Persephone Silverlight (angelinthewater) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2010-12-08 21:14:00 |
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Entry tags: | 2009-08-04 |
Outdated books lead to what? Gas masks.
Who: Ben and Persephone
Where: Starbucks
When: Afternoon.
Another rainy day spent in the library had left Persephone very convinced of a few key facts. One; people were woefully undereducated about the dangers of chemical warfare. Two; clearly there was no one else attempting to educate them so it was going to be her job. Three; gas masks were remarkably hard to find and this one smelled funny, almost like something had died in it at some point. And four; people really needed to learn how to listen and accept her carefully made pamphlets outlining the dangers and what to do instead of looking at her like she still had her gills on her neck or something. (The unacknowledged fifth fact was that the young ondine had passion but really, really needed to start checking the dates on the books that she checked out before deciding that she was going to educate the world.)
As it was she had printed out pamphlets at the library after a frenzy of research, honestly wondering why this had yet to be covered in school or on the news that she read about every time she came out of the water, and taken herself down to Starbucks with her gas mask to offer demonstrations on how best to put it on and use it. So far there had only been one really old, weird guy who had taken the pamphlet, called her a ‘stout lass’ and walked out while shaking his cane and muttering something about the Germans. But that had been nearly two hours ago and she was left sitting at one of the higher tables, swinging her legs while she practiced pulling the mask off and putting it back on while trying different ways of arranging the papers to see if maybe people would react better to them. And because it gave her something to do when she was not crushing the bits of ice that had formed in her strawberry frappuccino.
Ah, Starbucks. A world of overpriced tasty caffeinated beverages, and exactly what Ben needed right now. This anonymous gifts business had left him fidgety, and for some reason instead of trying to calm down, he only wanted more coffee. Counter-productive to be sure, but Ben got nervous so few times in his life that he honestly didn’t know how to properly react to such a thing. So, Starbucks it was. He waltzed into the shop and passed right by the tables onto the counter only to stop, back up a few steps and look to his side. That girl trying a gas mask on just now looked remarkably like one of the students at SOHS. And, look at that, it was her! Approaching her table slowly, Ben tilted his head as he eyed the mask and the pamphlets. “Persephone?” He called slowly. “What are you doing?”
People doing double-takes was nothing new for the day so Persephone just looked up. One of the things she did like about this mask was that it meant she did not have to see the boring color of her own hair. Other people could but she did not have to and yes, that meant she liked it - oh, it was Ben Stone! The counselor from the high school. Reaching up to rearrange the mask so that it rested on top of her head she offered a smile and held up a pamphlet. “I discovered the dangers of chemical warfare,” Persephone said in a serious tone of voice. “So I’m trying to share that with everyone else because I’d never heard about it before and it’s terrible to think that they’re all under-educated about the matter. It’s truly terrible. I’m also showing them how to use these.” She flicked the mask. “Or I’m trying to because everyone keeps giving me really, really weird looks.”
Smiling right back, Ben took the pamphlet with a suspicious look and skimmed it over while Persephone spoke. He genuinely thought she had been making some sort of misguided fashion statement, but it seemed more serious than that, at least for the girl herself. “That’s great, but Persephone... People in general know about chemical warfare. We’re not in immediate danger right now, in fact we haven’t really been since...I don’t know, the fifties?” Anthrax letters not included of course. Still, wearing a mask and handing out pamphlets was completely unnecessary. “You really don’t need to wear that.” He told her, taking the seat in front of hers. At the same time Ben wondered where she had been all this time; a girl her age ought to have heard about these things before, and know not to overreact like this. He eyed her, narrowing his eyes. It was like she had never heard of chemical warfare before, which didn’t really make sense.
What? But the books... Persephone thought about it for a moment. The fifties had been fifty years ago, way before she had been born. And yet those books that she had found had declared it a pretty valid threat. “That isn’t what...” Persephone was usually an intelligent girl and got compliments on it from her teachers despite her sometimes lacking knowledge when it came to what everyone else viewed as commonsense. That was what happened when you had to educated yourself because your mom did not give a damn about the world above the water past entertainment value. Visibly deflating Persephone set the mask down by her backpack on the floor and shifted, drawing her feet up so that she was practically kneeling on the chair now. She was small enough to fit. “I think I might need to start checking published dates on the books I’m reading in the library. Just because they don’t look old...” She reached up to pat down pieces of hair that had gotten messed up by the mask, putting the pamphlets all in one pile. Where was the recycling can? Because of course Mr. Stone would know more about this than her, he was older and actually belonged on the land.
Staring at the girl with raised eyebrows, Ben waited for her to reach whatever conclusion she seemed to be reaching while she spoke. When Persephone deflated, Ben did so as well, feeling sorry for the girl’s good intentions being so misplaced. A light chuckle escaped him when Persephone blamed not checking the publishing dates of the books for her views on chemical warfare. He nodded. “Yeah, I think you want to try doing that from now on. But the thought was a good one. And I keep hearing it’s the thought that counts.” He smiled. “Maybe you can shift that willingness to raise awareness onto something else, something that matters much more nowadays.” Ben couldn’t think of anything off the top of his head, but perhaps gay rights or women’s rights or everyone’s rights would be the way to go. Supernatural rights, too, of course.
