I Want To Read A Book

[thoth=http://i.imgur.com/gb3zdDk.png]Reading was the sort of thing people took for granted. In a modern society like Manta Carlos, it was just assumed that if you weren't some feral who had been living out of a dumpster as a wolf for the early years of your life, you'd be able to read. Spells took care of any language compatibilities, and it was simply a foregone conclusion.

Basic literacy in Cambodia was not good. Only three of every four people could read, and it had been far worse in Makara's day, and worst of all for his generation. He had never learned to read, because he'd been learning life skills - how to steal. How not to starve to death. How to shoot a gun. Reading had always been a distant second.

He was even a teacher of Khmer, and yet he couldn't read Khmer, let alone write it. The problem had simply never come up - no one had ever signed up for his extremely obscure language class.

A knock on the door was always a pleasant distraction, and Makara stood, walking over to open it. He wasn't all that surprised to find Nia, and he gave her a small, pleasant smile.

"Good afternoon, Nia."
[/thoth] @beloved </div></div>

[thoth=http://i.imgur.com/gb3zdDk.png]'Didn't scare people' was not a way Makara would have described himself. At night he could be downright terrifying, especially for those who were newer to the island, and less likely to think of ghosts and things that went bump in the night as facts of life. People who had lived their whole lives on the island tended to be less alarmed. It wasn't as if people told spooky ghost stories to scare each other as much - not when one of the people they were telling the scary story to might very well be a ghost.

He was always happy when his dorm children came to him. It meant he was doing a decent job. It meant they were comfortable enough to ask for help or advice or who knew what, without just bottling it up. That was good. That was what he was there for.

"Of course." He gestured to the seat in his office if she wanted to take it, giving her the option of coming in if it was something more involved, or staying by the door if it was a short thing. "Whatever you want to ask, you're welcome to."
[/thoth] @"beloved" </div></div>

[thoth=http://i.imgur.com/gb3zdDk.png]A favor? He couldn't begin to guess what she would ask, and he decided to just listen rather than trying to guess. No one could ever accuse Makara of being too quick to speak - more likely they'd complain he took too long to speak, thinking things through before committing to saying anything.

What he got was unexpected. The library? He'd never stepped foot in it, although he'd had it pointed out to him on his initial tour. He resisted the urge to gulp, giving her a small nod. Of course he'd go. He couldn't not go, not when she'd so clearly asked him to go because she was nervous. Why else would she ask? She was asking him only because she was nervous, and he wasn't going to let her down just because he had some hang ups over books.

"Of course." He said, and then waited for her to exit the room before locking his office behind him. "I'll take you there. Is there anything in particular you were looking for? We might have to ask the librarian - I am not very familiar with the library." And he couldn't be counted on to read the book titles either.
[/thoth] @beloved </div></div>

[thoth=http://i.imgur.com/gb3zdDk.png]Why did Nia have to have all sorts of questions that he couldn't answer? He understood the library in only a very general sense, and almost every question she asked was going to go over his head. He was just going to have to hope he'd be able to hide it, and... well, if he couldn't he would just have to cross that river when he came to it.

Leaving his office behind he headed down the hall with Nia in tow, down the stairs and across the campus towards the library, giving Nia a quick glance. "I think the librarians do classes on how to best use the library, but I'm not sure if they'll be available for today." Hopefully they were. If they were, they could both just take a class even if he claimed he was only staying there so Nia had some support. "It's supposed to be very nice. There are lots of books." Which might as well have been a lot of rocks for all the good it would do him. The library itself was one of the larger buildings Makara had seen, and he pulled open the front door, ushering her in. "Do you want to ask a librarian and see what they can suggest?"
[/thoth] @Beloved </div></div>

[thoth=http://i.imgur.com/gb3zdDk.png]The library, Makara suspected, held more books than he'd ever seen in his entire life up until that point. He'd never actually stepped into the library. He'd just sort of had it pointed out to him on teh way by, which was not nearly the same thing.

He stared up at the books for a few moments before letting his eyes wander down to Nia. Nia probably knew more about what they were doing then he did at that moment.

"An.. Atlas?" Alright, he at least knew what that was - a map book, basically - but he had absolutely no idea where in the library they'd be kept. They really could be anywhere, and he couldn't exactly just go wandering around until he stumbled onto one, because he might walk right past an 'Atlas' section and not realize it.

"Why don't we ask the librarian to suggest one?" He said quietly, scanning the library's ground floor until he located a desk with a worker at it, giving Nia a gentle nudge towards it. When he said 'we', he really meant 'her', of course.
[/thoth] @"beloved", @"hyperhurricane" </div></div>