# [closed post]

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan has devised another activity to occupy her days. By the calendar's reckoning, the start of spring is roughly a week away. Between her and Tress, they've got the outline of a plan for the next Dark, and Susan is happy to rely on people who've got greater interest in and skill for growing things insofar as agriculture goes. But the growing season here shall be longer than usual, and Susan should like to have some idea about what that might mean for the ecosystem,

This is her flimsy excuse to pardon the latest stack of books she's currently carrying out of the library. There is a marginal off-chance that preparatory reading on soil biota could, potentially, be useful. Perhaps she might even talk someone else into reading on the subject as well, so that they might discuss it.

Comments

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"What sort of books do you typically like?"

[futaille]

"I'm fond of the classics, of course. Aside from that, just whatever sparks my interest at the time. I like to know a little about a lot."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Such as?"

[futaille]

"Napoleon's entry into Russia was portended by a great comet, and was such a horrific failure that he clearly should have waited for a different portent."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I meant, what sort of things have sparked your interest recently?"

[futaille]

He shrugs. "Heraldry, for one."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Heraldry!"

[futaille]

"And the colors thereof."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Whatever for?"

[futaille]

"I was helping Galahad with a project and then decided to read more just for curiosity's sake."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I see."

[futaille]

"Things like that, basically. Not enough learning to be dangerous, though."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"No?" She gives him a piercing look. "And how much learning would you argue is dangerous?"

[futaille]

A diffident shrug. "Well, I'll be sure not to--" start any ill-advised revolutions... "not to stuff mind so full that my brain starts leaking out my ears. It's a valid concern. One never knows."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

A flash of what amounts to, on Susan Pevensie, an incredulous expression fades quickly into a more knowing one. "I've heard of such cases," she says. "Terrible stuff."

[futaille]

That shift in expression says very clearly that he did not play that off nearly as well as he might have wished, but he continues anyway. "A terrible fate indeed."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"They say it stains your neck terribly."

[futaille]

"Oh, certainly can't have that. Impossible to remove, brain stains."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I've heard the same."

[futaille]

He nods. "I will keep a slight reserve of ignorance for safety's sake, then."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Best of luck with that."

[futaille]

"Thank you for the well-wishes."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"They're pragmatic, you know," says Susan. "The well-wishes. If your brain started melting out of your ears, then I should think, hm." She purses her lips and gives him an assessing look, running through her mental list of suspected assignations. "At least a good third of the men here might go utterly useless. And then who could I bully into auditioning for the play? And besides, the lecture series would go absolutely tits-up." She tsks, shaking her head. "No, it's best you remain intact."

[futaille]

"The lecture series I'll grant you, especially as it will also benefit from my ignorance reserve, but a third is surely an exaggeration." He thinks it over. "A quarter at best."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Only a quarter?" Susan asks, feigning shock to cover up the actual mild surprise she feels at that. For a brief, bright moment, she misses holding court in the pubs and parties of London; misses going home with a different man every night and then never speaking to them again. It was exciting, it made her feel powerful and desired and - later - outside of herself, and sometimes it gave her such wonderfully knotty problems to unpick. But that's not what Grantaire is doing, is it? From what she's observed, apart from her, he's pursued relationships with all of the people she's picked up on.