(Sorry, what's Ky referring to? I didn't get much sleep last night and my brain isn't working so well)
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
(Ah sorry I was distracted not sure that actually makes sense, I was meaning her asking if the telescopes and observations were done from Serpent Keep but he said East so that doesn’t make sense… lemme edit)
“… so you have a scientist that works in the East and comes back here to move these around?” she asked, still not really grasping how it all worked. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"No." Gaius stepped toward one of the cranks. "When the model was installed, the system was set to reflect the date and time at which it was made functional. The dates, times, and years are here." He pointed to a set of sundial-like contraptions. "You set the needle to the date, time, and year you want and it sets off these cranks to move via a spring system, and it will show you what the solar system looked like on that day."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
“Oh.” She still didn’t understand, but gave a little smile and nod. “Cool!”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"Only the caretakers are really supposed to operate this, unfortunately, but I can speak to one of them if you take an interest in observing different dates."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
“No, that’s okay. Thank you, though!” She smiled again. She didn’t understand what she was looking at now so it wouldn’t mean anything to her to see it at a different date. No need to go through the trouble on her behalf.
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Gaius returned the smile. "Right, then. Unless you want to go up to the observatory tower, I think we can head to the library."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
She felt like she was going to feel stupid as long as they were up here and was more than willing to move on. “I’m quite looking forward to the library!”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Gaius said nothing; he was anticipating her reaction more than he had to the orrery; he suspected she didn't quite understand the import and magnitude of the device, but perhaps once she got her hands on his collection she could read some astronomy books and grasp what the model meant and how innovative it was for its time.
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
She didn’t know why. But he didn’t respond. So it was.
Did she not seem enthusiastic enough about the orrery?
She didn’t know how to fix that. She didn’t have any idea whatsoever what this meant or how she was supposed to be responding. Had she just let him see how stupid she truly was? Probably.
“… or we can go up to the tower?” she said hesitantly, not sure what the right answer was here. “This is all very interesting no doubt.”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Gaius shook his head. "It's completely up to you." He glanced over at her. She looked nervous again; had his silence upset her? Sometimes he just preferred to listen and not respond. Had she not realized that about him yet?
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
Guessing the right answer was getting increasingly more difficult.
Neither her initial answer and her corrective answer seemed to please him. Not that he seemed displeased in general. But also not not-displeased. Just the absence of pleasure in general and she didn’t know how to fawn to earn approval if he didn’t give her a hint of what he wanted.
“Um.” She hesitated.
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Gaius waited patiently, keeping quiet once again. She did need to learn how to make decisions without anyone's input, especially if she wanted a job.
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
She’d made a decision and then he made her second guess it and now she was second guessing her second guess and… “… the library?”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"Off we go, then." Gaius dipped his head and limped toward the stairs. "It takes up three floors, you know."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
