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"Greetings, honored librarian!" Donnie started, throwing a theatrical arm out to properly demonstrate the importance of his words. "I am here to formally apologize on behalf of myself and my—Wait, you're not the bat."
The yokai at the checkout counter lowered their book and raised a green, hairless brow behind their purple-rimmed glasses. He looked strangely familiar. Then he raised a finger to his lips and quietly, deliberately shushed him.
"R-right," Donnie muttered, briefly lowering the volume of his voice. "Uh…anyway! We—"
"Shh."
"Y-yes, um, I…" Donnie paused, recalibrating as he stared at the yokai librarian. They appeared to be some kind of lizard or reptile, in a lavender cardigan. He was having more trouble than usual reading the librarian's expression because they appeared to have nictitating membranes, or "third eyelids," covering their pupils.
"Of course, yes, quiet in the library. I will—"
Instead of another shush, the librarian sighed. Then he sat up and delicately placed a tasseled bookmark in his book. Donnie could just barely make out "Mike Spli" of the author's name.
"Did you know that hush-bats are an endangered species?" the librarian asked softly, leaning over the counter a little. The decorative beads on the thin chain attached to the arms of his glasses tinkled like tiny wind chimes as he moved. "They're found only in the New York Hidden City. In fact, this library has the largest known population. One of the most distinct and interesting characteristics of this rare animal is their sensitivity to sound. Speech louder than a whisper hurts their ears and triggers a defense mechanism of removing the cause of the sound from their home." He tilted his head to the side, and as far as Donnie could tell his voice and expression were sincere. "If you aren't able to regulate your volume, might I suggest sign language or charades while within the library?"
"Um, okay," Donnie said quietly. He cleared his throat nervously. "I just wanted to apologize for the trouble my brothers caused, and I contributed in a very small way to, during our last visit."
The librarian hummed thoughtfully. "I'm afraid I wasn't here for that. You'll have to come in on another day and speak to the Head Librarian."
"Oh…"
"You and your brothers get into a lot of trouble, huh?"
"Wh-Whaaat? Nooo, that's— Haha, we do…not. (Nailed it!) Why, what've you heard?"
"My brother does under the table mechanic work out the back of Repo Mantis's junkyard."
"Oh."
The librarian gave him a small, amused smile. "He gave Repo an earful for…now how did he put it? Ah, for 'tryna trick a buncha kids who probably ain't ever met an adult they weren't related to'."
"Rude, but accurate," Donnie conceded.
Nodding, the librarian said, "We had a similar upbringing. We got lucky, for the most part. But there were a few notable incidents." He smirked a little. "Candy from strangers we were warned about, not ancient swords from strangers."
"What a weirdly specific example," Donnie said, raising a drawn eyebrow. Only for the librarian to shush him again and hold up a finger to indicate he should wait. Curse his inherited love of drama and early childhood lessons from Papa on voice projection!
While he lamented the nigh-impossible task of volume regulation, the librarian rummaged around behind the desk. Finally, with an "Aha!" that was barely more than an exhalation, he sat up again with a small box in his hands. Smiling kindly, he offered it to Donnie, who took it automatically.
The librarian crossed his arms on top of the desk and leaned over them. "That should help," he whispered.
"This isn't going to curse me, is it?" Donnie asked, then startled as he realized his voice was much quieter than it should have been. He held the box away from himself and glared up at the librarian accusingly "It did!"
Raising an unimpressed eyebrow, the librarian murmured, "It's not a curse, it's science."
Donnie froze, then stood up straighter and leaned in. "Tell me everything!"
So the librarian did. The box was a sound dampener, his own design. It lowered the volume of any sounds within its sphere of influence. Which unfortunately was only around whoever was holding the box. Though he was working on designing a sound dampener that would cover the entire library, or barring that at least the areas the hush-bats preferred to roost.
"How do you know all this?!" Donnie asked, holding the box in one hand so he could excitedly flap the other hand at his side.
"The library is more of a volunteer weekend side-gig," the librarian said, looking amused. "I usually work at Hidden City University. I teach engineering there." He briefly held up the book on the desk, and this time Donnie could see the author's name ended in "terson". The glossy cover image appeared to be some kind of explosive space battle. "Lets me catch up on my reading."
"Fiction?"
"Trouble With Triceratons, it's the second in the series. I provided some of the technical details."
"You know the author?"
The librarian grinned. "He's my brother."
"The mechanic that works with Repo?"
"Different brother."
A suspicion was bubbling in the back of Donnie's brain and he narrowed his eyes at the man. "Your brother Mike," he said.
The librarian's grin widened. "That's the one. He also designed the cover."
They stared at each other over the desk for a moment before Donnie finally asked, "How many brothers—"
"Three."
"The protective mechanic, the artistic author, and…?"
Elbows on the desk, the librarian laced his fingers together and rested his chin on them. "Blacksmith. He works over in the Craftsman District." His expression was akin to someone watching someone else deciphering a riddle of their own devising. A reptilian Sphinx in a knitted lilac sweater. "His specialty is swords. I'd be happy to take you and your brothers by his shop some time…Donatello."
Donnie's eyes widened, unconsciously clutching the sound-dampening box to his plastron as he stared up at the…turtle.
Smiling mischievously, the librarian sat up so his name tag was finally visible and tapped it. In bold, block letters, it read "DON."
Donnie gasped as his suspicions were confirmed and dropped the box as he squeaked out, "Multiverse!"
Raising a finger to his lips once again, his counterpart winked at him. "Shhh."