I'm pleased to hear that you've joined our House. And I should be more than happy to help you get your bearings; my friend and room-mate Miss Woodhouse did the same for me on my arrival, and I'm glad to do likewise for another new arrival in turn. I can meet you in the common room later this evening, and then we can proceed from there, as needed.
"Fair enough," Susan answered with a grin. "Believe me, I am sick unto death of intrigues myself. We shall ignore them altogether. By the way, would you like to walk and see the sights as we talk, or would you prefer to remain here? It's entirely your choice.
"As to my friends." She paused, and decided she might as well dive in; Mr Adams would have to know about these things. "Among others, a goddess, a doctor from a period slightly post-dating your own, a young lady recently returned from the dead, and a young man from far into your future. It's quite the diverse student body." She watched his face for his reaction, weighing whether she ought to explain her own highly unique family history while she was at it.
"A walk sounds most pleasant. I believe I have yet to see even a tenth of the building or any of its grounds. Please lead on, madam. I follow."
John thought about the list of people she'd described. "I'm unsurprised to hear that some of your friends have from different periods of history. I surely can't have been the only one to move about in time. But frankly, the young lady returned from the dead gives me pause. I trust she doesn't appear to be so? And I'm quite astonished that you list a goddess amongst your close friends. Might she be one with whom I am familiar?" He shook his head and smiled, thinking how quickly one's perceptions about normality could change.
"A diverse student body, indeed. Very well, then I shall resolve from this moment to be unsurprised by anyone I meet or anything I should see or learn. For if we all walked around in wonder at the glory of God's creation, we should never get anything done."
"Your attitude does you a great deal of credit," Susan replied, pleased and hoping that his unflappability would withstand the battering it would no doubt receive daily. They left the common room, and she led the way from Ravenclaw tower towards the library.
"The goddess? Her name is Psyche*. Her husband Eros is here too, and he's not very popular at the moment." The corner of her mouth quirked slightly. "Long story, which I can bore you with later, if you're interested. As for Miss Palmer -- the young lady I mentioned earlier -- no, she looks like any ordinary living person. Really sweet girl, very intelligent. And she's not the only, um, post-dead person here. Apparently the afterlife is a dull place."
She thumped on the banister of the staircase, which for reasons of its own, didn't seem interested in letting anyone descend to the next floor. "Come on then," she said, "d'you want us to report you to the Headmistress?" The stair slowly swung into place. "Thank you," she said, and continued on.
"Ah, you're familiar with the library then. Good. The next floors down are mostly classrooms, and then the ground floor, with the Great Hall -- not to mention the way out; very important."
They turned a corner. "Eros has done his level best to keep work from getting done," Susan said, a little savagely. "Hopefully he won't be playing any more little pranks like the one he pulled on my second day here -- that was a fine welcome, let me tell you -- but he's one to watch out for. I'm given to understand that his mother was here as well, but she seems to be popcorn now." Too late, Susan realised that she'd dropped another difficult-to-explain Hogwartsian concept in Adams's lap.
((*laughs* I like that movie more than is probably healthy... XD))
"For a place that has so little in the way of academics going on, they surely devote a lot of space to it," observed John as they passed empty classroom after empty classroom.
"I'm sorry to hear that you were targeted by Eros, however. Mythology suggests that can't have been pleasant unless it was particularly desired and it being only your second day here, that seems unlikely."
John glanced at Susan, reading tension in the lines of her shoulders and set jaw. "Popcorn? Do I want to know what that means? I'm assuming you don't mean the Indian grain..."
"It wasn't always like this," she said. "So I'm told, anyway. Even those who went to school here before, like our Head of House, find it very strange." A classroom door shut itself as they passed, but Susan barely noticed.
"No, it was not pleasant being targeted by Eros." More than that would be telling; and she felt no desire to dump that on her new friend (as she'd begun to think of him). "As to the popcorn, I'm afraid that's what I do mean." She sighed; her voice, as she talked, grew increasingly unsteady. "It's another one of those inexplicable ... things. Every now and then, someone gets transformed into a giant popcorn kernel, and they end up getting stored in a room created for the purpose. No one knows why; no one knows how to transform them back; nor does anyone know how or why some come back and don't remember a thing from before." She passed a hand over her forehead and cleared her throat, and when she spoke again, it was in her usual practical tones. "I'm sorry -- I just learned that a friend's wife was
( ... )
"Oh yes?" asked John interestedly. "Who is our Head of House?"
He carefully avoided talking about Eros further, as he could tell it distressed Miss Sto Helit. He hadn't expected it from the popcorn question, however. People turning into giant kernels of popcorn? Who could have predicted such a thing?