“I will,” Persephone promised in a bit of a mutter, sullenly kicking at the leg of the table. One of the bright sides was that no one in the family needed to hear about this. Alejandro would never ever let her live it down. Hopefully Mr. Stone would not go and tell anyone else about this and the few people that she had seen so far would not have actually recognized her. He did have a pretty good idea though and Persephone was already reaching into her backpack to pull out the notebook she had got a few days ago. Flowers on the cover and everything. “You mean like supernatural rights?” she asked, scribbling that right at the top. Most of the issues that humans had went right over her head unless she had it shoved into her face. Because really, their problems only affected her in certain areas. “I’ve heard a lot of people muttering about the elementals now, which I didn’t expect. It’s almost expected for them to worry about vampires but elementals are such a natural part of the world...” Sometimes she talked too much. But he was basically like a teacher and he had been nice enough to not laugh at her. Asking a few questions couldn’t hurt.
Ben nodded, pleased, and smiled. Crisis averted, it was now time for Persephone to move on to better things, more worthy of her time. And that, she did, without wasting a lot of time. Ben had to admit he was impressed; not many teenagers were this eager to find a cause. when Persephone asked about supernatural rights, Ben shrugged. “Sure, why not? It’s certainly something worth fighting for.” He would know, since he was one of them. But Persephone didn’t need to know that. With a sigh, Ben scratched his forehead. “Some people will bitch at anything-” He stop suddenly, putting a hand to his mouth. “Sorry. I meant some people will protest anything they don’t really understand. The second someone mentioned some elementals might be able to control the weather, they jumped right at the most negative possibility. It’s what people do, sometimes. They expect the worst and they see the worst.” He shrugged. “But I don’t think this weather is any elemental’s fault. I do think they could help but...” He shrugged once more. Of course people had to go and ruin it.
What Mr. Stone did not know was that Persephone was really far from the typical teen and actually, she was not a teenager at all. But she passed for one so very well. Usually. Thankfully proclaiming she had just done something because of an outdated book - which was totally true - went over pretty good. “My mom uses worse language than that all of the time, Mr. Stone, you don’t have to backtrack for benefit of my ears.” Even if they had turned a little pink at hearing him swear. Once she had learned what were considered swear words by the people on land she had made sure to never, ever use them herself. “That’s too bad. I wish that people would look at the positives instead of all the negatives like they seem to do so much. And if the elementals want to help then I’m sure that they would! But it’s a really big storm. It’d be like asking witches to get rid of all the demons when they come around, just not enough of them.” She shrugged her small shoulders and scribbled a few things down before blinking up at Mr. Stone with her widest, most innocent look. She was not even trying, it just happened that way. “So you support supernatural rights, yeah?”
With a smile, Ben tilted his head. “Yeah, but I’m your guidance counselor and I’m very much not supposed to use that language in front of you, even if your mother does.” That was her issue. If he was honest, he didn’t think a bit of bad language - never in excess - really trapped the minds of the young and made them into terrible individuals. There were much worse things out there. He was nodding and smiling while Persephone spoke, finding he agreed with her. She seemed wise beyond her ears...at times. Then again Ben knew all too well every teenager had the ability to have a stroke of maturity once in a while. “They could help subside the effects, though. Not stop it entirely, but I’m sure they could help with the floods.” He explained. Even though he knew next to nothing about elementals he didn’t think they could stop a storm all together. Or maybe they could! He really didn’t know. And then there it was, the direct question. Ben supposed it didn’t hurt to tell her the truth; anybody who wanted to contest his personal beliefs could come at him. “Yes, I do. I don’t think that just because people are born a certain way or have certain things happen they should be stripped of their rights and watched over like they’re bombs about to blow up at any second.” He said, nodding towards the mask as he mentioned bombs. “Not that there aren’t some creatures out there who aren’t very dangerous, but most people just want to be left the hell alone.” And out of fear, people always exaggerated terribly, which then had horrible consequences.
Oh right, he held that position that labeled it was what was supposed to guide and help shape their young minds. Persephone did not really view that as help she needed outside of choosing her classes for the next year and figuring out which university she was going to go to. Even if her mother insisted that she was not going to go Persephone knew that she would. Hopefully without her ‘father’ finding out so that she could be alone for the first time in her life. “Maybe some of them are in some places,” Persephone suggested. She knew no elementals, well, past whoever was one at school. But she thought that it would be fun to know one and see what they could do. Especially a water elemental. If anything she was a touch jealous of the abilities that they possessed. If she had ever thought about gaining a ‘soul’ in the way that the others said could happen then she hoped she would be granted those abilities. “I agree,” the ondine nodded her head in agreement with what Mr. Stone said. True, her race was still secret but there was a good reason for that. They did not want to be known. “Nothing wrong with wanting to be left alone. But if they want rights specific to their circumstances and species then they should be allowed them. Even vampires.” Part of the reason she could say that was because she had not actually been exposed to a vampire. Hopefully it would stay that way. “Like bitten were’s can’t control themselves on the full moon but it doesn’t mean we should lock them all up. They probably know how to take care of themselves better than we do.” Here she was thinking of Gabe.
