Gold and dragon feathers

Concrete

It's a boring but pleasant day at the library like any other. Ranboo finds himself leaning against the counter, tail swaying idly behind them, speaking in the quiet ambiance. That is, at least, until an increasingly familiar piglin hybrid pushes through the doorway. Wilbur glances around for a moment before lighting up in recognition and approaching the counter.

"Ranboo!"

The enderman hybrid in question shrinks back slightly, returning the smile nervously.

"Hey? What brings you to the library?"

Wilbur's energy falters and Ranboo feels guilty for a moment, having only emphasized the word so much as an almost programmed response to the amount of noise the hybrid made when entering. 

"Ah, sorry, I just..."

Ranboo relaxes slightly as Wilbur searches for the right way to explain his reasoning

"...Tommy didn't want to hang out with me and I don't know where Tubbo is so I was hoping you wouldn't mind company?"

Ranboo huffs slightly, trying to push past the instinctual nervousness that immediately tries to bubble up at the idea of spending time with someone he's not that familiar with.

"I don't mind, I'm not going anywhere for at least a few more hours anyways"

"Great! I mean, cool"

Wilbur puffs up his chest and makes his way to a chair besides the counter, taking it over quite comfortably.

"What do you do here, anyways? I don't spend much time at the library like Techno does so I've been having trouble picturing what a library assistant does"

"Yeah? Well it's pretty easy, I mostly just help organize or clean when they need me to, help people find things and just man the counter in case anyone wants to return or take out anything the rest of the time"

"Neat"

Ranboo nods in slight agreement, only to find themselves sitting in an awkward and boring silence. He doesn't really mind it, to be honest, but Wilbur grows restles pretty quick. It doesn't even take long for Ranboo to notice the piglin's nose scrunching up in thought in a way that makes him think that they need to figure out somthing for them to do or talk about. Their haunting, especially Tommy, are agents of chaos not unlike Wilbur so they have plenty of experience at least.

"Say... is there anything you'd be interested in finding books about or somthing? "

" Good idea! Let's see..."

Wilbur hums under his breath before pulling himself to his feet.

"How about somthing on music?"

"Music theory, sheets or history?"

"Uh.... Theory? I'm largely self taught so I'm not sure sheet music would be all that helpful and history is more Techno's thing"

"Makes sense"

Ranboo stretches slightly, fixing the terrible posture they accidently adopted in their bordem.

"That'll be over here, just follow me"

He leads Wilbur to the right area, noting just how different the two piglin twins are. It's not nessesarily new information- it's pretty clear to anyone that even just sees the two that they're different- but it's highlighted now that he's seen them both in very similar contexts. 

Ranboo isn't entirely sure how he feels about having time with Wilbur (or the rest of the sbi) without his brothers but at least this time it's easy to at least be grateful for the distraction. He loves the library but whenever he spends a weekday morning there instead of at another job (or home) it's a pretty slow day. With Wilbur he ends up spending most of the rest of his shift helping the older hybrid find various books to entertain his whims and interests. It's also an excuse to discuss music, something that he doesn't usually talk about, and some more random topics like moles and raccoons.

He also learns, right before Wilbur decides to head out and grab something to eat ( a few books in hand) ten minutes before the end of his shift, that Eret is planning on checking in on all of them in a few days. Information given to him because Wil forgot to tell the others but thought they might want to know because she will probably want to discuss their future dragon races.

Ranboo heads home with his mind full of uncertain feelings about the idea of their life, newly returned to normalcy, being once again interrupted by those races. They know that his brothers enjoy them, though, so he can't feel overly upset about the prospect. Besides, no matter how they feel about it they need to at least discuss it.

And they make it their short term mission to get back home and make sure that they do. When they find that Tommy's not yet home they still make sure he tells Tubbo before they can forget, stepping into the Garden with Micheal at his heels.

"Hey, Tubbo!"

"Ran!"

The goat hybrid hops to his feet, brushing off some dirt and bumping his head against Ranboo's arm in greeting.

"How was the library? Karl and Q doing well?"

"Yeah, they are!"

"That's good"

Tubbo steps away from him in order to wrap up his daily gardening.

"Wilbur hung out a bit, too"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, said that, what was their name? Eret? the person who gave you guys that invitation"

"Yeah, Eret"

"Ok, well, he said that Eret is going to visit soon to talk about future races"

"Oh?"

Tubbo tilts his head slightly, considering what that might mean

"I guess it makes sense"

"Yeah- I was just thinking that when Tommy gets back we should probably hold a discussion"

"Probably... you know this could be a good opportunity to figure out somthing I've been wondering about, too"

"Wondering about?"

"Mhm"

Tubbo sets down his tools, stretching before turning to Ranboo, seemingly done with the garden"

"Ive been trying to figure out if there's anything in the rules about a dragon hybrid- not that I've found any mention of them"

"Ohhhh I never thought about that"

"That's fair, I wonder if Tommy has at all or if he's just planning on lying... "

"Honestly? Probably the latter"

"Probably"

"Still, we should ask about that when we have the discussion"

"Definitely"

"Speaking of, it probably not long before we can go grab him from the inn"

Ranboo nods

"Should I come with you or should I try to get something to eat started?"

Tubbo pauses, thinking for a moment

"Food."

Ranboo chuckles at how blunt the response is, following the goat hybrid through the house and to the front door

"Gotcha"

He waves slightly to Tubbo as he heads out before turning to the kitchen and scanning the things they still have from Niki to work with. The discussion will probably go best if everyone is fed first anyways.

(So sorry to end such a long absence with something short and pretty mid but I wrote 98% of this on the shuttle ride from college to a LOVEJOY concert on wednesday and I figured I may as well post it even if I'm not that happy with it. That being said now that I'm on break for a month I'll hopefully have time to write again :D granted I won't promise anything. Anyways, hope you enjoyed it as always!)