PSL for Renart

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Comments

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I like the heat, the hotter the better.

[Better than the cold, anyway.]

Tell me about it, when did you go there? What’s Uluru?

[aigue]

It's also called Ayer's Rock. It's an enormous piece of sandstone, big as a mountain. [She gestures with her hands.] There are lots of little springs and caves in it, even paintings from prehistoric times. The view from the top of it is beautiful.

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Wow, that does sound amazing. It’s so weird to think of people living so long ago and leaving things that we can still see today. I love that kind of stuff, used to get all those weird old encyclopaedias from the library when I was a kid to read about it.

[His steps falter abruptly as his brain catches up with his mouth, a surprised smile spreading across his face.]

I didn’t remember that before now. The public library, all sticky seats and old men dozing over the papers. Loads of people used to go there during the winter for warmth, when we couldn’t afford it back home.

[aigue]

[She slows her step to glance back at him.]

Really?

[Oh, it's selfish, but she's kind of thrilled she helped him remember something.]

You must have gone with Steve, right? Or your sisters?

[Why not try to jog more of his memories?]

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[His smile is properly open for once, no hint of wariness or concern, in the thrill of discovering another memory that had been lost to him for so long.]

Pretty sure I went with Steve most of the time. He had asthma and he got sick easy, so he didn't do too good in the cold, and so the library was a good place to go.

[aigue]

That makes sense.

[Aw, she's happy for him.]

Do you think you did much reading?

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Yeah. I don't really remember that much, but I'm sure we must've done. It was free entertainment, wasn't it? Can't knock that.

[He's got a lighter step even as they move into the first powdery steps of snow at the base of the mountain. Getting that memory back has put him in a good mood.]

Bet you've been in hundreds of libraries over the years, huh?

[aigue]

[This is turning out to be a nice trip, who knew? Certainly a good distraction from Monty being gone.]

Thousands. Even some in New York. We Fairy Tales even had a special one in London.

[Now that's something she hasn't thought about in a while.]

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Oh, yeah? Is that the one where all your Stories were kept?

[He vaguely remembers her telling him something about that before, but he hadn't imagined that place being in London. Why London, of all places?]

[aigue]

That's right. We realized our Stories were too fragile to be left out in the open, so the Library was created to house them. A few Fairy Tales run it.

[advanced]

But why build it in London?

[Surely there are older or more mystical places in the world.]

[aigue]

I don't know, the idiots who decided they were in charge made that decision.

[She shrugs, not caring too much.]

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I'm guessing it has to be protected so that random members of the public can't just wander in off the street and mess with things?

[Not just a regular library.]

[aigue]

Probably. There are a couple of Fairy Tales who manage it, and humans never go into it.

[It's a very special library.]

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Maybe... maybe if we ever get out of here, you could show it to me?

[Maybe he could be the first human to go inside? Or at least see it from the outside.]

[aigue]

[He gets a surprised look in response.]

You'd want to see my home?

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Sure.

[He looks mildly surprised in return.]

Why wouldn't I?

[aigue]

I don't know. I... suppose I haven't thought about anyone else ever seeing it.

[There's a lot more insinuated there, thanks to the existential horror that was Between. She spent a lot of time thinking her home was gone forever.]

[advanced]

[He doesn't know all that went on in Between and so he doesn't understand her thinking her world was gone, but he does pick up on there being something else behind that.]

Maybe it's something you can start to think about now?

[aigue]

[She smiles a little.]

Maybe. What about your world? Could I see your world?

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Not so sure you'd want to.

[It's not a no, just caution rising up.]

It's not a safe place to be seen with me a lot of the time.

[aigue]

Come on now, do you really think that would be a deterrent for me? I'm tough, I'd be fine.

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I suppose it might be kinda nice to have someone to go on the run with.

[And she is more durable than most.]

You'd have to hide your ears, though, ain't many fox people where I'm from.

[aigue]

I can do that.

[She looks very pleased he isn't entirely opposed to this idea.]

I've spent over nine hundred years doing that, what's a few more?

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I didn’t know you could do that, I’ve never seen you looking like a normal person.

[He doesn’t want to offend her but he is curious, and it’s not like anyone else will see now they’re well on the way to the mountains.]

Show me?