six. ( video )

[reconnaissance]

Is everyone okay?

( She's looking worse for wear, has lost a lot of the muscle she'd managed to build up since getting here. Still, she offers a little grin, a cushion on her lap that her hands are idly twisting into, before she remembers the cup of tea nearby and grabs it up, warming her hands around it. )

So, uh. Okay.

( Eloquent, Linton. )

Do-- is anyone here familiar with Gwen Harwood? She's an Australian poet. I was thinking about her a bit, but I haven't been able to track her down. She wrote this thing, once about how death has become obscene, and philosophers...

( Ellie tilts her head, running her fingers through her hair, gaze not really focused on anything. )

It's been a while. But it's really good. I don't even know if anyone here is that into literature and poetry and stuff except for Dagger. Any takers?

Comments

text

[whatsupcroc]

I don't know about Gwen. I'm not really bg into literature, either, I'm more of an action sorta gal. Or true stories, biographies of really awesome people, and sometimes fiction!

I'm glad to see you're awake, El!

[reconnaissance]

Literature has a lot of action. Haven't you ever read revenge tragedy? There's blood and guts everywhere.

( GOSH, COLL. WHAT KIND OF FRIEND ARE YOU. )

Yeah, me too. You doing okay?

text;

[wolfchild]

are you

[reconnaissance]

I can breathe without a machine, that's a step in the right direction.

( Honestly? She's still not feeling great, but recovery time never seems realistic, any more. )

[solitaire]

_{( Remy is kind of a sucker for the arts. So he recites: )}

Mon enfant, ma soeur,
Songe à la douceur
D'aller là-bas vivre ensemble!
Aimer à loisir,
Aimer et mourir
Au pays qui te ressemble!
Les soleils mouillés
De ces ciels brouillés
Pour mon esprit ont les charmes
Si mystérieux
De tes traîtres yeux,
Brillant à travers leurs larmes.

Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté.

_{( Then he adds: )} "There all is order and beauty, Luxury, peace, and pleasure."

[reconnaissance]

( Oh, hello sir. She likes him, he can stay.

Especially with the poetry, even if she doesn't understand French at all. Congratulations, Remy, for managing to get a smile out of her. )

That was really beautiful.

( If anything is going to get her to say that, it's poetry. ) I really wish I could remember that Harwood poem.

( Rueful, as she scratches the back of her neck. ) Have you read any Emily Dickinson? She's probably my favourite poet of all time.

Video

[lifemelody]

[Dagger herself still looks a bit like she's recovering from a cold and sniffs occasionally- but yeah, looking way better than Ellie]

Gwen Harwood?

I haven't read her, but I can try to find her in the library for you!

[reconnaissance]

( Ellie manages to give her a grin. )

You're looking a bit rough, Dagger. Sure you should be running anywhere?

( As if she were the very picture of health. )

That'd be amazing. We could go together? I feel like I haven't seen you in ages.

( Seen anyone in ages. Happens with the life support and the unconsciousness and the everything. )

video;

[skort]

I'm generally more of a movie person when it comes to fiction, but I've been known to read some novels and poetry now and again.

[reconnaissance]

Hey! ( It's-- shit, what's her name? Not the hero name, the other name. Okay, ever mind, just play it cool Linton and it will be fine. )

Movies are great.

( Let's not get into that argument; her ex is some kind of freakish film aficionado. )

Poetry is maybe the oldest model of story telling, though. I mean, songs and ballads and-- yeah, that, but the novel is a really modern development, and movies too. Poetry will take you right through the ages of human civilisation.

( Ellie you are a giant nerd )

[colur]

I have a friend who is a bard— of a sort, I mean.

[reconnaissance]

A bard? Really? Are they here?

text;

[vimdicare]

I'm a detective from a book, in fact.

Just kidding (≡^∇^≡)

I love detective fiction and murder mysteries, though. Do you have any interest in those? They're wonderful... In times like this, they can really keep your brain buzzing!

[reconnaissance]

( What is that strange thing that this person typed?

Ellie will just stare at that and try to figure it out. It's probably one of those things you're meant to know in the future. Maybe she'll ask Steph. )

I like all sorts of stories. Have you ever read Agatha Christie? She wrote some classics.

voice;

[velveteened]

( book talk be still his beating heart etc )

If you keep looking, you might find Ms. Harwood's poems - I was able to fine a book series from my home in the library.

[reconnaissance]

I heard they can turn up! Is it a good series?

( Should she brace herself for enthusiasm )

voice

[theboywhodied]

I'm fine.

You're the one I've been worried about, respectfully.

[reconnaissance]

Me? Come on, I got the treatment, I live with two trained medics. And besides, if we die we come back, anyway.

( So, really, it was going to be fine no matter what happened.

No. She still can't quite be flippant about death, not even here. )

Have you missed me?

video;

[mentore]

I fear the poetry of my time may be lost to most here, as is the poetry of your time is to me. How are you feeling?

