[o] keeping it PG - Positively Gory

Knowing that it might be a second until her mom is ready to go, Knell wanders into one of the back rooms. From her height, she can't see the anatomical heart embossed on the cover, but she knows it's there, knows that the book is filled with juicy details and information that she's dying to know.

Reaching up on her tip toes, she stretches out a hand to grab at the corner, pulling it so that the weight of the massive book tips it forward. Just a little more... It shifts. Knell tugs again and it wavers, teetering on the corner of the counter as gravity debates which direction to pull it. With her small hand gripping the leather, she proves to be the deciding factor, tipping the scales until it comes toppling down. 

Straight on her head. 

A cloud of dust and ash rain into her red hair as Knell rubs a hand against her skull. Her right horn aches from the impact, but she doesn't whimper or cry out, her attention stolen by the book that sits sprawled open in front of her. Bones and muscle tissue are drawn out in impressive detail, looking as if they've been illustrated in pen, labeled expertly with long, complicated names she can't pronounce. 

Overcome with delight, Knell gathers the book in her arms. It weighs nearly as much as she does, tipping her forward as she walks awkwardly back out into the Temple to find a seat. She shuffles and grunts, the sounds echoing in the cavernous space; but she pays it no mind, on a mission to learn all she can from this text. 

When she finds an obsidian bench off to the side, she scurries towards it and hefts the book up first. It takes a few tries to get the heavy tomb up, but when she does, Knell clambers onto the bench herself, feet dangling with excited kicks as she turns around to sit. It takes a second to get her gangly limbs situated and move her tail out of the way, flattened hands pressing red hair out of her face when she turns to face the book. With another forceful tug, she pulls it into her lap, uncaring how the weight presses into her legs when she opens it to the page with the skeleton and muscle tissue. She leans over it, blue eyes glowing like she's admiring a picture of a unicorn rather than trying to pronounce 'zygomatic' or 'carotid' with the quiet shape of her lips.

Knell

Astaroth

i think i'm the devil in disguise, here's my state of mind

It wasn’t often that Asta ventured out during Deepfrost these days. But he’s marginally less exhausted than usual at the beginning of this season and he thinks that in and of itself is worth a little offering left for Dygra as if thanking her for knowing he would be able to handle the swift and abrupt change of a brand new shift he’d never had previously. It’s a small fierw, carved out of an antler of an elk from the Outer Brambles that had most certainly been a hunt last season, and with a few hushed murmurs of appreciation for their goddess, does the butcher turn to leave the shrine and find a small child sat on the bench with a book that – from this distance – harbors quite a few interesting illustrations.

Dressed warmly and completely put together – unlike last season – the butcher drifts over with the click of a cane, his dark gaze scanning the book before he looks up to see the child’s face, a shark tooth smile offered her way in quiet greeting with all of his Ancient qualities on display. “Hello, my dear. What did you find?” He asks, nodding to the book and leaning a touch on the cane. He doesn’t know exactly that this is the blessed child by Dygra just yet, but the butcher can definitely put two and two together in assuming that their goddess may have had a hand in aging her faster than otherwise. So for now, his intrigue is in the book she has in her lap and her rapt attention to it.

give me destruction, tell me i'm scrumptious
i'm a fucking delight

The swing of her feet doesn't even register as Knell finds herself lost in the fascinating pictures and complex. She mouths the words and traces each bone and muscle, wondering what they would feel like in real life, how they each play a role in the body. Maybe the big paragraphs would explain that once she bothers to read them. 

Just as she's counting the number of bones she can see, a warm voice interrupts her. Her eyes stretch open as they travel up up up to take in the face of a man she's never met before towering over her. His horns are much bigger than hers, climbing high like a crown of antlers to make him look ever taller and somewhat menacing. For a moment, she takes him in, mouth gaping slightly as a quiet "woah" slips past. She knows she should probably be scared, especially as he flashes his sharp teeth with a smile, but Knell doesn't feel scared. She's in her mom's temple and he's an Ancient. The threat level overall feels pretty low despite his intimidating appearance. 

As such, curiosity and excitement form where fear would be, her body leaning back to beam a smile at him. "It's a book with fun pictures!" She points at the illustration of a skinless human, her small fingers dwarfed by the giant book. "See?!" Looking back down at it, she kicks out her feet again. "I was trying to count how many bones there are." Her head tilts, an idea forming that has Knell smiling hopefully up at him. "Wanna to help me?"

Knell

Astaroth

i think i'm the devil in disguise, here's my state of mind

He stays still as the girl takes him in, his smile twitching a touch wider to hear the woah that leaves her. It isn’t his intention to be frightening for her – not to another child of Dygra – but it becomes clear enough that she isn’t fearful of him when she beams the smile back at him and Asta nods, his dark gaze dropping toward the illustration in question that she’s been pouring over and counting as it turns out.

