In the days that followed Wilder's acquisition of the pebbles from the surface, she'd been trying to figure out a way to find more information, Studying them over and over again, searching their memories, but she never again got one nearly as long, descriptive, or violent as the one that painted the Great Awakening. But she still drank in their visions eagerly, always remembering that wonderful open sky, the breeze in her fur, and the culture of another world entirely.

Cepheus was the place she hadn't visited just yet, on account that she, well, couldn't read, but there might still be something to discover in the library - pictures, perhaps, or other gembound that could read to her.

It was an incredibly unfamiliar experience, walking up through the palace with its alabaster stone and perfectly upkept hallways. She almost felt wildly out of place - a little black cat with grimy paws and a battered pitch rat following in her wake, looking like an incredibly beat up plushie. She kept close to the wall, a little self conscious, before finding her way to the library, where all else didn't matter and she dived into research.

But where to even begin? She couldn't read. All she could do was start pulling out books and see if there were pictures - which is exactly what she did, walking straight up to the first shelf and laying eyes on a large tome, reaching out to carefully paw at it until it came free from its spot and tumbled to the ground, falling open. The cat shifted through the pages as best she could, carefully using the side of her claws to avoid tearing the pages. However, all she could see were words. Words upon words upon words, no pictures whatsoever. She huffed in frusteration and closed the book, struggling to heave it off the ground and back into its place on the shelf, which she couldn't do without Vaati's help, lending his long nose to help Wilder push it back into place after a long struggle. This is going to be a long day.

@Forgraves

Funnily enough, Forgraves reason for being here this time was strikingly similar to the black cat currently sharing the library with him, whether she noticed his presence or not.

The starry pendant, aswell as the starmap one, hung around his neck and every now and then clinked together as he moved. He picked up books and books detailing whatever knowledge about stars he could find. lost maps, books detailing how they were made and what they did, he was even lucky enough to find out what happens to them when they die, which he remarked was strikingly similar to magic he's witnessed before.

Fascinating!

he had similar trouble removing books from the shelves, and didn't even dare trying the higher ones unless tori or banshy had accompanied him, but he had been coming here for probably months now. you get good at it eventually. the issue of claws was easier handled once he startled filing them down.

The cat's huff of discontent drew his attention, watching her struggle to put the book back into its original home. new to the library, maybe? she didn't seem to really read much of it..

He padded a little closer, clearing his throat to get her attention. "Ahem,", he coughed, "Do you need any help?"

@Wilder


"Speech." Thoughts.

She was about to randomly select another tome on the shelf when she heard someone approaching. She turned just as they spoke to her and she took a second to feel relieved at the gembound that had approached her. Not intimidation or judgmental glares, just a normal fox with rather silly looking spectacles and pendants hanging from his neck. Vaati, still shy around strangers, moved so that he was standing behind Wilder, as if hiding, but it didn't work too great, as he was slightly larger then her in size. She didn't notice, however, and gave the fox a friendly wave of her tail.

"Oh, hi! Uh, yeah I guess so. There's information I'm looking for but I can't actually read. I thought some of these books might have some pictures that I could look at that would be kinda the same thing?" She waved at the book she'd just put back. "That one was no help. It's hard to tell which ones will have pictures." She didn't seem too upset about it, though, an excited, hopeful gleam in her eyes was still holding strong. Hopefully it wouldn't be dashed too soon by the sheer number of books in the library

@Forgraves

Forgraves would tilt his head to look at the rat behind her, which, as stated, wasn't very hard to accomplish, it was bigger than she was afterall. his ear flicked in curiosity, before he turned back to wilder.

he chuckled, though not meanly. "Ah, yes, i could see how that might be an issue!" he said, smiling. "I haven't found too many with pictures here myself, though most i have ended up being field guides or educational texts, maybe the occasional one written for or... well, BY a child." he explained, before shaking his head.

he thought. It was easy to forget not everyone had attended the draco lessons, and after living with people who could read for so long now, even if he.. DID teach them himself, it was still easy to forget some people still didn't know. He could help her look for ones with pictures..? but he truly doesn't even know what she's looking for, if anything really specific. he knows he didn't when he first came in, but she had seemed rather determined to find SOMETHING as she came in.

maybe he could still help though, without it taking 5 hours.

