Flashback One Way to Learn

[Neyasi Tillandsia]

24 of the Day, Summer of 499 A.V.
The Cribellum

A small sigh escaped the lips of the young Symenestra female, slumped over a large tome, struggling to read the small, loopy handwriting scrawled across the page. She had such better things to do than sit around here, truly. She could be climbing to the top of the cavern, or weaving her new shirt. She really wanted a new shirt. But no. Her father had sent her here to read up on the history of the Tillandsia family.

What a bore.

Neyasi glanced up, looking around, wondering if there was, perhaps, a way for her to escape. When she noticed that the librarian was giving her a hard look, she realized her father had probably made arrangements for the adventurous child to stay in the library. Neyasi quickly turned away, propping one elbow on the table, and letting one cheek fall into her palm.

After a few moments, she started playing with her hair, twiddling it around between two fingers, ruby red eyes gleaming dully in the candlelight. Was there really nothing better to be doing in the library? Truly, there was not. Neyasi observed this, as she glanced around once more, keeping her eyes away from the librarian, instead looking at the other passerby browsing the shelves of the rocky room.

There was, so to speak, no one of real interest to the young Symenestra female. To her, all Symenestra looked the same. She had yet to see any fun or quirky traits in a fellow Symenestra. Now, on the surface, there were supposed to be all kinds of cool stuff to look at, especially with the other races. But the only chance Neyasi had ever had to see people of other races was when the Harvesters brought in surrogates- And Neyasi knew her father disapproved of the 'vulgar' style in which most Symenestra reproduced.

Neyasi herself did not know how she felt about the Harvest, but then again, she didn't really know what it was. And her father never discussed it with her. So she was content to sit and wonder amiably what might happen above their cavern, thinking that she would one day be up there, too.

Neyasi was jerked from her reverie by a ticklish feeling in her nose, before sneezing loudly, and literally burying her head in the book to hide the pale rosy blush creeping up her face, as the eyes of the library's visitors turned to her.

[Sayani]

The Cribellum was a place she truly enjoyed, mostly because of the amount of books the Symenestra had managed to store in there. When Sayani was in there, she never felt bored, because there were so many books on so many different subjects all waiting to be read. Normally, she would go there to read and study, but today, she would only train her handwriting. Her mother insisted that simply knowing how to write wasn't enough if one couldn't make an understandable writing. While her father had insisted she was still too young for that, Sayani didn't really mind trying this out. It was a great chance to improve something, and the Symenestra wanted to take it.

Her initial excitement, however, vanished completely when she reached the Cribellum, only to see that all tables were already taken. There was empty chairs in most of them, but Sayani rarely liked sitting together with a complete stranger. They seemed to feel they needed to talk with her, and all she wanted was silence.

But if she went back because of this reason, her mother would surely be angry at her. With a sigh, Sayani searched for the most empty table in the room. After a while, she found a table where only a girl was sitting. She looked around her age, and when she sneezed, drawing the attention of everyone in the place, she hid her face behind her book. Adjusting the bag her mother had lent her so she could carry the material she needed, the Symenestra looked at her for a chime before finally deciding to go to the table the other was sitting in. If she had been embarrassed by the attention, maybe she was shy, and shy ones never really talked too much. Sayani hoped she was right.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" she asked, loud enough for only the girl to hear.

[Neyasi Tillandsia]

Neyasi looked up, surprised. The young Symenestra standing before her couldn't be much older, or younger, for that matter, than her. Neyasi couldn't tell if she was interesting or not. Everyone was interesting to the young Symenestra female, but she would occasionally take a particularly strong interest in others. She gave a shrug. "If you're not going to read out loud, then I have no problem with it." She said, returning a squinty stare to the page she was on.

As it was, she seemed to be reading about some great-great-great grandfather. Or maybe it was a great-great-great uncle? Neyasi rubbed both of her eyes, before leaning unnecessarily close to the parchment, stuck on a particular word. At last, she gave a sigh, and leaned back. She glanced up at the newcomer once more. "How good are you at reading loopy words?" She asked, such an intense look of seriousness and deep thought on her youthful face, it was almost comical.

