On first entrance, a distracted person might think he'd accidentally walked into the library by mistake, so many books are littering the main table. There are several small stacks, and most of the open space is cluttered by books lying open, apparently to mark a spot or where the reader decided to switch to another. The probable agent of this situation is a certain Coyote-kin seated at the table, arms crossed atop it with his chin resting on them as he gazes distantly out the window at nothing generally considered visible.

There is the thump of the back door opening and closing with enthusiasm and then footsteps crossing the kitchen hurriedly. "Rowan?" Miki's voice asks before the door from the kitchen is quite open. "Rowan, I found something very neat, come and see!" The kitchen door bangs against the wall in Miki's hurry, but he doesn't seem to notice. He does, however, notice that the main room of the Diner is not occupied by Rowan; he freezes, mid-rush.

Serendipity jumps a little, and sits up to twist in his chair, brushing a sleeve briefly across his face as he does so, and glancing over his shoulder. "Haven't seen 'im all day," he informs Miki quietly, and seems torn for a second before his inherent curiosity gets the upper hand, "...but what'd you find?"

Miki catches himself up, wild enthusiasm and flying hair suddenly and unnaturally composed into politeness, like an explosion in reverse. "I am sorry to have interrupted. It was nothing important."

A figure huddled in a dark cloak walks by the Diner's front window, and Danny steps inside, scraping just enough mud off his boots to suggest he hasn't had to come much further than the house. "Drizzle, drizzle, drizzle," he grumbles, taking off his cloak and hanging it on the coatrack to dry. "Why can't it just rain and get it over with." He shakes out his hair, revealing that the blue ribbon is still dutifully tied behind his ear, and smiles a tired hello to Miki and Ren. "Hey."

Serendipity studies Miklos a moment, but whatever he had been about to say in response is lost -- quite possibly mercifully -- as Danny's entrance distracts him. He half-smiles to Danny, lifting a hand slightly in the third cousin to a wave. "Hey," he replies, shifting a couple of the books somewhat self-consciously. "'sit rainin' now? Hadn't noticed. But hey, 'least it's warmer."

"And there are green things," Miki says, with a smile at Danny. "Which you will chew on, but it is nice even to look at them, better than food." He takes another couple of steps into the room, leaving a few faint muddy footprints, which speak mutely of a rather regrettable state the kitchen floor must be in.

"This isn't proper rain," Danny complains, making his way to the counter. "This *wishes* it was rain, but can only muster vague spitting." He takes a muffin from the basket and points it at the ceiling defiantly. "Hear that? I'm talking to you!" This doesn't produce immediate results, so he leaves off his scolding of the weather gods and goddesses, and grins at Miki. "Damn straight I will. I can just taste all the fresh grass right now. I bet there's some bluegrass around here somewhere."

"If there isn't, maybe Rae c'n play some for ya," Ren suggests, with a little grin, and starts straightening up the masses of books on the table a little. The topics seem to vary widely among them -- genetics, dream analysis, shifter history, even a book of poetry among them.

"I think this is better than real rain. It does not soak through the clothes so fast," remarks Miki, moving further into the room and taking up his favorite seat on the counter. He swings his feet idly. "But I would like some sun. Not enough to sing for it. I do not want to argue with the Mountain about the weather."

The familiar creak of the door precedes Rahne, almost drowning out her faintly hummed tune as she comes in out of the...drizzle. Looking over her shoulder, her nose wrinkles at the weather and shrugs before turning her attention back to the dryness within.

Danny gives Ren a genuinely puzzled look, but seems more interested in the muffin. "I miss the thunderstorms back home. That's what Bud's all about--Aholi's storms making a mess and cleaning it up when they clear." He takes a healthy bite, and slowly walks over to the fabulous collection of books. "Even Justin doesn't read this much. Whatcha got here?" He glances up as Rahne comes inside and waves hello, smiling.

"Aholi?" Ren echoes curiously, and waves vaguely at a seat, inviting Danny to sit if he's so inclined. "...'s just some stuff... research, y'know? Followin' up on a few things, stuff like that... like from runnin' into that mage girl with the collars, y'know," he replies a little dismissively, getting the books into three neat piles and a line of open volumes which he starts closing with little slips of paper in them for markers. A book published not too long after the sun's return, with a very small section on the Nuwisha's disappearance. A recipe for strawberry cakes. Something very dry looking about heredity in shifters. A myth about dream warriors. Shakespeare's sonnets, for some reason. He glances up as well as the door opens, and flashes Rahne the first real grin he's had all day, fleeting as it is. "Heya, cutie. Where've you been hiding?"

