mortal projections / reading session

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    Reading was one of his better skills, something he had picked up along his travels with the aid of some loners. They had also taught him to write, and while his handwriting was hardly legible at times, he still considered it a skill of his. He enjoyed stories, both reading and writing them. His storytelling skills were subpar. The thought made him laugh quietly under his breath, barely audible, even to himself. As Paperpaw meandered through the palace, he stumbled upon a room with books. By the look of it, they were abandoned, as as he entered the room, dust coated his paw pads with each step. It wasn't so much a library as it was a room left behind by a former member. So he thought, at least. Despite his fears telling him to turn tail and leave, he pushed through and tiptoed further into the abandoned space.


    It seemed that others were following closely behind him. A quiet chatter could be heard behind him as he eventually drew to a halt, eyes sweeping the room. He then glanced behind him to see kits and pups of various shapes and sizes, all staring at him rather eagerly.


    "We know you know how to read," one of them piped up in an accusatory, but teasing tone. Her face lit up as she motioned to the books on the shelf not too far from where he stood. Paperpaw pursed his lips as he followed her gaze, eyeing the books with a cool, narrowed gaze.


    "One story," he told them with a soft sigh, padding forward so that he could pluck a book from the shelf. Their cheers caused him to roll his eyes, but he didn't let them all see. It wasn't so much anger or frustration. It was more annoyance and irritation, though in a sibling-like manner. He set the book on the ground after he had turned to face them, hazel optics peering down at the cover. His eyes flickered up to the children, observing their features and faces. They all seemed so excited. He wondered briefly what it was like to be a child. He wished he could be so immature.


    "Once upon a time..."

    JUST WISH YOU COULD HAVE SEEN ME

    WHEN IT USE TO COME SO EASY—

    It had taken a while, but Malakai was finally out and about in the clan once more. He had been kept away in solitude or in brief bouts of discussion with 1004 regarding where they wanted the clan to go in the future and just how to make it happen, and the truth was that the path they had decided on was a path that would take a lot of effort, a lot of changes. And figuring out how to make those changes work would be tricky. Still, he felt determination burning in his stomach at the thought of keeping the Dynasty alive, and he knew that no challenge would ever stop him from going after what he had to in order to see that happen. In that sense Malakai was impossibly tenacious, the stubborn determination one of his core compnents.


    He had just been wandering the halls, really, a need to clear his mind with a more mundane task leading him to just go padding off down a random set of corridors until he found that he was no longer alone. Up ahead there was a group of kids peering into a room. He glimpsed them for only a moment before one of them muttered something and they all went padding inside with eager expressions on their faces. Pure curiosity brought the large tom over to check things out for himself, knowing that things were probably fine but his protective side insisting he see firsthand. Along with 'stubborn', 'suspicious' was an equally accurate word one could use to describe the blue and silver domestic, who had seen far to many things go wrong to just blindly trust the world around him.


    Not surprisingly, there was nothing nefarious waiting beyond the threshold of the door that the small band had gone hurrying through, and he found that they had simply cornered Paperpaw into reading them a story. He would chuckle softly, and would seat himself inside the doorway with a small smirk toward the other tom, figuring he would sit in for the story.