kid top hat.
"Come on." With an almost dramatic swirl of the detective's long coat, Saguru briskly took off down the street, his long legs eating up sidewalk. With a muted growl, Kaito trotted a bit to catch up. One of these days, he was going to hop on Saguru's back and demand a ride if the blond was just going to take off haul off in random directions.
The half-shy, half-exuberant grin Saguru shot him as he caught up eased some of his irritation. "I think you'll like this place, it's right up your alley."
"Oh, really?" He questioned, rising an eyebrow in return. Usually the only places open this late were either dance clubs or the occasional diner. And while he wouldn't mind a diner, a dance club was a bit too crowded for his tastes right now. That and he didn't feel like being 'exotic' at the moment, as quite a few people thought him to be when they found out he was visiting the country from Japan.
Not to mention Saguru wasn't the best dancer. He could do formal dancing just fine, but he absolutely sucked at any sort of spontaneity, getting all tense and awkward. Kaito was the opposite, enjoying the improvisation and freedom in the dance clubs, moving, twisting and flipping his body with a rush that almost rivalled a good Kid heist.
But right now he didn't have anything he needed to work out of his system. He wanted to wind -down-, not wind up.
Saguru lead him down the streets, occasionally looking around like he was lost, before decisively continuing on or turning and changing directions. They didn't seem to be getting lost, so Kaito relaxed and let him lead them where ever.
Finally, after passing a statue of a plane with two unusual shaped characters standing on the wings of the plane, Saguru stopped in front of a lit bookstore, a pleased expression on his face. Kaito glanced at the sign.
'Into the Mystic'. In smaller letters underneath it read; 'Open All Night'.
Kaito got the distinct feeling that there was a private joke somewhere in that last statement, but he didn't know what it was.
"Come on." Saguru ushered him inside with a grin, the two of them loosening clothing as they did so. The store was warmer than the outside, but not the blazing hot that a lot of people kept their residences in the winter time.
"Greetings." A large figure rumbled at them from behind a counter. Kaito blinked, counting on his poker face to keep from gaping in shock at the large robed figure, with the face of a lion. It -could- be a mask, he supposed, but he'd never seen a mask so expressive or detailed before. And he -knew- his masks. "Welcome to 'Into the Mystic'. Is there anything I can help you find?"
"I think I remember where it's stocked." Saguru smiled in return. "Unless you've changed the books around since the last time I was here."
"Just the new inventory." The large man rumbled, waving them in. Kaito took off his muffler and coat, slinging it over an arm, looking around the shop with wide eyes.
It was a -Magic- shop. Not the kind with top hats, silk scarves and stacked playing cards, but the other kind of Magic.
The kind with Grimoires, spells and potions. REAL Magic.
Saguru walked serenely through the stop, heading towards the bookshelves in the back. Humming happily to himself, he checked author names until he found what he was looking for with a happy gasp. Kaito raised an eyebrow at him.
-Saguru-, the Logical One, looking for things in a Magic store?!
"Yes!" The blond pulled a book out of the case with a triumphant grin, holding it up for Kaito to see. Kaito raised an eyebrow.
"After his son died, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle turned his focus towards studying Mysticism and the Occult." Saguru explained happily. "The books he wrote after Sherlock Holmes were mostly studies about that. Of course, there was the debacle about the girls and the garden fairies, sticking paper cut-outs on strings and taking pictures of them, but he was very serious about it. He was even friends with Harry Houdini, whom he believed had psychic abilities, you know."
"... actually, I didn't..." Kaito blinked, taken back. Okay, note to self. Saguru wasn't just a Holmes nut, he was a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle nut.
"Oh yes." Saguru nodded, oblivious to the shock he was delivering as he flipped through the book he was holding. "For someone who was a medical doctor, he was always highly interested in the supernatural. Some of his earliest works were ghost stories. He even originally intended for Sherlock Holmes to be a -psychic- detective before the whole 'eyes and brains' thing took off. This is a copy of his last book 'The Edge of Unknown', which are accounts of his own psychic experiences."
Before he could back away slowly from the doppelganger of his formerly logical friend, he was distracted by a second robed figure entering the store, this one from behind a door in the back. This one was obviously female, with a white horse-like face with a single horn spiraling from her forehead. She glanced at them before walking over to the Lion-headed one, the two of them talking softly.
