Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was one of Bereck's days off from guard work, which usually meant that he was in the infirmary working a full day there instead. Today however saw him heading to the records room; he was hardly an uncommon sight here but today he wasn't in for anything work related at all. No, today's mission was personal, and was apparently going to be accomplished with the contents of a small basket he carried in one hand.

It was clear that he'd just come in from flying; his usually neat hair was rumpled and he was in fact still wearing his flight jacket, though it was undone now. Nudging his glasses up his nose he pushed the door to the records open with one shoulder and peered down at a piece of paper covered in scribbled notes.

As luck would have it, it was old things Bereck was interested in today. Whether the luck was good or bad remained to be seen. Placing his basket on a reading desk Bereck looked up at the young man dusting the shelves, apparently oblivious to his presence. The boy was familiar in as much as he was a person that Bereck often saw around the records room, he'd never spoken to him before. He wasn't in the mood to make his acquaintance today, either. Today... today he was tired. It was always gruelling going out there but it gave him the impetus he needed to keep looking, keep digging, trying to find... something. Anything.

"Afternoon," he greeted gruffly as he took his jacket off and hung it over the back of a chair, leaving him in a simple practical shirt and britches, plus of course tough riding boots. He wasn't here to socialise, and generally didn't care too much for social niceties either, but at least announcing his presence made sense.

Bereck's lips pressed into a thin line. "For a boy you are rather impertinent," he responded in extremely unimpressed tones; he was never in the mood for rudeness from young idiots but that was doubly true today.

At least the young man was actually going to be helpful rather than making judgements and cheeking his elders all day.

"I was looking for stories, monster and horror stories," he went on after a moment. "It doesn't matter what age its aimed at, just collections of 'creepy' tales." He didn't believe for a moment that in every story there lay a grain of truth but frankly over the last twenty odd turns he had exhausted most other avenues of investigation. Time to look at something different, even if the chances of finding anything helpful were slim to none.

Bereck grabbed his jacket and basket and followed after the red-haired young man, pleased that he seemed to be behaving himself at least for now. He probably ought to ask his name, the boy was helping him after all. Well maybe he would summon the energy in a bit, when he found the sort of thing he was looking for. This was crazy, entirely crazy, and he was probably crazy for grasping at a straw like this. He was still going to do it though... and he supposed that if he was going to make a project of trawling through Warden's records then he ought to get to know the people who knew the way around here best; while he was no stranger to the records he was usually just over in the healing section.

"So. What's your name boy?" He didn't look like the sort that Warden's usually attracted, nor the kind that were sent there as a kind of punishment posting.

"Mmh. Bereck." The healer sat, and removed his glasses. A box came out of the basket then and was opened to reveal a different set of glasses, these ones were small and round. Putting them on Bereck placed his rectangular spectacles in the box instead, closed it carefully and lent over the journal.

Interesting.

Interesting as in disturbing.

His eyes flicked over the lines of text anyway for some moments, and Bereck soon determined that it might be of interest if not any real use. On the other hand it might just give him nightmares about the stunningly painted beasts, and her.

Bereck tore his gaze away from the page and looked up at Joscelin over his glasses. "Of course a lot of folklore is passed down orally.... Do you know any stories about things like these? Monsters in caves, and old mines?"

"I... think these will do for now," Bereck replied, his brows knitting as his eyes flicked from book to book. He didn't know which to open first, or whether to stick with the one he had open already. A part of him didn't really want to do this, would have preferred to just... not. Not deal with it, not try anymore. What was the point? It wouldn't change anything, and even finding something that sounded similar wouldn't give him any actual answers.

"You been here long Joscelin?" Yes alright, he was stalling. "You don't look like the sort that Warden's usually attracts." He had the books and he would look at them... in a little while.

"...Well I suppose you're correct there," Bereck admittedly grudgingly; he really wasn't Warden's usual sort. He was also being a timewaster; clearly Joscelin had no time for smalltalk, he'd get annoyed if somebody just kept him around chatting too. He didn't have time for smalltalk either come to that, there were a hundred things he could be working on in the infirmary. He still didn't want to do this.

"I...." Bereck paused, for a moment looking very tired and rather unhappy. The moment soon passed however and his face went back to simply stoic, though weariness lingered in his eyes. "I can't think of anything," he continued... and paused again. "...Unless.... Any books on the history of this area? Obscure ones, I've been through all of the standard well know texts already." Several times in most cases.

...And now he was just incredulous. Had that boy just flounced off at him? Shards of all eggs forbid he ask him to do his job! Bereck was annoyed now which helped him feel less dejected and worn out; frustration with the world at large was his third greatest source of fuel, the first being klah and the second reading new papers that came out of cutting edge crafthalls. Food did not quite make it onto the medals podium but he did have some in his basket; dried fruit and nuts that wouldn't make a mess of anything. Most of what was in the basket however was a tightly sealed jug of the gold medal winner, because it had been a long day already and he had no intention of sleeping any time soon.

Taking out the jug Bereck waited for the flouncing youth to return, and started pondering how best to give the boy a piece of his mind.