onepassingnight | (no subject)

[It was huge.

That's pretty much how you could describe the odd library that materialized there and then. It wasn't even much of a library as it was a labyrinth of sorts that had books shelved all over, some of them having fallen in the pathway due to how much excess there was. There were stairs, plenty of stairs, twisting and turning, upside down and right-side up, rickety-old ones and carpeted marbled ones. The walls were lined up with ladders of different sizes, shapes and quality, each pertaining to a different set of literature just waiting to be read. One of the shelves even had a metal case around it, with the sign "Warning: Books bite." written on it.

Ted himself can be found reading on one of the stairs, hanging upside down for anyone below him, though he didn't seem to believe gravity existed even as he flipped another page. He was sitting on a stack of books, and beside him sat a cage where there was a trapped book as well, odd enough by itself. He himself was engrossed with the book, frowning as he scans it.]

If anything, this isn't how mermaids look like at all.

[OOC: Your choice between event-related or not.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Naoki is terribly fascinated. And also pleased. He loves to read. So this gargantuan library is amazing. He has to keep himself from stopping as book spines snag his attention. He'd never leave at that rate. So he heads on forward, slowing when he glances up and catches sight of bright hair.

... He tilts his head, peering up at him, just in time to catch the tail end of that sentence.]

What do they look like, then?

Not like this. [He answers back, not looking up as he quite literally pulls out a picture from the book, as if it wasn't part of the pages at all. It showed the image of a half-woman, half-fish--- the upper half being fish.] This is more like a fishman than a mermaid.

[Naoki stares for a moment, then blinks.] There's a difference?

Mermaids are prettier, fishmen--- not so much. The way they refer to these mermaids make me feel like the person who wrote this don't know what they're talking about.

[Naoki blinks, but makes himself comfy now sitting down, so he doesn't have to crane his neck to look up at him so much.] Maybe they don't. I know we don't have them where I'm from, but people write about them anyhow.

How do you write about mermaids if you don't have them though? What would you even write about?

Well, people always make up creatures in stories, y'know? Then there are sailor's legends and all that.

[A library like this is bound to house Mizuno Ami, and there she is, sitting properly on a stair several steps higher than Ted, book in one hand and sandwich in the other, looking for all the world as if she'd been there the whole time (she hadn't).]

Read better that way? [This idle question is directed at the boy she looks down on.]

Doesn't everyone read this way? [He says as he flips another page, foot coming down on the cage when the book inside it starts jumping around, as if wanting to get out of it.]

[Ami lifts the book in her hands, as if to indicate her own grip and posture.

Not everyone.]

More importantly, what sort of library is this? The books seem to be sentient?

[She's intrigued more than disbelieving; she owns a sentient harp (http://9.p.s.mfcdn.net/store/manga/203/12-002.0/compressed/smile_1_2_68_sailor_moon.jpg), after all.]

Who knows. [He shrugs, looking around.] I'm inclined to say it's from another world--- possibly Sindar, if you want to think they're that good.

You don't think they are? [The question is neutral; she's gleaned enough to know this isn't her world. Next is to find out more about where it is.]

Do you believe your own world defies basic gravity like this? [He's not very sure either, but then if he were to guess, the library was more of a manifestation of his entire memory for 300 years, and then some from the memories of his rune.]

No. But there's no reason to assume that means it relates to a race I've never heard of.

The Sindar were rumoured to be bearers of advanced technology, so advanced that the things we already have currently can't much up to anything they've done. Who's to say they can't make sure a grand and complex place as this?

[Like the immortals of the Moon Kingdom, then. Like her.]

What have you found here, to help your studies? There are topics I want to research, too, while I'm here.

Things I already know, it seems like. [He frowns, closing his current book and waving it about in the air.] Though if you want to learn something about different races, you can start with this. Seems rather basic too.

You believe this - [A nod to indicate the library around them] is some form of anti-gravity technology. Don't you think it'd be useful to understand how it works? [To use it for her own world?]

I was never interested in that kind of stuff. [He says in amusement, noticing the eagerness.] Why do you want to learn it?

I'm interested in schooling. Academics.

Do you really need such a complexly designed library for that?

No. [She admits that readily enough. It's not a matter of needing.] But this library is well-stocked. I want to read books I haven't seen before.

Why not take this chance then? There's definitely enough books around to get you busy for a while. [He then pushes himself off the stack, wandering over to one of the shelves nearby.] Just what kind of topic are you looking for?

That was my intention.

[Where to begin? It's a pleasant question to be faced with, and she actually smiles as she looks around herself.]

Physics. [She can't help it. This place needs an explanation.]

Physics. [He repeats, searching the shelves now, as if sorting through memories rather than books.]

You're familiar with this place. Very much. [She says it approvingly.]

Hmm, can I see? [ She's already leaning over Ted curiously, so. ]

[Okay, not his idea of a happening place.]

Let me see, are they hot?