strangetrip | [GP / EP] Welcome to the Madonna Inn Expanded Public Library

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[GP / EP] Welcome to the Madonna Inn Expanded Public Library

Freedom from her bonds had given Illyana more than freedom of movement. It had returned to her the use of her magik and her ability to teleport. These abilities had, in turn, allowed her to finish making ready the library for public use. It was less about collecting books and media from around the premises (and some from Limbo, or donated collections harvested from the Otherworlds) and arranging shelving and seating, most of which had been relatively easily done. It was more a matter of laying the appropriate wards, and negotiating the finer points of the old-fashioned catalog and check-out system, which included odd donated items such as sporting equipment and electronic devices available for rental. Xavin's espresso machine counter necessitated a mini-bar refrigerator, glass-domed cake stands for assorted pastries brought in from the kitchen, and various cafe sundries.

Repurposed from what had been the 'Garden Room,' the library space with its high wooden ceilings, chandeliers, and landscape murals over busy floral carpet still looked somewhat like a touristy banquet hall, yet the area was now also highly saturated with layered magic. The hodgepodge collection of random books and so on were fiercely protected by these magics. When needed and as possible, worn volumes had been restored. The books could not be damaged nor marred from here on out, at least not by coffee spills nor page-tearing or inconsiderate attempts at margin notation. Nor would they leave the boundaries of the library area without proper dispensation, simply stopping mid-air and dropping should the attempt be made at the threshold. Ask at the Desk for Assistance With These Items, prompted the signs on several glass display cases featuring certain perhaps unsettling curiosities within - books in arcane languages, skulls from indeterminate creatures, and artifacts such as a green glowing cube suspended on a chain. At said desk, a gleaming service bell sat waiting, should the staff be needed and not clearly present.

Illyana finished affixing the large engraved plaque to the wall beside the double-doors, and then returned to attend the newly opened library with little fanfare:

Madonna Inn Expanded Public Library

Established ~01.25.2018 Earthly Gregorian Calendar

Open All Hours

Volunteer Staff on Duty as Schedules Allow

Classes & Tutoring for Most Subjects Available Upon Request

Donations Encouraged

Disruptive Patrons Will Be Zealously Evicted

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"I have." He smiled, but not enough that his fangs showed. "It has not yet been a month since my arrival." Unlike others in the Inn, Adrian measured time by the moon.

She gave a knowing nod. "I've been here for a little over a month and it's been.. a lot to adjust to. I mean, apart from not having anyone back home I know here. Where I'm from they, um. Well, there aren't so many different kinds of people."

"And how are you adjusting to learning there are other people that are not like you?" Adrian asked her with much interest in her answer. In his time, they were feared. They had a right to fear his father.

She thought about the question for a moment. "Well... to be honest. Back home, I learned there was more to some people than I really thought. It kind of freaked me out a little, at first, but then I realized they were, um, just like me, but a little different. So now I think - well, it's nice to meet new people and as long as they're not bad people then it's kind of fun, you know?" A slight pause. "But I am kind of glad I was prepared for it a little back home first. Made this place a little easier to handle."

It was the same way his mother would have answered the question. The words would have been different, but the sentiment would have been the same.

"My mother wished for my father to travel and learn of new lands and people." Adrian said. "He had never been outside of our small region in Romania." He had learned in the modern world, Transylvania was in Romania. "It has made this transition a little easier for me as well. I am not sure how I would have been able to settle in with no one speaking the Dacian language. Though I had an advantage, of knowing different types of people thanks to my father."

"Dacian language? Where's that from." She had never heard of it, but Liz knew that didn't mean much. There were so many languages in the world and she only knew English and some Spanish.

"In my time it was called Transylvania and Wallenchia, but in your time I believe people now call the area Romania." He was slowly learning differences between time periods. "I left in the year of your lord 1475."

"Transylvania?" She only knew Transylvania from vampire movies. That was where Dracula was from. Had she been someone more flippant, she'd have said it, but Liz wasn't rude by nature. Her eyes did widen a bit at the revelation of what year he was from.

"Wow. That's, um. That's pretty far into the past. Are you... settling in here okay?" Everything had to be so different for him here compared to back home. Liz wondered if the roles were reversed if she'd even be able to handle it.

