[Palamedes' second consecutive month spent mostly in the Sanctuary is, a mere two days in, already looking like a stressful one. Not because of the Sanctuary, and somehow not because of the city anymore, no matter what the sea is doing— but he's gearing up to do some serious medical procedures in a few weeks, and so all of his time is spent hunched over books and notes, studying and re-studying and learning and memorizing and getting a crick in his neck the likes of which mankind has never before encountered.
It might seem - a little counterintuitive, that he's so eager to welcome Jun back to the Sanctuary and his office of too many bookshelves when Jun messages about an "interesting book" in somewhat uncertain terms, being another book, but! It's different and for fun, and so Palamedes considers it a great restful activity for taking a break.
(And if he suggested snacks and books at the Sanctuary to spare Jun having to ask, well, that's just his eminent consideration.)
He isn't anticipating two little dudes to turn up in the Sanctuary looking for him, though, so—]
Oh! I'll send for more snacks. [And then, gesturing for them to get in here,] Hi, come in, come in, pick a spot to sit.
[There are two big, egregiously comfy armchairs on this side of his desk, but there's also, like, the rug on the floor, he won't judge.]
[Jun has been debating this for a while - he was a little slow to respond to Pal's initial welcome back to Sanctuary. But he has found an interesting book in the Archives, and Falco was there with him when he discovered the fossils.]
[Really, Falco was the one who discovered the fossils initially, so it makes sense to bring him.]
Hi. ... I don't know if you know each other, so just in case - Palamedes, this is Falco. Falco, this is Palamedes.
[He heads over to one of the chairs and takes out a thick book that seems to be about... fossils? It makes more sense when he starts pulling out chunks of rock with what look like old sea life fossils on them.]
[ he hoped it was alright— it sounded like a great idea, and the extended invitation to come had made falco slightly giddy. book club. he's never been a part of the sort, but it seems well up his alley. when palamedes doesn't seem to mind his presence, falco steps out better from behind jun: same age, hauling a seemingly heavy messenger bag on one side of him, all while keeping a crutch under his opposite arm. he bows his head in greeting and offers a meek but enthused smile and says: ]
Hello, sir— Thank you for having me. [ oh, a chair! look how big and comfy they are! he's sure he can fit two of him in it side by side, and carefully makes his way, one foot, crutch, then the other foot, over to sand his spot and ret his legs. ] We found those, and some rocks in the caves by the beach.
[Palamedes sticks his head out into the hall a moment, to wave over a volunteer and confer with them briefly about please begging Abigail for more snacks and please not incurring her wrath too much, thank you-- then returns, to see about these, ah, rocks?
--Well, first he'll see about getting a footrest for Falco, which is ultimately just the stepping stool for the higher shelves, but he drags it over to the armchairs for him to put his feet up. Now: rocks.
What's with these rocks. He knows about old things and he knows about dead things, but he knows very little about combining the two in this particular form. Also, sea life: a mystery.]
You can call me Palamedes, [he says to Falco, belatedly, and then,] What am I looking at, here?
[He watches Pal drag over the footrest and nods approvingly. Good, he's caring about his friend. Gold star for Palamedes today. But what he says is more interesting.]
You... don't know about fossils?
[Okay, time to teach an adult a Thing.]
Fossils are the remains of ancient animals - sometimes plants, but usually animals. They're bones left from when things died. Slowly the bones and other material get replaced by another mineral. ... I forget which one.
[He doesn't know everything, after all.]
Basically you can look at them to figure out what lived in the area you found them in. Like this one -
[He points to one of them that seems more complete than the others.]
It's some kind of crustacean. You can tell by the shape and all of the legs.
[ oh, that’s not— falco starts with a placating hand up in regards to his brand new footrest, but just as quickly presses his lips together in silence. he bows his head in thanks. it wasn’t so much an injury as it was his body forgetting what it’s like to walk normally, with frequency— instead going quadruped or curling up in an inhuman way. he’s thankful either way as he sets his crutch aside, against the outer arm of the cushioned chair he picks. the rest does actually help in keeping his legs stretched rather than bent. thank you.
in the meantime, falco pulls his hanging messenger bag from his side to his lap, flipping the cover fabric open to start putting out some of his own findings while jun nerdsplains. he’s brought chunks of rock that were possible to carry with him— some that are lined out on one of the big puffy arms of the chair look identical to jun’s. there’s some sort of remnant of bone, or a twisting shape of a tiny creature with one too many heads (it was only a fraction of the full fossil). after that, there are metals, chunks with wonderful sheens to them. theyarequite fascinating, and also extremely useful if they figure out what they are.