Kaito frowned to himself, carefully observing them from the corner of his eye, warning bells going off in his head. They seemed familiar somehow.
Then the Lion one reached for something on a high shelf behind the counter, the hem of his robe rising slightly.
The feet underneath were NOT human. Partially obscured by what looked like to be a furry tail and the tips of wings, they were paws, tipped with wicked looking claws on the ends of them.
Kaito's eyebrows rose into his hairline. The features were completely different, but suddenly he knew why they were triggering his alarms.
He'd had a run in as the Kid in Ishimura with a group of creatures that were stone statues by day, mobile flesh and blood at night. He'd had difficulty observing them in order to steal a jewel inside of the compound that they guarded, they were extremely adept warriors, and suspicious on top of that.
Despite that, he'd still sent the warning notice and set the heist for at night, curious to place his skills versus theirs. Sneaking into the compound had been a challenge and he had gotten the jewel, but it was the escape that he ran into difficulty.
The guardians --he'd never gotten exactly what they called themselves-- glided on the exact same air currents he did. Only they had wings and tails, both of which where much more versatile in the air than his hang-glider, able to perform aerodynamic acrobatics that he could only dream about with a great deal of envy.
They were also faster and stronger than he was, either in the air or on the ground, able to use claws and talons in addition to the weapons that they carried. He'd had just enough time for a quick check of the stone to verify it wasn't Pandora before being forced to land and surrendering his target.
There had been a minor argument once he'd landed. Several where NOT happy that he knew about them, even if some protested that he had acted honourably --granted a twisted honour-- announcing his intention and challenging them fairly instead of attacking in daylight, when they were asleep. Others commented he was just stupid for doing that, which he'd had trouble arguing with at the time.
In the end he'd tossed down a smoke bomb and a pepper bomb to hide his scent and disappeared into his surroundings, being forced to lay low until they'd had to return to their castle before dawn.
He'd made a mental note to never EVER mess with their kind again. He'd gotten lucky that night and he knew it.
However, if these were anything like those, they were extremely territorial. On the other hand, them running a magic shop and being 'mystical' creatures themselves, they probably wouldn't think he was a loon for asking about magical items either.
Kaito left Saguru happily reading the preface of Doyle's last book, wandering over to the shop keepers. Now that he knew what he was looking for, and comparing it to the ones he had seen, the more certain he was that they weren't human. "Excuse me." He said politely, once there was a slight pause in their conversation.
Both of them looked up at him, their expressions neutral. "Can we help you?" The Unicorn asked.
"I was wondering if you had any books on the Philosopher's Stone." In all of his research on Pandora, he'd discovered an amazing amount of similarities between it and the legends of the Philosopher's Stone, the greatest being both red and granting immortality. He hadn't seen Pandora turn lead into gold, but then he hadn't been trying to either.
"The books on how to create a Philosopher's Stone are in the Alchemy section, on that bookshelf there." The Unicorn pointed towards where a boy wearing a long red jacket and his blond hair pulled back into a braid was perusing the selves. Without a doubt, Kaito knew that all he'd get was the confusing Medieval codes that he'd already skimmed through and probably some histories on Nicholas Flamel and 'Abraham the Jew'.
Or if they did have any books on how to create one, it wouldn't be there, where the public could get to them.
"I don't need to know how to make one." Kaito explained patiently. "I need to learn how to -destroy- one."
There. Now the cat was out of the bag, they knew he most likely had one. He also had their undivided attention.
But if he could learn how to destroy a Philosopher's Stone, he might be able to destroy Pandora.
"You won't find that knowledge in the books here." A third voice, this one young and old at the same time answered him. He turned to find a boy, a young teenager really, looking at him with tired eyes that had seen too much, most of which couldn't be explained under a cap of light brown hair.
"Emrys!" the Unicorn scolded. "You should be asleep!"
The boy shrugged in return, as if to silently say that it couldn't be helped. "Follow me." He instructed Kaito, turning to wander off towards the bookshelves again. Kaito gave the two guardians a shallow bow and quickly followed.
The boy Emrys was muttering to himself about spending the night here instead of with someone named Arthur as he wandered through the bookshelves, pulling out a handful of books seemingly at random. Still muttering to himself, he ushered Kaito towards a nook he hadn't noticed before and pushed him into an overstuffed armchair that was resting there.
