Also, PSA here, remember that comment I made about the engines being seen as 'eye candy' in one of the older chapters. Well... let's just say that it comes full circle here. Don't worry, you'll be able to tell where it starts. Just saying, I rated this 'K' for a reason.
The streets had begun to fill with more people as the sun rose to its place in the sky. It was one of those rare days where clouds didn't shroud the sky, so you could actually see the sun. Shale always preferred the former, easier to sneak around unnoticed. Not to mention it captured the theme of the town better. Or maybe that was just her disposition.
Actually, it's was probably all three.
Shale stuck her hands in her pockets, shoulders tight by her side in anticipation as she walked though the crowd. Whenever she felt someone pass to close her hand twitched to her knifes hilt. Renneas followed behind, his posture was oddly formal. His hands were folded against his belly in a manner that reminded Shale of some posh business men. But the expression reminded her that he wasn't anything like those people. His eyes kept darting around the area, his hands would occasionally move to his collar. All in all, he looked nervous and non-threatening and with the aura Shale was giving of, it was needed.
They started to receive more of hand looks, but Shale usually ignored them. She just wanted to get to the library, find something useful and get out. Though the library was near the centre of the town so she would have to be wary of police officers, great.
The library was up ahead and when they walked in, the air outside sent a slight draft indoors but once the doors shut it was replaced with a much warmer temperature. Shale almost considered taking of her jacket, but it was both the only half decent piece of clothing she wore and the only thing to hide all the faded but still healing bruises. So she just pulled it tighter and walked inside. She passed the librarians desk and made her way to the back. She had only ever visited the library with Picks, but it was mostly to both teach her how to read and how to pickpocket sleeping or studying students. Though she also noticed that there were these large boxes near the back where a large group of kids in there teen years were congregating.
Before she went to investigate, she felt Renneas gently tap her shoulder. "Huh, what up?"
"Its just, since we're here I should confess something." He started adjusting his collar again.
Shale pinched the bridge of her nose. "Let me guess, you can't read."
"Well, not exactly. I do know a little bit of reading. But not that much, at least enough to be useful."
"Oh, that's not so bad." She shrugged and led them near to the back while skimming through the catalogs. "I can't really read either. I'm just looking for anything that happens to have a tree on it."
She started pulling out some of the books on the shelves, carrying the ones that had some kind of plant on the cover. Though she made an effort to try and choose some of the books meant for you he and more inexperienced readers. Renneas followed behind, though he'd sometimes open some of the book he pick of in a attempt to read. He usually placed them back after a few minutes. Shale had a large stack under each of her arms and Renneas offered to carry some of them more than once.
"Look, I'll be fine. Besides I wanted to look through these anyways." Shale walked over to one of the farther off desks and dropped the books unceremoniously. She pulled of the first and began flipping through the pages. Most of the books she had found were either kiddie nature books, large atlases meant for college teens or short biographies about the surrounding forests and the native wildlife. Shale relied heavily on the pictures and frequently flipped to the glossary for definitions and even still she had trouble with a majority of the words.
Though as for Renneas, he just stood by her. Not knowing what else he could do he began observing the other humans. He was still nervous, but also exited given how he'd always had begun to develop a slight interest in humans literature, despite not knowing how to read much at all. So after looking back to Shale, he tapped against her shoulder lightly. The later had already heard him coming and turned around to meet his gaze, it was obvious he was nervous since he started fighting with his collar again.
"Yea Renneas? Something wrong?" She dropped a arm over the backrest of the old wooden chair.
"Well I was just... you see I would, uh. If it isn't to much of a hassle-" He tried to find the best way to word what he had to say. Then he took a deep breath and moved his hands down to his side. "If you would spare the time and effort, then would it be possible if you could teach me how to read?"
