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He really didn't know what to do.
First his nice quiet castle had been invaded by people. They were taking the mostly-intact books (something about preserving them, that was good) and working on making it so the castle wasn't falling down. That was good, but there were PEOPLE. And CHILDREN. Somebody had brought children in to show them the castle. It wasn't that children were BAD, not exactly, they were just... loud. And unpredictable. And FRIGHTENING.
So he hid in a crate of outgoing books. They were going to a different library, so he wanted to go there. Maybe it was quieter.
That worked, sort of. There were people working on fixing the old books, but there were lots of new books to read, and it was a big library without many people. Lots of things to read.
That kept him occupied for... probably ten years, at least. He'd read all of the nonfiction by that time, plus a few masterpieces of fiction, and he was starting on some of the historical fiction when the renovating started. There were people moving things around, pulling things apart and putting them back together, and really just making far too much noise. And they were large, loud people. He was afraid of them.
And, in a moment of desperation, he ran. Right out the door.
And he regretted it.
The world was different. He'd known that much, he'd known things were changing (he'd read all the books he could find about technological advancements), but... he hadn't realized what it meant to have OVER SEVEN BILLION PEOPLE ON EARTH.
It was crowded and loud and bright and SCARY.
HELP.
He ran. And when that didn't help, he scrambled up a tree and hid, because he didn't know what else to do.
The poor little record-keeping shade curled himself into a tiny ball on top of a branch, closed his eyes, covered his face, and basically just had a bit of a panic attack.
More than a bit, honestly.
A lot of a panic attack.
And then the wind picked up.

Breaker was NOT expecting to have a freaked-out shade fall into his lap. Literally into his lap. "Holy ****" he yelped, extremely startled, then blinked and looked even more surprised when the random falling nerd squeaked and suddenly turned into a small stone. "What the- hey, come out of there!"

NOPE. He wasn't coming out. EVER. He didn't know how to interact with people! He hadn't interacted with people in decades, and very seldom before that. So he was just going to stay like this and hope the human left him alone.
That didn't happen.

Breaker picked the stone up, turning it over a couple of times, then tucked it into a fold of his scarf. "Okay. We're going somewhere quieter so I can try to get you out of there, because I wanna find out what exactly you are."

Bad. Bad bad bad-
There probably would have been a flailing panic attack going on, if stones could have flailing panic attacks. As it was, he just settled for a ten-minute-long mental panic attack.

Once in his nice quiet basement, Breaker picked the stone up again, then gently traced two fingertips over the top of it. "Hey there. I know somebody's in there, so hiding won't do you much good. Now... I'm friendly. I'm not gonna hurt you. So, how about you come out of there? C'mon... I won't hurt you. Come outta there... you hungry?"

He was just about finished with that panic attack. Oh, he was still freaking out, but he'd caled down enough to think. He was going to have to get away from here, and he couldn't hop away in stone form (he'd tried). So he had to come out at some point. Except... he wasn't sure what humans thought of record-keeper shades. His kind had mostly gone extinct, and the few remaining were probably hibernating somewhere or slinking around old ruins. Record-keepers weren't social, it was likely that people didn't even know about their existence any more. This person might not react well...
But he had to come out. Otherwise, this person might try to pry the stone open. That was very much not fun.
The stone seemed to dissolve into a lap-sized swirl of sand with a few random letters mixed in, then the frightened shade was sitting tucked into a ball in Breaker's lap. Raising one hand, he gave a teeny little wave, then immediately bolted away and hid behind a big whirring box. Something computer-related? Oh well- didn't matter. It was a good hiding place.

Timid little nerd who can turn into a rock. He's not human. And the skin color, too- looks like old paper. Huh... paper-lookin' nerd, and I thought I saw some letters in that swirl... maybe he's a librarian's ghost. Well, whatever he is, poor thing's terrified. I better get him outta there so he knows he's safe...
Breaker wheeled his chair over to the shade's hiding place, looking behind the box in an effort to spot his target. "Hey there. It's okay... come out of there, li'l shapeshifting nerd. I'm not going to hurt you. Look... couldn't catch you if I wanted to hurt you. I got spine issues, nothing below my waist works." he pointed out, leaving out the fact that he was far from helpless. That wheelchair was a weapon... but it wasn't going to calm the whatever-that-was if he mentioned the weaponized wheelchair.

