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Fandom Library, Wednesday

You know, it had been a hard and confusing couple of days and Arden was just going to spend her shift reading. Sure, she had stuff she could be doing, but you know what else? She also had a book she could finish and she knew which one was going to be a priority today.

Maybe if anybody saw her, they'd assume it was some kind of class assignment. Or maybe they'd accept that sometimes, a little bit of escapism was what a girl needed. Whichever.

But she wasn't completely shirking her responsibilities! If anyone showed up, she'd be happy to help them. Though maybe people could time their visits to coincide with chapter breaks? That would be dope.

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The way she recoiled at the very word probably answered his question for him.

"Professor Amicitia was really great and didn't have marshmallows at all in his camping class. Professor Atreides, too. I just...can't. Different from how I can't with birds, but still can't."

"I'm so sorry." She was missing out on so much gooey goodness. "You can't eat birds either? Are birds scary too? Should I stop saying birds?"

Okay, Arden had to laugh a little bit. "No, no. I mean, I can't eat birds, I would definitely puke, but that's because - remember how I said the sky feels like home? Well, sylphs, like, vibe with birds so hard that we can't eat them. It's like eating people." She gave a shudder. "Still, I'm pretty sure I get the better end of things? Oreads - earth Elementals - supposedly weren't able eat anything with hooves. No pork. And undines couldn't have fish. And dea...huh. I don't know what they wouldn't be able to eat."

"Huh," Gray said. "That blows. I mean, I can eat birds, and I have feathers." He thought about it. "I can eat people, too, sort of." Not dirty.

Yeah, Arden's mind hadn't gone to dirty, it was still stuck on, "Sort of?!"

If you ask her, sort of eating people was way weirder than not being able to eat birds.

"The Nephilim drink blood," Gray told her. "It's, uh. It's the sign of the damned. We don't have to, like vampires or fallen angels, we just...can. Like a bonus thing."

Bonus damned.

"Is there a reason why you would?" Arden asked, relaxing once Gray explained that was like vampiric. That just happened sometimes.

"Yeah?" Gray said, ruffling at his hair again. "A lot, really. We like it. It tastes good to us. There's like a strength boost. It, uh, can be really...intimate. There are some magic rituals it's necessary for. And it makes alcohol work for us. That or ambrosia, or we can't get drunk, unless it's straight absinthe for some reason." He gave her a wry grin. "The club we go to back home is run by a vampire, so obviously that part's not an issue."

Arden nodded. "The book I mentioned before mentioned that back when there were Elementals around, vampires used to bid on them. I guess there's something in our blood that's tasty and gives their magic a kick? So they'd bid on who'd get to drain whatever Elementals had gotten caught, since they couldn't keep them as pets."

Elves were obviously the biggest danger to her existence, but vampires were a close second, according to Callista, Duke, and Grimm.

"I haven't noticed you smelling particularly delicious or anything, if that helps, and...well, I'd love to say our vampires wouldn't do that, but some of them would. Some vampires aren't very nice. Not in Echo Bay, though. Konnar runs a tight ship." And if he didn't get to any vampires that went around draining people first, Gray's family would.

"That would be very weird if you did," Arden said, with a laugh, though she definitely did smell like fresh air and petrichor, like a morning after rain. "I know the Detente allows for vampires to drain humans, but there are restrictions on numbers and how to dispose of them and stuff."

The Detente was a very thorough document.

Gray theatrically draped himself over a chair. "You guys have way too many rules. And so many of them are about murder. It's making me sleepy."

"Most of the rest are about reproduction and property rules," Arden said, laughing. "Those parts are even more boring."

"Noooooooo," Gray moaned. "Not property rules. Do those involve murder, too? They do, don't they?"

"...Yeah, actually," she admitted, trying not to laugh too loudly. "About what happens if people encroach on either human territories or other Othersiders."

StAy In YoUr WoRlD wHeRe YoU'lL bE sAfE! That was what you sounded like, Cal.

"Arden, please don't take this the wrong way, but I think your world might suck."

Granted, it did have indoor plumbing.

And...less institutional racism and sexism! That was...something?

"You're not wrong," she said. "I got so, so, so lucky when I ran away. I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't ended up here."

Probably returned back to Callista within a week or two, tail between her legs.

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Fandom Library, Wednesday

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Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!

Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!

Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!

Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!

Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!

Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!

Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!

Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!

Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!

Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!

Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!

Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!

Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!

Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!

Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!

Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!