(2018-04-06) Seeking Einstein
Seeking Einstein
Summary: What's the world coming to when it's Callisto attempting to give tech advice? Bryce visits the local book store, Callisto tries to help him out.
Date: 2018-04-06
Related: NA
NPCs: NA
Scene Runner: NA
Players:
bryce..callisto..

Silver Fable Book Store, Shady Cove
Fri Apr 06, 2018


A tall and imposing structure that houses shelves upon shelves of books. Three stories tall, the first two make up the sales floors while the third serves as the apartment of the proprietor. In one whole side of the store there is an area dedicated to Buried Under Comics, a new addition to the store itself. A stair case leads midway to the second floor before splitting off and going to both the left and right, where even more choices of books are on display. The area is well lit and there are security cameras filming the customers. A large man who goes by the name of Goose, runs the store, he is in his mid to late twenties and is rather talkative, if one wanted to sit and speak with him awhile.

(Mood Music)
===

It's no surprise that what was initially taken on as a means to 'kill time' (for Callisto has lots of it) .. has actually become something rather pleasurable to the fae girl. With every week that has passed since her employment here before Christmas, the enjoyment of the store and the very building in which business is being conducted has grown. So much so that once spring break came to pass for students, Callisto Aine had graciously accepted more hours.

Hence, why she is here on a Friday afternoon, saddled with a closing shift. Not that the elegant girl really minds; she's not very much like most 'kids' her age, opting to spill onto the (somewhat meager) party scene of Shady Cove. Nope, she's here, at roundabouts three o'clock in the afternoon, gliding throughout the bookstore known as Silver Fable near-soundlessly, her skirts whispering, moonpale hair fluttering behind her body. She is working on the second floor in one of the rooms where an assortment of books have been tastefully displayed for purchase. Carefully, she returns merchandise to their proper places on the assorted shelves and tables, every book treated like a precious artifact… even if they are all new.

She is in, of all places, a section focusing entirely upon young adult fiction. Astoundingly blue eyes scrutinize the cover of a book in her hand, observing the cover art. Hmn.

The door to the store opens with that familiar little bell that lets the staff know that someone has entered. Bryce, who is still wearing his school uniform, walks into the bookstore and freezes at the entrance. His eyes open wide as he looks at all the available books. His mouth starts to open a bit as he stands there. So - many - books. "Wow," he says softly to himself.

Eventually Callisto's chores had taken her back down to the 'main' floor, just a quick traipse downstairs. She's still trying to understand why vampires sparkle (yes it was THAT book) when really, the vampires she had known in her long-yet-not-QUITE-so-long life were nothing of the sort. Okay, Callisto cannot boast having met a bonefide vampire, but her ghastly mother had stories. Anyway, digressing…

Downstairs, she quickly becomes aware of a new patron. Oh, the fae girl hears that bell in her sleep sometimes.. she turns her head upon a slender stalk of a neck to look immediately in the direction of the newly-arrived Bryce. His uniform is noticed first off, and those blue eyes lift to note his features… yes, she recognizes him from passing in the halls of the estate; from some of the shared classes between grades. The boy with the circlet.

Of course a classmate shall receive immediate attention… Callisto makes her way over to Bryce, looking clean and elegant in a fitted black maxi dress with fluted straps, over which she has pulled a sort of gossamer cream-colored cardigan. A low heel pushes her height up to just shy of six feet, hair left long to obscure her peculiar ears. "T'is beautiful, no?" Asked fondly, gesturing to the many many books. "May I help you?" She asks of the boy in her smooth, accented voice. She looks as if she recognizes him, to a degree.

Bryce didn't catch that she was talking to him at first. Finally he looks at her and says, "Yes, it is." He then realizes that he is talking to a stranger who is a girl. Not just any girl, but another tall pretty girl. "Um, I mean …" He starts to get a bit nervous. "Well, um, I was hoping to find some books." He sighs and shakes his head. "I guess that is obvious since I came into a book store. I, I really love books and reading. I even prefer reading books even more than, well, than computers and stuff." He flicks his eyes to her blue eyes for a moment and then looks away swiftly. "I guess you meant like a specific book or something." He swallows and nods his head. "Um, do you have anything on physics? Specifically, well, advanced physics that deal with elementary particles?"

The mentalist watches and waits patiently for Bryce's eyes to cease their roving in wonderment to find their way to her. While she is not an empath, she is attuned to body language and nuances and she'd be a fool to not discern that he's nervous. Callisto's lashes, dark at their base and silver at the tips, flutter once as she listens to Bryce's words. The corners of her lips quirk upwards, oh-so-slightly, with a hint of amusement. "T'is ok.. it can be a bit overwhelming, especially if you are new to the town." The taller girl offers, trying to ease his fluster a bit. Cripes, when did Callisto care about who was flustered? The school, the inhabitants.. they're rubbing off on her. She's not forceful with anything though; her voice has a pleasant, exotic cadence.