"Preventive measures." The boy said curtly before handing the books to Kaito one at a time. "This is as accurate of a history on the Isles as you're going to find. These are people you'll find here and how to stay on their good side. These are people to avoid and things to stay away from. If you do run into them, possible ways to get out of trouble is also included. Read them, memorise them, remember them."
Kaito blinked, slightly taken back. "O-Okay. Thank you." The last was said tentatively, he wasn't entirely sure if he should be thanking the younger boy much less what he was thanking him for.
Emrys snorted, brushing it off. "Just stay out of trouble. And if you do get into trouble, don't come running to me. I've got enough to take care of as it is." With that, the boy stalked off, muttering to himself about magic and daft lucky people mentioning wrong things to the right people.
Kaito shrugged and cracked open the first book, starting to read. After a while, somewhere in-between Gargoyles, Gremlins and Grims, he noticed a two cups of tea on saucers on the table next to the chair. Saguru was curled up with a book in the chair on the other side of the table, contentedly reading. In the background the Lion and the Unicorn were giving someone named Ms. Readerman her special order book, which from the sound of it, she seemed to have an absolute orgasm over, complete with panting, moaning and drooling.
He shrugged, took a few sips of still warm sweet tea and continued reading.
The next time he looked up, he'd finished the books he'd been handed to read and he could see the sky starting to lighten outside. The tea was gone, but Saguru was still curled up in the other chair dozing, his breathing still light and shallow, a book carefully cradled in his lap. The store appeared to be empty, the Lion and the Unicorn were no where to be seen.
His head spinning with White Ladies, Evil Eyes, Bogies, Kelpie, Coimimeadh, Sithe and other strange European folklore, he rose and stretched, feeling sluggish due to the lack of sleep and sitting still for so long. "Oi." He crouched down in front of Saguru, tapping the blond. "Wakey-wakey Sleeping Beauty. Time to go."
Saguru startled, mumbling slightly as he drooped, appearing to go back to sleep. Kaito toyed with the idea of seeing if he actually could kiss Saguru awake, but decided it probably wasn't a good idea for a variety of reasons.
Instead, he shook Saguru again, finally succeeding in waking him up. "Sun's up." Kaito explained as Saguru blinked sleepily at him. Sleeping in his contacts again. The blond was probably going to regret that. "Time to head home."
The blond made a sound much like what Kaito supposed an irritated bear might make coming out of hibernation and hauled himself out of the chair with a mighty yawn. "Coffee." Saguru growled.
If the detective was skipping tea in favour of coffee, he really was exhausted. "Books first." Kaito reminded. Saguru grunted and gathered the books he wanted to take to the front register. Kaito picked up the ones that he'd been given to read as well, shepherding Saguru to the front of the store.
Emrys was sitting behind the counter, watching the sky lighten outside the windows with a thoughtful expression on his face. He glanced over at them, that old-young look in his eyes again. "Thanks." Kaito commented softly, putting the books on the counter.
The boy waved it off, taking the books and setting them on a stack behind the counter of books to go back on the shelves. "Just keep your noses clean."
Kaito nodded, stepping to the side so that Saguru could set his books down on the counter. Emrys quickly rang the sale up, put the books in a bag, slipping the receipt in with it. With the absentminded seriousness of someone dealing with a lack of sleep, the detective then trudged towards the door.
Kaito hesitated. "Your friends..." He ventured. "They're not human." It was more of a question than a statement, but Emrys seemed to understand his meaning.
The boy shrugged in return, as if to say 'who is?' before waving him out the door. Kaito grinned and waved back, buoyed by this knowledge as he slipped out the door.
He wasn't fool enough to face them again, but if he ever ran into some trouble, he knew where to go for help.
Still grinning, he caught up to Saguru, who was yawning tiredly and had a definite staggering tilt to his walk. He was tired too, but he could operate better on less sleep than Saguru could. He moved along slide the detective, his shoulder brushing Saguru's arm every so often so he could steer them towards coffee and the Tube.
Kaito pulled out a business card he'd slipped into his pocket before they left, examining it in the light.
'Into the Mystic. Open all Night.'
He'd have to send the business card to the Gargoyle Clan in Ishimura, just for kicks.
-fin-
All that stuff about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? True.
