(no subject)

[argyle_princess]

Hannah is, in theory, reading Billy Budd, which her English teacher has assigned because they have to have some Melville.

At the moment, however, the book is abandoned on the table in front of her, and she is doodling spirals and hearts and concentric circles in the margins of her notebook, with a brilliant smile on her face.

She is, at the moment, in an exceptionally good mood. And no novella, no matter how boring, is going to change that fact.

Comments

[dr_temperance]

"Hello, Hannah."

Brennan is still dressed for the field--baggy blue coveralls and tall rubber boots. The lure of coffee had taken precidence over her desire to shuck them.

She cocks her head to read the book title and makes a face. "Melville?"

[argyle_princess]

Hannah's nose wrinkles a little automatically.

"It's for class," she says.

"Still digging bodies out of compost?"

[dr_temperance]

"Just the one," Brennan replies. "Of course, we want to make sure there's no evidence we've overlooked."

"Sorry about the smell."

Brennan takes a seat, idly picking up the book.

"I never liked Melville. I've always felt that if I ever need to learn how to hunt and kill a whale, I'll spend time immersed in a culture that actually hunts and kills whales."

As near as she can tell (although granted, she wasn't reading that closely) that had been the entire point of Moby Dick.

[argyle_princess]

"I ran into Agent Booth the other day. This case is kind of . . . pungent."

SAT word.

"Our teacher says she cannot, in good conscience, send us off to college with no Melville, and we should all be grateful it's not Moby Dick," says Hannah, rolling her eyes.

"I think hunting ang killing whales is kinda frowned on these days."

[dr_temperance]

"It's a vital part of the culture--not to mention a vital source of protein--to many Inuit living in the polar regions of North America."

"Of course, that's on a very small scale."

Brennan lays the book back down.

"Pungent is a good word for this case."

She sips her coffee--which is sadly quite tasteless at the moment, given that her sense of smell is still in a state of retreat.

[argyle_princess]

"I'll keep that in mind," Hannah says, "if I ever need to study whale-hunting."

Hannah gives her a sympathetic smile.

"Well, I'm sure it could smell worse."

[dr_temperance]

"Oh, it could," Brennan replies readily.

"Organic compost. No meat products. On the whole, it doesn't smell nearly as bad as the average dumpster in DC."

Ah, the glamorous world of forensic anthropology.

"You seem to be in a very good mood for someone who has been assigned a Melville book."

[argyle_princess]

Hannah grins. "Well, it's not like I'm actually reading it," she points out.

Or planning to.

[dr_temperance]

It's clear that this reasoning doesn't quite compute.

"Then how are you going to pass the assignment."

Sure, it's Melville. But it's the assignment.

[argyle_princess]

Hannah shrugs. "I'll skim it, I guess. Or look up the plot on wikipedia."

She'll fake it.

What? It's not like it's science.

[dr_temperance]

"I suppose that would work. English literature, by its nature, is a subject open to a great degree of interpretation."

Not like science.

"How's school other than Melville?"

[argyle_princess]

"School's fine," says Hannah.

Which does not, really, explain the exceptionally good mood.

[dr_temperance]

"Good."

Brennan waits, eyebrows raised, to see if any further edification is forthcoming.

[missginnytonic.livejournal.com]

Ginny walks over and smiles a bit.

"Looks like how I read"

[argyle_princess]

Hannah grins.

"You mean in the way I'm not actually reading?"

[missginnytonic.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, something like that. Like you can get the knowledge from the book if it is near your elbow"

[argyle_princess]

"It's a surprisingly effective studying method," Hannah says.

When supplemented with online summaries of the text.

"I'm Hannah."

[missginnytonic.livejournal.com]

Ginny smiles.

"I'm Ginny. Should I leave you bee so you can actually read?"

[argyle_princess]

"It's Melville. I'm really not very likely to actually read it," she says.

"It's nice to meet you, Ginny."

[missginnytonic.livejournal.com]

"Didn't he write Moby Dick or something like that? Nice to meet you also"

[argyle_princess]

"Yeah. This one just feels like it's as long as Moby Dick."

She eyes it.

"English is really not my best class."

[missginnytonic.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, well it can be boring like the history of magic"

ooops should say you're a witch before saying that.

[argyle_princess]

Hannah's been here a while, Ginny. She takes things like magic in stride at this point.

"I'm going to guess that sounds a lot more interesting than it is," Hannah says.

[missginnytonic.livejournal.com]

Ginny giggles.

"Nope boring, it's really good class for a nap, see the professor is a ghost, and one day he didn't know he had died he just got up from his sleep and went to teach class"

[argyle_princess]

"Wow. Talk about being dedicated to your job.

"Our history teacher is like, totally ancient, but as far as I know, he's still breathing."