Bassoon, Day 22.

[dredefulchilde]

I'm rather desperate for reading material or new knowledge. Sitting on one's arse, day in and day out, gets old.

We need to establish a library or a school to maintain a free exchange of information and ideas. We are playing into the hands of our captors if we continue to stay weak and uninformed.

...

And, quite honestly, I'm bored out of my skull.

Comments

audio:

[blueberryprincess]

Seconded. A library would be appreciated. We should start by trying to collect books from each place we visit, if we can. Books on their history, and their folklore. If any.

[dredefulchilde]

This is an excellent suggestion.

[blueberryprincess]

I wish we'd thought of it before. I'm sure the last place we visited had a ton of interesting stories and facts. Maybe we'd have found something about the goblins other than they showed up during the rainy season.

My mother had goblins, but these ones were far different than the ones I grew up with.

[dredefulchilde]

Agreed. I would have liked to learn about the poisons the goblins used, in particular. Given how sick I became after being exposed to it, I wonder about it's chemical composition. There isn't much that can hurt me so badly for so long.

[hashtagparkerluck]

I've got a chemistry book you can read. I mean, it's like advanced chemistry but you can read it if you want.

[dredefulchilde]

I appreciate it, thank you. I was taking advanced chemistry in school, before I came here. Calculus and physics as well. My previous education had been rather light on the hard sciences.

[hashtagparkerluck]

No problem! I still think people should order more books and like store them in a central location.

You would have liked my school-it's hard focused on Math and Science-the name is actually Midtown School of Science and Technology.

[dredefulchilde]

I think I still prefer the classics, but science is fascinating.

I was raised with private tutors, you see. And a couple of governesses.

[hashtagparkerluck]

[ He knows what a governess is, and now he feels so very poor. ]

I uh... have a scholarship.

[ Because he'd never be able to afford STEM school otherwise. ]

[dredefulchilde]

Well done.

[Yes, Joss is quite wealthy. Comes with the whole "I'm over 700 years old" territory. He's not as rich as some vampires, but he has millions of pounds squirreled away back in London.

He sees no reason to hide that fact.]

[azrthmtrnznthos]

Not so sure about a school, but a Library would be welcome. I doubt our not having one is some nefarious plan of our captors. Or at least not high on their priority list.

[Raven had waited to respond, until she was sure she could keep any snark to a minimum. He was bored? So was she at times, so were probably everyone on board at times.]

[dredefulchilde]

How do you know that? There must be a reason that information is so restricted.

[azrthmtrnznthos]

Think logically--what are they restricting? The fact that THEY have not established a school or library means only that--they didn't have one already. As far as we know, they have no protocol or rules against it, since we can buy books from the store. It doesn't automatically mean that it's nefarious when it could just as easily be unimportant to their priorities or un-thought of.

The only restrictions they have given us, are on where we go and who to talk to that might know what's actually going on.

[runs_on_batteries]

[Tony rolls his eyes.]

This is why I told Peter to take on the library as a full project when he first suggested it...

You want a school?

[dredefulchilde]

I do. I attended school for the first time last year and I found it to be quite the novel experience. Very different from sitting in a room with one’s tutor or governess.

[runs_on_batteries]

[Well that ruined any joke he was leading up to.]

What kind of subjects are you interested in?

[dredefulchilde]

Anything. My previous education had been heavily focused on the Classical model, but being able to converse in Ancient Greek does one very little good in the twenty-first century. In school, I was studying maths and sciences. In fact, the last thing I remember doing before going to bed and then winding up here, was working my way through and advanced proof. Calculus is rather fun. Organic chemistry somewhat less so, but I do like physics and engineering.

[runs_on_batteries]

[He'd been so hoping to be able to troll the kid, but this was turning out to be much, much more interesting.]

Really? Well, Joss, you're in luck. I'm a god of math, physics and engineering. Peter had recommended someone else to be tutored but perhaps we should open it up to the train.

[He considers this a moment.]

I'll find a way to test what skill level people are at and see if we can't take it from there. Sound good?

[dredefulchilde]

That sounds agreeable. I should like to be doing something practical again, rather than twiddling my fingers. Video games are great fun, of course, but they’re hardly intellectually stimulating.

[Joss is the kind of obnoxious and condescending teacher’s pet that other kids absolutely hate.]

[unholyandbroken]

Any interest in religion? I was attending divinity school.

[dredefulchilde]

So did I, at one time. I was started young because I was meant to go into the Church.

[unholyandbroken]

Family tradition, my father was a preacher. [No more details for the moment.]

[dredefulchilde]

So was mine.

[He is equally terse.]

[so_dark_a_road]

I agree, we should have a library. And a school.

Besides collecting books from the worlds we visit, we could all of us start writing our life stories down. That way, we'll have a self-generated library, and everybody will know something about everybody else's world and experiences.

[dredefulchilde]

That sounds most agreeable.

[so_dark_a_road]

We'll just need access to a lot of paper. Maybe we can get hold of more blankbooks, like the ones in our rucksacks?

[dredefulchilde]

I suppose it's an innocuous enough request for the train to let us have more if we should need them.

[so_dark_a_road]

I hope so! What could be more innocuous than paper?

[ Snicker. Some of the poets and writers say there is nothing more revolutionary than speaking one's truth in writing. Hopefully the train authorities don't know that. ]

(Video)

[castintoflames]

Then let us see what we can do, hm? (Kids.) I'm quite old and I am willing to share what I have learned.

[dredefulchilde]

I can assure you, sir, that my true age would surprise you.

[he doesn’t know how old the elves truly are. He still thinks he’s the oldest being on the train at a mere 680 years old.]

[castintoflames]

Indeed? How is it that you have kept your physical youth?

(He tilts his head, one eye a warm, curious blue and the other a pale, ghostly grey.)

[dredefulchilde]

I died. One tends to stop aging after that.

[castintoflames]

That is a heavy burden for a child. I know it well.

[dredefulchilde]

So you're also dead? There seems to be a sizable number of us walking corpses on board...

[castintoflames]

My death was very recent; I felt it happen and then I was on the platform.

[dredefulchilde]

That's odd.

My death was six hundred and seventy years ago last August. I barely remember it.

[castintoflames]

It seems a difficult thing to forget. (Six hundred and seventy years is a sizable length, but Elven memory is flawless. Unfortunately.) I'm sorry you perished so young.

[dredefulchilde]

I've had seven centuries to get used to it.