Book of Memories

[Guest]

Among the things hidden in the library - perhaps one of the most magical is the Book of Memories.

Kallistrates had told Tahi that when she first came here all those years ago. She approached the book and skimmed through the pages. At first they appeared blank. But that wasn't how this book worked. This book was imbued with the magic of the Athenaeum itself - it was a part of the Athenaeum itself.

The Book of Memories is the history of the Athenaeum embodied. Any moment from the Athenaeum's past that you wish to see will appear if you concentrate hard enough. Kallistrates placed his hand on the page. Out of seemingly nowhere words began appearing on the page. 'Enrolled as a champion of Hestia - Kallistrates. Race: Nephelae. Age: 15.' A picture appeared, just like the words. It was Kal, only the same age as she was now - much younger than Tahi had ever known him. She smiled. "You were cute brother! What happened?" He tapped her lightly on the head in mock affront, and removed his hand from the book. The lines on the page vanished, leaving it blank again - waiting for the next user. "Come on Tahi," Kal called. "I need to show you around some more." They left the library.

Placing her hand lightly on a page - she concentrated. I want to see more of my brother's antics. She thought, and the book began sketching.

Tahi spent the rest of the day taking notes - ammunition for dealing with her brother.

((Okay folks - the idea here is that some of the older characters - mentors, and everyone who's not a first year has a history in here somewhere - and if you want to write some more Athenaeum related backstory here's the place. Have fun! But remember be careful with the book. Otherwise the librarian may eat you alive ))

[Guest]

Andrasteia wandered into the library, avoiding the librarian. The woman was scary. The lampad wanted to avoid the gorgon as much as possible. She didn't like books as much as she liked the growing things, but maybe she could check something out on plants. They were really beginning to fascinate her more than most other things.
She noticed Tahi and her curious nature lead her over towards the other girl, wondering what she was looking at. The book looked old, and was more fascinating than any other Andras had rifled through.
"Hello," she said, glancing at the apparently blank pages. "What are you reading?" Seeing the pages so blank confused and intrigued her even more, and she started to get excited. Such a mysterious book!

[Guest]

Tahi was immersed in the book of Memories. She had finished taking notes on Kal, and was now looking at the histories of her other friends at the Athenaeum. Mnem looked cute when she was fifteen - Tahi mused. Tahi tried to imagine the high priestess as an awkward fifteen year old, getting in and out of trouble like the rest of them. It was harder to imagine than she thought.

A voice cut into her imaginations, and Tahi quickly moved her hand from the page of the book, making the writing disappear quickly. She looked up to see an unfamiliar girl - no, not just a girl, but a Lampad, if she didn't miss her guess, peering over her.

Tahi gave the girl a warm smile. "Hello." She replied. "You must be a first year, because I don't believe we've met. I'm Tahirah, but my friends call me Tahi. And this" she said, motioning to the giant book in front of her, "is the Book of Memories."

[Guest]

Andrasteia found herself liking the other girl already, though they had only exchanged a few words. This made it easier and more fun to talk to her. "You're right, I'm a first year. My name's Andrasteia."

Again she looked at the book, which seemed to grow more intriguing by the minute. Book of Memories? Sounded ominous. "I know that this is a slightly stupid sounding and stating-the-obvious thing to say, but the pages are blank. Is there a special way to read it?"

She peered at the book, as if that might make it reveal some secrets. As expected though, she didn't see anything particularly explanitory about it.

[Guest]

Tahi smiled, remembering herself as a fifteen year old. She was the same way.

She quoted what her brother had told her so many years ago. "Among the things hidden in the library - perhaps one of the most magical is the Book of Memories. It is the history of the Athenaeum embodied. Any moment from the Athenaeum's past that you wish to see will appear if you concentrate hard enough." She placed a finger on the worn page of the book. Instantly ink spread over the page, depicting a battle scene. Her brother - a nineteen year old version of him, was surrounded with wind. Suspended in the air, trapped in a vortex of slicing winds, was another warrior.

"This is from when my brother fought in the tournament when he was here. He's the wind magic teacher by the way."

