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 Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 9:57 am
Lawrence was at least allowed in the library. He moved through the island constantly aware of the various limitations on what he did and trying to stay within those bounds. None of it was because he cared about the rules or even what Deus as an organisation had to say. He obeyed because he wanted to live life the way Rodney said it was best to and it had become easier with the medication to smooth over the spikes and dips in his self control. He no longer witnessed as many visual hallucinations and for the most part felt like a normal human being - albeit one aware of his own limitations.
He was convinced he'd gained weight since changing his lifestyle but had not, as borderline emaciated as usual, all bones and angles with steep cheekbones and cold blue eyes.
That day the library was relatively quiet and Lawrence had taken up a table close to a window overlooking the rainy landscape of the island. On the desk in front of him were a few medical books, all of them meticulously annotated, labelled and bookmarked.
He was reading a large book on various types of medication and comparing each one to a chart he had laid out.
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Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 10:35 am
Seren was stalking the shelves of the Astronomy section, and completely unaware that anyone else was present really. She was trying to find a book that seemed like a logical follow up to the one she'd just read on the Andromeda Galaxy, and was wistfully thinking how much easier it would be if Melvin's suggestion about contacting Dr. Mimsy had worked out. Finally, she sighed, and picked a book on nebulae instead. This way, at least, she'd be learning something new. The young woman gently cracked the book open, and began reading as she carefully made her way through the stacks, and to an open desk, the book cradled lovingly in her arms. She h ad a small notebook she absently sat down on the desk, and pulled out a pen. She didn't even seem to notice that she'd sat next to some one, as lost in her reading as she'd already managed to get. It was very clear from the outside that she was utterly fascinated by what she was reading, her colorful head bent over the book. Every so often, she'd take a few notes, but it was absent, like she was doing it on autopilot.
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Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 11:07 am
Lawrence glanced up as he was joined but for a few long moments remained curiously enthralled by his companion. He'd never seen her before, and new people were always something facinating. He lived almost vicariously through others, all curiosity and interest, reorienting himself in line with who he thought they might be like a sunflower facing the sun.
He laid his only hand on the book in front of him, an expensive looking wedding band on one finger and simply stopped it from closing his page out.
He let he simply read, examining her interest and enthusiasm like a fine collector, wondering how such motions might transfer to a golem and marvelling in the fine tuned nature of humanity.
Finally he decided it was time to break the silence, and did so.
"Do pardon my intrusion." he said, his voice a very polite and formal sounding English received pronunciation accent. "Might I trouble you as to ask what you are reading? Apologies if I am interrupting something, you just seem so interested."
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Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 11:47 am
Just as she hadn't noticed him when she sat, she hadn't realized she was being observed, so absorbed in her book was she. Thus, when he spoke, she jerked, startled, half standing. She managed to control the urge to shriek, or flinch away, but only barely. She froze for a long moment, blue eyes wide as she stared at her unexpected companion. For a long moment, she was silent, then she finally said "Ah... Ah. Sorry, I didn't realize you were there..." In a soft, embarrassed voice. She spoke like a typical Californian, when it came to accent, not particularly cultured but not uneducated either. "I was... very caught up in my book." She slowly settled back into her chair, and finally said "It's The Realm of The Nebulae, by Edwin Hubble." She carefully turned the book so he could see the cover, making sure not to scuff it or bend the pages. "It's fascinating, if it's the kind of thing you're interested in." She continued to speak in a soft voice, but as she got onto the topic of what she was reading, her tone changed from embarrassed to excited, maybe even a little passionate. She glanced over at what he was reading, and blanched a little, because she was well aware that there were levels of knowledge about the human body she didn't want to have. Many levels in fact.
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 6:21 am
Lawwrence raised a brow slightly at the extreme edge to her response, startled himself by how flighty she was.
"Sorry." he said with a smile. "Didn't mean to startle you, I'm told I'm a little quiet at times."
Her book was inspected with curiosity. "Interested in space?" he asked cordially. It wasn't something he had a direct interest in, finding study of the void and what lay in it oddly uncomfortable, given his own relationship with the void within himself. "I do a bit of study in it but my field is mostly astrology, a field most serious people would find distressing. I was a psychic." he explained.
Her enthusiasm was nevertheless interesting.
"What's your favourite celestial feature?" he asked.
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 10:03 am
"Ah... It's alright. I get... very focused, and if I don't realize I'm alone, I jump easily." That was more then enough explanation for a stranger, in her mind. He didn't need to know anything else about why she might be so easy to scare. She paused, then added "I'm Seren." in a polite tone. She nodded in response to his first question. "I always wanted to do something with the Stars growing up. If I had had the chance to go to college, I'd have been an astrophysicist. Unfortunately, that wasn't in the cards, so to speak." She paused, then realized that might come across wrong with his comment about having been a psychic, her forehead wrinkling at the thought. "Um. No offense meant? And I hope it brought you happiness." She shrugged a bit. "I don't believe the stars have that kind of effect on our day to day lives, myself, but for those who do, that's your life to lead." That question... She lit up completely. "Quasars! They're so interesting, and we have so much to learn about them. Black holes, spacial discs of gas, lots of light coming out of them... So fascinating!"