Shale gave him a flat look as he mumbled the first part of his request but relaxed into a smile once he finally made his point clear. "Sure Ren, it'd make this a lot easier for the both of us anyways. I was actually wondering how long it'd take for ya to ask yourself." She pulled out a few books, though one marginally bigger than the rest . "Here, you can go through the smaller one, but hide it with the bigger one."
He smile grateful as he took the books into hand cautiously. Though he noticed a clear difference between the two, one having a somewhat cartoony cover whole the other featured black and white polaroid-style images of plants. "Uhh, I am incredibly thankful, but may I ask why you gave me two?"
"It's cause you need to act like your a student and it'd look suspicious if someone saw someone in their late teens reading a kiddie book. And attention is the last thing we need. Granted you still look suspicious anyways, but every bit counts and they might just think your wearing makeup or somethin'. Try to find a seat a little farther from me though, it's best we look like we don't know each other. Anyone with functioning eyes can tell I'm a street rat, but stay within earshot and my cone of vision. Scream if something goes wrong."
Renneas listened intently, but was caught off by her last instructions. "Wait, aren't you supposed to be quiet in places like this?"
She resisted the urge to facepalm. "That's what your worried about."
"Well, your other points are concerning. But it's just...well, I don't want to cause trouble for you."
"Hey man," She stepped up out of her chair and after a brief hesitation, set her hand against his shoulder. "That just means if you do scream out, then you actually mean it." Despite the layers Shale insisted on holding up, even she had to admit to letting them down. Granted she still kept a heavy guard, but it was hard to be strict or even generally displeased around him, or the rest of the Engines. Renneas was asking for permission, showing genuine concern and despite his experiences with some of the cruelest upbringings, was oddly trusting. All of which were rarities and traits she believed to be dead.
Along with traits she believed were almost useless.
Renneas nodded and after giving her hand a quick shake, made his way over to a nearby table. She took notice of the surroundings, close to the computers, small groups huddled around - probably researching something or playing games, one lone boy and identical twin. Both brown hair and eyed, load of books, people looking at them - whispering. Possibly famous? She kept them in mind as she went back to looking through the books.
::::
Renneas walked over to where he presumed the reading area was, given the assortment of different chairs. A majority were just simple wooden chairs but their were also plush - if somewhat worn - couches along with what seemed to be an array of colourful stuffed bags. He crouched over one and when he moved to inspect it, it wasn't filled with the soft material he expected. Rather, it was more akin to small pebbles. Well, if it was set beside the other chairs then it must've be meant to be sat on. So he moved to sit on the bag, only to sink almost immediately.
He yelped in surprise, but calmed after a moment. His legs were set at a odd angle and he had to struggle to push himself up again since his hand would sometimes sink into the bag. When he managed to stand up again, he picked up his books and instead moved over to the couch. He took a seat by the edge - thankfully not sinking in as deeply or as suddenly as before - and folded open the larger book. It was actually not as complex as he expected and despite not knowing a majority of the words, he found it very interesting. But he had to start small so he opened the smaller book inside the fold of the other.
The words in this one were much more basic and Renneas could understand the majority. Every so often he'd flick back to the larger book whenever he found something similar. Most of the pages were about the native plant life on the island, animals, plants, bugs, things like that. There were red and white 'caution' signs printed next to some of the images to show they were poisonous. Renneas made sure to bookmark those pages mentally and to show them of to Shale later.
He made his way through the first and most of the second book before he felt like someone was watching him. He turned his head up to look around but everyone else seemed unfocused on him or their own thing. So he turned back to reading. The temperature inside of the library was relatively warm and his own vest was already somewhat toasty. Even though this was a welcomed feeling as an engine, it felt vastly different as a human. His forehead felt damp and when he brushed his sleeves over he noticed a dark patch that felt moist.
The heat made his clothes felt scratchy so he unbuttoned his vest and laid it over the shoulder rest of the couch before attempting to continue reading. The heat began to dissipate but it was still uncomfortable, so he loosened some of the buttons around the collar and folded up his sleeves up past his elbow. Now he felt better, but the feeling of being watched was back again. He didn't even see who it was, so why did he feel so anxious? Renneas just tried to focus the best he could on reading again.
