fandomhighdorms | First Floor Parlor [Saturday evening]

Celia had grown tired of the strange coldness of the room she shared with Eleanor -- it came and went, in patches and bursts, and something about the room made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. As much as she loved the architecture and design of the house, and as much as it was almost a relic of home...perhaps it had been left too long on its own.

Still, there wasn't much she could do about it, so Saturday night found Celia wandering out to the parlor and tucking herself onto a couch to watch the television. She flipped through channels, since that was really all she knew to do, yet, until she stumbled across some sort of bizarre medical show, in which people conducted interviews about something called a botched plastic surgery.

Celia paused as a woman described how her nose had turned out completely wrong, and how new doctors would be correcting the prior doctor's mistake. Celia only had long enough to realize that they were going to show the surgery before the channel abruptly changed to some sort of advertisement.

Without her doing so.

The advertisement was not nearly as interesting as the surgery -- there was a man telling her, in a very extended sort of way, why she ought to own something called a Ninja Blender. But she'd leave it, for just now. She wasn't messing with the remote again, for the moment. Either the television was acting on its own (bad) or there was something else at work (also bad.)

[open, omg! hat tip to

nobloodymessiah for Botched, which sounds like a horrifying/awesome show.]

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"Me too," Celia offered with a tiny smile. "I didn't have children my own age to play with growing up, but I always had books. It's been hard for me to always see the appeal in television, in light of that."

"The technology behind it is fascinating," Elsa amended, "like going to see a play, but nobody really has to be there. But books... I know what to expect from books. The narrative doesn't tend to get interrupted for commercials and I've never had a book change channels on me in order to try to sell me a blender."

So they were clearly the superior technology, here.

"I like not knowing what to expect from a book," Celia offered. "How a book takes over your whole mind. It's conscious enjoyment -- your imagination is engaged in every aspect of crafting the picture that the narrative inspires. Television takes that away from you."

"You don't have to think about television," Elsa agreed. "It's already right there, showing you exactly what it wants you to think. Even books that spell it out leave so much open to interpret."

"It's easy to miss things in a book, too," Celia added. "That's why re-reading is wonderful. I don't know why I'd want to watch the same film or television program more than once."

Celia had not yet discovered truly great television or film, though, to be fair.

And reality television didn't leave much up to the imagination at all.

"I really do need to start spending more time in the library when things aren't acting crazy around here," Elsa mused. "There were a lot of books there that caught my interest, but at the time I didn't have a chance to really look at them. And the Magic Box has a few that are fascinating, too."

"That's all I ever seem to do at work, too," Celia giggled. "I'm essentially being paid to read and...clean if I'm feeling particularly industrious."

It was a tough job.

Super tough.

"Mostly while I'm there, if I have one of the books open it's because I'm translating runes for Rinoa. I'm not certain if she even really wants them translated anymore, but it passes the time neatly, and some of the things I'm translating are actually pretty interesting."

"Really?" Celia leaned her chin in a hand, curious. "You know, I've never even thought to look at the runes. I don't use spells, so unless I'm trying to find something in particular, there hasn't been a reason to look. Other than sheer curiosity, that is, but runes were admittedly lower on the list."

"Oh? Can you read them?" Now Elsa's curiosity had been piqued, too. "The book I've been working through isn't even really full of spells. There's a lot of history in it, though, and myths. I can't imagine any of that is what Rinoa had in mind when she asked for a translator, but at least this way she knows it's safe to put on the shelf in the front for anyone who can actually read it."

Celia shook her head. "I've never tried," she admitted. "Is it difficult? The translation, I mean. I only know...well, a few languages, and none really well enough to properly translate a whole text."

"I find it easy," Elsa replied, "but then, I was taught how to read runes when I was a little girl. My parents wanted to be certain that I could read every book in the family library in case there was anything I needed to know."

In case, say, she needed to hunt down some trolls again or something.

"If you're interested, I could teach you," she offered. "There isn't really a wealth of reading material around here that uses them, but then, most runic alphabets were ancient even in my own time."

"Really?" Celia grinned. "That'd be amazing, thank you -- they're ancient in my time, as well. I've picked up a bit of ancient Latin and Ichabod's offered to teach me Greek, though, so a language being dead hasn't stopped me before. As long as it wouldn't tax you, that is."

She cocked a brow, and added, "Maybe we could work out an exchange, if you'd like -- I could teach you or help you with something in return."

She had an idea of what, but she'd leave it up to Elsa.

"It wouldn't be taxing at all," Elsa demurred, before ducking her head a little and looking down at her hands, clad safely in the gloves that Barry had made for her. "But... I suppose there are things that I could always stand to improve at..."

You know. Things. Of some sort. Nothing she could put a finger on, really.

Celia watched her with a small smile. "Fortunately, those sound like the exact kinds of things I'm best at," she said lightly. You know, vague things. "Perfect, then. And you never know -- being able to read runes might prove to be incredibly useful down the line, for all I know."

"If you ever find yourself in my family's library," Elsa offered, and then laughed softly. "Or if you need an authentic recipe for lefse or farikal in a pinch, I suppose..."

Of course, there was also Google for that.

"I have no idea what either of those is," Celia admitted, though she looked interested. "But it's all right, I'm a disaster in the kitchen, so recipes are probably not going to be the primary use, here."

"Flatbread and lamb with cabbage, respectively," Elsa offered, smiling faintly. "I'm not exactly a cook myself, but if I ever get the opportunity, I would definitely find a way to introduce you to some. That's one of the many things I miss about home... the food."

In fairness, going from 'meals fit for royalty' to 'Fandom High cafeteria' would do that.

First Floor Parlor [Saturday evening]

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