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[sunmon]

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alina starkov, 20

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[sunmon]

Are you joking?

[boneblood]

Should I be?

[Listen, he doesn't know half of what's gone down around him. And what he is aware of, he's - rather neutral on.]

I think you're pretty nice.

[sunmon]

They all think I'm the crazy girl who defiled a corpse.

[boneblood]

[Being the by-product of someone defiling a corpse, Wesley has to think for a moment:]

Do you care what they think?

[sunmon]

I have very practical reasons for caring what they think.
Like having a hard time getting glue.

[boneblood]

I can get you glue. So you don't need to care if you don't want to.

But if you do care because you want to care - there are things we could try to do to change people's attitudes.

[Like what? Don't make him think that far ahead. He's just - a stupid optimist.]

[sunmon]

I know.
I've talked with Nikolai about it.
It just takes time.
And it certainly doesn't help that they're reminded every time they look at me.

[boneblood]

In whatever ways I can help, I'll help too.

Working at the library has to be helping to some degree. Many of the native townsfolk are really grateful for our services.

[sunmon]

Wesley.
I asked to help you here because the shopkeeper at the bookstore didn't want me there anymore.
Look, I don't doubt what you're saying.
I just think you're a lot kinder and more understanding than they are.
Than most people are.

[boneblood]

It must be tough for you - I'm sorry.

[Admittedly:]

I know I can be a lot more naive than them, too.

[sunmon]

It's nice. It's sweet.

[boneblood]

[If you say so, Alina.]

You can always smack me with a reality check, alright?

I'm woefully less worldly than most people.

[sunmon]

I like to think I've just proven my willingness.

[boneblood]

Touché.

Keep it up then, will you?

[sunmon]

It seems my job description keeps growing.
And here I thought you'd only hired me because I showed up smelling of books.

[boneblood]

It might've been one of many influences.

Admittedly, one I'm favorable to.

[sunmon]

The actual chemical smell is heinous.

[boneblood]

It's paper that's my favorite.

Something about it reminds me of - good times.

[Reading, escaping, positive memories of delving into something new or familiar.]

Some people might like those fumes, though.

[sunmon]

Reminds you of what?

[boneblood]

Something that feels like a lifetime ago.

Before I came here, I separated paths from someone I loved when they decided they no longer wanted me around. Before that, though - there were good times. When he would return from trips away, he would bring me things. Books were one of my favorites.

[sunmon]

Who was he?

[boneblood]

[He debates his answer not because he wants to neutralize it so much as he doesn't want to just dump it on Alina; however he does consider her a friend and so he doesn't detract any of the facts for her sake, heavy as it can potentially get:]

Wil, my maker. He made me in an image he considered ideal, and after a few decades he didn't like me anymore. Mostly because I wasn't actually the person he tried to copy.

[sunmon]

Your ... maker?

[boneblood]

Yes, quite literally.

"From bone and ash and his own blood" if I recall correctly.

[sunmon]

Like a parent?