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X Purple--Platypus X Crew
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 Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 4:55 am
 Araran sniffed; The Unseelie’s library smelt of cobwebs. Cobwebs and dust. Although that wasn’t surprising as every spare space was filled with netting of spider webs and on every surface was a layer of greyish dust. However, to him it wasn’t too unpleasant. He’d gotten used to the smell and it was almost comforting to have the same musty smells and the familiar ancient leather bound books surrounding him. He smiled and took a book off the shelf; Tome of Hume Tekologie. He inspected the fading gold print title embossed into the dusty leather. It was easily a couple of hundred years old and he was sure that if he looked inside at it that there would be no mention of phones or computers or any of the things that humans had now a days.
He brushed some dust off the cover in a pointless attempt to clean it before slipping back into its place. Work at the library was slow, not a great many of the tricksy Unseelies were very studious and those who were, like him, worked in the library.* But at least that meant he got to spend some good time reading up on child care for when his Ashe’s egg hatched, even if the books were centuries out of date.
He turned to check that his egg was ok. He’d placed it on a study table just behind him. The deep blue surface glittered in the slight gloom and it’s small golden wings fluttered every now and then. Araran smiled, ”You kay there lil’ fella?” He knew it was nonsense talking to an egg but he was pretty sure that the egg did react, maybe a slightly wobble or a wing twitch. It could just be wishful thinking but he’d heard of more ridiculous things. Like humans talking to plants to make them grow… Bizzar…
"Well I can't talk to you all day, got work to do." he mumbled, turning his attention to the pile of books that were beside the egg. They were all damaged; pages falling out or a torn cover, and it was his task to fix them all by the end of the day. It would be a fairly easy job for most but it was made hard for him due to his lack of an arm, but he'd managed to do it in the past so he could do it again. He glanced at the egg, maybe the child waiting inside could help him when it was older... But until then he was on his own.
*Sorry if this is a wrong assumption, it's just that being the more mischevious type of fae I didn't think that many of them would actually use the library.
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Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 3:47 am
OOC: i'm going to assume Araran and Xeridan have met before - Xeridan is actually a scholarly type, but being a noble, he doesn't work at the Library. It wouldn't make sense for them to not know eachother if there aren't that many scholarly fae in the Unseelie court...
ALSO - this is really terribly written. I'm sorry!
"Maybe you can talk to me instead?"
Xeridan's amused voice came from behind Araran, where he was leaning with his arms crossed against a convenient bookshelf. A small smile lifted up the corners of his lips slightly as he tilted his head to regard the other man. He'd come to the library hoping to find Araran, and it looked like he'd gotten lucky. Sometimes the other fae was ridiculously hard to find amongst the dusty shelves. Despite not working at the library like many of the other scholarly fae in the Unseelie Court, Ride was a frequent visitor to the library and knew the place well. Though his personal collection of books and scrolls were quite extensive, nothing could match the library - except perhaps the one in the Seelie Court - though that was debatable.
"I was looking for you," he continued, "I heard that you received an Ashe, and wanted to confirm it for myself." Ride nodded towards the deep blue egg on the table as he spoke. "And.." Xeridan paused, wondering about the prudence of his next words.
Taking a deep breath, he decided he had nothing to lose. "I wondered if you wanted a hand with looking up information on the Ashes. Their background and the like," he continued smoothly, expertly covering up his brief hesitation. "I've found the phenomenon of Ashe extremely intriguing."
And he did, although the reason for it was something he refused to admit, even in the private depths of his own mind. The first Ashe to appear in the Unseelie Court had gone to his twin sister, Xareya. As the older twin, he had always felt responsible for Xare. His interest in the Ashe was merely an offshoot of his protectiveness over her, even though they had not spoken more than two words to each other over the past century. In fact, the rift between the two was so massive that there were very, very few Fae in either court that still knew or remembered that they were related. If Xare knew that Ride was looking into the existence of the Ashe for her, she would be furious. But with luck - and Xeridan was feeling very lucky at the moment - she would never know, and he would be able to continue on with his own life.
