WHO:Joan Watson & River Song WHEN: Early Feb WHERE: Bookstore WHAT: Joan is looking into ancient Egyptian's, Dr Melody helps. WARNINGS: None STATUS: Complete
Occult information wasnât exactly difficult to come by, it was simply that fact checking got rather difficult with certain areas of the information. Joan didnât find it hard to find thing, not in the least, but it was making sure that these piece of information were accurate -sheâd been rudely awakened on just how important it was to know these things and have everything on the table.
The Agency was a great help, really. Researching with the Occult Division gave her more access to solid information than anywhere else might, and she had the tools to check and reference everything she needed to.
Which made it odd that on her time off she was in a bookstore, in the Egyptian Archeological area picking through books to find matching references to a story sheâd picked up through one of the Arabic texts sheâd read in the division library.
Joan was, most definitely, falling down the rabbit hole.
Melody Williams tended to be fond of bookstores. While she had access to Riverâs odd and immersive futuristic ipad-thing, she definitely preferred the smell of paper and leather and the other things that tended to meld when one visited a local shop like the one she was in now. And of course, being in a bookstore, Melody found herself as always drawn to see what they had in their Egyptian area.
(No she wasnât looking to see if they stocked her books; Melody had grown out of such vanity for the most part. Besides, with all the academics around here, she doubted that anyone would want people scrawling their names on the inside cover of books that hadnât been either requested or purchased.)
Despite all that, Melody couldnât stop herself from commenting on the book that was in the womanâs hand. âOh no dear, donât bother with that one. Itâs rubbish and the author is a pompous git who has his head quite far up his own arse and doesnât think that women offered any value at all to the empire. Itâs quite terrible. And the blowhard never does know when to shut his mouth in any situation.â
Joan tried to keep an open mind when going through the reference stage, crossing over the sources to see if they were in largely agreement of the outcome, but then it wasnât really like she was terribly sure what she was looking for either.
At the interjection of the other woman however, Joan stopped glancing over the pages, flipping the book to see the author before turning it back. âReally?â She didnât actually know anything about Egyptian lore or even terribly much about the history there either, but the title had come up on her search.
âAre there better books about the same topic without the⌠blowhard input?â Clearly this female felt rather strongly about the author in question.
âIs there something in particular that youâre looking for in the area?â Melody was already looking past the woman for things that were on the shelves around them. âIt might be easier if I could narrow it down to something specific. Or are you looking for something general around Egypt? Truthfully I wouldnât recommend his book for either or anything other than a sleep aid, but I bet I can sort you out one way or another.â
She leaned past the woman for a moment, her head tilted as she studied some of the books that were for sale. âIf itâs something very specific,â she mused, âit could be that there might be a source Iâve got access to that they donât. My office is just filled to the brim with texts that are out of print here in the states.â Or out of print most anywhere if one happened to consider the other sources of information that she could get her hands on.
âIâm researching ancient Egyptian lore and their culture surrounding the superstitions. Iâm actually looking for as much as I can get about the mythology behind the Egyptian culture.â It was easiest to go for the broader collection than just launching into âdid Egyptianâs deal with demons and spiritsâ as a conversation starter, even if people were asking.
âHonestly a comprehensive text with reliable information rather than opinions would be ideal and I clearly donât have a lot of ideas on where to start.â Joan took in any information she could get, really. She was a naturally avid reader, she just wanted to be sure that her information was largely reliable too.
âSo something about their religion would probably work well then, because the ancient Egyptians certainly lived according to their gods.â A beat, and River remembered marrying Cleopatra, and there was an enigmatic smile on her face for a moment. âWell, most of the time anyway. Early ones did. Later ones tended to regard such things as fantasies, much like many people today too with their own religions.â
Reaching over, River pulled out a book and made a face and then shelved it, before she pulled out another and flipped the spine open. âThis one is fairly decent, depending on how far youâd like to go back. It doesnât go quite as far back as I would have liked it, but my publisher said that I was rambling and no one cared.â There was no photo on the back of the book, but Dr. Melody Williams was under the title: Discovering Ancient Egypt: a beginners guide.
