tell him about Holmes-Lore

[not_over_yet]

Who: Basil and whoever, perhaps you?
What: researching some fictional detective or other
Where: Progress City Library
When: throughout June
Warnings: n/a, will update if needed

[ Ever since Plankton got himself kicked out of office, Basil's been spending a lot of time at the city library. Basil seems to be doing research--in the fiction section of all things.

Sometimes he can be found reading through a human-sized book that's ended up on the floor somehow. He has to walk across the pages to read them fully, but he's fairly adept at turning them despite the scale issues. Other times he can be found climbing up and down the shelves, looking for a new one--if you're tall enough to reach the one he wants, he might ask for assistance getting it down. Or maybe you're really unlucky and he's decided to shove the thing off the shelf on his own--look out below!

Taking a closer look at any of his selected books might notice a theme.

...Yeah, they're all about Sherlock Holmes. ]

Comments

[not_over_yet]

[ Just. Activates one of his cards and reaches out. Clearly expects her to hand him a book bigger than he is. ]

Does that one feature Holmes as well? This Doyle fellow does seem a bit focused, but I'm researching something rather specific at the moment.

[ ...Not like ties between those two names would qualify as more than superficial or anything. ]

[standingonmyneck]

Doyle is the author so if it’s written by him then yes, lots of Holmes.

[She got you, she handed him the book.]

[not_over_yet]

"The author."

[ That's an odd way of putting things, to his mind. He considers the point while he somewhat awkwardly carries the book out of the direct line of traffic and off to the side. (Even with card-granted super-strength, maneuvering objects much larger than yourself is. difficult.) He sets the book down in the first acceptably not-underfoot spot on the floor he comes to, and turns back to Daria. ]

He's not the only fellow to have written about Holmes. I take it he... was the first to do so? [ She probably means "he's the creator", but it's--ok maybe he should just explain the problem with that idea. ] I'm currently looking into the matter of someone existing in some worlds as a fictional entity, and in others as--well, not fictional at all. I've encountered differences between worlds before, certainly, but not to this degree.

[standingonmyneck]

[She thought she understood what he meant...and well. Okay. She was already here. Might as well offer her two cents on the situation.]

So you're looking for references from more than one place. Fact vs. fiction. Surely someone fictional really existed somewhere else.

[not_over_yet]

Mm... [ He hadn't thought to consider things from that perspective. ] I suppose that's... a fair enough point. ...I'm afraid I'm coming at the thing from the other way round, however.

A fellow I know to be thoroughly real in my own world appears to be thoroughly fictional in others--multiple others. It's... it's just such a large discrepancy! I don't know what to make of it, not yet at any rate.

[standingonmyneck]

Ah.

[A shrug.]

If you don't mind me saying this, you're better off just saying "it's complicated" and move along. You'll probably find another problem just after you think you solved another one.

[not_over_yet]

It's less a problem than it is a point of minor interest. Rather a waste of time, I suppose, but one must do something--this place is mind-numbing. Pleasant enough in controlled dosages, but there is a limit...

[ And it's not like any of them can simply leave, after all. ]

...How do normal people address boredom? [ Is there a secret to this normalcy thing, some trick he never picked up on. ]