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There's a man on a couch by the fire, feet up, two books open in his lap. One is an ancient, dusty-looking thing, the other an English-Sanskrit dictionary.

Someone's researching.

[ooc: Recycled post is recycled! Open until his next EP.]

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[ostro_goth]

Teja has never seen anything written in Sanskrit.

He has seen written Latin, Greek, Gothic, and Hebrew in his lifetime (each language using a different alphabet!), and Japanese, in his afterlife; but never these squiggles.

So he looks at the dictionary, in passing, mildly curious.

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The Sanskrit book contains, possibly helpfully, illustrations of a rather impressive looking city, nestled in a valley between several imposing mountains.

The dictionary contains no such pictures, a fact Nikola finds mildly frustrating.

And when he's frustrated, he tends to curse in Serbian, though softly, under his breath.

[ostro_goth]

"Your language sounds like that of the Veneti, that lived east of our realm," Teja says. "So that is how it is written?"

The Veneti had been barbarians, freshly coming in from the east; but with time, they would acquire writing, as all mankind seemed to do.

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Nikola glances up from his books. "Hmm? No, this is Sanskrit, that was Serbian.

"Though I believe the Serbs have some sort of vague connection to the Veneti."

His interest in ancestry doesn't general include his Serbian heritage.

[lady_of_athens]

Athena tends to become intrigued where old books are concerned, and more so considering the fact that the dictionary happens to be English-Sanskrit.

"You mind if I ask what you're reading?"

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"It's a book of fables," Nikola says in a tone that suggests it's very frivolous reading indeed.

Of course, the text is far more detailed than your typical fable and includes maps and historical records.

[lady_of_athens]

This explanation would fly rather better if Athena couldn't actually read it.

Still, she doesn't comment on it for now, instead choosing to settle down in one of the nearby armchairs.

"Feeling nostalgic?"

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If he knew who he was speaking to, he'd never have attempted the lie.

"For Sanskrit fairy tales? I don't think nostalgia would quite be the right word for that."

[tragic_mask]

If there's one thing Melpomene can never resist (besides a light, of course), it's really old, really dusty books.

Consequently, there's a curious muse in a nearby chair by the fire.

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Nikola is rather engrossed in his attempted translations, so he doesn't notice he's being watched.

Periodically, there's a whispered (and completely inaccurately pronounced) bit of Sanskrit.

[tragic_mask]

Melpomene winces, but doesn't comment.

After about fifteen words like this, she finally leans over and says, quite helpfully, "You know, most people don't speak Sanskrit any more, so you're probably better off not trying to speak it aloud."

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He finally glances up. "If no one speaks it, then I'm hardly doing any harm by muddling my way through, am I?"