The library was probably one of Clyde's favorite places in the Mansion. There were so many books to choose from that it rivaled, or maybe even surpassed, most public libraries.

It was also a place Clyde often made use of his mutation. He had learned that going to the library in teenaged form spared him the hassle of explaining why he, the “little kid,” was reading books deemed unsuitable for children under thirteen. Plus, the fact that he was taller in this form proved to be advantageous when browsing the bookshelves. It meant he could actually reach a lot more of the books.

So, of course, Clyde went there as a teenager this afternoon. This time, he wasn't seeking out any book in particular. Instead, he simply wandered around to see if anything piqued his interest.

After exploring the library for about fifteen minute, Clyde noticed that the books on the shelves looked strange. Almost all of the bindings were brightly colored and flashy. He could even see Japanese characters on some of them. Whoops. That was because this was the manga section. Definitely not the type of thing Clyde had in mind.

The library was usually cooler than other places, barring refrigerators and freezers, but there were usually a lot of other people who knew that as well. In a bad mood, Aiden had a bit of a tendency to sulk about how all those people could tolerate the heat, so they shouldn't clog up the cooler spots for the people who couldn't. In a slightly nicer mood, he would reassure himself that there was surely at least one other person in the place who couldn't take the heat.

And then there were moods like this, where he was bored enough and hot enough already to realize that he was still somehow patient enough to tolerate all the people for at least a few hours. You know, long enough to sneak through a full series or whatever part of one he picked that the library had on the shelf. That was what he was doing now. He was tucked against a shelf in the nice, deep, rarely visited manga corner of the library, surrounded by several piles of books, and nursing a nearly-finished book in his lap. He liked this spot. People really didn't come by too too often, and it was bright enough that he could most of everything without much effort at all. It might not have been very comfortable, sitting on the floor and leaning against a bookcase, but that was life.

Footsteps. Aiden closed his eyes. Hopefully whoever was there was just lost, and about to make a break for it, or maybe coming to just grab one book. Anything that didn't keep them around for minutes on end. This was a good one. Peace and quiet to finish reading it would be infinitely nicer than trying to read with someone stranger hanging around. Only one way to find out how annoying this was going to be, though, so there was nothing for it. Even if he hated doing it. "Can I help you?" he asked quietly, slowly looking up from his book and adjusting his sunglasses on his nose.

Just before Clyde was going to leave, he spotted a teen, probably around his age, sitting in a corner. He wouldn't have paid any attention if it weren't for his question. Now that he'd actually said something, Clyde noticed that he was, peculiarly, wearing sunglasses indoors. Though, this was a mansion filled with mutants, so there were things far stranger than that in its walls.

“Umm... I'm good,” Clyde answered him, a little confused by the question. He glanced around. “I wasn't really looking fo anything. I just wandahed in heah by accident.”

Scanning the area, he noted the fact that the teen, along with a few piles of books, was sitting on the floor. Sure, Clyde had done that quite a bit himself, but that was because he was avoiding countless other high school students who'd rag on him for his usual younger appearance. He didn't see why this guy was doing the same.

“That's an odd place to sit,” he noted, walking a little closer, hands in his pockets. “Theah ah some tables in heah, if you wuhn't wanting to sit on the flooh.” It was only a suggestion; he didn't really care if this guy agreed with it or not.

Random guy had an accent and had just gotten lost. "You'll want to head that way, then," Ai said calmly, gesturing. Cool. That was the best thing he could hope for in this situation. Not the accent, the just getting lost. People who were just lost normally left quite quickly after ending up in places like this.

Wait, why was he coming closer? Why wasn't he leaving? He should be leaving now. Normal people left. He peered at the stranger for a moment before getting around to trying to explain his predicament without: looking like a total creeper; explaining way more about himself than this guy had any right whatsoever to know; talking too much and making the guy hang around unnecessarily long; and causing this hidey-hole to heat up unpleasantly thanks to the previous anti-goal.

"I am aware of the tables," he said slowly, "But sitting near people kind of defeats my purpose. I'd rather sit on the floor than overheat." How was that? Not too much information, enough information that he shouldn't come across as some weird antisocial freak (for all that he was weird by most standards, could easily fit under the antisocial banner despite his recent attempts to the contrary, and, to be entirely honest with himself, still did consider himself a freak despite being on better terms with the situation than he had been before). Now for the guy to scuttle away, whatever curiosity had prompted him to suggest that he move hopefully satisfied. He wanted to finish the last two or so pages in his book.

“That way? I figuhed,” Clyde responded. His eyes flicked, slightly irked. Of course he'd have to go back where he came from; he wasn't stupid. Oh well, it was not worth chewing this guy out over.