[Sayani]

Good, so the other wasn't really interested in noise, too. Sayani nodded, to show she had understood, before she sat down, taking a parchment, a quill and an ink vial out of her bag, and organized them on the table, careful not to touch any of the books already there, and to keep the vial away from them as well. Sayani also took the parchment her mother had written a few setences on, so she could copy them. She could write on her own, but her mother wanted her to copy, for some reason. Maybe this was also a training in reading. Or something like that.

But before she could even start, the other girl talked to her, and the young Symenestra raised her head, a confused look on her face. At first, Sayani thought the other was joking, but if she was, then she was also an wonderful actress. She pressed her lips together, thinking.

"I can read them just fine." Sayani could read anything, after her mother intensive training, but to understand what a word meant was another thing entirely. There were a lot of words she didn't know yet. She wasn't sure about what the other wanted. "Why?"

[Neyasi Tillandsia]

Neyasi prodded the book with one pale finger. "This handwriting is very hard to follow." Neyasi said, shrugging. Personally, she would have liked to use that excuse for her father, but, she knew that he would never accept it. According to him, she was smart enough to figure it out on her own.

I certainly don't feel smart enough right now. She thought, squinting at the word once more. "I mean, I don't know what that letter is, or if it isn't just two letters really close together." She added, realizing that the other Symenestra might not fully understand what Neyasi meant. She occasionally got that.

It wasn't entirely uncommon for Neyasi to say something, and for whoever she might be talking to to stop, scratch their heads, and say, "Huh?" So Neyasi often found herself explaining what she meant, or else ending up in an awkward situation. Sometimes it really felt as if not even her father could understand her, which was always a tad bit depressing.

[Sayani]

So the girl had a problem with the writing. Maybe her mother was right, having a good handwriting was important. The Symenestra leaned forward, squinting her eyes to see if she could make sense of the word. It was really terrible. Not so much on the rest of the sentence, but this word seemed like it had been written on a hurry. Or maybe the author didn't want to write this at all. Sayani read the whole sentence quickly, trying to make sense, before finally straightening her back.

"Mabda." she said, after two chimes or so. "What are you reading? This whole thing barely makes any sense!" it had been only a sentence, but if the rest of the book was like this, then even Sayani would be bored to death by reading it. The young Symenestra shook her head, wondering if it was just her that couldn't understand the phrase or if it really didn't make any sense.

Taking her quill, she focused back on her own task, and began to write the phrases her mother had chosen. Lo Mene Virsas, Success comes only with hard work and many other boring ones, that she was already tired of reading and listening. After the first five sentences, she put her quill away.

"I guess the real question is why you are reading it." she said, her voice low, so that if the other wanted to, she could just ignore the Symenestra. But Sayani knew that her voice was loud enough to be heard, specially in the silence of the library.

oocSorry for the long wait... But at least busy week is over, I hope.

[Neyasi Tillandsia]

OOC :

Haha, no worries. I've been sick and extremely unmuseful.

Neyasi barely contained a snort of laughter, clapping one hand over her mouth at the other girl's outburst. "The entire page is like that. It's a miracle that I've gotten this far." She said softly, uncovering her mouth, and glancing around self-consciously, aware that the hard gaze of the librarian was boring into the back of her skull. She sighed, letting one hand sink into her palm, elbow propped up on the table, as she attempted to go back to reading.

Failing, she began to swing her legs, and tapped against the top of the table with the beginnings of her hard black nails, which had only just begun to grow out. She looked up as the other female spoke again. "I'm reading it because Father told me to. I have to learn about the history of the Tillandsia family." She said, in a voice that sounded like a whisper, but was just a little too loud to quite be a whisper.

[Sayani]

As soon as she spoke, Sayani regretted it. Not that the other girl had been excessively noisy, and the answer definitely hadn't annoyed her, either, but talking on the library didn't feel so right. Well, now she had already got the girl's attention, and it would be rude to just ignore her. Sayani wasn't sure on whatever she could to be rude or not, but it was better if she just answered the girl and then tried to find out later.

"Have to?" Sayani raised an eyebrow, before sending a look at the book. "History is only useful if you learn something from it. If not, what's the point? Are you learning something?" some of the questions were spoken to herself. She was young, but her mother insistence that she learned of everything related to her family, the Esterians and Kalinor, she began to try to search for something to not let this whole experience boring. Utility.

But the girl was bored, and this meant that she didn't find an utility in the book. Then there really was no point in reading it, if she wasn't willing to learn, she wouldn't learn.

That was what she thought, anyway.