Library, Wednesday [ 01/30 ]

[ecirpnellehada.livejournal.com]

Last night, Adah dreamed of a springbok in a fire, dancing around chaotically until the moment it burst forth with a powerful leap. She was the arrow shot from her sister's bow, the straightest she would ever be, flying sure until penetrating into the soft hide of the animal. It crumpled to the ground, fountains of blood, and a white-suited nurse dressed its wounds. Anatole sighed as he ruffled her sister's short hair. "A bu, Benee, he lamented, "A bu."

It was food for thought, to be sure, as Adah opened the library today; she never remembered having such vibrant, substantial dreams before. Still, she was in a good mood. At least, she would be until probably second or third period. So she might actually be somewhat helpful this morning.

Comments

Re: Fourth Period -- 01/30

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

Wincing slightly, River stared down into her lap. Perfection? "Better than...?" She spoke the words before she could stop herself, not sure if she wanted to know. Her shoulders drew upwards a little. Mentioning the spaceship had not caused the reaction she wanted.

Re: Fourth Period -- 01/30

[ecirpnellehada.livejournal.com]

Adah's brain answered before Adah herself even realized what River was talking about, with a quiet maybe before she blinked, caught up to speed and amended that with a very firm different. There was no argument that could go into that, and then she continued on that it didn't matter, because it wasn't a fair question to ask. If River really wanted to know, well, then she could just march right up to his room and find out for herself. In the dull afterwake of her defensive sarcasm, she threw her focus into carefully pulling the bag to its side so the she could sneak her hands inside to extricate the food from inside.

Re: Fourth Period -- 01/30

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

But River never heard the second answer, because when the first reached her mind all her walls came up and all the doors slammed close. She drew a sharp breath, then quickly got to her feet, and conciously moving faster than Adah would find comfortable, reached out to snatch the bag from her grasp.

Re: Fourth Period -- 01/30

[ecirpnellehada.livejournal.com]

To say it was too fast for Adah was a slightly understatement. It left her fairly stunned, conscious thoughts about anything completely halting for a moment as synapses scrambled around, like sailors in a struck submarine, desperate to right the vehicle at the upending of simple things, like compensating for the fact that something that was there a second ago, should still be there. It was the same sort of reaction out of a child, just awakening to his sensory reception, parents taunting it with an object and then pulling it away, hide and seek, the natural impulse being confusion before the reason of intelligence settled in. Once it did, though, Adah still stared, hand halted in its progress.

In truth, she didn't know what to think. She did, however, know what to feel, and that was annoyance, as her wide eyes slid toward River as if demanding to know exactly why River was getting irrational about getting an honest answer to a question that she not only asked, but also knew that Adah would be unable to answer dishonestly even if she tried.

Re: Fourth Period -- 01/30

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

River didn't hear that, still keeping her mind walled off. She might have noticed the look in Adah's eyes and got the message, but she kept her head turned away as she rushed out of the library. The bag with the apple muffin was flung with some force against one of the shelves, causing pieces of it to litter the floor.

Re: Fourth Period -- 01/30

[ecirpnellehada.livejournal.com]

Adah sucked in a slow breath; she released it, just as slowly, but this time with her shoulders sagging, deflating, staring after the mess she'd have to get up and eventually clean up and she wasn't just thinking about the apple muffin. Well, that was more or less the scenario she had expected while sitting through virology earlier today, wasn't it? Self-fulfilling prophecy, betrayed by the very same mind that thought of it, decided that it cared nothing for Adah's sensibilities and trudged on forward to do what it could to make imagination reality. She sighed again, slumping forward into the palm of her hand....

Adah may have expected this, but that didn't exactly prepare her. Shoot the springbok, and the family could eat, but the village will still accuse you of something to turn it around. A bu, Benee, A bu....