Welcome to Gaia! ::

Topaz wandered the aisles of the library, staring up at all the vast shelves and occasionally pausing to eyeball an interesting book spine. She'd already mentally marked a few books for reading, but right now her purpose was the examine the layout of the books. What kind of sorting system did the library use, where the sections started and stopped, and what generally went where. That sort of thing. It made finding information in the future much easier if she had an idea of where to look.

She was waiting for one of her classmates. She and Sariya had the same majors, and two heads were better than one when it came to research and bouncing theories back and forth. Classes hadn't officially started yet, but schedules were being posted and lists of recommended reading materials were showing up on notification boards. That was how she and Sariya had met and realized they shared classes.

They'd struck up a light conversation, and figuring there was no time like the present, decided to get together to check out the library and get in a bit of studying. Topaz was secretly amused, given the general relationship between her race and Sariya's, and was curious to see how they'd get along.

[quote"Koiasi"]Hopefully this is okay! If you had something else in mind for a starter, poke at me and I can rewrite things.

Topaz turned at the sound of the library door opening followed by hurried footsteps. She spotted Sariya and smiled in welcome. Sariya's explanation made her laugh a little. "Don't worry about it! I wasn't here that long, and work comes before social obligations anyway. I can completely believe you've been busy though. I've been in and out of cafes a lot lately myself!"

She accepted one of the drinks from Sariya and took a sip. The taste of coffee and vanilla, still warm enough to be pleasant, made her sigh in pleasure. "This is perfect. You are so awesome!" She took another sip, then carefully set the drink on the table.

"I was looking through the library trying to get a feel for the organization. I think I found most of the sections that would be relevant. Is there anything in particular you wanted to start with," she asked.

Topaz nodded. It sounded like a pretty good place to start, and quite relevant. She'd certainly flipped through a couple that gave mention to it, though she hadn't done any in-depth reading since she was the type to get holed up in a corner and forget the world around her when she really got into a book. She would likely have gotten so engrossed in whatever she was reading she'd forget the time and that Sariya was probably waiting for her.

"I know a few that might be good starting points," she said, then went off to fetch them. She snagged four of the most likely sources for general information, then returned to the table, setting them down.

"I hear classes are supposed to open up pretty soon though, so it'll be nice to get some studying done beforehand," she commented cheerily, picking up her cup and taking another sip. She eyeballed a book about Daydreams and their involvement in the war, then pulled it over and flipped it open to scan through the table of contents.

Topaz looked up from the book, initially surprised at the question, then gave it some thought. "It's still such a new idea that I hadn't really thought of it before," she admitted, tapping her fingers against the side of the cup clutched in her hands.

"I would like to see history from their point of view, how they live and what all that is like. I've always been a bit of an adventurer, and social anthropology has always been interesting to me." She hummed and took another sip of her drink, still thinking.

"I feel like if I went to Above, I'd be going to Above, you know? It takes more than a sightseeing trip to immerse yourself in a culture. That would require preparation, having purposes and goals all lined up. For me, anyway. There's still so much going on right now that I'm working through, and I'd want to get all that settled so that I feel settled before I'd made a trip to Above. Otherwise I think my focus would be all over the place and my observations would suffer from it, if that makes sense."

Topaz chuckled in a slightly embarrassed way, hoping she hadn't rambled on too much. "But I would like to go one day, yes."

Topaz nodded understandingly as Sariya spoke. Everyone had certain things they liked or could be obsessive over. For Topaz personally, it was artifacts. Those ancient items that gave a glimpse into a time long passed, in what styles were like and how people lived. She loved those little glimpses, and was actually pretty good at restorations. Nothing super old, but she found antique stores everywhere she traveled and she liked to get items that needed a bit of fixing. It was how she'd gotten started, and it was something she really enjoyed.

