TAKE A LOOK, IT'S IN A BOOK

[stagstrong]

Who: Robert Baratheon and PEOPLE
Where: The LIBRARY
When: The Event! So... lots of days.
Rating: E for EDUCATIONAL
Summary: Robert is hungry... FOR JUSTICE KNOWLEDGE.
The Story:

Robert Baratheon had never cared for books. What could be learned in dusty old text that could not be learned outside, living life to its fullest? And so, he'd never bothered with books. But somehow, it was different now. He was trapped in Wonderland and he was struck with the urge to investigate. And so, when he passed the library, he decided to poke his head in. And then he decided to pick up a book and just take a look at it. Just to see what it was like.

Before he knew it, morning was evening and he was still reading. By Gods was it interesting! Apparently, as he was finding out that apparently in 1946, Chinese stamps were overprinted in sen and for use in Taiwan only. While Robert did not really know what stamps were, who the Chinese were, where Taiwan was, what a sen was, or even the dating system that led to 1946. But by Gods was it fascinating as hell. And when he was done with the book at long last, because he was not a terribly quick reader, he was eager for the next. Sure, he would need to sleep soon and eat, but he had one about mushrooms now and he'd always been interested in mushrooms!

Hadn't he?

In fact, Robert was aware he was actually fairly miserable. He wanted to go out and fight something, fuck something, or drink copious amounts of wine! But He couldn't tear himself away from the books. There were just too many books and he felt like he might die if he didn't read about fungus. The misery was apparent on his face. He looked worn, tired, and listless. His stomach ached from neglecting to eat anything. But he could not tear himself away. Not when he was only just about to find out what a Hypomyces lactifluorum was, which was a mystery that had plagued him ever since he had seen the table of contents.

Comments

[selfrespecting]

Martha had also spent the entire day holed up in the library, barely leaving the table she'd claimed for herself. Certainly not to obtain any kind of food, and certainly not to rest. How could she, when this library was packed full with so much fascinating information?

She had just finished up her current set of books and was making another round through the library for some more. She read from a book as she walked, giving the shelves around her the odd glance and then grabbing another book that caught her eye to tuck under her arm.

So she wasn't paying nearly enough attention as she turned the corner, instead running right into a broad-chested stranger. The impact was enough that she dropped all three of the books in her grasp. She stared down at them before looking up again, only barely remembering her manners.

"Sorry, I... didn't see you there." And then she bent down to start gathering up the texts.

[stagstrong]

The powers at be had willed the two of them into a meet cute moment that would explode into a romantic relationship. Or would, if Robert had even noticed that she bumped into him. He was so utterly engulfed in reading about toadstools, that he had assumed he'd simply walked into a table again. Only after finishing the page he was on did he bother to look over the book and see a woman on the ground collecting books. He paused, stared for a lingering moment, and at last remembered those vestiges of chivalry that remained beneath his obsessions with fungi.

"My apologies. Are you hurt?"

He did not offer to help her with the books for fear he might lose his place and have to start over from the beginning, like he did before with the book about stamps.

[selfrespecting]

That was a rather delayed reaction, wasn't it? Martha might have been more bothered by it if she wasn't also at least partly distracted by her need to find out more of the secrets hidden in these books.

"No, no, I'm fine," she said as she stood up again, the books gathered in her arms. She looked him over, only really taking in his face now. He was tall, broad, built like a fighter. He honestly didn't seem much like the reading type, but she wasn't about to judge.

She noticed the book he was holding and smiled. "Fungi, is it? That must be fascinating." Probably only to botanists and a pair of people affected by an inexplicable need for knowledge. "I'm Martha Jones," she said, shifting the books around so that she could put her hand out. She mustn't forget her manners.

[stagstrong]

He had never heard of House Jones, but he also could tell by her appearance she had to be foreign. From the Summer Islands, perhaps? He commended her for her fluent Westerosi, though. But he reckoned a well dressed and well read woman must be noble of some sort. So he took her hand lightly, then looked back to his page lest he lose his place.

"Robert, House Baratheon. Lord of--" He paused, turned the page. Vaguely he added: "Something." He looked up at her. "Gods, how can you stand to read? It's misery."

[selfrespecting]

That was all far more formal than Martha had been expecting, and it was enough to actually draw her attention away from her books for a moment. He was a warrior, perhaps even some kind of knight.

Stranger, though, was that he seemed bothered by the act of reading, and yet he couldn't stop doing it. Martha pulled her hand back with a frown. "What do you mean? If you don't want to read, no one's forcing you to."

