Hibiscus Oswald
Londo Sperry THE GREAT!
Londo was currently sprawled out on the bed that belonged to Lyka, Hibiscus’s fairy companion, while Hibiscus was sleeping peacefully in her own, on her side facing where Londo was snoring away. After the events of the previous night, you’d think someone would just sleep the whole day away, but these two had other plans…
Hibiscus groggily opened her eyes, her first sight of the day being Londo, with a hand under his shirt that was seeming there to scratch something, but was too lazy to move it back out, sprawled around the entire bed on top of the covers. Hibiscus sat up straight looking around in a panic wondering what Londo was doing there, before calm set in, realizing her had been there the night before. Lyka wasn’t there, of course, as she went back to the dorm with Alice, Londo’s spirit. Hibiscus quietly got out of bed, glancing at Londo, who still seemed to be peacefully snoring there without a care in the world, and gathered some things to go take a bath.
While in the bath, Hibiscus thought about last night, and how the entire set of events was probably put into motion by her… It was disheartening, and if Londo had not been there last night.... Hibiscus sighed, then got out of the bath getting dressed and going back to her room, where Londo was just now starting to awaken.
He looked just as groggy as Hibiscus felt, gave her a small wave, and got out of bed, walking towards the door, “
I’ll be right back.” He said, going to his own room to get some stuff needed for an early-morning shower. Once he opened the door to his room, he saw Alice still drooling on her pillow, and Hibiscus’s fairy, Lyka, sprawled out on Londo’s pillow. He decided not to say anything to them for now, and just got some stuff to take a bath.
Once he left the room, and went to shower, Londo had a thought about what to do, “
What to do, what to do?...” Because along the way, he was already hearing rumors about how the new librarian girl was responsible for everything. He knew from last night- er, this morning from what Hibiscus had said, that she was the cause for all this. Although Londo didn’t think it was really her fault, she still seemed like she was the sole cause of it.
Londo nodded to himself in the baths, then got up to dry off and get changed, heading back towards Hibiscus’s room. He knocked once on the door, and upon hearing a weak, “
C-Come in…” Londo opened the door and went to go sit down on the bed next to Hibiscus, where she was currently moping at, staring at the ground.
Londo thought for a moment, and said, “
Alright! Let’s go!” He announced, grabbing Hibiscus’s arm, much to her dismay, “
W-Wait! Stop it! Let go! Where are you taking me?!” while struggling to get out of his grasp.
Londo did let go, which caused her to fall backwards onto the bed, and held her arm where Londo had grabbed it, “
I’m taking you to apologize, or talk it out, whatever! You need to talk about what happened last night with the librarian, and the headmaster.”
Hibiscus shook with fear, “
B-b- I can’t… If I go now, t-then they’ll…” She mumbled, drifting off.
Londo sighed, and said, “
Hey, you can sit here forever and mope about it, or you can do something.” Not very helpful advice, but it seemed to give Hibiscus some pause, “
Anyways, if you think it’s all your fault, at least talk about it and apologize, although I don’t think you’re the one to blame…”
Hibiscus thought about it for a moment, and sighed, her shoulders sinking, “
Y-You’ll be there with me, right?...” She asked, not wanting to be alone today. She COULD have asked Lyka for help, but then again, Lyka most likely wouldn’t be helpful in this current situation.... “
A-Alright,” She said, before Londo could reply, “
I’ll go.”
Londo nodded and gave her a thumbsup, “
Alright! Now first stop, the library! Assuming the old hag is there!” He said, to which Hibiscus gasped, hoping that the hag didn’t have super hearing to smite Londo.
With that, Londo and Hibiscus made their way to the library, hoping to find the librarian there…
After some walking, and hopefully no gazes and stares from other students who knew that Hibiscus was the new librarian hire, they went into the library, looking for the librarian that seemed to have disdain for anyone named Rainer.
---
As the two young Mages entered the Academy Library, they had no trouble finding the girl they were seeking. Her desk was fairly obvious, after all. Though she appeared to have had a long night of her own; she had fallen asleep in her chair, an open book still resting in her lap. She seemed to also have a tendency to mumble things in her sleep, though it was rather difficult to understand her words from a reasonable standing distance.
