The Wretched Equation [Finished]

Brynn Nimess finished off a long, spectacular, hacking cough into a handkerchief, holding it close to his eyes to see if there was any blood traces on the yellowing, white fabric. None today--a sign that some might think to be improvement. Well, it was certainly less frustrating, having to remove bloodstains from cloth, but the way his organs rumbled around with those constant stabbing pains made for a completely uncomfortable experience. Lowering the handkerchief, he caught several people hastily looking away as he tried to catch eye contact with them, though it was clear they were irritated by the noise. Brynn was in the library regularly enough to be known, but all that did was allow people to tolerate him. The one time a library attendant had tried to ask him to step out, Brynn had practically torn the man's head off; he was quite sure that was why he didn't work here anymore, at any rate.

Moving a large stack of books to cover his face from any of the nosy people in the huge library, Brynn dropped his eyes back on the piece of paper that he'd been looking at. Old Hylian was an unenjoyable thing to read, even once you got the hang of it. The only purpose it served now was to slow people down like himself. He ground his teeth a bit as he thought about that more--it pissed the man off to no end. All day he sat around translating these tomes just so he could progress a little bit further in his project, but anyone who followed him would have all the work done for them already, the lazy schmucks. Cretins, all of them.

Still, though, the information on the page wasn't quite as dry as some of the things he had been working through earlier that week. It wasn't necessarily encouraging, but at least it was slightly more bearable. Having your interest kept on a page was a blessing when it came to reading old histories of the Hylian lands told from different perspectives over and over again. Sighing, the man put his pen down again on the paper next to the copy of what he was reading.

Back to work.

Re: The Wretched Equation [Kayt/Closed]

Another lead proven useless.

She fought back a sigh of resentment as she took her quill and scratched off another line on the hastily-written note that she'd copied from the library's directory. The ink settled onto the parchment, bringing the crossed out titles up to five now. Too many lines in Kayt's opinion, given the tedious amount of time she had spent searching for the tomes in the library. No less than three had been out of place in the shelves, shoved away haphazardly by men or women far too disrespectful of others and of order. The needless searching only whittled away at her remaining time, and the longer she spent in the library, the more likely she'd have to fend off prying questions from her family concerning her research.

The young woman's eyes drifted over the next line: a tome with the damnable title of Dimensional Racial Secrets in the old language, something she'd need to translate with her Book of Mudora. Another task that would eat up her time for the day. Closing the sheaf, the noblewoman set about to find this next tome hidden away in this overly dusty chamber.

Fifteen minutes were spent browsing the sections to little avail. Going down yet another row, she slipped past old Nimess's pushed-out seat, holding her robe's hem away from snagging on it and troubling the old man as she looked for the elusive book--while having seen him many a time during her regular trips to this particular library, she had never spoken to the man, having heard plenty of his foul temper. Rumor or not, it was hardly something she wished to test--it too would only eat up more of her time, and very likely have the both of them thrown out for their inconsiderate behavior.

She'd wasted far too much time on this task today to risk it.

Re: The Wretched Equation [Kayt/Closed]

Brynn's eyes caught Kayt's figure as she passed by, pausing his work to get an eyeful of the pretty, young woman. He nearly had to restrain himself from licking his own lips at the sight, but he tore his eyes away from her and back to his work, finally folding up the book he had been working on titled Dimensional Racial Secrets and sliding it to the top of his massive tower of tomes. The thing had the most gaudy purple cover he had ever seen on an ancient book, but the information had actually been somewhat useful. If all the books he picked up carried as much useful information as this one, he'd have found a dozen artifacts by now.

He looked at his own list, a large sheet of parchment with over forty titles listed in alphabetical order. Putting a small X next to the book he had put down, he groaned silently as the list reminded him he was only, indeed, on the letter D so far. He'd skipped around the list when he thought it was relevant, but he still had a good twenty-five tomes left to go through, and most of them looked quite uninteresting. Some of them simply looked absolutely foolish, and for the third time that day he resisted the urge to simply strike out the title The Goddesses of Hyrule and Their Love for Beetles. Some people wrote the most useless drivel. Still, though, anything might be useful in this elongated search.

