estreenanomaly (estreenanomaly) wrote in thearenas, @ 2013-12-18 13:14:00 |
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estreenanomaly Cassie was spending so much time at the library that eventually she asked them for a job. When she wasn't in the arenas she needed something to do, and this seemed like the logical next step. After months of going back and forth on where she could work, once she started there, it felt right. She cheerfully could restock shelves and alphabetize all day. She was always bookish, from childhood, although as she grew older she became more hands on with her studies. Her focus was on animals and the environment, and while she did plenty of research, those were subjects that required more activity. Then the war happened, and she didn't have much time to read or study. They never got to graduate high school. She liked to read what the aliens had there; none of it gave away to her what they planned or where they were from. It would be too easy for them to spell out answers in a public place. Cassie still read what she could and kept her ears open. It was natural now, to be aware of her surroundings, to maybe be slightly on the paranoid side. At the moment though she was in a good mood, having just spent an hour re-organizing the mystery section. Her hair was finally long enough that it could be put into a small ponytail; Cassie normally kept it short, but she didn't bother the past few months to cut it. She wondered if she should be more troubled about her 'death' in the arena. Or troubled instead about her indifference to it. Probably both. She brought her little book cart, now empty, to the front desk and got behind it. wisdomsdaughter Aside from the little home that she shared with Thalia and Vi, the library was Annabeth’s favorite place to spend her time. It was peaceful and quiet. Oftentimes she would go there simply to get away from it all. She would sit at one of the desks and lose herself in a book or spend hours sketching new architecture designs. It was her place to forget the outside world of confusion and arenas and missing Percy. But even as much as she liked spending time alone lost amid the stacks, it was also nice to have a friend there. As Annabeth walked in after finishing her shift at work, she brightened to see Cassie making her way back to the front desk. She smiled and gave the other girl a small wave as she made her way over. “I didn’t know you were working today.” She plopped the stack of books she was returning up onto the counter. estreenanomaly Cassie was happy to have Rachel, she could go on the rest of her life only having Rachel and it would be great. But she liked getting to know Vi, Annabeth, and Thalia. She wasn't as extroverted as Rachel so it took a little longer for the soft spoken Cassie to reach out, but once she did, they found a lot of strength in the togetherness of their little girl power group. Things could be tough around here. It was nice to have a team of sorts. It reminded her of the Animorphs, and the comparison hurt less than it used to. "Hi!" She replied with a smile when Annabeth came over. She wasn't surprised to find her there in the least, she loved books even more than Cassie did. Which made sense, being a Daughter of Athena. It still amazed Cassie, knowing people who were the actual children of gods. "I agreed to take someone's shift, they went home sick. I felt like it was going to be one of those days when I stayed inside with a book anyway." And why not do that while getting paid at the same time? She took the books and sorted them out. "So, light reading?" she teased, since it was an impressive stack Annabeth had. wisdomsdaughter Annabeth laughed. “What can I say? Most of my days are the kinds where I stay inside with a book.” She reached over and tapped the cover of the book Cassie had just picked up from the stack. “You have to read this one, by the way. I promise you’ll love it.” She leaned a hip against the desk and glanced around at the nearly empty library. “Quiet day in here. I don’t know if I should be happy that we get it to ourselves, or offended that more people aren’t here.” estreenanomaly "You're right, it's especially great when it's cold outside." Cassie liked having seasonal changes. They lived on the west coast back home, and having snow was exciting. Up until the point where she stopped feeling her fingers and took a shower to warm up, only to be so cold that the water felt like ice for a little while. Yikes. That taught her to get better gloves, which she did almost immediately. "Some tea and a book. I also like crackers with peanut butter, pretty simple, but worth it." She made a note to try the book Annabeth suggested; she always knew what she was talking about. "Both? But I'm not that surprised. This place has more fighters than readers." They had to concern themselves with that because of the arenas, and then the people who came in to the island were also on the rougher side. "I'm not sure if I should be trying to bring people in or leave them out there." There were a lot of trouble makers. wisdomsdaughter Growing up in New York meant that Annabeth was no stranger to snow and cold. She had laughed lightly at Cassie and Rachel’s excitement over it the first few days. She smiled. “Hot cocoa with a peppermint stick is my favorite. Nothing like curling up with that and a book on cold afternoons.” It was true. And not unlike Camp Half-Blood. Particularly with their dyslexia making it frustrating, most demigods prefered to spend their time training or roughhousing to getting some reading in. But Annabeth liked both. What good did it do to train your body if your mind was dull and slow? Reading was a way to strengthen her brain. She tilted her head to the side thoughtfully. “What if we started a book club? Do you think anyone at all would be interested in joining?” estreenanomaly Cassie wondered if the snow would get annoying eventually. Since it was her first real winter, probably not. The next winter, it might lose its novelty. She used to like the cooler nights in the barn, when there was a breeze and she needed a light jacket. The air was crisp and she had a good excuse for cuddling the animals. "I'll have to try that. The chocolate with the mint sounds amazing." She was a little hungry, her lunch hour was coming up. Cassie was basically the same. She was the brains of the Animorphs. They were all smart, that's how they stayed alive so long, but she was the planner. It wasn't until reflection that she really noticed it; for awhile she wondered what her place with them was. Not the leader or the warrior or the comedy relief or the loner. Or the alien. Just Cassie. Her eyes brightened. "Oh I like that idea. I'm not sure who else would want to be a part of it, but you never know. We could try new ones too, otherwise you and I will have to struggle not to dominate conversations." They were enthusiastic. wisdomsdaughter Annabeth laughed. “We’ll try and keep each other in check. Otherwise no one else will be able to get a word in edgewise.” She really did like the idea of a book club, though. She’d tried to start one at camp once, and it had failed spectacularly. It had just been her and Chiron. Not that she didn’t love her mentor, but the thought of having a group of people to discuss books with excited her. “Why don’t we try to set something up in January? That’ll give everyone a chance to have their holiday celebrations and deal with the arena. Besides, don’t people always make new years resolutions to read more?” estreenanomaly Cassie laughed and shook her head. "No, Annabeth, I think that's usually just us. Or people who say it but don't mean it. We'll make them mean it." Most of the time people wanted in theory to read more, but didn't have the ability to sit down and do it on their own. Maybe having a focal point would be good for them. Besides it was something to do that wasn't fighting or working, and Cassie was getting better at moving out of her shell. Maybe they could all meet more people. "If worse comes to worse, it'll just be you and me, but at least we'll have great conversations. Think you can sucker Thalia into it? I can probably drag Rachel. And together we can get Violet." Team teenage superpowered girls. [more coming] |