Books? What are...books? Mimics usually aren't very intelligent, but Certu was born with a greatly above average capacity for nonsexual thought and mental capacity. He usually telepathically communicates to other tentacle people, but he tries communicating with this human.

:What are books?:

He doesn't send those exact words, given that he doesn't understand human language, but he sends the concepts to her while he rips off her robes.

She's a learned wizard – she is not too distracted to talk about books despite her ongoing molestation!

:Books are usually a collection of sheets of paper or vellum with words written on them. That's information that's stored by means of symbols, in this case, created by applying colored liquid. You can learn lots of stuff from books. They are very important to me!: she sends, as the rest of her robes are thrown aside.

Certu doesn't understand what she's saying, but he picks up the vibe. Huh. That is very interesting. He loved learning when he was a child: learning how to shapeshift and form his tentacles to cast from Chirr and Gam, and learning about other places. He was too reluctant to leave the comfort of the Pink to go to other places and learn whatever they knew, but if he had books, then he could just use them and he'd know what they are!

He continues to hold the naked and slime-covered Beatrix in his grasp, but he stills.

:I want to use books. Tell me how to use books.: he sends.

...that was not the response that she was expecting. But this is good! She's not exactly in a position to negotiate right now, but it would be remiss of her to pass up this opportunity.

:I did not know that tentacle monsters were interested in becoming literate. If you keep my books safe and tell me everything you know about the Pink and the Red, then I'll teach you how to read, and let you read whatever you want from the books I have.:

Certu is very interested in becoming literate!

:Deal: he sends. He cleans the mucus and slime off of his tentacles and very gingerly extracts Beatrix's books and lays them out in a neat pile on a dry spot. :They'll be safe there.:

And then he proceeds to fuck her brains out for three hours.

Well, that was par for the course. She accepts her fate. After half an hour of recovering, she gets back up and sends :Learning how to read and write is something that takes humans like me months to years to master. I don't have enough food to survive here for that long, and I doubt I can eat what you eat. I'm planning to return to my house in the Relvos Kingdom: she sends her mental image of a world map to him :and I would be able to teach you how to read and write in the languages I know in that time.:

After a few moments to think, she adds :Humans and humanoids generally aren't on the best terms with tentacle: no, she shouldn't say monsters – if they can think, they're people :people. However, I can protect you during the journey and hide you from discovery. I know Illusion magic. Can you assume a more humanoid shape? It would be easier for me to work my spell on you like that.:

Certu can do that. This chest shape isn't even real wood, it's just him extruding natural armor into a chest-like shape. He learned it from his father. He assumes a shape vaguely similar to other humans he's fucked, and settles on a vaguely masculine shape. There are tentacles sprouting from random places though, because the thought of having just four limbs is vaguely horrifying to him. How do you even live like that?

He's scared of going outside the Pink, but the wizard seems trustworthy. He doesn't sense bad vibes from her. And she'll teach him reading! Even if it was risky, he'd go even just for that. And it isn't like he doesn't have magic of his own. He can probably defend herself from her long enough to run away if necessary.

:Ah, that's not true. Humans can survive just fine on our fluids. I can even feed them to you with my tentacles.: He wriggles a few feeding tentacles her way, dripping with milky liquid.

Well, like, she was raped. But ignoring that, it actually felt great. If she could have sex with Certu in better circumstances, she wouldn't mind it at all. She is not interested in subsisting off of tentacle fluid for half a year, though.

:Er, I'd rather not survive off of only that for so long. It would be great if you're willing to travel, since it will take me months to get back to my house. And I'll let you read all the books I have there. I'm a relatively wealthy rune binder. I have hundreds of books.:

:I understand. Though if we're leaving the Pink, I'll need sustenance too. I need sex, basically. It's not good for tentacle people to go without it for too long. I heard that humans aren't like that, but we are. Will that be a problem?:

:Yes, a lot of humanoids don't want to have sex with tentacle people and will get very upset and hostile if you try to force yourself on them. But I would be willing to have sex with you if I got full veto power on when and where, and can delay it if it's particularly inconvenient or if I'm very much not in a state to do it.:

Beatrix Castell thinks that, out of all that has happened in her three decades of life, negotiating boundaries with a tentacle monster that wants to learn how to read from her must be the strangest.