Idly, he picked up a book at random from a nearby shelf as he waited for Araran's response. If the man turned down his offer, he would be truly disappointed. Though perhaps it would be a good thing. He wasn't particularly happy with this drive within him to find out as much as he could for a sister that he didn't even acknowledge.
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X Purple--Platypus X Crew
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Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 7:36 am
Araran was slightly startled by the voice that spoke to him from behind; he spun around to face that who had spoken, poised to defend his Ashe’s egg if necessary. He was aware that many of the Unseelie court disliked him for taking on the duty of looking after the egg. Since it had been discovered that the Ashe’s former life had been as a Seelie it was understandable that people would mistrust the egg and it’s precious child within and it was possible that some of the more extreme Unseelies would try to ‘dispose’ of the egg. However, there was nothing to be too worried about, the fae who had spoken was a familiar face. Xeridan, a fellow book lover who Araran had occasionally spoken to yet didn’t know too much about, just that he was a noble with a love for books.
”Morning Xeridan, yes I did take upon the responsibility of this Ashe.” He replied, gently scooping up the egg with his one arm and held it defensively to his chest; Even though Xeridan was a fellow book lover it did not mean he had the best intentions for his Ashe... However what Xeridan said next took Araran a back, “I wondered if you wanted a hand with looking up information on the Ashes. Their background and the like." He hadn’t been expecting that. He’d always thought, through the Unseelie Court’s experience with Ashes so far, that the aristocracy were rather uninterested by Ashe, the Queen had even turned down the first egg and if it had not been for her disobedient lady in waiting there wouldn’t have been an Ashe before his own... But he couldn’t turn down the offer, he needed help handling books; having one less arm certainly made a difference.
”Your help in research would be appreciated. I hear that you have an extensive library of your own. But first, I have library duties to attend to... These books need mending and they won’t be fixed on their own.” He explained, placing the egg back on the table and sitting back down in his seat. He guestured to a seat across the table, ”If you sit we can talk while I work. You’re a slightly more responsive conversation than this little guy.” He laughed glancing at the egg and taking the first book as he spoke, opening it to the page that needed repairing.
It was a rather simple repair; just a plain rip up the page, possibly due to an over excited reader turning the page too quickly or just plain mistreatment. Nothing that a bit of adhesive tape wouldn’t fix... He took the tape and found the end of it with his fingers, running them over its surface to find the rough end. He peeled a rough length off and tore it with his teeth, when he had the strip ready he carefully placed it on the wounded paper, rubbing it down with his hand to get rid of any small air bubbles. The tape was placed a little bit wonky, but it was to be expected that it wouldn’t be perfect, he only had one arm after all.
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:27 pm
Laughing, Ride glanced over at the egg as Araran spoke. The man seemed to have quite a sense of humor. Book still in one hand, Xeridan snagged a chair with the other and turned it in one smooth movement. Straddling it, he casually laid his arm on the back of the chair and lowered his head, watching Araran as he did so. He was glad that the other man had accepted his help without questioning the motives, but still wary. He sighed quietly.
"I would really prefer if nobody else knew of our research into the topic." Ride flashed a quick grin, revealing the charm he used so rarely. "It would ruin my reputation of indifference in the courts."
Ride kept his expression casual as he spoke, one corner of his mouth tilted upwards in a crooked smile as if he was sharing a joke with the other man. It was a valid reason, if not the complete one. Being Fae and as old as he was, one learned to skim the truth quite well. The Fae did not lie, as a rule. They could avoid the truth, or only give a partial truth, but they never flat out lied. Misleading others with truth was a fine art, and Ride enjoyed art in all forms. He did, in fact, make a point of being as neutral as possible when it came to court politics in the Unseelie Court. It was not always a safe position to be in, but Xeridan generally had no interest in the intrigue that so many of the nobles were immersed in.