Miki looks over at the door as Rahne enters, and offers her a lopsided shy smile. "Hello! I have not seen you for a long time! It is a good day to be inside."

Danny pages to Serendipity: Is the entire book a myth about dream warriors, or is that just the section he has/had open?
You paged Danny with 'That's the section. The book itself appears to be a quite large tome of myths from around the world.'.
Danny pages to Serendipity: Does it have a lot in there, or is it brief, like a page?

Rahne gives a shake of slightly-damp hair and grins at the welcomes brightly, winking at Ren and setting one hand to hip. "I'd say somewhere that the sun don't shine, but I've not really seen it much t'day so that could be anywhere." Miki gets a warm smile and a wrinkling of her nose, "Heyla, to you, too! Good to see you. And yeah...it's a good day to get a body indoors. Kinda yucky, if y'ask me."

You paged Danny with 'Hard to tell. Looks like more than a page, but it might well only be a page and a line or two.'.
Danny pages to Serendipity: Is it just generic without any specifics?
You paged Danny with 'Uh, I don't think that much is apparent before it gets closed. :)'.
You paged Danny with 'He bookmarks it and closes it. It's apparently enough that he's planning to go back to it anyway.'.

"He's a spirit. A storm kachina. Wuya for bud." Danny rests his hand on the book about myths for a second as Ren goes to put it away. "Can I?" he asks, eyebrows raised.

Serendipity's hand tightens briefly on the book, almost as if he wanted to disallow it being taken from his possession, but he hesitates, and the grip loosens again. "Yeah -- yeah, sure. There's not a lot there, but. 's all I found." He slides it over closer to Danny, and lets go, sitting back in his chair and drawing one foot up, so the heel balances on the edge of his seat. "Not many places 'round here the sun don't shine, I'd say, drizzle notwithstandin'. Under th' Mountain, I s'pose..."

Danny pages to Serendipity: Is it mostly generic, sort of like you'd expect a myth to be?

Rahne chuckles and crosses her arms over her chest, "Hey, can't a girl use a little metaphore now'n'then? Don't go gettin' to philosophical on me, now." A few steps take her to the closest chair, which she folds herself into and curls her knees up to her chest.

Miki slides down from the counter and wanders over to the window to look out. He sighs faintly, seemingly unaware of making a noise. "Sun," he says wistfully. "Otherwise all the green will be washed away in mud." Then he perks up a little and heads for the kitchen. "At least there is no more snow!" Sounds in the kitchen suggest that he's rummaging in the cupboards for something.

You paged Danny with 'It's vague -- just a native american legend. Comanche, only barely over a page long.'.

Danny takes up the book with a soft word of thanks, and flips to the bookmark, skimming over the section intently. "Hm, it's from the First People, pretty old..." he says, sounding curious. "I think they're from the edge of the Burning Desert, but to the east, and south."

Serendipity wraps his arms around his leg, resting his chin on his knee, and nods slightly to Danny. "I know," he replies, a touch subdued. "Good chunka my ancestors over there. Anyway." He glances toward the window for a second, then quirks a smile at Rahne. "Hey, don't take it wrong, cutie... you got my full permission t' use an-y-thing you want," he assures her, returning her earlier wink playfully.

In the kitchen, the rummaging sounds cease, there is a muffled exclamation of surprise, and Miki says something in Hungarian that sounds rather frantic. The back door opens and closes. Then the kitchen is silent, with the sudden quietness of an empty room.

Rahne giggles and twines a quickly-drying curl around one finger, "So glad to know I've got your magnanimous permission, Ren. I will remember that in the thick of the moment when I want t' use something florid and wonder 'What would Ren do?'" She's all play with her little jibes, nothing terribly serious about it at all.

Danny nods at Ren and glances up from the story. "A lot of the folks in Sunset Crater have some too. The Seer and his Apprentice, they're both from the First People." He gives it a brief reading-over, too quickly to be memorizing any details, then sets the book back down and pushes it over to the Coyote Kin. "Thanks."

