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WHO: Abigail Hobbs and Ken Kaneki / Haise Sasaki
WHERE: A library in Heropa.
WHEN: Backdated - After the 17th, before the 24th
WHAT: Accidental run-in
WARNINGS: Abigail's thoughts might go to her past which includes violence, murder and cannibalism.

Abigail is in the library to look for books on psychology, specifically something that might help her to understand her father and herself. Will told her once long ago that while there was something wrong with him, there was nothing wrong with her. She had her doubts; she felt like she must have done something wrong to make him the way he was, or even worse, could have inherited something like him that made her a monster too.

As serious as her thoughts were, she is distracted by the smell of the books. She learned to deal with the smell of other people to cope with her 'superpower'. She's never been around this many books since she came to this place. Each book has a distinct smell. The paper and the bindings used create a different combination in each one. It might even be pleasant, if it didn't seem so overwhelming. It's enough of a distraction to lead her into bumping into someone else.

"Sorry." She says automatically and then recognizes the man. "Oh, hi. You were at the swear-in, right?"

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Kaneki spends a lot of time in the library (well, spent. With the coffee shop now open, he doesn't have as much free time); books are incredibly important to him because of his childhood, the connection to his father, and how he grew surrounded by the worlds in these books. He love their smell, he loves the words, he loves feeling the wight of the books in his hands - it's expected from a literature student.

he has had his ups and downs with books, actually, but lately he has been reading even more than before, and also interested in buying more and more books - of course he first wants to take a look at them before buying, and a library is the perfect place for that.

he is currently holding what is this world's version of "Twilight" and he isn't impressed. Kaneki was about to put it in place, but when Abigail bumps into him, the book is dropped, and a sense of awkwardness settles because that isn't exactly a book he wants to be seen reading.

"Ah- yes. I'm kaneki." with an embarrassed smile, he quickly grabs the book.

Abigail fights off the urge to go into a coughing fit as he picks up the book, focusing instead on trying not to inhale the smell of it. The effort prevents her from being able to recognize the title. That's probably a good thing. She went to high school was a few fans of her world's Twilight. Even Marissa had read and read them, and talked about them, to Abigail's annoyance. The series has never appealed to her. Drinking blood was too close to cannibalism and she had a good supply of teenage angst already.

"Nice to see you again, Kaneki. I'm Abigail." Abigail says the name carefully, wanting to pronounce it correctly and extends her hand for him to shake. "Have you found any good books in here? I've just been looking." Not that she's actually done much looking, it's been mostly smelling.

Kaneki never calls a book "bad". Just "not interesting", and this certainly wasn't. But he had a feeling he'd end up having it over his coffee shop since the Kennibals visited the place a lot.

When Abigail extends her hand, he reaches for it, to shake it back and nods his head gently. "it's good to see you again." At the question he looks around "Well, what are you looking for, maybe I can help? I spend a lot of time here reading, after all."

"I've been looking at the psychology texts." Abigail sees no harm in admitting that much. Anyone could have an interest in the psychological, not just a lunatic's daughter. "I'm hoping to find something at an introductory level." She never technically finished high school; her father cut her throat before her last exams. And the dream of university seemed impossible after that.

Kaneki has read plenty of books on psychology so he doesn't see anything weird about it. He looks around for a moment, trying to locate where they are in the library "They have some that could be interesting-" and finally he knows where to go and nods at her so Abigail will follow him.

"Are you in college?" Many imPorts do that, so he is assuming she's the same.

Abigail follows his lead, breathing carefully to not inhale too much book smell.

"No. I thought about going to college, but then life got in the way." She replies. It's a polite way of putting it. If anything death got in the way. Those girls her father killed had all been from colleges she applied to. And then there was her parents deaths, and other deaths. "And now I'm here."

"A lot of imPorts continued their studies here. Maybe you can too - it'd at least give a sense to normalcy to this crazy situation." of course it depends on each person. kaneki would never be able to go back to studying.

