multiversallogs | (no subject)

Who: Hermione Granger, OPEN
What: Hermione goes book-hunting, and runs into ~fellow citizens of Baedal~.
Where: The Library of the Blessed St Brian.
When: A few days after her arrival, before this.
Notes: If you want your character to interact with Hermione but doubt they'd be in the library, feel free to have them somewhere else and she can stumble across them; she's likely going to do some exploring elsewhere.
Warnings: none.

Libraries are sanctuaries, and that, right now, is just what Hermione wants, along with as many cold hard facts as she can find. Rumours are hardly trustworthy, anecdotes are just rumours in seed form, and the only thing the propaganda has done is made her wary and worried. She doesn’t trust herself to go into any bookshops just yet, not on limited funds, and she’s always preferred libraries anyway- from the architecture and the smell, to the fact that these are books passed from person to person, books with history, to the (admittedly mundane and worldly, but still relevant) lack of cost involved in frequenting them.

This, therefore, would be why she’s prowling through the shelves with her eyes wide, seeking out facts and figures and records. There’s an expression of intense, slightly hungry concentration on her face.

There are also three books floating beside her, which she feels a little nervous about. They’re too heavy to carry, and from what she’s seen magic isn’t taboo in Baedal- but she’s so used to keeping it hidden when not in explicitly wizarding society that it feels as if she’s doing something illicit. She keeps glancing at them, and then around, the furrow between her brows getting progressively deeper every minute.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Don't be. At long as you're not setting the books on fire, I don't care how you carry them," Kate replies, smiling back at Hermione. She's never seen the girl around, here but with so many people coming in and out and just living on different cohorts in Baedal, meeting strangers just isn't something out of the ordinary.

Kate shakes her head at the notion of her being busy and pushes the cart against the shelves to steady it as she leans against it, arms crossed oh so casually in front of her. "Well, you're in the right general area for history books, but I'm pretty sure we only have a few that seem legit." Though those books are really just word of mouth set on paper, nobody's going to find the more important historical aspect on things like the Militia and the Candlelighters. "Is there anything in particular you're interested in?"

Anything in particular? Hermione casts around for an answer and eventually simply looks rather helpless. "I honestly haven't a clue. There's so much of it- and the history of a city is always so wide and varied that it's incredibly difficult to know where to start. Is there anything on its founding? I spoke to someone- Martel, I think his name was- who mentioned that trying to find the history of the city was incredibly difficult, but I had to try and look for myself." She gives Kate a half-smile, and glances over towards the bookshelves again.

"I wouldn't mind reading some of the ones which aren't, um, legit, as well as the more reliable volumes. Rumours and biased accounts can't exactly be trusted for facts, but they can certainly shed light on political and historical viewpoints, don't you think?"

"Considering Martel's my supervisor, I'd take anything he says for the truth," Kate sheepishly answers. "In general, I don't think you'll find anything more legit than somebody who just happened to write all the rumors he heard and publish it. But it's better than nothing, right?"

Kate stoops down and turns towards the cart, scanning the rack for anything that might pique Hermione's interest. "If you want my opinion, you'll be better off asking the people on your cohort for information and then matching up how many people say what and using that as a lead." Though how many people will tell this girl the nitty-gritty details of Baedal is a mystery.

Hermione nodded, running a hand over the spines of books and sliding one volume out of the shelves to inspect it. "The oral tradition," she murmurs. "It's ever such a messy way of storing and exchanging information- people exaggerate so much. Of course, that's a danger in print, but I rather think having things set out in black and white on paper makes people think twice about embellishing too much. And it's a safeguard against the failings of memory, of course."

She's musing rather than really complaining; it isn't as if Kate can exactly do anything about it.

"And it's strange. Does no one know the facts? Is no one interested in them? Or is it looking for them frowned upon?"

"But after a while, figuring out who's exaggerating and who's most likely to exaggerate becomes clear if you pay attention." That's easier said than done, Kate knows. It requires a little bit of trust on both parties' efforts--one to trust the other is telling the truth and one to trust that the other won't run and blab about who told them the truth.

"I'm sure people are interested in the facts, but in a place like this..." Kate glances around before looking back at Hermione with an expression that clearly reads 'Most facts are filtered out by who knows what.' Hopefully Hermione is sharp enough to catch it.

She does catch it, and raises her eyebrows briefly- I'm not surprised. "That's telling, at least," she says, calmly and quietly, before giving the book a bewildered look and slotting it back into place.

"I'll certainly pay attention," she adds, giving Kate a smile. "It would be very stupid not to, really, wouldn't it?"

"Admittedly? Yeah. Oh, I'm Kate, by the way," she says holding out a hand for a shake and pointing at her name tag with the other. "Pay attention, keep your eyes open, and your nose clean."

Not literally, but that would be nice for all of the public.

"Three things I always try to do," she said, taking her hand. "Penelope," she said, too quickly to let herself think about the lie- it wasn't that Kate struck her as untrustworthy or likely to be affiliated with the Death Eaters in the city, but she couldn't know whether she might drop any name she gave her. She would probably have been much more willing to give her real name if Snape hadn't enlisted her to help protect Martha. "I think I'll probably be spending rather a lot of time in here- you'll likely be sick of the sight of me in a few days."

Kate has no indication or reason to believe Hermione is lying and well, they all have their secrets and aliases. Everybody deserves to hold something close to their chests for whatever reason.

"I'd rather see you than that guy," Kate chuckles as she jerks a thumb over her shoulder to a sleazy, three-eyed guy camped out by her desk. "He has a problem with the word 'no'."