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Vivia was in his usual place; the fireplace. The only one to go along with the Chief's whole "laying low" idea, albeit only because it gave him the excuse to lounge and do nothing.
Thirty whole minutes had passed since Chief Yakou sent Yuma out on a grocery run, thirty minutes that went by in evidently painful silence. He checked in on him occasionally, just a glance from his book. Not much movement, or talking, really. Unnatural for the typically animated chief.
"…Do you…wanna hear about the book I'm reading?" Vivia asked in his usually depressive monotone voice.
Yakou groaned, and hopelessly lifted his head from the desk. "No, no. I'm trying to conserve my energy…while I starve…" His head fell back on the desk with a thud.
"Listening does take a lot of energy…but quiet doesn't suit you, either. Some would say that the dread of silence suffocates a room more than the chatter of life…The silent swoop of an owl ensnaring its prey, versus the cacophany of crows announcing a carcass." Vivia droned on, like he usually did when he didn't want to say what he actually meant. Yakou gagged,
"Do not talk about carcasses right now, oh god." He whined. He did that a lot. Just. Whine.
"Then let me talk about my book."
"Ugh…Fine. Just no corpse talk…"
Vivia hummed his agreement and closed the book on his thumb. "It's called Ghost and Lantern; A Flame In The Dark Illuminating The Way To The Light. It's about a ghost who lost his way and wanders an endless labyrinth in search of the gate to the afterlife…Then he encounters a talking lantern, whose light flickers so dimly it can only choose between anticipating it's own light being snuffed by time, or snuffing itself out for the sake of another."
"Why can't the lantern just…find someone to help keep it lit?" Yakou asked after a long silence.
"Your first question isn't why the lantern can talk?"
"It's a fictional story. Logic doesn't matter."
"But you asked for logic anyway…" Vivia pointed out. "Why doesn't the lantern ask for someone to help keep it lit? Why has it given up so easily to where all of it's options end in being snuffed out?"
Yakou didn't answer.
"…If you're done hearing about the book—" Vivia opened the book again to keep reading.
"I'm thinking." Yakou grumbled. "Because…I don't know. Is the lantern also alone in the labyrinth? It can't move, why would it call out to someone when nobody's around?"
"The ghost is around. If anything, the lantern helps the ghost reach his goal of finding the gate to the afterlife. Because the lantern acts as a light in the dark…and in doing so, uses up all of its own fuel and snuffs out."
Yakou jolted upright in his seat. "Hey, don't spoil the book! Jeez!"
Vivia's heavy eyes widened. "Oh. I'm sorry, chief. I didn't realize you wanted to read it."
"Well, when you rant on about it and get me invested, then yeah! I'm gonna wanna read it!" He retorted, defensive.
"Well…Does that mean that you anticipated the lantern to wait to be snuffed, rather than use the last of its energy to help another?"
Yakou froze, contemplating. He slumped back in his chair. "I- I don't know. It would be nice to think the lantern had a chance to get another option."
"…Do you want me to read the rest of it to you? Even if you already know the lantern's end?"
"Y…Yeah, I'll admit. I still wanna know how they actually get there."
"Like a true book enjoyer." Vivia smiled. He then had a thought, and got up from his spot in the fireplace. His arms stretched above his head, some aches and kinks panged in various spots on his body after spending hours in there already. He approached Yakou's desk, and kneeled under, book in hand, knees pulled up to his chest. Yakou stared at him, "U..uh…?"
"I don't like raising my voice to read." Vivia said as he opened the book. "Plus…I've always wondered what it's like down here."