diatu | Books are a uniquely portable magic

Books are a uniquely portable magic

Where: The book sale
When: During the month
Who: Yuki and whoever would like to hop on in
What: Books of course!

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At first, Yuki had gone to the auction house, having heard of the book sale and that a wizard had passed his library to uninterested heirs. But after having seen those books go for sums of money that weren't possible here, he'd managed to find some people stocking the unsold tomes on shelves not far off from the auction house.

Being a reader himself, this, of course, caused Yuki to go check out what was available and see if he could possibly afford any of the books. He did see and pick up one about dragon anatomy, but after flipping through the pages, he put it down.

The cookbooks were of no interest to him and he started looking through the more magical tomes. There seemed to be a few novels as well and his eyes just kept perusing the titles, as other titles seemed to start filling up the shelves more and more.

Selecting a few of the books, Yuki puts them down on a nearby table intent on seeing if any are of interest enough to purchase.

But after he sets them down, maybe the table was already occupied?

"I'm sorry, were you sitting here?"

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"Not at all. Please." Tenn was just getting up with a stack of decrepit tomes. Yuki may catch the titles A History of Ascelion and The Physics of Levitation. Both go back into the shelves; neither was satisfactory. Tenn curls a hand under his chin in thought, considering the next aisle to peruse.

While debating, he glances again at the person he relinquished his seating to. Wasn’t that boy at the auction and investigating the books? It could save time. He doesn’t have to give details, anyway.

Casually as if inquiring about the weather, Tenn asks, "Have you come across a book covering the topic of luminescent effervescence, by any chance?"

Yuki's eyes blinked as he heard someone speaking to him as the books set down on the table. But he briefly caught the titles going back up on the shelves before the disappeared.

While the other was up looking over the other books, he grabbed a chair from a nearby table and moved his pile over to it so that the original occupant of the chair had his seating back. It would've been rude to sit there so Yuki didn't.

Looking up from his chair when the other came over, he shook his head at the question after making sure it wasn't in his own pile.

"No, but if I come across it, I'll let you know."

But there was a book he hadn't gotten, so he went up again and managed to see the one that was being inquired about. Taking it with him, Yuki sat down again and placed the book near the other.

"I have to wonder how much these books are going for, that didn't make it through the auction."

Edited 2019-04-23 05:37 (UTC)

"Thank you." With no further direction, Tenn resumed his systematic browsing.

A while later, he returned to claim the chair with a fresh selection of books. The proffered chemistry book didn’t go unnoticed, and Tenn accepted it with another thanks.

"I asked for the price range. Most are well above student funds." He gently turned the worn cover to the table of contents, skimming rapidly. "We're fortunate they're letting us look through them. Even the library in Diatu doesn’t have many of these."

Yuki looked up as the other sat back down and mentioned the price range. He sighed.

"Somehow that figures. I have to wonder how much longer these books will be around if they're not going to donate them to the library afterward."

This made the most sense to him if they weren't purchased by other people here. There had to be a way to do this, Yuki just had to see if he could figure it out.

"We don't know that for sure. The headmaster can be prone to whimsy and very persuasive." Ah, chapter three looks promising. Tenn turns there, scanning down the major points. No, all of this is based on manipulation of small containers of water... including some rather creative if malicious adjustments. He hides a smirk behind his hand; best this one doesn’t end up in Diatu.

"Many of these are too advanced or specialized for most public libraries. I imagine that is why they're going for collector prices."

Turning a page, Tenn glances up. "Was there something in particular you were hoping to find?"

Somehow 'prone to whimsy' didn't sound very promising but Yuki said nothing. He himself hadn't had much interaction with the headmaster so he couldn't say much one way or another.

And if what the other was saying was true, if they were advanced or specialized, who knew where they'd end up. He wished he had the means that he had back home, he could easily get so many of these books and donate them himself if he wished.

But finally, he found something useful which was a spell for plant growth. So Yuki rummaged into his backpack and pulled out a pen and some paper. At the question, he shook his head. Not unless there was a spell to go home, but he'd already been asking around about that.

"Not really. I'd heard about the book sale and thought to come to check it out. I figured there wouldn't be anything familiar here." And there really wasn't.

"What about you?"

Edited 2019-05-01 06:17 (UTC)

Familiar? Tenn wondered at that a moment while he checked the index.

"I have not found anything promising, but there's more to browse." Hm, still no good... if it wasn't here, where could he look next? There were rumors about another library on campus, but he would have to search for it.

Tenn closed the chemistry book and pushed it aside, catching a glimpse of Yuki's choice of reading material as he did so.

"You have an interest in gardening?"

At the comment about browsing, Yuki's eyes looked over to the horde of books. Well, there certainly was an awful lot of books that had yet to be gone through. And in the back of his mind, he wondered how long they'd be permitted to sit here and read them.

He himself would sit as long as he was allowed and search through the piles all day and night if they gave him that kind of time. But somehow, he doubted it.

But at the question, Yuki realized the book had been noted and gave a shrug.

"It seemed to be the only practical topic, versus a whole book on dragon anatomy."

