They were all uncensored. The women weren't covered, the paintings were graphic. Each book was a multitude of profanity (in her home country). Perhaps she would buy every book she saw. No...it's bad...father will disown me...
He already has, another voice whispered. She frowned, but placed a book about Roman sculptures in the bag anyway. She disliked the way the employees gaped at her; she felt naked, even wearing her Hijab. She dared not stare back at them, for fear of what they may say.
She kept to herself in the non-fiction shelves. She found a book of America's civil wars;; it went into the shopping bag.
But she found herself at the end of the section, and a sign that read "Fantasy" stared back at her. Game of Thrones? The Familiars...the covers all looked like...lies... she pondered. Only men could read this 'fantasy' and 'fiction' books in Egypt. No women. It made her feel powerful, but she wasn't strong enough to embrace it. Skip.
She had founded a plan to buy several books to last a month. She eyes her bag, sheepishly light with only two books. "I can not do this," she sighed in Arabic. It felt like the laws of the east still held high over her. She finally bought a taste of independence...and was she not liking it? Every Arab woman dreams of America!
She took a deep breath and tattered over to a bench near the library café ;; the Starbucks. She looked around at all the other avid shoppers, finding what they want ;; she couldn't help herself but stare at the attractive women all around her.
Post by Nyghtingale on Oct 31, 2015 14:51:12 GMT -5
Nyght was wandering around the bookstore, sticking mostly to a section that other's where avoiding and coming in to. She was getting frustrated however, and was about to go get somebody to help her. She had spent fifteen minutes in the section of the store dedicated to 'magic, astrology, and supernatural things' and had literally barked out laughter several times in there. Those books had been garbage, full of nothing useful except human trash that had no idea what it was speaking about. Witches, astrology, magical and supernatural creatures where all different in the real world then these silly books talked about. None of that had been real or made any bit of logical sense.
So Nyght has shifted her focus upon another subject of interest to her besides gathering magical knowledge and spells. She had grabbed out three or four large books about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and had two of these books open along with a notebook and several pencils and two highlighters as she was working. She was to poor to afford the books themselves, so she was reading through them here at the store in the Starbucks cafe part and taking notes. When asked by a curious worker of the store, she had informed him about some fictional homework assignment and he had left her alone after that. She was researching something specific and that was Morgan le Fay, the mystical and both infamous and famous Lady of the Lake who had apparently given King Arthur the sword Excalibur. She highly doubted some magical sword, but she was sure that Morgan le Fay was based upon a real woman. The question was who was that woman, was she supernatural in some way, and was she REALLY Morgan's ancestor.
Knowing your own darkness is the best method of dealing with the darkness of other people. -Carl Jung
Jack is an average, unassuming guy. He stands bashfully, avoiding eye contact as he looks around at everything except the person he's speaking with. A closer look. however, will reveal more.
Beneath this carefully neutral appearance, Jack's body is lean and efficient. He's slow to anger and behind his bashful demeanor is an assertive individual observing his environment with an almost predatory nature.
Post by Jacksoπ Flεtchεr on Nov 1, 2015 22:20:33 GMT -5
The young man sipped from the water bottle before turning the page of the book he'd been reading. He hadn't exactly disliked the book. The plot was somewhat interesting and the characters weren't all bad. The author's writing wasn't painful to read, either.
Unfortunately, Jack's favorite character, Raistlin, had hardly been mentioned throughout the entire book. It hadn't been until the end that the young wizard had reappeared, wielding great power.The book drew to an end all too quickly after that. Once finished, Jack set the paperback aside, sighing.
"Well. After that last bit, I have to get the next one!" He leapt up from the old couch he'd been relaxing on with his book for the past couple hours. After a few minutes of digging around the messy apartment, he finally found his wallet. Jack sank onto the couch, counting out the cash he had inside. It wasn't much, but he figured it would be enough.
After a shower, the young man pulled on some clean clothes and teleported over near the bookstore. Somewhere out of sight, of course. He straightened his clothes, checked to be sure everything was where it should be, and made his way inside. Jack immediately made a beeline for the fantasy section, locating the Dragonlance books nearly as quickly. It took him a few seconds but he located the twins trilogy, scooping up all three books.