The Ishimura clan shows up in the Gargoyles episode 'Bushido', BTW.
'Into the Mystic', Una and Leo are from the Gargoyles episode 'M.I.A', where Grif also makes his first appearance.
I can't remember is Emrys is from the Gargoyles Cartoon or from the fan series, but he's more widely known by his other name, Merlin. ^__^ He just showed up and started giving Kaito books to read. o_O;;
Kudos to those who spotted the 'FullMetal Alchemist' and 'Read Or Die' references.
Hey, does anyone know if the Anglican Church uses a cross or a crucifix? Or does it vary from cathedral/church to cathedral/church?
+++
"Aw, man..." Kaito stretched as they stepped out of the police station, joints popping as he did so. "M'glad that's over with."
The suspect was caught and had confessed, they were out of the station --that many cops always made him feel just a little bit nervous even if he wasn't doing anything wrong-- and they hadn't had to sludge through anything nasty this time.
Saguru gave him a tired smile in return, pulling out his pocket watch and checking it. "And it's only 2:07 in the morning." He commented drolly.
Kaito slumped. Trains did not run the entire night, it would be a few hours before they could catch the train home. Saguru's popularity seemed to run both hot and cold at the police stations. He was generally respected either way, but the fact that they were as young as they were and civilians meant that the officers generally ran one of two ways. Over protective or resentful.
If the officers ran over protective --which generally was on the overbearing side, but was well meant--, they usually could snooker a ride home. Unfortunately this was one of the latter times, both sides happy to see the backside of the other.
Which left them stranded in London until the trains started back up. Kaito -supposed- they could call Mum for a lift home or pay for a taxi, but that was kind of like giving up, admitting that they couldn't take care of themselves. And wasn't nearly as interesting as exploring the city.
Part of him itched to ditch the detective, just prowl the streets, see the nightlife from a less mundane angle. But that left the half-brit by himself. And while Saguru -could- take care of himself, Kaito was well aware of just what an easy target the blond looked. He dressed better than most people his age could afford for one thing.
Saguru closed the pocket watch with a thoughtful snap, a meditative look on his face. "We're near Soho..." He mused.
"And?" Kaito questioned, pulling his muffler closer around his neck. It was cold out, now that the warmth of the station was wearing off. He probably should wear a hat, but he still hadn't found one that looked quite right other than his Kid top hat.
"Come on." With an almost dramatic swirl of the detective's long coat, Saguru briskly took off down the street, his long legs eating up sidewalk. With a muted growl, Kaito trotted a bit to catch up. One of these days, he was going to hop on Saguru's back and demand a ride if the blond was just going to take off haul off in random directions.
The half-shy, half-exuberant grin Saguru shot him as he caught up eased some of his irritation. "I think you'll like this place, it's right up your alley."
"Oh, really?" He questioned, rising an eyebrow in return. Usually the only places open this late were either dance clubs or the occasional diner. And while he wouldn't mind a diner, a dance club was a bit too crowded for his tastes right now. That and he didn't feel like being 'exotic' at the moment, as quite a few people thought him to be when they found out he was visiting the country from Japan.
Not to mention Saguru wasn't the best dancer. He could do formal dancing just fine, but he absolutely sucked at any sort of spontaneity, getting all tense and awkward. Kaito was the opposite, enjoying the improvisation and freedom in the dance clubs, moving, twisting and flipping his body with a rush that almost rivalled a good Kid heist.
But right now he didn't have anything he needed to work out of his system. He wanted to wind -down-, not wind up.
Saguru lead him down the streets, occasionally looking around like he was lost, before decisively continuing on or turning and changing directions. They didn't seem to be getting lost, so Kaito relaxed and let him lead them where ever.
Finally, after passing a statue of a plane with two unusual shaped characters standing on the wings of the plane, Saguru stopped in front of a lit bookstore, a pleased expression on his face. Kaito glanced at the sign.
'Into the Mystic'. In smaller letters underneath it read; 'Open All Night'.
Kaito got the distinct feeling that there was a private joke somewhere in that last statement, but he didn't know what it was.
"Come on." Saguru ushered him inside with a grin, the two of them loosening clothing as they did so. The store was warmer than the outside, but not the blazing hot that a lot of people kept their residences in the winter time.