At her question, he straightens a touch and glances toward the door as if to determine the time before he looks back to her and nods his horned head, stepping over to the other side of the bench where he can rest the cane against the arm rest to take a seat beside her and cross one leg over the other as he leans toward her space to inspect the book. “In just this portion of the body? Or overall?” He asks her, curious despite himself over how many bones she may have counted thus far when he lets the soft accented chuckle leave him. “There are over two hundred in the human body.” He points out, reaching over to gesture to the hands in the diagram. “There are quite a few smaller ones that can get overlooked in the hands and spine.” The look he gives her is playful as it is knowing - because honestly? Asta is essentially a jar of random facts and he's more than happy too share.

give me destruction, tell me i'm scrumptious
i'm a fucking delight

Her lips stretch wider in their smile as the Ancient agrees, and she shifts her hips in an attempt to give him more room on the bench. After all, he's massive. Surely the bench isn't big enough for the both of them; but he manages to seat himself, and Knell inspects him closer, curiosity flaring bright at the reason for his cane, the scars she sees poking out, the crisp manner of his clothes. She feels like there's so much to learn and know about the man, so much for her to discover. 

Having been distracted by his mannerisms and overall appearance, she flits her attention back to the book, mouth falling open in shock. "There's more?" There are already so many visible on the page that she hadn't thought that there might be over two hundred, and she straightens her arms to look at the picture more fully, grinning fully as she lets out another "Woah." Knell tilts her head as if she can see each and every one hidden beneath the portions covered in muscles. "That's a lot more than twenty."

He points out the hands and spine, but her mind goes elsewhere, blinking up at him with ravenous curiosity as she asks, "What's the biggest one?"

Knell

Astaroth

i think i'm the devil in disguise, here's my state of mind

His tail sweeps out and flicks idly at the ashen tip, the spaded edge fading into a dark red before it vanishes behind his coat – just another trait of Ancients as Asta peers over at the book and the young girl’s absolute shock at finding out there’s that many bones in the body. “Mhm,” Asta hums thoughtfully, drawing quiet again as she pours over the book and the information she’d already picked up.

The a lot more than twenty remark has a soft chuckle slipping from him as he nods, sighing a little after despite the smile on his face. “Ten times more.” He offers – because why not throw in a math fact as well while they’re learning? But then she blinks up at him, curious that only reminds him of how he was – and still is, depending on the context.

“The femur is the biggest bone.” Asta replies, shifting slightly to explain, he points to the femur in the diagram, the longest one that connects the hip to the rest of the bones in the leg. "It is this one."

give me destruction, tell me i'm scrumptious
i'm a fucking delight

The hands she presses against the book can only count to ten and she tries to fathom the two hundred in a human alone, which makes her dizzy as her brain stretches around the idea, the question slipping out of "How many bones do you think are in the world?" A million? A billion? A gajillion? What would they all look like piled on top of each other? 

When he points to the long bone along the leg, Knell places her smaller finger next to his, tracing it as she repeats, "Femur." The word takes hold as fact, piling on the multitude of other things she's been learning over the last few days. It's slowly growing into a mountain, a basis of knowledge that she drinks up with every opportunity. 

Admiring how much information the stranger is able to offer, she gives another bright smile, more directed at him this time as she praises. "You know a lot!" Her feet kick out again, bouncing slightly on the bench so that her red hair ripples. "Do you like learning?"

Knell

Astaroth

i think i'm the devil in disguise, here's my state of mind

How many bones were in the world? Well, that’s like opening a can of worms. Impossible to truly equate, though they’ll never know the true number he imagines. He can entertain, though, some philosophical number that Knell won’t be able to imagine let alone count. “Hmm, well, if we are counting the ones in the people alongside those in the ground? I would have to assume at least a trillion.” He raises a brow toward her with amusement before he’s showing her the largest bone.

Her hands are small compared to his, and as Asta lets her absorb the information does he withdraw his hand, resting them in his lap easily as he straightens up and she begins to swing her feet again, bouncing and looking over at him to compliment him. A soft chuckle leaves him as he nods his head – egotistical enough to know that he does know a lot, whether it was useful or not. “I do like learning.” He agrees, the tip of his tail twitching lightly as he considers the young girl. “What is your favorite thing to learn about?” He poses the question back to her, wondering if it were anatomy or something else.

give me destruction, tell me i'm scrumptious
i'm a fucking delight

A trillion. Her mouth hangs open, a silent 'O' that slowly gains voice in an awe-filled, "Woah." It seems like too many. Even with each person having two hundred and then all the people that are buried - and what if they include animals? Knell tries to wrap her brain around the idea, curious if anyone would come close to knowing the real answer or if this would remain a mystery to everyone in this bone-riddled world.

Still, maybe she can find some frame of reference, and she looks to the Ancient again, who appears to have all the answers - next to her mom of course. "What's the most you've ever seen at once?" Surely it has to be a lot!

