**Fort Weyr - Lost Archives*
Surviving the ages is something that books are known to do, especially if they are left untouched for just as long. In this room, that's exactly what has happened. Put aside as trivial information or simply determined old enough to not impact present day life, these numerous articles stored in ceiling high shelves are the forgotten histories belonging to Fort.
Miraculously, the design of the room itself has prevented any of the books from damage. The rock base of which the room's foundation is actually one of the toughest rock known to man and cannot be surpassed by any creature living, while a layer of tiles of the smoothest stone gives this room a vibrant and mysterious appeal. The door itself on the room was sealed tight and allowed for a minimum amount of circulation, thereby preventing natural decay, although most articles may be brittle despite this. White marble has been used to create an insulating layer wall against the natural rock, giving the room an unnatural brightness and a enchanted atmosphere - while also giving it four distinct walls. The ceiling as well has been made smooth with an arching apex.
As for the books and mounds of information stored in this vault of information, the organization is clear. Books bound with hard covers are kept alphabetical in the towering skybroom wood shelves, where step ladders and scrolling ladders actually attached to the shelves move to assist a person in selecting a volume. The shelves are ornately carved, many crafted with a mastery none have ever seen. Meanwhile, scrolls have a sectional shelf where each scroll based on how they were itemized has a cubical square into which they are kept in. This shelf alone has over a hundred squares in which the scrolls stick out of. As well, any loose bits of information have been assembled in files that are stored in boxes along the back wall. Apparently, recording history takes up vast amounts of space and every where one looks in this room one would find a wealth of information. The ancestors of Fort live here.
Mid-afternoon in Fort Weyr finds Pralius wandering somewhat aimlessly, laptop in hand, well, under arm. His entrance into the library is easy to miss as he settles quietly at his usual table. His bag slides off his shoulder and he digs out a thick binder of pages. Sighing softly, he powers up the laptop. It boots much more quickly now with the addition of Jayashri's birthday present. Mmmmm… memory… it seems to say as the command prompt loads and he carefully navigates himself into their database. He doesn't even notice Jayashri rummaging through the records in the back of the room, so focused is he on the records of 2nd pass Telgari hatchings before him.
Shuffle. Rummage. Shuffle. Jayashri has been in this room for hours. Apparently either she or some other considerate soul brought her lunch, however, as a half eaten plate sits nearby. Her laptop is plugged in and set at an angle from her, the records being her current focus, a soft grumble sounding under her breath. "Does no one know how to organize anything about here?" She continues to mutter, either not hearing or not acknowledging the Healer's entrance until she lets the papers slide from her fingers, whunking down in a spray of dust that has her sneezing and further annoyed. She gets up from her chair, the legs screeching across the floor as she continues her sneezing fit away from the expanding cloud. Achoo!
Pralius starts sneezing as well, his eyes watering until the dust clears, "Sheesh, Ash, what're you doing back there? Maybe we should find A'di and get his help re-organizing the records? I'm sure he'd love to know we care about his precious records too." He grins, flipping the page on his own copies.
Jayashri covers her face with her hands in an attempt to filter out the dust as much as possible. She is unfortunately forced to wipe her nose on her sleeve once the dust clears, seeing as there is no tissue anywhere, nor does she have a handkerchief. "Sorry," she wheezes, her eyes still pouring water. "I'm trying to go through the old records Fort has, see if I can find extra data on the hatchings and stuff. Or, even data related to it, like Weyrling records and such." She tries to clear her throat, coughing again. "Shells, I need a drink now." A-a-hem.
Pralius grins, dusting the dust from his hair, "No worries. I just got some of the oldest records from Telgar. It took them months to find and restore them." He reaches into his bag and pulls out his flask, leaning over to pass it to Ashri, "Don't worry, it's just Water."
Jayashri makes an attempt to clear her throat again as she takes the flask from Pralius, offering a faintly impish grin. "Nothing to warm the extremities?" is her witty rejoinder as she takes the cap off, sipping carefully. She sighs after a few swallows, restoring the lid and offering it back. "Yeah, I bet it did. Some of these are nigh unreadable. Funny thing is, most of the legible ones are the oldest."
Pralius nods, chuckling some, "That's true. First interval records were the cleanest." He takes a sip from the flask as it's passed back, "Have you gotten approval from your craftmaster on this project yet?"
Jayashri sighs, settling into a chair. "I haven't heard back yet. He's probably just busy. Even if I don't get approval for this as a journeyman project. I still think it's worth doing, though. And in a way, I can say it's part of my assignment here, even if it is a rather large side extension." She drums her fingers on the table thoughtfully. "I think it'll be useful in the end at any rate."
Pralius nods, tapping a few entries into his prompt, "It is and will be… and can you imagine what further uses we could come up with? we might be able to start tracing Wher and Firelizard lines, too. And I'm sure it'll be approved once you show significant progress."
Jayashri smiles at Pralius, leaning back in her chair and lacing her fingers behind her head. "Wher and firelizard lines, huh? I guess some people might be curious. I doubt we'll be able to fully trace either, but partially at least. Unlike Dragons, whers and firelizards can be wild." She sighs a bit at this. "I always felt kind of sorry for the Whers. They are very useful but often ill regarded. At least some of that prejudice seems to be lessening as time passes and understanding becomes more widespread."