The shade ducked out and ran over to the door, giving a dismayed little noise when he saw that there was no way to open the door from over here. Automatic door? Yes. Scrambling across the room, he ducked behind another of the boxes, then pulled out a book and flipped through it. Automatic things- doors, here. Can be remotely locked. Controls.
Keyboards under the computer screens on the wall. Controls there? Probably. But no good.
Biting his lip, he turned his attention to the human, carefully inspecting him.
Wheelchair. Couldn't walk. Controls on wheelchair- motorized chair. Possibly fast. Handles on wheels- for rolling self. Which meant- lots of arm use- meant strong arms? But... looked friendly. Right? Was that a friendly look?
Another book- this one about humans. Section on expressions, with sketches. Yes. Reassuring look. So... maybe this guy was okay? The nervous shade put his book away, then very slowly crept out, standing right next to his hiding place and staring at Breaker.

"Hey there. Easy... don't bolt again, okay?" Breaker crooned, slowly wheeling his chair a bit closer to the odd being. He stayed a few feet away, though, being sure to give him plenty of space to bolt again. Holding out a hand, he gave the slender thing a gentle smile, trying to get him to calm down. "Hey. Name's Breaker... what's your name?"

Hand- what for- oh, right, handshake. The shade crept a bit closer, taking Breaker's hand for a moment, then quivered and withdrew. He hadn't touched a living thing (other than rats and spiders, they got in the books) in decades... it was just... weird. And, uh... name...
Oops. He didn't remember.
Uh oh. The shade blinked, momentarily confused, then quickly materialized a book and opened it to the right page. Tracing around one section with a finger, he highlighted it, then handed the book to Breaker.

"Okay then..." Breaker muttered, mildly startled by the fact that the book was slightly warm, then read the section in question.
Record-keeping shades are a variety of summoned spirit usually created for librarians, wizards, or others who need a high volume of information recorded. They remember everything useful they have learned over the course of the day, and when given time, they write the information in a book or scroll that they manifest from their frame. Anything they write down is stored permanently in their memory. However, this comes at a cost. They often do not remember anything they have not written down. It is, in fact, rather common for record-keeping shades to forget their own name. They often do not consider it an important thing to write down, and thus they forget.
Breaker raised an eyebrow, then looked over at the shade, tilting his head slightly. "Huh. So you forgot your name?" he asked, closing the book and handing it back. "Well... can I call ya Records?"

Sure. That would work. The newly named Records nodded a tiny bit, then slunk a bit closer in order to take the book back. Slowly, he took the book from Breaker's hands, then cleared his throat and attempted to speak. It didn't quite work, though... it had been a very long time since he'd talked to anyone. He just ended up making an odd little choking noise.

"You need a drink, sounds like." Breaker hummed, wheeling himself over to a fridge set into the wall. Filling a small cup with water, he held it out to Records, then tilted his head slightly as he thought of something. "Wait- what do you eat? Do you even need to eat? I mean, if you're a spirit..."

Records opened the book to a different page and gave it back, then squeaked dully and twitched back when Breaker's hand brushed against his. NOPE he didn't want to be touched.

Breaker read for a moment, then chuckled slightly, looking over at Records. "Your kind feed on knowledge and ink? Sounds like a bookworm. Now... you're obviously freaked out, and I don't know what you were doing in a tree. You look too nervous to talk, so I think I'd like to get you calmed down. A meal is usually a good way to get someone calmed down, and I have a couple of people who can buy and deliver things for me. What kind of ink do you like? Just anything? Oh, hang on- footnote. Says plant-based ink... might be trickier, but I bet I can get ahold of that. You like the sound of that?"

Oh... that did sound nice. Records had long ago exhausted the supply of unused ink in the castle, and the artificial inks in the new library just didn't taste very good. If Breaker could actually get him something anywhere near what he was used to... oh, that would be wonderful. Records perked up and nodded semi-enthusiastically, then edged a bit closer to Breaker and cautiously highlighted something else on the page.

"Record-keeper shades are known for being reclusive and less than wonderful at interacting with humans. Part of this is due to the fact that they often forget social nuances, and part of it is due to the fact that they prefer their books over people. If their master dies or moves away, record-keepers are known to vanish into a library for decades and only emerge after they've read every book in the building and recorded everything useful. One should make an effort to not be angry at a shade who retreats from humans or does not recall how to interact with others, this is not intentional. Also, it is best to avoid allowing others to make any sort of romantic advancements toward record-keepers, as it often causes them to retreat and not come out until the offender is gone." Breaker read off, then looked over at Records, offering him a little smile. "Ah, don't worry about that. I'm not terribly socially conscious myself half the time. And I'm not easy to offend. Also, I'm asexual and pretty close to aromantic, so I'm not gonna be making any -how did this put it?- 'romantic advancements' towards you."

