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

[steel_maiden]

Well she couldn’t say the book didn’t hold any meaning for her. Integra still remembered reading it as a child, though the details of every story held within were hardly clear any longer. She did remember Mowgli of course, from the popularity of that story alone some probably thought it was the only one the book contained. But there was the tale of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi as well of course, along with several others. With an Indian mother and an English father it shouldn’t have been surprising that she’d find ways to relate to a lot of those stories as a girl.

The woman didn’t miss the stranger’s hint of British accent either, though it wasn’t nearly as rich as her own. He wouldn’t be from London like her then, but perhaps from a former colony or the outskirts somewhere. “I see. Well you did look awfully absorbed.” It was odd to think someone really wouldn’t be familiar with those fables yet. They did date back to the late 1800’s at least. Though then again not everyone had had a father who encouraged a strong interest in literature from a very early age as hers had.

“The boy raised by wolves would be the most popular story of course, but I preferred Rikki-Tikki-Tavi as a child. It centers around a mongoose as he protects his English family from two malevolent cobras in their Indian home.” The allegories to her own life couldn’t be missed there. Rikki-Tikki as the servant to humans, killing other creatures that would seek to harm them. Though she would enjoy seeing the confusion on her vampire’s face should she ever openly compare him to a mongoose of all things.

“Would you be part Indian then? Perhaps from the United Kingdom as I am?” It could explain his accent and dark skin all at once if he were. Though specifically saying United Kingdom rather than the simplified U.K. had been purposeful. She'd seen how easily something as simple as place could confuse some here. They didn't all even agree on the world consisting of the same countries.

Though again, the woman had nowhere specific to be at this moment, so she actually didn't mind lingering to learn more about the man. His eyes were a startling green as well, certainly different. But so was she.

[longlivetehking]

"I see. I shall keep it in mind then." Scar stated simply, deciding to remain proper. His gaze returned to the book he was still holding. The fact he could understand what these symbols meant was most remarkable, and the ex-lion wasn't quite sure what to think of it.

He wondered what doubtlessly remarkable things he would discover next.

"Not quite." Scar replied to the woman's question, not seeing the benefit of lying about it. After all, the truth would be uncovered by the moment she started asking questions about this United Kingdom place. "I have not heard of these locations before, I am afraid."

[steel_maiden]

So there it was then, another who was either lying or mixed up enough to really believe in a world outside what she knew to be real. Integra couldn’t be surprised again, but was still far from ready to accept that there really may be so many people from entirely different versions of the same earth here.

The knight only frowned a little at his response, watching the odd man as his attention returned with such focus to the pages of what she saw as a mere children’s book. “And apparently you aren’t alone in that ignorance. I’d suppose India, Africa, Canada, Australia, or America would have no significance to you either?” His accent was still curious, so she only named countries that could have possible ties to that. How could one speak English but never have heard of England?

She could just walk off and leave him to his book now, as clearly it was more interesting to him than the fact that a knight was addressing him (never mind that he could have no idea who she was), but Integra still wanted to know about that mark across his eye. If it was from a battle, he may be a soldier. If he were a soldier, there may be some use for him later on. His build was to the scrawnier side from what she could tell, but real skills depended little on muscle mass.

"If you haven't been here long, I can tell you that most of the prisoners all claim different homelands. Some places real, some fictional." By her concept of reality at least. "And many of us are formerly of military organizations, yet with no recollection of being captured by the enemy." She had a distracting wish for a warm cigar between her fingers as she continued. "But how about you? Were you a part of any army?" Or did he just sit around staring at books all day?