The Book of Living

Elmo wasn't sure what turn events had taken for him to have been selected for the task of copying Blot's cover. Though, when asked for paper and a pencil, Blot traced something on the ground with one of his tassels and then placed both of his ribbon bookmarks on either side of where he'd been tracing. Making a glowing circle appear on the ground.

Then when the glow of the circle disappeared, a stack of paper appeared on the ground with a jar of ink and a quill.

"I'm not sure what a 'pencil' is, but I assume it's used to write with, so this should work, right?" Blot asked, the innocence he exuded merely making Elmo feel even more annoyed with him. As even though he knew this wasn't the case, it just felt to Elmo like Blot was doing that on purpose.

While others talked among themselves, Elmo didn't say anything. He knew what he'd need to do, though he didn't plan ono doing anything more than copy it before he slept for the night, which was to start copying what he could make out on Blot's cover.

Although, as he thought about it, it would make it easier if Blot didn't move during the process. Which would likely only occur if Elmo actually said something to him. Which also was another thing that Elmo wasn't happy about.

"Uh, Blot?" Elmo asked, as he carefully picked up the paper, jar of ink, and quill. "Would you mind if I copied down what your cover says?"

Blot turned to look at Elmo and he suddenly had a feeling that Blot was going to refuse. Kindly refuse, but a refusal nonetheless.

"Sure, but where would you like be to be?" Blot asked, looking around. "I mean, I doubt you can see my cover very well if I'm down here while you're up there."

Elmo blinked. He hadn't really thought about that. He'd just figured that he'd bend over to get a closer look at the cover as he needed to, though as he thought about it, it probably would take a little longer than it would if Blot stood on a table or something.

As Elmo considered this, Blot immediately hopped on one of the chairs nearby, one next to a chair by an end table and motioned for Elmo to sit there. Almost as if Blot was more eager than anyone else in Elmo's group was. Which wasn't something Elmo had expected.

If anything, he expected Blot to complain about privacy or something. Something that would make it more difficult for him to copy his cover.

Elmo sighed as he sat down. He really would rather get some sleep before this, but he knew that others would then be pestering him to get it done the first thing in the morning, likely even before he had a chance to get something to eat for breakfast.

As Elmo copied what he could see, he wasn't sure if he was getting all of the letters or if some of it was maybe from a design on the cover. He wasn't sure himself, but doubted he could ask Blot his opinion on the matter. As he could tell that Blot wasn't able to take a look to see his own cover.

Idly, as Elmo worked on it, he wondered if Blot knew what was written inside f him. Or if all his pages were blank.

While it would be weird to Elmo for a talking book to have completely blank pages, he couldn't think of a reason why that couldn't happen. Especially on this world where the logic he'd worked with from his own world, didn't always seem to apply. Especially when magic was concerned.

As Elmo copied it, he became increasingly certain that he was getting more than just the title. Not only was it taking more of the page of paper he was essentially drawing on thank it strictly should, but he was still on the first side of the cover.

He'd planned on getting both sides of the cover so he could at least compare them in the even there was something significant of the differences.

However, he got the feeling that just one side would be enough. At least before he went to sleep. Though, as he neared the end of the page, it almost looked like Blot was trembling. Something he couldn't say that he'd seen the talking book do before. Nor was he sure why Blot was doing that now.

However, that wasn't Elmo's primary concern. Instead, he put the quill down and told Blot, "I think that's enough for tonight. I need to get to sleep."

"Okay," Blot replied cheerfully. "Though, could I take a look at it? I was wondering how it was coming out."

Elmo blinked. The way Blot said it made it sound like he was thinking of it was a portrait rather than merely Elmo copying the wording on his cover. Part of him wondered if maybe that was just how Blot looked at it.

If nothing else, it would explain why he was so cooperative with having his cover copied.

Regardless, Elmo lifted the paper and showed it to Blot. He had a feeling it wasn't complete, but he didn't know how. Just that he had more work to do, though at the same time, he felt that the page he held up was as complete as it was going to get.

How he knew that, Elmo couldn't say. Just that it was a feeling he had. One that wouldn't go away, no matter how much logic he tried to use against it to rationalize how he couldn't possibly know if it was complete or not. He certainly wasn't an artist, nor was he a writer. Instead, he spent most of his time in his original world either coding, playing games, or sleeping.

As such, he couldn't think of how he'd be able to know that the image he'd created on that paper would be complete or not.

However, in the end, it didn't matter. Blot seemed pleased with what he saw and wandered off to wherever he went while Elmo leaned back on his chair and closed his eyes. The conversation among the others seemed to have quieted down to a pleasant white noise for Elmo. He found himself easily sliding into a deep slumber.

Though, it felt like only moments later when he was opening his eyes.

A few things felt different, even though it hardly felt like he'd done slept for very long in the first place. One was that he didn't feel anywhere near as tired, a second was that he definitely felt more alert than when he'd even started copying blot's cover, and a third was that Elwin was sitting next to him, in the chair that Blot had been on as Elmo had copied the talking book's cover.

Rubbing his eyes to clear the sleep out of them, Elmo got up and walked towards the doorway to the cafeteria. If nothing else, he was interested in getting a quick bite to eat before finding where Blot was so he could finish copying the cover. Or the portrait that Blot seemed to think of it as. Though, the 'portrait' didn't include his tassels, bookmark ribbons, or even his head. Instead, it was merely just what was of his cover.

When he arrived in the cafeteria, Elmo could see that he wasn't the only one there. For one thing, Blot seemed to be eating a bowl of something that Elmo couldn't identify.

Then there was Sonya and Heather making out in the back corner of the cafeteria, clearly unaware of anything going on around them, even as their hands could be seen under each other's clothing.

Elmo pointedly ignored them, assuming that Heather was still getting used to being around others, and likely having a girlfriend, to the point where she was likely the one initiating everything and Sonya was just willing to go along with it.

Which Elmo didn't feel like it was his place to say anything. Especially since they seemed to do all of that away from everyone else. Most of the time.

Instead, he merely got a stack of pancakes, sausage, bacon, and eggs before sitting next to Blot.

"What're you eating?" Elmo asked as he sat down while Blot took another bit of whatever it was.

Blot seemed to check before swallowing before he answered. "It's peach tree pulp. My favorite."

Elmo blinked. He wasn't sure what to say about it. He could accept the 'ink tea' that the book drank and now it was eating unprocessed tree pulp. He wasn't sure exactly why, but somehow it made sense that a living book would eat and drink those sorts of things. Especially if it somehow was able to write on its own pages.

However, he didn't say anything, instead he nodded and started eating his own breakfast.

He wasn't sure how long it took Blot to finish the tree pulp, but eventually the book did and Elmo had about a quarter left of the food in front of him when Blot spoke again.

"By the way, I thought about what I saw on what you drew of me. I'm not sure, but I think the wording indicated I might be the book you were asking about when you first arrived here."

Elmo heard a ringing sound and was surprised to see that he'd dropped his fork in the syrup. He hadn't expected to hear those words from Blot and wasn't sure how to respond either, but it he knew what Blot meant by what he said. That he might be the Book of Living. That that might be what his title actually is.