fandomhigh | Library, Thursday (11/20)

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Library, Thursday (11/20)

Today was going to be an interesting library day. Cosette could tell that as soon as she walked in and found two shelves' worth of books on the history of aviation flying around in the stacks.

On the floor beneath this apparent fly zone was a triangle roughly outlined using stray paper clips and pencils, and she was going to guess that this was the work of the half dozen or so Time-Life books about paranormal phenomena that were scattered around the outside of it, seemingly daring the flying books to fly over the triangle instead of swerving around it.

Attempting to reason with any of them didn't work, so Cosette finally left them to it with a sigh and a stern "Well then, since you're all determined to be silly, you'd all better take care you don't damage yourselves or each other! I'd much rather not have to patch you up afterward."

Which she would do, of course, but she had to make sure they knew she didn't approve of their behavior.

Every now and then, with no one in sight, the book return bin would let off a soft thunk sound as if someone had just dropped a book into it. After the third time this happened Cosette finally took a look inside to find several of the recalcitrant aviation books, who seemed about as dazed and disoriented as books could appear to be. Really, all she could conclude was that these were the ones that had let the Time-Life books goad them into taking the dare.

So yes. Interesting day.

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"They seem to be," Cosette said, wincing when one book nearly clipped the wing -- er, cover -- of another. "The library has a life of its own, it seems like. I don't mind, though, not usually, and most days they're more well-behaved than this. Oh, hello! You're in some of my classes, aren't you?"

That last line was delivered in a much less distracted, much more cordial tone.

[[Sorry. Apparently extra busy today. Boooo.]]

"I must be, since I think you're in some of mine," Anders said, equally cordial. Her accent sounded Orlesian to him, though he doubted that it was. "I'm Anders. And probably if I came to the library more often I'd know the 'life of its own' bit already."

"I'm called Cosette. It's good to really meet you, Anders," she answered, inclining her head in greeting. She smiled fondly in the direction of the stacks and added, "It takes some getting used to, this place, but I think I like more than I would just sitting in a quiet room all day, where nothing ever happens unless people come in. As you've done! Did you come looking for something in particular, or just to see what there is to read? Because we've plenty of that."

"I wanted a novel," Anders said, and leaned forward as he lowered his voice. He was both amused and ashamed by his request. "Something terribly tawdry with no morally redeeming values at all, but such a good plot you can't stop reading. Have you anything along those lines?"

Cosette covered her mouth with one hand to smother her giggles, because while she was also amused, she was polite. When she answered, she did so in an equally low but solemn voice.

"Yes, I'm sure we've plenty." Éponine probably borrowed those all the time. "I can't say I've read any quite like that myself, but I can show you where to find them even if I can't be of any help with suggestions."

"I started reading that kind of book to get ideas for writing class and now I can't stop," Anders explained, smiling back sheepishly. "They're terrible. But they have pirates in them."

He would forgive a lot for pirates. (And, to be fair, his pre-Fandom taste in reading had run towards terrible novels as well.)

Edited 2014-11-21 00:40 (UTC)

"You enjoy them, so that's all that really matters," Cosette said, as if that settled that, and got up from the circulation desk. "Are stories about pirates really that interesting? I admit I haven't read many of those."

Yet. She might work her way through everything in the library in good time.

"I quite like them," Anders explained, tucking an escaped lock of hair back into his ponytail. "You know, the pirates in books are all wild and free and living by their own rules. I've heard the real thing mostly smell bad and cheat at cards, but that's not a problem with the ones in books."

Distracted, he glanced back over to where the books were engaging in a mock airshow. "Did you say those were enchanted?"

"Oh," said Cosette with a wide-eyed look of understanding; her face had lit up at his description of pirates. "Yes, I understand what you mean! When you describe it like that, I think I might find it a nice life. The one from books, that is. I don't think I'd care to be a real pirate."

She tilted her chin slightly in the direction of the books and shrugged. "Enchanted? Perhaps. Goodness knows I wouldn't know the first thing about recognizing magic, I'm afraid. Though I wouldn't rule it out as an explanation for why the library does some of the things it does."

"I think being a real pirate would be fun until the real navy came after you," Anders said, pragmatically. "Or until you met real pirates who had bigger swords. Either way, I'm not running off to sea anytime soon."

That was for Edward.

He frowned at the books again. "I do magic, but I can't tell what's causing ... that. Fandom, I suppose." He was never too fond of that explanation, but it would have to do.