"In any case," Xeridan continued briskly, watching as the other man carefully repaired the pages of an ancient book with tape - modern technology was a truly great thing - "would you like a hand with the mending? It seems I have nothing else to do at the moment in any case." He'd noticed that the page that Araran fixed had been slightly crooked, but made no comment. It was better than nothing, and the books in the library were looked to be in terrible condition.
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X Purple--Platypus X Crew
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Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:27 am
Araran understood where Xeridan was coming from; even if most of the fuss had died down about the fact the once Seelie Ashe was being kept there were still a number of Unseelies that didn’t like it. If it were to get out that a Xeridan, a noble, was helping Araran with research into Ashe then Xeridan’s reputation would indeed be on the line and if the pressure from the Seelie haters was enough then his position as a respected noble could be severely damaged. ”Of course. That is perfectly understandable. I will keep the fact that you’re helping me to myself.” Araran replied, taking another book from the pile and inspecting the damage that needed repairing.
The damaged to this one was slightly worse than the previous one; the whole cover had been broken off from the pages. However yet again it was a fairly easy fix in theory, just needing some glue and a pair of steady hands. Araran had the first but the second requirement he would have problems with. Xeridan had offered his help and for this task it was needed. ”Thank you for your offer… I do need help… This cover needs gluing back onto the pages but the job would be done much more proficiently if someone with two hands did it. It’s a fairly simple fix. All you need to do is put the glue on the spin of the cover and firmly hold the pages in place so they don’t stick in crooked.” he explained giving the materials required for the job to the other fae.
The egg shook slightly as Araran pushed the book and glue past it. Araran smiled fondly. He was planning to do some research on who’s ashes the egg was actually created from, if it’d been an Unseelie the task would’ve been a lot more simple; wait until the child hatched and see if it bore resemblance to any of the Unseelies that had died recently. But as the child was a Seelie it was much more complicated than that. Araran’s planned course of action was to sift through the records in the library to find a Seelie that might fit with the egg. After all the egg had some distinctive features that would hopefully help narrow down the search, it’s Egyptian markings for example.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 8:42 pm
Following Araran's instructions, Ride carefully repaired the book that the other had handed to him. For a while, they worked in silence, as Ride was deep in his own thoughts. He worked until he felt a crick in his neck, and the distraction was enough that he stopped to release a little of the tension. Looking around, he noted the time - it was almost time for him to get back to his rooms to prepare for the court ball that was happening tonight. Queen Undine so loved these parties, and they had become almost mandatory for all nobles.
Grimacing a little as he thought of the hours ahead, Xeridan carefully replaced the book he had been mending and stood up. "Well, this was truly a relaxing afternoon, although I have to go now to get ready for the event that the Queen is holding tonight. I must come down again sometime to help you again, and perhaps next time we can begin to do some research? I can bring some books that I believe are relevant from my own library, and we can start from there."
With a genuine smile for the other Fae, and a half-amused "goodbye" in the direction of the Ashe egg on the table, Ride turned quickly on his heel and strode out of the library.
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X Purple--Platypus X Crew
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Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 1:53 pm
Araran was glad that the other fae was so willing to help, it was nice having a set of hands for once. Missing an arm was irritating when it came down to the fiddly bits. He smiled happily when Xeridan said that he had to leave. "Thank you very much. You've been such help. I've done at least double what I would've normally done in that time." He stood up and placed some of the mended books on the trolley that he would later take them back to their shelves on. The noble fae also declared that he would visit again sometime soon with some helpful books which made the soon to be father's smile split even wider.
"I'll look forward to that. I'm here everyday, so if you ask for me at the main desk they'll point you in the right direction - the library is fairly large as you know." The other fae really had brightened his day. It was nice to know that not everyone had condemned the egg before it even had a chance to hatch. And for somebody to aid him with his research too. It was truly a lucky break.
He bowed his head in thanks as Xeridan left before turning to the egg. "We'll soon find out who you were." he murmured, running a fond hand over the royal blue shell.
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