Book Haven, Tuesday

[genesishero]

Okay, Evan hadn't heard a single word from Rosalind in weeks now. He was at work again, unpacking a shipment of books that he'd gone ahead and ordered for the shop himself, and he'd had to sign for it on his own and everything.

He wasn't even sure if he was allowed to sign for things. But apparently his signature was good enough for the delivery guy, so he was going to just go with it for as long as he could manage, and hopefully Rosalind would show up again, safe and sound, sometime soon.

... Now he just had to figure out what to do when they messed up an order. What in the world were they going to do with seventy-three copies of Schlachthof Fünf?

[Open, OCD-free!]

Comments

[not_a_moonie]

"Hey," Alana said from the doorway. "So, I need something new to read, and I heard this was the place to start...."

[genesishero]

"Well, we do have books," Evan confirmed, looking up at her with a little smile. He could only puzzle over the messed-up order for so long, really. "Were you looking for something in particular? We've got all kinds, you know?"

A beat.

"I'll even throw in a free Vonnegut novel with your purchase."

Please, take the Vonnegut novel.

[not_a_moonie]

"I like novels," Alana told him. "My favorite writer is D. Oswald Heist. He writes romances, but they're really about war and peace and the big questions, you know?"

She wandered over to a display, idly running a finger over the covers. "What's a Vonnegut?"

[genesishero]

"I've never heard of Heist," Evan admitted with a thoughtful frown, "but if you're interested in stories about war and peace and the big questions..."

He picked up one of the multitude of copies of Schlachthof Fünf and held it up for her to see.

"I don't think I would call it a romance, exactly. Vonnegut wrote a lot about war, and about how broken and screwed-up and beautiful people are, and... a lot of that sort of stuff. He was very anti-authoritarian."

[not_a_moonie]

"I might like it even if there's not kissing in it," Alana said, reaching for the book. "I mean, Heist dresses it up in a bunch of other stuff, but that's kind of what he's getting at. That we're all broken and beautiful."

[genesishero]

"There's kind of kissing? It's... you'd have to read it," Evan settled on, passing the book over to her. "He was a soldier, himself, and he fought, and... some of his experience is in this book, actually. He blended a lot of reality into his weird science fiction."

He smiled faintly. It was always good to have someone else to talk books with.

"I'd like to read some of Heist's work, I think," he decided. "I think I can always use more reminders that with all of the brokenness out there, there's still beauty, too."

[not_a_moonie]

Alana flashed a quick, appreciative smile. Book nerds were the best people.

"Sure, I'll loan you some sometime," she promised. "Heist's stuff is hard to find around here. Guess he didn't have an Earth publisher."

She flipped the Vonnegut open at random, landed on a passage where the main character was in the hospital. "How nice, she read, to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive."

Glancing up, she added, "Okay, I think I like this guy. I know I've felt that way."

[OOC: Method RP, for the win.]

[genesishero]

Evan gave an enthusiastic nod of his head.

"He kind of speaks to anyone, you know? It seems simple and inside out a little at a glance, but then he says something like that, so... so tongue-in-cheek, and it reaches out and it grabs you and you can't really ignore what he has to say. He wasn't just writing words. He was talking to people."

He smiled a bit more. It was awesome to have someone else to talk books with, actually.

"If you don't mind letting me borrow your books, that would be great. I'm always looking for new stuff to read. I've actually picked a few of the somewhat more vapid romance books up from time to time, just to read something new."

And that had always led to regret. Ish.

[not_a_moonie]

"Well, that's what a really good book is, isn't it?" Alana asked. "It's not words on a page, blah blah blah. It's somebody talking to you about what matters in life."

She realized she sounded a bit intense, glanced away to collect herself. "Reading got me through some rough spots. It's great to have a place to escape, even if it's a shitty romance."

[genesishero]

"I think that's kind of what reading is for," Evan offered, easily. "I've read my way through some pretty dark places, too. Sometimes it's just easier to find hope in someone else's journey, if you can't really see it anywhere in your own."

[not_a_moonie]

"Yeah," Alana said, glancing away briefly. Somehow this had gotten heavy quickly, but she wasn't sure she minded. "Things usually get better at the end in books, you know? I wanna believe that's true in real life, too, but..."

But the world seemed determined not to prove that to her just yet.

[genesishero]

Evan wasn't so sure that Vonnegut's books were great picker-uppers in that sense, but he knew what she was getting at, all the same.

"But if you live enough real life, sometimes you start to wonder why people keep believing in happy endings?" He shrugged his shoulders a little. "They have to exist somewhere, right? Otherwise nobody would know what they even are."

[not_a_moonie]

"I can't decide whether that's inspiring or really depressing," Alana joked. "Maybe it's just true."

[genesishero]

"I'll settle for 'just true' if you do," Evan offered, smiling wryly. "And we're both still alive, right? And young, even. Plenty of time for us to find a happy ending somewhere, too."

He had to keep some optimism. The world was far too bleak without it.

[not_a_moonie]

"And a lot of people have it a lot worse than we do that way," Alana nodded. "That's the good thing about being a kid. All kinds of things could still happen."

[genesishero]

"And while we're waiting for them to happen, at least we've got books to tide us over?"

See? Optimism. Evan was going to cling to it like a lifeline.

[not_a_moonie]

"Absolutely," Alana said, matching Evan's tone. "And school, and friends, and even student council. There's plenty to do while we're waiting."

[genesishero]

"There is." And now Evan was smiling all over again. "Here, go ahead and keep the book anyway. We kind of have almost a hundred of them, and I haven't seen the manager in weeks, so I don't think she'll mind too much. And maybe... I don't know... we can recommend more books back and forth sometime, if you like that one?"

READING BUDDIES.

[not_a_moonie]

"I'll do book recs back and forth even if I don't like this one," Alana agreed. "We can mock each other's taste if needed, right?"

She raised an eyebrow hesitantly. "Are you worried about the manager thing? Or does she just sort of come and go?"

[genesishero]

"I'm not above book mocking," Evan agreed, and then, more seriously, he added, "and... vanishing like this really isn't like her. It's a 'worried about the manager' thing. She's far too responsible to just vanish like that."

[not_a_moonie]

Alana groaned softly. "Add it to the pile of other weird island stuff, I guess. Sorry to hear it."