Jack paid for and looked around. He didn't really feel like locking himself up in his apartment for the rest of the day, so the young man figured he'd start the first book somewhere public, preferably comfortable. Why, there was a bench just over there and it was hardly occupied! The woman sitting there looked pretty interesting. Maybe he'd manage to make a new friend today. Jack made his way over and sat down, keeping a respectful distance between himself and the young woman. He didn't want to seem creepy, but Jack also didn't want to seem antisocial.
"A good book is always a wonderful way to relax, don't you think? Sword and sorcery novels have always been a guilty pleasure of mine." Jack assumed a friendly smile while attempting to strike up small talk with Namet, the other stranger on the bench.
"What about you? Find anything good in the shop today?"
She gaped at him strangely, but not for long. She didn't like to make eye contact. It made her feel...strange.
"That...relaxes...you!" she awed.
"No...you Americans have too much freedom," she laughed nervously. And I can't get enough if it, she thought.
"Could you help me?" she asked. "That...fantasy. It scares me, but I want to read it. But there's too many choices!" she babbled excitedly. She felt the blood rushing to her cheeks when she ran out of air.
"In Egypt, we are to read history, and it must be Islam..." she said.
And an idea sharpened. "Do you know who Somnus is?" she asked. "Is there any books about him! The god," she, once mor, was excited. Too much freedom, to an outsider. She felt like she was treating him like a servant or an attendant. But she wanted to leave with a book to enjoy.
Post by Nyghtingale on Nov 2, 2015 21:23:33 GMT -5
Nyght blinked, looking up and around herself and frowned. There where two people standing together and speaking rather loudly. However she decided in the interest of peace to keep her mouth shut and turned back around and continued her studying. She had almost two pages of notes before her now, scribbled all over the paper in seemingly random arrangements that would probably have not made much sense to anybody else who tried to decipher her musing. However she knew which way was what and where to look for the next part seeing as she was the one who had wrote the stuff down. Also, there was a method to it but just one that few people would recognize. No she was not being secretive, or trying to confuse people. That was simply the way she wrote and worked.
However a word spoken by the other female before her caught her attention again and she looked up and back around at them again. "The God"
Nyght watched the closely, then stood up and walked over towards the two and sighed deeply. She stopped before them, crossing her arms and staring at them.
"Sorry, I could not help but to overhear you guys because you are being a little loud in a bookstore. However, I know where some books about pagan gods are Jack. For you new lady friend." She stuck her tongue out at Jack, a guy she had known for a good amount of time showing him that she was simply teasing him and shrugged. Then she turned on her heel and walked past her own table, pausing to close her own book and cover it with another as well as flip the pages of her notes over before walking amongst the rows of books leading towards the pagan aisle of books filled with knowledge both real and fake about everything from the Egyptians to the Celts, divine to the mortal and everything in between.
"Here we are. I was just in this section doing some research myself, I do believe there was something about old gods right about...." She was speaking to herself softly, but if the other two had happened to follow they would hear her just fine as she dragged a single long finger along the bindings of the books before suddenly stopping and pulling out a medium sized book with a black hard leather binding with golden script upon the edge and front cover, "here! Found it! Pagan Gods and Goddess of the World. I think there might be something in there. You could take a quick look at the index in the back to see if whoever it was you said is in there."
Knowing your own darkness is the best method of dealing with the darkness of other people. -Carl Jung
Jack is an average, unassuming guy. He stands bashfully, avoiding eye contact as he looks around at everything except the person he's speaking with. A closer look. however, will reveal more.
Beneath this carefully neutral appearance, Jack's body is lean and efficient. He's slow to anger and behind his bashful demeanor is an assertive individual observing his environment with an almost predatory nature.
Post by Jacksoπ Flεtchεr on Nov 2, 2015 22:29:18 GMT -5
The woman looked at him so strangely that, for just a moment, Jack was just a little bit worried that he had something on his face or in his hair or he'd accidentally thrown on a tshirt with a picture of Hitler beating his wife or something. He decided that everything was fine with him and to just ignore it since she stopped moments later.
