Jigano was delighted to see so many active participants in the conversation, eyes shining as he smiled around at Loreseekers and others who had chosen to come. Libbs ’s hand went up first, unsurprising to him, and his grin broadened for a moment as he nodded for her to begin. It was actually quite a controlled barrage for her, and he tilted his head as he rearranged the order of his answers in his head. ”No need to apologize; we’re here to answer questions today! We don’t know whether they reproduce or not, or who made them,” he acknowledged first. ”If they were made intentionally, or if they gained sentience spontaneously from soaking up the magic around them, or something else… it’s a question someone should spend more time researching,” he suggested, only half-teasing. ”But yes, we’ve logged and catalogued several. They’re kept down in the Guildhall so they don’t ambush people who don’t want to go for a reading ride that day.”
Quanil was next, studious and determined, and his smile softened as he nodded at them to speak up. He nodded, smile fading a bit towards a more sober mien as he tilted a wry glance to Sam in shared memory of the first encounter with the creatures. ”You can crush them, douse them in water to drown them, or kill them like almost any other kind of insect,” he explained. ”With one exception: don’t try to light them on fire to burn them out. They do burn, but it’s not fast, and they’ll chase you down while they’re on fire, and risk setting everything around you ablaze while they’re at it.” Not that anyone should be wandering around with open flame in the library anyways, right?
Aonghas was as grounded and sensible as ever, and Jigano’s smile returned, wry this time as he gave a small, helpless shrug at the first question. ”None that we’ve found, except that so far they have all been books, not scrolls or soft-bound journals. Other than that, all you can do is hope you see it moving out of the corner of your eye before its able to flip its cover open on you.” He nodded approvingly at the question on the paper wasps, but this time his grin turned to a faint grimace. ”No deterrents that we’ve found yet, aside from a complete lack of books for them to lay their eggs in. Perhaps something could be made, a scent or paste from some plant, but we haven’t found any records of anyone trying before.” He arched a brow in friendly challenge at his friend, wondering if Aonghas would take up that task.
He had wondered when Maea would speak up, her endless curiosity as constant as the stars and as welcome as her notes. Jigano nodded at her question, not an obvious one, but worth asking. ”From the limited ones we’ve experienced so far, no, the endings don’t change. You and I can ‘read’ the same Sentient Book on different days and we’ll both experience the same story. We might do so from the viewpoints of different characters, but the broad strokes of the tale seem to remain the same.”
He went quiet again, waiting to see if there were more questions on this topic before he moved on to the next one.
He had wondered when Maea would speak up, her endless curiosity as constant as the stars and as welcome as her notes. Jigano nodded at her question, not an obvious one, but worth asking. ”From the limited ones we’ve experienced so far, no, the endings don’t change. You and I can ‘read’ the same Sentient Book on different days and we’ll both experience the same story. We might do so from the viewpoints of different characters, but the broad strokes of the tale seem to remain the same.”
He went quiet again, waiting to see if there were more questions on this topic before he moved on to the next one.
