Surrounding Echo
Tenebrae - Monday, July 15, 2019, 5:15 PM
-=--=--=--=--=--=--<* A14: Quill's Repose, City Library *>=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
A large hallway, circular in design, is what lies beyond the large doors that let visitors in to the public library. Two guards stand in these doors at all times, employees of the city Watch, hired by the library for protection and to prevent theft of books. The head librarian is more of the same--a retired Watch member, herself: Lady Octagna is a great oruch whose lined face bears with it, as well, the scars of old battle. These days, she battles over books and the impudence of Society, Engineering, and Temple students alike, who spend long hours toiling within the Library's walls and basement.
A sign above proclaims the loan of books to be illegal, and that books may not travel further than the doors. Loud noises are hushed by the Lady Octagna, whose grand stature is said to be second to none. Her movements are rarely heard, though they are often seen, marking her quite agile in her elderly age. Rumors, too, place her as a curmudgeon'd ally of Madame Gelfure, the two of them going back years, with a tradition of lunches or the occasional breakfast.
The hall has marble floors, and two staircases lead upwards, one to the left and another to the right. Bright blue carpets cover the steps to lend to the quiet atmosphere of the great library. Straight ahead of the entryway, a tall archway leads into the main library, with study tables between rows and rows of books. The upper levels contain the city records to the left, and the right is a closed off area for library staff.
The symbols of Navos, the Scribe, may be seen in the markings of columns, in the relief of marble. Marble is the prevalent building material, giving the rooms a regal, official and solemn feeling. A few benches line the walls of the circular hall, and a desk sits to the right of the entrance, a secretary always attending it to help guests, even late into the night. The occasional Seer or Temperance may also be seen, offering advisement and wisdom within the great halls.
Rather than enjoy the brisk air of the clear evening, a human woman in particular, one of less scholarly pursuits than most visitors makes her way through the aisles with a couple of weighty tomes cradled to her chest. Brae's bootfalls aren't the racket they would be in her full kit, though they do make themselves apparant enough to irritate the odd reader in passing.
Mikilos mutters absently to himself as he stalks the stacks, peering at spines and pulling the occasional text from it's place. A rare few earn more than a moments glance before being replaced. Far more are opened and scanned before returning to their previous spot. But a select few are placed upon a small stack, hovering behind the wizard to await his full attention.
Libraries are wonderful places. Alaryn loves libraries. They don't tend to love her all that much, but she loves them! She put her cart into storage because she'd be stupid to just leave it on the street with everything that she owns in it. One thing she is not, is stupid. (Her player, on the other hand...) But she makes her way inside with a bouncing happy stride and pauses inside to let her eyes roam over the room like a tourist on her first trip to the big city.
As a favor to help out some, or possibly just to get some extra coin here and there, Echo was there doing what he does. Namely working on copying manuscripts and book pages by hand. The war golem was simple like that, and seemed to be enjoying himself just a bit. As if made to do so. His rather nimble looking fingers move carefully with the ink quill in hand as he works on whatever ti is he was hired to scribe this time. He's currently seated at a table mostly by himself around the stacks as he glances occasionally with small turns of his head between what he is copying and what he is copying from.
Braelnoir gives a somewhat envious eye to, "Mikilos, it's been a while." an intonation she makes in a somewhat hushed humor, with a furtive glance around for the woman in charge. She's already had one ear chewed off, today. She draws to a pause, looking about, some, and blinks with some surprise as she wonders how she missed Echo having set up shop. Wait, what time is it? The bluish glimmer off to one side draws her eye and she seems to size up the woman in the scaled armor by habit.
Mikilos pauses near Echo's table, glancing over the waitng stack with a mild frown. "Would you happen to have 'Treaties on Extra-Planar Cultures' by Orjim in those?"
Echo considers, looking over the books that he has it seems. "Off hand, I would say no? Some of the languages, however, are foreign to myself and I am having to scribe the appearance, however." He says towards Mikilos, pausing in his writing to move the ink quill away from the paper before turning to look at Mikilos.
Sure, silvery metal / blue crystal scales do tend to make some noise when they move. It's a noise that Alaryn has gotten used to, so she almost doesn't hear it. "Wow!" she calls out before slapping her hands over her mouth. "Sowwy.." she mutters through her hands, mumbling and mangling the word. But then she notices Echo and starts moving in that direction to see what the golem is working on.
Erendriel goes into the library, hanging onto the straps of her backpack. Not used to a place such as this, she holds her breath as she comes in, unnuerved by how quiet it is.
Seldan has arrived.
Braelnoir shrugs and moves along, somewhat amused as it seems Echo's found himself the center of attention. She turns her attention toward her course and brings herself up short near the dark haired half-elf, "Oh, ahh... sorry, luv, almost run ya down, there."
Mikilos glances towards Alaryn at the exclimation, but turns focus back to Echo with a nod, stepping closer to peer over the texts a few moments before shaking his head. "Ah well, I'll track it down eventually. Would think they'd already have multiple copies, but apparently not."
A library is so not Seldan's usual speed, but tonight finds him wandering aimlessly past its doors, looking up and around him as one lost. Just to see what's here, really, not even quite knowing what he is looking for.
Echo shrugs, "Ask the librarian to put it down and I may try to copy it one day." The war golem looks towards Alaryn. He tilts his head in a nod, then looks to Mikilos. "It is what I tend to do with my free time. Attempt to copy more books for those that need them and hopefully become a bit better, perhaps a little faster at what I do since it seems like it was my intended purpose."
