he's such a prude though

[if_at_first]

Sylvi settles in very thoroughly. She makes a point of going out on her wooden horse and wandering the city every day or two, even if she has no specific errand to run (although she does also place orders for lenses and very fine-tipped pens and new notebooks). She hugs Avedan when he has bad dreams and he hugs her when she does, if they successfully wake one another despite the long pillow between them on the bed. And she plows through piles and piles of old notes, and condenses her childhood for inclusion in the same library for future 'bels.

As of this moment she is up to her specialization in shines. Write write write.

Comments

[do_over]

"Not even a little? Aw, I'm disappointed."

[if_at_first]

"I am one hundred percent unadulterated altrusim."

[do_over]

"Are you? That sounds dangerous, how do you fit it all in there?"

[if_at_first]

"Lots of surface area. Like Charp."

[do_over]

"I see. That makes sense."

[if_at_first]

"Of course. Kiss me some more."

[do_over]

"Gladly."

Then he does!

[if_at_first]

Mmmmmmmmmm.

And that night the long pillow is removed, and Sylvi cuddles up in her sleep.

[do_over]

Avedan cuddles her back. Snuggle, snuggle.



Then: there is a library.

[if_at_first]

Aly can't find the book she wants anywhere. The librarian says it hasn't been taken out, so where -?

Oh, there it is.

"Excuse me, do you need this?" she asks, tapping the stranger's copy of Advanced Topics in Autonomous Golem Engineering.

[do_over]

The stranger looks up at her. There are an awful lot of books surrounding him.

"No," he says. "Sorry, I neglected to put it back. This one's better," he motions to another book that is making up the book fort: Golems: An Expert Engineer's Guide, "that one's more theory instead of instruction."

[if_at_first]

"It's not bad theory, is it? My friend recommended it."

[do_over]

"It's not bad, just - not helpful if you would like to do the theories it mentions. It's excellent if you're looking to see if you want to get into golem creation before you actually do."

[if_at_first]

"Oh. I have a project in mind, just - well, are you using the better one right now?"

[do_over]

"Not right now, no, but I'm likely to need it later. But, good news, I am open to the mystical concept of 'sharing.'"

[if_at_first]

She giggles. "All right, I won't walk off with it, then. Thanks." She takes the book and opens up her notebook, which is full of instructional diagrams and other notes.

[do_over]

"You're welcome."

He doesn't look at her notebook, he's already back to reading his own books - there are three of them that are open. He's switching between them and taking notes on each. Verifying things from multiple sources, maybe? Or something else entirely. Either way, he's apparently busy.

[if_at_first]

So Aly doesn't bother him, until -

"You haven't by any chance already read this through, have you? Specifically chapter four?"

[do_over]

"I skimmed it, so - jog my memory, what's in chapter four?"

[if_at_first]

"Golem ability to learn from experience."

[do_over]

"Ah - yes, I remember that chapter. What do you need?"

[if_at_first]

"I need a way for golems of the same make to share information that they acquire like that with each other."

[do_over]

".... Hmmm," he says, and then he searches through the books he's collected.

"If I'm remembering right, this one's got a good chapter on it," says the stranger, holding up a newly discovered book. "Seventeen? Or sixteen."

[if_at_first]

"Ooh. Thanks." She accepts the book. "Do you have a project too or are you just academically inclined?"

[do_over]

"You're welcome. Project, if yours turns out to be about medicine-delivering self-cleaning golems, you're allowed to just crib entirely from my notes if you promise to help."