fandomhigh | Library, Thursday All Day

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Library, Thursday All Day

The library was pretty tidy, and there was actually not much to be done. And, with free time came Evan doing what he could to be productive all the same, pulling books off the shelves that spoke about some of the powers that his fellow students had displayed yesterday in the Junior Achievers club. It would do him some good, reading about how people went about training with those powers, to strengthen their control or to hone their skills. And while he was at it, he was going to pick up a pencil and paper and he was going to take notes.

He was halfway through the first book he'd picked up when he looked at the page of notes he'd taken, and he blinked at it. The page had rearranged itself in a weird font, not unreadable, but definitely more blocky than his usual handwriting and about half the size. It was... a bit of an adjustment, to say the least.

Evan shook his head, idly wondering just what kind of weirdness this was supposed to be, and then went back to taking his notes.

If nothing else, at least he could fit a bit more on one piece of pa--

-- Oh. No, the paper was expanding to allow for more notes without him actually having to turn the page manually. Maybe... Evan would just check the books out and try to take the notes in his room, later, where the library's daily weirdness would be likely to leave him be.

[Open!]

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"Loki and I went to get Ozzy just a week or so after the welcome picnic," Evan replied, looking pleased. "He's a husky corgi cross, and he's... a bit of a handful. But that's okay, I've got plenty of time on my hands to keep up with him in. Maybe you can come on a walk with us sometime? Ozzy likes walks."

And Evan liked walking with Ozzy. It balanced nicely.

"And... why would a kitten be a bad idea? Have you never had a pet before? Ozzy is my first dog that isn't a working farm dog, if that helps."

"If it would not be a bother, I would enjoy going on a walk with you and Ozzy. It sounds like fun! And the weather is still nice enough out to make it pleasurable."

Yeul toyed with one of her beaded bracelets. "I've never had a pet before," she said slowly, "and I'm uncertain I would have the time to care for it properly. While I was here, it would be fine but I believe that kittens have quite a lengthy life span...?" She looked at him for confirmation of that. "And at home I travel a great deal."

"The weather is great and the leaves are going to start turning soon, I think. I bet the island is beautiful in the fall," Evan replied, and then chewed on his lip a little. "I think a cat can live about twenty years, if it's really well taken-care-of. We mostly just had mousers on the farm, though. They... don't really last as long."

Outdoor farm cats? Yeah.

"But they'd be really portable, for traveling with!"

Edited 2012-09-20 18:20 (UTC)

"I think a cat on my world, outside of a city, would survive about as long as the ones on the farm," she said thoughtfully. "It's not safe at the best of times to travel and we camp outdoors frequently."

Which was great fun with monsters everywhere.

Really.

"Oh..." Evan frowned a little. "What if you got something bigger, that could hold its own outdoors and even protect you while you sleep? Like a really, really big dog?"

See how helpful he was? He was the most helpful ever!

"I do not think that would work." If she sounded a little wistful, well, she was allowed. A part of her did want a pet. "When did you want to go for a walk with Ozzy?"

Evan spent another moment chewing his lip, and then he shrugged his shoulders.

"Any time that's good for you," he offered, letting the topic of getting a pet for her drop, at least for the time being. "Ozzy and I go walking a few times a day, around classes and clubs and things. He really likes it around the duck pond, but I have to make sure he doesn't take off after the ducks."

Something to do with how he was about duck-sized himself.

"He likes to chase them?" she asked, smiling slightly. "I hope the ducks do not harm him."

Though, truthfully, if they did then poor Ozzy rather deserved it for frightening them first.

"And I am free most days. My classes do not take up much time and I am not currently in any clubs."

Though there was that pesky Student Council application that she'd finally submitted after talking to Karla and thinking about it for a few days. Yeul supposed that might take up some of her time, if she got on.

"How about sometime this weekend, then? I'm finished with my clubs for the week, but I still have a class tomorrow, and if we go for a walk on the weekend, we'll have all the time in the world to just dawdle."

Dawdling was pretty great, especially with a bouncy sausage-shaped puppy.

She laughed.

"Though with a puppy, I wonder how much dawdling we'll get done. Won't he wish to be everywhere right away? I do like the idea of it being on the weekend, however. I have a class as well tomorrow and may have something else. Perhaps Saturday, then?"

"Saturday would be great," Evan decided with a laugh of his own. "I can bring his squeaky pork-chop and we can play fetch in the park or something, if we go on Saturday. I mean, so long as the weather is okay."

"If the weather is bad, we could reschedule?" she suggested. "Or... there must be a place to play with a puppy indoors."

"Maybe the gym," Evan mused, "or I could take him down to the pool. I mean, so long as it's a saltwater pool and not chlorine. I'll have to check to see."

Because adorable puppy and nasty chemicals just would not mix.

"I did not even realize we had a pool," Yeul confessed. "Do most schools?"

"Probably not," Evan replied, shaking his head. "But yeah... there's one in the dorm building, I'm pretty sure. I've only heard mention of it, on the radio. I've never really taken the time to go down to check it out personally."

This possibly had something to do with how utterly ridiculous he looked in swim trunks.

Or how he'd really rather just stay in and read.

Both of which were excellent reasons!

Yeul gave that a bit of a shrug. "I was just surprised," she said, "though I am unsure why I would be. I suppose this island has most things from what I've gathered."

"I guess it would kind of have to, to be able to support a school and a whole town without much contact with the mainland. Especially since there are so many people here who... might stand out a bit if they were to cross the Causeway into this reality's version of Baltimore."

Such as... himself. A bit. Kind of.

Unless he tried to pass himself off as a mime.

Yeul tried to remember if anyone had told her how people might stand out on the mainland, she really did.

If anyone had mentioned it to her, however, she'd forgotten. "Is standing out a bad thing there?"

"I guess that depends on how similar the mainland is to my reality, in some ways," Evan replied, holding his hands up in a little shrug. "There are a lot of people where I'm from who don't really take too well to things that are different. Or... people that are different. Things that they don't really have a frame of reference for might frighten them."

"I suppose a lot of things might frighten people if their differences matter so much."

Yeul did not sound like she understood why those differences might matter.

And Evan noticed that, and couldn't help but smile a little.

"Fear of the unknown," he explained, a little more softly. "Or of something that might be stronger than them, that they couldn't hope to protect themselves from if it came to that. People can have a lot of different reasons for not liking what's different."

Yeul looked at her hands.

"I know that," she said, looking back up to try and meet his eyes with her steady, serene ones. "I am well aware of the many reasons why people might not like those who are different. But being aware of the reasons does not lead to understanding them and understanding that fear escapes me."

"Then... maybe that's for the best," Evan offered, a little more quietly. "If you don't understand that fear, it means you really don't have any reason, yourself, to be afraid. I mean... no reason to be scared of people who aren't the same as you, or something."

Edited 2012-09-21 00:49 (UTC)

Yeul felt like she was making him feel worse, since he got quieter every time, but she didn't know what to say to make it better.

"Evan," she said very gently, "I will never be afraid of you."

He was not overtly talking about himself but Yeul thought that was what, underneath it, drove his mood.

And even if she was wrong, perhaps it would do him good to hear it.

They had called him a monster, at his last school.

They'd mocked him when they thought he wasn't listening, and they had mocked him even more cruelly when they knew he could overhear.

She couldn't have been more right if he'd told her outright just what was bothering him about being different.

"... Promise?"

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