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Una shuddered with dread when she saw the pristine silhouette of Mercadier moving toward her. She was fortunate in that he was busy enough with his own tasks that she rarely had to work directly under him but whenever he did approach, for any length of time, there was a deluge of edits and scolding elicited from his thin lips. Your desk is too messy, your dress is crooked, your dress isn't professional. his voice in her head rambled. He'd even sent her home to change once because too much of her stomach had been showing.
Newly shined shoes squeaked with each step across the newly waxed floor making Una wince. It was a coincidental countdown to his inevitable approach, Though... Una thought vindictively, It should really be deeper and faster to reflect the real danger of his approach.
"Ms. Tanta." He stated sleeking back his perfectly arranged blonde hair with manicured fingers. "Alses has requested a compilation of information on the Svefra. You will need to create a demographic report of known and unknown statistics and differentiate between information known and assumed by Lhavit and the information given by the Svefra." He explained, launching into the job without preamble.
Una didn't like him. He didn't like Una. It was simple, clean and clear. He had treated her politely when she had arrived but her lack of social grace seemed to irk him and her love of the whimsical, especially in her reports, frustrated him. Meanwhile his sharp poignant word play left Una feeling tricked and stupid, a feeling that left her ill tempered toward the man from the very beginning and breeding ill will. But nonetheless they worked together, as they must, perhaps Una herself could not even tell how begrudgingly he didn't rat out her numerous mistakes to Alses.
It simply wouldn't be proper to waste her graces time with these. Please pay more attention to the details. She mimicked internally, Pay more attention. Pay more attention. It was all he ever said. She complained bitterly. Plastering a wooden smile across her face she nodded obediently as he placed the large Manila envelope before her.
"The details are enclosed." He finished, his feet squeaking as he disembarked. It had become a common sight, him handing her written instructions as an alternative to an instructive conversation. Pulling out the thick contents Una perused the first document which contained a list of the required information.
Una sighed heavily as she gazed at the inexorably extensive list. Compiling and annotating a report this extensive could take over a season she reflected wondering for a moment if it was not Alses that had given her this job but Mercadier himself in an attempt to be rid of her. However, she quickly pushed the thought away. As much as she disliked the man he had never shown an improper angle to his many, and tricking as such would most definitely be an improper angle.
Turning to the next sheaf of paper was a letter that described her duty more fully and completely than she had thought possible. She would be allowed in the library solely to work on the project and be allowed only those books which would aid her attempts. She was also to be given three scribes to aid her in the task, a command that brought her enormous relief.
The rest of the manila envelope contained imperfect paper necessary for planning and drafting a copy of the document. Information presented to the Councillor must be succinct, she had been informed by Mercadier several times when other documents had rambled, as was her tendency.
Taking a seat and drawing the wavering candle closer to the parchment Una craned over it dipping the steel headed quill into the watery black ink. She was not adept at the use of the brushes most commonly used for writing in Lhavit and had requested quills instead. Nonetheless the most common Lhavitian ink was much thinner than she was used to and was difficult to use with the quills. As such she had had to use a thickening agent each time she opened a new vial, consequently staining her hands an almost permanent black from her work.
Settling down, Una focused on the parchment before her. Each segment is going to need its own section and an easy way to differentiate between the segments. There are many ways to accomplish this task though....I could create a glossary that allows a reference to the first page of each chapter. It's the most common way I've seen it done in other texts. But while this allows for a single reference to be written and connected to several sentences in different chapters, a handy tool, it also makes for a large book that will be difficult to reference on a moments notice. Furthermore, binding will be more expensive and difficult with the several sheathes of paper it would require.
The alternative would be several books. In this case a binding could be created and hollowed out in which several small books could be placed and housed together. Each book would be titled with a separate chapter. This will allow for more easily transportable sections, though parts of a book could more easily be lost. However, it's limited to books whose order doesn't matter and a reference that permeates several chapters has to be written out several times.
Una imagined Mercadier would be mocking her for the care and creativity she was putting into the form of the file and scowled at the piece of paper. It makes sense to do the latter, she decided, the order of the book doesn't matter. I imagine she wants the information as soon as possible and this way I can give her finished documents as they arrive rather than waiting for the entire thing to be finished and bound. Though the references may take extra time...it seems the most straight forward. Besides, if she is working with them on the docks having a light easily references text could be important.
The next is to decide on the method of differentiating information and method of reference. I could put references at the end of the book, on the opposing page of each page, the bottom of the pages. Having not read many books with references she was unsure of the most common method. At the end of the book makes sense...since knowing where the information comes from is important but not to the understanding of the text and putting it at the bottom or opposing page would disrupt the flow.
Differentiating the information would be the most difficult part. Could differentiate it spatially...placing changes in the margin of the text. As much as that appealed to her she knew it would ruin the beauty of the page. Perhaps differentiating by colour would be best... she thought ...I could put information in common between the two sources in black and when they differ create a decorative text box around the two different pieces of information. It certainly sounded like the best plan to her, the best and easiest inks to acquire besides black was blue and red. They would work very well for the two opposing colours, she decided finally.
xNewly shined shoes squeaked with each step across the newly waxed floor making Una wince. It was a coincidental countdown to his inevitable approach, Though... Una thought vindictively, It should really be deeper and faster to reflect the real danger of his approach.