[reconnaissance]

Yeah? That's too bad. I bet there's all sort of scandalous poems about courting.

( Can they joke about that? Was she too much of a jerk in that conversation. )

I'm doing okay. I'm pretty tired of being stuck inside.

( She's fairly sure she'd be killed by her various roommates if she went into the Outlands right now. ) You?

[lazyinlove]

For what? Open mic night?

[reconnaissance]

More like conversation.

video;

[aphrodisiacs]

I'm not really a big reader. [ and alisha feels embarrassed, since it seems like most of the people she runs into in this place like to read. ] More into the movie adaptions of shit, and even then ...

It's not like they make movies out of poetry. [ alisha shrugs her shoulders because she is an uneducated young offender and is instantly regretting replying to this, but she reminds herself that however she's coming across doesn't matter because she's glad that someone she met - and likes - in the worst of times is getting better. ]

[reconnaissance]

Alisha, right?

( She was sick, her memory of it feels a little fuzzy, off. ) Do you like musicals? I mean, Cats is based off some poems.

( Ellie, your nerd is showing. Hell, she's pretty sure Homer's never cracked a book in his life, and he's one of her favourite people in the world. All the worlds. )

But, uh, they got a lotta movies at the library, too. Kara's more of a movie person, too.

[inafadingcrown]

Poetry and literature have always been great loves of mine. Too few seem to have an interest. [KIDS THESE DAYS, etc, etc.]

[reconnaissance]

Mine, too!

( A grin, bright. This is a subject she could quite literally go on about for days. ) I guess that just means more books for us, huh?

video.

[recorden]

[ Here, have another (albeit unlikely-looking) bookworm. ]

I haven't heard of Gwen Harwood before, but that sounds like a very interesting piece! I hear the selection at the library is constantly growing, you might be able to find her stuff in the library eventually.

[ There's a thoughtful hum, before he adds: ]

If not, perhaps you can ask them [ the initiative ] to send you to a library in the past or somethin'. I'm sure they know the value of good literature and information, yeah?

[reconnaissance]

She writes a fair bit about death, but it's interesting, not just morbid and heavy stuff. It's good. (Relevant to this place, she thinks, but she needn't say that. Things are messed up as it is, and she's trying to remember Ezio and Batwoman's lessons: be patient, don't lose your temper, don't rub people up the wrong way.

At least this is just a chat about poetry. ) Yeah, I reckon I just gotta keep an eye out, maybe I'll be lucky.

( Hey. ) That's not a half bad idea. I bet there's all sorts of classic stuff that they might even need, too. Documents for them, books for me.

( . . . ) Uh, for us.

[voice]

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

I'll mend. [His voice is rough, but there's a note of tired humor in it]

I don't know Harwood - but the digital archives might have something. My literature appreciation's gotten kind of rusty lately - not enough time for reading.

[reconnaissance]

Yeah? Good. I feel like I haven't seen you much since-- ( spiders, the UE, chaos, crashing into the housing building. ) You're definitely okay, right?

Come on. Everyone can make time for poems, some of them are really short.

( SIR



SIR )

video

[chittybang]

[Are they cool? She thinks they're cool. Nothing stops the casual air she brings to the feed.]

Wish I could help. I'm really glad you're okay, though.

[reconnaissance]

Mm. ( Thanks, Sami. ) How are you doing?

Hey. Some of us might be making a book club. We could watch movies and stuff, too. You want in?

text; anon

[thephix]

Someone waits at my door. Because he is
dead he has time but I have my secrets—

this is what separates us from the dead.
See, I could order take-out or climb down

the fire escape, so it’s not as though he
is keeping me from anything I need.

While this may sound like something I made up,
it is not; I have forgotten how to

lie, despite all my capable teachers.
Lies are, in this way, I think, like music

and all is the same without them as with.
The fluid sky retains regret, then bursts.

He is still there, standing in the hall, insisting
he is someone I once knew and wanted,

come laden with gifts he cannot return.
If I open the door he’ll flash and fade

like heat lightning behind a bank of clouds
one summer night at the edge of the world.

permatext

[reconnaissance]

I haven't read this one before. Who's it by?

Can I ask why you picked that one?

( To share, if any. To share anonymously, too. It seems a bit weird. Is this someone she knows? )

Video /GETS BACK ON DAT CR TRAIN CHU CHU MOTHERFUCKER

[showmeyourwreath]

I'd really want to ask if you were okay instead, honestly. [Ellie qurl u ok, because u don't look ok.]

I really like poetry, though, it kind of comes with the territory. But I don't of any Earth poets or poems.

YEAAAHH

[reconnaissance]

( oh hay gurl. A hoarse laugh; ) I'm fine. Never better.

( Ha ha ha. )

You're not from Earth?

( She should stop being so fascinated but it's always so interesting okay )