But if he truly felt that way about books, then she didn't know if they'd have much in common. She expected a good book would best this Lord any day.

[stagstrong]

"I must read," he said bitterly. "If I don't, then..."

He stopped paying attention for the moment, suddenly absorbed in the writing. It was all a little too fascinating. He forced himself to look up at her. "It's like an unquenchable thirst. But for reading, of all things. Damned if I understand it."

[selfrespecting]

An unquenchable thirst for reading really didn't strike Martha as any kind of problem, and she squinted in confusion for a moment. It was almost as if he was being compelled into doing it.

This was an event weekend, but if everyone was being affected like them, the library should have been packed.

"If it makes you feel any better, the urge will most likely pass. I suspect this is an event's doing." Really, though, was there so much to complain about? Reading was wonderful. "If you want, I can keep you some company while we both read." And maybe learn a bit more about where he was from in the process -- that was knowledge just as much as the information in these books, after all.

[stagstrong]

He looked up to her and frowned in a kind of disapproval. Not at her invitation to join him. He would never refuse the company of a pretty girl. No, it was instead her talk of an event that might simply pass.

"An event? This curse is but a mere fading event?"

[selfrespecting]

"That's my guess, anyway! I can't say for certain, but if you're acting in a way that doesn't fit how you behave normally, then it's a safe bet."

Seeing how he hadn't refused her invitation, Martha moved to a nearby table with her small pile of books and took a seat, leaning back in the chair and then cracking open her next book of choice.

Which was about praying mantises.

[stagstrong]

He looked over at her, but not at her book. He couldn't risk finding something else to interest him. So instead, he looked back down at his own. Bloody damned mushrooms.

"I take it you like to read." Normally, he would not care for the hobbies of a woman, so long as she was still pretty. But now he had a derision for anyone who read, because it seemed like an unnecessary kind of torture.

[wolfwild]

"Lord Robert?"

Lyanna was nowhere near the library. The library wasn't even close to her thoughts. She was out in the spring air: basking. And talking and walking and running and climbing and jumping and -- now -- sitting cross-legged on some grassy knoll and jamming her thumbs hard against the various pieces and parts of her...phone. That was what it had been called. A phone.

"My lord...? Hey -- are you..." She gave the phone a violent shake. Why couldn't she make it show him again like it had once before? She breathed a superstitious prayer over its smooth glass and tried again.

"Robert." This time, sternly. Unbeknownst to her, the phone had been picked up her voice alone this entire time -- piping it directly to him. Wherever he was. Stupid library.

[stagstrong]

The device was ever an annoyance and Robert wasn't even sure why he had brought it with him. But it sat beside him, directed up at the ceiling, while he discovered the various species of poisonous mushrooms. Only when did he hear her voice did his hand fumble blindly for the device.

"I need but a minute," he said distractedly before accidentally ending the call.

[wolfwild]

"What could be so--"

Damn him. She heard his voice -- and then she heard an inconvenient blip. And she was once again smashing the phone hard against her palm. Angry and lonely and bored. She tried to recreate her previous successes, make it connect to him again, and now it was a proper video recording (though she hardly found it proper at all).

...All she could see was a ceiling. Damn him! "Where are you?"

[stagstrong]

He looked at the device and realized it was Lyanna again. For a moment, the appearance of her face delighted him and invigorated him. But only until he remembered that hes about to read about Deadly Galerina and at which point, he had to prioritize what he needed over what he wanted.

"Hm? Oh. The library," he answered a full minute later, once he'd finished a page.

If she sought to talk to him further afterward, she'd find it difficult to get answers from him.

[wolfwild]

...What an ass. Making a huge fuss over shielding her, she thought, only to ignore her the moment she finally deigned to seek his attention. Her own double-standards did not occur to her; only disappointment and a long-suffering sigh. Lyanna tossed her phone aside and went back to braiding sweet grass into a crown. One was already completed, hanging from her wrist. The second was better and more firmly constructed. By evening, she thought she would be the best sweet grass braider this kingdom or any other had ever seen.

After a minute of deft fingerwork, she heard his voice. The call had been left on, of course. And now she crawled over to glare down at its screen. "The library! I don't believe it--" But after a heartbeat or two, she leaned in so close that her hair cascaded 'round the frame and she could press her ear to the brick. And from it she could hear the soft shearing sound of turning pages. Seven hells.

Give it an hour and here came Lyanna Stark with three woven crowns swinging from her arm and one on her head. Her feet were bare and her skirts bore grass stains. She'd come to rescue Lord Robert from the books -- or at least to see if she might coax him into rescue her from her boredom.

