fandomhigh | Library [09/05]

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Library [09/05]

After last week's busy shift in the library, and a particularly active week besides, Jono was very much not in a state of mind to go above and beyond the call for the job, today. He was here, and he was attempting to shelve things when he saw things that needed to be shelved, and now and again he'd pick up a rag and try to dust.

But, well, he never got too far in any one task, because there were some very industrious helping hands hanging around, grabbing books and rags and anything else that he could get into before he could get into very much at all. And then patting him on the shoulder or the head or the ankle, wherever a disembodied hand happened to be able to reach from their particular vantage point, and pointing back toward the desk.

He would have decided that they were being condescending, if not for the fact that he was fairly inclined to just sit and do a whole lot of nothing in particular today anyhow.

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Jonothon looked over the list, raising his eyebrows a little bit as he did so. Perhaps he should have gotten Faramir a children's picture book to go along with this, at least so that he could confirm that things like planes and trains and automobiles weren't something that he'd be familiar with back home.

//... Where in th'world do I start?//

It wasn't an imposing list, really, but it certainly helped to give Jono a decent idea as to what Faramir's world was like.

"I know it is a lot," Faramir said, a little sheepish. "I'd be grateful for whatever word you would like to explain. Perhaps pick out the ones that you think I am likely to be faced with?"

Well, then xylophone and zebra were going to get ignored for the time being. Unless Fandom went completely off the deep end and managed to orchestrate an animal marching band at some point in the future, which he doubted. A lot.

//Dollar is going to be an important one, then. And you might end up needing to know words like airport and taxi and...// Jono glanced at the list again. //Refrigerator.//

Sigh.

"Then perhaps we should start there," Faramir agreed and he motioned towards an empty chair in a silent question. "Airport is a strange word. Separate it makes sense, but when you combine them..."

//Well, it's... really exactly what it sounds like, when you separate th'words. Essentially, it's a port, but instead of being on the edge of a body of water, it's a place for flying machines to land. Airplanes, mostly. Sometimes helicopters.//

Jono, your examples were not helpful.

Faramir's eyebrows shot up. "Flying machines?" he repeated. Perhaps they should have started with cars, the leap from horse to car was less than from horse to airplane.

"What is the use of these machines?"

Oh, this was going to be an interesting conversation.

//Travel, mostly,// Jono replied, skipping over little things like 'war' and 'traffic control' for the time being. He was kind that way. //Flying is faster than any other method of transportation. You can cross countries, continents, entire oceans by flying, in the matter of hours, days at most.//

Welcome to America!

It could turn out to be a long conversation as Faramir instantly tried to imagine how this would work.

"People travel inside them?" he frowned. "Would that not be too heavy?"

//Are birds too heavy?// Jono shrugged. //There's a whole science behind how they work, but I'll be damned if I could explain it all.//

A hand behind the desk tapped him on the ankle, and Jono glanced down to where it was sitting, offering up a magazine on modern aviation. He reached down and accepted it, and then gave an obligatory handshake in thanks.

Okay, so the hands were kind of useful, after all.

//These,// he said, setting the magazine down on the desk between them, //are airplanes.//

"Birds were meant to fly, we are not," Faramir countered, but leaned forward curiously.

Airplanes, he found, looked somewhat like birds. The material they were made of reminded him of the room he had class in on Monday. "They appear to be very large."

Ah yes, the classic, 'if people were meant to fly, they'd have been born with wings' logic. Jono refrained from mentioning that he had a good many friends who could fly, without any assistance from devices such as airplanes. Now really didn't seem to be the time.

//They're big enough to fit at least a couple of people in,// he confirmed, instead. //They come in different sizes, but some are large enough to carry about four-hundred people, at least.//

Faramir blinked, staring at the image in front of him. "That is a lot of people," he observed, already imagining how useful it would be in his world.

"This world does have incredible discoveries."

//There are worlds out there with things that are even more incredible,// Jono noted, peering down at the magazine. //There are students in this school that can travel casually among th'stars themselves.//

Faramir rubbed his forehead, trying to process the words. It seemed too incredible to be true, but he did not for an instance think Jonothon was lying to him.

"I believe that I should try to understand this world first, before I try to begin on others," he said, shaking his head in amusement. "There is much to learn here."

//Even I'm learning,// Jonothon offered, //and I grew up in a world that's terrifyingly similar to this one.//

Really, except for the mutants and other assorted super-beings, both scientific and supernatural. And some of the terrifying technologies created to deal with any and all of the above. And the occasional Skrull.

//At least here on this island, everybody is more or less in th'same boat. I've only very occasionally seen individuals take to the differences here as though they were normal, really.//

"At least they aren't unpleasant things to get used to," Faramir offered with a smile. "The showers and lights are much easier to get used to. I imagine if people who are used to these things were to visit my world, they would find it a lot harder to go without them."

//I imagine so,// agreed Jono. //Once you get used to things being so simple, it's difficult to picture life any other way.//

Jonothon, for example, would probably weep without electric guitars. A lot.

Faramir chuckled. "Perhaps I will have to bring plumbing to Minas Tirith. I'm certain other people wouldn't object to having water so easily available."

//Clean, drinkable water, for cooking, bathing, laundry...// Jono nodded faintly. //If you like, I can find you some books on plumbing. I don't imagine it could hurt anything, really.//

Because knowledge was power, and all that stuff!

"I would appreciate that," Faramir nodded, "but perhaps not yet. Once I am better at reading, I have a feeling it would be a rather too great challenge for now."

He paused, remembering again what else he had wanted to ask. "Do you have maps?"

//Maps? Of the island? Of the country? Of th'world?//

Oh, they had maps. Did they ever have maps.

//We've got a few.//

"The world, but the others sound interesting as well," Faramir said eagerly. "I'd like to get some bearing at least."

//Well.. I'm certain there's a globe in here somewhere,// Jono mused, turning around in his seat--

-- And being faced with a trio of hands on the floor, helpfully holding one up to him.

He liked those weird little things. Could he keep a few?

//Like this one. Right here. Conveniently enough.//

Faramir blinked as he glanced down. "I did not see those last time I came here," he remarked.

//We'll blame Fandom,// Jono intoned, looking down at the hands. //It seems to enjoy tossing in a few odd surprises, now and again.//

And some nightmarish ones, too. Jono wasn't going to get into the incident a few weeks back in depth with Faramir, here, though.

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