And of course, provided there were no extra killer plants on the loose any time soon.

"Oh, no, I think we had the same idea," Isabel said, cheerfully. "So long as we don't mix them up, we should probably be okay?" Though her book stack was much smaller. She was a reader, that was true, but she knew she didn't have the family funding to go crazy. So most of these oh-so-interesting books, she'd actually have to read while she had the chance.

Isabel could wish she had a memory like one of her cousin's friends...see it once, be able to reproduce it accurately from recall later.

"I'll put mine over here, this way I know those are yours," she said, sliding her stack over to the left side of the table, near where she'd been idling originally.

For some reason, the lady's voice startled him because he hadn't expected anyone to be there. But when his ears registered the cheerful tone, Yuki smiled as he set his stack down.

"I'm sure we won't mix them up."

Watching her put her small stack to the side, he nodded and sat down. He'd selected so many titles that he wasn't sure where to start. But he might as well start with the ones on basic magical studies.

"I'd love to know what the plan is for these," Isabel said, biting back a sigh. She took a seat by her stack, and started to leaf through the first one--also on magical studies, but this one specifically focusing on Fantastics.

Well, that was one of the things she was studying, after all.

She took a notebook out of her satchel, and a pencil, and started doing some notations, copying down whatever information caught her eye.

"I'm kind of sad, if I had the resources I had back home, I'd just see about buying the lot and donating it to Diatu. I'm sure they could find a use for it all..."

At the question, Yuki shook his head as he looked up from his book.

"I wish I knew. All we know is that they're from the estate and then the auction." He then looked around at her pile and his own.

"I hope they don't plan to do something awful to them." Like burn them or throw them away. He actually hoped they'd go to the library, but he really wasn't sure about that possibility.

But then he began reading again and when she spoke, Yuki softly sighed. He too had the means back home but certainly not here.

"The only thing we can really do is ask."

"I guess the question is then, ask who?" There hadn't seemed to be any curators when she'd looked through the books--not that that meant much of anything. The librarians might know, she mused.

"Do something awful? Would they, here? I mean back on Earth I know they burnt books sometimes, because they had what people thought were controversial or forbidden topics, but..." She couldn't help but look somewhat horrified at that. Isabel had always felt that all knowledge was important, regardless of its source.

His eyes lifted and Yuki looked around. Strange, before he'd sat down he'd overheard people talking and now no one appeared to be anywhere.

"There were people there a few minutes ago. I wonder if they went back to the auction house to go get more books."

He shrugged to her question about the books' fate. "If they can't sell them, I don't know if they'll put them in a beneficial place for the rest of us."

Like the library.

"Maybe they did. I mean, that'd make sense to me, there were still a bunch over there when I left."

She'd gone to the auction--she'd been to them before with her parents and all--but she didn't have the funds, and Isabel knew better than to bid when she couldn't buy.

"Well, maybe we ought to just ask if they'd let us have them? Even if it's for a pittance. You think they'd want to recoup their losses as much as they could, or pay for the old dude's estate..."

Isabel wasn't sure, but she was willing to try, even if they laughed at her for it. It wouldn't be the first time...

Yuki thought. "Well, I guess it won't hurt to ask someone."

His eyes searched around again but he didn't see anyone that looked like they were in charge of anything.

"I suppose some money is better than nothing." This was said with a glance at his book pile. He had yet to go through them, but there had been a few books on gardening here and there.

"You have any notes you need to take before they close down?" Mostly Yuki just looked like he was reading stuff--heck, maybe he had an eidetic memory like Professor Harada, but just in case, Isabel wanted to ask anyway. She had paper and pens and an inkwell, why not share? The more information they could carry away, the better, in her mind.

"I'm mostly looking for notes on the classes I'm taking, but if there's any mention of Sundering..." Not that she expected it--she didn't know for sure how old wizards lived to be, here. She knew her type could get really ancient with the right Sphere magick, but nothing she knew from there had translated yet, why would it start now?

His eyes looked over at his books as he shook his head. "No, but I did write the titles down." And he was hoping against hope that simply asking would get them somewhere though he somehow doubted it.

Books like this might be odd to them but Yuki was more than sure that somehow someway, they were definitely valuable and had been cherished and not mindlessly hoarded for no reason.

"Okay." She looked up and glanced around again, hoping to find someone who at least reasonably looked like they might be in charge of the book collection, and her lips thinned when she found no one. Her lips twitched.

"Man, with the way they guard these books, you almost think they'd want someone to steal them..." Isabel muttered. "Not that that's the right thing to do, but..."

Damn, she had to admit that she was at least tempted, even though everything she'd been raised to be told her that was a Bad Idea.

"Stealing them isn't a good idea." Yuki said quietly. He sure wasn't a person to steal anything anyway, but at hearing the actual words he didn't even want to contemplate something like that at all.

His eyes searched for a person too, but it was ridiculous at how hard this was becoming. "It almost makes me think they're looking to see if anyone will take them." And he's doing nothing but getting irritated inwardly.

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Books are a uniquely portable magic

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