Records quickly checked a book for the meanings of those two words, then relaxed a tiny bit when he found out. Ah. That... was good. It scared him when people tried to get into his pants. It just... no. No, thanks.

Breaker was still reading, and he glanced up again after a moment, then gestured slightly to Records and tried to coax him closer. "C'mere. This says something about a third form... show me?" he coaxed, eyes glinting with curiosity. "C'mon... let me see?"

Records looked him over for a moment, then edged closer, hopping up to perch on the armrest of the chair. He was about to form-shift, but then he overbalanced a bit and fell into Breaker's lap.
OH HOLY- wait this guy was warm. Warm was new. He lived in cool places with few living things... this was, woah, okay, this was a lot nicer than he would have expected.
In short, the shade couldn't decide if he wanted to panic or melt. He settled for a combination- shapeshifting into a soft greyish scarf.

"Woah there-" Breaker reflexively put his arms around Records, then grinned and carefully picked the scarf up. "Oh... so that's what your book meant by 'an unobtrusive form meant to be worn'. Maaan, you're soft..." he noted, slowly stroking his fingertips over the scarf. "I'm hoping you don't mind, but you're real soft, and I really wanna do this." the human explained softly, gently wrapping the scarf around his neck a couple of times. "Feel free to hop off if you don't like what's going on."

Oh, warm- he'd forgotten just how warm people tended to be, especially around major veins. The edges of the scarf fluttered a bit, then Records settled himself into place, his frame shifting just slightly to better settle around Breaker's neck. He was comfortable with contact in this form, it was what he was intended to do. His scarf form was blind (unless he willed some bead-eyes into being) and wasn't quite as sensitive to touch, so he was fine with this.
He could feel Breaker's pulse. That always sort of interested him, and combined with the warmth... oh, yes, lovely. This wasn't something he would have normally wanted, but mmm...
Oh, he was going to have to research this. Maybe... what was this? Some form of... touch deprivation issue? Was that a thing? He'd read something about something similar to this, but he didn't remember what it was. Right now... he really just wanted to be here, because it was nice. And it was okay to do things that felt nice... even if some people were weird about that sometimes.

Breaker hummed softly at the feeling, then placed a hand lightly on the scarf as he moved over to his computers. "I'll see about getting some sort of old-fashioned ink for ya. Just curl up and rest, if that's what you'd like, or you can go curl up in that armchair. I'm fine with whatever, you seem nice enough. Just don't strangle me."

Records fell asleep after a short time, soothed by the odd-but-familiar sensation of doing this. Since part of his purpose was being worn (some record-keepers were vests, hats, or cloaks, but all were conjured up with a clothing-like alternate form), it felt really nice to curl up and be gently tucked against someone. Hence why he was asleep. However, he was a bit unused to staying in this form for long, so he accidentally reformed into his human-like form after about twenty minutes.

Breaker looked down at the still-sleeping shade in his lap, then smiled and adjusted his glasses a bit. "Somebody's tired. And cute... shy little nerd. Huh... now, I wonder... are you mute or just freaked out? Or, hmm... maybe you forgot how to talk or somethin'? Have to ask you when you wake up." he decided, gently running a hand over the shade's hair in an attempt to tame it. Records looked all ruffled up, and Breaker had more or less decided to try to neaten him up a bit.

Skinny little Records was quite comfortable tucked into Breaker's lap, which kept him asleep despite Breaker's attempts to make him look a bit less like he'd been attacked by dust devils. Also, he was TIRED. His kind needed to sleep now and then, though not often, and all the noise had kept him awake. In addition, he wasn't made for much physical activity, but he'd run quite far after being chased out. And he'd climbed a tree.
Delicate hands curled into Breaker's shirt, then Records tucked his feet up and gave a soft little snuffling noise. Basically, he was just being a cute little sleepy nerd.

Some time later, Breaker gently shook Records' shoulder a bit, trying to wake him up. "Hey there, li'l nerd. I have somethin' for you... just wake up for a bit, will ya?"

"Meh?" Records blinked, then squeaked and flailed slightly when he found himself in Breaker's lap. Thanks to a lack of coordination, he managed to dump himself out of Breaker's lap and into a heap on the floor. "Wha?" he squeaked, though his voice sounded a bit like a scratched-up record.