[Palamedes' first thought is that these old rocks shouldn't be kept in backpacks and balanced on arms of chairs, but maybe good preservation is a skill they can get into later. For now he just gets right in there, crouching down between the two chairs so that he can look at the various fossils up close while Jun explains.
First, because no, he doesn't know what fossils are, he explains:]
I'm not from a place where life survives outside long enough to leave any bones, let alone keep them in the ground to become something else. And we do something different with our own dead.
[The useless rock that is Mercury isn't going to suddenly uncover whole animal skeletons preserved down there for years and years; it's just not feasible. So yes, he is learning a thing, squinting at these rocks as they're laid out to observe.
Golly... can he touch all of them...]
These are all quite the find, if you're right about what they are— and I believe you. You said you two found these in the caves?
[Like, just sitting there?? Tell him more about the cave adventure.]
[He notices Palamedes looking closely and he hands him a smallish rock. It looks like it's some kind of weird fish.]
I see. Where I'm from there's been plenty of fossils found over the years... it's part of how we learn about what sort of life was on the planet before us.
[He looks to Falco and offers him a small smile.]
Falco's the one who first found them in the caves. And you found a bunch of metals too, right? Do you want to talk about that stuff?
[He doesn't want to be the only one talking here, and Falco seems like he could use a little prompting in the conversation.]
[ oh, his cue! falco hadn’t wanted to interject while his bud there was talking— less of a problem with shyness and more out of respect, but he gladly returns the smile with a nod once jun has finished, and turns his attention to palamedes; also, he holds out one of the elements he’s just placed out. please feel free to get your eyes all over that. ]
Well, I . . . I had to stay in the caves for a while last month, ‘cause I was— pretty big, [ that’s longer to explain and not entirely about the rocks; he keeps his titanisms at a simple summary and continues, ] and since I had claws when I was that size, I started scratching at the walls when I got bored.
[ he gestures to the fracture of stone that he’s given to the man, ]
That’s the first thing that was underneath. It was different from what was on top, so I figured there could’ve been more.
[That sure is an activity to do when bored, he supposes. Palamedes leans his elbow on Falco's chair, taking the shiny rock with one hand and the fossil with the other and blinking at both for a moment. That's- old? These sure are old.]
A curious mind is a terrible thing to waste. You did good.
[This, idly, as he runs his thumb over a smooth bit of the chunk of metal.]
This is very old. We're talking somewhere in the vicinity of a hundred-thousand years. Maybe older.
[He holds the metal chunk out to Jun, like, look at the old thing!! It's Jun's turn to hold this one.]
[Is it magic? He hopes it's not magic. Magic still doesn't make sense to him. He's doing his best to not snap whenever it comes up but it still seems stupid to him compared to science.]
[He takes the metal chunk and looks at it carefully. He's still not sure what it is, but...]
Anyway, I thought you'd be interested in all of this stuff... and the book, since I don't know if you've found anything. You seem like a smart person, so I thought you might be curious...
[But apparently the man didn't even know what fossils were, so he's not sure how helpful he can be. He's smart, but he keeps forgetting people don't all come from worlds like his.]
There's a lot of things about this place that we don't know, and I think that taking a scientific approach might help. I'll... leave the magic stuff to other people.
[He fights to keep the disdain out of his voice there. Magic, bah.]
[ falco knows nothing about magic either, only what was within reach from what he managed to learn following blood ministers and mister nehan when he was still here— mixing elixirs, the building blocks of blood magic. the rest had been a reliance on the modern medicine he’d been used to (which wasn’t exactly modern, coming from early 20th century au). he gazes at palamedes expectantly and curiously. they hardly knew each other, but the man’s words already carry weight for him. ]
Can they be used for something, you think?
[ of course, there’s be a lot of studying involved, but— pal’s got two interested little nerdy dudes that could definitely help with the research if guided by the proper hand. ]
I can tell from touching it. It's my special skill. [This is just the way of things!! However,] There are other ways to tell— probably in that book of yours. Things to look for, tests to do. It's always good to confirm a theory, you know.
[His psychometry magic has never been wrong, but it's been confusing? There's merit in doing things the normal way, with science.
