Fandom Library, Wednesday, January 14th

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

The library wasn't as weirdly quiet as it had been last week, for which Arden was grateful for. She didn't know if whatever it had been had run its course, or been thwarted, or something else had happened, but it hadn't happened on her shift, and for that, she was grateful.

As for this week, the castle made of books she passed on her way to the circulation desk? Didn't even rate a mention on the weirdness scale.

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[sairis]

It was a mark of how overwhelmed Sairis had been since arriving that he hadn't yet made it to the library.

But he was here now, relaxing a bit in the presence of so many books. And giving that book castle a bit of a bemused look.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Welcome to the Fandom Library, Sairis. The bemused look will never really go away.

"Hi!" Arden said, greeting the new student. "You must be Sairis, right? I'm Arden, welcome to the Library!"

[sairis]

Sairis frowned. "How did you know?"

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

A light smile crooked at the corner of Arden's mouth. Fair reaction. "Because there were exactly two new people at the beginning of the semester, one named Sairis and one named Caleb. And I've met Caleb, making you the only face I don't recognize," she explained.

[sairis]

"Oh." Yeah, that made sense. "I hadn't realized there were so few new people. Hello."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I mean, we're all new to you," Arden said, nodding. "How could you possibly know who was new to you and who was new to the island? But yeah, welcome, can I help you find anything? Or answer any questions?"

[sairis]

"I'm trying to learn how to use a phone," Sairis said. He took his out of a pocket and showed it to her. "I'm not sure what most of this even is."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Oh! Yeah, I can help," Arden said immediately. "Do you mind if I poke at it for a second and familiarize myself with it? Everybody's phone is set up a little differently."

[sairis]

"Is that all right?" Sairis asked. "I really just thought I would find a book."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"It'll be a lot easier with me than with a book," Arden said. "But if you'd rather, I can direct you over to the technology section? Though, real talk, I can't promise you'll find exactly what you're looking for. There are a bunch of different types of phone and more are released each year, so even if you found a book about it, there's no guarantee that it would necessarily match your phone."

[sairis]

Sairis thought about it. "If you don't mind, then, I'd appreciate your help." He held out his phone to her.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Oh, good!" she said as it was handed over to her. "It's charged, so you already got that covered!" She started poking at it, looking at various apps and the like. "So, when you say you're not sure what most of this stuff is, do you mean there are a few basics you already know? Or are you handing me a weird light-up rectangle that you've been told does stuff?"

She looked up and gave him a small smile. "Either answer is fine, I just don't wanna assume too much or too little knowledge."

[sairis]

"I'm still learning electricity, but I looked at the things in the main room and figured it out," Sairis said. "Other than that..." He sighed. "Mostly a weird light-up rectangle. I'm told it can pass messages to people, but not how. Or why, for that matter." Fandom might be larger than he was used to, but it still wasn't exactly huge; he could just go talk to them.

"I can see there's a picture that says 'music', and I was curious about it, but there's nothing there. Apart from the music and the messages, I have no idea what the other pictures do."

What even was "Google Chrome"?

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Looked at things in the main room...?" she asked, unsure what he meant.

[sairis]

"The room in the dorms with the food equipment," Sairis clarified. "I saw how they connected to the wall to charge, so I did the same thing with this one."

It was all "charging", right?

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

That was for another lesson.

"Oh! A common room! Okay, I get what you mean. Okay, so first thing, lets look at the physical component of the phone, okay?" She went over the volume controls and how to turn the phone on, off, and force restart, pointed out the cameras with a brief explanation, and suggested getting a screen protector and a phone case.

"You with me so far?"

[sairis]

"I think so. So it can be on or off, which is whether it's powered or not." That part seemed simple. "It makes noise, and these control how loud that noise is. And it will hold an image it sees, using this thing as a sort of eye. And it's fragile."

He frowned. "Do you think I could use magic to protect it, or would that interfere with its power? Oh, that reminds me - I'd also like a book explaining electricity."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I have no idea," Arden said, cheerfully. "There's a bunch of different magics out there, so even if I knew how one type interacted with electricity, I couldn't tell you about any of the others. But I'm pretty sure I can find you some books about electricity."

She paused in her explanation of his phone to do a quick search for 'books explaining electricity,' and printed the list out, including the reference numbers. "Do you want to continue your phone tour, or would you rather go get your books?"

[sairis]

"The phone tour, please," Sairis said. Though now she was so cheerful she was making him a little nervous. "I can get the books before I leave."

[napking]

Gray did not have a takeout container with him today when he skived off took a break from his shift at Over Easy to visit Arden. Instead, he had waffle pops. "Okay, I feel like maybe we have strayed too far from the true light of breakfast here, and maybe also from 'waffles,' but they are both cute and delicious, so..."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Yeah, there's no pretending those are anything but candy," Arden told him. While gleefully taking a pop, obviously. They were cute and delicious! "But I think breakfast is allowed to be enhanced and evolved."

[napking]

"I thought we should just stick a slice of king cake in the waffle iron, but apparently the icing would burn, and no one wants that." Who knew? Not Gray, who was not allowed in the kitchen unsupervised, that was sure!

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

From Arden's horrified expression, she knew.

"Absolutely not," she said immediately. And here, all this time, she'd mostly assumed nobody wanted Grey to fall asleep with knives or in a sink of dishes, or near a stove. Apparently not, though. It was worse. "Waffle iron, then icing. Important rule."

[napking]

If you weren't ever allowed to use any of those things because of the obvious dangers, how would you learn how not to use them? It was a problem. "Waffle iron, then icing," Gray agreed with a nod. "Got it."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Now that disaster seemed likely averted, Arden could enjoy her waffle pop without worry. "When is Mardi Gras?" she asked. "I thought it was still a ways away."

[napking]

Please hold while Gray finished eating this waffle pop before replying, "Okay, common misconception that I know about because I live with the avatar of Gluttony and he goes on a ramble about this at least once a year. Sometimes a rant. I'm amazed you haven't heard it yet. But Mardi Gras is the end of Carnival? It's the time all of the fun stops because now it's Lent and the Christians deprive themselves or whatever. So it's legal to eat king cake now but then Mardi Gras is the last day and you can't eat it any more. If you believe in dumb Christian rules." Couldn't be Gray!

"I don't know when Mardi Gras is? I think it's one of those holidays that moves around. I'm pretty sure it's on a Tuesday." He was joking, but completely straight-faced.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I thiiiiink so?" Arden, who spoke exactly 0 French, agreed. Sorry, Grey, that joke just zoomed right over her head. "I dunno. Othersiders have the goddess and when I was little, I was mostly with Southern Baptists. I know about Mardi Gras because of the spectacle, but anything about it? No clue."

She grabbed another pop. "Except the food is fuckin' baller."