"Sure. Got anything particular in mind? Some fantasy settings are more magic heavy, some with greater emphasis on creatures like orcs and drow and stuff. That sort of thing."
Too much freedom? No such thing! The young man thought. Noticing the you Americans bit, he nearly asked where she was from if not from the States but that proved necessary as she told him just a few moments later.
"You're from Egypt?" Jack asked, genuine interest tinting his voice. Then she said something else. Something about... Salmon? Could probably find a book about that some where in the fish and wildlife section. But before the young man could answer, they were interrupted by an all too familiar stranger.
"Nyght!" The young man said in greeting, totally not shouting or being too loud. He made a face, pretending to be annoyed by her childish teasing before simply rolling his eyes, smiling warmly at her approach.
"This is, uh," The young man's face flushed with embarrassment. "I forgot to ask your name! My name is Jack," The young man said, almost as if in apology before leaping up after Nyght, the young woman having offered her help in locating Namet a book about this salmon she was so interested in.
"What, are you stalking me now?" Jack asked with a grin, following Nyght to wherever she was leading, waving at Namet, an invitation to follow the two of them.
"That's a rather serious looking book," The young man commented, scratching his chin as he studied the somber leather cover. Jack got out of the way so Nyght could hand it to the other woman, not seeing much point in checking it for salmon himself when Namet had a perfectly good pair of eyes.
The young man made statements of orcs, and the like, that could be found in these fantasy books. An Orc?
But then he asked her if she was from Egypt. She could almost feel her eyes rolling to the back of her head. "Yes, that's where I come from," she smiled.
But then that woman creeped in front of them. She supposed she was awfully loud, and felt herself blushing because of it. But she felt a meager surprise when she found out the man knew the woman. Nyght?
This Nyght made a joke about Namet being this Jack's lover. She almost had the courage to tell her to stop, as she preferred women to men, and these references made her uncomfortable;; relationships were never good for her, it seemed.
Namet nodded and forced a smile when Jack tried to introduce her. "I'm Namet," she intertwined.
She he saw the two wander off;; with the wave of Jack's hand, Namet swiftly made a follow.
When she turned into their isle, Nyght held a thick, leather book. It looked like one of the ones that would be found in a witch's lab, of course from the stories. It's large! It must have tons of information! This excited her. The more she knew, the greater and well-rounded she'd always feel.
The lady told her to take it. She took it into her arms, delicately, but felt a weight almost throw her down. She grained herself to the floor and grabbed a shelf to rebalance herself, almost feeling the stares she'd get for falling from a book like this. But she smiled nevertheless.
"Many thanks...um...Nyght," she blushed. She opened the cover to the index, and several names of deities long-forgotten and perhaps barely known fluttered at her. She ran a finger down. Varos...this is the V's...too far, she thought. The American alphabet and writing system was new to her, but she could write and read well enough to get her by. S....ah, here it is, she thought. She found 'Somnus' in the book, would turn to the page. But she felt odd reading about Gods, knowing this wasn't an everyday interest for many. But she felt it her duty.
She wanted to fuel a conversation with the beauty beset in front of her, but she didn't exactly know how;; talking to Jack was easier.
Post by Nyghtingale on Nov 3, 2015 18:28:33 GMT -5
Nyght chuckled softly at Jack's comment, and shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe I am stalking you, maybe I am not." She left it just like that, just letting him contemplate about that upon his own. She raised her eyebrow as Namet struggled to lift the book, and she reached out placing her hand under her elbow to help her get her balance back after she lost it. She smiled and nodded, showing the female support before speaking. "No problem, Namet. It was my pleasure to help out. So your from Egypt? I just left Egypt actually, I was visiting over there for personal reason."
She leaned against the bookcase beside her, crossing her arms and watching Jack and Namet. "Yea, it is pretty detailed book. I think it is from like, the eighteen hundreds or something. Lots of good information in there, not like all the crap you would find in most of these books and stuff. I had to do a lot of work to find the books I needed to do my research in fact. Crazy what all these humans will think of when they can not explain stuff." She said it like she might mean humans in general, but Jack would know that she really meant the actual human race and not just the humanity itself.