"Technology changes, shifts, progresses.. fails. Books are steadfast. Timeless." Basically her way of agreeing with and approving of Bryce's preference for tomes over gadgets. Her smile widens a touch. He meets her gaze, looks away; Callisto yet watches his face. "We are on the correct floor. I can take you to the section. I'm afraid I've lost your name… we attend school together."

Bryce nods his head as they talk about the failures of technology. "And, and they are so, well, slow. The screens just don't, um, keep up, and when they try they just blur things. Paper and print are consistent." He looks like he is starting to relax giving her appreciate books and is being so kind. The smile helps as well. That relaxation is short lived, however.

"Oh, no!" Bryce exclaims when she reminds him that he forgot to introduce himself. "I'm, I'm so sorry. I was distracted by how pretty you - er, uh, the books are." He hopes he covered that up so she didn't notice his slip. "My, my name is Bryce. I'm rather new at the school."

Were Callisto of a more… flighty, warm personality.. she would see the boy's fumbling as incredibly sweet. Okay, she's not that cold; it is endearing. Humans, Supers… they can be quite adorable in this fashion. Callisto, accustomed to the brash, jaunty, ofttimes cruel behavior of some of the males of her race, looks a bit touched by Bryce's behavior. She is considering what he meant by screens 'not keeping up' when he missteps regarding pretty 'books'. Yes, that's it: books.

A soft chuckle, "It's alright." Did she notice the slip? There is more of an amused shift to her expression but it is not cruel, just intrigued. She waits, glances over a shoulder so as to not unnerve Bryce further with her rather intense gaze, and looks back to him at his proper introduction. "A pleasure, Bryce," Callisto demurs, "I am known as Callisto." Said gently, with a curt bow of her upper body. There is something archaic about her. "When did you join us?" She asks, then begins to stride smoothly away to seek the requested books, a gesture of a hand indicating that he is to walk with her.

Bryce notices her curt bow and tries a rather clumsy looking one in return. "Nice, nice to meet you, Callisto." He starts to follow her as she gestures for him to follow her. He ends up looking at her for a moment and then is distracted by the books they are walking by. Plus, he feels safer staring at the books than the teen in front of him. When she asks him when he arrived, he pauses and shuts his eyes. He then sounds like he is reading though his eyes are shut: "March 13, 2018." He blinks his eyes open and tries to catch up to her

A for effort, Bryce! Callisto overall seems to approve of manners, and good ones.. and all nervousness aside, the boy has them. She keeps her back to him, allowing whatever covert looks he may cast her way until the siren call of the books — understandably — draw Bryce's attention elsewhere. Just as well as there are many, lovingly assembled and catalogued in what is truly a beautiful building. Callisto hears Bryce's footsteps cease and she is turning to look at him, once more, as his eyes are closed. For a time she looks at the circlet upon his head, then back to his face as he recites a date. Intriguing.

"Recent, indeed," Callisto agrees, head tilting as he hastens to rejoin her. "Whereever did you come from?" She asks companionably as she leads Bryce into a warren of rooms, seeming to know precisely what is in each one. Finally she pauses in front of one, nods briefly to herself, and nods. "Just in here. It's not a massive section, but substantial. If there is anything I can search for, I can try." This time it's her turn to look briefly sheepish; shy. "Computers are new to me."

Bryce almost makes a wrong turn at one point as he saw an interesting title on a book. Thankfully, he corrects himself quickly and returns to following after Callisto. "Where, where I'm from? Um, I, I guess you mean like where I lived before coming here? Well, not here to - to the bookstore but before I came to the school." As nervous as he was, his nervousness managed to go up even more as they discussed where he lived before coming to school. "We, er, well, we moved around a lot."

When she brings him to the books, he stands at the entrance and says, "So many options." As his focus returns to books, he seems to relax a bit more again. "Computers are, are new?" He shuts his eyes once more and sounds like he is reading again. "In April 1975 the two young programmers took the money they made from Altair BASIC and formed a company of their own Microsoft that soon became an empire." He blinks his eyes open and says, "How ol-uh, how, how…" He stops himself from asking her how old she is if she thinks that computers are new. Maybe she meant it another way. Yes, that is what she must have meant. He tries to shift topics to books. "Do, do you have anything on particle physics?"