Her gaze saddened a little. This was the match where Apollo's warrior had revealed to Kal that Tahi was in trouble. He had torn the warrior to shreds for trying to manipulate him. Then he had forfeited his match in the finals to go and save her. She wondered how much her brother had sacrificed for her. But she shouldn't look sad in front of a first year. What would the girl think? She fixed her grin in place as she turned back to Andrasteia.

"Would you like to try?" she asked.

[Guest]

Andrasteia was studying the book curiously, wondering how it worked. "Sure," she said, thoughs she had no idea what she'd want the book to show her. Would she ask for background on one of her friends? Or maybe she could find out more about her mentors.

"So..." she said, as if deep in thought. "You just touch it..." She reached out a hand, placing it on the edge of the page. The old paper felt good beneath her fingers, soft and worn down by the years. "...and it shows you what you want to know."

Andras watched as the ink changed, sketching out what appeared to be a meeting. She hadn't been thinking of anything in particular that she wanted to know, so this must just be how the Athenaeum came to be about in the first place. She smiled slightly, fascinated by the book.

[Guest]

"Yup." Tahi replied. "That's how it works. It's a useful tool if you want to know about the people of the Athenaeum, your fellow warriors, the mentors, or even some of the Gods."

She looked at the picture forming on the book's surface.

"What did you ask to see?" she asked.

[Guest]

She shrugged. "Nothing in particular, really. So I guess it's just going back to the beginning, with how the Athenaeum came to be." Andras found herself instantly captivated, studying the picture and recognizing a few of the gods.

She turned the page, revealing a large structure in the process of being built. It looked a little like the building they were in already...she smiled. "That's really cool."

[Guest]

"And just what are you two up to?..."

Up until this point, Sylipha kept her mouth shut, but this was just too good of an opportunity for her. If they were to do something that might damage the Book of Memories, or if they were to uncover a secret that might disgrace a mentor, oh, the trouble they'd get in!

The devious gorgon made her way to the two warriors, and peered at the Book of Memories, hoping for some disastrous secret to be revealed, but was disappointed to find the Book was only focused on the Athenaeum's beginnings.

"Pfft. Why waste your time with something like that? If you willed it, you can find out anything about anyone in the entire Athenaeum. Why not try digging for some juicy secrets?..." she said in a malign voice.

[Guest]

Andrasteia had only been to the library once or twice, but the librarian already scared her. "Um...I don't particularly want to dig up juicy secrets," she said, deciding that the truth was the best-and easiest-way out. "I mean, why spy on people's lives when you could just ask them yourself?"

It was strange that the gorgon seemed to be actually asking them to look at people's history here, and she was not only confused but a little nervous. So she kept quiet after that, trying not to feel like a young child who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Was there anything wrong with looking in the Book of Memories? She hoped not.

[Guest]

"That method is only good for things they want to tell you," she said with a bored tone, "What about the things they don't want to tell, hm?"

Sylipha placed her hand on the page, and a vivid scene appeared.

It looked like a party, hosted by the god Dionysus. Judging by the appearance of the room, the party took place more than a few years ago, ten at the least. There were several different species present, though the majority of the party-goers were either satyrs or nymphs. Dionysus was standing with a particularly lovely nymph, and a familiar satyr was next to him...

Sylipha lifted her hand off the page, perplexed.

"Hm... That's not what I expected at all..."

[Guest]

"Well, if they don't want to tell you, then why do you want to know? They should have at least a little privacy." Andrasteia wasn't sure about the book anymore. But then, that was how everything seemed to work.

"What did you expect then?" she asked, glancing at the page curiously. She wasn't sure that she should be looking at it, but she was curious. Andras glanced away then, hoping that Tahi would say something so that she wouldn't have to talk to Sylipha. The gorgon was seriously creeping her out.

[Guest]

Tahi had jumped a little when the librarian had entered. She had only spoken to her a few times before this point - though she knew that Kal avoided her like the plague. She had a grudge against men, at least that's what the rumors said.

