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|  | Wealth vs. Class
« Thread Started on May 22, 2008, 11:23pm » | ![[Quote]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/quote.gif) |
British Library
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The British Library is located in Central London on the north side of Euston Road. The large brick building is clearly marked in large letters, either engraved into the building or on large signs, on the three sides visible from the street, making it impossible to miss. On the outside of the building are posters detailing current events within the library's community. Steps with a very low slope lead to the main glass doors which enter into the front of the building which serves as a supplement to the scholars and students of the local university as well as acting London's legal deposit library.
Beyond the information and reception desk is the largest of the library's reading rooms, capable of seating nearly a hundred people, if every seat were used. The reading room is open to the ceiling of the three-story tall building surrounded by grand staircases that lead to the upper sections of the book depository. One wall of the large reading room is formed by a side of the four-story smoked glass tower that is home the national library's rarer and more sensitive holdings. Access to this tower is more strictly limited than that to the rest of the library.
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Characters: Charles (Daemon: Valde, female rat), Tessa (Daemon: Phrixus, male magpie), Victoria (Daemon: Callixtus, male peacock), Angela (Daemon: Nrai, male ladybird),
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Charles enters the library with an armload of books. The librarian on duty smiles warmly as she spots Charles, her jackdaw daemon flailing his wings excitedly. Charles deposits the book quietly and gently on the counter, the jackdaw hopping to the binding side of the book-stack and tilting his head to quickly read the titles. "Good eve, Margaret, these are as fresh off the press from the New World as my airship could carry them," he says in a gentle, library-friendly voice whilst smiling warmly.
Tessa has accompanied her husband here, as much to get out of the house as anything. Her expression impassive, she waits patiently as he deposits the books, though the magpie sitting on her shoulder is twitching his head about surveying the room. She cants her head slightly towards the librarian, acknowledging the woman somewhat coolly, before indicating with another move of her head that she's going to go ahead and take a look around while Charles deals with the transaction.
"Where are you Nrai?" Calls Angela in a low tone through several books on the lower level of a shelf. Down on her hands and knees, she crawls across the floor looking for her Daemon, pauses every few feet to look between books, under shelves and even across the floor and still nothing. "Stop playing around." Watching from a mobil cart, the Ladybird keeps quiet; quite amused that Angie can't find him.
Sitting at a table, poring over several tall, thin artbooks open to various pages along the table's polished wooden top, a raven-haired woman seems unperturbed by the rest of the tenants of the library, her brow furrowed as she examines each of the opened pictures closely. A vibrantly-colored peacock lays beside her, resting quietly in the most demure way such a bird can, which isn't very.
The jackdaw's attention focuses on the third book down in the stack, a rather large book at that. "This looks ... splendous," he says, catching Margaret's attention who slides the book out from the stack. The cover reads 'Flora and Fauna of the New World, 3rd edition'
Charles smiles. "I thought Jorge Vendelboe's work might prove popular. He has a full staff now, including a translator, which rather comes in handy ... not that Danish is any challenge for me, of course," he smiles, then has his attention distracted by a teenage lass crawling around on her knees nearby. He manages to snap his attention back on the present and cups an arm lightly around his recent bride, not even half his age. "Have you met my wife?" he asks.
Tessa is stayed from any such wandering off when Charles takes hold of her, and she turns back to the library staff with a faint smile and a slow nod. "Hello. It is nice to meet you," she bids in a formal tone touched heavily by a French accent. "I am Mrs. Lamport." Her daemon, meanwhile, has also spotted the teenager crawling around and is tilting his head this way and that to watch, curious but also perhaps slightly disdainful.
Not finding him near the ground, Angela stands up to begin looking up high having little idea that Nrai is watching her from behind. Shelf after shelf she looks and with no luck she turns around and faces the main room with a hopeless look on her face. Just about having enough, the ladybird beetle laughs; his small voice not even reaching very far; then flying up from the mobil cart and straight toward Angela. "Your a real kick you know that." he tells her before landing on her face. Giving a not to amused look to her Daemon, Angie looks back Nrai to the accented woman who, to her, sounds awkward.