He raised an eyebrow at the teen's explanation for being on the floor. So it seemed the guy didn't like hanging around people. That, Clyde could understand. But overheating at the tables?

“It's not that hot in here...” he trailed off. In fact, he found the temperature perfectly comfortable. He couldn't tell if it was part of a mutation or if he was just overly sensitive.

Clyde started to walk off. A tad curious, he glanced over the shelves. It wasn't long before something odd on the bookcase caught his attention.

“What the- A manga version of the Bible?” he commented with a flat tone, pulling the book of the shelf to take a closer look. “Weird.” Who the heck thought of these things? In a way, it was mildly amusing.

A bit of a smart guy, huh? Well, Aiden had tried to help. He could take it or leave it, and Aiden was more than willing to leave his side of it alone. He had a book to fini-

Eventually. "Not for most people," he agreed noncommittally. His comfortable temperature range didn't agree with most people's, however, and he really didn't feel like explaining the rationale behind that to every Jimbob and Bobby Jane who wandered by with a dusting of curiosity.

The conversation seemed to be at an end, and Aiden was more than content to return to his book. Within a few focused moments, he had flipped to the back cover of the book and set it on his 'finished' pile. The next book was already in his hand when mister random smart guy Jimbob spoke up again. He was starting to sigh and reluctantly return his attention to his own species when the words sank in. "The Bible?" he asked, dubious. Why would anyone in their right mind make the Bible into a graphic novel? They'd kind of missed out on converting the illiterate by a few hundred years - stained glass windows in cathedrals and churches already had that niche. Plus this was a library. It wasn't exactly a haven for illiterate people. "It has to be a parody or a modernized retelling."

Well, that was a sort of short and vague explanation. In fact, it was hardly an explanation at all. Clyde, however, decided there wasn't really a reason for him to question it further. After all, no one liked a nosy person. And, it seemed this teen really wanted him out of there.

Though, contrary to what Clyde expected, once he mentioned the manga Bible, the teen actually responded. The disbelief in his voice was evident. So, Clyde walked up to him and held the book out for him to get a better look. “No joke,” he stated. “Somebody actually did it.”

This book as a parody or retelling of the Bible... It made sense (There weren't many other options, were there?), though Clyde wasn't nearly as familiar with this genre as this guy appeared to be. He couldn't tell by the cover whether or not this was meant to be serious. “It might be one of those. I'm not shuh,” he shrugged. “Heh, I wondah how many religious groups ah crying 'blasphemy' ovah this.”

Taking the book and skimming over both covers, Aiden had to admit that it sure looked like a straight-up conversion of the Bible into manga format. They must have dug up a pretty desperate artist to draw it, though he couldn't say the style or artistic quality was any worse than most other novels. He checked the artist's name, but fortunately it wasn't one he knew. Some newbie, probably, scrambling for enough work to make ends meet. Looked a bit more suited to shoujo than religion, though.

"Wow." What else was there to say? He flipped to the first page and skimmed into the book a bit. "If this is a parody, it's a really subtle one. I think they're actually serious." Interesting. Aiden really wasn't a Bible or churchy sort of guy, though he always kind of subconsciously figured that there was a God and Heaven and Hell and all that stuff, because so many people couldn't be totally off base (when he bothered to think about it at all, that was), but this still seemed... odd.

"If it works, probably just to cover themselves until they can make their own versions," Aiden said drily, passing the book back. "Given the shelf it was on, though, it's probably a total flop, one of the books the library could get dirt cheap because no one wanted it. So I figure most of the competition are just shaking their heads and laughing."

Clyde couldn't help but note the teen's close attention to the manga book. Considering the pile he already had around him, there was no doubt he was an avid fan of those stories.

“No kidding,” he replied. “The Bible isn't something people usually mess with.” Not that he had a problem with it himself, but interpreting a religious work like this was stepping into dangerous territory. People would either get mad or just make fun of it, like he was sort of doing that moment. “They probably ah. Unless it becomes so bad that people start buying it; then they wouldn't be laughing.”

Suddenly, Clyde stumbled a bit as he felt a familiar pain shoot through him. His focus immediately snapped to back to staying in his teenage form. Luckily, he caught it before there was any major change. But, he still prayed the teen didn't notice the lapse and press him for questions.

“By the way, I'm Clyde,” he quickly introduced himself.

Messing with it does tend to go badly," Aiden mused. The other teen's next comment startled a snort out of him, and then he paused for a moment, entirely shocked at having actually come that close to laughing. Seriously? Well, it was funny... and it wasn't as if laughing was forbidden or anything. He just hadn't done anything like it in a while.