As for using them for something, as he picks up a different shiny rock, hmm.]
Well, Jun is right; there's plenty about this place we don't know. Learning about the creatures that lived here a long time ago and what it was like for them might help us understand more about living here now. They could have insights into beasthood, especially if they're older than the Pthumerians.
Ah. ... There probably are. I don't know if this book has it, since it's mostly on fossils, but - I'm sure the Archives has something! We just have to find it.
[The lack of organization there drives him insane, but hopefully he can stumble across something.]
Exactly. Do we even know when they came here? I... don't actually know very much about them at all.
[As much as he prefers avoiding supernatural things, he's... starting to become resigned to the fact that he can't.]
[ oh—! don't worry, bro. falco's got you covered. realizing that there is quite a growing list of things to do, he pulls out a book with empty pages, an ink pen, and begins to jot down some things they should be aware of: Age, understanding > beasthood > Pthumerians? and below them, suggestions: Books: stones, elements, fossils, pthumerian history. ]
There're definitely archives on something. There has to be— it can be under history, or . . . Something directly on Pthumerians?
[Aw, look at him taking notes, what a fine little scholar Falco is. Palamedes approves of this with a slight nod, then-]
'When,' as in what year? No idea. Some of them are from that 'dream' a handful of us were part of- not me, mind you- but I'm sure there's a record somewhere of when the first one appeared. [...] Or was first noticed, at least.
[He looks at the fish fossil again, squinting thoughtfully.]
This is hardly everything one might find buried in the rocks, right? There must be properly ancient beings in there if you dig deep enough.
[ as the two discuss, falco brings on of his hands up while finishing his notes with his other. when there’s room for him to add, he definitely does: ]
I can probably go a lot deeper, once I feel better? I was taking my time before.
[ and just marveling so much at what he did end up finding that there was no real need to keep going. until now—? ]
[Well, he doesn't really know the first thing about excavation or otherwise just digging holes, but...]
If you'll humor me and my magic touch, I can 'feel out' which spots are the most likely to have something old and preserved in them? We'd have to make a whole project of it.
["Have to," he says, like it's not delightful. Book club becomes rock club!!]
If I can find the spots, we're in business. We might want to wrangle another digger, so you can take breaks.
[ for the consideration from the both of them, that is. he certainly wants to help as much as he can, but overexertion may end up being a problem . . . well, it'd always be a problem. better to use what he had, along with the time that he had, for good rather than letting it sit, no?
he nods and agrees with jun— if pal could find more like a human thing-detector, well . . . it's exciting! ]
We can ask around for people who might be interested and have abilities to dig through.
Sure. I'd recommend we avoid blood-related abilities as much as we can; blood pollution in this place is bad enough without injecting it directly into the deep earth.
[That would just be irresponsible to do, like, knowingly? Ridiculous. Anyway, what was that other thing he heard...]
[ falco can't help his following response, lips tucked and smile spreading smoothly. from experience, falco knows it's probably good. anything was better than home, which was hardly a "school" and more preparation to perform specific, child-hazardous tasks. the robbie middle school in california hardly counted; he did much more snooping than actual studying there.
going to a real school was a dream come true, and he doesn't shy away from his enthusiasm to add, almost meekly: ]
What are they teaching there? Novice Blood Morphs?
[That's not a joke, he took that class back home. That's a real guess. Anyway, he's already a criminal on the school grounds for stealing a chalkboard, but...]
It's been a while, but I'm persistently good at preparing for exams. You know, if you two need any tips when it comes time for exam season.
[Which surely this school has? Defying all expectations, he doesn't care one whit about the school here, but surely it has a Dedicated Exam Season embraced with delight and humility, like normal schools. "Normal."]
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jun, falco → reading rainbow
It might seem - a little counterintuitive, that he's so eager to welcome Jun back to the Sanctuary and his office of too many bookshelves when Jun messages about an "interesting book" in somewhat uncertain terms, being another book, but! It's different and for fun, and so Palamedes considers it a great restful activity for taking a break.
(And if he suggested snacks and books at the Sanctuary to spare Jun having to ask, well, that's just his eminent consideration.)
He isn't anticipating two little dudes to turn up in the Sanctuary looking for him, though, so—]
Oh! I'll send for more snacks. [And then, gesturing for them to get in here,] Hi, come in, come in, pick a spot to sit.