"Where you are from, where you lived before coming to this town." Callisto supplies cordially, but does not push. She is curious but not nosey; Bryce shall answer as he sees fit and Callisto will roll with it. The question seems to amplify his nervousness and the fae girl definitely does not see fit to push things. She nods though, in understanding, to the 'moving around a lot' bit. "You are in a good spot. T'is a lovely town… quaint, yes." She purrs, something in her manner and poise suggesting that she has bore witness to a bit more than Shady Cove, NH. She has since moved into the room that contains a distinct array of books on physics, yes… but Bryce knows precisely what he needs.

…. okay, so he really knows. She watches him as he submerges into the landscape behind his eyelids, describes what is indeed a passage in history — even technophobe Callisto gets this — in perfect detail. "You…." A pause, a gentle exhalation of breath. "You might give Wikipedia a run for it's money." Oh snap she knows what Wikipedia is!! Callisto is moving up in the world.

"Particle physics…" Callisto whispers, bending at the waist to observe the distinct row of books. Her brow furrows, and she considers. She knows of the following — this glorious little piece of technology — solely due to working here. "Have you a Kindle reader?"

Bryce listens as she explains the benefits of the town. "It, it seems nice," he says speaking of the town as well. "I went to a coffee shop here once. It was nice except for, well, for the people with the weird pictures." He starts skimming the titles as she brings up Wikipedia. "Wiki-what? What is a Wikipedia? It sounds sort of like an encyclopedia because, well, the ends of the words are the same, but I don't know what a wiki is?"

As she bends over to look for books for him, Bryce looks over at her. He ends up accidently looking at her - well, she was bending over. He quickly everts his eyes looking a bit red in the cheek. "Kindle reader? What type of reader is that?"

What was that glimmer? Was it a… a unicorn?! Did a unicorn just prance through? A pig fly overhead with glorious gilt wings?! Is Callisto… Callisto… advising a boy on technology? Oh, ask her to even feed a VHS tape into an old VCR and she'll look foolish, but this is conducive to books.. and learning. Therefore if Callisto is to boast competence in one corner of the arena of technology —- she won't admit to being pretty badass at retro Mario brothers, THANKS Daxton — … it's in regards ot these two things. She hadn't noticed the boy's glance to her form as she had been prone, briefly… she unfurls back to her full height, watching Bryce. Her eyes have widened a bit, "Indeed. T'is an encyclopedia on.. the internet. I have been told that people can supply information to it, edit it… refer to it as swiftly as you had done to speak to me of how computers came to be, for example." She tilts her head demurely.

A pause, then those slightly widened eyes round into what could pass as being mystified in Callisto's typically cool countenance. "They.. Kindles… are sold in town, not here… t'would be a travesty to convince the proprietor to stock such a thing. But that which you seek hasn't a large presence here, in these books." She doesn't look worried, though… more like inspired.

"Come, follow me. I've an idea for you." Callisto really likes books. Back she goes to a room closeby, in which a cataloguing computer awaits. The interface is simple, even for Callisto, and she plunks 'particle physics' into a search bar. She eyes the screen raptly, hoping her lead bears fruit.

Bryce thinks about the Wikipedia as she talks about it. "Well, if people can edit it, well, um, how do you keep it from being full of errors. I mean, stupid people could put stuff up." He then feels bad for calling some people stupid. "I'm, I'm sorry for using such language." He shouldn't talk like that in front of a lady. It just doesn't seem right. "What is then a Kindle? It is a, a reader?" He asks the question as though he doesn't know what a reader is.

As she says to follow her, he gets in line and starts following her to the computer. He looks over her shoulder as she starts typing. The selection is pretty meager, but there is one title that gathers his attention. "Um, that sounds interesting. Newton to Einstein: The Trail of Light."

"Sadly, t'is not without it's…. questionable contributors." Callisto says gently as she surveys the screen, one slender pale digit curling beneath her chin as the choices pop up onto the screen. This is, of course, regarding Wikipedia. Judging by her tone she doesn't seem apt to refer to the online compendium all that often… Callisto prefers oldschool.

"You needn't apologize, for it is truth. A Kindle is just that, a reader. You buy books online and they are transferred into this Kindle. You can get a great many books onto that one device… some books that are rare, or hard to find in print. I am seeing some of these books… and there aren't quite many… available for readers. But…" Her expression softens. "I do believe we have that one," She indicates the selection that Bryce points out, with a rather intrigued look. "T'is tagged under Science, Non-Fiction.. t'is just a skip away from the shelves we were looking at. I can find that for you."

She unfurls herself gracefully from the chair, considers. "That is, if you'd like."

As she mention a reader again, Bryce asks her, "So this Kindle is a electronic reader that, well, let's you read books online?" He sounds like he isn't too sure about just how that would work. "It seems as strange as, well, this Wikipedia. I did play a game on the computer once. It was about someone named, um…" He can't quite remember so he shuts his eyes to 'read.' "Batman, Bruce Wayne. Game Title: Batman, Arkham Asylum." He opens his eyes and say, "I didn't really understand what I was supposed to be doing, but someone at the school suggested I tried to play games."