"I've already met a Dryad," she confided, smiling a little at the memory of the conversation. "It was when I was visiting the area around Leviathan. He was pretty nice. Didn't mind me asking all sorts of questions about what his culture was like." Topaz shook her head in sympathy. "The cold doesn't agree with them at all. I guess the weather is a lot warmer in Above than it is here." She hadn't asked Narra much about physical descriptions of his world and what it was like where he lived. Part of her was curious, but another part of her wondered if she'd really grasp the concepts until she'd seen them with her own eyes. Likely she would just try to match them up with concepts she was already familiar with. She was still debating if she wanted to ask or not, or wait to see it for herself.

"That would be nice," Topaz agreed. "Maybe by the time we get to go, we'll have made some Daydream friends who wouldn't mind showing us around. Exploring on your own is awesome, but locals know all the secrets and best little hidden shops to poke around in." She always tried to make friends with locals, since in bigger cities they knew their way around and in small villages you were more accepted the more others could vouch for you. Not always, but more often than naught. Besides, it was always great to make new friends.

She hummed a bit as she considered her Dryad friend. "His name is Narra. He carries an enchanted thermos with hot drinks in it to help him beat the cold, but it still gets to him pretty bad." She chuckled. "We kinda gave each other a bit of a fright. I was leaning down and looking at some of their outdoor decor, and he thought I was hurt or something. I didn't hear him coming up behind me, so he startled me and that startled him further. He was really polite about it though. Offered me a drink from his thermos, and then we actually walked into town together since he was on a shopping trip. I probably dominated the conversation, but he didn't seem put out by my talking. Mostly I asked what Dryads are like. How their bodies are structured and how that affects them physically, how their social statuses differ from ours. I tried not to bombard him too badly. He asked a few of his own questions in return though, so tit for tat."

Topaz propped her chin in her hand, looking thoughtful. "It seemed like I was one of the first people he really got into a conversation with since coming here. It might just be because he spent a lot of time holed up in his room away from the cold. He didn't mention anything like discrimination, anyway." She sighed. "I'm hoping it was the former, rather than the later, anyway."

Topaz hummed softly. "That's not necessarily a bad thing, though I can see how people might misunderstand and take offence," she said, having been there a time or two before. There were some people out there who would be determined to dislike you no matter what you were like as a person, and some who took every opinion they didn't like as an attack against them. She tried not to let such people get her down, since it was inevitably you would run into them at some point.

"Narra is very nice," she agreed, switching back over to the other topic. "I'm sure you'll get a chance at some point. He doesn't go to school here, but one of his sisters does so he shows up from time to time to visit. Maybe we'll be able to find a day when we're all free and I can introduce you." Topaz took another sip of her drink, thinking. Narra did seem to cope well, though he did clearly feel some effects from culture shock. She'd given him a few tips on generalizations of certain races during their chats, to help familiarize him with Nightmare culture.

"Have you seen any of the other Daydream races yet," Topaz asked, feeling curious. "I bet with the weather being colder than they're used to, a lot of them come in to get hot drinks. I've only seen the Dryads and Fey."

Topaz smiled. "I consider Narra a pretty good friend," she commented, and left it at that. She did find the Dryad quite intriguing and enjoyed spending time with him, but she didn't want to assume how Narra himself felt. He was a cheerful sort, kind and occasionally possessed of a sense of humor that bordered on cheesy, though her impression on first meeting him had been of someone simply quiet and polite. There was no telling what other facets of personality might lie beneath the surface.

"I've never personally talked with an Elf, but I do hear rumors. Do the stereotypes run true, do you think, or are all they just coffee snobs," she asked with a soft laugh. She wasn't too fussy with her own drinks, but she'd been in line behind some people who were very exacting when it came to the mixing of their beverages. Cafes were almost like their own little worlds, supporting their own little groups of cultures. It was fascinating to watch, and when Topaz had time to kill she liked hanging at local cafes and guessing who the die-hard regulars were and what kind of crowds did the cafe itself typically draw. Study groups were pretty common, though there was also a lot of random chatter.