[There are two big, egregiously comfy armchairs on this side of his desk, but there's also, like, the rug on the floor, he won't judge.]
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[Really, Falco was the one who discovered the fossils initially, so it makes sense to bring him.]
Hi. ... I don't know if you know each other, so just in case - Palamedes, this is Falco. Falco, this is Palamedes.
[He heads over to one of the chairs and takes out a thick book that seems to be about... fossils? It makes more sense when he starts pulling out chunks of rock with what look like old sea life fossils on them.]
I thought you'd find this stuff interesting.
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Hello, sir— Thank you for having me. [ oh, a chair! look how big and comfy they are! he's sure he can fit two of him in it side by side, and carefully makes his way, one foot, crutch, then the other foot, over to sand his spot and ret his legs. ] We found those, and some rocks in the caves by the beach.
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--Well, first he'll see about getting a footrest for Falco, which is ultimately just the stepping stool for the higher shelves, but he drags it over to the armchairs for him to put his feet up. Now: rocks.
What's with these rocks. He knows about old things and he knows about dead things, but he knows very little about combining the two in this particular form. Also, sea life: a mystery.]
You can call me Palamedes, [he says to Falco, belatedly, and then,] What am I looking at, here?
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You... don't know about fossils?
[Okay, time to teach an adult a Thing.]
Fossils are the remains of ancient animals - sometimes plants, but usually animals. They're bones left from when things died. Slowly the bones and other material get replaced by another mineral. ... I forget which one.
[He doesn't know everything, after all.]
Basically you can look at them to figure out what lived in the area you found them in. Like this one -
[He points to one of them that seems more complete than the others.]
It's some kind of crustacean. You can tell by the shape and all of the legs.
[Cool rocks cool rocks!]
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in the meantime, falco pulls his hanging messenger bag from his side to his lap, flipping the cover fabric open to start putting out some of his own findings while jun nerdsplains. he’s brought chunks of rock that were possible to carry with him— some that are lined out on one of the big puffy arms of the chair look identical to jun’s. there’s some sort of remnant of bone, or a twisting shape of a tiny creature with one too many heads (it was only a fraction of the full fossil). after that, there are metals, chunks with wonderful sheens to them. they are quite fascinating, and also extremely useful if they figure out what they are.
there’s also more where that came from 😏 ]
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First, because no, he doesn't know what fossils are, he explains:]
I'm not from a place where life survives outside long enough to leave any bones, let alone keep them in the ground to become something else. And we do something different with our own dead.
[The useless rock that is Mercury isn't going to suddenly uncover whole animal skeletons preserved down there for years and years; it's just not feasible. So yes, he is learning a thing, squinting at these rocks as they're laid out to observe.
Golly... can he touch all of them...]
These are all quite the find, if you're right about what they are— and I believe you. You said you two found these in the caves?
[Like, just sitting there?? Tell him more about the cave adventure.]
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I see. Where I'm from there's been plenty of fossils found over the years... it's part of how we learn about what sort of life was on the planet before us.
[He looks to Falco and offers him a small smile.]
Falco's the one who first found them in the caves. And you found a bunch of metals too, right? Do you want to talk about that stuff?
[He doesn't want to be the only one talking here, and Falco seems like he could use a little prompting in the conversation.]
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Well, I . . . I had to stay in the caves for a while last month, ‘cause I was— pretty big, [ that’s longer to explain and not entirely about the rocks; he keeps his titanisms at a simple summary and continues, ] and since I had claws when I was that size, I started scratching at the walls when I got bored.
[ he gestures to the fracture of stone that he’s given to the man, ]
That’s the first thing that was underneath. It was different from what was on top, so I figured there could’ve been more.
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A curious mind is a terrible thing to waste. You did good.
[This, idly, as he runs his thumb over a smooth bit of the chunk of metal.]
This is very old. We're talking somewhere in the vicinity of a hundred-thousand years. Maybe older.
[He holds the metal chunk out to Jun, like, look at the old thing!! It's Jun's turn to hold this one.]
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[Is it magic? He hopes it's not magic. Magic still doesn't make sense to him. He's doing his best to not snap whenever it comes up but it still seems stupid to him compared to science.]
[He takes the metal chunk and looks at it carefully. He's still not sure what it is, but...]
Anyway, I thought you'd be interested in all of this stuff... and the book, since I don't know if you've found anything. You seem like a smart person, so I thought you might be curious...