Nodding, Ben adjusted his position on the chair. “Oh yeah, some of them are dangerous, but it’s like with everybody else. There is good and bad people everywhere, and then there are all the shades of grey in between.” He shrugged. “It’s all relative, if you ask me.” Ben found that he agreed with the girl’s stance, and offered her a smile before continuing. “Yes, I agree. Everybody is different and nobody should be forced to adapt to a cookie-cutter way of life that isn’t the best for them in the end.” Ben had not been exposed to a vampire either, that he knew of, but he doubted even if he had, that would change his mind. When Persephone started talking about bitten weres, Ben straightened up involuntarily on the chair. He didn’t notice he had done it, so he didn’t think to hope that Persephone wouldn’t notice that change in physical stance either. He tilted his head, scrunching up his nose. “Well we shouldn’t round them all up and lock them up by force, but I can’t say they shouldn’t be restrained. It’s better for everyone if they are, it’s one night a month, it’s no trouble at all. I’m sure most bitten weres will agree, since I doubt a lot of them would want to harm anyone, especially by accident.” This matter rang a little closer to home, obviously; and while he wasn’t an adept of vilification, not even if one of them did horrible things like the alleged werewolf who had killed the Korey girl, he had been through the transformation enough times to know it was better for everyone if his fluffy monster self remained caged on the full moon. “But if they are responsible, then yeah, they can take care of themselves better than those who don’t know what they go through.” The problem here was that, much like everywhere else, in weredom there were those who were absolutely not responsible at all. It was kind of akin to drunk driving, in a way.
Yeah, see, that was the way. Just because people were supernatural did not mean that they stopped operating in the same boundaries as everyone else. There were still evil elementals, good vampires and annoyingly neutral weres. Intentions mattered more than species. Although... Persephone blinked a little bit when she saw how Ben shifted at the mention of bittens. Did he know one? Was he one? It’s none of my business, actually. If I don’t want him to know what I am then it’s not fair to expect him to tell me what he is unless he offers the information. True, she had refrained from telling Gabe but she had not really asked him what he was. He had sort of gone swimming as a wolf and shifted back into human where she could see. Basically he had told her. Yeah. “Well yeah, they probably what to do and most of them want to do the right thing.” Persephone always wanted to believe the best of people until they proved that they did not deserve it. “Can’t punish the whole lot of them just because of a few people. I mean geez. Humans do all sorts of bad things and don’t always get ganged up on for it because they’re human. It’s just not fair.” Unfair was a word that Persephone could actually say that she hated. Shrugging, she reached up to tug at a piece of hair that had fallen down. Yep, still the boring color that she cared not a bit for. “But hey, if people can whine about needing to cage them up then there’s nothing wrong with flipping the tables and pointing out all the ways they’re wrong. I just need to figure them out.”
“I hope most of them do, yeah.” At least Ben and his cousin did, Raya, the dog were he had met the other day probably did too, but he couldn’t vouch for all the were community. He just hoped it was the case. “No, but if you divide it up and look at racism and the likes you’ll see similarities with what people are wanting to do with weres.” He explained. At least that was his view, and he knew it was a very normal thing in human behavior, but that did not mean it hurt any less. When he thought about it, anyway. Ben chuckled at Persephone’s idea to show them humans in how many ways they were wrong. “Good luck there, I’m sure you’ll find something.” Oh, yes. Humanity was ripe with things wrong with it. She would take months finding them all. Waving at the girl with a smile, Ben took his leave of Persephone’s table and made his way to the counter, to finally order his beverage.
So did Persephone. Although what did she have to worry about from weres when she was in the water with the safety of her family and Alejandro. Were their weres who came from animals that lived in the water? Huh, there was a thought for her to present to her mother when she saw her that evening. “Not just with weres,” Persephone felt the need to say that. “With all the supernaturals.” Did that specific part of it matter so much to Mr. Stone because he was one? “Thanks a lot for the suggestion, Mr. Stone, I’ll have to let you know how everything goes with it. If you’re interested in knowing.” Though history class alone let her know that it was going to take a long time. Ah well, more time in the library! She could even get started right now, along with having a talk with the librarian about how books needed to be much more clearly labeled with when they had been written. Little bits of text at the bottom of the front cover were not good enough. And that was about when she noticed that Mr. Stone had gone to presumably get his coffee. Persephone could be absolutely awful at seeing these things. With a shrug, the ondine finished putting things in her backpack and headed outside. She had more research to do.