[Visual / Location]

[imperial_long]

Mayland Long is waiting for Azkadellia to appear (she is not late for their appointment of noon; he is early), but in the meantime he sends out another message to Taxon.

The visual backdrop behind Long is a far cry from the library, today; instead a restaurant, white tables and Chinese decorations.

"Good afternoon, Taxon," he says politely as ever.

"There was a young man who had expressed an interest in Latin, but he no longer seems to be in the city, alas." Long is for the most part inured to the casual coming and going of those he barely knows.

"If others are interested in language lessons, please don't hesitate to ask; miss Azkadellia and I are embarking on our first lesson of Latin today.

"Mr. Spike, did you have a preference for when we might conduct our sessions?"


[OOC: For Azkadellia, but open to any!]

Comments

[imperial_long]

"Most have not, no," Long said with a little smile.

"It is both very rare in my world now, and very hidden. They think it is children's stories. Fairy tales."

[azoftheoz]

Shaking her head, disappointment written on her face, Azkadellia sighed.

“I know it isn’t this way for most, but for even things like this, I’m glad to be here. Glad to have a chance to learn things that my world doesn’t acknowledge, not as they should. I know many wish for their homes, but I find myself making a home here and that knowledge of being able to share from so many worlds is only part of the reason.”

[imperial_long]

Long steepled his fingers before his face and leaned back in his chair.

"Knowledge is always to be pursued. I do not think it is wrong to delight in the opportunity to acquire such."

[azoftheoz]

Blushing at that, she nodded. "How I feel. I'm glad you weren't offended by my words. I know many have no desire to be here and I wouldn't want it to seem like I was glad they were trapped," she admitted.

"I find Otherside sciences interesting me, as well as the languages," she said, nodding at the book. "The languages seem to have a much more clear starting point than science. At least to me."

[imperial_long]

Long shrugged one shoulder. As far as the spectrum of opinions on being stuck in Taxon went, he was squarely in the middle of more-or-less indifference. Some desperately wished they could go home; others knew that death or worse awaited them there. Long's own feelings on being abducted from 'home' extended primarily to a vague nostalgia for San Francisco restaurants.

He slid his fingers together under his chin and smiled diffidently. "The sciences are more universal and broader, and thus, a more daunting area of study. But worthwhile. But what is science in the OZ? Surely it must exist to some extent."

[azoftheoz]

"Of what I would think would be the most general ways. We have lighting and plumbing. We have medical science, especially outside of the palace. There magic has a bit more control than science does. Compared to things I've seen here, I suspect many from here would find it primitive."

She went quiet, looking away. "Especially some of the practice," she said, thinking of Glitch.

[imperial_long]

"But the lighting and the plumbing are accomplished via machines and gravity and pressure and electricity? Or also with some element of magic?"

He guessed at the meaning of the look away, the low voice.

"I assure you barbarism of some stripe or another happens in all worlds."

[azoftheoz]

"I..." She shook her head. "The truth is, I never knew. When I was in my own mind and body, I was but a child. As an adult, and possessed, it was certainly nothing she was concerned about."

She frowned, utterly bothered that she had never thought about it or sought out such answers.

"That I don't doubt. I've even seen it here, though not by us but them."

[imperial_long]

"Ah, just the way of how things were, then." Long shrugged one slim shoulder.

He reached out a hand, fiddled slightly with one of the pieces of silverware.

"I believe that most here try and maintain a certain baseline of civility. It profits nobody, no matter how powerful, to antagonize their fellow prisoners unduly."

[azoftheoz]

“I’m sure there’s more to it than that, and I apologize for not knowing the whole of it. Now I will have to be certain to speak with Glitch about it, see if he or Cain recall.” In fact she slid the book towards herself, turning to a fresh page and making an actual note of that to be certain she did it later.

“Where would it get them? They’re still here, stuck with the rest of us until they decide to throw us back to our own homes once more.” Like had happened to so many even in her short time in Taxon.

[imperial_long]

"No matter," Long said with a mild smile. "It is only curiosity that bids me ask. There is no urgency.

"Just so," he said with a nod. "And Taxon... well, in Taxon, there may always be someone more powerful than one's self. A great equalizer, Taxon."

[azoftheoz]

"That is what drives me most days," she admitted with a shy smile. "Has since I was but a girl, though in some ways I guess I still am." It made her wonder as she matured into the body she now found herself in if she would lose that curiosity.

"More powerful, certainly, but it still gets a person no where. Not that anyone has found as of yet." That was something it seemed so many checked into when they first arrived, after all.

[imperial_long]

"That is true," Long said with a sigh. Even when he'd been in his proper form, the city's barricades had been utterly impassable. Dispiriting, to say the least.

Long shook himself from these thoughts. "We are tangenting," he said with a mild smile. "Shall we return to Latin, miss Azkadellia?"

[azoftheoz]

She blushed, ducking her head as she realized just how far off tangent they had gotten. “You are kind to indulge me with those curiosities,” she admitted, drawing her notebook close to her. “Please, let us get back to Latin,” she said, flashing him a bright smile.

[imperial_long]

Long laughed softly, waving a hand in dismissal.

"I am nothing of the sort; it is only that I am fond of curiosities myself. Too fond. But now then.... let us discuss the nominative case-- and I see our main course has arrived!"

The food and the language contrived to pass their evening quite pleasantly.