"Sorry. Here, I got someone to deliver this. There's a guy down the block who makes old-fashioned inks and stuff for... whatever one needs old-fashioned ink for, restoration or something. Whatever it is, I got a couple different kinds... you want some? You sound like you need to drink somethin'. Here... you can have this, if you want."

Records flopped awkwardly around for a second, then managed to flail himself back to his feet. Tilting his head, he regarded the two small bottles in Breaker's hand, then slowly reached to take one. Uncorking it, he took a sip, then offered Breaker a grateful little smile at the taste. Oh, yum... perfect. Just what he'd wanted.

"Okay. Now... think you can talk? I'd like to ask you a couple of things, like where exactly you came from. I'm guessing record-keepers don't normally live in trees. You come from that big library they're remodeling? It's awful loud in there at this point... not your thing, I'm thinking."

"Mhm." Records nodded, managing a slight noise, then cleared his throat and attempted to speak. "Yes- libr'ry." he explained, wincing a little bit at how his voice sounded. "Sry. Don' tlk mch."

"I figured. Says here you lot often end up not talking to people for a while... how long has it been since you've interacted with people, other than hiding?" Breaker asked, closing the book and offering it back. "Oh, here. And- sit down. But don't worry about getting ink on the chair, it's already stained. More ink won't hurt anythin'. Plus, cupholders."

Records took the book, pressing it into his side until it vanished into the rest of him, then sat down and placed the small bottle of ink into one of the cupholders on the chair. After a moment or two of consideration, he held up all ten fingers, then spun one hand in a circle to indicate multiples. Several decades, though he'd lost count of the exact years.

"Well, that's probably why you can't talk right. Don't worry about it, though, I can understand you fairly well. Maybe just... hum a bit and stretch your vocal cords out?" Breaker suggested, then tilted his head slightly when Records responded by tucking into himself and looking nervous. "What's wrong? I'm not gonna hurt ya."

Yeah, he knew that... but making pointless noise wasn't something he enjoyed. It led to things that were not fun for him. Nope. Bad things. Records shook his head again, huddling further into himself and covering his face for a moment in a gesture of distress. "Mmh..."

"Aw, hey... shh." Breaker crooned, wheeling over to the chair and pulling a blanket out of a pocket on the back of it. Very gently, he draped the thick blanket over Records' frame, then gently tucked it around him and patted his shoulder. "Easy. I'm not gonna hurt you... nobody's gonna hurt you. You can make noise if you want, it's perfectly fine. I'm not terribly easy to annoy, and I'll let you know if you do somehow annoy me. If you do, I'm not gonna hurt you, I'll just let you know that I'd like you to stop whatever. It's alright, Records... it's alright." he whispered, gently rubbing two fingertips along the slight ridge of Records' upper spine in an effort to calm him. Huh. Li'l thing has bones.

Records jolted at the touch to his spine, then gave a soft noise and looked up at Breaker for a second before retreating under the blanket. Gah- he was being touched, and this was new, and it was scary-
Squeaking softly in alarm, the shade pressed himself back into the cushion of the chair, trying to get away from Breaker's attention. It was nice, maybe, but he didn't understand this and he didn't know how to react-

"Okay, okay, sorry..." Breaker hummed, backing up slightly, then sighed and turned his chair around. "I'm gonna go get you some pillows, I have an idea. In the meantime, try to relax... I promise it's safe here. And I'll do my best not to make you uncomfortable... though it might take a little while for you to get used to having someone around, from the looks of it. I'll try to be gentle."
After a couple of minutes, he was back, this time with a number of pillows and a couple of bungee cords stacked on his lap. "You ever made a pillow fort?"

A what?
Records peeked out of his blanket ball, then blinked and tilted his head when Breaker propped a pillow right next to him.

"Basically what it sounds like- fort made of pillows. I like to include bungee cords to hold things in place. Here, hang onto this-" Breaker coaxed, setting a pillow in front of Records and another one at his side. "I'll back off in a minute, just wanna get you set up with something comfy. You can get all tucked into a nice quiet place, then you can either watch me or just sleep for a while longer. You can talk to me if you want, or you can just watch. I'm up to various shenanigans involving things that are just a little bit illegal but won't hurt anybody."