Pralius nods, "But we could track the matings and children of those who are willing to share." He sighs, "Yeah, whers are great, it's too bad they get treated so poorly."
Jayashri nods. "Indeed we could. Eventually I hope to make the database easy for anyone to use so that people with the information can simply log on and update it themselves via an easy to use form. Given how few of us there are I doubt we could keep up with it alone. Besides, I think I'm the only one who wants to devote their life to sitting in front of a monitor." She chuckles a bit. "And even that's been compromised a bit with the potential of a Dragon."
Pralius chuckles, "A maleable and user-freindly graphical interface should be more than manageable once the system is finalized…" He types a few more lines in, "Craftriders are more than common. But one step at a time."
Jayashri grins. "Yeah, one thing at a time indeed." She gets up, wandering back over to where her lunch sits semi-discarded and bringing it over before settling back in and — after blowing off a bit of dust — starts to nosh on the sliced bread. "That's one thing I was wondering about. How long is it usually between clutches? I mean, am I going to be waiting years to try and Impress? The records seem to indicate that golds only rise once or twice a turn from what I can tell, but there are usually several golds in a Weyr, right?"
Pralius grins, "Once a year or so, if my memory serves… but there's as much variety in golds as in greens.." He shrugs, taking another sip from his flask, "But there are a couple of fertile golds here… there should be another clutch in a few months, probably."
Jayashri smiles, hopeful. "Well, Kessa said that I'd be able to stand next time, so, maybe Nirav and I will get lucky this time around." She looks thoughtful for a few moments as she chews on her bread. "It's funny just how much I was missing at the Hall. Nothing but work and study. Had a few friends, but nothing like you guys, except for my brother." She blushes a bit, but doesn't say why. "Being here has really opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibility."
Pralius nods, grinning, "I said the same thing to Master Fraille when she asked whether I thought the hall properly prepared me for posting. Social life is so different outside of the hall." He sighs happily, "She also yelled at me for keeping company with such impertinent and disrespectful young ladies," he chuckles, "She's always be strict like that… harsh…" He chuckles again, running his fingers through his hair in his usual nervous habit, "I hope you're coming to like it here."
Jayashri blushes about the impertinent and disrespectful remark. "Yeah…" She winces. "Kessa gave me a real dressing down for that." She frowns, combing her fingers through her hair. "Back at the Hall such banter was pretty common. You had to have a quick and witty retort for just about everything it seemed. Some of them got pretty technical, too. I didn't mean any harm by it." She sets her bread down, stirring the lukewarm soup with a frown. Bleh.
Pralius nods, taking another 'hit' from his flask and nibbling one a meat roll, "The healer hall is much more concerned with appearances. I got a dressingdown for the hair, too." He smirks, "It wasn't a problem, I just wanted to banter and let you know."
Jayashri nods. "I suppose I can see why. Kind of hard to trust your life to someone who looks… peculiar." She hesitantly slurps at her soup and finding it passable works at it with slightly more earnest. "I think most of the copper has faded out from mine." She rolls her eyes up at it. "I still have no idea what color to try next. Probably should be really careful with my marks, though." She glances at his computer. "She doing all right?" There is a gesture to indicate the machine.
Pralius chuckles, "She assumed it was to help with treating the kids since I mentioned that pediatrics preparation was probably my biggest lack." He grins, "I had it touched up when I came back from the hall… I'd grown out around a half-inch of undyed hair." He smirks, gave a snippet to Wyn… that's what she gave me at my birthday… a snippet of her hair." He blinks a few times, clearing his eyes, then grins, "What colors are the computer craft? Might be good highlights."
Jayashri nods. "Well, at least you were able to pass it off as somehow… professional." She slurps on the broth. "Did you put it in a locket or something?" she asks of the snippet. "I hear it's a good way to keep it." A pause. "Red and white, like the Smithcraft. Not sure how that would look on my head." She reaches up to finger a curl. "Might be interesting."
Pralius shakes his head and pats the breast pocket of his vest, "It was in a little pouch out of her candidate robe… I keep it right here by my heart." He smiles softly, zoning out briefly, then starts, nodding, "Might go with a pale red with white highlights."
Jayashri smiles, lifting her bowl and slurping the last few dregs of broth before setting it back down and taking her bread, standing up and going to get her laptop. She unplugs it and moves it to the table Pralius is at before seeking out an outlet for her own machine. "Might try that." She smiles as the screen brightens, once again supplied with full power. "I wish there was a way to see, even approximately, what a given color would look like before you did it." She wanders back over to the table, fetching a partial stack. "But, recreational things aside, I suppose I should get back to work. So much data, so little time." She chuckles, starting to sift through the pile for something akin to a starting point before giving up and just starting on top. Sort functions for the win?
Pralius nods, flipping to the next page of his own, "I'm sure there's a way… Did you know that there was a queen in Telgar during the first interval who didn't lay a single gold or bronze? These records are truly fascinating…"