[stagstrong]

By the time she resigned to look for him, Robert had completely forgotten their conversation. He was frustrated in his reading, because he was a slow reader. Not as much as he had been when he started, but now he was plagued with his vision giving him a headache from trying to focus. Sometimes he would put the book down, squint and blink his eyes, and for a half moment think he might quit. But then his mind would race and wonder about what he didn't know and he was forced to look down again and work through the pain.

He was in this state, looking disheveled and tired, by the time Lyanna found him. But despite her appearance, he did not notice her enter.

[wolfwild]

She knew him by his height. Even sitting, it was an obvious trait. So Lyanna came up from behind, skirted the table's edge, and grabbed at a corner with a hand. The three crowns tumbled from the crook of her elbow down to her wrists -- like comically giant bracelets. Fed up with his inattention (perhaps she did not want to marry him...but didn't he want to marry her?) she leaned forward and gently nudged his current tome shut.

"I'm bored."

[stagstrong]

Robert stared horrified at the closed book. For a moment, he nearly felt moved to frustrated tears. When he had read about the stamps, he'd accidentally shifted and lost his place. When he opened the book, he at first tried to find his place, but he couldn't stop reading when he arrived on the first page, and so he had started all over again. And now he would have to start again. Gods dammit. Gods dammit all to hell. He hated mushrooms. He hated mushrooms so badly he wanted to squash any mushroom he ever saw and bury his hammer into the skull of anyone who professed to like them.

And now he would have to read about them all again! AGAIN! He was so close to the end! And when he had reached the end, he imagined sleeping! Or eating! ANYTHING! But now, he couldn't! Pure anger showed on his face as he glared up at her, but only until he realized who it was. Perhaps Lyanna could not conquer his new desire to read, but her gentle features and the sound of her voice could immediately quell his rage. He was left stewing impotently as he began to open the book again.

"Then read," he said wearily. "There's no shortage of things to read."

He phrased the last words as though he might be speaking of enemies in need of conquering. But rather than his usual battle lust, it spoke of a horrifying resignation to his fate.

[wolfwild]

A maiden like her (so used to safety and the certain protection of her brothers) was unaccustomed to such looks of anger. The surprise showed plainly on her face -- a mixture of apprehension and her own thinner note of outrage -- but then it was all over. Hot wind seemed to leak from both their sails and they were left staring briefly at one another. Staring, that is, until he went back to his book.

Stupid damned unbreathing book. She felt a moment of pique that he would somehow find a dead thing more engaging than her. "I'd rather do anything else." She sighed, straightening the one grass crow she wore and then fidgeting with the three on her arm. She'd had four, but she'd given one away on her trek to the library. "I'd rather run or jump or ride. I'd rather swim."

Oh. There was a thought.

[anomaliiiiies]

Jane's in the library again, this time in the sciences section. She's sitting on the floor between the stacks, or she was until she's distracted by the fact that someone either let in a dragon, or really needs a snack. Jane hoped for the first as she peeked around the stacks, trying to see where that noise came from.

Unluckily (or luckily), there was no dragon, but there was someone she hadn't seen before.

"Um, excuse me. You might want a snack."

[stagstrong]

His stomach groaned yet again, but he did his best to ignore it. He was nearly very set on ignoring her as well, but he would not let his books keep conquering him. He turned the page, looked up, and betrayed an expression of utter helplessness.

"There is no might about it."

[anomaliiiiies]

Jane heard the grumbling tummy, and sighed as she patted her pockets. Darcy stuffed a few protein bars in there for the inevitable snack attack when she wasn't there to personally set food in front of Jane. She held out two of the bars, a knowing smile on her face.

"Here. Darcy always makes sure I have snacks. I forget to eat when I'm studying, too."

[stagstrong]

Robert looked at the strange bar, which she called a snack. It was a foul looking piece of food and with an unbecoming shape. He sniffed at it and decided its bland scent would mean it's not so bad. He bit into it, chewed thoughtfully, and nodded appreciably.

"It's not bad," he said. "What is it?"

[anomaliiiiies]

"A protein bar. It doesn't spoil quickly and it's easy to carry, so my assistant shoves them at me, since otherwise I forget to eat while studying."

Jane smiled, unwrapping her own bar. It wasn't a gourmet meal, but it kept one from starving.

[stagstrong]

He picked up the wrapped her had ripped off the bar before. He squinted at the words written on it.

"And this?'