AUDIENCE FOR: Estelle

[guestservices]

this is what you get until you give me a shitpost

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week 1, monday

[guestservices]

[re: Do you have time to chat today? Maybe we can talk about books!]

sure i've got a minute
where do you want me to meet you?

[mustbepurged]

Are you okay with meeting outside of the hotel? It looks like there's a library in the new place!

[guestservices]

sure! hang on a tic

[ it doesn't take very long after her message: at the library location, estelle will see a swirl of shadows coalesce out of the ground, and out of them steps aquila. they give her a cheerful wave. ]

'Llo, Estelle. Some library, huh?

[mustbepurged]

[Estelle's already gotten distracted looking at titles again, but she turns around and smiles brightly when she sees them.]

It's amazing! Have you ever seen one as big as this?

[guestservices]

Once or twice.

[ there's some warmth in their tone there. they step up next to her, arms folded behind their back. ] What are you looking for? Anything in specific?

[mustbepurged]

I want to learn more about other worlds. Their culture and history...

... Though, I keep finding the most fascinating storybooks...

[It's hard not to get distracted. It's so much.]

[guestservices]

[ estelle might hear the smile in their voice. they turn their head, coughing a bit, but if any flower petals came out, they disappear down their sleeve. ]

Hard to pick just one thing, huh. You only get a week here, too, if it's gonna be like last week, so you gotta choose extra wisely.

[ a pause. ] I like a good storybook, too. Culture, history - maybe not as much my thing, but, I read a little bit.

[mustbepurged]

[She brightens at that, and nods.] I know I can't spend too much time reading, but a place like this is an opportunity I just can't ignore.

Do you have any favorites you'd recommend? I don't know if they'll have it here, but you never know!

[guestservices]

[ estelle is so cute. this mod is crying. ]

I don't think it's a bad thing, balancing business and pleasure. It's not like you guys're all murder all the time.

[ don't bring up murder in the murder hotel, aquila. as for favorites, they pause for a moment? thinking.

and then... ] ...I like poetry, actually. Believe it or not.

[mustbepurged]

Really? Me too! What kind of poetry?

[guestservices]

Any kind, really. From love poems to great epics.

[ they pause for a moment, tip their head. and then laugh. ] I know a guy who writes the fucking worst poetry, too, and that's great.

[mustbepurged]

[That's mean and she's trying not to laugh.]

I-it can't be that bad! Come on, what's so bad about it?

[guestservices]

[ estelle can almost certainly hear the grin in their voice. ]

They're raunchy as all hell and they're bad. Ever heard of a limerick?

[mustbepurged]

[I flipped a coin to decide if limericks exist in Vesperialand. They do now.]

He writes limericks?

[guestservices]

Yeah. And they're waaay too dirty for me to tell a cutie like you.

[ that's playful - the implication of a wink there, though it's not flirty. it's more teasing big brother vibes. ] But, if you like good limericks, maybe there are some here? Iunno.

[mustbepurged]

If they're as you say, then that's probably for the best. [Yeah, she doesn't really want to hear dirty jokes.]

Do you ever write poetry, yourself?

[guestservices]

[ they did not think she would like that, yeah. they laugh! ]

Eh. [ a wave of their hand, sort of wobbly. ] Nothing to write home about, if I do. What about you?

[mustbepurged]

["If," huh...]

Me? I'm not very good with poetry, but... lately, I've started trying my hand at writing books.

[guestservices]

[ don't perceive

oh! they make a little noise at that. ] Seriously? What kind of books?

[mustbepurged]

Children's books. Fairy tales, like the ones I grew up with.

[guestservices]

[ they visibly perk. ]

Tell me about one you're working on?

[mustbepurged]

It's about a prince who falls in love with a tree spirit. The spirit takes the form of a young woman, and the two become happily married... but the nobles have her cast into exile, leaving the prince alone with his loneliness and grief.

But as a tree, she grows taller than any other, stretching her blossoming branches so high that even he can see them from the castle, where he weeps. He's comforted by the sight, though he doesn't know that the tree was actually his lost love...

[guestservices]

[ oh... they listen along, and then: ]

... That's beautiful, Miss Estelle. [ a beat. ] Think I like stories like that. Ones that are a little bittersweet.

[mustbepurged]

You really like it?

I want to write stories to help people think of the kindness that can be found, even in the darkest of times.

[guestservices]

Yeah. I really - it reminded me of one. There's this old fable...

[ they pause for a moment, tilting their head, as if thinking. ]

About a paradise in a time of trouble. Kinda similar. Basically, there was a huge war that was causing a lot of people to starve to death, and get killed in battle, shit like that. Someone was in a boat and trying to escape it out of desperation, yeah? And they got in and they floated down river, and accidentally stumbled upon this total paradise that had been totally untouched by war. They'd not had any contact with any outwards civilization or anything at all.

And so the people in the little paradise village took care of the guy - they made sure he got to rest, and relax, and got a moment of peace. They sent him home with food for his family. Course, the guy promised that he'd come back, but the people of the paradise told him he'd never be able to find it again, and no matter how much he looked, he couldn't find it. He didn't believe 'em, but that was the case.

So... it didn't fix anything, but it was kinda like that. A little moment of kindness and paradise, good for your body and your soul, even if it's short lived.

[ there's a definite smile in their voice as they recount the story. ] Iunno if I got all the details right. Been a while since I've heard it. But I still remember it, cause it stuck with me.