"It is very difficult." Adrian was honest in his ability to understand everything that surrounded him. "People have been helpful and there are many things that are miraculous to me." He paused, going through his thoughts before he added. "There are other things that I don't understand why they have become complicated, rather than remain simple."

That piqued her interest and for a moment Liz tried to figure out what those things were. She couldn't quite think of anything. "Like what? If I can ask, of course." Because when else would you be able to ask someone from the past these things?

"Toothbrush and toothpaste." Adrian thought of his first day at the Inn and the welcome basket Caroline had given him. "In my time, we just chewed on a spearmint twig. There is also the method of cooking from what I've observed in the kitchen. An open fire cooks more evenly." He inclined his head, "though I must admit I do like the ease of light in a room as well as not having to bring water from a lake into the room."

The first one surprised her, which showed on her face. She thought about toothpaste for a moment and knew there were a lot of chemicals in toothpaste for various reasons and that a twig wouldn't necessarily grant those additional advantages, but she didn't bring it up. She did have to wonder how it felt and if it was effective. "If I cooked with an open fired I'd probably burn my house down." She smiled sheepishly which a bit of a blush to her cheeks. "But we sort of do, sometimes. We have something called a barbecue. It's open flame. People do a lot of that while camping or in their backyard."

Adrian was sure that the meaning of the words were lost in the translation into English he didn't know how a long piece of wood to fasten a door and two letters were connected to outside cooking. The long piece of wood perhaps but it was quite thin though long to be used as firewood.

"Some village homes, the ones that had more money, had their open fire kitchens in a separate building. Most cooked outside." His eyes crinkled with amusement. "Many homes still burned down because of the open flame."

"I guess maybe that's why they invented the stove." She smiled back with slight amusement. "Though I remember my grandmother mentioning how things were made better when she was young and how things now break down a lot easier. Maybe that's because we're all so much in a hurry to get things and make things better who don't spend time on building it well the first time."

He thought about the craftsmanship of what he'd observed and what he knew from home. "Part of that could also be that the materials are hard to come by in my time so you had to make sure that they lasted a long while."

Growing up in a fortress, the Tepes family didn't want for supplies, but he knew that the villagers did.

"That makes sense. We definitely take a lot of things for granted in my time. Kind of makes me feel like I should apologize." Her expression was a bit sheepish at that.

Adrian laughed and shook his head. "There is no need to apologize. I think the villagers from home would love to live in a time when they didn't have to hope supplies lasted. Perhaps I will tell them when I return that the future holds many wonders, that among them."

Not that the villagers would talk to the son of Dracula, but that wasn't anything that she would need to know.

"Are you like the mayor of your village?" The way he spoke about it seemed to at least suggest he was in charge in some way,

Adrian chuckled and shook his head. "I think there would be a revolt in the village if I were. No, there isn't a Mayor but the leader was the Bishop of the church."

"A revolt? You don't seem unreasonable." She paused. "I worked for a politician for a while and I learned that anyone has the ability to lead as long as they have enough drive."

"I am much more reasonable than my father, but the villagers aren't enamored of my family. It is very understandable, my father can be a bit stubborn and volatile." That was putting it mildly. Though to be fair, his mother's murder by the Bishop had changed Dracula.

"There's always a chance to show people how you're different from your parents." Liz offered a smile as she thought about Sheriff Valenti and even Kyle, really.

"I have hope that that will be my future." Adrian admitted then had a very small smile, "that is if I leave here, but even if I don't, I have a chance to be who I am without my father's shadow."

Being who she was. Liz sometimes felt like maybe, here, she was more herself than back home, but the thought made her feel guilty too.

"That's one of the nice things about this place... people can be themselves. And everyone here seems really nice."

Adrian thought of the few people that he had met and he had to agree with the sentiment. "It is one of the things I have observed here and I think it makes it easier to adjust."

Though he had to wonder how amiable the people would be when they learned he was a vampire. Time would tell.

[ooc: fade?]

Re: Adrian (OTA)

st_hotflashes - 2018-02-21 20:51 (UTC) - Expand

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