Serendipity grins fully and properly for the second time that day, drawling in reply to the girl, "...Anything he wants." He unfolds his leg and stretches his arms above his head, looking somewhat more himself, and accepts the book from the Perunka. "...No worries. An' yeah... my folk, the history-tellers reckon we're mostly from th' various First People, but, y'know, we kin'a collect other backgrounds, too. Prolly got everything in the world by now." He shrugs a little, and taps the cover of the book once, thoughtfully. "...think it'd be helpful at all? I mean, it didn't look real useful, but I-" He breaks off, shrugs again. "I've never been there or anythin', so."

[We lose Rahne to the net.demons]

"There? Oh! Maybe--every little bit could help." Danny looks vaguely embarrassed, and concentrates on his muffin. "I don't know much about it myself, I never got any dream-seer training, or anything. So I'm kind of stumbling along, and everything, trying not to screw it up in the process.

Danny pages the room: We can assume Rahne went into the kitchen for food, or somesuch. :>
You paged the room: 'Sounds fair.'.http://logs.sumoneko.com/administrator/index.php?option=com_flexicontent&view=item&typeid=3

Serendipity flattens his hand on the book. "...yeah, but you can go," he points out quietly. "You c'n watch out for her there 'n all. I can't even =remember= my dreams most times. All I c'n do is make sure she's got enough covers 'n' keeps breathin'." He sighs, and picks the book up, staring at the cover a second before setting it aside, a little pile of its own. "'s goin' good with you guys, yeah?" It's not quite really a question.

Danny grimaces and toys with the muffin. "I wouldn't really call it going there. I mean, we haven't tried to leave one of my dreams yet, so we don't know if that'll work. I don't really watch out for her so much as wait for her to get back and hope she's okay. Maybe we can do something about that, though, and I can go out and help her." He smiles slightly, and says, in a low voice, "From the way she talks about it, you'd think it was her looking after me." The muffin gets smaller by way of another bite. "It's good, yeah."

Serendipity half-smiles fondly, apparently at the table. "...heh. It probably is," he replies, near-teasing, and almost certainly to the question of who's looking out for whom. "...but someone oughta be lookin' out for her, too. An' it looks like that's you, so. Get with it." He gives Danny a brief, wry smile, and his gaze drifts toward the window again. "...'m glad it's goin' well. Well. Mosta the time, anyway. You're makin' her happy. 's good."

Danny pages the room: Sorry here, been phoned! I pose shortly.
You paged Danny with 'Ah!'.

"You look out for her too, Ren," Danny says evenly. "You're her kumi. That's something I can't do or be for her, really. I look out for her the only way I can, I guess--I wait for her to get back. You do that too." He clears his throat and frowns faintly. "Most of the time?"

"I'm glad, mosta the time," Ren clarifies, watching the drizzle, and shrugs very slightly, not looking exactly proud of it. "'m not perfect, y'know." Brief, crooked grin. "'case it slipped your notice."

Danny blinks slowly. "...oh," he says, eventually. He sighs and sets the muffin down on the table, looking away. "Look, Ren, I'm not--you don't need to--it's not like she's going to run off and marry me, and forsake you for all time, or something. She's not like that."

Serendipity laughs once -- it's short and startled, but it's a genuine laugh. "Yeah, I know she's not like that. We're kumi, she's the best friend I've had since I left home, an' vice versa, an' I know one way or another we're gonna be with each other forever, even if we're nowhere near the same place," he assures Danny, "it's just... I got pretty good eyes. An' right now, I'm pretty sure she's got one way in mind." He shifts his shoulder slightly, taking in the window again, where the clouds are just barely breaking to let a beam of sun through, and adds quietly, "An' I got another. So I get t' see her smiling an' mostly I'm glad. Just sometimes... I wish she sighed 'bout me the same way she does 'bout you." He half-smiles again, sideways but definitely directed at Danny this time, and pushes up from the table, wandering over to where the food is, and picking out a muffin of his own. "Maybe things'll change an' maybe they won't. Maybe Coyote's just havin' a laugh." He peers at the muffin, breaking off a chunk, "...you think these have apples in 'em?"

Danny watches Ren, unconsciously reaching up to tug at the ribbon in his hair. He looks out the window as well, and tries to say something a few times, then finally manages to get out, "I've been trying really hard not to hope for too much, or anything. It's hard, though. It's hard to not feel like I could...it's just hard." He pulls a piece off the muffin and nibbles at it. "Just oats still. Won't have apples until aum."