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Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2017 5:22 am
"No problem at all, I just certainly don't want to be the sort of person spooking women in libraries." he gave her an apologetic smile. "Nice to meet you Seren, lovely name. I'm Lawrence Michaels. Dr Lawrence Michaels rather, soon to be a doctor of medicine also if I keep up my studies."
He didn't seem at all offended over the cards statement and simply laughed at her pun, taking it in good humour. "I have my doubts also." he said. "But I was always happy to help the people who did believe it using my given talents."
He looked curious at the mention of quasars. "Oh! Very interesting, I had no idea they were real, I had always simply assumed they were a word that science fiction had simply conjured up. You learn something new every day."
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Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2017 12:39 pm
She smiled a little, and shrugged. "It's not exactly your fault, though, if I let myself get so wrapped up that I don't see you. Nonetheless, I do understand." She blinked, and smiled a little at the comment on her name. The only 'gift' from her parents she valued. "A pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Michaels. I hope you succeed in your goal soon. It's not one I think I could do." She gave a brighter smile, relieved, when he laughed, glad he was not offended. "Ah well, there are always people who are going to believe the oddest things, no matter what science provides as evidence to prove otherwise." She gave a shrug. "As long as no one gets hurt, what does it matter in the long run?" She looked surprised to find out he thought they were just something from fiction. "Oh no, they're very real. We're still learning a lot about them, to be honest." She paused, and her brow wrinkled in thought, before she added "Not that that couldn't be said about anything out there, really."
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2017 12:47 pm
"We all get a bit wrapped up in our work sometimes, and thank you, I want to help people, it's something deeply important to me." he nodded.
"And yes, it gives people comfort and a sense of control over their own lives, I am not someone to take that away from them, especially if it makes the day to day easier to face." He didn't go into the fact that he considered the universe a fundamentally uncaring and cruel place where there was nothing of value except the sense of self and what you could obtain, gain and protect. He felt that might be a little inappropriate. He distilled it down to simply. "I don't require it but I'm happy to help."
"And yes it's true that we are always learning about everything, research is so important, especially where we find ourselves, we are perhaps some of the few humans in all the world with access to the truths which lie beyond the veil of normal comprehension. It's quite daunting."
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2017 1:24 pm
"Helping people is... always good. In the end, I suppose, it's why I was willing to come here. I didn't see any other option for me that would let me help people, in my life." She kept any emotions regarding that thought off of her face, keeping a mask of calm civility on. She nodded and shrugged. Control over her life was a fairly new thing, and one she was still settling into. "If it helped them cope, that was what mattered in the long run." Her fingers ran along the cover of her book, her eyes a little lost in thought about the ideas behind control over one's life. It was strange, really, to think about. Control in a world like the one they were in was limited at best, an illusion at worst. She refocused at his next words, and found herself appreciating the fact that this older person didn't treat her as stupid, just because she was so obviously young. Adults on this island seemed more willing to treat her as an adult. It was kind of nice. "The one thing I regret, on the other hand, about coming here. I'll never get to be part of the research done on that subject, even if I were to study enough that I would qualify for a degree." She knew of no way, after all, for her to get a degree on this island, nor would she ever have time to be part of such a team, with her Sun duties.
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2017 1:38 pm
"I think most people who came here came here with fundamentally good intentions, willing to give up everything for a chance at making the world a better place, it's admirable." He'd been kidnapped, but he didn't volunteer that either, preferring the noble facade of someone who lived only for others.
"Perhaps." he said idly. "But we do get a great deal of free time and I'm sure any contributions will be welcome. We do our own research, I'm sure there are more than a few people in Life who would want to understand the implication of fear and other energies in the wider universe." He knew one name which sprang to mind but he didn't volunteer it out of pure spite, unaware that Seren had already heard about Mimsy.
"You never know these things unless you try, and on this island, ambition is oft rewarded."
If you had the right attitude, he thought with a cold bitterness.
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2017 2:11 pm
"I wonder. There seem to be some unusually angry, or stupidly self blinded individuals." She sounded a little irritated and bitter, thinking of some of the stuff she'd seen people say on Twitter. "So who knows." She shook her head, trying to not think about it too hard. "But I'm sure there's enough to make it worth it." Seren caressed the book again, head tilted so her expression wasn't visible, and nodded. "It's why I'm trying to study on my own. Some one had mentioned something like that, and a name for a contact but... The individual never got back to me, so I can only think they must be busy or unwilling." She didn't look up, not willing to risk a crack in the mask she wore around strangers. But thinking about her hopes being raised, then dashed, again was something that caused her sadness. Once she got it all under control, though, she looked back up and said "Well I will keep studying and see what happens from there, then."
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