"Nor am I. I'm rather fond of the land," agreed Cosette. "Though Father and I took a boat to England, when we first left France to come here, and it was nice. I think I might have enjoyed exploring the sea for a bit longer.

"Yes, Fandom," she said with a sigh, in regard to the books, and a little bit of a pout. "It's as good an explanation as any for the things that go on in here, and likely all I'll ever get, but I wish I could understand the how and why of it. I want to know."

A statement which applied to everything, basically.

"I've always heard wanting to know too much will get you into trouble," Anders said with a light sigh. He wasn't sure how much he believed that, and how much it was a ploy to keep people in the dark. But that was an issue for another time.

"Anyhow, I'm a little jealous -- I've never been on a large boat. I hadn't even seen the ocean before I came here. Was it a long trip? Any pirates?"

Edited 2014-11-21 13:45 (UTC)

"That's what some of the sisters at the convent used to tell us when we got too curious," Cosette said, with a knowing nod. "Well, it did get us into trouble with them, at least, but I don't really see where the harm is. But no, it wasn't a long trip at all -- it's only across the channel, some three hours or so -- so I'm sorry to tell you there were no pirates."

She paused, and tapped a finger against her chin. "So far as I know, that is. Certainly none that bothered us, but perhaps I only didn't know they were there!"

"They might have been very stealthy pirates," Anders joked, though his mind was elsewhere. "Convent? You were brought up by the chantry, then?"

He remembered she'd mentioned France a microsecond later, and corrected himself. Stupid different religions using different words for things. "-- by the church?"

Edited 2014-11-21 16:44 (UTC)

"I suppose they wouldn't have been very successful pirates if they weren't stealthy," Cosette said with a laugh, because she couldn't let go of the thought, but she did answer his question with a nod.

"Yes, for several years. My father and his brother looked after the gardens at the convent, and I went to the school. I think the sisters thought I would join them when I got old enough, but when his brother died Father decided we were leaving. I don't mind. They were kind enough, but not very happy. Is the chantry what they call the church where you're from?"

Anders nodded. "The religion is the Chant of Light, and the political structure is the Chantry," he explained. "I've never heard of ours taking on a whole family like that but I'm sure it happens from time to time. Mostly, they get either orphans, or inconvenient extra children from noble families."

He'd had more sympathy for the Templars and others from the Chantry stationed at the Circle once he'd realized most of them hadn't had a choice, either. Not much more sympathy -- that went to his fellow mages -- but a touch.

Cosette nodded, and her smile was just a touch sad. "Yes, most of the other girls at the school there were either orphans or younger daughters from well-to-do families. I know my uncle was working there for a while before Father and I arrived, but I don't quite remember much about when we arrived."

What with it having been in the middle of the night and her half delirious from cold, not to mention disoriented from the entire escape from the police that she barely remembered anyway.

"So it's a different religion then! It's not one I've heard of, but it does have a pretty name." And now she was interested, if just a touch guiltily.

"Does it?" Anders had never thought of the name one way or the other, and he had to play it over in his head to hear what Cosette meant. "What, the 'of light' bit? I can see where it'd sound nice if you'd never heard it before. The other word for it's pretty, too. Andrastian, for the prophet Andraste."

He was happy enough to talk about it, despite his own decidedly mixed-to-negativefeelings. Religion was so deeply woven into everyday life in Thedas that not talking about faith was the stranger thing.

"Anyhow, no surprise you've never heard of it -- it's from a different world and all. What's yours called?"

"Yes, it's the 'light' part that sounds pretty," Cosette answered. "It makes me think of hearing birds start to sing just as the sun is rising, but Andrastian sounds very nice, too. As for me, I was raised -- by Father as well as the sisters -- in the Catholic faith."

That might have been a lot more interesting, had they stuck around France a few more months for the end of the Restoration.

Anders quirked a smile at her interpretation of the Chantry's formal name, but didn't explain it further.

"Did you like it?" he asked instead. "Or is that a rude question?"

"I don't know," Cosette admitted. "It's all I've known, though I do like Father's way of practicing it much more than the sisters'. I don't see why I ought to be more preoccupied with the state of my own soul than I am with the people around me."

That admission seemed to be a bit further than she had expected to go, since her eyes widened and she hurried on, "I don't dislike it, certainly. I think there are many good things to be learned from the scriptures, and the music can be lovely. I only wonder if people make it out to be much more complicated than it ought to be."

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Library, Thursday (11/20)

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