title: start small
fandom: Guardian
length: 100 words
contents: no AO3 warnings apply, Shen Wei backstory

summary: Some places are too much, too soon. Shen Wei adapts.


Shen Wei tried, first, the University library: vast and airy, thick with old tomes, plush carpets hushing every noise. It was too much, somehow. He couldn't bring himself to touch the shelves.

He barely remembers his childhood, all the time before. But that room woke something half-imagined, something better left long-buried.

He finds instead the Wanli public library: tiny, tucked into a municipal building behind a children's park. It has two rooms of bookshelves and some tables to study. But the librarians are friendly, and request books from other locations when asked politely.

It's more than enough for his needs.