video; un egyptologist - evening of 19 October

[egyptologist]

[ Oh hello, it's your friendly neighborhood egyptologist slash mummy hunter tuning in. Evelyn's hair is windswept and framing her face, cheeks pink from what is prooobably either whiskey or wine. She's tired of visions and migraines and soul crushing loneliness and has thrown herself into re-establishing her shop.

She's sat at one of the little tables in the back by the fireplace, the culprit of her pink cheeked, rosy glow sat on the table next to her. She's got her little device propped up against a book to properly frame her. ]

Hello, fellow residents. I just wanted to let you know that my bookshop, Spellbound Book Co., is open once more. By all means, please come in any time, have a look around.

[ She leans back in her chair, a little roughly, picks up her tumbler - the question is answered, it's whatever passes for whiskey - and smiles. ]

Who else has a business here? Let's all discuss our business endeavors, feel free to chat amongst yourselves.

[ Is she drunk? Maybe a little. ]

Comments

un: booker

[bookerlesigh]

[ it might just be the rustic nature of the books spines that he sees behind her, but it resonates with a nostalgia that almost makes him feel physically sick - which is impossible, since he can't get physically unwell at all without his body bouncing back right away. immortality was such a fucking motherfucker sometimes.

she's not the only one that's probably more than a little drunk, though it's harder for it to stick, for him. ]

You more interested in spells, or the books they come in?

[egyptologist]

[ everyone is drunk in trench, it seems ]

A bit of both at this point, if I'm being honest. When I was younger, I didn't believe in that sort of thing, but these days, well.

I have to say, I have a...vested interest in both.

[bookerlesigh]

[ it's the best way to be, quite honestly. ]

Yeah... [ he gets it - had the same sort of arc, to be honest. spells and wizards and shit were a lot hard to dismiss when you witnessed it happening with your own eyes. when you were the subject of it. ] Seems like everyone's got a trick up their sleeve. [ present company included, but Booker had never thought of his immortality as anything magical. ]

Yeah? [ he is curious though - not many people had vested interests. ] What're you hoping to find in them?

[egyptologist]

Knowledge, mostly. It intrigues me, how it works.

[ Evelyn didn't think she had any tricks up her sleeve until not so long ago, when she found out...some interesting things about a past life.

That and being in Trench certainly seems to have given her abilities. ]

Back home, I read from a book, brought a mummy back to life. How? How does that work?

[bookerlesigh]

They can be good for that. ... you think those spells books choose what stories they tell too? [ which could affect the knowledge to be found in them, but it's not really Booker's realm.

he shrugs - it doesn't sound possible, but he's long past giving up on trying to police between possible and impossible. ] An Egyptian mummy?

[ just, you know. to be clear about what kind of mummy's are being brought back to life. ]

[egyptologist]

Frankly, I have no idea. I suppose anything is possible.

[ Who knows. Maybe. ]

Ah, yes. A rather powerful one, unfortunately..

The second time, though - that wasn't my fault.

[bookerlesigh]

Oh, this happened twice. [ he can't help the grin - sure, possible, but now it sounds like the mummy wasn't just reanimated, if it was powerful. ] So it didn't unwrap itself the moment it stepped out of its coffin?

[ that's one cartoon theory down. he leans his head on his hand, getting more and more curious. ] Whose fault was it the second time?

[egyptologist]

Ah, yes. Twice.

[ She looks a little sheepish as she nods. ]

Very funny. No -- it was...gooey, actually.

His reincarnated girlfriend brought him back the second time. It would have been very romantic if he hadn't been trying to end the world.

[bookerlesigh]

[ the thought of a gooey mummy makes Booker frown, just a little bit. he's dealt with a lot of disgusting things over the years, but gooey mummy... it's pretty up there. ] Hope you had one hell of a stiff drink after that.

... so who reincarnated the nearly romantic girlfriend?

[ if that came out of another book... Booker has a thing or two to say about "books" in her world. ]

[egyptologist]

I did. Yes. Several.

[ As far as Anak-Su-Namun's reincarnation... ]

That...

I'm not exactly sure of. I suppose it was just...a reborn sort of thing? I'm not really sure how that works.

[ Because it affecter her, too, and now she's got some long dead ancient Egyptian princesses memories in her bloody mind, so that's not a brainfuck or anything. ]

[bookerlesigh]

[ Booker nods, once; he's hoping there'd been even more than several drinks, but he understands not everyone has his constitution. ]

Reborn? Like, reincarnated?

[egyptologist]

Mhm. Yes. Precisely that.

[ Fairly certain, anyway. ]

[bookerlesigh]

You believe in reincarnation? Other than this... happening.

[egyptologist]

I didn't before, but..well. When it happens to oneself, you sort of...become a believer.

Kind of like reanimated mummies.

[bookerlesigh]

And you think those books might hold the key to explaining all that? [ he believes her, that it all happened the way it happened. reincarnated mummy's and all ]

... I think you're chasing a dead end, honestly. [ he might be drunk, and he might be projecting just a little bit. ]

[egyptologist]

Possibly. Maybe. I'd like to understand how something like that can happen.

[ maybe it is a dead end, she isn't sure. But the experience certainly has her shook up, especially now that she has time to deal with it and actually think on it. ]

At the very least, it gives me something to focus on.

[bookerlesigh]

What if there is no answer? What happens then?

[ not like he's asking for himself, a little bit, too. ]