|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 4:57 pm
Haven liked libraries. She liked how quiet they were, she liked how big and expansive they looked—she even liked the smell of all the old books. It was the sort of place she felt she could always rely on, because until now it had never failed her. When faced with a problem, she gravitated toward this sanctuary of books like a month to a flame. The internet had its uses of course, but it was full of just as much false information as it was with facts. The library, on the other hand, was the sort of place she thought she could always trust.
As one red-headed dope had once said in regards to another clever young girl in search of answers, “When in doubt, go to the library.”
Unfortunately, the library had its limits.
It might have been better if she’d gone to the public library, which was bigger and had more books on many more subjects, but she was at school and didn’t have the luxury of leaving until that afternoon, and so she’d hoped Knightside’s library would suffice for now.
“No, no, worthless, no, doubtful, and no,” she said, shuffling through a stack of books she’d brought along to an empty table. She had books on dinosaurs, books on Loch Ness, books on Big Foot, even—speaking of that red-headed dope and the other clever young girl—Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and not a single one of them explained how she could have seen a monster lurking around Destiny City one afternoon after school.
Haven sighed and blew her bangs out of her face and decided she would have to continue her research at another time. She slid out of her chair and gathered her books up with the intention of putting them away and maybe finding something else to read.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:57 am
Today was an off day. Not only was it Friday the thirteenth, but it was chillier than it had been lately, and gray and overcast. And of course, none of that boded well for Millicent. No, no not one bit. Another thing that made this an off day was the fact that the eleven year old was in the library, looking around at the shelves and shelves of books, just trying to find something. She was at a complete loss at what to do after the whole ‘reading about Jacen not going back to the good side’ incident, and gave an overly dramatic sigh after a few minutes of staring at the colorful book spines.
Was there really any point in this? Was there a point in trying to find a new…what were they called? Fandoms? Was it worth it to find a new fandom for herself? What if she got a new favorite character and they died too? Was she doomed to live her life in a constant cycle of her favorite characters dying?
Maybe she was just looking in the wrong place. Maybe the Knightside library just didn’t have the right book for her…maybe she should go to the big library tomorrow or something…maybe she could have Jett take her there and he could help her pick some wonderful book out…and she could ask his advice on…well. On what to do about her Star Wars things.
She heard a voice after a few minutes of getting lost in her thoughts, and poked her head behind one of the shelves, seeing a girl that..was in her classes, she thought. Haven or something. She was smart…and she was always reading something! With a rush of excitement, Millie walked over to the girl. “Excuse me, Haven? You read a lot, I always see you with a book…do you know what’ s good to read besides Star Wars? I’m tired of Star Wars.”
Millicent never really was one for the formal introductions anyway.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 2:55 pm
It was a lucky thing Haven wasn’t usually so easily started, or else the pile of books in her arms might very well have gone cascading to the floor—and that would have been awful, not only because she’d have made a mess and caused a disturbance in the library, but because she might have ended up damaging some of the books themselves!
Instead, she kept her cool and kept a firm grip on the books as she turned around to see who was speaking to her.
Millicent. Or 'Millie' is what Haven thought she heard some people call her. She recognized the color of her hair before she recognized the other girl’s face.
Haven almost felt embarrassed to have been caught with books about monsters in her arms, since she wasn’t usually the sort of kid to bother with things like that and had—on many occasions—been heard dissuading her classmates against believing in things that just weren’t true. Hastily, she tried to come up with some sort of an explanation, but calmed down when Millie merely asked for help instead.
“Star Wars?” he wondered. “That’s the movie with the robots and the furry giant guy and the light swords, right?”
She was pretty sure she’d heard Peter talking about it before. She was also pretty sure it was an older movie and still fairly popular, though she’d never bothered to see it herself, much less read any books about it.
“I don’t usually read books like that,” she said, “so if you’re looking for other ones like it, I don’t think I’d be able to help. There’s always Harry Potter if you like magic and stuff, but everyone’s probably read that by now. I like Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey Twins. Those are mystery series. They’re kind of old, though.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 6:12 pm
Millie believed in monsters, she had to since she fought them all the time. It was just a normal thing now, monsters running around, and the senshi and knights working hard to turn them into dust. Dust was always a good thing when it came to monsters. She sighed at Haven’s simplistic telling of Star Wars. Light Swords? Furry Giant Guys? Oh…this girl needed an intervention…and quick. The child opened her mouth, fully intending to invite Haven over to her house to watch some Star Wars movies with her, but then stopped, mouth closing again.
“Yeah…” She finally said with a shrug, trying so hard to look and sound disinterested. “The movie with the fuzzy guy and robots and light swords…But…but it’s a terrible lie.” She looked again to the shelves of books. “The books were really better than the movies, if you think about it…you got to know the characters more…but then when you get your favorite character. They go and get killed.” Finally Millie let out a very over dramatic sigh, one that she normally saved for her mother. “It’s just crazy, Haven. Just completely crazy and terrible. I don’t know why they did that to me.”