He readjusted to the situation almost too late to catch - something? His fading surprise resurfaced as confusion, but after a moment's pause spent eying the lost kid who no longer seemed interested in leaving, he put it aside as well and continued where he had left off. "I suppose this being so bad it becomes amazingly popular would be better than the current thing doing that continuing any more," he said quietly, "even if it does seem to turn out well for the people who got roped into it at random." He was, of course, referring to Cafas and the whole million dollar price tag thing. So much money...

"Oh, I'm Aiden," he added on quickly. Clyde. He could remember that. The name was soon stashed away in the little mental folder of people he had met at the mansion and not totally despised the guts of. That had a different folder. It was, fortunately, smaller than the not-despised personage folder.

To say the least, Clyde was relieved that the near-miss didn't seem to catch the teen's attention. Explaining his mutation like that would've been humiliating, just like the time he accidentally turned back in front of a certain weird-haired artist jerk.

Because Clyde got distracted with that incident, he wasn't sure if he missed part of the conversation. Part of what this teen, who introduced himself as Aiden, said left him a tad confused. He wasn't quite sure what he meant by “the people who got roped into the thing at random.”

“Sorry, I might've missed part of that. But yeah, a Bible sequel would be downright terrible,” he replied. Funnily enough, it'd make a lot of people even more ticked off. Some stuff was never meant to be attempted.

Missed part? Aiden supposed the Clyde guy did kind of look a little distracted or something. Maybe he'd noticed whatever it was that Aiden had almost noticed? That could do it. "I met someone who kind of got dragged into the movie version of that horrible book that's so popular with preteen girls." Aiden rolled his eyes. "They paid him well, though."

A thought occurred to him. "Isn't there already kind of a sequel in the Bible, though? What with the Old and New Testaments and all?" He probably should get around to actually reading it properly. There'd always been one on the shelf, and he'd tried cracking it open a few years before, but the awkward language had chased him away in the first few words. It was too much like the stuff he had to read in English class, full of stuffy, formal phrases that had no proper flow and lilt to them. Had Conri ever read it? He thought so. He hoped so, anyway. He glanced briefly at the manga Bible. Would that count, maybe, as having read the real thing? Not that he expected or wanted to die any time soon, but that was rather obviously a poor excuse.

So that's what some poor guy got roped into. “Ouch, they bettah have. I can't stand it when girls ahgue about the guys in that,” Clyde sighed. “That's why I'm on Team Van-that-Nearly-Ran-Belladonna-Ovah.” The entire concept – positively atrocious. And the fact that it became so popular? It was best he not even start! Yep, stuff really could be so bad it was good.

Clyde scratched his head at the teen's question. He'd never really thought about that. “Maybe in a way. I guess some only use the Old one. Then theah ah the groups that use both and add stuff.”

And somehow, those groups fought over that. Clyde couldn't really see the point in arguing over theology.

"Seeing as how I think it hit seven digits, I think it's safe to say they did." So much money. He did have to shake his head at Clyde's declared allegiance, though. "Being on any sort of team kind of associates you with it too much, don't you think? And it sounds like you need to practice your driving a bit more." That... was almost a laugh. Did he seriously make a joke? Really? What was with this guy?

"Use both, use one, add things, ignore things. All the attempts at personalization have succeeded in doing is make it impossible for them all to get around. They all want to be right, and most of them can't take the idea that someone or something else might be as or more right than they are, even if it doesn't necessarily mean that they themselves are wrong."

Darn it, this conversation was too active. He might still be sitting still, and it might be just as environmentally calm as before, but the effort required to converse was starting to tell. Aiden tried to be subtle as he adjusted his ponytail to let more air reach the back of his neck. Borderline almost-not-too-hot seemed to be too-hot-with-company. This place really should have accessible freezers of sufficient size and design to allow people like him to make effective use of them.

Him, associating himself with the crappy movie? Please. “Nah, I'm just the opposition,” Clyde shrugged. “Killing Belladonna would've ended the madness.”

Aiden's remark about his driving was somewhat accurate, though. Ever since he ran away, he hadn't gotten a chance to practice. Perhaps it was for the better. It wasn't as if he was actually able to drive without having to explain his “medical condition” to every single traffic cop who thought he was a little kid going for a joyride. Regardless of the license, it was difficult to convince them. Ugh, stupid kid form!

He attentively listened to what Aiden had to say about religion. He had to agree with it all. “Yeah, then the world goes crazy,” Clyde added.

He wasn't sure, but it seemed Aiden was looking rather uncomfortable. “Ah you all right?” he asked. He remembered Aiden had said something earlier, something about not withstanding heat as well as others. He couldn't be overheating, could he?