"Greetings." A large figure rumbled at them from behind a counter. Kaito blinked, counting on his poker face to keep from gaping in shock at the large robed figure, with the face of a lion. It -could- be a mask, he supposed, but he'd never seen a mask so expressive or detailed before. And he -knew- his masks. "Welcome to 'Into the Mystic'. Is there anything I can help you find?"
"I think I remember where it's stocked." Saguru smiled in return. "Unless you've changed the books around since the last time I was here."
"Just the new inventory." The large man rumbled, waving them in. Kaito took off his muffler and coat, slinging it over an arm, looking around the shop with wide eyes.
It was a -Magic- shop. Not the kind with top hats, silk scarves and stacked playing cards, but the other kind of Magic.
The kind with Grimoires, spells and potions. REAL Magic.
Saguru walked serenely through the stop, heading towards the bookshelves in the back. Humming happily to himself, he checked author names until he found what he was looking for with a happy gasp. Kaito raised an eyebrow at him.
-Saguru-, the Logical One, looking for things in a Magic store?!
"Yes!" The blond pulled a book out of the case with a triumphant grin, holding it up for Kaito to see. Kaito raised an eyebrow.
"After his son died, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle turned his focus towards studying Mysticism and the Occult." Saguru explained happily. "The books he wrote after Sherlock Holmes were mostly studies about that. Of course, there was the debacle about the girls and the garden fairies, sticking paper cut-outs on strings and taking pictures of them, but he was very serious about it. He was even friends with Harry Houdini, whom he believed had psychic abilities, you know."
"... actually, I didn't..." Kaito blinked, taken back. Okay, note to self. Saguru wasn't just a Holmes nut, he was a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle nut.
"Oh yes." Saguru nodded, oblivious to the shock he was delivering as he flipped through the book he was holding. "For someone who was a medical doctor, he was always highly interested in the supernatural. Some of his earliest works were ghost stories. He even originally intended for Sherlock Holmes to be a -psychic- detective before the whole 'eyes and brains' thing took off. This is a copy of his last book 'The Edge of Unknown', which are accounts of his own psychic experiences."
Before he could back away slowly from the doppelganger of his formerly logical friend, he was distracted by a second robed figure entering the store, this one from behind a door in the back. This one was obviously female, with a white horse-like face with a single horn spiraling from her forehead. She glanced at them before walking over to the Lion-headed one, the two of them talking softly.
Kaito frowned to himself, carefully observing them from the corner of his eye, warning bells going off in his head. They seemed familiar somehow.
Then the Lion one reached for something on a high shelf behind the counter, the hem of his robe rising slightly.
The feet underneath were NOT human. Partially obscured by what looked like to be a furry tail and the tips of wings, they were paws, tipped with wicked looking claws on the ends of them.
Kaito's eyebrows rose into his hairline. The features were completely different, but suddenly he knew why they were triggering his alarms.
He'd had a run in as the Kid in Ishimura with a group of creatures that were stone statues by day, mobile flesh and blood at night. He'd had difficulty observing them in order to steal a jewel inside of the compound that they guarded, they were extremely adept warriors, and suspicious on top of that.
Despite that, he'd still sent the warning notice and set the heist for at night, curious to place his skills versus theirs. Sneaking into the compound had been a challenge and he had gotten the jewel, but it was the escape that he ran into difficulty.
The guardians --he'd never gotten exactly what they called themselves-- glided on the exact same air currents he did. Only they had wings and tails, both of which where much more versatile in the air than his hang-glider, able to perform aerodynamic acrobatics that he could only dream about with a great deal of envy.
They were also faster and stronger than he was, either in the air or on the ground, able to use claws and talons in addition to the weapons that they carried. He'd had just enough time for a quick check of the stone to verify it wasn't Pandora before being forced to land and surrendering his target.
There had been a minor argument once he'd landed. Several where NOT happy that he knew about them, even if some protested that he had acted honourably --granted a twisted honour-- announcing his intention and challenging them fairly instead of attacking in daylight, when they were asleep. Others commented he was just stupid for doing that, which he'd had trouble arguing with at the time.
In the end he'd tossed down a smoke bomb and a pepper bomb to hide his scent and disappeared into his surroundings, being forced to lay low until they'd had to return to their castle before dawn.
He'd made a mental note to never EVER mess with their kind again. He'd gotten lucky that night and he knew it.
