Day 27: Library

[not_rly_fai]

Libraries, he'd found, were rarely as dull as people made them out to be.  Though he felt no magic in these tomes, they were still full of useful information.  Maybe some of them could tell him a little bit more about this world he'd landed himself in.

For that matter, why hadn't he run into any of the others yet?  They'd all been fairly close

Comments

[sugarsweetblood]

Ewwww, reading. Of all her school-related chores, that one held the bulk of her hatred. The books she was supposed to read were so dull and boring and never kept her interest for more than a minute, at best! That's why she had usually gotten the Earl to do things for her like book reports and chapter readings, along with doing her homework for her, of course.

That being the case, she wasn't going to willingly read anything unless some title could keep her attention as she skimmed. Boring, boring, boring, bor... hey!

She drew out a book titled Lolita by: Vladimir Nabokov. She knew that word quite well as it was used to describe her often. Maybe the book could hold he attention for more than a few seconds as the title had miraculously caught her attention. The first page made it very clear that books were not, and never would be for her. Annoyed with the blandness of the beginning, she cast the book down on the floor without placing ti back onto the shelf.

"I'm booooooooooooored~" she cried, pouting.

[reanalyze]

"That's no way to treat a book."

Citan had gotten the hang of wheeling himself about and no longer needed his nurse to do so for him. The library seemed a much better choice than the Sun Room, at least to a man of intellectual leanings. Despite knowing that the room was full of fiction, he still wished to skim the selections. Even fiction could give insight into a place.

Before he even made it to the shelf, he was distracted by the young woman tossing books about. His scholarly side winced at the very idea!

[sugarsweetblood]

Rhode lifted her head at the voice and whipped around. Some odd guy she'd never seen before was trying to scold her for her dismissal of the boring Lolita book. She looked down at it, then back to him. "But it's booooooooring! All of the books here are boring!" she defended. And they were! This place was just too completely boring during the day. She wanted something fun to do and reading was not fun!

[reanalyze]

"You've read them all?" Citan raised his eyebrows. Ah, children. Always so full of energy. It needed to be harnessed and focused to be of any use. Of course, Citan had never been a normal child. Even before the plague he'd been more inclined to try and sneak into a library than run through the streets of the slave quarters of Solaris with the other ragged children.

"I'm sure we can find you something you'd think was interesting. What do you like?"

[sugarsweetblood]

She didn't like this human scolding her. He seemed human, what with being in a wheelchair and all, and he'd yet to say anything that didn't disprove his humanity. Her only option was to assume people here were human until she found evidence to the contrary.

"No," she responded, "but they all look boring." And if he dared to say "don't judge a book by it's cover, she'd tip him out of that chair! Every book she'd found and even given a glance had been just as boring as it's cover indicated.

As for what she liked... "I like blood."

[reanalyze]

"Considering humanity's fascination with war and murder and violence, I'm sure there will be a book just brimming with bloodshed somewhere in here," Citan responded, giving the girl a mild look. Blood was what she liked. Interesting. He wondered what manner of world she'd come from. Or if she simply sought to shock her elders.

It took a great deal to shock Citan Uzuki.

[sugarsweetblood]

"Mmmm, I don't know." A book had to keep her attention right off the bat before she would pay it any mind. That wasn't to say she didn't like the bloodshed of humans. With how long she'd been around, she knew a thing or two about human nature in that regard. Wars, genocides, homicides, murder, even the little "accidents" that she caused herself, she'd danced through all of them along with the Earl.

So much blood was on her own hands that it no longer mattered what the little humans did. As long as she was having fun, they could blow each other up as they pleased.

"Reading's boring no matter what it's about. It's too much like school!" School. Ugh. At least that was one good thing this place didn't have. Still had nagging humans that tried to make get her to read, but no homework for her to force on someone else.

[reanalyze]

"School is quite boring, but very important." Of course, he supposed his schooling was rather different than most. Jugend wasn't simply a school, it was Solaris' elite academy. Only the best and brightest attended.

Citan ran his eyes along the titles on the shelves. Not a single book was familiar to him. He wasn't entirely surprised.

"Though there is much to be said about learning by experience," he added, mildly, still smiling.

[sugarsweetblood]

"Important for what?" She had to ask. Just what was so important about being cooped up with human children who never listened to a teacher who spouted nonsense about things Rhode had lived through. No, Rhode had no love for human school. She couldn't understand just why the Earl insisted on her going to one every decade so that she could "keep up".

[reanalyze]

"A great many things," Citan said. "It's a necessary evil, I suppose. And it will be over soon enough. You'd be surprised how time can fly."

This was an odd young woman. Though he was used to strange children. He didn't do very well with them, but he was used to them. He wondered where she came from and why she struck him as strange.

[sugarsweetblood]

"Eh? But the Earl makes me go every ten years. It'll never be over," she whined. Whining was, surprisingly making her feel better. If it hadn't been, she just would have written this guys words off. Her torment of school would be over once they destroyed everything human. That shouldn't be too far from now.

A good reason why she needed to get back home; she had an Ark to finish downloading!!

[reanalyze]

"Why every ten years?" Citan blinked mildly at that. How old was this... person? He was beginning to doubt that she was human. Fascinating. "I'd imagine you've learned all you can from schooling, if you've been going for a very long time."

[sugarsweetblood]

"Cuz he's mean!" That was the childish answer for everything, blaming others by calling them meanies. "And he wants me to keep up to date with things, I guess. He won't ever tell me why he makes me go, but keeps saying 'It's for you're own good, Rhode'," she mimicked the Earl's oddly high-itched voice as best she could manage, "like some know-it-all. It's so boring! And he's annoying for not giving me a real reason. He doesn't make Tyki or Skin or the Twins go to school, just me!"

How long had she wanted to complain to someone about the Earl's policy concerning her schooling? Long enough to earn a huffy rant, it seemed. Rhode was happy to rant, it was comforting in a way.

[reanalyze]

"That does sound quite unfair," Citan agreed, his own way of encouraging her to go on. He didn't know what he could learn from the girl, but he had always found it best to simply allow people to talk. Especially if they became heated. They guarded their tongues far less in that case.

"Why only you?"

[sugarsweetblood]

"It is! And I don't know why," she pouted. "Maybe because I'm the oldest, but I look the youngest." She took a stab, but though it very doubtful.

The Earl making only her go to school didn't make sense no matter how she looked at it. She was his princess! He pampered her the most, let her have what she wanted, when she wanted, without ever asking for a reason. He even did her homework for her! But even with all of that, he still demanded that she attend school along with humans. It wasn't like the Earl tried to blend in with those weaklings as he made her do. Why did she have to?

Didn't he not want them suppressing their Noah side?

[reanalyze]

"I suppose that could be a reason," he mused, nodding to her. So she was far older than she looked. Not human then. But what? "It doesn't sound fair at all that you're forced to do this and you don't even know why. Forgive me, I'm rather forgetful, who is it that makes you attend school?"

He remembered, of course, but he hoped that she would elaborate. He was simply curious. And there was always a chance that the information could be useful to him at some point.