Knowing your own darkness is the best method of dealing with the darkness of other people. -Carl Jung
Jack is an average, unassuming guy. He stands bashfully, avoiding eye contact as he looks around at everything except the person he's speaking with. A closer look. however, will reveal more.
Beneath this carefully neutral appearance, Jack's body is lean and efficient. He's slow to anger and behind his bashful demeanor is an assertive individual observing his environment with an almost predatory nature.
Post by Jacksoπ Flεtchεr on Nov 3, 2015 19:07:20 GMT -5
The young man's eyes narrowed slightly with suspicion. Jack figured Nyght was probably joking. But what if she really was stalking him? Nah, Jack thought to himself, fighting the brief wave of paranoia. That would just be silly. Besides. I teleport practically everywhere. I even teleport from one end of the couch to the other! She couldn't possibly follow me. Could she? No. No..
Anyways, Jack came back to himself in time to see Nyght offer the other woman a steadying hand. Apparently, the thick volume was heavier than it looked. The young man felt somewhat relieved, his face nearly flushing with embarrassment at just the thought of having embarrassed himself by attempting to pick it up in front of the two woman. He often poked fun at himself, claiming he had the strength of a sickly child. He certainly could be stronger.
"Egypt is an interesting place, very rich history," Jack offered, slightly disappointed he couldn't relate much. He rarely left the States for anything social, usually only traveling to places like Egypt for business. "Did you move to the States or are you just visiting?" The young man asked, stifling the urge to sneeze. Old books always irritated his sinuses.
"Yes. We foolish humans can be sooo silly," The young man rolled his eyes, smiling.
"Keep talking like that and people might think you aren't one of us! An alien, maybe."
Namet was grateful for the help that Nyght given her. The book was in steady hands now. I guess that's what I we get for not being allowed to use a gym in Egypt, she thought. She almost seemed grateful because she wasn't very athletic when it came to anything other than exercising her mouth.
"Yes, from Alexandria actually," she nodded at Nyght. "It's a wonderful place," she lied.
"I plan on seeing the sights of world," she smiled at Hosi. "I could see the pyramid any day of the week in Egypt."That's another lie... she scolded herself quietly.
But when the woman called out humans as if she weren't one herself..."We use our imagination quite a lot," she said dryly.
But Jack made a crack up of her not being human. "Ah...eheh," she laughed nervously. "Aliens are nonexistent," she tried to wipe the slate off. She thought for a moment, somehow, they knew about her. But...it instantly reversed, and made her think that...they may be like her.
Child stories! Do you believe in such folly? she asked herself in her mind.
Post by Nyghtingale on Nov 3, 2015 20:09:40 GMT -5
Nyght laughed, shaking her head at the thought of aliens. First they have all sorts of supernatural beings and creatures running around, and Jack wants to talk about aliens? Really, did they need anything more to worry about other then those first two? She did not think so and hoped they did not have to. However she would leave that all up to the conspiracy theories and the other people who wished to debate such nonsense. She would simply deal with such a thing, if it where to come to pass when it came to pass. Until such time, in her opinion, there was simply no reason to be worried about it.
Nyght pushed away from the bookcase, and moved around both Jack and Namet, accidentally brushing a hand across her hip as she moved passed her. Then she went back to her table where she had had all her books spread out and began closing them all individually, stacking them all upon each other and slipping her notebooks in to her backpack with her Grimoire. She did not want anybody getting nosey and peeking inside her backpack, or through her notes. She filled her arms with the stack of books, and heaved them over to a shelf specifically marked for placing books where they would be returned by employees of the store.
Knowing your own darkness is the best method of dealing with the darkness of other people. -Carl Jung
Jack is an average, unassuming guy. He stands bashfully, avoiding eye contact as he looks around at everything except the person he's speaking with. A closer look. however, will reveal more.