Certu learns quickly, and he's already up to a conversational level within two weeks. It's understandable, given that they can communicate telepathically, and she can send concepts alongside words. It does take him a month longer to go up to fluent level, and a little longer to read her books. Most books she carried are complicated magic theory books, and the simplest ones she had are an almanac and atlas.

Conrad and Beatrix encounter no tentacle monsters, because he can politely request the friendly ones that they're not up to interact, and shout at the unfriendly ones to fuck off. Beatrix is a patient teacher and happily explains all the words he doesn't understand while she's reading. Once he learns reading, Beatrix teaches him how to listen, and even how to talk. Listening goes well enough, but talking is a struggle. The human mouth and throat is an intricate organ, and his shapeshifting ability is not quite up to the point where he can mimic it well enough.

He tries to explore Beatrix's mouth and throat to figure out their shape the next time they have sex, but Beatrix quickly put a stop to that after he stuck a thin tentacle down her nose. He continues to practice and gets up to the point that it's understandable, but sounds really weird.

They arrive in Relvos's capital. Illusion magic isn't her specialty, but she's been fiddling with her illusion spell on Certu for months. No one will be able to see his true form unless they cast specialized detection magic. She makes a lot of money doing rune binding on various items, though not rune etching (not yet, she thinks!), so she owns a big house. She also owns her own workshop and attached storefront, which is on the ground floor. Her bedroom and library is in the basement.

Certu sets up shop in the library. While they were traveling, she noticed that Certu was already a spellcaster, although he only had Gam. She thinks about getting him Fal and Vet so he can help her with her rune work, but perhaps some other time. 

Certu devours (figuratively) all the books in Beatrix's library. He's a very low-maintenance tentacle monster, since he's an indoor tentacle monster. He doesn't like going out. Traveling was awful, and he's glad to have a place to set up shop.

Beatrix gets concerned after he starts spreading himself to cover the walls of her library room, but he assures her that he's not damaging anything. He gets better at his shapeshifting and becomes somewhat more comfortable with the idea of retracting his tentacles and existing in a limbless (or fewer-limbed) state. When Beatrix goes to reread a favorite romantic fiction book of hers one evening, Certu practices shapeshifting by making a reclining chair for her. It goes great, and he's relieved – he had expected the experiment to go with either him terribly misunderstanding some aspect of human anatomy or accidentally tipping Beatrix onto the floor while adjusting the chair's shape.

It's great! Certu has gotten to the point where he can convincingly ape human furniture. There are no stray tentacles popping out of any surfaces. She's very proud.

A year passes. Beatrix gets him Fal and Vet so he can help her with runework. She gets him more books. After a month of shapeshifting work, he discovers how to act as a printer using his pigment secretions. Beatrix is overjoyed over being able to make copies of various documents. He can make simple pictures and diagrams too, although color is extremely difficult. Sticking to black-and-white is easier.

Eventually, he has a talk with Beatrix. He misses home. He'd like to move back to the Pink, or at least, somewhere close. He wants to teach other tentacle people how to read, and tell them what he's learned. He also wants to discover new things and potentially acquire new books. Or even write them himself. He thanks her for all she's done for her, and hopes to be able to meet again. Perhaps she can pay to scry him every once in a while.

She understands.

...Honestly, she feels like moving some other place too. Runework is great, and she's living a good life, but she's curious about what other things there are to learn too. They could start a library, maybe. Certu has gotten good at shapeshifting. They could move all their books somewhere else.

She suggests moving to the Fringe, rather than the Pink. It's somewhat more hospitable to people, and is a more convenient location. Besides, it will make their trek take a little less time, although it will still take the better part of a year to haul all their things.

Hm. That's not the best, but he understands. The Fringe still has...the energy and vibe that he's looking for, at least. Being in human areas feels sterile and mildly deadening.

They make plans to move. The two of them pack up all their belongings into boxes, and Certu shapeshifts into something resembling a carriage pulled by horses. It looks terrible, but Beatrix is there to spot-correct it with her illusion magic. They leave Relvos without incident. Once they leave civilization, Certu breathes a sigh of relief (figuratively) and reverts to a more comfortable form.

