[ βoh... given the out and she didn't even take it?? that's fine, ness isn't feeling any particular type of way about that. certainly not touched in any weird way. ]
Oh, Abby, I saw your name in the assignments! I'm a recent arrival, yes. But I promise I'm not going to be an idiot about it, I've already done a lot of research and I'm working on getting my feet under me in Diplomacy, I won't be a bother!
(This makes Abby huff slightly, maybe a precursor to laughing.) Okay. You can be an idiot about it if you want, though. I said some really dumb stuff when I first got here and I was still figuring everything out.
[ a small pause as ness thinks of something to sayβi'd prefer to give people as few reasons to roll their eyes at me as possibleβand then adjusts, because perhaps that is unkind to newly-arrived abby, who may have had quite a few eyes rolled at her. ]
I'm sure I'll say something dumb eventually, no amount of research could forestall that forever. I'd just prefer it be later than soon!
[ she tries not to sound excited, because no matter what abby says it doesn't seem right to be excited about someone being rent from their previous home and stranded somewhere for three entire years with no sign of ever being able to return. for anyone not in ness' position, that's a hard pill to swallow. ]
That's such a number of years, and in a time of conflict such as this—you truly enjoy it? I had hoped to be able to make a home here myself, but liking it I had assumed would have to come after the war ended.
(Abby hadn't ever thought that before until she said it out loud just now β there's a pause before she pushes through to ask,) Where did you come here from?
Oh, somewhere not all that different from here, really. FaerΓ»n wasn't currently at war with a megalomaniacal lich god-king when I was snatched up, but it wouldn't have been unheard of. Truthfully, it hasn't been that difficult an adjustment period in most ways.
FaerΓ»n, (she says under her breath, frowning. Sounds... oddly familiar? But she can't put a finger on why that is. Weird.
Anyway,) That's good. This place is really different to where I came from, so it took me a while to get used to everything. If you ever have any questions about stuff, you can always ask me.
From what I understand, most rifters come from places much dissimilar to Thedas. I count myself lucky to have had such an easy transition, I can't imagine how difficult it would be for me to have to adapt to... I've vaguely heard of something called a car, but I have no idea what that is. Sounds terrifying, anyway.
I appreciate the offer, anyway, and will definitely be taking you up on that. Natives can be... a little prickly about some things, I've noticed. Not without cause, [ hastily, Just In Case, ] but sometimes it's easier to ask someone at a bit of a remove, I think.
I'd offer the same in return, but unless you're interested in the cataloguing methods of a library from another world, I don't think I have any information you'd be interested in, honestly.
(A slight chuckle.) Do you wanna know what a car is? I could try and explain. (You know, in the way that somebody might explain a car, having never really thought about how one works or how you would describe it to somebody who has never seen one before, because doesn't everybody know what a car is?
But anyway,) I β actually am really interested in that.
(She says it quick, a bit embarrassed.) I like reading and I'm assisting in the library here. Re-shelving, mostly. We had this thing called the Dewey Decimal System back home, but I think it required having computers, so obviously it doesn't work here. We're organising by genre and then author. Non-fiction is by subject and then author. We have a log book.
Oh, [ what a pleasant surprise!! ] well, how about you explain to me what a car is, and I'll explain to you how we sort the catalogues in Candlekeep, then?
[ book nerds book nerds BOOK NERDS!!! ]
Candlekeep is so much larger than the archives here, I don't know that it would be particularly useful to look to it as an example of how to sort a library without a "computer"... But nothing is ever improved by making assumptions. There might be something we could think of and present to the Archivist, if we put our heads together.
[tapping her chin, thinking out loud: ] Genre, or subject, and author is all well and good when each of those is clear-cut, but what about books written by more than one person? Or works that blend genres? Hm. There has to be a better way to sort this...
But Ennaris is going first, so maybe they'll get really into her thing. Abby already has comments for her; they could be here a while.)
I get what you mean, but I'd probably go with whoever is listed first on the book for what name to file under. Same with genre, I guess. Like if it was a... I dunno, a mystery-thriller, I'd go with the bigger theme.
(It's not perfect, but oh well.) And then you note somewhere that it has two genres, so you can always refer to the notes.
That works well for a smaller archive like ours, [ she concedes easily, ] but as our collection grows, so will the number of exceptions, and the number of notes. Such a list could eventually become too complicated for easy use.
Not to mention, what about books with no known title, or author? How do we distinguish between Ancient Alammari Scroll #1 and Ancient Alammari Scroll #57? Just for example, I mean, I don't even know if the ancient Alammari tribes had writing.
This must sound like I'm overcomplicating things, [ so at least she's self-aware? ] but I think they're problems worth thinking about! We want to minimize the work we'll have to do in the future.
[ "we", because obviously, if she's suggesting any work be done, she'll be assisting with doing it, even if it's not actually her job. ]
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crystal
no subject
Ehn-ahr-iss, yes, hello! Ness is fine if Ennaris is a mouthful, I don't mind.
