Chapter 2: Book Mimic | 2.5 Paper Keepsakes
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Getting home from the library, Iris brought the five school textbooks to her room. Dropping the thick books onto her desk, she spoke to Lexi, “These are some books that I will use at school, so I want to have these memorized next.”
Already on the desk, Lexi hopped around the stack of books, examining them. ‘These have lots of pages… It might take a while even with your mana. Alone, it could take months for me to memorize, but with your mana, it could still take weeks.’
Hearing her familiar’s explanation, Iris came up with a possible solution. “Hmm. Would it be better if we read the other books first? Maybe improve your skills first. There are plenty of items we can work with like coloring books, photos, baby and children books that I used to read…”
Listing off items, Iris became enthusiastic about the possibilities. “Shall we test it for now?” Sharing her master’s enthusiasm, Lexi agreed to cooperate and try anything.
Smiling, Iris left her room and asked her mother for help. “Mom! Where are the family photo albums and all that old stuff?”
“Um.” Since this question came out of the blue, Casey needed a moment to think. While they had unpacked a lot, there were plenty of things not unpacked. “I think we stored everything in the attic. The boxes should be labeled, but what exactly are you looking for?”
“I…” She froze for a moment. ‘What should I say? They don’t know about Lexi…’ Conflicted, Iris wasn’t certain about exposing Lexi’s existence. Suddenly feeling like she was hiding things from her parents, Iris looked at the floor lost in thought.
She didn’t want to lie, so she couldn’t look into her mother’s eyes. Seeing Iris look at the ground without saying anything, Casey became worried. “W-Well, why don’t I help you look around through the boxes? Four hands are better than two.”
Iris quickly nodded her head, and they went to the attic together. There were a lot of boxes, but thanks to the labels, she found them. Shuffling through the box, it was filled with photos, old drawings, old homework, elementary books, and holiday cards.
“These are what I want. Can you help me bring these to my room?” Iris asked her mom.
“Of course.” Relieved that she could help her daughter, Casey asked, “Do you want me to order a few picture frames, so you hang up something on your walls?” Iris nodded thinking that it was a good idea.
They moved six small boxes into her room and lined them up against her wall. “Let me know when you're done with them, so I can go through and put up a few photos and things around the house.”
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“Okay.” After hearing Iris’s confirmation, Casey left her daughter’s room. Left alone, she telepathically spoke with Lexi, ‘These boxes are full of things. Let’s start with something small.’
Opening one of the boxes, she thought it would be easier for her familiar if she started with things on paper. While photos were paper-like, Iris felt like it was still not quite right, so she grabbed old homework and drawings.
Lying out the materials over her bed, she brought Lexi over from the desk. “What do you think about these?” Looking at the bundle of homework from elementary school, Lexi estimated, ‘It shouldn’t take too long.’
Lexi hopped around and using her ribbon-tongue, dragged things into her pages. Iris watched for a few moments before returning to the boxes and organizing some more.
Categorizing different things, she built separate stacks for photos, old school materials, and drawings. Not all of them were Iris’s items. Two boxes were for her younger brothers. Talking to Lexi, Iris sat on the floor and reminisced about the different items as she organized.
Having a quick dinner with her family, Iris fully focused on organizing the history in those boxes. Categorized by material and item type, Iris put everything back inside the boxes. “You can continue overnight.”
Lexi responded, ‘I don’t need much sleep, so leave it to me. Just drop me inside the box.’ Following along, Iris placed Lexi into a box with paper materials, mostly homework and drawings, so that she could continue overnight. ‘Hopefully, her skills will improve.’
Getting up early Sunday morning, Iris glanced at Lexi’s box as she went to the bathroom, but seeing them empty, she froze. ‘w-what?’ Doing a double take, she confirmed that the box was empty.
Gasping, her eyes swam, and she glanced around looking for Lexi. Not seeing her around, she closed her eyes and focused on their bond. ‘…in the next box.’ She checked the box and found a leather book, a photo album.
Assimilated to it, Lexi’s appearance had changed which was why Iris hadn’t noticed her presence. Breathing a sigh of relief, Iris spoke to her familiar, “Lexi, you scared me. I didn’t see you in the box.” Picking up the leather photo album, she continued, “How did you even get into this box, and where is all of the paperwork?”
‘I jumped into this box. I have all the paperwork. It’s inside my stomach. You should be able to see it.’ Closing her eyes, Iris focused and found them in her mind library. She could sense stacks of paper. They gave off a different presence than the other items.
Concentrating on them individually, Iris could tell the difference between things memorized, stored and memorized, and those stored but unmemorized. “Cool… How much can you store?”
Lexi answered, ‘Hm? I think those things are half of what I can hold. Currently, I’m assimilating to this photo book and trying to… be more accepting of photos.’
“That’s great!” Iris was really pleased that her partner was improving and learning. “You’re amazing Lexi. I never expected you to be able to store all of that, and I’m glad that you’re trying to learn how to accept photos.”
Checking her mind library once again, she wondered if she should have Lexi spit out the materials, but then she got to thinking. ‘Can I organize this with my mind?’
With her mind, she could pretty much see everything, all the paperwork. It would be easy to organize it all. With Lexi’s help, she organized items using her mental space. When everything was memorized, she stored it in the box since her mother asked for things later.