DREAM GUY: the Library[side thread challenge 2 Gravetide]

[Guest]

Rows and rows of bookcases. Filled bookcases. Right up to the ceiling. As one entered one couldn't help but be overwhelmed. In a corner there was a leather armchair, a small closed cabinet and a hearth. The prefect place to crawl up with a book. To the other side a small platform reaching to the higher levels of the bookcases. There were two doors, one leading to the hallway, and the other as of yet unused by any of the girls.

Fialessia had been here earlier to snatch a book, but now it was quite empty, and dark, with the moonlight falling through a small slit of the closed burgundy velvet curtains that hid the large glass windows with a view of the lovely garden.

[Becca Acerbi]

Becca sighed happily, relaxing properly for the first time that evening. Forget Polite Conversation and music and dancing and an elegant riot; this was her idea of heaven.

The girl worked her way across the dark room and dragged the curtains open, remembering with a snort of laughter how the Count had ripped one down to cover that naked lady. Cruel, but it had been amusing as hell at the time. Satisfied with the light - oh, her eyes would be sore tomorrow, but she could always hunt down the candles, or make her own light if she really had to - Becca started browsing the shelves, humming contentedly under her breath.

She'd never believed you could tell anything about people by what they read - after all, what would it say about her, who read anything and everything? - but if he had anything vaguely approaching interesting, then he might prove himself to be more than an insane, entertaining, suicidal romantic cliché. And if he could do that - Hell, miracles could happen! - then she really would beg him for a job.

[Guest]

The library was extensive. It contained books on many areas in Tazlure. Becca saw a section on the slave trade of Amun Rah, the surroundings of Islay and even Roque d'Ancourt. It was not just the explorer that would find much to read however. There were some novels, a few of them clearly with a female audience in mind about roguish pirates kidnapping ladies on board of their ship. The elevated area where she had found the Count earlier contained mostly books about naval issues: combat, tactics, naval history, everything about shipping, how to read a compass. Not a book missing in this very complete collection.

One thing this library lacked, and that was anything to deal with the supranatural and magick, as if its owner completely disregarded the existance of anything he couldn't control himself.

A few candles in big, stern holders, and the warm, soft fire of the hearth helped Becca illuminate her quest. The arm chair was calling to the way ward girl to come settle herself.

[Becca Acerbi]

Becca laughed when she found the novels. "Research I'll bet. I bet he devoured them cover to cover, just to find out how he's suposed to behave." The girl didn't pick them up though - she'd read enough of those when she was younger, and found the stories to be far too... Mushy? Too repetitive when you considered that the stories were all basically the same but with different names? Becca tsked softly and moved on.

The lack of books on the supernatural didn't seem odd until she actually paused and thought about it. Becca turned and looked at the small pile of books she'd built up by the chair - books on the world, naval history, and a couple of the novels that appeared to have a distinct lack of pirates-kidnapping-elegant-ladies - and frowned slightly. While the lack of books on magic wasn't that surprising - after all, if the Count didn't use it, and didn't have an interest in it, it would make sense for him not to have any books on it - but the complete lack of anything on the supernatural was just... odd.

'Far too practical for his own good,' Becca decided eventually, forgetting that she didn't believe in judging-character-by-books. 'Why wouldn't he have anything on -? Oh forget it Becs. If he doesn't have any, he doesn't have any, and you're not going to pull them out of thin air just by fretting over it.'

Practical, semi-normal person, who didn't keep books on anything that couldn't be handled by the same. The girl sighed and shrugged, curling up in the armchair, one leg dangling over the arm, and the other tucked underneath her, and picked up the book off the top of her pile. 'For the gods' sake...'

[Guest]

The book was a political treatise on the Western Kingdom of fairly recent date, only a few yahren old, sketching the situation under Regent Eisenreich, the recently disposed duke and uncle of King Balthasar who up to a month ago had ruled the kingdom. The news of the recent coronation had only just reached the Citadel, although the circumstances were sketchy.

It is the conclusion of this scholar that part of Eisenreich's success in keeping the kingdom of his half brother and his nephew together lays in his negotiations skills and his absolute lack of anything but a practical, if somewhat ruthless, outlook on politics, favoring balance over fanatcism. This has not made him the favorite of some of the more traditional sects of the One Church, although of course, the hierarchy in Kings Court has always done his bidding in exchange for certain sureties. It is a mark of Eisenreich's skill that the infamous Thane of Pirate's Duchy is part of the same alliance.

[Becca Acerbi]

Becca didn't know much about the coronation - after all, she'd been asleep for five days, and shut inside the university for the better part of the past week, when it seemed everything was happening. However, she'd heard vague mentions of a coronation.

For a moment, the girl was distracted by trying to work out Eisenreich's relation to her host - he was the king's... cousin? Which was the child of an uncle, wasn't it? Something like that. So would that make Eisenreich the Count's father or not? - but then she put it out her mind. This Eisenreich sounded far too practical to be a noble, let alone a ruler, and he had the right amount of respect for Dominicus by the sounds of it.

Although she was quite impressed by the fact that could even coax a pirate into an alliance.

Becca paused, tipping her head back to look at the ceiling, frowning slightly. Finally, she swung round and started to sift through the books she'd collected, looking for one that might tell her more about this Thane. If she hadn't picked out anything suitable before, she would very carefully pile her books back up again, the one she'd been reading left open on the chair, and go browse the shelves again.

Gods help her she needed a job here. Just so she could go through all these books at her whim, learning which ones had the details she needed. Back home, she'd been able to do that - put her hand on exactly the right book whenever she'd needed. She was learning that for a small corner of one of the University's libraries. She just wished there was more time for her to be able to do that here!