Character death wasn’t just a plot device, not for something like Star Wars…no, character death without redemption was just…a personal attack. That was all. Finally, Havens voice pulled Millie from her thoughts and she gave a confused look.
“Mystery books? I’ve never really read any mystery books. Is there a lot of action in them? Is there fighting and really good, loveable characters?” She was interested, but then again, she would have been interested in anything right now. She just wanted some sort of book to cling to, something to take her mind off of her missing Star Wars. It just wasn’t fair. Why did they have to go and ruin everything for her.
Maybe it was time to write a strongly worded letter to the author…maybe Jett could help with that later!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:03 pm
Haven stared rather oddly and tried to keep up with the other girl’s comments, all the while thinking to herself that she’d probably understand more if she actually watched the movies or read the books, but as she had plenty of other important things to be doing (or at least things she thought were important) she didn’t know when or if she’d actually have the time.
“Books are usually better than the movies, aren’t they?” she wondered. “And they always kill off the favorite character’s because it has more of an impact on people than if they just killed some random side character, right? That’s what my brother says. I don’t know. I don’t usually read a lot of books where the characters I like actually die.”
She thought it must be very depressing. Why would anyone do that to themselves? It seemed rather pointless to her.
“Some mystery books have a lot of action,” Haven said with a shrug. “Some don’t. I guess it just depends. But Nancy’s really smart, which is why I like her. She’s pretty and talented, too, but it’s better that she’s smart, I think. I like characters who can get things done by being clever. There are a lot of books in the series to choose from, too. Older ones and newer ones, and you don’t really have to read them in order if you don’t want to. The Bobbsey Twins solve mysteries, too, but they’re younger. Well, two of them are. The other two aren’t much older than us, though. I guess there wouldn’t be as much action as there probably is in something like Star Wars, since Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey Twins are more for kids.”
Haven approached one of the shelves as she talked, sliding a couple of the books she was carrying back into their respective spots.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 9:29 pm
“Well…” Millie still wasn’t sure she was completely sold on the whole ‘mystery book’ thing, but…but maybe she would give them a chance…maybe. It couldn’t hurt… “There are twins in Star Wars, you know. There’s Luke and Leia…and Jacen and Jaina…” A thought struck her and she laughed. “Well, for once…Star Wars the movies came before the books! There aren’t really any books that cover the movies…except for like little kids and stuff…but, the books I read are just from the Star Wars Universe…and just tell more of a story!”
Why was she talking about this? She wanted to get away from the books that absolutely broke her heart, not get back into reading them…but…Now that she was talking about them again, she kinda wanted to start into that new book that her mom had gotten her before she finished that last one…It was for a new series, that took place after the Jacen goes bad one…and…it might be nice to start it…Maybe.
“Anyway, Haven! You and me should be friends, I think. I like you and I want to hang out with you some more.” Sure. She had been talking to the girl for five minutes, but she seemed friendly enough, and what more did you need to be friends with someone than a good first impression! Besides, the girl liked to read and seemed willing enough to talk…so…surely they would be the best of friends in a very short amount of time.
That was just the way the world worked with Millicent. “And, when we’re friends, and when I decide to like Star Wars again, you and me can watch it and I can show you why I think it’s so good. And I’ll bring you some of my books…and you can show me where the Nancy Drew books are, and I can read them!”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 7:42 pm
She blinked in surprise as the other girl so eagerly announced the idea of the two of them being friends. Haven certainly didn’t have much of a problem with it; she didn’t have many friends, at least not good ones, and Millicent seemed nice and they were in the same classes, and even if they didn’t like the same books it was still nice to talk to someone about them sometimes without being called a nerd or a know-it-all or a bookworm.
She wondered, though, if being friends was really so easy as deciding that they were so out of the blue.
“O-Okay, we can be friends,” she agreed, sliding a few more books back onto the appropriate shelves. “But… the mystery books are right over there,” she added, pointing to a nearby section, “in case you ever want to look at them.”
Haven finished putting her useless research materials away before turning to lead Millie over to the books in question. “See? They don’t have all of the Nancy Drew ones here, but all of them are at the public library, at least as long as none of them are checked out, and I have them all at my house. You can always borrow some of them. I’ve read a lot of them more than twice, so I wouldn’t mind if you kept them for a while.”
She still didn’t really know how she’d like Star Wars whenever they got around to watching it, but she thought it was only fair to try it at some point if Millie was going to give some of her books a chance. Even if they didn’t have the same tastes, sharing what they liked with each other was what friends did, right?