[But apparently the man didn't even know what fossils were, so he's not sure how helpful he can be. He's smart, but he keeps forgetting people don't all come from worlds like his.]
There's a lot of things about this place that we don't know, and I think that taking a scientific approach might help. I'll... leave the magic stuff to other people.
[He fights to keep the disdain out of his voice there. Magic, bah.]
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Can they be used for something, you think?
[ of course, there’s be a lot of studying involved, but— pal’s got two interested little nerdy dudes that could definitely help with the research if guided by the proper hand. ]
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I can tell from touching it. It's my special skill. [This is just the way of things!! However,] There are other ways to tell— probably in that book of yours. Things to look for, tests to do. It's always good to confirm a theory, you know.
[His psychometry magic has never been wrong, but it's been confusing? There's merit in doing things the normal way, with science.
As for using them for something, as he picks up a different shiny rock, hmm.]
Well, Jun is right; there's plenty about this place we don't know. Learning about the creatures that lived here a long time ago and what it was like for them might help us understand more about living here now. They could have insights into beasthood, especially if they're older than the Pthumerians.
[You never know!!]
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Ah. ... There probably are. I don't know if this book has it, since it's mostly on fossils, but - I'm sure the Archives has something! We just have to find it.
[The lack of organization there drives him insane, but hopefully he can stumble across something.]
Exactly. Do we even know when they came here? I... don't actually know very much about them at all.
[As much as he prefers avoiding supernatural things, he's... starting to become resigned to the fact that he can't.]
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There're definitely archives on something. There has to be— it can be under history, or . . . Something directly on Pthumerians?
[ he can definitely be missing something. ]
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'When,' as in what year? No idea. Some of them are from that 'dream' a handful of us were part of- not me, mind you- but I'm sure there's a record somewhere of when the first one appeared. [...] Or was first noticed, at least.
[He looks at the fish fossil again, squinting thoughtfully.]
This is hardly everything one might find buried in the rocks, right? There must be properly ancient beings in there if you dig deep enough.
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[He shakes his head. No, it's not nearly everything.]
Falco found a lot of them, but I don't know how you could dig through the rock even more without it being really slow.
[... Ugh. The solution he hates.]
Maybe... someone here has some kind of magic that they can use? You'd know more about that than I would.
[Or has a magic jackhammer or something... but that'd destroy the rocks. Hmm...]
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I can probably go a lot deeper, once I feel better? I was taking my time before.
[ and just marveling so much at what he did end up finding that there was no real need to keep going. until now—? ]
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If you'll humor me and my magic touch, I can 'feel out' which spots are the most likely to have something old and preserved in them? We'd have to make a whole project of it.
["Have to," he says, like it's not delightful. Book club becomes rock club!!]
If I can find the spots, we're in business. We might want to wrangle another digger, so you can take breaks.
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[He gestures towards the other and how he's propping up his leg.]
It'd definitely be interesting. And give us something to do in our spare time when we're not in classes or work or something like that...
[Though his schedule is rapidly filling up with training, he can't train all the time.]
If you can figure out where the things are we can dig around them more carefully so we don't break them.
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[ for the consideration from the both of them, that is. he certainly wants to help as much as he can, but overexertion may end up being a problem . . . well, it'd always be a problem. better to use what he had, along with the time that he had, for good rather than letting it sit, no?
he nods and agrees with jun— if pal could find more like a human thing-detector, well . . . it's exciting! ]
We can ask around for people who might be interested and have abilities to dig through.
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[That would just be irresponsible to do, like, knowingly? Ridiculous. Anyway, what was that other thing he heard...]
You two are going to school?
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[He has them, sure - but that doesn't mean he can use them.]
... We're going to try going to classes at the school. See how we feel about what they're teaching there.
[He has his doubts, but... it's better than no school, probably.]
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going to a real school was a dream come true, and he doesn't shy away from his enthusiasm to add, almost meekly: ]
—I'm excited.
[ studies!! books!! learning!!!!!!! ]
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[That's not a joke, he took that class back home. That's a real guess. Anyway, he's already a criminal on the school grounds for stealing a chalkboard, but...]
It's been a while, but I'm persistently good at preparing for exams. You know, if you two need any tips when it comes time for exam season.
[Which surely this school has? Defying all expectations, he doesn't care one whit about the school here, but surely it has a Dedicated Exam Season embraced with delight and humility, like normal schools. "Normal."]
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