Flashback I'm Nobody, Who Are You?

[Philomena]

31st Day of Spring, 485 AV (Kenabelle Wright Day)
Midmorning
The Library, Special Collections
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There is nothing so forbidding to the young job-seeker as a an uncomfortable chair in a narrow hallway. Nonetheless it was in just such a place where on a Mucky rain-day of the early spring, Minnie sat. She had a satchel with her, but it was mostly for show - it seemed the sort of thing a new student carried, and Hannah from the orphanage had seemed almost affectionate when she stole the canvas sack and gave it to her as a parting gift. She'd spent two hours the knight before with a pair of slightly rusty embroidery shears picking out the dun thread embroidered name "Jack Parrel", and then a sloppy five minutes painting on the 'sigil' she had created for herself in a moment of teenage self-importance: a bird perched on an anchor-bar.

But now she sat in this hall. The Admissions office had been butterflyish to her stomach, but she'd spent so much time in the library, and even in some of the rooms of the West Wing, by then, that there was something comforting and reassuring to the place, to its crumbling stone sculptures by pre-cataclysmic craftsmen. And the chairs had been comfortable. And honestly, she'd been invited to attend, after a word from one of the history doctors whom she'd shared a childish correspondence with, about the economic condition of the Sailor's Guild in the Pre-Circumnavigatory period. So, it wasn't relaly that she was frightened that she'd be rejected. IT was simply that it was all new.

But here, this was different. Sure, the university had given her permission to attend, and even something of a stipend to live on, but without some sort of work, she'd never be able to afford to take advantage fo the offer. And what skills, really, did she have? Trivia? It was only at the suggestion of an undergratuate she'd met at the library (friendship was too strong a word for the relationship, but she'd written the last part of the fellow's literature paper, so there was SOME relationship there), that she thought to ask the research librarians for a position. There wasn't one. But they suggested Mr. Dorbern in Special Collections, who seemed to have more trouble finding and keeping talent in his department.

PErhaps, Minnie reflected, this was in part due to the discomfiting taste the man had in furniture, or perhaps it was the narrow, ugly hallway that led to his workroom. Then he came out, and she threw away all the minor reasons, for the man himself was reason enough.

Harald Dorbern, the special collections librarian, was, to his last days, a very intimidating man. Zeltiva, for all its culture, was still a medieval-ish place, and normally, intimidating meant 'very large', or 'armed with a sword', or something on those lines. Dorbern was none of these things. He was a sallow, narrow man, as dessicate as the pages he curated. But the eyes! He had eyes with heavy black brows that peered at any living thing as a natural enemy. There were no rats in the library, unusual, but essential for keeping the sweet-glue leather bindings intact. Minnie, in that moment, though perhaps the rats were kept away by the furious stare of Harald Dorbern.

"Who are you? You are too young to have any good reason for fingering through my books! Do you have a reason to be here?"

"Sir... doctor..."

"Mister! That's all of it! Do you think this ignorant pustule of a university knows how ot award degrees to a man with actual, useful skills for preserving The Word? No doctor for me, and thank the gods for that. So stop blathering, I'm working."

"Mister Dorbern, I'm here, they told me you are looking for an assistant."

"An assistant? An assistant for what? What is it you think you can do that I need doing, girl? Are you going to lay my clothes out for me in the morning?"

"No, sir, a Library Assistant, sir."

"What are you? 12? This isn't a creche, girl."

"No sir, I'm... 19." A lie. But a little one, she rationalized.

"19? Hrm. Well, you're ugly. And fairly small. I don't imagine you'll get too distracted with suitors. What do you know about books?"

"About books sir? Oh lots. I've read many of them."

"Novels?"

"No sir! Research work! History, all sorts of things! You can ask Ms Parcell, or... or any of the librarians!"

"But what do you know about BOOKS? About books themselves? About what they're made of? About how to keep them?"

"Oh! Mr. Dorbern! Oh, no... Mr. Dorbern," now, with this, her voice grew tremulous, "Mr. Dorbern, there is nothing. NOTHING. Like keeping a book. I... I murdered my book, I only have one. I broke it, because I read it too much, and now I have to keep it in a box, I have to keep in a box, and I keep it in a bag of dry wheat so it will not mildew, because I RUINED my book. Mr. Dorbern... if I ... if I could learn how to care for a book..."

The man frowned, and thought a moment. He was a little offput. Aside from fear and fury, and the occaisional disdain, Mr. Dorbern was unfamiliar with the emotions of others. This mystified him. "All right,then. What books was it?"

"K. Wright's Circumnavigation. The Bunk Street Press reprinting, a run of the Benter facsimile, with the original 472 printer's errors, sir. The... Bunk Street wasn't a proper publisher, so there is no run number, but looking into the records of the time, I believe it was a press running for the 474 Kenabelle Day, a souvenir edition - it has the printings of the medal they struck for the sister of the heroine, in the back, so I can date it as being that date at the earliest, and I believe that because of the stink around Charm Wright's dislike for the politicization of her sister's memory after the Red Sailor Riots, I am surmising - and yes, I'm afraid its only a surmise - that they woudl have removed that plate from the future editions, but it is POSSIBLE - POSSIBLE, that this is an undocumented edition form 475 or 6 - the press was so low, its hard to even date its ending, but reports of the printer's guild hearings from 477 describe an infringement case against what I THINK must be Bunk Street, though it lists as "Bank Street". Its possible even that the incorporated name was Bank street in the first place, because I was able to find some of its first printings of other things - penny dreadfuls, mostly - and in the earliest printings it looks like the a may simply be a u, poorly cast."

He frowned at this, "Aright. Come in, 12 year old. Do you have a name?"

She bubbled with a mixture of dread and relief, "Philomena, sir."

"No, a last name. I'm not going to talk to some little girl as if we were intimates."

She frowned, at this. She hadn't one, she never had. They'd never bothered to give her one,a nd she certainly hadn't gone through the normal process of inheriting one from her own parents, "Ummm. WRight."

"Wright?!" his voice sounded incredulous at such a famous name.

"No! I mean Left!"

"Now then, be serious, girl..."

"Lefting! I mean. Sorry. Lefting. Philomena Lefting."

He stared hard at her, and the strangest thing happened - he almost smiled, the yellowed corners of his lips pulling upward into a smile that was slightly less terrifying than she woudl have imagined it being, "VEry well, Ms 'Lefting'. Come in. I'm in the middle of a bibliography of the work of St. Thomas of the Fountain. You'll find it tremendously boring, I'm sure, but that is how it will be."

"St. Thomas? I thought Daringe of Sylira had made a comprehensive catalog of his work?"

"That was before they found the accounting records and religious correspondence of the saint, in Jhute estate a few years ago, it must all be redone now. How do you know the work of St. Thomas?"

"He was related to the linguist on Wright's circumnavigation."

"Ms. Lefting, we shall have to broaden your horizons a bit."

[Arcane]

Rewards and Treasure! Experience Points +3 Negotiation +2 Persuasion +2 Observation Lores Harald Dorbern the Special Collections Librarian Harald Dorbern the Intimidating Scholar Harald Dorbern the Impatient Employed by Harald Dobern Getting Favors with Favors Comments Hahaha Harald Dorbern is amusing. I don't know why, but I have a soft spot for characters like him. Especially if they turn out to have a heart of gold that they furiously keep hidden as some sort of defence mechanism. Or maybe I'm just generalizing, don't let me influence you Also, regarding skills, just so you know; your PC actually has to learn or practice them in order to qualify for XP. If you review your past grades diligently you should have inferred that by now, why some requests were granted and some not