He kept his gaze focused in the words on the page of the larger book, he was beginning to understand some of the larger words now. But along with the carpeted floor, he didn't pick up on the soft click of heels in his direction. Renneas focus was finally snapped when he felt someone's hand draped over his shoulder and a sharp wold whistle behind him.
"Hey smart guy, mind lending you big brain over for a moment?"
He snapped his head to the side and almost jumped out of his seat. Another girl, not Shale, was leaning against the couch. Her eyes were half lidded and her gaze trailed up and down his body. He didn't know why, but his first instincts were to frown and tell her off. But he kept his expression polite, she did ask for help after all. "Of course, How may I help?"
She smiled and walked around to the front of the couch. That's when he got a better look at her outfit and in his terms, it was scandalous. A loose light red shirt with a semi-transparent material flowing down the sleeves and just barely cutting below her mid-drift. Her skirt was very short, ending halfway down her thighs. Her hair was bright blond with a streak of hot pink running through and draped around her smooth face and blue eyes along several silver chains hanging from her neck . By human standards she was rather pretty, but he didn't feel attracted.
Renneas didn't know how to react when she draped her arm over his shoulder and pressed closer into his personal space. She leaned over and looked at the page he was at and traced the outline of where his fingers were marked. "So, wanna give me a lesson?"
"I-I uh..." he went to tug at his open collar again, he started feeling warmer again. "I don't believe I am-I am entirely qualified for that."
"Ohh please, I can't even understand half of whatever's written here. Your definitely smarter than me." She smiled again, but it still somehow unnerved him.
"Well, then I suppose both of us will learn from this."
She started tracing up his hands. "Oh I'm sure I will."
"Were should we start then? Oh wait!" He flipped to the first page which, from what he could assume, detailed how each animal and plant co-existed on the island. "I suppose we should start at the beginning, unless you have somewhere else we would want to begin?"
He turned back to look at her, but for some reason she gave him a incredulous expression. But it disappeared into a tight smile. "Alright, you wanna play like that. But I'd be happy just listening to you all day."
"Oh, thank you." He smiled. So he began reading out loud some of the captions on the food-chain. He had to take a few moments to pronounce some of the words and afterwards he'd ask the girl if he got them right. But she always just give a quick 'go on' and he'd continue to read. Renneas would occasionally ask if she understood, but all she did was nod.
He started to wonder if she was even paying attention. About halfway through one page she began tracing up his forearm. "Y'know, for a nerd you're real chiseled out."
"Ahh, thank you?" Renneas didn't expect comments like this. He didn't even expect that he'd be attractive to humans.
She leaned forward and placed a hand over his abs. "Y'know, I've got a thing for your type; dark, muscled and nerdy. Sure you don't wanna take this somewhere more private?"
Renneas knew she wasn't panting attention now and he certainly wasn't fond of his current position. "I-I don't understand but-but could you please move back. Your making very-mfp!"
"Ssh, don't try to deny it. You know what I want, I know what you want. You should be grateful that I've taken interest in you."
Alright, that was it.
Renneas was about to pull her hand if and protest imminently, but it seemed like someone was about to do it for him. Then he felt someone grabbed the others girl and pulled her of. But he didn't notice at first, he hadn't realized but he'd closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes he saw another girl, this one with simple brown hair and eyes along with a boy who looked like her twin. She and the other boy were currently yelling at each other. It would've escalated if the librarian hadn't hushed both of them and yelled for them to break it up.
Shale stomped over halfway through and along with several threats to take this outside (they had to hold her back when it looked like Shale was going to attack her) but they managed to get her to leave. She pouted at first, until Shale grabbed her by one of the necklaces and practically forced her back. Shale then imminently stepped between the twins and Edward, glaring daggers at them.