After a couple of years of this hunting, though, there was a reason he was getting to the most spectacularly stupid pieces of literature. He had devoted so much time into pinpointing possible archaeological sites across Northern Hyrule, and now he was finally getting close to something. Indeed, he could probably leave right now if he had to, though in some regards the man wasn't too excited to be leaving the city, whatever his ambitions held him to. Life was uncomfortable enough in his padded home with a drink or a wench to take his mind off things, but sleeping out under the stars on rough, uneven ground was quite low on his list of things he wanted to do. If what he'd been reading was true, though, perhaps it would be worth it after all.

Re: The Wretched Equation [Kayt/Closed]

Painted nails trailed idly across rows of books as she slowly stepped down the isle, eyes giving cursory glances to the Hylian runes etched down their spines. Her lips were pursed, showing the barest hint of irritation as she came across one or two misplaced tomes, likely placed by rushed or anxious librarians or scholars who had perused them beforehand. It wasn't long before she reached the end of the row.

Her lips tightened further, becoming a scowl hidden by a stray lock of hair. It's not here.

The fifth tome on her list was, like the others, missing. Kayt bowed her head slightly in contemplation, the action causing her braided hair to slip from her shoulder. Could the tomes have been removed on purpose? she wondered, glancing at her sheet. Will they all have been removed?

Had her plans been discovered? No, that couldn't be. She alone had her mentor's notes, taken from his home during his arrest and stashed safely away. Her own research endeavors had not taken her down any path that would alarm certain others. But her train of thought didn't really sound convincing to her even in her head.

The girl quickly schooled her expression back into serenity as she turned back to exit the aisle, and it was only then that she noticed a brightly-colored tome resting on the pile of books that Nimess had gathered around his workplace at the table. For a moment she couldn't control herself as relief appeared on her face, seeing that the book had not, in fact, been confiscated and was merely in someone else's possession for the time being. She mentally kicked herself for her paranoia and once again wiped the expression from her countenance.

The girl quickly formulated what to say in her head as she made her way to Nimess' table. While the man had quite the rumored temper, surely he'd be amicable to a simple question, would he not?

She lightly touched the man on the shoulder to catch his attention as she spoke softly, so as not to disturb others. "Excuse me, sir. May I inquire to whether or not you are finished with this particular tome?" she asked, gesturing to the book titled Dimensional Racial Secrets.

Re: The Wretched Equation [Kayt/Closed]

For Brynn, he might have described the situation as akin to the agony of perhaps a recently severed hand with the injured holding onto that stump and barely just keeping it together. Only for a fly to land on his face. At Kayt's touch, Brynn jerked so hard that he spilled ink all over the page he had been working on; perhaps the damage wasn't immensely great, but coupled with his personal pain and the built-up frustration from the tedious work, the man was just about ready to explode at such a minor grievance. It was all he could do to not scream at her, doing his best to remember all the small tricks he'd taught himself to try and deal with people. He would've called his tone polite, given the circumstances, but to anyone else his overwhelming irritation was evident, "Is it impossible for a man to actually get some work done around here without annoying wenches bothering him at every turn?" Unfortunately for the both of them, though, in his frustration Brynn had missed the question Kayt had already posed, and now he was thoroughly irritated that she seemed to be bothering him for no reason, "Well? What is it you want?! Do you want my work? Do I not sacrifice enough for this wretched city as it is? Well?!"

