[OPEN] People Can Lose Their Lives in Libraries

[tearmeanewone]

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...))

Comments

October 13th | 1:30ish pm

[hohnkai]

[Thán wanders into the library during the second part of her day, a small cardboard box in his arms. He makes his way towards Elizabeth, taking in the care she's put into sorting all of the books.]

I have more for you.

[He holds the box aloft, then glances around the library again.]

You've done a lot here, Elizabeth. It seems you are the right fit for this position.

[tearmeanewone]

[When Thán arrives, Elizabeth is standing in front of a table with several piles of books on it. She debates for a moment, then sets the one in her hand on top of one of the piles. She hears him come in and turns around.]

Captain. [She smiles and heads towards him arms out to receive the box.] Thank you, I was just starting to wonder if I was going to actually catch up with the backlog.

[Elizabeth takes the box and sets it down next to the others.] It's not where I thought I'd end up, but I think it's the right fit for me too. It's quiet, and I have an excuse to spend time reading-- I haven't seen a lot of these before. [Truth be told, she's not sure where to put some of them. So clearly, the answer is to read and find out.]

[hohnkai]

[He's careful when he places the box in her hand, almost reverent with the care he gives them.]

I've been collecting these for a very long time, and I'd trust no other with them.

[It was a compliment given from seeing the work she's been doing.]

This box holds a small very.. special collection.

[He flips open the lid, gesturing inside.]

It is up to you who you allow to read them, and I wouldn't give them to you if I thought anyone would be in danger. These are unique volumes. If one follows the instructions on a page to precise measurements, strange things have been known to happen.

[Magic. Science. It's all the same to him.]

[tearmeanewone]

'Strange things'?

[Elizabeth looks intrigued, and just as reverent now that she knows the books hold some kind of supernatural secret. she picks one of the books out of the box and gingerly opens it.]

Is that entirely safe on an enclosed ship like this?

[hohnkai]

I leave it up to you to decide whether you'd like to share them. Use your judgement.

[He frowns, lifting out a book as well.]

There are those that would use something like this to hurt others, we can't allow that. So I trust you to choose those would use the words in these books in a way that won't cause the crew harm.

Oct. 13th, early evening

[peridork]

Eventually, Peridot will stop being 100% ~bewildered alien~ about absolutely everything on this ship, but today is not that day.

She's never seen a physical book before in her life, and though she should really be getting on to her duties at the mess hall, the pull of her curiosity about this new common space that she heard about is too great. The gem wanders in through the library doors and glances about, wary and skittish, like a horrible green deer emerging from the forest for the the first time.

To her, the piles of books scattered about the chamber mean nothing. When she looks at a library, she can't possibly comprehend the font of information that it represents, or the countless worlds contained within the contents of each shelf.

The books mean nothing. Elizabeth herself, however, is someone that can be observed for information. Peridot slowly moseys her way over to her in what she probably thinks is a casual manner, except that she keeps glancing over at her target way too frequently, all the way up to the moment when she's finally close enough to look at what Elizabeth is doing.

"What are you doing?" she asks in her trademark nasally tone.

[tearmeanewone]

Elizabeth hears someone come in, notices that they're just looking around. After a faint smile, Elizabeth goes back to the card she's writing out, reasoning that if there's a question it'll be asked in due time.

The question that's asked isn't quite the one she's expecting, but it's a fair one. She smiles, holds up the card she's been writing for the catalog, and the book. "I'm creating a record of this book so someone can find it without checking all of the shelves."

[peridork]

"...Oh."

The little gem stares, blinking uncomprehendingly.

"What's a book?"

Sorry Elizabeth.

[tearmeanewone]

Oh.

Oh no.

Elizabeth looks disturbed by the fact that this person hasn't read books before. Thank God she can change that in short order.

"Hold on," she says, hurrying over to one of the shelves. After a brief moment of searching, she comes back over with her favorite: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne.

"So, where I'm from, people tell stories orally, but it's more common to tell them like this," she says, indicating the book. She opens it. "There are words written on each page, and you read them either to yourself or aloud, and experience the story that way."

[peridork]

She peers over the book from Elizabeth's side, flicks her eyes over the unfamiliar passages. "Hmmm."

Straightening up, one disembodied hand rubs at her chin thoughtfully. "So they're like mission records, but recorded on these archaic slabs instead. Fascinating..."

Her gaze falls back over the evidence of Elizabeth's efforts at cataloging. To Peridot, this all seems so positively backwards...

"So why don't you just make and store these records digitally? It would be much more efficient."

October 9th; Mid-day

[petrifiedshadow]

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?"

[tearmeanewone]

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?"

[petrifiedshadow]

"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?"

[tearmeanewone]

"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."

[petrifiedshadow]

"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.

