thegreatlibrary | Welcome to the Library

Who: Open Post
What: Opening Post
Where: All over the library and its grounds
Warnings: [to be edited if necessary]

Today the Great Library opens its doors to all Patrons, who have come from many of the stories and books all available on the shelves.

For this first visit, Patrons will be restricted to the Library and its grounds.

Fortunate, then, that these are impressive indeed - large gardens set up for all sorts of activities, woods surrounding the area and in the Library itself? Cafes, internet access, and the best weapons in the universe: books.

Do enjoy your first visit to the Library, Patron, and always remember the rules.

The Rules of the Library
1. Patrons cannot read further ahead in their own stories than the time they have arrived from. Any attempt to do so will result in being met with blank pages.This lack of information will also occur if trying to find out spoilers online.

2. Patrons cannot tell other Patrons how their story ends. Any attempt to do so will find the Patron unable to find the words to explain it.

3. All books must be shelved correctly.

4. Do Not Harm the Books

5. Do not interfere with the nature of Narrative Causality

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He raises an eyebrow at her, looking more thoughtful.]

An impulse I certainly understand, though one not always easily accomplished. What behaviour do your parents consider necessary of a dutiful daughter?

[...well. Certainly more like Horatio than Hamlet. Or, perhaps, like Hamlet had been what felt like a lifetime ago.

Her lips purse thoughtfully as her attention drops to her cup. Laertes hadn't quite managed to pick up the edges of tactfulness from their father, but it's become easier to fall back on the older she gets.]

Respectful of my father, supportive of my brother, and well-equipped to manage the man I marry at least as well as my mother before me.

[Much information in quick succession, and Faramir leans back a little in his chair as he processes it, taking a sip from his own cup.]

So you have a father you wish to treat with respect, and yet he also requires management. What is he like? And your brother, your mother.

[She says so little of herself, even when asked direct questions. Perhaps he can learn more of her indirectly, from how she speaks of her loved ones.]

If you will forgive my saying so, it seems all men could do with a bit of management from time to time.

[Some men more than others, to be sure, and some days more than others as well. Still, this topic is clearly the sort of thing that perks the corners of her lips back up slightly.]

My father is chief counselor of the King of Denmark. Even in times of peace and prosperity, it begs much of him.

[He laughs outright at that, a ringing sound, and looks much amused.]

I think you are probably right, my lady, and we are fortunate when we are so deftly handled! I think too that you have learned much of tact and diplomacy from your father. Or, perhaps, from your mother?

[She imply her mother managed her father well, after all.]

[The laughter is quite lovely, in its own right. It must be the peacefulness of the Library.]

My father would certainly prefer to be given the credit, and I will confess I have had far more years under his tutelage than my lady mother's.

Then he must be glad to have so dedicated and skilled a pupil. What of your brother?

In his own way, I expect.

[Polonius would, she expects, have preferred a slightly more docile daughter. Still, even his complaints were always affectionate.]

My brother has been finishing his studies abroad. When he returns, he's expected to join the king's guard.

So your brother is a scholar, at least for the moment! Will he regret the loss of his studies or be happier in a more active post? Though my experience of guard duty is that it is largely tedious.

He is, in my estimation, very like to bemoan his return to our father's sphere of influence, no matter how he finds himself employed.

[The feeling is not unfamiliar, although Ophelia suspects that she bears a heavier burden from their father than Laertes does. The thought is easily banished by the light wave of her own hand.]

Have you siblings, my lord?

So do most children of a certain age, and perhaps especially young men. And yes, I too have a brother, some five years older than myself.

[He looks around the library with some amusement.]

He would find this place very dull and quiet.

[This laugh comes more easily, her attention briefly distracted by flitting away from their table to soak in more of the space around them.]

Quiet I suppose, but dull?

[Her laugh lights up her face, and he takes a moment to appreciate the sight.]

Boromir is not so bookish as I! He is well-studied, but it is out of duty rather than inclination, and he takes little pleasure in it. His pursuits are more active.

Then I expect he simply has yet to find the proper books to fall in love with.

[Her attention stays thoughtfully lingering in the direction of the stacks as she takes another sip of tea.]

We ought to find you a copy of Beowulf to bring your lord brother.

Beowulf?

[He does not recognize the title, though it had an auspicious sound to it.]

What manner of book is it?

[This is a far easier subject than herself. Admitting to some passing education, after all, is surely scads more appropriate than delving into her own personhood too deeply.]

Quite the saga, in truth. The story of a hero of the Geats, who comes to aid Hrothgar, king of the Danes. He saves first the Danemarch, and then his own kingdom in Geatland. Three proper battles against horrific monsters, ripping arms from bodies, brothers-in-arms rushing to one another's side in the face of peril-- [Her shoulders lift, grin still chipper.] Quite the adventurous tale for being such a dull thing as a poem.

[He laughs again, not least at the contrast between so decorous a lady happily discussing such a gruesome story.]

That does sound the sort of tale he would prefer! I would not mind reading it either. I've discovered a good deal of poetry since my arrival but nothing so...Eventful.

A good number of our oldest poems are. [And it was impossible to pretend that the great war sagas weren't generally more interesting than lovers dying all over the place from heartbreak.] The Hlöðskviða, the Iliad, the Song of Roland--clever men remembering the lessons of battle with verse.

[Hopefully with the aim the battles not be repeated, Ophelia has always assumed.]

Even if my brother never sees these, I would be most interested to read them. Would you show me where they are found? When we are finished, of course.

[Still a little bit of chai left, after all, and that should not be wasted.]

Welcome to the Library

Pffft like I'd disagree on that point.

<333

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I love this so.

I love Beowulf. I mean this.

I love both. Let's give him Gilgamesh too.

crosscanon book club?

We probably want to have them wander off to get books and draw this to a close.