Re: The Wretched Equation [Kayt/Closed]

Even with all the rumors that she had heard about the man, nothing could have prepared Kayt for the man's furious reaction. She recoiled sharply, surprise and a hint of fear in her widened eyes, her hand pulled back from where she had touched him. Her lips trembled slightly as she quickly sputtered an apology to the furious man. Quickly, the girl stepped back and clasped her hands together as she bowed in apology, sputtering. "I-I'm terribly sorry!" she exclaimed in a hasty whisper. "I-I just wanted to know if you were still using one of the tomes on the table!"

Re: The Wretched Equation [Kayt/Closed]

Brynn seethed anger through his nose, gritting his teeth in his frustration. Was the woman just trying to harass him or was she truly that dull? He had a number of things to try and bottle that rage that seemed to boil up in him. As always, they sounded incredibly pointless and undesirable, but he reached for them anyway. Within a moment the edge was taken off, though as his anger went away the pain came in just as strong. He tried to ignore it, to cope with it, like he'd become so accustomed to doing over his lifetime. The patience would suffice for now, though, with this woman at least.

"Very precise and helpful, thank you," he all but spat in response. Rolling his eyes, he turned his way from the woman, catching one more eyeful on the way out. Jabbing a finger at one pile of books, he spelled it out to her like she might have been an infant, "This stack is 'finished' though I doubt you'll get more out of it than I managed to squeeze. This stack is my personal set of volumes, and this stack is what I'm still working on." The tome she had mentioned, though he had missed her mentioning it, lay atop the first of the stacks.

He paused to add, though, with more than a little bit of pride, "Nobody else can match my study and interpretation of these books, not that I make all of it available. You don't want that sort of thing falling the wrong hands." He gave her a suspicious glance, though it was no more for her than he would've given to any other citizen of this horrible city. Clearing his throat, he gestured at his large folder of completed documents, "I would suggest you just wait for me to publish these if you want anything worthwhile. It doesn't seem anyone else can be trusted with it, these days."

Re: The Wretched Equation [Kayt/Closed]

Kayt soon recovered from the man's outburst as he brought himself back under control, schooling her face back to being expressionless and smoothing her skirt with manicured hands. As he remarked to her about his efforts with the book, the fledgling mage contemplated, noting how the rumors had said nothing about the man's pride, which bordered on arrogance.

Then again, most people likely never got past his rage when associating with him.

She listened carefully to the man's instructions, easily catching his suspicion of her. Kayt paid it no mind, but she knew that this made things complicated--time to negotiate, then. She bowed to him again, as if to agree to his terms, but she apologized instead. "I'm afraid the current avenue of my research is of a time-sensitive nature," she said. "If it pleases you, though, I can remain here with the tome. I would be happy to review your findings after you publish them, however."

Re: The Wretched Equation [Kayt/Closed]

Brynn mouthed the words 'time-sensitive nature' suspiciously. So she was after something too, then? He idly wondered if he could trade information for any 'favors' but quickly decided against that. His information was more valuable than a woman, after all. She wanted the book, and he had no particular reason to keep it, but she had given away some of her motivation. Perhaps he could use that to his advantage. He didn't know what yet, but he would figure something out; he'd need every scrap of useful information alongside every lead exploited if he was to find the secrets he had heard of. No one before him had done it, so that had to mean something. He was not foolish enough to think they simply hadn't tried, but there were surprisingly few accounts of that happening. He needed a moment to think, so he would buy some time, then.

With a groan, the man slid his chair back, ignoring the stabs of pain that cropped up from it as best he could, "If you want the book then we'll have to get the name on it changed." He paused and then explained it like he might to a completely uneducated person, "It's checked out under my name now. Come with me." He almost smiled at the woman, but he couldn't bring himself to do that. His posture wasn't exactly hunched, but standing up straight certainly aggravated his condition more than he cared to endure, so the man settled for an easy slouch. Sliding his chair back in, the man turned in the direction of the librarian, setting off at a slow pace and asking the woman, "What's your name, anyway?" He knew, but that wasn't the point.