Victoria is too busy perusing the beautiful pictures of modern artwork to pay any attention to the goings-on about her, but Callixtus, not having any pretty pictures before him, entertains himself by glancing about with a rather condescending look upon his crowned head. Seeing the young French mistress, and particularly her well-dressed manner, he slowly pushes himself up from his prone position, fluffing his wings slightly as he murmurs rather haughtily to Victoria: "It appears we're not the only high-class members of society here at the moment." The scholar's eyes turn up at his words, quickly falling on the missus and considering her meticulously.
Valde hops and climbs from the floor onto the counter and up charles' shirt to his shoulder to peer at the young lady and her daemon's antics. She chirrs softly in amusement.
Charles' eyes suddenly pop wide with an idea and he turns to his wife. "Tessa, mi amour, we should seek, purchase and donate some fine art books when next we visit Paris and Rome to the library. Perhaps some pieces for the Museum, as well." The well-to-do trader's attention has not yet fallen upon the well-dressed woman perusing the art book. Wealthy and known he may be, fancy his clothes may have become, the man has no class and, until his recent wedding, no status. His clothes, as expensively tailored as they are, almost seem to not fit.
While Tessa seems to remain oblivious to the sudden attention she's commanding, not so Phrixus, who is now looking between the scholar and the teenager with a jerky sort of motion to his head. For her part, Tessa remains somewhat stiffly by her husband's side, following politely (if not with a great deal of interest) the exchange going on. "Of course, Charles, if you would like. We could discuss it later, perhaps?" she suggests lightly, though her gaze flickers meaningfully towards the library workers, which she then tries to cover with another little smile for them; though it's clear she doesn't feel it's appropriate to be discussing these plans so candidly in public. "You could show me your favourite books for now?"
Angela may not be part of the upper-class system but she sure didn't look like a slum either, but it was often hard to tell when she in a room full of well dressed members. Brushing herself off of floor dust and the like, Angie peers through the shelves ahead of her and to the couple at the front of the library. She didn't know them; she didn't know many people really; and wasn't sure if she's seen them before. Turning from them and glancing to the side, she notices the woman and her daemon sitting at a table. Tilting her head to a side, she wonders what she's looking at. With only one real idea on how to find out. Angela picks up a random book and heads over to her table. Nrai, meanwhile, has taken back to the air and now flies behind her.
Victoria continues to look surreptitiously at the finely-dressed young woman, judging her character before she bothers to approach or make herself known. Callixtus notices the magpie looking back and forth between his human and the other girl in the immediate area, but his demeanor doesn't change - at least until the younger girl approaches. Victoria and Callixtus' heads turn almost simultaneously, glancing over the teenager in a somewhat discriminating manner before the woman turns her gaze back to the French lass.
Valde skrees shrilly from Charles' shoulder, her hackles raised as she glares at Tessa.
Charles flushes in irritation, but -- as he has had to learn to do -- bites his tongue; they are, indeed, in public and he cannot speak his mind as he has become accustomed to doing for more years than his bride's heart has beat. He cups his hand snugly around his daemon, then removes it and replaces it with a commanding finger before Valde's eyes. He forces a smile to bare upon those nearby. "Actually," he finally speaks when he has quelled his irritation, "a fairly simple and mundane book, The New World Trader, continues to hold in my mind. It was written by a Gyptian, Schrejver Hundel, a half century ago. Its nigh-obsolete these days, trade with the New World is far more common now, but ... it did inspire my gamble with the Lothair." For those that have read of Charles Lamport, the Lothair was the name of his small, aging boat he made his first trans-Atlantic run in, the very start of his rise from a nigh-homeless commoner to wealthy CEO. As Victoria seems to focus attention on Tessa, Charles is relieved as she seems to ignore him. His own gaze draws back to the teenager, and he silently gives the slightest shake of his head to Victoria's reaction to the young lady.
Tessa's eyebrows inch up almost imperceptibly as Valde chides her so shrilly, but otherwise, her expression remains inscrutable. Phrixus, however, quickly cranes his neck to look between the rat and her person, his claws tightening their grip slightly on Tessa's shoulder. It's only when Charles reprimands his daemon and carries on conversing that the magpie turns once more to study the others. "There is something to be said for that which has inspired such great acts then, obsolete or non," she speaks after a moment, her tone a little more careful now. "Perhaps you could write of your own experiences some day. For I am certain that you would know more than a lowly Gyptian."
