The Kivin Library Chronicles – The Book Thief

Vindayr's muzzle was nearly pressed into A Tale of Two Ladybirds when Kiv made his way back over. They marked their page and heartily returned the nudge, nodding along as their brother went over the mission. With a grin and nod, Vin was already walking towards the front door as they talked. "I don't think it would hurt." The pup replied with a short laugh as they made their way outside. "You know, that sounds like a good excuse to take a walk by the park. Maybe we can walk by Coliseum or go through the rest of the city after, and keep an eye out."

Once outside, Vin trotted along the street with the park on their right side, carrying on a lively conversation with Kiv. The thought of how to 'actually' get the book back from someone hadn't occurred to them yet, in fact they weren't thinking much about it at all, and it seemed like Vin was feeling comfortable enough to be outside without any fear or fuss. Not consciously at least. They still tried to be away from crowds while walking down the street, and stayed rather close (and occasionally bumping into) Vin.

"And you were worried that Libby was going to be mad at you forever." Vin spoke softly to their brother, more than happy to use their nickname for the Librarian once out of earshot. "It's just the way she is And besides, you and I have helped around the library so much already. Even if she were upset, I think she would get over it quickly enough." The conversation abrubtly paused as Vin finally thought to look around. They had been thinking of the order as more of an excuse to take a walk and gotten distracted by conversation. Purple book, red blob. Keep an eye out. "Though...we should...probably not try calling her Libby again."

((WC: 314))

Vin took a quick glance around as they waited for Kiv to catch up, nodding in agreement. "I haven't figured that out yet, but it seems important to her. I'm sure we'll learn about it eventually." Giving their brother another friendly nudge, Vin took another look at the surrounding area. "Ok, Libby said they're probably still in the city. Let's just keep an eye out for plenty of red and a little purple..."

Vins voice trailed off again, their eyes drifting up to a spot of red crossing their vision. Coming from the apartment towers and heading towards the arena, Vin fixed their eyes on a rather bight red lizard with equally bright green wings that matched their eyes. A long, whip-like tail curled around a purple object, that Vin thought looked vaguely book shaped. It was too perfect, Vin thought. He'd of laughed, if he wasn't so shocked.

"...Huh. Like that." The pup added, looking directly at the lizard.

"Huh?" With unexpected speed, the lizard quickly scampered in front of Vin, making the pup cower a little. Louvre, the red lizard, looked between the two kids, seeming rather confused. "Whaddya mean, like that? What are ya talkin' about?"

With a curious head-tilt, Louvre scurried closer, inches from Vins face. "Say...do I know you from somewhere, kid?" Vin froze, looking between the lizard Kiv. All they could think about was the angry blob that chased them away from their poffdula digging, and this one was so much closer, Vin didn't think they could escape . They tried to say something, anything, but nothing but a light whimper came out.

((Wc: 268))

Still frozen, Vin was left staring at the thief, meekly whimpering as their thoughts ran wild. They weren't processing anything else happening around them for a moment, until Kiv shouted right next to him. As their brother shrank back just a bit from their own yell, Vin dove to the ground with a yelp.

Vin had shrunk as low to the ground as they could, their back wings wrapping most of their body in a tiny ball. Their face was also hidden by their ears and headwings spreading out, the pup desperately trying to shut himself away from their assailant. Why did they even agree to this? In the back of their mind, Vin knew that getting a book back from a thief might have an unpleasant confrontation, and confrontation wasn't something Vin could handle at all. Now it was on their smaller, more timid brother to stand in front, and put on the bravest face he could as he tried to talk the red Lizard down.

And...it seemed to work. Still shaking and fruitlessly hiding themself, Vin could only hear Louvre stammering out an apology before going silent. Slowly, Vin spread his headwing's feathers to allow a single eye to look out: Kiv was still standing strong in front of them, while the thief was scampering as fast as he could towards the apartment towers. Vin might of laughed at how random it seemed, and thought more about what Louvre saw that spooked him, but they still seemed to be freaking out a little as the pup gradually revealed themself and stood on shaky legs.

"I...I'm ok. I think." Vin said with a quiet, shaky voice. Everything from the pup's tone to his posture said that they weren't, their head now swimming with fear and guilt. Fear of something like that ever happening again, fear that Kiv would think lesser of them for this, fear that Kiv would get himself hurt protecting Vin again. Guilt that they hadn't been able to stand up to the thief, that they forced Kiv to put himself in that situation. It all weighed on Vin as they slowly stood up, leaning heavily against their brother in the process. "T-thank you so much, Kiv. Come on...l-let's get this book back to L-Libby. Y-y-you really s-scared him off, didn't you?"

((WC: 388))