#altasposts

If one were to pay no mind to the falling rain, the night was relatively quiet. Then again, most nights these days were, as the many days before were as well. Such was the existence of someone who had cooped themselves up in an old, abandoned library. Granted, she did go out now and again. Even a being of power as great as Cicea's had to come out and eat some time. Of course, going out was always a chore when considering the efforts she had to put forth to just set up a decent disguise, and then having to communicate with people-- it was just an all around pain.

Alas, such was the life of this demon. Rather pathetic, to be honest. Her ancestors would surely weep to see her in such a pitiful state-- banished from her home, essentially stripped of her name, and forced to hide out in the living world and/or wander the grey plains of Limbo... Then again, it wasn't particularly like she minded much. There wasn't anything left for her in Hell, and she found herself more at home in the Red Meadow. She could certainly lead a much more peaceful lifestyle... And the land of the living wasn't so bad, either. Most of the world was in an era of peace, and it was a nice place to go if she tired of the monotony of Limbo and the twisted souls that wandered there.

As things stood, she seemed to split a pretty even amount of time between the two worlds, though she'd been spending more time in the latter. It was entirely by chance that she'd happened upon this quaint town-- and its conveniently abandoned library, where she set up shop. No one came by it much anymore, as rumors had circulated among the town that it was haunted ( a notion that Cicea found brought her a good laugh ). For several years now, they'd discussed tearing the building down, but some whispers of suggestion on Cicea's part kept the building where it stood. It was simple enough to do-- just walking amongst the general populace in Old Town district and gently influencing passer-by's with a bit of fancy telepathy and magic seemed to do the trick.

The popular argument now was that the library, decrepit as it may have looked on the outside, was a relic of the town's past glory days and should be kept and cherished-- perhaps even restored. Either way, Cicea did a fair enough job keeping the inside tidy enough, in her opinion. She kept it clean enough; dusting every now and again, sweeping and mopping the floors, doing minor maintenance on the shelves and furniture... Enough to make it livable. The electricity no longer worked, so candles became the primary source of lighting, though the plumbing, miraculously, still worked.