When she stands back up, Bryce stands up straighter. "Oh, um, yes, that would be good to look at. I'm, well, I'm trying to learn some things about photons for a friend. Well, I guess she is a friend. I just met her yesterday like I met you today. Oh, I guess I didn't need to tell you that we met today since you were here." He sighs realizing he is starting to sound stupid. "Sorry. Anyway, I know some things about photons, but I really don't understand all that I memorize. I thought if, well, if I learned more then I could help."

"Precisely. You buy the books online, and they are sent through a…" Here, she considers the proper words, "… an internet connection.. to the reader. Then you get to keep the book." Her eyes widen again. "You could have a great many books on the reader." She admits, ducking back into the room from before and instead of veering toward the one dedicated section she initially led Bryce to, she's perusing another one closeby. "Ah…!"

She returns, holding something, but addressing the boy's words. "… games! Oh, games..! I have been learning how to play.. games. Though I have been coming to understand that there are many, many types of games. And.." She trails off, looks puzzled. "Batman….?" She tilts her head again demurely, "I know naught of whom this.. Batman.. is…"

Ahem.

She gingerly holds out the book that piqued Bryce's interest, precisely the one. Brand new. "May this help you in your cause to, in turn, help your friend. Are you…" Another quick flitting look to the circlet. "Are you versed in memorization, then? You relayed information flawlessly, but a moment ago." Callisto asks softly, conspiratorially.

"A great number of books?" Bryce says sounding quite interesting. "But, but they aren't books." He sighs and has to think about that. "Do you think that the screen displays quickly enough?" He then blinks curiously at her as she talks about games. "Many types of games? Maybe they have some fun games to play? I will have to look at it when I get back to the school library.

Bryce reaches out almost reverently when she offers the book. "Th-thank you." That sounds like a very sincere show of gratitude. He starts to turn the pages rather swiftly as she asks about memorization. He looks up from the book and nods his head. "I'm pretty good at visual memorization though I'm still working on auditory memorization."

He turns the book so that she can see it. He shuts his eyes and starts to read from the page that he just looked at. "Before we go on with the experiment, some remarks about the glossary are in order. Many technical terms, like the word refraction, are collected and defined once again in the glossary, which is printed near the end of the book." He opens his eyes and looks at her expression after her got the quote word perfect.

Poor Bryce.. he won't get much out of Callisto beyond discussing the nature of readers and how they can hold 'many many books' … as for how quickly the screen displays? Pig Latin. She looks sheepish at being unable to go into details beyond the basic usage of a reader, though the talk veering into games isn't much better in regards to the, ah.. breadth of her knowledge. She smiles vaguely, "There are certainly other students who could guide you better than I. However I am content in having helped in this small battle." She crosses her hands in front of her abdomen as Bryce accepts the sought-after book, giving it a swift lookt-hrough.

Callisto's eyes flit between the book, to the boy… she wouldn't fault him a few minutes to really take his time, look at pages, get acquainted—-

The book is turned toward the fae girl and she looks puzzled then as Bryce's eyes closed. She looks upon the very passage that he recites to her, eyes closed. THEN… she understands.

"You've a photographic memory?" Callisto whispers, eyes widened slightly. Could it have to do with what… the circlet?

Bryce nods his head. "I can remember anything that I see though, um, sort of like I said, I think, I can't always understand it. The doctors said that it has to do with, well, the unique nature of my mind which is also where my powers come from. As it, um, my mind, gets stronger, so should my powers and my memory." He looks down and softly adds, "If I can survive it."

He then takes back the book and says, "Is there a place I could look through, um, this book quietly." There is a earnest plea in his request.

"You are in the right place to learn how best to do all of that." Talk of 'surviving it' though, softens Callisto's expression some. She wants to ask about the circlet.. is that part of moderating these powers? This is not the place, not with her work having to resume and people milling about. The tall girl with the pointed ears and the shorter shy boy with the circlet could basically be passed off as eccentrics. Callisto doesn't seem to care, truly, who is looking and wondering. "You shall survive if you've the will and desire to master your mind, and take that control." Said softly.. she isn't one to gush or paw or lavish with frilly words, she just states solid, albeit gentle fact.

"There are reading nooks. We close in about an hour and a half… do as you must, read the whole thing." She insists. She reckons he will have the whole book committed to memory in that time. "Do as you will with it. I shall be around if I am yet needed."

One more elegant bow, her silvery hair sluicing over one shoulder, and Callisto pads off near-soundlessly.

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