John stopped walking. "Oh, my dear lady! My sincere apologies and condolences on the loss of a friend. I certainly never intended to cause you pain with my question. I fear I can be somewhat relentless at times. Is there any way I can make up for my thoughtlessness?"
Susan found she was genuinely touched by Adams's concern, and she smiled. "It's quite all right -- thank you. It was one of those things you'd have to learn about eventually in any case; the timing, well --" She shrugged. "Be that as it may, thank you. One muddles on, after all."
She paused awkwardly, then, "Shall we continue? As to your earlier question, our head of House is Professor Lupin. I believe he said something about tea at your Sorting?"
Still mortified, John began walking by her side again. He didn't think he could improve matters by saying anything else, so, unusually, he chose to stay silent on that topic.
"That gentleman was our Head of House?" he finally asked, surprised. "I fear I didn't make a very good first impression, then. It is an odd system when one votes without needing to leave one's name or position. It leaves one free from the consequences and responsibilities of the vote."
"I suppose it does," Susan said, mildly surprised that it hadn't occurred to her before.* "Have you a different sort of system where you come from, then? I shouldn't worry too much about Professor Lupin, incidentally; he's a fairly easygoing man, from what I know of him."
* Of course, given the state of democracy in Ankh-Morpork -- one man, one vote: the Patrician being the Man with the Vote -- any voting system at all was somewhat unusual in Susan's experience.
John told himself quite firmly to not overwhelm the poor woman with his enthusiasm for the subject. "We're currently in the process of trying to change the system. America is technically a colony of England, but as Franklin said, we've spawned a new nationality and require a new nation. Our country's resources have been recklessly squandered and her people subjected to unjust cruelties and crushing taxation. Homes are entered without warrant, citizens arrested without charge, and in many places free assembly itself is denied.
"We're at war now with England and if by God's grace we do manage to win, we want to set up a democracy so that we shall never have to submit to the whims of a tyrant again. If all the people have a say in the policies of government, then we can prevent the worst excesses in the rule of the country. But you must forgive me my speeches. This is a subject that I have been thinking, writing, and acting on for most of my life."
Well. This was something new altogether. She started to grasp some understanding of the enthusiasm she'd noticed in Laura, Dib, Abby, and Dawn at Adams's sorting -- she realised that the worlld they'd grown up in owed a great deal to Adams and his fellows.
There was a kind of vastness to the project, and to his passion for it, that made her wonder. Her grandfather, of course, might have observed that nations and men come and go like so many eyeblinks, and he certainly had a point, but on the other hand, she felt this kind of passion, this idealism, was one of the things that both fascinated and annoyed him about humanity in general.
To Adams, she said, "It's quite all right; I admire your devotion to your cause. It's a rare thing to see. Tell me, has such a thing happened in your world before? I've never heard of anything quite like it in my own."
He glanced away for a moment. "Dr. Franklin tells me that I speak of freedom and independence as if they were the rule rather than the exception, but in truth no colony has ever successfully broken from its mother country in the history of the world. It seems an overwhelming task at times, but we cannot continue as we are or we shall surely perish."
John sighed and looked back at Susan. "What is the government like in your home, madam? In fact, I'm not quite sure that I've grasped where that is, though it is certainly none of my business if you don't care to tell me."
Well, he seemed to have a plenty resilient mind, so Susan jumped right in with both feet. "I don't mind talking about it," she said, "although by local standards it's -- well, it's a disc balanced on the backs of four giant elephants, who in turn stand on the shell of the great turtle A'tuin." She smiled. "Everyone seems to find that extremely funny when I tell them about it, and I suppose it is. You'd find our governments old-fashioned, probably; kingdoms and duchies and the like. The biggest city-state, Ankh-Morpork, is governed by the Patrician -- who I expect you'd call a tyrant." She paused. "And, er, actually, I'm a duchess, although it's not something I wave about very much, and anyway the administrators currently in charge in Sto Helit are probably better at running the place than I would be. They enjoy it more, anyway."
I'm pleased to hear that you've joined our House. And I should be more than happy to help you get your bearings; my friend and room-mate Miss Woodhouse did the same for me on my arrival, and I'm glad to do likewise for another new arrival in turn. I can meet you in the common room later this evening, and then we can proceed from there, as needed.
Sincerely,
Susan Sto Helit
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"As to my friends." She paused, and decided she might as well dive in; Mr Adams would have to know about these things. "Among others, a goddess, a doctor from a period slightly post-dating your own, a young lady recently returned from the dead, and a young man from far into your future. It's quite the diverse student body." She watched his face for his reaction, weighing whether she ought to explain her own highly unique family history while she was at it.
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John thought about the list of people she'd described. "I'm unsurprised to hear that some of your friends have from different periods of history. I surely can't have been the only one to move about in time. But frankly, the young lady returned from the dead gives me pause. I trust she doesn't appear to be so? And I'm quite astonished that you list a goddess amongst your close friends. Might she be one with whom I am familiar?" He shook his head and smiled, thinking how quickly one's perceptions about normality could change.