---
Hibiscus started to make her way to the librarian, but upon seeing her asleep in her chair, she turned around, grabbed the front of her skirt, and walked away, not wanting to disturb her. Londo reached out an arm as she passed by, grabbed hers, and spun around quickly with her in tow, facing her back towards the librarian.
Hibiscus shuffled a bit, but didn’t leave, finally speaking, “
I-I really don’t want to do this… I still feel ashamed…”
Londo shrugged, “
Either that, or you stand around brooding all day not improving.”
Hibiscus breathed some air out her nose, then walked towards the librarian’s desk. Taking a deep breath, and looking back at Londo who gave her two thumbs up, Hibiscus looked at the librarian and said, “
H-Hello? Miss Librarian? I need to speak to you…”
---
”Mmmgh,” Chiseko twitched a little as Hibiscus tried to gently wake her with words. In a louder voice than before, she could be heard replying
”Gingerbread is the foundation of the Original Four.” Ok, so maybe she wasn’t actually replying to Hibiscus.
---
Hibiscus seemed a bit downtrodden, and was about to just give up when Londo yelled in a louder voice, “
YO TEACH, TIME TO WAKE UP!” Which made Hibiscus jump a bit from the sudden increase in volume.
---
”HWAH!” Chiseko bolted upright, book tumbling from her lap as she was startled awake. Her eyes blinked furiously as they tried to focus on what woke her up. After a moment or two of lag from her brain still trying to wake up, she was able to focus enough on Londo.
”Mmph, you can’t shout like that, you know? We’re in a library!” Though she seemed to be trying to chastise Londo, her face seemed more pouty than furious.
---
Londo and Hibiscus could only think ‘How adorable’, before Hibiscus cleared her throat and spoke up, “
M-Miss Librarian! I-I wanted to speak to you… About....” Hibiscus took a moment to gather her thoughts, “
A-About what happened earlier this morning… I wanted to, uh, talk about it with you and the headmaster.”
Hibiscus was silent for only a moment before speaking up again, “
O-oh. S-Sorry for waking you up…”
---
Chiseko shuffled around as Hibiscus spoke, picking up the book she had dropped and adjusting her desk. She also tried straightening her clothes a bit, but considering she basically wore pajamas around the clock, there wasn't a whole lot of improvement to be found there.
As Chiseko finished quickly adjusting things, a red crystal appeared in the air next to her. Rather than shooting out petrifying beams though, this one seemed to just reheat the tea on her desk from last night. Caffeine supply now secured, she took a sip from her mug.
"So? What did you want to talk about?"
---
Hibiscus slightly tilted her head at the way the librarian was acting. She seemed awfully different from a few days ago…
Hibiscus sighed to get all of the anxiety out of her system. She quickly glanced around to make sure noone else was there or within earshot, and then said, “
W-Well… I wanted to talk about that grimoire, and the stuff that happened this morning. You said how, uh, how there were seals or something right? I’m sure you know about it already, but yesterday we saw a girl who said I helped release her and her mistress… I-Isn’t there something we can do about it?! She confirmed it was MY fault for the invasion! I-If I hadn’t touched that grimoire….” Hibiscus said, trailing off, not knowing what to say next.
---
Chiseko glanced at Londo, silently inquiring as to whether he had given Hibiscus some edibles or something.
"Did you not see the news this morning? King Gilgamesh said it was a terrorist attack caused by some mad scientist guy that hated Uruk."
---
Hibiscus stared at the librarian for a second before responding, “
T-Terrorist attack?!”
Londo shrugged in the background, “
Well that IS true, anyone causing terror can be classified as a terrorist.”
“
W-Wait! It may have been someone else that coordinated the attack, but the girl that came from the portal said it was thanks to me that her and her mistress was freed! That’s still my fault! I had a part in it!”
“
Accidentally had a part in it.” Londo said, stressing the ‘accidental’ part of the sentence to show that Hibiscus wasn’t a willing participant.
---
"If she said that she had already managed to release her Mistress, then she was bluffing," Chiseko sighed as she spoke, or maybe it was more of a yawn.
"There's no way that idiot bird could've already gathered enough power to brute force all the seals, and she's not the type to think of faster methods."
---
Hibiscus stared at the librarian and blinked to show confusion, while Londo tilted his body to the right to look around Hibiscus, “
Uhhh. Did you say something about how she’s not the type to think of faster methods?...” He asked, while Hibiscus nodded, agreeing with him, “
Y-Yea… How do you know what kind of type she is?!”