He can shield their cargo well enough with his Protect Magic – he's proficient enough with that – but it's up to Beatrix to ward away and fight the monsters herself. She's done it once before, but Certu's larger form attracts more monsters to them. During quiet moments, he binds various elemental enchantments into flakes of chitin he's made to be flung at enemies when they arrive, bursting into flames or lightning on impact.

Beatrix considers her investment into Certu of Fal and Vet as having paid for itself several times over. After nine months of arduous travel, they arrive at the northern sections of the Fringe, near the four-way intersection between it, the Green, the Sallow, and the Grey.

She thinks this is a good spot. It's in a relatively central location, it is close enough to the Pink to satisfy Certu, she can potentially forage for fungus to have something to eat other than Certu's fluids (which, while fine, does get terribly stale after several months of eating just that), and it has earth underneath, so she can use Earth Magic on it. She has a good feeling about this place.

She and Certu discuss what the library should look like. They design a grand and sprawling library, but, of course, neither Certu or her has the ability to build and sustain such a thing. Certu tells her that he could expand it via selectively growing parts of himself, though, so future additions will be relatively easy to work in. They decide on having an initial setup of one ground floor and one basement.

She spends two weeks manipulating the soil and stone around them for the library. It's difficult work, since the soil is filled with fungal mycelia – it's several times more troublesome to manipulate. Still, she's happy she can manipulate it at all rather than the Pink's flesh.

Certu settles in. He's invigorated by the Fringe. It's not quite home, but it's close enough to it. He expands himself to encompass the two floor complex. He builds shelves and chairs and doors and signs and various other pieces of furniture. Beatrix checks everything he makes and carefully guides him into making everything seem as real and non-tentacle-y as possible.

Years pass. Travelers discover Certu and Beatrix and trade knowledge and books with them. Certu learns Flesh Magic and uses it to keep Beatrix young. He adds more rooms to his library. Their location is more hospitable than other places in the Tentacle Realm, but that doesn't make it hospitable in the positive sense. Nor does it make the journey to him easier. Still, they receive a few visitors a day on average.

Today, he has the following rooms.

1st Floor
Lobby and Entrance
General Section A: Standard books go into the general sections.
Study Room A: Study Rooms have desks and chairs, with a "Quiet!" rule in force.
Entertainment Room: A space similar to the Study Room, but without the "Quiet!" rule. Also used as a venue for various performances, although such things are extremely rare, with the remote nature of the place.

2nd Floor
General Section B
Study Room B
Meeting Rooms: A set of rooms for private meetings.
Bedrooms: A section with bedrooms, for use by travelers. Generally available for free, if they are staying for less than a week.

3rd Floor
Observatory: Taking the tentacle elevator up leads to the observatory, which has telescopes and other equipment for navigation. Also has a scrying mirror. Certu or Beatrix can scry for you, at a cost.
Workshop (deposit required): Tools and materials for making various mundane things. Using the place and tools requires a deposit, and if you use the materials in the room, they must be paid for.
Magic Workroom (deposit required): The same as the workshop, but for magical work. Requires a bigger deposit, due to the dangerous nature of magic experimentation.
Herbarium: Various fungi and plants are grown here. Observing the plants is free, but taking clippings, whole plants, or plant products has a cost.

Basement 1
General Section C
Study Room C
Consulting Room: Although Certu extends his consciousness to the entire library at once, he prefers to talk here, where it's easier for him to assign more of his atttention.
Librarian's Workroom (restricted access): Beatrix's personal space, and where she does library upkeep work.
Armory (restricted access): A collection of arms and armor, held both for their interestingness and didactic value, as well as potentially being usable in case of a threat to the library.
Sorting Room (restricted access): Certu uses this as a main hub for organizing and sorting books, as well as mending them if they get damaged.

Basement 2
Special Book Section (restricted access): Especially rare or dangerous books are kept here. Only trusted people are permitted to enter.
Special Magic Workroom (restricted access): A place to practice or teach especially dangerous magic.
Special Herbarium (restricted access): Especially rare or dangerous plants and fungi are kept here.

Basement 3
Tentacle Pit: Certu's tentacle pit where he trapdoors people to if they misbehave. Or if they want to just spend time in a tentacle pit in general.