Beneath this carefully neutral appearance, Jack's body is lean and efficient. He's slow to anger and behind his bashful demeanor is an assertive individual observing his environment with an almost predatory nature.
Post by Jacksoπ Flεtchεr on Nov 3, 2015 20:24:20 GMT -5
"The pyramids... At the height of their beauty, years ago, that's when I would've loved to see them." He said, a vaguely somber tone to his voice. So many marvels had been constructed in the past, most of them lost ages ago. It saddened Jack, knowing how destructive people could be. Nothing was held sacred. At least, not for very long.
"Aliens are totally existent!" The young man exclaimed, being sure not to exclaim too loudly. Did bookstores have the same rules as libraries? Whatever. It didn't matter and Jack didn't care. He always fought the urge to roll his eyes when people claimed aliens didn't exist, even if those very same people happened to believe in supernaturals. It all seemed very silly to him.
"Someone's been awfully busy," Jack remarked casually, peering at the multitude of books that covered the table Nyght had been reading at. "Whatcha researchin'?" He asked, curious.
Namet listened to the man, and she agreed. She wanted to know exactly how they were built, how they were planned. It would be fabulous to travel to the past!
She rolled her eyes at his contradictory statement towards her case with aliens. Though she might believe in other humanoid-beings existence;; after all, she herself wasn't completely human.
But then Nyght went to her own table, and with a variety of books. She looked like a businesswoman from here. Jack followed, and since she was curious as to what exactly she was doing, Namet placed one foot in front of the other to find out the answer to that question. She eyed Nyght cautiously, hoping she wouldn't encourage them both to back away. She looked nice enough, and she certainly was helpful to her...
Namet spoke no words, but nodded to Jack's question. She didn't know Nyght, not how Jack knew him. But she could make new friends if she actually engaged in conversation.
Post by Nyghtingale on Nov 4, 2015 21:13:29 GMT -5
Nyght shrugged her shoulders to indicate nothing important, trying to play it off as something not to interesting. "Just some stuff about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table mostly. I'm really interested in the Lady of the Lake, Morgan le Fay who was rumored to have bestowed upon a young King Arthur the mighty and wondrous Excalibur. Just a silly fascination thing really. Childhood fantasies and all that. Having grow up in England and that area it fascinates me. So what have you been up to?"
She nonchalantly steered the conversation away from herself and her research back upon himself, and she glanced past him at Namet and tilted her head curiously. The female was very quiet and slightly withdraw. Not so unlike she herself typically was when left alone or around people she did not really know or trust. With Jack that was different, he brought her out of her shell which the only other person who could do that was Aela. She moved past Jack to stand beside Namet and smiled.
"What about you Namet? What have you been up to besides wanting to read up upon pagan gods and goddesses?" She said the word pagan simply to differentiate them from the Muslim god Allah and the Christian god Yahweh.
Knowing your own darkness is the best method of dealing with the darkness of other people. -Carl Jung
Jack is an average, unassuming guy. He stands bashfully, avoiding eye contact as he looks around at everything except the person he's speaking with. A closer look. however, will reveal more.
Beneath this carefully neutral appearance, Jack's body is lean and efficient. He's slow to anger and behind his bashful demeanor is an assertive individual observing his environment with an almost predatory nature.
Post by Jacksoπ Flεtchεr on Nov 4, 2015 21:55:24 GMT -5
The young man scratched his chin, thinking. "This lady gave King Arthur the sword? I thought he pulled it out of a rock or something? But then again, I haven't heard that story since I was a little kid." He looked at Nyght with some amount of suspicion. She'd been very quick to change the subject, he'd noticed. But whatever. Jack didn't care. What she got up to was none of his business.
"Me? Oh, you know me. I've just been wandering around. Chilling mostly. Works been fairly calm. Popped--" At that part, Jack winked at Nyght without skipping a beat, referencing his ability to teleport. "into the store today to pick up a couple new Dragonlance books. I finally finished the last book of the previous trilogy just earlier today and this ones supposed to be even better."
Nyght asked Namet pretty much the same thing and Jack turned towards the other woman, smiling. He was curious to learn more about this new potential friend!