Londo shrugged, “
Either you know her, or you read about her, seeing as you’re in a library. Which is it?”
“
If you read about her, please let me see where you did!”
---
This one was very clearly a sigh, though Chiseko certainly still looked tired enough to yawn.
"With Lord Omoikane's help, I was able to finish deciphering the grimoire. The prisoner it refers to was a powerful vampire that roamed the land some 80 years ago. She and her three primary servants caused all manner of trouble in the outer reaches of the kingdom, since their powers allowed them to command many monsters. Eventually though, the Mages of that era were able to seal them away in a special prison that floats between what's left of the borders of Terra and Gaea. The vampire herself was sealed in the deepest level, with her servants in the outer layers.
"Of her three primary servants, only one was a girl, and she was also the one in the outermost layer of the prison. She's a Spirit known as a 'night sparrow', and a bizarrely powerful one at that. That said, she was also well-known as being far from the brightest bulb around, and she generally preferred to use brute force to solve her issues. Assuming that the person you ran into was indeed connected to the grimoire, it could only have been the bird-brain herself. And since we haven't heard about towns being wiped off the face of the earth or any major power plants being taken over, it's safe to assume that she has not made nearly enough progress to have released her Mistress yet."
---
Hibiscus’s face was blank as she stared at the librarian, “
Ah… So… It was a lie? She just lied to me?...”
On one hand, Hibiscus was extremely relieved, but on the other…
“
W-Well, even if that’s true, she still thanked me for helping her… I still had a hand in-”
“
Gaaah!” Londo said, throwing his hands into the air, “
She’s saying it doesn’t matter, Hibby! I think… Either way, thinking about it will get you nowhere. The librarian said bird lady didn’t have the power to release the mistress yet, and if you hadn’t touched that book, then she probably would have gone for it anyways to help herself out! If anything, what you did was better for us, since we got the grimoire able to be deciphered and everything! Right Miss Librarian?” Londo said, trying to get confirmation from the source.
---
"Well no, the grimoire was an autonomous release mechanism designed by the second servant to activate after a few years so it could start breaking the seals. If it had never been released, then it would probably have taken another century or so for the prison seals to degrade far enough for an escape attempt to be made."
---
“
Hahaha Just forget what she said Hibby-” Londo said, moving in between her and the librarian and waving his arms around, “
Point is, it would have happened anyways, so no point in worrying!” He said, while Hibiscus just seemed a bit more down.
“
I guess…” She said, although she didn’t fully believe it.
Londo, noticing her being down, replied, “
Well, let’s just put a pin in it! You wanted to talk to the head honcho right?” To which Hibiscus nodded, “
Good! Then let’s go!”
“
Ah-” Hibiscus spoke up, “
B-Before we go. Miss Guerin, when did you want me to start working in here?”
---
"Mm, just drop by whenever you feel like working. There's always something to be done."
---
Hibiscus nodded, and said, “
O-Ok! I’ll come back later today then! I have to take care of something first!” Hibiscus said, giving a small wave before leaving the library with Londo, who spoke up and said, “
Ah, so now we head to the headmaster’s office!”
Hibiscus shook her head, “
Nope! I want to help YOU out now! With your girl trouble after you uh… Smacked that one girl on the butt…”
“
Ah.” Londo replied, “
Uh, I don’t think that’s-”
“
Londo-” Hibiscus said, turning back to stare at him, “
You made me go back and talk my problems out, now it’s your turn.”
Londo scratched the back of his head nervously, “
Yea, but, I already did, and-”
Hibiscus squinted her eyes, “
And you’re going to do it again! Until your apology gets through to her head!”
“
Y-yea, but-”
“
No butts!” Hibiscus said, grabbing Londo’s arm and dragging him through the halls.
It was around 11:45, which was about the time people ate lunch at, so Hibiscus, with an unwilling Londo, walked through the halls until they made their way into the cafeteria, looking for the mage that Londo had fought in the 2 versus 2 tournament.