However, if these were anything like those, they were extremely territorial. On the other hand, them running a magic shop and being 'mystical' creatures themselves, they probably wouldn't think he was a loon for asking about magical items either.
Kaito left Saguru happily reading the preface of Doyle's last book, wandering over to the shop keepers. Now that he knew what he was looking for, and comparing it to the ones he had seen, the more certain he was that they weren't human. "Excuse me." He said politely, once there was a slight pause in their conversation.
Both of them looked up at him, their expressions neutral. "Can we help you?" The Unicorn asked.
"I was wondering if you had any books on the Philosopher's Stone." In all of his research on Pandora, he'd discovered an amazing amount of similarities between it and the legends of the Philosopher's Stone, the greatest being both red and granting immortality. He hadn't seen Pandora turn lead into gold, but then he hadn't been trying to either.
"The books on how to create a Philosopher's Stone are in the Alchemy section, on that bookshelf there." The Unicorn pointed towards where a boy wearing a long red jacket and his blond hair pulled back into a braid was perusing the selves. Without a doubt, Kaito knew that all he'd get was the confusing Medieval codes that he'd already skimmed through and probably some histories on Nicholas Flamel and 'Abraham the Jew'.
Or if they did have any books on how to create one, it wouldn't be there, where the public could get to them.
"I don't need to know how to make one." Kaito explained patiently. "I need to learn how to -destroy- one."
There. Now the cat was out of the bag, they knew he most likely had one. He also had their undivided attention.
But if he could learn how to destroy a Philosopher's Stone, he might be able to destroy Pandora.
"You won't find that knowledge in the books here." A third voice, this one young and old at the same time answered him. He turned to find a boy, a young teenager really, looking at him with tired eyes that had seen too much, most of which couldn't be explained under a cap of light brown hair.
"Emrys!" the Unicorn scolded. "You should be asleep!"
The boy shrugged in return, as if to silently say that it couldn't be helped. "Follow me." He instructed Kaito, turning to wander off towards the bookshelves again. Kaito gave the two guardians a shallow bow and quickly followed.
The boy Emrys was muttering to himself about spending the night here instead of with someone named Arthur as he wandered through the bookshelves, pulling out a handful of books seemingly at random. Still muttering to himself, he ushered Kaito towards a nook he hadn't noticed before and pushed him into an overstuffed armchair that was resting there.
"Preventive measures." The boy said curtly before handing the books to Kaito one at a time. "This is as accurate of a history on the Isles as you're going to find. These are people you'll find here and how to stay on their good side. These are people to avoid and things to stay away from. If you do run into them, possible ways to get out of trouble is also included. Read them, memorise them, remember them."
Kaito blinked, slightly taken back. "O-Okay. Thank you." The last was said tentatively, he wasn't entirely sure if he should be thanking the younger boy much less what he was thanking him for.
Emrys snorted, brushing it off. "Just stay out of trouble. And if you do get into trouble, don't come running to me. I've got enough to take care of as it is." With that, the boy stalked off, muttering to himself about magic and daft lucky people mentioning wrong things to the right people.
Kaito shrugged and cracked open the first book, starting to read. After a while, somewhere in-between Gargoyles, Gremlins and Grims, he noticed a two cups of tea on saucers on the table next to the chair. Saguru was curled up with a book in the chair on the other side of the table, contentedly reading. In the background the Lion and the Unicorn were giving someone named Ms. Readerman her special order book, which from the sound of it, she seemed to have an absolute orgasm over, complete with panting, moaning and drooling.
He shrugged, took a few sips of still warm sweet tea and continued reading.
The next time he looked up, he'd finished the books he'd been handed to read and he could see the sky starting to lighten outside. The tea was gone, but Saguru was still curled up in the other chair dozing, his breathing still light and shallow, a book carefully cradled in his lap. The store appeared to be empty, the Lion and the Unicorn were no where to be seen.
His head spinning with White Ladies, Evil Eyes, Bogies, Kelpie, Coimimeadh, Sithe and other strange European folklore, he rose and stretched, feeling sluggish due to the lack of sleep and sitting still for so long. "Oi." He crouched down in front of Saguru, tapping the blond. "Wakey-wakey Sleeping Beauty. Time to go."