Re: The Wretched Equation [Kayt/Closed]

Calmly, she stepped back to allow Nimess to stand from his seat, and followed him as he stepped out of the aisle. She was quick to reply when he asked about her identity. "My name is Kayt Sharidan," she informed him, clasping her hands together over the wrapped scroll. "And you are... Brynn Nimess, if I'm not mistaken."

His outburst earlier had startled the woman, but in retrospect, it was nothing she hadn't seen before. The rage in his eyes had not be dissimilar from her mentor's anger whenever others would bother him while he was in the middle of research, or whenever he had heard a particular foul bit of news from the townsfolk. But looking over the man's current demeanor, that was where the similarities end.

Re: The Wretched Equation [Kayt/Closed]

The man simply nodded when he was named. Normally he might have been suspicious of that too, and he was, but he frequented the place often, and he'd known her name already. With a smile, though it was mostly self-conceited and not particularly friendly, Brynn glanced in her direction, not bothering to walk very quickly, "Any publications to the name, Ms. Sharidan?" He doubted she had any, but perhaps that was the point. The man would certainly take any opportunity to passively hold his accomplishments above his head. It was one of the few enjoyable things to do anymore, after all.

Re: The Wretched Equation [Kayt/Closed]

A slight crinkling around Kayt's eyes was the only visible clue she gave the man to what she thought of his conceit, but she kept herself calm, shaking her head briefly. "None at the moment," she said, knowing revealing that much wouldn't hurt. To everyone else who knew her, her apprenticeship had only recently ended, making it unlikely for her to have published anything in the academic world. "I still have some ways to go before any of my research will be available to the public."

The truth, of course, was because she had far more important goals than documented revelations whose contributions would only further the agendas and the research of others. No, Kayt Sharidan had little interest in publishing. But there was little reason to give this man any clue as to what her goal was.

Re: The Wretched Equation [Kayt/Closed]

Brynn glanced ahead--they still had some time before they would reach the librarian's desk. Either the woman wasn't going to be forthcoming about what she was researching, or she simply thought she would try playing at academia. Likely the latter, but if it could be the former, the man's interest was piqued. There was always somewhat of a competitive nature between scholars, wanting to discover something and get a nice little grant from the royal family, if they were lucky. Hyrule Castle Town certainly supported research, but you had to be very devoted to it. People who had things to hide often had curious things hidden. Not that this dolt had much to offer, he was sure, but she was pretty enough.

He noticed the list in her hands, though, for the first time. Peering at it, he wondered if he could get something out of it, "Ahem... ah... would you mind if I took a look at that?" He gestured to the list, a moment later, "I may have already been through some of volumes you've yet to... research. I can't imagine this is particularly high on your interest list." He hefted the gaudy, purple volume in his hands in reference.

Re: The Wretched Equation [Kayt/Closed]

Momentarily, the girl's thought processes locked up, alarm bells ringing in her head at the man's request. He wanted to see her list of needed tomes? Not good, not good at all--while it wouldn't be obvious to the average viewer, there was a definite connection between the tomes she needed for her research, one that could definitely be picked up by well-educated scholars.

Brynn Nimess may have been rude, arrogant, armed with a temper with a hair trigger and with a tongue to match, but if anything else, he was sharp. Kayt had seen that quickly when viewing the man in his anger.

But to refuse his request would certainly raise suspicions in the man, and she was already on his bad side. Within a split second she had made her decision--to show the list would ultimately be less damaging to her goal than to refuse him. Doing her best to keep her calm, Kayt unrolled the scroll in her hands and wordlessly handed it to the scholar.

Re: The Wretched Equation [Kayt/Closed]

With as casual an air as the man could manage, Brynn idly plucked the scroll out of Kayt's hands. His eyes flashed over the list quickly, skimming the titles before double checking the ones he wasn't completely sure about. He recognized nearly all the names, and probably had studied a good half of them or so. The list could have been for any number of reasons, but Brynn was tempted to think this woman could be in search of old Hylian artifacts much as he was. Perhaps it was the first thing to come to mind simply because of his own goals, but many of those books aligned in a similar fashion as his own research did. It would be impossible to tell what she was after specifically, it very well might be a general search as his was, but the clues to suggest it were certainly there.