A couple minutes later, Records was surrounded by a small pillow fort, peeking out through a small rectangular opening in the fort. Oh, this was much more comfortable for him... he was in a safe, dark place. It was nice and soft and calm in here. He liked it... why hadn't he done this before? "Mmm... 's nice." he whispered, offering Breaker another timid little smile. "Thnk you."

"Yer welcome. Now... let me know if you'd like anything. And you're welcome to stay here until they get done with all the stuff at the library. I have no objections to a roommate who's as quiet as you." Breaker hummed, wheeling himself over to his computers. "Alright now. Back to hacking things..."

Hacking things? Records blinked and tilted his head, watching the computer, then settled into a comfortable position and just observed. Since there wasn't any new information to learn right now, he was going to watch what happened and write it down... might be useful. Or interesting.

Quite some time later, Breaker lifted the lid of the pillow fort slightly, looking distinctly drowsy. "I'll talk to you in the morning, it's night. You comfy enough to sleep?" he asked, then closed the lid when he got a little nod. "Good. Now, you sleep. You're welcome to stick around as long as you want... I won't kick you out unless we start really not getting along for some reason."

It turned out that they got along really well. Records was hard to dislike if one didn't mind how timid he could be, and Breaker was fairly gentle. He was careful not to frighten Records, and he avoided things that tended to make the shade uneasy or just uncomfortable. He did start gradually acclimating Records to things like friendly contact, though, and it worked reasonably well if he moved slowly.
For his part, Records was becoming more and more at ease with Breaker. He would sometimes end up sitting on Breaker's knee or curling against his front, and he loved the contact... mostly for the warmth. Also, he no longer tried to hide from Breaker's attention, he'd gotten used to it.

"B-Breaker? What... exactly... are you listening to?"

"Oh, it's called heavy metal. Sorry, too loud?"

"Uh... n-not quite t-that, I g-guess, b-but... I just... t-they sound really angry."

"Yeah... mad at the government and possibly hyped up on some drug or another. Don't worry, they
don't actually hurt people... maybe just throw things and scream. Don't worry, they're harmless enough. Just a bunch of angry punk kids."

"T-they still sound angry... I don't... I don't do well with angry."

"Sorry. I'll turn it off. That better?"

"Mhm. T-thanks."

"No problem."

"Records, I gotta ask. The cringing... when you thought I was mad at you... what were you afraid of? Did someone... hurt you?" Breaker asked softly, venturing a hand over to gently run it through Records' hair a few times. "It's been bugging me... c'mon, you can tell me. It's safe."

"I... no. N-not entirely." Records sighed, leaning into the petting for a second. He liked his hair being stroked... it felt nice. "I... my p-previous master was a bit... high-strung. He was usually n-nice, but sometimes he got m-mad if I made w-what he thought was too much noise in the l-library. H-he'd either yell at m-me or... m-make me go somewhere crowded and l-loud. It just... I d-don't do w-well with either of those. I'm v-very... meek."

"I've noticed the meek part." Breaker muttered, then gently resumed his petting, trying to calm Records down before he tensed up too much. "Well, you don't have to worry. I'm not gonna yell at you, and I'm not gonna make you go to loud places. Well- I can't guarantee the loud places thing, but if that happens, I'm quite willing to let you tuck into that stone and hibernate until it's quiet."

"I k-know. I wasn't expecting you to, n-not really, I j-just... I don't k-know." the shade whispered, looking up at Breaker for a moment before closing his eyes and relaxing. "I-I'm s-still scared of h-him, I t-think. I'm easily t-traumatized."

"Aw. Don't worry, li'l nerd, I'll try to keep the traumatizing stuff away from you. And... just lemme know if anything is upsetting you too much, alright? I'll get rid of it in one way or another." Breaker promised, then smiled when he felt Records relax. "Well, you might be easily frightened, but you're also easily comforted."

"So... Records. That library is all done with the noisy remodeling stuff... you wanna go back?"

"I... I don't know. I mean... there are still lots of people, even on quiet days. Also, I... I l-like you. I d-don't m-mean- I j-just m-mean l-like-"

"Easy. I know what you mean. Now... I have a question for you, and you can think it over for a while. Would you like to stay here? I like having you around, and I think maybe it's good for you... you're relaxing quite a lot. You can change your mind at any point, don't worry."

"I... t-then, yes. If I can change my mind l-later. I-I'll stay here... with you. Y-you're nice."

"Great to hear! Now, I found the Star Wars series. C'mere and sit down, we're gonna watch some of the best movies ever."