The allure of book-learning. (Library, Open RP)

[deafanddummy.livejournal.com]

Behind a few uneven stacks of books piled across a wide desk, Nick presses the cap of his pen to his lips, reading from yet another tome open before him. The library at Hogwarts has proven an interesting source of information, even if knowledge of the "non-magickal" world seemed to be scattered at best. Based on the slightly-warped version of history the books presented, at least based on his own limited knowledge, he took any knowledge imparted about the past fifteen or so years with a grain of salt (or a whole lot of grains, actually), but there was still a lot here to take in. Getting past the change in years had taken a while, but once one accepted that it really was 2007, one could get a lot further.

Then there was the magic. If these books were to be believed, there was a lot more than basic history that he had reason to learn. It was a mix of tantalizing, amazing, incoherent, and just plain ridiculous, though. Marking his place, he pushes the book away and stands, gathering up a few of his book collection to return to the shelves. He'd not had a problem spending so much time here, and hardly ever been bothered, but he had no wish to incur a librarian's wrath for leaving books scattered in his wake.

Comments

[chance-silvey.livejournal.com]

Chance has a new lead on source material for Robin: an anonymous monk's continuation of a chronicle by Henry of Huntingdon. It's mentioned in the footnotes of a secondary study she's been reading. Now she has to find the chronicle itself, if she can, and she hopes to god there's a good translation, or else she's going to be spending a lot of time with Wheelock and a dictionary.

It's while she's searching for this book that she catches sight of someone she recognises: Nick, one of her fellow dead, and from her own country to boot -- in a sense. He's from another America, one where everyone died of a weird flu. She's wanted to talk to him for a while, but she doesn't want to disturb him. Just then, he stands, and she waves to catch his attention.

[deafanddummy.livejournal.com]

Looking down at the title of the top book out of his pile and trying to recall where the hell he found it, he doesn't notice Chance's wave at first, but as he looks up to head to the other end of the library, he catches sight of her and smiles, juggling the pile into the crook of one arm to return the wave. He sets the books down on the desk and grabs up the notebook he's been jotting down thoughts and important bits from his reading; the same notebook Chance sent him at his Sorting. He holds it up and mouths 'thank you' before waving a hand around at the multitude of books filling the shelves around them. He flips the notebook to a clean sheet and writes a quick note.

Hi! Good to see you again. Thanks for the notebook, very much.

[chance-silvey.livejournal.com]

"No problem," she says, making sure to face him fully so he'll be able to read her lips. "Good to see you're getting use out of it. This is a pretty impressive library, for a boarding school, I'd say. Doing research?"

[deafanddummy.livejournal.com]

Nick nods deliberately before writing his reply.

A very impressive library, yeah. Puts what I've seen to shame, really. I've been trying to catch up on a few years. Not everything makes sense through the lens of magic, though. Just more to think about.

[chance-silvey.livejournal.com]

"And your superflu didn't hit this world any more than it did mine," says Chance thoughtfully. She's actually almost mouthing the words, barely vocalising. It's a library, after all, and Nick can't hear her anyway. "I wonder if that's the only way history diverged between your world and this one. I know there's things from my world that are missing from this one."

[deafanddummy.livejournal.com]

I think the same thing. Not major things - the big things are the same as I remember - but some little things just seem different from before 1990. Some technology and such. But maybe I was just in backwards places and didn't know how good things were. What sorts of things have you noticed? He raises an eyebrow.

[chance-silvey.livejournal.com]

"Really little things, but they make a difference, you know? Like this band I used to listen to, the year I died, they were pretty famous. They were called Exit West. And in this world they just never existed. As a band, I mean, anyway. I didn't try to find out whether the actual members of the band are alive in this world, or what they did instead of making records." She shrugs. "Then there's the things that aren't so little to me. Like, well, my entire career. I was published in my world. Publish or perish, as the saying goes. There's no trace of any of my articles here, and not just in the Hogwarts library. Even though all the journals I published in do exist here, outside the wizarding society." She's walked up to the table where he's set his books down, by now. "What kinds of things have you noticed?"

[deafanddummy.livejournal.com]

Music I wouldn't have thought of, ha. But that's strange, about your writing. I wish there was something I'd done that would leave a mark enough to try to find. Validation of a sort.

He hesitates before writing further.

Nothing obvious. But I was reading about computers today. Personal computers. And apparently in 1990, here, they were common enough to be in libraries and classrooms, too. But they were very rare in my experience. Maybe I'm just from small towns, but it's strange. Events aren't different. Details like that are, though. But not enough that they couldn't be explained away.

[chance-silvey.livejournal.com]

God, 1990 seems like such a long time ago. Chance tries to remember if she had a computer then. Her grandparents weren't Luddites or anything, but they didn't need a computer for their work. She does remember the computer labs at school, lots of Macintoshes.

"Even in small towns I think there would've been computers at least at the libraries and schools," she says slowly, thinking. "I was in Alabama. One of the bigger cities there, but still, Alabama isn't exactly at the forefront of the nation for public education spending, and there were still computers."

[deafanddummy.livejournal.com]

Nick nods and briefly scratches behind one ear with the end of the pen, grimacing. Hearing it confirmed wasn't exactly comforting.

The orphanage was pretty poor, so I didn't know if it was just me. It doesn't add up. But relative to the flu, I'm not sure it matters.