Taking the book, turning it over to flip to the back and see the index because obviously that was the place the start, Joan scanned down everything. âThatâs actually probably a little perfect.â Ideally, she could have done with more information, going as far back as possible really, but she couldnât expect that everyone would need to do that and this one seemed like a good idea. âYouâre Dr Melody Williams then?â
It wasnât too far fetched to meet a writer in a bookstore, Joan counted it as Orange county luck that she met an Ancient Egyptian history and/or archaeological writer in a bookstore just as she was looking for an Ancient Egyptian text. âIâm Joan Watson, needing of a beginners guide.â She smirked a little as she indicated the title.
âGuilty as charged.â In this life anyway. In others, not so much. âNice to meet you, Joan Watson in need of a beginnerâs guide.â River grinned at her as she offered her hand to the other woman. âYou can call me Melody if you like.â It was slightly flirty, but not overly so, more like River just being River because there were some things that one just couldnât turn off.
âWell, then, just Joan is fine too.â And there was a part of her, a part that Sherlock had trained, that really wanted to find a way to see if Melody would be willing to have her brain picked if it ever came up. She should think about working up her irregulars contacts. An ancient Egyptian expert would probably be hard to find later. She already had John for any serious occult things, and the agency had their own experts in things. âSo, youâre an archeologist?
âYes I am. I teach at the university here.â River gestured vaguely in the direction of USC Irving, with a smile. âGraduate school and undergrads, though sometimes I wonder how I manage to do so without completely going mental.â Often, especially when her dreams came, Melody thought that it would be something like a dalek or a cyberman who would end her. On those normal days she thought it would be the idiots who took her class thinking it would either be an easy A or that she was going to be exactly like Indiana Jones. Of course, the her in her dreams was a bit like Indiana Jones, but they didnât need to know it.
âLet me give you my card in case you have any more questions, Joan. I know that sometimes people find things and get interested in them in the basic books.â Melody reached into her bag and fumbled around for a moment before she pulled out her card holder with itâs attached pen. It was a moment scratch and her cellphone number was on the back. âHere.â
A professor and a writer, Joan figured that Melody was exactly the type of person she could get to know, not just for the sake of building her circle of irregulars in California too, but the subject matter was likely fascinating, she could never tell when her work would take her in odd directions after all. âThank you, thatâs very generous of you.â And Joan could quite possibly have more than a few questions down the line.
âI should warn you, sometimes my questions and interests take a slightly less than traditional turn.â And explaining the weird shit she might ask sometimes could get awkward.
âWell, Joan, I suppose that itâs a good thing that I wouldnât say that I was a very traditional person. In any sense of the world really.â Even before there was the dreams Melody had always been different. Too flirty, too forward and too a lot of things that had bothered her parents as she was growing up. Of course now it all made sense. âBesides,â she added as almost an aside, âit canât be any more odd than the rest of the things that happen here in Orange County.â Like snow for instance, or the random embodiments of the holiday that those on the network have needed to fight off. âAnd I do always love a chance to show off my knowledge of obscure things. Itâll be a nice change from having someone beyond bored over Upper Kingdom this and Lower Kingdom that.â
Orange County most definitely set the bar high for âweird and wonderfulâ, which was sometimes a blessing if Joan was honest. She wouldnât be complaining about it, that would be sure. But with Melodyâs assurance that non-traditional questions wouldnât be a probably, Joan was feeling a lot more confident about working out possible parallels between certain lore.
âWell then, I look forward to getting through this and Iâll be sure to contact you with any and all questions that come up.â There might be a few that were just about a further clarification, but then Joan tended to link things quickly and suddenly and need someone else to jump on her logic to get to the end.
She was sure anything that stemmed forth with the ancient Egyptian, Melody would be a good contact.