And while she knew that she wasn't strictly supposed to be looking up secrets, there was noting wrong with investigating her brother, now was there? Family privilege. Besides the book had magic of its own. It would keep her from finding what it didn't want to show her.

"Well, if they don't want to tell you, then why do you want to know? They should have at least a little privacy." Andrasteia had asked.

Tahi turned to her. "Information is powerful stuff, Andrasteia. If you know enough about a person, you can find their weaknesses, flaws. Find where to strike. We are competing against each other, after all. It may not be so real to a first year like you - but to a fifth year like me. It's everything, right madame Librarian?"

[Guest]

"You are correct, Miss Daria. Oh, and how's that... brother... of yours? " A sneer accompanied the question, indicating her feelings towards the male mentor.

Sylipha gazed at Andrasteia through her sunglasses, which were the only thing that prevented either of the two girls from being turned into stone, and a sinister smile took the place of the sneer. Anyone who said a sneer was worse than a smile has obviously never met the Athenaeum librarian.

"To be honest, I didn't know what to expect, but that was certainly not on my list of possible situations that might have lead to this specific type of addiction... though, now that I think about it, it does make sense, in a way..."

((roleplaying as the evil librarian is actually kind of fun
also, LOL WOOPS~ posted as morph the first time .3. ))

[Guest]

Andrasteia frowned slightly. "I just don't think that using people's secrets against them is very moral."

She wasn't sure what Sylipha was talking about when she mentioned Tahi's brother, but she found herself extremely put off by it. The lampad found herself disliking their librarian more and more the more time she spent in her presence, and wished she would leave.

[ xD You're doing a good job of it, I've got this totally nasal voice for her in my head that fits her last comments perfectly. ]

[Guest]

"Honey, this is a competition. More likely than not you're either going to have do something against your morals, or someone else is going to do it for you and eliminate you. Which would you rather have happen?"

She peered at the girl through the glasses again, with such a devious stare that the young girl squirmed in her spot. The snakes upon her head began to writhe in the delight of causing uneasiness in the warrior.

((You two are lucky you're girls, it'd be sooo much worse if you were guys XD))

[Guest]

"Maybe I can find a way around it," she said stubbornly. Andras didn't like the light that the gorgon was shedding on the contest, and set her jaw in determination to prove the sinister librarian wrong. A part of her knew that this probably wouldn't work, but she could at least try.

Andrasteia tried to keep her eyes on the tinted glasses that the Sylipha wore, but even through the shades it was hard to meet her stony gaze, and she found herself staring at a spot about a foot above the gorgon's head. This was much more comfortable to look at, and she glared resolutely, though what she really wanted to do was just run out into the garden right now.

[ XD Poor us. I have a feeling Andras is going to avoid the library as much as possible after this. >> ]

[Guest]

Tahi huffed. Stupid Gorgon trying to aggrivate people. Tahi knew that she knew that nobody - NOBODY called Tahi Daria. Only her father. Well... her 'father' in the sense that she had thought he was her father for seven years.

"Kal is doing fine." Tahi replied icily, still upset that the librarian had used her first name. There wasn't much Tahi could do about it, except maybe complain to Mnem - who was like a surrogate Aunt to her. "Though I have no idea why he hasn't come and visited you himself. Did you and he have a history?" Tahi asked, determined not to be intimidated by the rustling snakes.

Meanwhile, Tahi was a little disconcerted by what Andrasteia had said. She herself was no stranger to using information and secrets as her main weapon. That was the primary manifestation of her gift. And Tahi liked it that way. Better she use knowledge to manipulate people without their knowing about it than forcing them to do something at swordpoint. But then again, the lampad was a first year. She had a lot of growing up to do before it was her turn in the tournament. She'd have to face a choice eventually.

[Guest]

"Eh.... you could say that..." She glanced at the scene on the pages of the book, and then back at the two warriors.

"If you will excuse me, I have books to shelve. Oh, and good luck with finding a way around that, lampad. You're going to need it," she said with a small laugh.

With that said, she went to actually do her job and shelve books and scrolls, though she stayed within earshot of the two warriors so she could make sure they tried nothing funny.