"If you guys were in on this, then you better run like hell once you step outside." Her hand was now firmly clasped over the handle and the twins seemed to take notice, backing of imminently.
"Shale don't!" Renneas turned to face her, eying the knife. "Please, you misunderstood. They were the first to intervene."
Anger still coursed behind her eyes, they were practically burning. Her other fist was shaking and her nails dug into her palms. "To bad I still want to turn her skin as red as that shirt."
All three of them went wide eyed at that and the boy stepped forward. "C'mon, she's gone. It's not your fault."
"Then how come you had to step in when it should've been me?" She snapped back. 'Stupid, why didn't you notice sooner.'
"Shale, please. I don't blame you for what happened. So please don't blame yourself."
She was going to snap back again, but instead just growled to herself. Even though this still set both of the twins on edge. Shale was more angry with herself than the other three, she should've noticed sooner if she paid attention better. It was one of the street smarts that actually carried over to most other things she did. "Still, I should've done something." She mumbled to herself.
"Well she didn't hurt me, so that's good." Renneas pushed down his sleeves and pulled on his vest. "Though I don't understand what just happened there, but it certainly was uncomfortable."
That made the three humans cringe both internally and slightly externally. They looked to each other and they all had the same thoughts 'Are you gonna tell him? Cause I won't.' In the end, Shale just broke the silence. "What she did was definitely wrong by human standards, let's leave it at that."
"Agreed." The twins stated simultaneously.
"Wow, nice sinc you two." She commented.
"Yea, comes with being twins." The man smiled. "Wait, no that's obvious, of course we look like twins."
The sister moved a hand to cover the side of her mouth mockingly. "For a computer nerd, you think he'd be smarter."
"I said I'm a hacker." He mumbled. But he still smiled anyways.
Renneas held out his hand for a shake and the boy returned the gesture."Well then, I am very grateful for your help Mister and Miss, uhh."
He seemed surprised, Shale took note of the reaction. "Please, drop the formalities. I'm Stephen."
"Names Bridget." The girl waved.
Stephen gave Renneas a curious expression. "Wow, that's some pretty good makeup man."
"Yea it's pretty good, kinda reminds me of the engines." Bridget added, but then her expression turned somber, then angry. "I wonder if any of em' are still out there?"
That's when Renneas felt something click mentally. He'd seen these two before, only they were much younger and he was much larger. Not to mention metal. He pulled away imminently, though he tried not to show his fear it was still visible to Shale. He began tugging at his collar again.
"One sec, I think Ren needs to take a step outside for a sec." Shale pulled him by the arm and out to the exit. But not before stuffing the books he'd been reading in her bag. She spotted a fire exit near the back and after a quick glance behind, pushed the door open. Thankfully, nobody noticed her and Renneas slipping out.
At this point, he seemed to relax and didn't protest when Shale lead him away from the library and back to the edges of town. Both of them sat against the short rock ledge against the sidewalk by the entrance back into the forest. She offered Renneas the book, but he seemed more focused on the cracks in the pavement.
Eventually she broke the silence. "Somethings wrong Ren, don't try to hide it." All he did was give a slight nod. "It was those twins, wasn't it? You knew them when you were Engines."
He nodded again. "Alright, but that can't be enough to make you so nervous. Even if they are human. So they probably worked on the railway with you then, or you had some kind of interactions with them. Whatever it was, it was probably negative."
"A-actually, I knew them as children." He finally spoke up.
"So what, did they mess with your controls or something?"
"Heh, no. They were actually rather polite for children of their age. It's just... it's not them that I'm scared of."
Shale shifted closer over to Renneas. "Who? I mean, I'm sorry if that brings up bad memories, but it'd be better if I knew who I'm supposed to avoid. But you don't need to talk."
He swallowed hard and Shale watched his Adam's apple bob. "I-It was th-the-ir father. He was also m-my friends controller and-" Renneas hands moved to his lap and balled his fists. "And he was also their killer."