driftfleet | (no subject)

Who: Krista & YOU
Broadcast: Video!
Action: For all library visitors!
When: NOW?

[the fleet's resident, soft-spoken teen goth shows up on screen... backed by several bookcases filled with books! and maybe a couch back there. she waves, awkwardly.]

Uh, hey guys. Good news, the Bishop's library actually made it through the whole space-fight thing pretty well. The electronic tracking system is still down, but that's why people invented pencils and stuff.

[she gives the camera a funny look.] --No, actually, I'm pretty sure it's... the other way around. ... So nevermind.

[she holds up a very... charred-looking book. it had a red cover, once.]

The bad news is that "The Romantic History of the Galactiplastic Sector 9" totally bit it. So, uh. If there was a waiting list, we're gonna have to put this one on hold for a while. Alternatively, if anyone would like to play a little funeral tune, now's the time.

[she just. drops it flat on the floor. it's dead to her.]

So, um, for everyone who doesn't know... Me and a bunch of other people around here have been putting together a little library in the spare room on the Bishop... The ship's still kind of a mess from the fight, but anyone's welcome to come in and read or check out books, or whatever. We take donations and basically whatever stuff people bring us.

And we've got beanbags. And little lights that go "wowowo..." [accompanied with a little finger-wiggle and a totally straight face.] So if you're into that. This might be your jam.

---

[alternatively, if anyone comes to visit the library--it's a personnel room that's been outfitted with lots of bookcases, a couch, a table covered in archival materials, and several beanbags that you can drag around and sit in...

the collection is still small, but there's a little something for everybody! fiction, nonfiction, history, magic, charts, maps, comic books, whatever. Krista's around, probably putting books back on a shelf.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Cassandra can be massively intimidating when she needs or wants to be. She's a very angry person and it's hot anger that she carries herself with. But okay, she's overreacting a little bit and even she realizes this.]

[She looks down at the floor for a moment before looking back up at him. Her frown's lessened, but she's not smiling either.]

You could have just asked.

[Somewhat reluctantly, she holds the book back out for him to see and/or take back.]

I'm sorry.

[--he repeats. again.

and he really hadn't expected her to relent and show him the book, so he's surprised and a little relieved when she does. it's a sign that maybe he isn't actually in huge trouble.

he takes it from her, but it's only so he can look over the cover--front and back.]

...Is it good?

Yes. [A beat.] Well, no. Not technically.

[It's so bad, it's good. She doesn't know how to explain it though and just assumes it's gotta be one of those things you either get or don't.]

[Also, she may have been caught redhanded, but she's trying to hold onto some small semblance of dignity and pride. She'll deny liking it as much as she does at least a little.]

[and he gets a tentative little smile, so... yes, odds are that he gets it. he may have the reading level of a schoolkid, and only have the attention span to barely get through half of one of these books... but he still gets it.]

Oh, yeah? ...Because, wow, some of these are just bad. Like, straight-up boring.

[he flips through it for a second, but he's not really reading it.]

Are you going to get this one?

[Cassandra glances away.]

I haven't decided.

[She has. Yes.]

What kind of things do you like? Because this one kind of sounds like this other one...

[handing the book in her direction again, so he can see if the one he's thinking about is still on the shelf.

he's trying to help.]

[She perks up a little as she takes the book back.]

You know of one like this?

[Wait, that was too eager. Dial it back a notch, Cassandra.]

I...I don't really have any preferences.

[Success. Definitely throwing him off the trail. No one can or will suspect a thing.]

Oh, so you like pretty much everything?

[because that is what he's taking from that answer. and it is now informing his decisions as he's looking over the shelf, flipping through his memory bank.]

--Hey, this one is pretty good. It's mostly these three girls that run a farm...

I never said that!

[Don't put words in her mouth, gosh! She does clear her throat a little.]

You were saying?

Well, um...

[and he shyly gestures with the book, a little. still pretty intimidated here, but he likes this subject, so it's hard not to get at least a little excited.]

So, it's like... these girls that all live together, which is pretty good if you like that kind of thing. But then there's also this guy that comes by? And he's wounded from this battle off somewhere nearby, I guess.

And they're not used to ever having a guy around, right? So, that gets pretty good...

It sounds like it might be... [Wait. Dial it back, Cassandra.] Alright.

[She will just continue to downplay any and all interest beyond what is at all even remotely reasonable.]

You've read many of these books?

[and whether Nel is just especially unobservant, or capable of surprising amounts of tact when he puts his mind to it, he just keeps trucking along as if there's nothing odd about anything she has said.]

Yeah! ...Well, kind of. I mean, I just kind of... skim, sometimes? To the good parts, you know?

So I've read some of... a lot of them, I guess.

[he's a shitty reader with no attention span, so he does what he can.]

And you don't find you miss things reading like that?

[he shrugs a shoulder.]

I don't usually get much time to read, so. I just cut to the good stuff.

[well, he'd have more than enough time here, but it's hard to break old habits.]

Even here?

[Because judging by her small stack, she was definitely expecting more free time than she's been accustomed to in a while.]

Well...

[he scratches the back of his neck for a minute, glancing off to the side.]

I move around a lot, so... I don't really sit down and read for long bits at a time.

[it's almost true.]

[Cassandra is the type to scrutinize body language. So the nervous touch to his neck, looking to the side has her frowning slightly.]

I find it hard to believe there are many places for you to go here.

[the elf doesn't do well under scrutinization--especially of the intimidating sort. he kind of counts on people overlooking him and moving on. so, he's continuing to absently avoid eye-contact.]

Well, there are the other ships... and the stations and stuff. And the planets, when they're around, y'know...

[Better get used to it, Nel. She does a lot of that. v_v]

They are that time-consuming?

Sometimes. Yeah.

There's a lot of people around, and... there is a lot happening on the planets, sometimes. Like... did you get to see the last one? With all the old-timey stuff?

[topic-change, go!]

[Cassandra shakes her head, also not really knowing what "old-timey" was supposed to mean exactly.]

I have only just arrived, more or less.

Oh! Well, then... yeah.

I does get boring, but there's lots of stuff to do if you kind of... wander around and look for it, I guess.

I will be sure to keep that in mind once the fleet is back to working condition.