They reach the section of medical books soon enough, so Abigail will have plenty to pick from.

"Maybe." Abigail likes the idea that she could finish high school, maybe even go to college. "I've never had normalcy before. I always wanted it." It was the life she thought she was supposed to have had.

"i'm sorry." That she didn't have a normal life like she desired. "That's why to some people this is a nice place."

"Thanks." Abigail nods. "It is nice here. Most of the time." She could do without the craziness. But the rest of it, the freedom, the job, the relative safety, are all an improvement over her old life.

That brings him a wider smile. "People are nice too. Even when the fans are a bit creepy, overall they are good people." and the fans do get very crazy.

"Fan is short for fanatic, you know." Abigail commented. "I'm glad I don't have any here." She had only had her father really. Even if Freddie had been right and there had been a demand for her to write a book about her life back home, she wouldn't think of the people who would read it as fans.

"Of course I do. But it doesn't mean they are bad - if you know how to handle them, it's usually very peaceful" he doesn't have paparazzis or people following him. He asks them politely to let him spend his time alone and often gives them autographs when he can. It's a good agreement.

it helps that his fans are either giggling highschool girls who are way into cannibalism, or old women who started liking him when he was working as a Policeman.

"It's something that eventually happens, though - so it's better to be prepared".

"Usually." That would be the word that Abigail focuses on. Her father had been peaceful once too. As his love became an obsession, he became violent. "Not bad. Good and bad are complicated terms." She isn't even sure if he was father was bad, or sick. Hence the books. "But dangerous when things become unusual." Dead girls, her dead mother, and her own cut throat were the result of her father's fanaticism. "Be careful to always be aware of what you can and can't handle."

She shakes her head. A tattoo on her wrist is as easy to cover as the scar on her neck. She knows how to blend in to a crowd. Her father made sure she did, when he made her his lure. "No, not for me."

Kaneki shakes his head "If I'm going to worry about fans, then I'm going to live in constant paranoia." so will she, when she gets a groupie of her own, because that will happen. It always does "I've a lot more to worry about than them." Like Russians kidnapping him and his little sister.

Plus they are human. He can handle powerless humans very easily.

"There is a lot that becomes natural, here".

"You say that like paranoia is a bad thing. I guess it is sometimes." Abigail knows she could do without the reoccurring fear and nightmares. She isn't blind to how it could save her life though, or at least keep the past from repeating itself. She will not be anyone's golden ticket again. "It can also be a tool for survival."

Abigail nods. There are many things in her life that became normal that other people would think of as sick, insane or worse.

"Anything can feel natural, when you get used to it."

"Among the list, there are some things more important to be paranoid about, than others." you need to pick what you are focusing on, or else it's just better to lock yourself somewhere and never leave the room.

"imPorts are more dangerous than people who were told we are heroes." a lot more. Perhaps it's not the natives who built this crazy fantasy around imPorts, maybe these are the ones she should be careful of. "So are the Russians." also true, they did brainwash imPorts and said they belonged to Russia, like weapons and things. "It's only a tool of survival, if you know how to use without extremism."

Kaneki shrugs softly after "But of course, it's your choice to decide what is your top priority or not. Every person has their opinion." based on the way they lived, he supposes.

"A knife to the throat is just as deadly when it comes from someone who loves and obsesses over you." Abigail knows it had been how her father showed her love. In her world, at least, people had been more likely to be killed by someone they loved than an enemy. "It's most dangerous when you can't see it coming. When you don't defend yourself." She had seemed harmless to her father's victims. It was why she was a good lure for him - allowing him to kill girls in places where they should have been safe, before they even had a chance to fight back.

She smiles. "And choice is a wonderful thing, isn't it? People don't always get how lucky we are to have choices and opinions." It was one of the reasons she wanted to keep living here and not hand herself over to another slaughter.

Edited 2017-04-12 23:30 (UTC)

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