"Though i could help find the ones with pictures it would likely take hours. it's not as easy if you can't read the titles, you'll end up finding one with pictures but its about something totally irrelevant. like pottery." he said that last part with a bit of dry humor, as if talking from unfortunate experience.

"I could teach you how to read the titles though, which would arguably take less time than searching the whole place, if you'd like? cover more ground if we both can read, eh?" he offered, his tone playful but his offer genuine. "once you know the letter sounds its much easier to piece together words you already know."

If he had any knowing of just how much he was talking, he didn't seem to give any indication of being embarrassed about it.

@Wilder

"Speech." Thoughts.

Wilder gave a small, bashful laugh an sat back on her haunches. "Yeah, bit of an issue." Although the knowledge that there weren't too many pictures in the library had Wilder's tail drooping a bit. If all she could find were field guides (whatever those were) or children's books then what hope did she have of learning anything else?

"Oh. I see." For a moment she looked at the walls of books and felt crestfallen at how many there were. And apparently very few of them had pictures. The odds of learning anything about the surface or Tamulus or the Great Awakening or really anything useful were slim. Although she was sure that what she could learn would be interesting enough anyways, it would be a huge help if she could read.

The offer to help, though, had her perking up instantly and she turned to face him again. "Really? You'd do that for me? I'd be very grateful! Just the titles would be excellent, honestly, anything helps!" She looked far more enthusiastic then she had a moment later and she was rising back to her fight, a smile back in her eyes. "Is reading hard? Does it take a long time to learn?"

@Forgraves

Forgraves closely studied her expression as they were talking, not purposefully trying to analyze her, moreso trying to get a good read (heh) on what she was thinking. maybe that WAS analyzing. he didn't know. but he was glad to see her mood take a turn for the better at his offer, that always made him smile, which he did.

"hmm, i wouldn't say hard more than time consuming, even i'm not quite an expert yet." he said, "but for the basics? no, not long at all, and as i said, once you sound out a word you find you already know, you avoid the process of having to wonder what it means, so the time it wouldve taken otherwise is halved by a great margin."

he hummed, looking around for a moment, trying to remember where something was, before letting out a triumphant aha!" before dashing to a shelf a few cases back, pulling out a thin book, its cover wrinkled and flimsy, and if Wilder could recognize letters, or atleast what letters supposedly look like, it'd be easy to guess from the cover this was a book about the ABC's.

he padded back over, almost sheepishly before dropping the book in front of them both. "forgive me, i had remembered a book i had read to my son when i was teaching him, this should be just as helpful here."

..in the distance as he says that, you can faintly hear the fluttering of bat wings, followed by a triumphant giggle.

"whom... if i'm correct might still be neck deep in the fantasy section." he said fondly.

he turned back to wilder, , adjusting his spectacles with his paw. "shall we find someplace to sit? it's easier to focus sitting down, i've found."

@Wilder



"Speech." Thoughts.

Hmm, time consuming...well, Wilder figured that she had all the time in the world to learn how to read. It felt like she needed to learn it now, though, like it was urgent and had to be done in a timely fashion. But she knew that was just her impatience butting in, a thirst for knowledge overwriting knowing that she had time and plenty of it. It was a hard lesson she'd learned a while ago, that skills took practice. After her first few cycles flying through new spells, learning so fast and finding a natural talent in magic, it was hard to grasp that she wasn't good at everything in the same way. "Alright, that's okay. I'll just have to be patient then."

She took a step to follow Forgraves, but he was back a moment later, with a flimsy children's book being set down in front of her. She tilted her head and reached forward to flip clumsily through the pages. It was well-worn and ancient, but after staring at it for a moment, she realized that she could recognize some of the symbols on the page. They were similar to the symbols on the books. Not that she knew what they meant, though.

Her eyes flicked up at the mention of a son and a prick of pain stabbed into her heart, thinking back to her own children - one gone, one never hatched, one turned pure evil. The fondness in his voice spoke to a connection between father and son, one that she wished she'd been able to forge with her own offspring but...it hadn't been to be.

She snapped herself out of it and pushed the thought to the back of her mind, instead choosing to focus back on Forgraves.

"Ah, yes, sitting would be nice! Thank you very much, by the way, I really appreciate it!"

@Forgraves