---
Among the many faces gathered in the cafeteria, there were a few that Londo recognized. One in particular stuck in his mind as having been seated at the table with Emberly and the other girls last time. She seemed to be sitting alone at her table, munching away at a salad. The Academy cafeteria wasn't exactly hailed as the best dining spot in all of Uruk, but usually its food was at least decent. The girl wore a rather apathetic-looking expression as she ate though.
---
Londo looked around, noticing the girl from before, but shrugged and said, “
Welp, she isn’t here. I guess we can’t-” But Hibiscus grabbed his arm and started walking towards the table he saw his eyes linger at for a second, which must have been the girl Londo had to apologize to. She pushed his back and shoved him towards the table, which Londo was slightly confused at, “
Uhhh…” Londo said, looking around, “
Is Caoihme around?”
Hibiscus’s eyes widened, “
W-Wait, that isn’t the girl you need to apologize to?”
Londo shrugged, “
No, I told you she wasn’t here.” he said, sighing.
---
The girl looked up as Londo began to speak, staring at him for a moment to try and recall where she had seen him before.
”Caoimhe? Ah, you are that boy… euh, the word, le pervertir, hein? She is gone to visit her famille.”
---
Londo shrugged to Hibiscus, who glared at the girl, “
Hey, Londo isn’t a pervert, he’s just... ” she paused, trying to find the right word, “
Ok he can be pretty dumb sometimes.”
“
Hey!”
“
But he’s a good guy, I swear!” Hibiscus said, trying to convince the other girl, but Londo just put a hand on Hibiscus’s shoulder and shook his head, “
Look, she isn’t here. I told you she needs a bit of time, although-” Londo looked at the girl whose name he didn’t know, “
Can you tell Caoihme if she wants to hear my apology, that she can just seek me out? I don’t want to bother her anymore now.
” he asked of the girl who was alone.
---
”Bon. I shall tell her if I see her.” The girl didn’t seem to care much about Hibiscus’s claims that Londo was just an idiot instead of a bad guy. Then again, she didn’t seem to care much about Londo being called a pervert either.
---
Londo nodded, gave a small wave to the girl, then led Hibiscus to another part of the cafeteria, namely, the place where you got the food itself, “
Welp, that certainly was a day, what’d’ya say we have something to eat instead? If you don’t have anything else going on that is.”
Hibiscus didn’t want to leave it at that, but she didn’t really have much choice, and it seemed like Londo had tried once before at least. Maybe he was right, and it was best to leave her be at this moment, so she nodded, and they both ordered lunch.
Nothing much was said over lunch, just a silent meal, neither knowing what to talk about exactly. Finally, Londo spoke up, “
So, when are you planning to work in the library?”
Hibiscus thought about it for a moment, then replied, “
Hmm, I was thinking today, better to start now and learn more about the books so nothing bad like that happens again right? Probably over the next few days as well! I can’t wait to see what different kinds of genres there are waiting for me! Oh, let me know when you plan to fight in the tournament, I want to watch you again!”
Londo, finally finishing his meal, gave her a thumbs up, “
I’ll let you know! I’ll tell Ryan to bring his A-game as well!” Getting up from the table.
Hibiscus did the same, walking with him to deposit their trays in the place to deposit them.
Londo wondered what he would do next, and walked with Hibiscus through the halls. More of the rumors they had been hearing the whole time cropped up, coming from other students, one of which Hibiscus gasped at, “
W-Wait?! Did you just hear?! That blood harvester rumor?!” Hibiscus panicked, but Londo looked at her, his head tilted in confusion, “
What do you mean? What’s so bad about it?”
While walking, Hibiscus quickly glanced around, making sure noone else was in earshot, “
I met that blood harvester! It’s not a rumor, it’s a fact!” And then Hibiscus recounted her event at the tea party.
Londo thought about it for a moment, his hand to his chin, “
Hmmm, rumors that are real…” It wasn’t that far-fetched, especially considering he knew about Yune from a rumor that turned out to be true, “
Rumor investigation… That sounds like an idea!”
Before Hibiscus could mutter out more than a single, “
W-What?...” Londo gave a small wave, and ran away to his dorm room, saying, “
I’ll catch ya later Hibby! I’m gonna go investigate those rumors we’ve been hearing!”
Hibiscus was left alone, near the entrance of the library, sighing, but then smiling, “
He can be such a clutz sometimes, but…” She said, trailing off, then going off to begin her first day on the job.