chapter 002 | [video]

[bibliophilism]

[Michelle is in the library as usual; people who frequent it have most likely encountered this beautiful blonde bibliophile taking stack after stack of digital literary records from the shelves, parking herself at a table, and just sitting there doing nothing but reading.

That was what she was doing until she started this transmission. So if you'll excuse her, she will push aside a towering stack of records before smiling widely; for someone who was pining for her sisters several days ago, she's exceedingly chipper. And today, she is wearing her ship uniform; paper clothes can be uncomfortable, after all.]

Hello again! I've been thinking - do we give newcomers a tour of the ship? I think it would be very useful to have one, since this is a very, very big ship.

[She glances at the console not far from her, rests her chin on her hand, and pinches her cheek with her free hand. The smile is replaced by a look of longing.]

Oh, and if any of you have real books with actual covers and paper pages, may I please borrow them? I miss real books. I miss turning pages, the smell of new books, actually holding one in your hand... [Michelle lets go of her cheek, raises her head, and looks at her stack.]

I promise I'll return them, but I might borrow them again.

[OOC: Again, fourth wall permissions post for book characters!]

Comments

video;

[lacksgrace]

What do you wanna read for? That's a boring way to pass the time.

video;

[bibliophilism]

[Michelle gasps, a hand flying to her chest. She looks taken aback, as if you just suggested to her that pigs fly and pigs fly in space and pigs fly in space to a planet made of bacon.]

Of course not! Reading is never boring!

video;

[lacksgrace]

Sure it is. All those words staring at you? If you ask me, it's pretty lame. [ But no one asked him. Oops. ] A pretty girl like you should be having fun doing other things.

voice;

[justamobster]

[ There's a long pause before Ladon speaks. Not that he's dumbstruck by how much Michelle looks like his late girlfriend or anything. Nope. ]

Dunno if a tour'd be a good idea, doll. What I'm hearin', people tend to disappear if they go pokin' 'round too much.

voice;

[bibliophilism]

[She doesn't know that, though. Obvs.]

They do? How much would be too much?

[Poking around in dangerous situations is what she usually does.]

voice;

[justamobster]

Dunno, but the place's got a way of bein' like a maze. Now and then someone goes missin'. Usually they come back, but havin' the newbies tour the place'd be a gamble.

voice;

[handelaar]

Books, huh. Guess ya can, if I get somethin' out of it.

[Sup cute new girl. Cut the crap about making love to paper with your brain and give him shit.]

Tour-a the Gardens, too.

voice;

[bibliophilism]

The gardens would be included in the tour. They should be.

[A pause. Michelle frowns a bit, pinching her cheek again. Not that he'd be able to see her.]

...something? I don't have any money. I didn't bring the money I earned from being a bodyguard.

[handelaar]

Mn.

[AKA he's not so sure about that. Why would anyone need a tour of the Gardens.]

Yeah, something. Not money. Doesn't mean a damned thing, here.



[... he sounds a little bitter about that last bit.]

video;

[cl_cl_claudius]

G-good day, young lady. [Yay, a fellow reader!]

I kn-now Petyr Baelish of W-westeros was putting together a small library of texts the Tranquilitii had from home, though I have seen little of him lately. I fear he may have disappeared, as people sometimes do, and I have w-wondered what m-may have happened to all the books.

If we c-cannot locate those, I w-would at least be willing to lend y-you the books I have. L-livy's "Books from the F-foundation of the City," and Pollio's history of Rome arrived w-with me, and I have also b-been copying out certain texts I have b-by heart in order to share th-them. But I do not know if they w-would interest y-you, or seem dull.

[Of course, any classical history fan would be flailing at the idea of the chance to read Pollio's lost histories or the missing parts of Ab Urbe Condita, but Claudius doesn't know that - classicists not being thick on the ground on this spaceship, even if an unsettling number of people seem to know his name and insist on calling him "Emperor."]

video;

[bibliophilism]

And a good day to you, sir! [She nods in greeting.]

Has anyone tried to send Mr. Petyr Baelish a message? Maybe he has been too busy to use his device. In any case, I would love to borrow your books, and those texts when you're done copying them out! That must be a useful talent.

[Michelle is just crazy about anything that can be read. So even if it is history, she will gladly devour it.]

[cl_cl_claudius]

It is n-no great talent. M-my tutors taught by rote - one of them w-was a muledriver, and thought it w-was the only way I could be brought to learn. [No, really. He was literally a guy who used to be employed to hit mules to make them run. Roman teaching credentials!] And as a historian I have had occ-ccasion to return often to certain works. It is a p-pleasure to copy them out again, and f-fills the time better than m-most occupations I have found.

gently threadjacking

[northerner]

I cry pardon for my interruption, but you're correct in your fears. The Lord Baelish has departed recently. His communicator works not at all, and my direwolf found no trace of him aboard this ship.

...'sup

[bibliophilism]

No trace of him, at all?

o hai

[cl_cl_claudius]

[Ah well. These things happen, and to be honest Claudius is happier with the mysterious disappearances epidemic on the Tranquility than with the all-too-common deaths he's grown unwillingly accustomed to in Rome. Still.] I am sorry to hear it, especially if he w-was a friend of y-yours. He seemed a c-clever and well-spoken man.

I don't suppose you know w-what may have become of the b-books he had collected?

[northerner]

Have care for where you tread. This ship is not always wholly safe, Michelle.

[bibliophilism]

But a tour would help new guests see which places are safe, and which aren't.

I'll be careful. Don't worry.

video;

[gothchicklit]

What kind of books do you want? [ October's only got a few, but she might be willing to lend them out. ]

video;

[bibliophilism]

[Please oh please lend them out.]

Any books. What do you have?

voice;

[vindicating]

Books? Well I did happen to get one in my locker this jump.

voice;

[bibliophilism]

You did? How did you get it? I never got any books when I arrived...

text;

[glom]

If there is a tour of this joint, I didn't get one.

text;

[bibliophilism]

I don't think there was. I didn't have one either, so I thought it might be a good idea to have a tour.

text; in which i am the latest panda

[fraud]

Tours are bad idea because this ship sucks and might kill you.

And I can help you with books, maybe.

text; late pandas are always welcome

[bibliophilism]

So I've heard. If it's that bad, we could always keep the newcomers to the safer places, and then leave investigating the worse parts to the experts.

Do you have any books?