The look givin to Angela by Victoria was one to cause her to stop and think twice about continueing her approach. Grasping the book close to her cheast, she licks her lips and looks a bit frightened. Perhaps this is why she never goes anywhere without her brother. Taking a step back, Nrai gives Angie a puzzled look. Was she going to let some glance keep her from her curiosity? If only he were bigger, he'd get behind the girl and push her forward. Taking another step back, Angela gives once last glance over to the Lamports before turning around and heading back the way she came.
Valde drops down from Charles' shoulder and approaches Angela's table, though the teenager is too far away from Charles for Valde to be able to get too close. The daemon rat rears, trying to at least read the title of the girl's book from the floor, ignoring the well-to-do lady and her Peacock daemon.
Charles again reddens at Tessa's comment, this time unable to contain his anger. "A Gyptian's writing was the seed of my wealth, and yours as well. Do not forget this," he commands his wife. "Shrejver's grandson manages my southern fleet now, and knows more about the world than all of the aristocrats I have met thus far." Charles wants to berate her with more, but manages to pull himself back to a calm state before revealing one of his own great-grandfathers was Gyptian. It is an ancestry Charles knows well he must keep a secret if he is to have any chance of gaining the respect of any aristocrats, but having to cower from racism frustrates him endlessly.
"Of course," Tessa replies simply, quietly, her jaw set a little more firmly. "I spoke without thinking, je m'excuse. I know little of this world of fleets and Gyptians." Her tone is smooth, almost bereft of inflection, as otherwise, she'd probably be unable to keep it from sounding a little sarcastic. Phrixus ruffles his feathers however, twitching his wings partway open before Tessa quells him with a demure hand on his foot where it rests on her shoulder still. "If they have a copy of this book, you could show me, yes? I could read, then I would know more," Tessa continues speaking without pause.
Victoria continues to watch the husband-and-wife duo with intense interest, at least in the young bride. She finally rises from her seat, gracefully walking over with Callixtus just behind and to her side. Waiting for an appropriate pause in the conversation, she addresses the lady in a smooth voice: "Excuse me, miss, for interrupting, but could you tell me where you got your dress? The quality looks quite, ah, extravagant."
Reaching a back bookshelf, Angela turns back to look at those gathered before her. As she does the rat daemon catches her attention and she raises a brow. Looking to her book she blinks then looks back to the rat in question. Nrai, flying around endlessly catches her look of question, circling Angie a few times before landing on the book she carries. "Whats wrong?" he asks of her before turning to look at Valde. "What me to ask what she wants?" Angela looks down to Nrai not saying anything.
Charles glances toward Margaret, who nods. He walks in a beeline to a particular shelf, Valde reluctantly having to tag along because of how far it is from Angela. As he notices his wife distracted by the lady, however, he pauses and takes a slow return walk, nostalgically perusing through the book, though he has its entirety nearly memorized. He pauses his walk entirely before he gets too close to his wife with her fan, discussing a subject he knows his wife to be fond of but he has no taste for, aside from its value in trade: fashion. He is now closer to Angela, though if this was intentional he gave no indication. Charles hovers on page 43, re-reading the fourth paragraph: "To know the sea is only the beginning. You must know all of the seas, you must know all of the shores. You must know the lands, the peoples, buy what is abundant and learn what is rare. Those who struggle need the means to relax, and those who relax need the fruits of others' labor."
Valde, meanwhile, scurries over to Angela and to her daemon. "Forget 'em," she says in the faintest of whispers to Nrai. "Don't let them get to you."
Tessa turns with some subdued surprise as she suddenly finds herself addressed by Victoria. Phrixus, of course, having given up his watch in all the upset, so that neither of them had even noticed her approach. "Oh! Merci," she says, glancing down at her dress with a proud sort of smile, clearly thinking the garment is quite something herself. As she lifts her head again, her gaze flickers over to check that Charles is otherwise amused and not about to berate her for frivolity or vanity or something, before returning to the other woman. "It is from a small boutique in Paris, Le Bon Manse. They are particularly renowned for their embroidery."
"Oh, how very nice!" Victoria fawns, lifting a hand to her chest in a rather dramatic fashion. "I really should take a trip to Paris sometime if all of the garments there are this lovely," she further croons. Callixtus examines the plainer bird on the woman's shoulder, flashing his luxurious tail slightly as though to show off his own natural beauty - though it's less of a malicious gesture than it is merely a flaunting one, perhaps to show the younger female that this pair are at least on equal footing with the apparently well-off couple. "My name's Victoria Youngblood. I don't believe I've seen you around the city before...are you on vacation from France?" she asks, inferring from the lady's accent.