((I actually didn't know about the no-first-name thing, but it works for Sylipha so it's all good xD
For future reference and so I don't do the same thing with Morph, how do I address Daria? ))

[Guest]

Andrasteia had to sigh with relief when the gorgon had left. "I hope she doesn't act like that every time I come here," she said, glancing back at the corner Sylipha had turned to shelve her books, as if she might reappear.

Then Andras shook her head, as if to put the testy librarian out of mind as well as sight. Best not to think about her when she had been planning to come back and read some of the books on plants and such.

[Guest]

Tahi relaxed a little, seeing that the gorgon had left. Still, knowing Sylipha - it wouldn't be surprising if she was still lurking somewhere - hoping to catch them in misbehaving. Tahi sighed. So the misbehaving would have to wait for a little bit...

"Well - you're welcome to hope, but in all the years I've been a warrior here - and the assorted visits my brother and I made before I came here, I've never seen her behave differently." Tahi paused for a minute. "Well, okay - that's not true - she gets worse around boys." Tahi's brother Kallistrates avoided the library unless he absolutely had to, and when he did, used his magic to avoid the gorgon as best he could.

"I don't know why that is," Tahi reflected - almost to herself. That would be something she could use the Book of Memories for. But not while she knew the gorgon was still around. The last thing she wanted to get caught by Sylipha doing was looking up Sylipha's own past.

"Anyway - we should probably put the Book away for now. Sylipha has a habit of lurking when she thinks there's mischief to be done." Tahi gave Andrasteia a wry grin. "And around me, there's always mischief to be done."

"Were you going anywhere special?" Tahi asked. "The library's pretty big, and Sylipha's hard to ask for help finding things. If you need directions its better to ask an upperclassman."

(( Tahi's got two names - one is her official one given to her by her dad - and the other is the one her mother insisted on. Since she has major daddy issues, she only likes to answer to her second name Tahirah - which is shortened to Tahi by friends. Mnem calls her Tahirah - so I think morph would too ^^))

[Guest]

Andrasteia couldn't help but smile at Tahi's comment about mischief. "I was actually thinking about looking at some books on plants. I like growing things."

She had intended to wander around until finding something, but upon entering the library her intentions had wavered. This offer for help reminded her of this, and she wondered how many books on flowers she could find. Probably a lot more than she was expecting.

[Guest]

Tahi considered for a second. "Botany... If I recall correctly - and I usually do - that's on the second floor, in the north corner. C'mon - I'll show you." Tahi rose gracefully, carefully placing the book of memories back on the pedestal where it lived.

She then turned, heading towards the stairway. "If you're interested in plants, you should talk to Auntie Mnem - I mean.. Lady Mnemosyne, the high priestess. She's a dryad, and is really good with growing things. I'm sure she'd help you out in the gardens. Though botany is an unusual hobby for a lampad. How'd you get into it?" Tahi asked, curious.

She'd traveled the world with her brother, but it always seemed like the most interesting people gathered at the Athenaeum.

[Guest]

Andrasteia shrugged, glancing around as she followed Tahi to get a better idea of her bearings. Hopefully she'd soon be more familiar with the Athenaeum, because though it was always enjoyable to meet people and get familiar with her upperclassmen, it was embarrassing to have to ask everyone where to go.

"I don't know, but I guess it's because there aren't as many plants in the underworld as there are up here, and they're just fascinating." Andras smiled, thinking of her time spent in the garden. There was just something about living things... "And they're so beautiful too, you can't help but love them."

[Guest]

Tahi nodded. They had reached the top of the stairs, and walked through the long winding corridors that held rows on rows of books. She pointed. "There they are." Inclining her head slightly, a breeze came in from seemingly nowhere, bringing Tahi news of other places, far far away from here.

She smiled at the younger girl warmly. "Well, it seems the winds are calling me to other places today," she said, mischief sparkling in her eyes. They had been white for a moment, but had turned back to the human green as she spoke. "It was nice meeting you, Andrasteia. I'll see you around, I'm sure." And with that she left, sweeping down the stairs and out into the open.

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