"Ms. Tanta." He stated sleeking back his perfectly arranged blonde hair with manicured fingers. "Alses has requested a compilation of information on the Svefra. You will need to create a demographic report of known and unknown statistics and differentiate between information known and assumed by Lhavit and the information given by the Svefra." He explained, launching into the job without preamble.
Una didn't like him. He didn't like Una. It was simple, clean and clear. He had treated her politely when she had arrived but her lack of social grace seemed to irk him and her love of the whimsical, especially in her reports, frustrated him. Meanwhile his sharp poignant word play left Una feeling tricked and stupid, a feeling that left her ill tempered toward the man from the very beginning and breeding ill will. But nonetheless they worked together, as they must, perhaps Una herself could not even tell how begrudgingly he didn't rat out her numerous mistakes to Alses.
It simply wouldn't be proper to waste her graces time with these. Please pay more attention to the details. She mimicked internally, Pay more attention. Pay more attention. It was all he ever said. She complained bitterly. Plastering a wooden smile across her face she nodded obediently as he placed the large Manila envelope before her.
"The details are enclosed." He finished, his feet squeaking as he disembarked. It had become a common sight, him handing her written instructions as an alternative to an instructive conversation. Pulling out the thick contents Una perused the first document which contained a list of the required information.
-Demographics:
-History
-In Lhavit
-Pods that were once seen in Lhavit
-Pods that are now commonly seen in Lhavit
-Potential reasons for decrease in Svefra population
-In Zeltiva
-Abroad
-Physical Appearance
-Degree of Variation
-Defining Characteristics
-Clothing
-Degree of Variation
-Defining Characteristics
-Trade
-Exports and Imports
-Common Trading Partners
-Magic Usage
-Most Common
-Fear or Loathed (Please include reasons)
-How and When is it used
-Psychology
-Reproduction and Aging
-Social Structure
-Laws
-Including a list of most common offences against Lhavitian Law
-Language
-Names
-Family Life
-Size
-Dynamic
-Range of Ages and Responsibilities
-Money
-Weapons
-Ships
-Location
-Travelling Range
-Religion
-Common Threats
-Prejudices
This information is to be compiled from both the visiting Svefra pod an the Baharni Library. References must be included and information that conflicts between the two sources must be mentioned.
Una sighed heavily as she gazed at the inexorably extensive list. Compiling and annotating a report this extensive could take over a season she reflected wondering for a moment if it was not Alses that had given her this job but Mercadier himself in an attempt to be rid of her. However, she quickly pushed the thought away. As much as she disliked the man he had never shown an improper angle to his many, and tricking as such would most definitely be an improper angle.
Turning to the next sheaf of paper was a letter that described her duty more fully and completely than she had thought possible. She would be allowed in the library solely to work on the project and be allowed only those books which would aid her attempts. She was also to be given three scribes to aid her in the task, a command that brought her enormous relief.
The rest of the manila envelope contained imperfect paper necessary for planning and drafting a copy of the document. Information presented to the Councillor must be succinct, she had been informed by Mercadier several times when other documents had rambled, as was her tendency.
Taking a seat and drawing the wavering candle closer to the parchment Una craned over it dipping the steel headed quill into the watery black ink. She was not adept at the use of the brushes most commonly used for writing in Lhavit and had requested quills instead. Nonetheless the most common Lhavitian ink was much thinner than she was used to and was difficult to use with the quills. As such she had had to use a thickening agent each time she opened a new vial, consequently staining her hands an almost permanent black from her work.
Settling down, Una focused on the parchment before her. Each segment is going to need its own section and an easy way to differentiate between the segments. There are many ways to accomplish this task though....I could create a glossary that allows a reference to the first page of each chapter. It's the most common way I've seen it done in other texts. But while this allows for a single reference to be written and connected to several sentences in different chapters, a handy tool, it also makes for a large book that will be difficult to reference on a moments notice. Furthermore, binding will be more expensive and difficult with the several sheathes of paper it would require.
The alternative would be several books. In this case a binding could be created and hollowed out in which several small books could be placed and housed together. Each book would be titled with a separate chapter. This will allow for more easily transportable sections, though parts of a book could more easily be lost. However, it's limited to books whose order doesn't matter and a reference that permeates several chapters has to be written out several times.
Una imagined Mercadier would be mocking her for the care and creativity she was putting into the form of the file and scowled at the piece of paper. It makes sense to do the latter, she decided, the order of the book doesn't matter. I imagine she wants the information as soon as possible and this way I can give her finished documents as they arrive rather than waiting for the entire thing to be finished and bound. Though the references may take extra time...it seems the most straight forward. Besides, if she is working with them on the docks having a light easily references text could be important.
The next is to decide on the method of differentiating information and method of reference. I could put references at the end of the book, on the opposing page of each page, the bottom of the pages. Having not read many books with references she was unsure of the most common method. At the end of the book makes sense...since knowing where the information comes from is important but not to the understanding of the text and putting it at the bottom or opposing page would disrupt the flow.
Differentiating the information would be the most difficult part. Could differentiate it spatially...placing changes in the margin of the text. As much as that appealed to her she knew it would ruin the beauty of the page. Perhaps differentiating by colour would be best... she thought ...I could put information in common between the two sources in black and when they differ create a decorative text box around the two different pieces of information. It certainly sounded like the best plan to her, the best and easiest inks to acquire besides black was blue and red. They would work very well for the two opposing colours, she decided finally.
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