Serendipity does not have a ribbon to tug at. He just turns the muffin in his hands, inspecting it. "Yeah," he agrees. "It's hard. 's harder'n anything. Guess I always said new experiences were a good thing..." He takes a bite of thebroken off chunk, and sighs, making a face. "Glad there'll be fruit soon," he mutters. "Maybe I c'n find some carrots t' do somethin' with."

Danny half-smiles and pulls off another bit of muffin to chew on. "The experience may not be the good thing, just the learning you get from it," he says, a touch of ruefulness in his tone. "We just have to wait and see where things go. It's all anyone can really do."

"Mm," Ren replies, which is probably agreement, from the tone, if muffled by the muffin. He wanders back over, and considers Danny speculatively a moment. "Now, just t' make sure, you're sure you're not int'rested in guys at all, yeah? 'cause I don't get the feelin' y'are, but I've been wrong every so often b'fore. An' no one c'n say Rae hasn't got taste." He grins a little. It's friendly.

"...no, I'm pretty sure I don't do guys," Danny replies awkwardly. "It's just, I don't look at them and think like I do when I look at women. That's really all there is to it." He pauses and takes up the last of his muffin and wolfs it down. "But, thanks."

Serendipity nods, draping back into his chair. "'s too bad; mighta made things easier," he muses, and grins again, "...coulda been fun, at least. And hey, you ever decide you wanna check, lemme know." He grins sidelong at Danny -- he may well mean what he says, but it's teasing nonetheless. He looks at the piles of books a moment, and runs a hand through his hair, tugging the tie out and then replacing it afterward. When he speaks again, it's a little quieter, with the definite sense that he's changed the subject. "'m still gonna try, y'know. I mean... you understand. I gotta. But I figure one way or another we're gonna be stuck with each other a long time." He smiles sideways at Danny again, a little bit wry. "An' I know we've had our problems an' you're kinda easily spooked an' stuff sometimes an' I'm kinda an asshole now an' then, but. Friends?" He offers a hand, tentatively. The one without the muffin.

"I don't know what it is you want to try, she's...she's not looking to make some sort of decision, or choose someone over someone else. It really isn't like that, Ren, she doesn't know what she wants." Danny looks honestly confused, but he takes Ren's hand in a firm shake none-the-less. "Yeah. Friends."

Serendipity shakes firmly, and then releases the hand politely. He grins a little, shrugging. "I wanna try a =lotta= things. But what I meant was... I know she doesn't know what she wants. I'm just... I got a feeling maybe I do -- know what I want, I mean, not what she does. Heh. So all I mean is, I'm not gonna try an' make it a moot point or anything. I'm just gonna try an' do what I can that if she does know someday, it's not... =not= the same thing." He looks a little confused by his own attempt at phrasing. "Eh. I love her an' I'm not goin' anywhere, that's all, really." He blinks, expression going blank for a moment, and then shakes his head once, hard, as if to clear it. The muffin getrs a Look, as if it might have been behaving suspiciously. "So, =anyway=. What =else='ve you been doin' lately?"

Danny can't quite let the topic go, and shakes his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Ren, waiting to see what she wants and then changing yourself to meet that standard is, not a really great idea. If you've changed yourself by then, that's one thing, but trying to fit someone else's needs just because you want to be with them--I don't mean little things, like the length of your hair, I mean the big things, what you do in life, where you're going. That's usually a great way to get hurt later on." He rubs the back of his neck. "Trust me. I've been there."

Serendipity arches a brow. "'s wrong with the lengtha my hair?" he asks wryly, and sighs, leaning back in his chair and studying the ceiling. "'s not what I meant, so don't worry too hard. I mean, 's not what I mean on purpose anyway. Little things, medium things, I can compromise, it's no big deal. But, y'know. I know who I am, pretty much. What I am, what people're lookin' t' me t' do. I'm not meanin' to try an' change that, not more'n life does it anyhow. Tryin' doesn't hafta mean makin' new things. It can just be showin' what's already there." He's quiet a moment. "But I do. Trust ya."

"Little things and medium things can become big things. You just have to be careful." Danny fidgets with his shirt, then tips his head in the general direction of the house. "Look I've, got to get back home." He fetches up his cloak from the coatrack and shrugs into it. "I'll see y'around. Take care." With a wave goodbye, the Perunka steps back out into the drizzle and heads towards home.

Serendipity responds with a lazy salute, and as Danny heads out the door, the Coyote kin's turning his attention to his pile of books again...