[ she does, a little, but that's an old wound, not abby's fault. the effort was made, at least. ]
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I'm Abby. We're rooming together. You just got here, right?
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[ βoh... given the out and she didn't even take it?? that's fine, ness isn't feeling any particular type of way about that. certainly not touched in any weird way. ]
Oh, Abby, I saw your name in the assignments! I'm a recent arrival, yes. But I promise I'm not going to be an idiot about it, I've already done a lot of research and I'm working on getting my feet under me in Diplomacy, I won't be a bother!
no subject
no subject
[ a small pause as ness thinks of something to sayβi'd prefer to give people as few reasons to roll their eyes at me as possibleβand then adjusts, because perhaps that is unkind to newly-arrived abby, who may have had quite a few eyes rolled at her. ]
I'm sure I'll say something dumb eventually, no amount of research could forestall that forever. I'd just prefer it be later than soon!
Have you been here long?
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(It's never fun being the person who says one dumb thing and gets jumped on, but it's kind of like a right of passage too.)
Yeah, about... three years, I think. (Wow. When you say it like that...) I like it.
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Three years!
[ she tries not to sound excited, because no matter what abby says it doesn't seem right to be excited about someone being rent from their previous home and stranded somewhere for three entire years with no sign of ever being able to return. for anyone not in ness' position, that's a hard pill to swallow. ]
That's such a number of years, and in a time of conflict such as this—you truly enjoy it? I had hoped to be able to make a home here myself, but liking it I had assumed would have to come after the war ended.
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And extenuating circumstances also help:) The place I came here from was worse off, a lot worse off. Here's better.
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Worse off, [ quietly, more to herself than expecting abby to answer. ]
Well, I'm... glad for you, then. To have found somewhere better.
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(Abby hadn't ever thought that before until she said it out loud just now β there's a pause before she pushes through to ask,) Where did you come here from?
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Oh, somewhere not all that different from here, really. FaerΓ»n wasn't currently at war with a megalomaniacal lich god-king when I was snatched up, but it wouldn't have been unheard of. Truthfully, it hasn't been that difficult an adjustment period in most ways.
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Anyway,) That's good. This place is really different to where I came from, so it took me a while to get used to everything. If you ever have any questions about stuff, you can always ask me.
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From what I understand, most rifters come from places much dissimilar to Thedas. I count myself lucky to have had such an easy transition, I can't imagine how difficult it would be for me to have to adapt to... I've vaguely heard of something called a car, but I have no idea what that is. Sounds terrifying, anyway.
I appreciate the offer, anyway, and will definitely be taking you up on that. Natives can be... a little prickly about some things, I've noticed. Not without cause, [ hastily, Just In Case, ] but sometimes it's easier to ask someone at a bit of a remove, I think.
I'd offer the same in return, but unless you're interested in the cataloguing methods of a library from another world, I don't think I have any information you'd be interested in, honestly.
no subject
But anyway,) I β actually am really interested in that.
(She says it quick, a bit embarrassed.) I like reading and I'm assisting in the library here. Re-shelving, mostly. We had this thing called the Dewey Decimal System back home, but I think it required having computers, so obviously it doesn't work here. We're organising by genre and then author. Non-fiction is by subject and then author. We have a log book.
no subject
Oh, [ what a pleasant surprise!! ] well, how about you explain to me what a car is, and I'll explain to you how we sort the catalogues in Candlekeep, then?
[ book nerds book nerds BOOK NERDS!!! ]
Candlekeep is so much larger than the archives here, I don't know that it would be particularly useful to look to it as an example of how to sort a library without a "computer"... But nothing is ever improved by making assumptions. There might be something we could think of and present to the Archivist, if we put our heads together.
[tapping her chin, thinking out loud: ] Genre, or subject, and author is all well and good when each of those is clear-cut, but what about books written by more than one person? Or works that blend genres? Hm. There has to be a better way to sort this...
no subject
But Ennaris is going first, so maybe they'll get really into her thing. Abby already has comments for her; they could be here a while.)
I get what you mean, but I'd probably go with whoever is listed first on the book for what name to file under. Same with genre, I guess. Like if it was a... I dunno, a mystery-thriller, I'd go with the bigger theme.
(It's not perfect, but oh well.) And then you note somewhere that it has two genres, so you can always refer to the notes.
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That works well for a smaller archive like ours, [ she concedes easily, ] but as our collection grows, so will the number of exceptions, and the number of notes. Such a list could eventually become too complicated for easy use.
Not to mention, what about books with no known title, or author? How do we distinguish between Ancient Alammari Scroll #1 and Ancient Alammari Scroll #57? Just for example, I mean, I don't even know if the ancient Alammari tribes had writing.
This must sound like I'm overcomplicating things, [ so at least she's self-aware? ] but I think they're problems worth thinking about! We want to minimize the work we'll have to do in the future.
[ "we", because obviously, if she's suggesting any work be done, she'll be assisting with doing it, even if it's not actually her job. ]