Nrai peers over to Valde once more as it appears she's managed to scurry closer, not that her human has semi wondered over himself. "Its not me.. its her." He'd point up if he was really capable. Looking over to the rat who speaks first, Angela peers up and over to whom Valde was refering to then back down as her own daemon speaks. "I'm sorry." She tells him. "I usually have Byron with me and..." Stoping Angie right in the middle Nrai says, "Yes, I know that." Half smiling to her daemon, Angie kneels down to the rat for no particular reason, laying down her book infront of her. 'Waterflowers' is what it read; the first time she's actually looked at it.
Valde continues her quiet, whispered conversation as Charles continues reading passages from the book, not advancing nearer his wife or Victoria; this is most certainly her game, one he knows must be played if he is to have any real standing to make real changes. "Charles was not much older than you when he bought that boat. He didn't, and ... tell no one, but ... still doesn't care for fancy clothes. In fact, he hates them. He remembers where he was. He was spat on, shut out. The only ones who helped him were those who shared his misery," Valde says to the girl. "Somewhere on these shelves is a lost wisdom," she says. "You need no noble blood to find it, to read it, and to prosper by it. In fact, those of noblility turn their nose up at wisdom worth more than gold when it comes from a source they condescend. You should find it, where its hidden here in this library."
"Oh, you should absolutely," Tessa agrees, much more animated now than was she was in the previous conversation with Charles. "Paris, it is - it is where fashion is born. The shopping of London, it does not compare." Though she may be somewhat biased in that assessment. Phrixus watches the preening, fluttering his wings a few times in response before settling himself again, cocking his head slightly as if to consider that point, if not concede it entirely yet. "No, I am recently moved here," she explains, lifting her chin just a little. "After marrying Monsieur Charles Lamport." She cuts her gaze briefly towards the man in question, before returning to the other woman. "I am Mrs. Contessa de la Mater Lamport. It is nice to meet you. I have yet to meet many people here." While it could easily betray the loneliness the expatriate must feel, for Tessa, it's just a simple statement of fact.
"I'll definitely have to keep that in mind for my next vacation," Victoria confirms eagerly, her pale green eyes sparkling cheerfully. Callixtus doesn't immediately respond to the other bird, his attentions drawn to the suddenly-silent husband and his whispering rat - though he can't hear what is being said, he can feel the other daemon's strong emotions nonetheless, and the peacock stares intently at the rodent, as though he were a hawk examining his next meal instead of the less carnivorous avian he is. "Congratulations," Victoria answers in response to Contessa's answer, though she sounds slightly distracted as Callixtus' intense focus draws her own attentions away slightly for a brief moment. "We simply /must/ meet for coffee sometime. I live in room 202 of the Goldleaf Estates - feel free to stop by anytime."
Angela doesn't really have any idea of what Valde is talking about but nods solmly to her words, before looking over to Charles and wondering if he ever really was that down sized, like her. He certainly didn't look like it. Looking back to the rat, though not with out catching the Peacock first, she remains slight only nodding. AS Valde brings up old wisdom hidden here in the library, Angela looks up once more but to the shelves this time. Angie was never one to really go rumaging through books, but she might just give it a try this time; find out if whats been said it really true.
Valde is much calmer and more pleasant with the girl than she was with Charles' own wife. "Did you know Charles once hosted a lavish party for aristocrats, and when they showed up late, he dismissed them away and sat Gyptians at his fancy dinner table, in their place? You should have seen how angry those nobles!" The rat has to hold her own muzzle shut with her paw to stifle her giggles at the memory. "It was so funny!" It is then the rat notices the snobbish peacock eyeing her, and she returns the peacock's attempt to look menacing with a bearing of her own well-kept teeth.
Charles returns Victoria's glance, and ever so slowly continues his steps in their direction. He glances between her and Valde, his expression changing from being in a relaxed state of nostalgia over the treasure trove of wisdom he found in the Gyptian-scribed book to a stern look of disdain. Finally, as Charles wanders too far from Angela and Nrai, Valde is forced to turn away, but before she does, she stands on her hind legs and gives a very good courtesy to Angela and Nrai before scurrying back to Charles.