Maybe he would risk simply asking the woman. He was curious now, though it might be blamed in part to his own desire to escape working at present. Many of the books he had to go through this day were insufferably dry, nothing like the company of a pretty young woman like her. Before he could raise the question, though, he realized that they had already arrived at the librarian's desk and the woman was looking up expectantly. He sniffed irritably, rolling up the scroll but not handing it back to Kayt immediately. Instead, the man placed the purple tome on the counter, "If you would be so kind, I would like this tome to be transferred under Miss Sharidan's name, so that when she loses it I will not be penalized." He did, after all, have an impeccable record at the place, besides the occasional time when he had been thrown out.

The librarian nodded suavely, used to Brynn's biting tongue, and the man turned back to Kayt. He had changed his mind from a moment before; he wouldn't address it quite so directly, "Perhaps you should come by my residence this evening. I may be able to help you find what you're... ah... looking for." The librarian glanced up for a moment, worried Brynn might be addressing her, and a look of relief passed across her face when she realized he was not. The scholar carried on, not noticing, "I've written several articles on a number of these books. If you're stuck in your research, I may be of assistance."

Re: The Wretched Equation [Kayt/Closed]

Kayt weighed her options--going with this man to investigate his own research and see if it would help open up some avenues in her own, or proceed through her own research first. Ultimately, she chose the latter, and bowed slightly to the man, choosing a route of diplomacy despite Nimess' rude words. "I'm afraid I must decline for now," she said politely. "I have much else to do before the morrow. Perhaps another time, sir."

Re: The Wretched Equation [Kayt/Closed]

No? Brynn frowned. It wasn't particularly unexpected but disappointing nonetheless. Perhaps he had been a bit too rough with her at first, though she had clearly deserved it as she now seemed to recognize. Still, he hadn't exactly wanted to scare her away, though maybe that's what he'd done. There was still one card left to play, but he had wanted to hold onto it if he could. As the librarian finished her stamps on the documents that would change the book into Kayt's hands, Brynn resigned himself to playing that card. He wasn't particularly sure why he cared half an ounce over this woman, though it might be more than partially attributed to her figure. Ultimately, though, he knew that the pursuit of knowledge had overridden that carnal desire.

People, as insufferable as they often were, could prove to be mutually beneficial beyond just the physical. As the librarian closed the cover on the book, sliding it across the table toward Kayt, Brynn played his last card, opening the list one more time, "Of course, I understand research waits for no one. This last title though, A Gift to the Hylians? A most wondrous title, indeed. A shame there are no more than four of these in Hyrule Castle Town. Should you ever need a viewing, though," he brushed the keys in his coat pocket so they'd make some noise, "I am one of the few with access to a copy. Do let me know if it's of worth, would you? Of course you will." Brynn handed the woman her list back turning away to head back to his own research, "Take care now, Miss Sharidan, and come find me if you need me."

Re: The Wretched Equation [Kayt/Closed]

"I..."

Kayt was awfully tempted to take up Nimess' offer. A Gift to the Hylians was as rare as it was important, and at some point she'd need to track down the book for her research--she had a feeling that it'd be almost integral to her goal. "Thank you for the kind offer," she said, finally bowing as she accepted the returned listing. "I regret that I cannot join you tonight, but I will be sure to find you should I need your assistance."

She took the transferred book from the table, giving it a cursory look at its condition as she parted ways with Nimess. Perhaps the encounter with the man hadn't been as much of a disaster as she thought, but now she would have to be warier than ever. She couldn't dare let him discern the true objective of her research. He may prove yet to be an ally, but even then, the final endeavor would have to be her's, and her's alone.