Oct. 9th

[neveroutwrenched]

[Ratchet wouldn't normally be much for the library - really they were hardly more than a novelty where he was from; a vintage affectation for those with a certain taste at best, an antiquated, inefficient way of storing data at worst - but a new area on the ship opening was too tempting to resist. Any time spent on a spaceship (even a sizable one like the Moira) is bound to start feeling claustrophobic, and all the off-limits areas and mysterious locked doors only added to that. Added to his distrust of the ship and those who decided what was locked and what wasn't too, but that was something he kept to himself.

The library itself was not what he was expecting; smaller, warmer, more organic. Every room on this ship seemed to have its own very distinct personality, and this one was no different. It was welcoming though, for all that it was foreign, and not all like anything he was used to.]

You know, when they said 'library' I didn't think they meant...well. [He picks up a book, flipping through the pages like he'd never seen one before. Which, in fact, might be the case. Printed media was about as commonplace in Polaris as wooden furniture....which is to say, not at all.] An actual library.

[tearmeanewone]

What'd you think it meant? [Elizabeth chuckles and approaches the other wiping her forehead with her sleeve. As people had come in, she'd let them take stock of the room before engaging in conversation, continuing to push furniture around and focusing on not tipping another shelving unit.]

[neveroutwrenched]

Ah, well...you know. I thought, something a little more...modern? Computer logs, or...or video file at least.

[He stops abruptly, remembering with slight embarrassment that he should full well know by now that not every world had the same technology or even methodology for a given task. It was so easy to slip back into what was familiar though, especially when presented with something that was so blatantly unfamiliar. He puts the book down carefully.]

It's just...I mean...how are you supposed to update things if they're printed. On paper. When were these even printed?

[tearmeanewone]

A new edition gets printed. Or a different book is written. [She says, picking up the book he just set down and turning it over in her hands.] I get it's not as efficient or immediate as these things could be-- [Elizabeth holds up her hand with the MID on it.] --but sometimes it's better to take it slow.

Reading a well-written book with a good story is like making a friend. You can't rush it. And you have to appreciate them for who they are. Or what they're printed on. [She smiles and hands him the book back.] From the Earth to the Moon. One of my favorites.

[neveroutwrenched]

[Ratchet takes the book again, turning it over and looking at it more carefully. She made it sound so engaging.]

Uh….yeah. I mean if you say so. But- [He trails off, reading the title of the book, although she’d already told him what it was. He opens it, skimming the first few lines of the book with a look of both recognition and surprise.]

I can read this. [His tone is dead pan, disbelieving, almost, glancing back up at her.] You can read this?

October 15th, lunchtime-ish

[intherigging]

[It's taken her several days to work her way over to the Library, but Jacky's glad she did. She's got some sandwiches and a flask of cider from the mess in a bag, and she's looking forward to a good book to read.

Wandering into the room, she spotted Miss DeWitt right off and grinned.] Hallo, Miss DeWitt! I hear tell you're the one to talk to about getting a book!

[Jacky was glad to find her here and not off at mess. She wasn't sure what the price for a book would be, but between her water colours and her instruments, she was sure she'd be able to work SOMETHING out.]

[tearmeanewone]

[Elizabeth is closing in on finishing the card catalog when Jacky arrives. She remembers the energetic and sunshine-y woman from the party, and instantly she's all smiles.]

Afternoon, Miss Jacky-- though please, just call me Elizabeth. [She'd taken on Booker's name with pride and eagerness, but when it was someone she liked she much preferred her first name.]

You have been steered true, this is in fact where you come for a book on this particular bark. [She stands up and comes out from behind her desk, clearly excited to help.] What were you looking for? Fiction, nonfiction?

[intherigging]

[Jacky was pleased as punch that Elizabeth thought well enough of her to allow her the use of her given name; being without her friends has been lonesome, but those she's met on this ship have been wondrous in their own ways.

Moving closer to Elizabeth's desk, Jacky put her sack down on the nearest table and crossed her arms, tapping her chin. She really should ask for something to help her catch up, seeing how far behind she was, but, well.]

I know I ought to ask for something to catch me up, but...perhaps fiction, this time around? Something to read over lunch.

[tearmeanewone]

Always a good choice. [Elizabeth whispers conspiratorially, leaning over her desk towards Jacky. She grins and flits over to one of the shelves. The collection is spread out for now, there's only a hundred or so books out and Elizabeth is leaving space for more, but clearly she's got the makings of a fiction section going.]

Genre-- that's the next step. What's catching your imagination at the moment? Explorers? Love stories? Political intrigue?

[intherigging]

[Jacky almost had to laugh; add in war stories and piracy and the list was practically her life!]

Ummmmmm... [Pursing her lips, Jacky mulled her options over.] Howabout an adventure?