thisavrou_log | [OPEN] People Can Lose Their Lives in Libraries

Who: Elizabeth DeWitt, 100 Books, and You
When: October 8th - 15th
Where: The NEW AND... NOT QUITE SHINY YET Library
What: Head Librarian Elizabeth has shelves, desks, and books. Now she just needs to figure out where all of it should go...
Warnings: ~~Sexy Librarian~~

'Good morning everyone. Exciting news for those of us bibliophiles (and the individual who needs information from a book every once in a while), I've been informed the rooms that will house the Moira's collection are ready to be turned into an actual library. All he necessary parts-- shelving, chairs, tables, and books-- have been delivered, so it's only a matter of time before I have everything organized.

'But I don't see a reason for anyone who's been itching to read something to go without while I catalog everything. If you're interested in looking through what parts of the collection have been delivered so far, anyone is welcome. The Library is located on the same deck as the Mess Hall, past the gardens. Any questions, feel free to contact me, Elizabeth DeWitt, on my personal MID. Thank you!'

Thank goodness, she'd recorded that message and broadcasted it before she'd started moving things.

After she'd updated the network with the existence of the library, Elizabeth had started moving shelves against the walls. It was slow going and in a matter of minutes Elizabeth had sweat through her work suit. Well, it wasn't as though she hadn't known this endeavor would take elbow grease. No whining, it wasn't her style-- Elizabeth just rolled up her sleeves and put her back into it. One shelf at a time, one foot at a time if she had to. And once the she had the shelves in place, then she had a box of books waiting for her.

((OOC: Elizabeth will be setting up the library all week! Currently the collection is about 100 books, she gets another 100 every week until Than's collection has been moved entirely. The first two days (8th and 9th) she'll be struggling with shelves and looking anxiously at the boxes piling up, on the 10th she'll get all the tables and chairs in place and start sorting the books in the boxes, the 11th through the 15th she'll be in sorting and cataloging hell (yes, she's handwriting all the cards in the catalog-- what else would she do, after all?). She's very dedicated to it, anytime anybody comes in, it's clear she's been working hard. Maybe even forgetting to take a break for lunch...))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Starflight had practically leapt for joy when he first heard the transmission. A Library! Right on the ship! Maybe it had information on the ship, or what they were doing here, or answers to any of the millions of questions he'd been asking since arriving here. As soon as things had quieted down in the kitchen enough for him to take a break, he had immediately set out to try and locate it. Luckily the directions were straightforward enough he found it easily, pushing open the door.

And trying not to look too devastated upon finding empty shelves.

Starflight slunk into the room, looking around the space. He spotted the boxes stacked up in one corner and was a little more hopeful, but they still didn't seem nearly enough to fill the shelves. He wandered over to where Elizabeth was working, waiting for a good moment to interrupt.

"Excuse me. This is the library, right?"

IF Elizabeth hadn't seen the extremely large crewmember at the welcome party, she would have been surprised by the entry. She's still a little awed (yes, they did look like a real honest-to-God dragon), but not scared.

"Yes... yes it is!" She looks around with a little embarrassed smile. "At least, it's trying to be. Can I help you with something?"

"Oh, um, no, I don't think so," he mumbled, shrinking back a little bit, "Well, I mean, I saw your message on the MID and wanted to see what the library was like. I didn't realize it wasn't ready yet. Sorry."

He looked around at the empty shelves longingly.

"Will there really be enough scrolls to fill all these shelves?"

"No, it's alright. I made the announcement because I wanted people to come and see, even if it wasn't one hundred percent ready."

Elizabeth smiles encouragingly and approaches him, hoping he won't shrink back more. Part of her wants him to come in, the other wants to get a better look. He's absolutely amazing to her-- an actual dragon.

"I hope so," she says, looking around proudly at the shelves. "Right now there's only about one hundred books, but I suppose with all of Captain Than's collection we'll have a fairly solid library until I can figure out how to build it further."

"Only a hundred?! Already?" Starflight echoed, looking at her in amazement. His head swung up to take another look around the room, his gaze settling on the boxes.

"Are they all in those boxes? Are 'books' anything like scrolls? They must be smaller if you actually have a hundred here. Of course they would be smaller, wouldn't they, if they're human sized. Do you mind if I take a look?" He asked in a rush, pointing to the nearest box.

Elizabeth looks a little taken aback by the flurry of questions and exclamations, given there's no pause in the barrage for her to actually answer any of them.

"...No, not at all, they're here to be looked at," Elizabeth says with a laugh meant to break the tension she was feeling. She goes over to the box he indicated to open it. "Yes, books are a little like scrolls, and I suppose you could say they are 'human sized'." She holds one up that she would consider 'medium sized' so he can see it.

"...can you read print this tiny?"

Starflight hopped over to where she was, leaning down to get a good look at the contents. He took a deep breath, revelling in the smell of parchment and paper. It was probably his favorite smell in the world.

He reached into the box and picked up the largest book, letting it fall open in his palm. He squinted to read the text. It was difficult, but he was able to make out the words, enough to quickly read through a few paragraphs.
"It's not that bad. I'll manage." So what if he had a ton of headaches in his future.

He closed the book, taking a closer look at the cover and giving the spine a cursory sniff.
"Is that...they glue the paper together? And then it's protected by the leather. That's very clever."

"It's a bit more work, but probably more compact and easier to read in the long run," she says with a grin. "The leather ones are my favorite, but there are quite a few in here bound just with cardboard and fabric. They don't seem quite as unique, but I still like them. Are you looking for anything in particular?"

"Science." He replied immediately, sticking his nose in the box again to read some of the titles. "Anything on machines. Or space. Introductory material especially."

He glanced over to her, looking a little rueful, "I have a lot of catching up to do compared to most of the crew."

Elizabeth smiles sympathetically. "That makes two of us, honestly," she admits, going over to a shelf and pulling two books off a shelf. "Here-- this is a somewhat limited atlas of the surrounding planets in whatever universe we're moving through. And this--" she holds out another book. "Is a engineer's guide to various spaceships with cross-sections and some explanations on types of propulsion. I haven't been able to spend a lot of time with it, but I'm sure anyone who's well-read enough will be able to suss out the gist of it."

"Those sound perfect!" He reached out, taking the books from her. He turned the engineering one over, inspecting it. "Hopefully I can figure out this one. I should probably start with the basics and work my way up."

He flipped it open, already starting to read the introduction. "Can I take these with me?"

"Of course-- just let me make a note of it!" Elizabeth seems thrilled that she's satisfied someone's informational need, and she's away and back with her clipboard quickly.

"Alright... what was your name again?"

"Oh. It's Starflight," he answered, craning his neck just a bit to peek at some of the other names on the list.

"My room is on Mero deck, if you need to find me on the directory."

[OPEN] People Can Lose Their Lives in Libraries

October 9th; Mid-day

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