[Guest]

Becca had to search through quite a few books but finally she found a passage, not in a book but a collection of papers that looked to be of a recent date:

The Thane of Pirate's Duchy, also known as Thanion, used to rule over the collected riff raff in the swashbuckling pirate town at the coast of the Western Kingdom for many yahren. His main competitor was the so called Pirate Queen of Kislovan who ruled the waters of the Seven Isles.

However times change and when Duke Eisenreich fell from power and the Thane was no longer protected from the law in his headquarters the powers started to move. There was a powerstruggle. One Raven Darkheart, once part of the Thane's trident, came up on top after murdering captain Kathleen Storm.

A soft cough, a shuffled of feet, and suddenly Becca looked into the bluest eyes she'd ever seen, a mischevious grin and a glitter of sapphire. "All those ladies are out there planning my seduction but you are making love to my library," he quipped, "I should be insulted."

[Becca Acerbi]

Becca hummed the tune from before under her breath as she searched, and was pleasantly surprised when she found the papers.

'Raven Darkheart. Yet another living cliché.' Clichéd as the man's name was, she made note of it so she could look it up if and when she got back to University and had more books to look through. Kathleen Storm's name as well - if she was worth murdering to become powerful, then she must have been important.

The girl was just heading back to her chair, studying the papers, when someone coughed.

Becca grinned wryly. "In case you haven't noticed, milord, there's a little less competition for your library than there is for you." She patted his arm consolingly, glancing up to see if he'd still got that ribbon he'd been wearing before - her braid was unravelling and it was annoying the hell out of her. "If it's any consolation, milord, I don't make love to every library I come across, so you should feel flattered." Of course, that was a complete and utter lie, but he wouldn't know that. "And considering just how many women are plotting, I thought you'd be -" Becca paused, obviously thinking of a polite way to say working your way through everyone who offers. "Well, I thought you'd be otherwise engaged this evening."

The girl smiled up at him, mischevious and shy. "If you're staying for a second, could I borrow you? I need you to settle a bet for me, and I wanted to beg you for a job when all this is over."

[Guest]

Guy laughed, a low pleasant rumble. Upon Becca's inspection she noted that his hair had become undone, his dark curls now falling down his back. He looked somewhat.. undone. "So I should be flattered, huh?" he chuckled take her reply in stride.

He reached out and touched her cheek softly, wondering "So, what did you make of my liberary, me lovely?" The faint Islay accent surfaced again, as it always seemed to do when he was less aware of it.

He blinked at her request, taken aback somewhat "A job, but lass, what kinda job would you want with da count, eh? I thought you'd fancy marryin 'em."

[Becca Acerbi]

Becca blinked for a moment as she took in his appearance. Well. Quite possible that he was otherwise engaged. Which, nice as it must've been for him, meant she'd have to suffer messy hair. The girl sighed under her breath and started to finger comb her hair.

Becca's smile was shy, but her face lit up. "It's beautiful. Well, everything but those," She pointed in the direction of the Pirates-Kidnapping-Ladies books. "I'm willing to put money on those either being for the benefit of the butterflies, though, or research for how you're supposed to be acting, so I'll have to let you off on that one." She looked around her, then brought her hands to her lips with an "Oh-I-just-remembered!" expression.

"I haven't read anything not to do with magic for a week," she told him. "So thank you for having... Other stuff. Okay, so I jumped to politics and pirates, but that's not the point. Lean down a second." Becca grabbed a handful of the man's shirt and tugged him down a little, balancing on her toes so she could kiss his cheek (What? It seemed the sort of thanks he'd appreciate.). "Thank you for that."

She raised an eyebrow at his question, stepping back slightly. "Milord, I'm giving you the credit of taste. Don't ruin it for me." She mock-swiped at his shoulder, missing deliberately. "And like you said," The girl pointed at the ceiling, raising her eyebrows. "There's a lot of women up there plotting your seduction."

The girl tilted her head to one side, tucking strands of ginger-brown hair behind her ears. "Where you in Islay long?" she asked, instead of explaining herself. "It's just... Your accent keeps changing, so I thought you must've been there for a while."

[Guest]

Guy gave Becca a quick grin "You are more for the realistic novels then I gather?" he grinned at her, flashing his white teeth "Though fair enough.. some of the pirates of the Mer have been known to do just that." He chuckled softly with a distinct look of self irony. "However, you seem not the type to fall victim to that." He arched an eyebrow on Becca's suggestion he was acting. Smart little girl.

Then she impishly kissed his cheek, as if he was some kind of gentle uncle. He just stood there for a moment, realizing the indignity. Wait till Jack hears about this one. I'll never live it down. It was pretty clear that any seduction was right now out of the question, for the lady was in love not with him, but with his books, and quite on to his tricks. Perhaps she can be persuaded to join my little heist instead. We will teach this king some manners.

"Yes," Guy said casually, "Several yahren in fact while I sailed the seven seas. However after my abduction of Maeve O'Brien, the daughter of one of the largest clanleaders.. I had to go a way for a while." He gave Becca a wicked grin.

[Becca Acerbi]

"I wouldn't say realistic... Wait." Becca raised an eyebrow at him. "People have actually done that? For the love of all the gods why?!" She shook her head, amazed that anyone would willingly kidnap people like the butterflies. "That's just... I feel sorry for the kidnappers. I really do."

The girl tipped her head on one said, looking at him questioningly as he just stood there, then shrugged and dismissed it as he started talking.

Becca burst out into shocked laughter, clapping a hand to her mouth and gazing up at the Count with amusement, awe and something dangerously close to respect in her eyes. "You kidnapped the daughter of a clanleader?" She shook her head slowly, still on the verge of giggling. "I'm not surprised you had to go away - why in the name of all the gods did you do that?" The girl leaned against the bookcase, folding her arms, shaking her head again. "Were you drunk or did she offer?"