“Do I need to watch the Star Wars movies first to read the books?” she wondered. “We could always trade. I’ll let you read my favorite Nancy Drew book, and you let me read your favorite Star Wars book… or do you have to read them in order?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 6:52 pm
Millie looked over to where Haven was pointing and nodded, taking note of the section. When they got finished talking, she was going to check out some of the Nancy Drew books, just to see if they were as good as her new friend seemed to think they were. She was planning on getting the first one today, provided they had it, then…
She blinked when Haven mentioned she could borrow her books, that..that was even better than the library! “I can really borrow your books? That would be so cool! And, it’s better to watch the movies first, just so you know who is who and you can get a more visual feel for what things are…But, but the books are about a million times better…Jacen and Jaina…” She hesitated then just shrugged. “They’re my favorite characters…I named my pet pigs after them…”
Millie broke off for a moment, glancing away, then sighed. “But, you can borrow all of my Star Wars books, and my movies, I can bring my movies tomorrow, or you could come over…I think I said that…but I’m saying it again…even if I am against it right now, I still love it, you know.” And that was a terrible thing indeed. A love hate relationship with what was once her most favorite thing in the world. What was life coming to.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 12:39 pm
Haven didn’t really understand love/hate relationships because she didn’t think she’d ever had one—certainly not with books, which inspired love even when they failed her! The only thing she thought she had that she both loved and hated was maybe Peter, except she didn’t really hate him so much as she found him annoying, and she didn’t really love him so much as it was nice to have somebody to compete with.
Maybe her older brother was a better example. He was just a jerk, but she had to love him because he was family and sometimes he would teach her cool things about people who died a long time ago.
“You have pigs for pets?” she asked, momentarily side-tracked from the main conversation by that little revelation. “I only have a cat, but he’s more my older brother’s cat than my cat. My brother named him Maximilian Robespierre, but we just call him Max. I’ve never known anyone who has pigs.”
Except for maybe farmers, but she didn’t know any of those and she thought they raised pigs less as pets and more as food, and that was a really insensitive thing to say to someone who named their pet pigs after their favorite book characters so she kept that thought to herself.
“I have skating practice this weekend, so I can’t come over yet,” Haven said. Even though having a new friend was kind of weird to her, she was going to try her best to make it work. “But I’ll still bring my favorite book for you to read tomorrow, and then one weekend when I don’t have practice we can watch Star Wars together and I’ll read one of your books. You can always come to my house, too, if you want. We have a big TV for watching movies, and I know Peter likes Star Wars, too. He lives across the street. Do you know Peter? He’s in class with us, too. Really smart but really obnoxious.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 10:43 am
Millie nodded. “I have two pigs, yes! They make wonderful pets, they’re very cuddly and they use a litterbox just like cats, so that makes them better, I think. I do like cats though, but my mom’s allergic so we can’t have one!” The girl was excited. She did love talking about her pigs and loved showing them off, though when Haven mentioned her skating practice she sighed, though brightened soon after.
“Well, if not this weekend, than some other weekend for sure. It’ll be awesome! I’m so happy that I got to talk to you, you’ve made things better, I think. And I could do that! Our TV isn’t that big, but it’s still an okay size.”
She paused, thinking. “I don’t think I know Peter, I don’t have many kids on my street, so it’s always good when one comes over to hang out with me. You’re lucky that you have someone so close by! The only person that lives near me is Jett, but he’s old…so he doesn’t count at all.” The redhead laughed, then drew in a breath to elaborate on the subject when the bell rang, signaling the end of recess for the students. “Aw man! Well, I’ll talk to you again soon, Haven! I have to get back to class! It was really good to meet you!” She gave a grin then bolted out the door, completely forgetting that the bell meant it was time to go to lunch, not back to class.
It was still very good to have made a new friend! And one that liked to read and wanted to watch Star Wars with her. Maybe she would have to give her favorite thing another shot. It wasn’t the end of the world…just the end of her favorite character. And what if him dying brought along something even better? She couldn’t just give up. That would be silly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 8:06 am
“Wait, but…!” Haven called after Millie, though it seemed pointless to try once Millie was out the door.
What an odd girl.
Haven stared after her for a while, wondering if she should try to catch up and kindly inform her that it was lunch time, and that even if it hadn’t been they were in the same class anyway and could have just walked back together, but that seemed like such a huge effort and she was pretty sure Millie would figure it out on her own. It was sort of funny, anyway, the thought of Millie reaching the classroom only to see that no one was there. Haven just hoped she didn’t get in trouble for not being at the cafeteria in time.
Shrugging to herself and contemplating the idea of being friends with someone, Haven finished putting her books away and cleaning up the small mess she’d made at one of the library tables, before collecting her things and heading out the door a bit more calmly, pausing for just a moment to debate between turning for the classroom in the direction her new friend had gone, or going on to the cafeteria without her.
In the end, she went to the cafeteria by herself.
She wasn’t used to this whole “friends” thing yet anyway.
She was nearly ninety-five percent certain she was doing a part of it wrong.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