Saguru startled, mumbling slightly as he drooped, appearing to go back to sleep. Kaito toyed with the idea of seeing if he actually could kiss Saguru awake, but decided it probably wasn't a good idea for a variety of reasons.
Instead, he shook Saguru again, finally succeeding in waking him up. "Sun's up." Kaito explained as Saguru blinked sleepily at him. Sleeping in his contacts again. The blond was probably going to regret that. "Time to head home."
The blond made a sound much like what Kaito supposed an irritated bear might make coming out of hibernation and hauled himself out of the chair with a mighty yawn. "Coffee." Saguru growled.
If the detective was skipping tea in favour of coffee, he really was exhausted. "Books first." Kaito reminded. Saguru grunted and gathered the books he wanted to take to the front register. Kaito picked up the ones that he'd been given to read as well, shepherding Saguru to the front of the store.
Emrys was sitting behind the counter, watching the sky lighten outside the windows with a thoughtful expression on his face. He glanced over at them, that old-young look in his eyes again. "Thanks." Kaito commented softly, putting the books on the counter.
The boy waved it off, taking the books and setting them on a stack behind the counter of books to go back on the shelves. "Just keep your noses clean."
Kaito nodded, stepping to the side so that Saguru could set his books down on the counter. Emrys quickly rang the sale up, put the books in a bag, slipping the receipt in with it. With the absentminded seriousness of someone dealing with a lack of sleep, the detective then trudged towards the door.
Kaito hesitated. "Your friends..." He ventured. "They're not human." It was more of a question than a statement, but Emrys seemed to understand his meaning.
The boy shrugged in return, as if to say 'who is?' before waving him out the door. Kaito grinned and waved back, buoyed by this knowledge as he slipped out the door.
He wasn't fool enough to face them again, but if he ever ran into some trouble, he knew where to go for help.
Still grinning, he caught up to Saguru, who was yawning tiredly and had a definite staggering tilt to his walk. He was tired too, but he could operate better on less sleep than Saguru could. He moved along slide the detective, his shoulder brushing Saguru's arm every so often so he could steer them towards coffee and the Tube.
Kaito pulled out a business card he'd slipped into his pocket before they left, examining it in the light.
'Into the Mystic. Open all Night.'
He'd have to send the business card to the Gargoyle Clan in Ishimura, just for kicks.
-fin-
All that stuff about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? True.
The Ishimura clan shows up in the Gargoyles episode 'Bushido', BTW.
'Into the Mystic', Una and Leo are from the Gargoyles episode 'M.I.A', where Grif also makes his first appearance.
I can't remember is Emrys is from the Gargoyles Cartoon or from the fan series, but he's more widely known by his other name, Merlin. ^__^ He just showed up and started giving Kaito books to read. o_O;;
Kudos to those who spotted the 'FullMetal Alchemist' and 'Read Or Die' references.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-09-18 06:59 am (UTC)The best thing about the Read or Die OVA? Yomiko having to STOP AND THINK about whether the book or her life was more important.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-18 08:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-18 07:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-18 08:09 am (UTC)Hm... could add Al, I suppose. ^_____________^
*thuds head on desk* Merlin never even crossed my mind until he just showed up. Re-reading the Gargoyles Saga now to make sure we got him right. ^^;;
no subject
Date: 2005-09-18 07:11 am (UTC)Much fun.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-18 07:50 am (UTC)The boys need to wander into Neverwhere (Neil Gaimon) at some point ...
no subject
Date: 2005-09-18 08:50 am (UTC)And the mention of both the Philosopher's Stone and practically made me point and scream "ED! ED!" XD
no subject
Date: 2005-09-19 03:05 pm (UTC)(I loved the Read or Die OVA -- ten minutes into the first one, my sister and my best friend both agreed that they'd managed to animate me, if I had black hair and blue eyes and paper-mage powers -- but I felt it was terribly unfair that she never even got to read the book before she had to parachute out. And who knows when she'll ever find it again? It looked old, so I suppose it might be up on Gutenberg or somewhere, but...)
I have no experience with Gargoyles at all, but nevertheless, I enjoyed this story very much. (It's just too bad Will Stanton wasn't there too, although I suppose he running into a young Emrys would be a story all on its own...)
no subject
Date: 2005-09-19 06:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-06 04:43 am (UTC)