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Reading was something that Briar had always enjoyed doing and it was not uncommon for him to have, sometimes even three books in his backpack at any given time in addition to (on school days) his books for school.

Today was no exception, with two books in the mostly green backpack that had been one of the gifts that his parents had given him for his birthday, these two books however were library books that needed returning however as their due date had turned out to be today.

It hadn't taken long for him to make the walk from his house over to the library and after checking the two books in, he'd decided to spend sometime reading a little and maybe even find a couple of new books to replace the two that he'd checked back in.

He hadn't expected the library to be so busy, the place normally quiet at around this time and all the tables seemed to be full up with people. Eventually however, Briar had managed to hit the jackpit and find a spot tucked away in a corner with a table and a couple of empty chairs.

He had dropped his bag down by one of the chairs and then not particularly looking for company had piled some books up on the other chair before settling down to read a book that he'd picked up - some sort of choose your own adventure book about a warlock that he'd spotted earlier.

If asked about the chair then Briar would admit that it was indeed free, but only if asked.

"Hmmm?" Briar had been caught up in the story, wanting to know if he had indeed worked out the puzzle correctly, but he stuck a finger in between the pages when he realised that that someone was actually speaking to him.

"Um sure" he said when he realised that the blue-haired boy was asking about the other chair, carefully sticking his book on the table. "I'll move the books."

They had been random books, picked more to dissuade anyone from asking about the seat and so the topics may have looked a little strange - there was a book on advanced physics, an encyclopaedia, another book on kite-making and it turned out the next book in the fighting fighting series that he was currently reading through. "Oh neat" he said the words directed more to himself, than the other boy and although he neatly piled the other ones up in a corner - hey he'd been caught on the seat thing, no point in leaving them - he kept the second fighting fantasy book for himself.

Books moved off the chair, he said simply "Seat's free" before moving round to his own seat so that the other could get at the now clear seat. He didn't immediately pick up the book he'd been reading through however although he did set the new book next to it, instead looking over in the blue haired boy 's direction again and asked "Uh you don't happen to go to Knightside do you?" Because despite the fact that Briar couldn't quite put his finger on it, there was something vaguely familiar about the other.

"Yes" Briar said with a nod at the other boy's question. "It's one of those pick your own adventure stories" enthusiasm started creeping into his voice as he continued to speak. "In this one you enter a Warlock's lair to find their treasure." Although normally with these kind of books you normally needed a pair of dice, the authors had printed a little die face at the bottom of each page and Briar had found that if he flicked the pages that it kind of worked almost as well as if he'd had the dice.

The blue-haired boy had answered his question about going to Knightside in the positive and Briar put the vague sense of familiarity that he'd felt down to maybe seeing the other in the halls or in the school playground, nodding at the other's return question of whether he too went to Knightside and answering with a simple "Yes."

"You've never heard of pick your own adventure?" Briar asked, although he picked up the second book in the series that he'd picked up by accident and shifted his chair closer so the other could see the book.

"Well there's an overall story - in this one it's about" he scanned the back of the book "Looking for a magical war hammer." He randomly opened the book and flipped a page or two before holding it out to the other so that the blue-haired boy could see, adding enthusiastically "But you get to make choices along the way and based on that different things happen."

Briar didn't bother to answer the other's repeat question about whether he went to Knightside as he'd already said he did - well he'd said yes which to him was the same thing, but at the other's question of what grade he was in he added "I'm in 5th grade."

Briar nodded "Yes, if you make the wrong choices then you might get a bad ending and end up having to start over." He'd had that happen to him a few times. "But at least then you know you have to make different choices next time round. For a moment he looked over the book that he had been showing to the other boy before holding it out in offering "Want to give it a try?" Much as Briar wanted to read it, he wanted to finish the other one first so guessed he could give up on it for a little bit.

"And fifth grade's okay I guess, it's not that much different from fourth grade" or at least it didn't feel all that different. "Teacher gives us more homework though."

"Well some of them are really, really obvious" Briar said. "Such as looking for an ogre or something - it's pretty stupid to pick the option to go look for one if you don't have a sword or something in your stuff."

He frowned slightly "But even if you do pick that option and end up losing, it's not a big deal - it's just a story and besides if you do end up getting a bad ending then next time round you know not to pick the same thing again." It seemed obvious enough to him. "And it's just a story anyway."

Even though choose your own adventure books were fun to read through - especially with all the different choices - they were still just stories nonetheless.

"Well it'd be your choice on whether to go after the monster or not" Briar pointed out. "But yes monster-hunting without the right protection or even some sort of weapon would be pretty stupid."

The other boy was right that Briar really didn't have a clue of how important being right was for the other and it was probably just as well that he hadn't enlightened him to said fact as Briar would have then had to point out that it was just a book - rather than something big like say school homework or some competition.

But he didn't know the other boy's thoughts so instead he offered "Well at least if you try it out you'll know if you like it or not" and if the blue haired boy didn't then he could get the book back - after all he still wanted to read it at some point. "The first two pages have how to work out starting things like health and stuff."

Briar figured the other boy could work out the rest and besides he really wanted to get back to reading the book he'd been reading - after all he still had a Warlock's treasure to try and find.

Briar sort of nodded when the blue-haired boy spoke to him and he may have made a sound that kind of translated to an 'It's okay' but having left the other in possession of the book Briar had once again picked up the book he'd been reading prior to talking about choose your own books with the younger kid and was more focused in trying to pick up where he'd left off - aka trying to complete the book by finding the warlock's treasure.