[Accidental Visual] / [Location]

[imperial_long]

Another cold day; Long had the heat in his own rooms cranked up as high as possible (to a degree most might have found uncomfortable), and bundled himself in coat, scarf, gloves and hat for the forays between tram and library

Comments

[ visual ]

[poisonousparty]

Party clears his throat--it's the only semi-polite thing he can think of--and looks at Long. He's reminded of a child from a Christmas movie he barely remembers--all bundled up in a ridiculous amount of clothing, waddling around outside. After a few beats he actually talks, though, wincing as he does so.

"Hey, uh, Mr. Library?" He knows the other's name by now, but nicknames are certainly more familiar to him. "S'on, you know. The tablet." There's a bit of a sheepish smirk there, too--he's now had his fair share of accidental visuals.

"For what it's worth, you're right, tumbleweed. You're totally not in China anymore. But what promise?"

[ visual ]

[imperial_long]

Long starts again at the intrusion of a more mundane voice, and once he processes Party's words shoots an accusing look at the tablet. Accursed thing.

"I did not realize I was transmitting," Long answers with a sigh, stating the obvious. "Thank you for the alert."

The question makes him look sheepish in turn, and he straightens pens and papers on the big information desk for a few moments to stall.

"A promise that I would find truth," he says at last. "Enlightenment. Among other things. It has been delayed in arrival."

[ visual ]

[poisonousparty]

"Well you're sure as guano not gonna find Nirvana in here, of all places. Shit, not even out in the wastes, zonerat." But Party's smile is slightly sympathetic, and he leans forward, curious.

"Maybe the band'll come close, huh?" There's a light chuckle, trying to make something out of nothing. Humour in a tense situation, and after he scratches the side of his face he finally gives up and sighs.

"Fuckin' creepy if you ask me... But--hey. I know what'll get your mind of things. I wanna buy a book from you."

[ visual ]

[imperial_long]

"Nonsense," Long says mildly. "Bodhidharma reached enlightenment staring at a wall. The Buddha himself did it sitting under a tree. Epiphany is no respecter of geographical boundaries, nor even of ludicrous aliens."

He tilts his head to the side though at Party's last words, dark eyes gleaming with a touch of interest.

"I do not sell books. I lease them," he says lightly, a brief smile. "What book did you want?"

[allthatlife]

"Mayland?" Martha sounded suitably sympathetic as she addressed him, unwilling to intrude on what was obviously a private moment but knowing that it was important for him to realise that he was being observed. She only knew patchy Cantonese - she’d picked up a handful of words in a number of different languages during her travels - and she couldn’t guess what he had said, but the done was unmistakeable. "I don't think you meant to broadcast that, did you?"

[Visual]

[imperial_long]

A rueful sigh, a crooked smile. "No, Martha, I did not. A lapse to be sure. Well, I am hardly the first to be affected by such, and I doubt I will be the last; I suppose I ought be grateful that all things considered it was at such a time and not, say, in the shower like some broadcasts I have seen."