Slowing as a crowd seems to be gathering around Echo, Alaryn sucks her teeth and moves off to one side. She tries to get into Echo's view, so she can offer a bright smile and a wave without speaking up, because libraries are all about quiet learning, right?
Erendriel almost gets bumped into by Braelnoir, as she's walking slowly and having no purpose, just gawking at the place. "Oh hello, sorry," she looks up to Braelnoir to smile. "I um, ... I'm not used to places like this." Mikilos, when recognized, will get a wave, and a look at what books he has.
Braelnoir doesn't bother fighting back a grin at that, "Me neither, luvvie." she winks, then glances at her armload and shrugs, "Had somethin' on m'mind of late." Then, as another person arrives, she steps aside with a little bow of her head and wanders off to find a place to pour through these things.
'Touring the Planes on Five Silver a Day.' 'Fire: a Comprehensive Look.' 'Creatures of Nightmare, and Making Friends' 'Psychology and Elementals' 'How to Woo a Dijin.' Mikilos has an interesting selection of reading with him. To be fair, most of the books aorund here are a touch odd. The wizard nods to Echo, and shrugs. "As long as you enjoy it, or at least don't hate it."
That has Echo shaking his head, "I do not know if I enjoy, but it is... relaxing, as odd as it may sound. Writing like this. I have even tried to scribe for those that speak common and wish to write down their own books and thoughts."
Smirking at the crowd's size at this point, Alaryn isn't really shy, but she knows that she -is- boisterous. So if she approaches, she'll likely be too loud. As such, she just stays put about ten feet off and turns her head to glance at some of the names on the shelves before glancing to the group once more. It's like she's trying to figure out a good way to approach that wouldn't get her asked to leave.
Seldan wanders around the lower levels for a time, with his eyes on the stacks around him. He murmurs soundlessly to himself, then turns and goes off in another direction, then in another, but his footsteps carry him slowly but surely towards the gathered crowd.
Mikilos nods to Echo. "I think I understand. Have scribed, and translated, a few texts myself. Not my favorite thing to do, but not terrible."
Erendriel nods up to Braelnoir, "Good luck." But she's obviously quite distracted as she says it. Eyes on Mikilos's books, she slowly walks closer. Squinting, making sure she reads them correctly. "Excuse me," she'll then say to him very softly. "That's a lot of um, fire."
The war golem gives a nod, turning his attention back to the book and the piece of parchment that he is scribing to. "I can understand it is not for everyone, much as I have heard being faithful is not for everyone as well. It is often finding what you are most relaxing, I am told. This... in a way, relaxes me." A small, what has to be a smile comes on the war golem's face. "What brings the rest of you here?"
Well, everyone else is talking, so Alaryn finishes her glance over the shelved books, and saunters on over, "Hey Echo." she remarks. "Making friends I see." she grins to Mikilos and then to Erendriel, "And a hearty good evening to you two also." She leans on the table and peers down at the book Echo was working on, trying to see if she knows the tome.
Braelnoir has disconnected.
Mikilos grins, nodding to Echo and Eren. "Salamanders. I've found numerous notes that they're considered expert weaponsmiths, but no documention of -why-. Might find a clue somewhere in the libary. I can't be the first to have asked."
The war golem gives a small not to Alaryn. "I guess I am?" Echo looks around. "I am still unsure what the feeling of friendship is, as of late."
Erendriel tilts her head to the side a bit, looking again at the books that Mikilos acquired. "Salamanders... those are pretty interesting. Enough fire can melt steel of course. But.. I Don't think I can make that much fire yet. I couldn't even survive the plane of fire. A shame."
There are faces that Seldan recognizes amid the gathering here, and some that he doesn't. He drifts closer, but out of respect for the library, limits himself to a nod and maybe a small wave for those that he knows before moving on.
Seldan has disconnected.
Alaryn has disconnected.
Mikilos grins. "Enough fire and steel turns to vapor. But I don't think Salamanders live the the parts quite that hot. But I may be mistaken. Part of what I'm trying to elarn more about."
Echo looks considerate, "Salamanders... I may be mistaken, but would they not be the fire spirits? It is not often that I have heard the term, but I do hear it around the Seers from time to time."
Erendriel looks to Echo. "They are. I was just born with the ability to use fire, but they're even... more fiery than that. It's very interesting." Then looking to Mikilos. "May I ask what you're wanting to have them make for you?"
Mikilos nods to Echo. "They're flesh as well as spirit, but I'm not sure how much of each." To Erendriel he waves vaugely. "Nothing, really. I just want to know what makes them so highly regarded. Maybe I can learn something from their techniques."
"A want to improve your skill, then? Hm... it might be better to ask them directly, do you not think so?" Echo states as he starts to scribe, then he pauses and looks to Erendriel. "Ah, my apologies. I am known as Echo."
Erendriel gives a wave to Echo. "Hi, I'm Erendriel. And, just visiting them would be really tough. An archmage might be able to visit them, you know, with some work. But... yeah."
Mikilos nods in agreement. "They're also know to be highly tempermental, violent, and dangerous. So I figure some reading to elarn more would be a good idea first. Once I have a fairly solid idea what I'm doing, maybe find someone to make introductions, I'll look into asking directly. For all I know they guard their techniques seriously. or it's possible someone else already went and asked, and then wrote all about it in a book I havn't read yet. In any case, i really should get to actually reading. Good luck to both of you." So saying, the elf heads back into the shelves, likely to find a couple more texts for his selection before setteling somehwere to actually read them.