"Excellent. I can give you the names of some places before you go. There are so many boutiques, I am sure it could be difficult to know where to start," Tessa notes with a generous smile, though from the way she phrases it, clearly /she/ didn't have a hard time knowing where to start. Phrixus follows the other bird's gaze towards the rat, tilting his head this way and that as he watches Valde's reaction. Tessa remains seemingly oblivious, too wrapped up in this talk of high fashion and making new acquaintances. "Merci," she replies demurely to the congratulations, before her eyebrows lift in some surprise. "But we are in the Goldleaf Estates also!" she exclaims with a quiet chuckle. "It is fate then, perhaps. We will have coffee, yes. You can tell me the places to go in London, and I will tell you of Paris." Noticing Charles's return, Phrixus nips lightly at his person's ear, and some of the animation slips from her features, though Tessa pretends to remain oblivious to his approach for a few moments longer.
Callixtus finally turns his attentions away from the rat when the older man begins to walk towards them, practically ignoring the human counterpart outright. "Why, thank you," Victoria replies with a little smile, though with the way Callixtus flutters his feathers seems to express a little discomfort at being thought so incompetent in the manner of shopping for fine clothing. But she's foreign, so it's quickly shaken off. "Oh, you are? How wonderful!" the upper-class scholar replies, clasping her hands together below her neck in delight. "I do look forward to our next meeting," she finishes, just as Charles steps up next to them. "I believe I must take my leave now, however - I have some university things to do, you see, and unfortunately work must sometimes go before pleasure. I'll see you around, Contessa." She offers a polite little bow of her head before stepping away to take her leave, Callixtus trailing his vibrant veil of tail feathers along behind her.
Angela was once again listening to the rat like she were telling a story; shaking her head a few times when it appears that a question was being asked. When it came to Valde's departure as Charles moved away, Angie looks sad, but what could she do. Looking down to Nrai she puts a smile back on her face; picking up her book and precceding to a stand. Glancing up at the time, far later than she expected it to be, she returned the book she randomly picked up and waited for Victoria to leave before even trying to make her own.
Charles slips the checkout card from the back of the book and sets it on the checkout counter for Margaret to stamp. He fills out and signs a line in the checkout ledger before returning attention to his wife as Victoria departs. "In Paris, then, shall we soon be."
Valde sneers at the peacock at her departure. She scurries up onto Charles' shoulder again, whispering in his ear, "We should invite them over, have a fine dinner of roasted peacock!"
"I will look forward to it," Tessa replies as to seeing Victoria around, watching the woman and her peacock daemon depart for a moment. Then arranging her features carefully, she turns to look at Charles with an expression of bland demureness. "You have found the book?" she inquires, as if only just noticing this fact. "Tres bien." Her gaze stays on Charles, but Phrixus eyes the rat with some suspicion at the whispering. "Perhaps we should be going? I am growing tired."
Once Victoria and her Daemon have left, Angela gathers her things and heads towards the door. Before she leaves the library, however, she looks back and gives a polite wave to Valde; grateful for her kind words. Should the others happen to see it as well oh well. Once done, she departs.
Charles nods in answer to his wife's first question, handing her the book. It is worn, and even when new had no fancy binding; he doubts she'd find any real value in it. "As you wish, my dear," he concedes to her second request. He bids good tidings to Margaret with a polite smile as she begins the process of inventorying the books Charles donated.
Valde descends from Charles, scurrying behind Tessa so she does not see as the rat warmly waves back, hoping the girl will find her own secret hidden away in some dusty, forgotten book that sets her on the path to whatever she dreams of.
Tessa takes the book, not even giving it as much as a cursory glance before tucking it up under her arm to carry home. "Thank you," she replies, either for the book or for his agreement that they can go now, for she turns to head for the door, not really bothering with bidding farewell to the library staff. Fortunately, neither she nor Phrixus seem to notice the camaraderie between Valde and Nrai, so Charles is spared any headaches about that.
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Characters:
Ceroll Floresco (daemon: Imbri, Moscovy duck) - Gardener, Regent's Park
Charles Lamport (daemon: Valde, brown rat) - CEO, Lamport Industries |
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