"A diverse student body, indeed. Very well, then I shall resolve from this moment to be unsurprised by anyone I meet or anything I should see or learn. For if we all walked around in wonder at the glory of God's creation, we should never get anything done."
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"The goddess? Her name is Psyche*. Her husband Eros is here too, and he's not very popular at the moment." The corner of her mouth quirked slightly. "Long story, which I can bore you with later, if you're interested. As for Miss Palmer -- the young lady I mentioned earlier -- no, she looks like any ordinary living person. Really sweet girl, very intelligent. And she's not the only, um, post-dead person here. Apparently the afterlife is a dull place."
She thumped on the banister of the staircase, which for reasons of its own, didn't seem interested in letting anyone descend to the next floor. "Come on then," she said, "d'you want us to report you to the Headmistress?" The stair slowly swung into place. "Thank you," she said, and continued on.
* At this point, Susan ( ... )
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"Ah, you're familiar with the library then. Good. The next floors down are mostly classrooms, and then the ground floor, with the Great Hall -- not to mention the way out; very important."
They turned a corner. "Eros has done his level best to keep work from getting done," Susan said, a little savagely. "Hopefully he won't be playing any more little pranks like the one he pulled on my second day here -- that was a fine welcome, let me tell you -- but he's one to watch out for. I'm given to understand that his mother was here as well, but she seems to be popcorn now." Too late, Susan realised that she'd dropped another difficult-to-explain Hogwartsian concept in Adams's lap.
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"For a place that has so little in the way of academics going on, they surely devote a lot of space to it," observed John as they passed empty classroom after empty classroom.
"I'm sorry to hear that you were targeted by Eros, however. Mythology suggests that can't have been pleasant unless it was particularly desired and it being only your second day here, that seems unlikely."
John glanced at Susan, reading tension in the lines of her shoulders and set jaw. "Popcorn? Do I want to know what that means? I'm assuming you don't mean the Indian grain..."
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"No, it was not pleasant being targeted by Eros." More than that would be telling; and she felt no desire to dump that on her new friend (as she'd begun to think of him). "As to the popcorn, I'm afraid that's what I do mean." She sighed; her voice, as she talked, grew increasingly unsteady. "It's another one of those inexplicable ... things. Every now and then, someone gets transformed into a giant popcorn kernel, and they end up getting stored in a room created for the purpose. No one knows why; no one knows how to transform them back; nor does anyone know how or why some come back and don't remember a thing from before." She passed a hand over her forehead and cleared her throat, and when she spoke again, it was in her usual practical tones. "I'm sorry -- I just learned that a friend's wife was ( ... )
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He carefully avoided talking about Eros further, as he could tell it distressed Miss Sto Helit. He hadn't expected it from the popcorn question, however. People turning into giant kernels of popcorn? Who could have predicted such a thing?
John stopped walking. "Oh, my dear lady! My sincere apologies and condolences on the loss of a friend. I certainly never intended to cause you pain with my question. I fear I can be somewhat relentless at times. Is there any way I can make up for my thoughtlessness?"
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She paused awkwardly, then, "Shall we continue? As to your earlier question, our head of House is Professor Lupin. I believe he said something about tea at your Sorting?"
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"That gentleman was our Head of House?" he finally asked, surprised. "I fear I didn't make a very good first impression, then. It is an odd system when one votes without needing to leave one's name or position. It leaves one free from the consequences and responsibilities of the vote."
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* Of course, given the state of democracy in Ankh-Morpork -- one man, one vote: the Patrician being the Man with the Vote -- any voting system at all was somewhat unusual in Susan's experience.
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"We're at war now with England and if by God's grace we do manage to win, we want to set up a democracy so that we shall never have to submit to the whims of a tyrant again. If all the people have a say in the policies of government, then we can prevent the worst excesses in the rule of the country. But you must forgive me my speeches. This is a subject that I have been thinking, writing, and acting on for most of my life."
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There was a kind of vastness to the project, and to his passion for it, that made her wonder. Her grandfather, of course, might have observed that nations and men come and go like so many eyeblinks, and he certainly had a point, but on the other hand, she felt this kind of passion, this idealism, was one of the things that both fascinated and annoyed him about humanity in general.
To Adams, she said, "It's quite all right; I admire your devotion to your cause. It's a rare thing to see. Tell me, has such a thing happened in your world before? I've never heard of anything quite like it in my own."
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John sighed and looked back at Susan. "What is the government like in your home, madam? In fact, I'm not quite sure that I've grasped where that is, though it is certainly none of my business if you don't care to tell me."
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