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The Library City was making its daily transition from "dark" to "darker", and Myopia was out earning his keep. Other City Folk milled about, going home for the evening or going out for the night, and the slender man with the antennae meandered between them, going from lamp to lamp.

... Or maybe from cafe to cafe. The man had spent the day inside leafing through some law documents for his schooling, and it had taken about all of his concentration to get through them all. He would definitely be hunting company for dinner, once he was finished illuminating the square.

Civic duty came first, though.

Myopia walked up to the next lamp, standing on his toes as he reached upwards with his torch to light it. It seemed a bit more crowded than usual, now that he got a good look around; just as long as they all stayed away from his elbows, for their own safety as well as his. The flame he carried was hardly a raging inferno, but one still had to be careful.

"Excuse me," he announced as he moved to the next lamp, the words slithering out of his mouth and ahead of him to indicate his intended path.

Myopia's eyes disappeared momentarily as he blinked in surprise. He stood very straight, torch in both hands, head cocked to one side and antennae curling forwards as he then took a moment to just stare are the Book Child there before him. The Children were not completely unheard of, of course, but still, Myopia did not expect to see them too terribly often.

What the young man actually said, though, appeared to register in the City Man's mind after a moment, and he quit his gaping to retort, "Your lamp? These lamps are city property, and I am one of the lighters in charge of this district!" Myopia wished, not for the first time, that he had a badge indicating the truth of his statement. He had a certificate somewhere in his dwelling, but he was not fully confident that he would be able to locate it quickly.

At the Child's explanation, Myopia cocked his head the other way. "Is this a delicate experiment upon the crowds of Eyncastor?" He felt someone brush by behind him; hardly the market during a sale, but it still did not seem like quite the appropriate place for something breakable and scientifically sensitive. ... Though he was not sure whatever it was the CHild was standing over looked quite like sociology.

He glanced around at the other lights, and then back to the fellow in front of him. He then asked, his font smaller, "Will you be done by the time I finish lighting the others?"

"Experiments on lamps," Myopia breathed, the words coming out a bit blurred around the edges as his mind was focused on considering the possibilities.

... And quickly shrugged them off. He would be around to see, if he was here lighting lamps in the square. And besides, science was hardly the man's specialty. Best left to the scientists.

"Just try not to break it, I suppose," he then cautioned, words clear again. "Or." Myopia leaned down slightly, and the next words came out smaller: "If you do, at least make it look nice. It has been a while since we had any artistic acts of vandalism."

He straightened a moment later, turning his head from one side then to the other to survey the crowd again. "Until I come back to this one," the man repeated, bobbing slightly at the knees as he moved off. "The lamps here get quite a bit of use. That means they go out all the more often. I bet you anything there is one here that's broken right now. So it's hardly avante-garde to leave one unlit on purpose...."

The green flash lit up all the buildings around him, and what seemed like the entire city. Nios jumped, and panic began to rise in his throat just as a glass-shattering bang reverberated from somewhere close by.

His first instinct was to run. Which direction had the light come from, though? A wave of city people and book children seemed to be convening towards a nearby lane. Hesitantly, Nios followed the crowd and arrived at a nondescript street, exactly like any other alley except for the blond book child surrounded by shards of broken glass and a wall of startled city folk standing around him, their voices a tangle of distressed murmurs.

He wavered between leaving the dangerous-looking scene and staying to satisfy his curiosity. Timidly, Nios touched the elbow of a man holding a torch and walking out of the crowd, hoping to catch his attention.
"Excuse me, sir. What happened here?"

Nios blinked and contemplated this answer before remembering to thank the man for answering his question. The antennae on top of the city person's head were doing interesting things, Nios noticed as he gave his thanks, and he held back an urge to ask. Not really knowing what the answer meant, Nios turned back to the source of the commotion.

"Oh my," he exclaimed, putting a hand to his cheek worriedly. "Was anyone hurt by science?"

"I am not actually sure," Myopia replied to the Child with the black hat, his words coming out slowly as he looked back to the lamp he had skipped. He kept an eye out for capital letters, or other signs of commotion, but only saw more worried whispers.

Then the scientist shoved his way out to inform the lamp lighter of the damage, and the man nodded slowly. The various manuals were not clear on how to handle this specific sort of situation, but there would be routine paperwork of reporting a broken lamp involved, at least. "I trust no one was hurt?" he inquired to confirm, for the sake of the other Child, and for the other City Folk present.

He reached out with one finger to brush some of the glowing soot from the scientist's shoulder, and peered at it as the faint green color promplty faded to white, and the embers then faded to dark. "I shall report it as broken, and it will hopefully be taken care of before too long," he replied. "But, once the rest of the lamps have been lit here, might I ah, be able to conduct an interview regarding the nature of your experiment?"

Such authority he suddenly seemed to have over this whole situation. It was a strange feeling. Myopia wished to do it properly, but not by the book, either. Perhaps it helped that exploding light experiments were not exactly by the book to begin with?

"No, no," Dorian replied in reference to the question about anyone getting hurt. He did look around though and when it was clear that no one was screaming in pain, he nodded smartly. "Yes, no one was hurt. Not even me despite being in a fall of glass." He was oddly proud of this fact and couldn't help but smile. He watched as he was dusted off and how the dust just vanished, wondering how he could keep it ignited indefinitely.

When the Person starting speaking about an interview and something about scientific blah-blah-blah, Dorian quickly lost interest. He didn't even know exactly what he was trying to do or if it would actually work. What REALLY interested him was the other Child across from him.

"Yeah, sure. An interview sounds find. Maybe you can give a good word for me for the board of the scientific society." he said to the City Person before nodding at the Child named Nios. "I'm Dorian and I dunno about interesting. Half the time I blow things up like you just saw. Do either of you know anything about science?" His voice was half hopeful, but he didn't meet too many people interested in science.

"Aah, I do not write for scientific papers," Myopia clarified, words wavering slightly, as he hoped that would not deter the scientist from revealing his information. "Good magazines on general knowledge and goings-on, however," he quickly assured the Child. "No doubt some of the scientists read it, or at least the most brilliant ones do."

Then he swapped his torch to his other hand, and offered his now-available right hand first to Dorian and then to Nios for introductions. "Myopia," he pronounced with care, to show off how lovely the letters appeared in combination. "And I like science best when it is out there trying new things, I believe," he added. "Research seems dreadfully tedious, retreading the same stretch of science over and over again. More experiments, I say!"

"... As long as they do not break too many lamps too quickly." Realization settled on the lamp-lighter that he would most likely have to be the one to clean up the broken glass, since he was the one from the Lighting Department who was already here. Although really, now that it had been done once, any future lamp explosions would only be copycat ventures. How passé.

"If you will excuse me, I must finish lighting the square, then tend to the mess," Myopia added, sparing Nios a wary glance at the mention of a plague. "After that, well." He pondered for a moment. "Everyone does interviews at cafes, but I am hungry and I suspect you are as well, since it seems such bodily needs are a trend that cannot be broken...."