fandomhigh | Library, Wednesday [1/12]

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Library, Wednesday [1/12]

Gabrielle, luckily, expected this sort of thing by now, so when she came into the library to find several volumes by Mark Twain jammed halfway into a cabinet at the collections desk, like they'd been caught in the act of trying to sneak in and hide, she just crouched down in front of the cabinet and tried to coax them out.

It didn't work; she thought she'd calmed them down somewhat, and went to reshelve them, but the next thing she knew they were back on the collections desk just as she was sitting down to try and read a little more of the Tao Te Ching. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you wanted me to keep you safe from something," Gabrielle told the books. Indulgently.

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For a bard-free book experience.

Because they call her Gabs for more than one reason.

"Good day, Lady Gabrielle," Faramir greeted pleasantly when he came in the library, a small stack of children's books under his arm. "I hope that I find you well?"

"Faramir!" Gabrielle set her own reading aside with a smile when she saw him. "I'm doing all right; it's been a while, hasn't it?"

"It has," he agreed, glad of the warm greeting and he approached the desk. "Not voluntarily, I assure you. I spent much of the previous month with feathers and wings. It makes reading rather a challenge."

"Feathers and wings -- you've been a bird all this time?" Gabrielle chuckled. Be glad she was tactful enough not to ask about the complication of avian bodily functions. "No wonder I haven't seen you -- or at least noticed, or realized it was you. The lack of opposable thumbs must have made it difficult; I wouldn't want to try and turn pages on a book with talons or a beak. I'd hate to tear anything."

"Not the entire time, I have been myself again for two weeks now," he clarified. "So there was some neglect there, but I have finished these books without tearing either of them. I can only say that while flying is a unique experience, I am glad to have two hands and feet again. I am much more coordinated in this body."

"Oh, I'm not sure -- birds are so graceful, aren't they? Although I guess if you weren't used to it before, a couple of weeks isn't enough time to adjust after years of having arms and legs and walking upright. What is flying like?" Now you've done it, Faramir -- just get her started on a topic like that. "It's probably a completely different thing from plummeting from a terrifying height."

It was sad that she could say that and really sound like the voice of experience on the subject. Because she was. But a curious voice of experience who had her chin propped up on both hands and was looking at him expectantly.

"Sometimes it was exactly like that," Faramir laughed and he placed his books down on the desk. He did not seem to mind the question as he considered it for a moment, looking for the right words to express it.

"It is much like horse riding in a manner," he decided. "As if you are galloping across the plains and there is nothing but sky. Except that there is no horse beneath you and it is the beat of the wings that fills your ears and you are free to move and go where you please. I enjoyed it when it did not end with a too rough landing."

He tilted his head at her. "And now it is my turn to ask when you did plummet down from a terrifying height."

Gabrielle . . . looked interested, but horseback riding wasn't her favorite pursuit and so she couldn't help being a touch dubious about how enjoyable flying really was.

She smiled sheepishly. "Which time? I have a little bit of a record of plummeting. Call it a bad habit of mine."

"You have rather strange habits then, my lady," Faramir observed. "I would like to think such an occasion would be rare instead of regular. Yet, if you call it terrifying, then I highly doubt it is a habit that gives you much pleasure."

"I don't exactly sit around twiddling my thumbs all the time when I'm home," Gabrielle reminded him gently. "I'm always traveling, and usually running into some kind of trouble. It's exciting. Honestly, it is. Besides, 'terrifying' is an easy way to describe that sort of thing. You get used to it after it happens often enough."

She hesitated, then added, "Although yes, it is still scary every time. It's just knowing someone will always be there to catch me that makes it all right."

"That is always reassuring to know," Faramir agreed, not unfamiliar with the concept. "There is someone who travels along with you?"

"Xena? Always," Gabrielle answered. "I wouldn't do it if not for her."

He should have known that answer without asking the question and Faramir nodded. "Does she travel seeking the trouble or does it seek her?"

There was a tiny, tiny hint of bitterness in Gabrielle's answering chuckle, and even if she couldn't help it she felt guilty that it was there.

"More often than not, trouble finds us --" because she certainly wasn't innocent of inviting it herself, a good portion of the time -- "but sometimes she can't help going looking."

"She is not unlike my brother then," Faramir noted gently, still studying Gabrielle. "Yet, I do not believe you would travel with her or trust her as much, if you did not believe that her intentions are right in their own manner. Or am I mistaken?"

Gabrielle ducked her head.

"She means well," she answered, her voice a little strained. "She wants to atone for some of the things she's done. I just don't know if . . . if the ends justify the means as often as she thinks they do."

No. Before you ask, they hadn't met Machiavelli.

"There are more ways to solve a conflict beside the sword," Faramir agreed. "It is not always easy for them that were raised by it, to see them. Still, she has a wise travel companion to remind her. And a good friend."

"Am I?" Gabrielle asked. "I tried to stop her from killing a man, because it was in revenge, and I couldn't just let her. He turned out to be a snake who tried to have her executed. And I -- I betrayed her. Is that a wise thing to do?"

Faramir leaned down, catching her eyes as he spoke gently. "It is a precious friend who protects one from themselves. Revenge is a bitter mistress, it only leaves a bad taste behind and hardens the heart. You did right by her. It was him who betrayed you, taking advantage of your compassion. Do not blame yourself for the actions of another when yours were pure."

"I keep telling myself I shouldn't. And then I remember the look on her face." Gabrielle swallowed and shook her head, but held his gaze. "I'm just glad she's forgiven me for it; I'm still trying to figure out how to forgive myself."

She managed a smile, though. "Hearing it from someone else helps a little more, I think."

"Good," he returned the smile easily. "You misjudged his character, that was the sole mistake you made, Gabrielle. I could go on, but I would not want to bore you."

Edited 2011-01-12 23:41 (UTC)

"You don't bore me," Gabrielle assured him. "Do you know how refreshing it is to know more than one guy who's capable of stringing together sentences that aren't half noncommittal grunts? That's the ones who aren't busy posturing and giving grand speeches about their plans for despotic world domination. I mean, really."

Faramir laughed as he straightened up. "I have heard a similar complaint before, not including the grand speeches at least. It makes me wonder if Men in Middle-earth are so different then for I know plenty who are more eloquent than I shall ever be."

Even Boromir had his moments, though he preferred to keep them short.

"I have to wonder if they are," Gabrielle told him, smiling more readily now. "Although there are a few in Fandom who surprise me just as much that way."

When he pings in!

Henry was back in the true crime section. Some of the books kept trying to escape and make their way to fiction.

He never thought he'd spend his career this way, but it wasn't his worst day.

. . . yeah, I don't know. BUT YAY, IT'S NEW COMICS DAY AND I GET BATGIRL *AND* THE UNWRITTEN.

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OOC [Library 1/12]