[OPEN] News too happy to keep any longer...

[sweariwontdie]

Armand is in the library. It's a common place just to settle down and look for people while having something entertaining to do. He's been bursting with the news of his engagement to Karla. When all was said and done, despite their mutual fears of a big wedding, they both have family and friends they wish to share their happiness with. There will

Comments

Hasn't met Armand, this could be interesting...

[mal_badinlatin]

He might find he's not alone for long: there's a tall, somewhat rugged-looking fellow who's rummaging about the shelves, looking for something to read.

Mal might not be the most intellectual fellow, but he's fond of everything and anything to do with the Age of Sailing on Earth-That-Was, and so he's looking for a copy of "Two Years Before The Mast".

[sweariwontdie]

This visitor is much less startling, if a stranger. Armand hears him moving around, and eventually goes to find who it is. He stays at the end of the row though. "Are you looking for something?" he asks.

[mal_badinlatin]

Mal inadvertently knocks a few books on the floor while trying to pull one out. "[Damn it to the seventh hell]," he mutters. "Don't mind me: jus' lookin' f'r Two Years B'fore th' Mast. Thought I had a copy in m' room, but seems it gone missin'."

[sweariwontdie]

Armand has to think. He's read so much out of his time and even out of his world. "Oh, I see. I think books like that are over there." He points to a shelf a little further along. "Is that one a novel or a... historical account?"

[mal_badinlatin]

"Think it's a historical account: it's s'posed t' be one fella's log a' his trip 'round th' tip a' South America," he says. "Seen it put with novels, though, for one reason or other."

[sweariwontdie]

"I thought it sound vaguely familiar. I could help you look..." But his eyes stray back to the door. He's looking for people, and would happily talk to Mal, but he's worried about missing an entrance. But he bites his lip and turns his eyes back to where he was pointing. "I still think it might be there. There isn't a system anymore."

[mal_badinlatin]

"Thanks, fella, I'll go take a look," he says, glancing toward the stacks as well. "I'm Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Mal fer short."

[sweariwontdie]

Armand blinks. "Oh, my apologies, Capt. Reynolds. I'm Armand St. Just." He steps back just enough to give a sort of elaborate bow, low anyway. Because he's embarrassed. "I keep forgetting my manners," he says as he straightens up again.

[mal_badinlatin]

"Don't sweat it: ain't like I'm royalty 'r nothing," he says, feeling a bit awkward at that bow. "Jus' makin' m' proper intros is all. I'm jus' an average guy, makin' a livin', haulin' goods an' tryin' not t' get driven kooky by m' crew. Least I was, till I woke up in this place a few months ago."

[sweariwontdie]

"I'll bow for most anyone, good captain," Armand explains, hoping that he hasn't offended by being a bit overly formal. "It's the custom in the time period and nation I'm from." Perhaps not for all classes, but Armand was often in the company of nobility and never thought it fair not to be honorable to others as well.

"So you traveled a bit?" he asks. "It's so sad that we must give that up to live here. But the greater world comes to us with the variety of people who arrive."

[mal_badinlatin]

"Naaaw, nothin' like that: jus' not used t' gettin' this kinda respect," he says, with a small wry smile. "But yep, done quite a bit a' travelin' in m' time. But I grew up onna ranch. Been puttin' m'self t' use 'roun' th' stables. Might ask th' powers that be t' bring in a small herd 'a cows."

[sweariwontdie]

"Cows?" Armand asks, then smiles. "That might be nice. The... economy here is a bit limited. The Mansion provides so much for us." People forget what normalcy is like sometimes, especially when they've been here for so long. "But we do have lives that go on despite it all."

[mal_badinlatin]

"Provides a bit too much, y' ask me: a man could get soft livin' here if he lets it get t' him," he says.

[sweariwontdie]

Armand considers that. "Perhaps it does. Some are more suited to intellectual pursuits though, and this environment does let the life of the mind blossom." But Armand isn't one of those himself either. He's somewhere in between, being so old-fashioned. "There are dangers and hardships we wouldn't face in the regular world to compensate, don't you think?"

[mal_badinlatin]

"If y' mean the giant creepy-crawlies an' things like that, yeah," he says. "Ain't seen nothing like them before. Heard there's magic here, not that I know what t' make a' that. Ain't no magic in my world."

[sweariwontdie]

"There was no magic in my world either, but I've lived here long enough to grow used to it. I have many friends who are magical." And one special one. "Magic isn't all bad. My... fiancée keeps me from falling out of trees with her magic."