[chance-silvey.livejournal.com]

Orphanage. Hm. Do orphanages even exist anymore? Chance thought orphans without families got farmed out piecemeal to foster homes. Not that she'd know; when she was orphaned, her grandparents raised her.

"What kind of a flu was it? Where'd it start?" she wants to know.

[deafanddummy.livejournal.com]

Nick shakes his head a little, and scribbles an answer.

I don't know where it started. But it acted just like normal flu. Swollen glands, aches, nausea, congestion, fever. It was a bit different for different people. Some went very quickly, others lasted, even seemed to get better a bit, then would drop. I think the disease changed, adapted.

[ra-tilt-chimera.livejournal.com]

*Zel's been spending a lot of time in the Library lately, searching for a cure. Spotting a vaguely familiar face, he wanders over.* Hey. ... Nick, right?

[deafanddummy.livejournal.com]

Nick glances up, catching movement out of the corner of his eye quickly enough to see his own name spoken. He offers a brief smile and a nod of confirmation, recalling the other somewhat from his Sorting (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1118593.html?thread=56572801#t56572801), though something seems a bit different...

[ra-tilt-chimera.livejournal.com]

Nice to see you again. Remember me?

[deafanddummy.livejournal.com]

Nick nods.

I think so. You were at my Sorting, right?

[ra-tilt-chimera.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I was wondering if you'd recognize me. Although I guess I shouldn't have doubted you; it's not as if there's anyone else here who looks like me, anyway.

[deafanddummy.livejournal.com]

Nick weighs a number of politic answers before going with:

There are a lot of memorable people here.

[ra-tilt-chimera.livejournal.com]

You're right there. *Zel thinks back to a few that've definitely left an impression on him.*

[usethepoker.livejournal.com]

Susan, who was had finally recovered from the mortification of making a fool out of herself (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1167806.html?thread=59663294#t59663294) at the Valentine's party, not to mention getting the shit beaten out of her by the Whomping Willow (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1177248.html) (into which stupidity she'd dragged Stephen as well) and the disastrously planned karaoke adventure (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1167806.html?thread=60488638#t60488638), had decided it was safe to be social again. Concussion and embarrassment had both faded, and really, she reasoned, half the people at the V-Day party had probably been so out of it that her and Stephen's...whatever the hell that had been...had probably gone right over their heads.

With that in mind she had made for the library, and was hauling a load of books to a table when she spotted Nick. She had met him (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1156800.html?thread=58916800#t58916800) very briefly, at the party in Ravenclaw sometime back, and had not seen him since then. Not wanting to startle him by tapping on his shoulder, she moved around until she was in his line of sight.

"Hi," she said, setting her books down. "I don't know if you remember me, but we met a while back."

[deafanddummy.livejournal.com]

Nick had looked up from sorting through his book-pile as soon as he noticed the woman with the striking hair. He nodded and his grin was quick, albeit a little shy. He nudged a book out of his way and picked up his whiteboard, jotting down a reply.

I do remember you, from the party. He wanted to add, "for your eyebrows" but he was certain he sure he had misinterpreted that. He grimaced a little - lip reading was not an exact science.

Sorry we couldn't talk more. It was a little overwhelming, all of it. Like any good party.

[usethepoker.livejournal.com]

Susan smiled back. "Most parties are, here," she said. "Really, the library is almost the only place you can find that's quiet. What have you been reading?" She still had a lot of reading to do--though she'd been here over a year, some aspects of this world and this place remained...strange, to say the least.

[deafanddummy.livejournal.com]

Nick laughed silently before jotting his reply.

I could be reading in the middle of a really loud concert and it would only tickle, but I imagine other people appreciate the quiet.

Reading up on missed years. And missed everything.

He indicated some of the titles before him, including, of course, "Hogwarts: A History" and a few titles on the intersection of Magical and Muggle history.

[wombatminer.livejournal.com]

Digger was sure she'd checked the shelf three times for a certain book. It was a history book, but another book had cited it as a source for several maps, and she wanted to see if the original maps were any better than the slightly blurred black-and-white things she'd found. The thing was, the cursed thing wasn't anywhere to be found. Not on the shelf where it should be, not on any of the shelves in the general vicinity. Not even on any of the carts of books waiting to be put away. She was about to give up and head back to Hufflepuff when she glimpsed the book in question, in Nick's stack of books.

"Excuse me," she said, as loudly as seemed appropriate in a library. When she didn't recieve any reply - she was standing behind him - the wombat walked over and tapped him on the elbo. "Mind if I take that one?" she asked, pointing at the book.

[deafanddummy.livejournal.com]

Nick started, rattling the table forward a few inches at the tap, and turned sharply, ready to hold up a hand to placate someone. He was used to people getting irritated at trying to get his attention and failing utterly.

What he was not prepared for was a vaguely-humanoid furry creature. His eyes widened and he drew in a breath, glancing around to see if perhaps he was hallucinating after long hours of reading. When that didn't seem to be likely - as, here, it was much more likely that the furry critter was a fellow student - he tentatively waved his fingertips. Noting the direction Digger's claw was pointing in, he nodded briskly and gestured to the book. He'd been hogging them, after all.

[wombatminer.livejournal.com]

"Thanks bunches," she said, taking the book. The surprised resonse she was used to - she should be by now; it was pretty nearly universal. You'd think these people had never seen a wombat before, honestly...