fandomhigh | Library, Friday 7/9

He was a stunning conversationalist, after all.

Henry blinked at the boy behind the counter as he got to the library. "Dan?" he ventured. "I know we talked about not really needing to leave the library, but that doesn't mean you have to work here two days all summer."

No, he hadn't read the paperwork he got about the new library staff.

Blackagar stared at him for a moment before frowning. Frowning quite a bit. He rather preferred dealing with telepaths because they tended to know right away which one was which.

Even if the talking right away worked for anyone else who knew him.

He shook his head, heading over to the desk where his notepad was.

Shrugging, Henry followed along. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he'd had worse starts to his days in the library.

When he finished writing, Blackagar held up the notepad for Henry to read. In large, neatly written letters it said:

MY NAME IS BLACKAGAR. I AM NOT HUMPHREY.

Had he been a lesser man, there would have been underlines in there.

"Blackagar," Henry read. "My mistake. And you're one of the new aides, right? Not just a random student I've now horribly offended?"

He didn't need to underline anything; the capital letters got the point across.

"I'm Henry Detamble. I run this place." Which seemed to attract aides who didn't talk,

The librarian? Ah. Well, that made a lot more sense then.

Blackagar nodded again, flipping the page to write something more. I'm one of your new aides. Does Humphrey stay here a lot?

"He used to work Fridays," Henry confirmed easily. "He switched to Wednesday this week. I'm guessing he's not your favorite person?"

I am mistaken for him regularly, Blackagar wrote back with a shrug.

"As I demonstrated," Henry said. And thought about mentioning how he had another aide who didn't talk, but had a vague feeling that was rude somehow. "Do you want the grand tour, or are you pretty much settled in?"

Waaaait a minute there. Grand tour?, he wrote down.

What more could there be than the books?

"Mostly it's just books," Henry admitted, seeing something like surprise on the young man's face. "Helps to know which books are where, though. Do you know the Library of Congress system, Dewey Decimal, anything like that?"

Okay, now he was just confusing Blackagar even more. They were words, of course, but the context was lacking if you asked him.

Where are those?

Henry walked around the counter to find two library maps, looking happy to have something to do.

"The library," he explained, "is organized a little differently from however you keep your books at home. Let me walk you through it."

He sketched lightly on the map, talking through where fiction, history, sciences, biography and books on the arts were. "Of course, sometimes they move on their own. Because nothing at this school could possibly be normal. but that's the gist of it."

It was really a shame that it had taken Alexander this long to follow up a lead, but he supposed he could just blame that on being acclimated to such a place! But now he had found his way to the library, and he intended to look into the suggestion that had been made.

"Excuse me, librarian," he approached the person who seemed to be working here. "Might you be able to offer me some assistance?"

So maybe it took a moment for Blackagar to realize the boy was talking to him. It was a novelty to have a job still, after all those years of... you know... being locked in a room for the safety of all.

But when he realized he looked a little more keen, eyebrows raised to say 'Yes?'

"I was wondering," Alexander continued, "if you might be able to direct me toward where I might find information on a place called the British Isles?"

The location of his interest was said with a certain reverent tone, giving it an almost mystical connotation.

Well, it was no Germany. So... you know.

Blackagar nodded, waving for Alexander to follow him into the stacks of books to where the books about Europe were. He'd spent a lot of time there after the teddy bear faux pas.

Alexander followed, all the while finding himself utterly fascinated with the stacks of books surrounding him.

"Zounds, what an impressive library!" It was, easily, larger than the Royal Collection and Manannan's study combined!

Zounds?

Blackagar glanced back at him, raising an eyebrow. It wasn't like he'd seen any other library before this, so he couldn't judge.

Scribbling something on his notepad, he held it over to the boy. New here?

When the librarian fellow wrote down his communication, Alexander winced a little, looking instantly sheepish.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, now lowering his voice to a very quiet whisper. "I was probably being too loud, wasn't I? For a library, I mean. And yes, I am new here. My name is Prince Alexander of Daventry; I've just started attending this fine establishment. How about yourself?"

Another quick note said: Blackagar. I've been here since the beginning of the summer. It's an interesting school, wouldn't you say?

Alexander leaned in to read the note and he nodded. "Yes," he whispered. "Quite! It's so large and the classes are certainly not what I expected. Well, some of them. Mother has me taking quite a few. And, er, I'm sorry, do you suppose I should be writing as well, or is the whispering acceptable?"

That earned him an amused grin. Whispering is fine. I am unable to speak.

In a way.

"Oh!" Alexander, for a moment, looked quite surprised, and a little ashamed, wondering if he had insulted the other boy's sensibilities, if indeed he did have them about his speech impairment. "I am so sorry; I did not realize! I thought, perhaps, since this is a....were you born mute? Or is it the unfortunate consequences of some destructive accident? Or perhaps the work of a magician, a curse of sorts?"

Jotting down another note, Blackagar passed it over before turning down another row to lead him to the books he wished to see.

I was born this way. Magician?

Somehow, the answer made Alexander feel much more at ease. Not only would he not feel obligated to help relief Blackagar of his curse, but having someone ask about magicians perhaps meant they were a bit more infrequent here.

"Yes," he whispered, "you know. A person, most often male, who uses magic. In my experience, it's usually to nefarious means, but not always."

Medusalith had come to the library for more information on Germany, where she was, of course, from. She was a bit surprised to find Blackagar there. Obviously they needed to communicate more. It was a bit trickier now that she didn't know where to find him every minute of every day, but all things considered she could hardly complain about that. Still: surprised, she was.

"Blackagar," she said, "are you working here?" A prince of Attilan, working in a human library. How odd.

There were books! About Germany!

He shrugged before looking around the library. At least here he could read up about human customs so they wouldn't give themselves away. Since they were doing so well at that.

"Yes," Medusa agreed. "I too have come here for the books about Germany." She smiled conspiratorially and leaned a little toward him. "It would not do to be uninformed about our native land, of course."

There were also books about hair styles somewhere in those stacks of books you know, Medusa. Ones that were popular among humans.

"Are you suggesting, my lord, that there is something wrong with how my hair looks?" Medusa asked, putting her hands on her hips.

Besides that it wasn't in perpetual motion, of course.

Oh, he would never imply something like that. Just in case she had a wish to try them out. Though most of the women in those books didn't seem to have quite so much hair, of course...

Go ahead you filthy modder, you.

When he tags iiiiin.

OMG TIRED. Never again staying up to finish a series on Netflix.

Library, Friday 7/9

Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Re: Talk to Blackagar

Mod your Library

Talk to the Librarian

OOC