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[burned-them-all.livejournal.com]

Gwendolyn, since she's decided to stick with the university student guise, is settled into a booth with a latte and several books on Medieval Europe. A closer look would reveal that the majority focus on the history of France.

Her expression ranges from scowling at the falsely recorded information, to near laughter at the truly absurd. You can feel free to interrupt, however. She doesn't really need to study.

Comments

[tragic_mask]

Mel raises an eyebrow at the girl, wondering why she's studying mid-summer.

... then goes back to her beer. Some things in life just need to be prioritized.


ooc: at work. couldn't resist. I'll be off and on. : D

[burned-them-all.livejournal.com]

Well, alcohol might be a priority if it had much effect, or if Gwen had money to spare. In fact, she had to splurge to get coffee and she's still not sure how she's going to pay for it. But luckily, like studying, food and drink are not a necessity.

As for why she is studying? To pass time. Of course the reason would be different if she were asked.

Still, she's fairly observant and having finished one of the books just in time, she sits back and sips her coffee, noting the curious look over the rim of her cup. "Good day," she says amiably, idly returning the curiosity.

(ooc: No prob. Sorry, vanished for a few mins.)

[tragic_mask]

Yeah, well. Alcohol isn't a necessity, but it's enjoyable. Or so Melpomene pretends, as an excuse to drink it.

"And a good day to you."

She looks down, at worn, inky thumbs, and wonders where she's left her pen today.

[burned-them-all.livejournal.com]

Gwen has extras, but she's not likely to think about offering.

She jots a few notes in the margin of the next book, snorting softly as she does so. "Can you, perhaps, tell me how one pays their bill in this place?" She asks absently.

[tragic_mask]

"Sorry. Can't tell you that," she says, deadpan.

Melpomene wouldn't be the one to ask, anyway. She's a member of the "put everything on the tab, and if you can't do that, don't pay anyway" club. She's practically the president, in fact.

[burned-them-all.livejournal.com]

Gwen raises an eyebrow at the answer, considers, and finally shrugs. "Very well, I can get by on very little, until I find out."

Even if she did have money, it would not be, she suspects, in the form of accepted currency. She's still got a lot to learn, you see.

"Thanks anyway."

[tragic_mask]

"Sure." Melpomene eyes the girl, borderline cynical.

"Like spending money?"

[burned-them-all.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I do, of course, which is why I have none now." She smiles sheepishly. "Spent all that I had on me before I wound up here."

She never really had money, but she's damned already, and certainly not above lying.

[tragic_mask]

Melpomene's an inspiration to many liars--though she may not think of it that way--and so she's had a lot of practice knowing the difference.

Which is why the skeptical look stays. (But that might just be from habit.)

"Ah. Too bad, I guess. Where are you from?"

[burned-them-all.livejournal.com]

If Gwen notices the look, she pays it no mind. More insistence would only make her story more dubious.

"California, in the United States." She wouldn't typically clarify, but since she's met people from different centuries, she's realized that it's for the best.

"I'm a student there currently."

[tragic_mask]

As it happens, Melpomene couldn't care less for that particular state, anyway. Visited it once, never went back.

"Oh? Which school?"

... she's good at feigning interest, at least.

[burned-them-all.livejournal.com]

"New Coast University, which ought to explain the studying," she answers with a shrug. It probably doesn't exist in most other universes, but that's the answer.

"But what do you do?"

[tragic_mask]

"Oh. This and that."

Maybe if Gwen hadn't been so evasive, she would have been a little less vague.

Maybe.

[sir-apropos.livejournal.com]

I'm bored, so you'll excuse me if I happen to snort almost into her hair as I peer over the booth at the book she seems to be reading.

"I'm sure it's as full of lies as most histories."

[burned-them-all.livejournal.com]

Gwen is a annoyed by the person reading over her shoulder, and more so when he snorts so close to her ear, but the statement placates her a little.

"Oh, I know better than to believe everything I read," she answers calmly. "In fact, that's why I'm studying history. To someday discover and reveal the truth." Or, you know, because it's a convenient way to blend in with the living. Either way it's a good cause, no?

[sir-apropos.livejournal.com]

"The truth doesn't come out," I inform her, the weight of experience heavy in my tone, "it's either paid to leave or beaten out of anyone who'd try to bring it to light. When it gets as far as a book, those get burned."

[burned-them-all.livejournal.com]

That's assuming, of course, that she was going to attempt to publish it, or could have it beaten out of her by the usual methods.

"Well aren't you a pessimist?" She asks with a faint grin. Then again, Gwen is too, in most things. "You may be right though," she concedes, "but perhaps it's worth the risk."

Revenge against the 'truth' was worth dying for once, and she's not as exactly risking death again.

[sir-apropos.livejournal.com]

"I'm a realist." I answer with a second snort. I don't know what it is about this place, but it just brings such things out of me. Almost like an allergy.

"And very little is worth the 'risk'. There are other things to take care of, such as your own head. When you've the power and no one can hurt you, things are rather different," and I've actually been there, so trust me, I know, "but the lame son of a murdered whore doesn't really have the time nor the energy for it."

[burned-them-all.livejournal.com]

Gwen shrugs at the advice, which is about as close to humouring him as she's going to get. It's the last bit that stands out though. -Almost something she can relate to.

"You speak from experience then? Perhaps from both sides, but there must be those who do have time for it," she replies simply. "They're the ones I need to explain myself to, not you."

[sir-apropos.livejournal.com]

"Who asked you for an explanation? I didn't. You don't seem interesting enough to warrant one," I answer, quickly enough, "As for experience, it is the one thing I have in spades."

[burned-them-all.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I'm so glad you think so," she replies sarcastically. But, in fact, she is. The less interest others take in her, the less questions she has to answer, and the more likely it is that her past will remain secret.

"So you've all this experience, but you're content with allowing things to remain as they are?" Is she suggesting that Po do something to change society rather than benefit himself? Silly girl.

[sir-apropos.livejournal.com]

"I've found that trying to change them seems to only make things worse," I answer, "and that the effort usually ends up killing those you might once have wanted to help."

I won't share the memory, not with Slack, not with anyone, but I will never forget the face of that child who had feared me, feared the Peacelord. Those who want change don't have power and once they have it, don't know what to do with it, no matter what they might think.

[burned-them-all.livejournal.com]

"Many of those I want to help are already dead. I only wish to see them remembered properly," is the ready reply. "The rest are already suffering, perhaps dying. They have little enough to lose."

She'd understand, because you sure as hell can't expect her to share her memories yet. Least of all with him.

Interestingly enough, she's not actually plotting anything to help, she's just stubborn and angry when she encounters oppression.

[sir-apropos.livejournal.com]

"The dead might walk here, but in the lands outside of this place, the dead mean very little. They're gone to whatever their 'rewards' might be and we should take as much care with them as they take with us, as far as I'm concerned."

[burned-them-all.livejournal.com]

"You're not the 'do unto others' or 'guardian angels are watching over us' sort then?" She asks amused. Gwen thinks they're fair assumptions, his morals and beliefs concerning the dead considered.