Knell's eyes glow vibrant at his question, gaining a vast depth that fails to encompass the cavernous expanse of her hunger for knowledge. "Everything!" Her feet pause in their kicks as she stretches a little higher, aspiring to reach the same level as this stranger. "How did you learn so much?" Does it have to do with his scars? Is he older than he looks? Did he grow up with tutors or lots of books? A thousand possibilities rise in her mind, looking for confirmation in his answer.

Knell

Astaroth

i think i'm the devil in disguise, here's my state of mind

She poses another interesting question, one that actually gives him a moment to pause to think about it. He’s seen bones a lot and in multiple different places – from Whitebrim to the Climb and a few places in between, and it was extremely hard to quantify how many bones he’d seen at one time. So his hand lifts, brushing against his bearded jaw in thought.

“Hmm, I would say probably in the Climb ages ago. Courtesy of Dygra, of course.” Here, his dark gaze slips toward her with a flicker of amusement, wondering how she might take the drop of their goddess. It’s a thought that doesn’t linger too long as Knell jumps on the question he poses back, the fact she wanted to learn everything which was also something difficult to quantify at the end of the day.

But she was young and he’s certain she’ll figure it out. “Time, mostly. Hard learned lessons occasionally, as well as many hours spent in books much like the one you are looking at now, my dear.” He hums, nodding his head to the book still in her lap even as her excitement jostles it.

give me destruction, tell me i'm scrumptious
i'm a fucking delight

Knell tilts her head, palm reaching out to shove back the hair that attempts to fall into her face so she can look properly at the man. "'Ages ago'? How long? A year? Two?" Her head tilts the other way, intrigued by the other part of his comment. "What did she do?" Dygra can do anything, but he's felt everything so vague, and she hungers to know more. How many bones? Why did he see so many? Would it happen again?

She takes his sage advice with a nod of her head, muttering quietly, "Books." Time would obviously flow the same no matter how she attempts to slow or rush it, so she turns to the other aspect of his recommendation, valuing his input with a smile and an excited flick of her blood red tail tip. "Which books should I read next?"

Knell

Astaroth

i think i'm the devil in disguise, here's my state of mind

“Centuries ago.” He informs her with a waggle of his brows, playful and informative where he can be. “We used to create art and shrines and offerings for her with them. It made for quite an abundance.” He nods toward Knell with the information, before he settles back in and answers her multitudes of other questions.

Books were where he got a majority of his information – and of course, being involved in it enough to test them out. Scientific in that he’d read about them and gone through the motions of putting it to the test. But as she asks him what books she should read next, well, he doesn’t know what kinds she’s already read. So he considers it with a few thoughtful heartbeats before he answers her. “Well, what would you like to learn about first?” He poses back to her, his smile still sharp and easy.

give me destruction, tell me i'm scrumptious
i'm a fucking delight

"CENTURIES?!" She doesn't quite yell the word, but her entire body reels from the shock, mouth hanging wide open as she takes another look at him. Shaking her head, she says, "You don't look that old." Knell tilts her head, rubbing a finger along the ivory tine of her horn as she considers it. "But I guess mom doesn't either..." The elegant and energetic way her mom moves doesn't give the impression of someone centuries old, seeming to embrace every day like it's the first and last she'll ever live. 

Not bothering to insult the man by assuming he doesn't know about her or the priestess, Knell blinks curiously up at him. "Did you guys worship together?" There's also the question of his scars. Her mom doesn't have the same markings, and she still wonders as to how he may have earned them. 

The question he poses back is similar to the previous, and Knell is tempted to answer similarly. It would be easier to answer what she doesn't want to read or learn about - although that answer might be just as unhelpful. So she starts where they are, splaying her hand across the pages of the book in front of her as she offers a smile bright as a flickering flame. "I like this book!"

Knell

Astaroth

i think i'm the devil in disguise, here's my state of mind

“Thank you, darling.” Asta says with a warm laugh to hear her surprise, the outburst that he doesn’t look that old paired with the realization that her mother doesn’t look that old either, something he inclines his head to in agreement. “Your mother is older than me, but we were both asleep for a while up until recently.” His voice drops a little like it’s a secret, playful in the way he draws back and appraises the youth with amusement.

Her question of whether they worshipped together is one that has him smiling a touch softer. “Only the past few years. Not back then, unfortunately. Your mother would have made it far more bearable.” With her chipperness and happiness, it would have been leagues better than the Climb that he knew, even if he wasn’t entirely opposed to the Climb how he had found it.

As for the books, though, Asta regards the book in question as she says she likes this one – which meant anatomy and the way they worked together seemed to spark her interest. So he nods, taking her eagerness to learn as a good sign. “May I see the book?” He asks, not reaching over to take it from her, but asking for her permission first.

give me destruction, tell me i'm scrumptious
i'm a fucking delight