Entry tags:

!complete, cotton weary, myrcella baratheon

Who: Cotton Weary purecotton & Myrcella Baratheon child_of_lions
What: Research
When: Monday, September 21, midday
Where: Bookstore where Myrcella works
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Cotton has had a hard life so there may be mentions of past trauma, rape, or unpleasantness. They would only be passing mentions however as he is not a very open person.
Status: Closed/Completed GDoc

~*~

Bookstores were strange places for Cotton Weary. He wasn't the kind of man who read a lot for fun or pleasure. Most of his pastimes involved the gym or his couch. There were rarely books which caught his attention unless they were being talked up by the industry to become major motion pictures. Hollywood always got a nod from him even though he'd long since given up on the idea of going into acting. Cotton had spent too much time pretending in prison to want to do it professionally.

He hadn't set out to go to any particular bookstore. There were plenty in Orange County. Some were highly specialized while others were simple shops designed to appeal to readers. Cotton didn't have a very particular need to be met so he'd wound up in the place closest to where he was driving through. It seemed friendly enough to a casual shopper. The idea of looking at biographies had come to him when he had been talking with Sid about her own writing process and how she managed to keep going.

Cotton knew he would get a better feel for what would sell well and appeal to a wider audience if he had some examples to read.

Entering the shop, he took his sunglasses off, tucking them into his pocket while he circled the front displays. They were cheerful, innovative, offering everything from the latest fiction to creative options for coffee table books. He couldn't help smiling at the thought of picking out books to put on his tables. Sid was likely the only person he'd invite over to his place who would look for a book. Every other visitor he wound up having was there for business or the kind of pleasure which didn't come from reading.

Some guys were willing to wander a shop looking for what they wanted. Cotton had never been that guy, before prison or after. He approached the first person he saw who looked like they worked there to ask for advice.

"Weird request: autobiographies which have become bestsellers? I'm trying to get an idea of where I should be aiming my book."

What was the worst she would do? Laugh at him? She wouldn't be the first; Cotton was definitely sure she wouldn't be the last.

~*~

Myrcella enjoyed working at the bookstore and was lucky enough that Tessa was happy for her to work shifts around her cosmetology course. Even when she was a fully qualified beauty therapist she would continue working at the shop until she had built up enough of a client base not to anymore. But she would miss it. To Myrcella there was no better way to relax than by reading a good book. She had always been a keen reader and her collection of fairy tales was rather huge. Luckily she had the most amazing bookshelves though even those were beginning to fill up now.

They had a good atmosphere and knowledge in the shop and Myrcella couldn’t help thinking that was part of the reason why people continued coming back to them even when they could potentially find the books they wanted cheaper online. They did a lot of events aiming at community building which Tessa was passionate about and they were very popular.

Smiling as the customer approached she nodded, “Oh of course. That’s a really good idea” she added before leading him to the autobiographical section, “It isn’t the biggest collection we have but we can order anything in if it isn’t here. It’s an interesting market, celebrity ones always sell well of course. Though even they need to have something different about them now. The real life dramatic ones seem to have reached saturation point. I guess there’s only a certain number of times people can read a sad story before they need something more upbeat” she said, sob stories weren’t cutting it anymore basically though she wouldn’t be as blunt as that.

~*~

"Upbeat is the way to go, huh? Just my luck I want to write my life story right as the market gets cornered on good-guy-gets-raw-deal."

Cotton grinned. He found the irony hard to dismiss. There was something soothing in the way the woman presented the department to him. She was matter-of-fact without being rude or condescending. It was obvious she had no clue who he was which was its own kind of amusement. He had a feeling if he lived in Orange County long enough his ego might be permanently deflated. Outside of the OC? Cotton had a hard time going anywhere without being recognized. Inside? He was some guy.

He hated being Some Guy.

Except where Sidney Prescott was concerned and then it was entirely different.

"Do you happen to know which sell the best? I'm looking for direct competition. By the way, I'm Cotton. Nice to meet you and thanks in advance for your expertise. It's nice to have someone who is obviously well-informed about their work."

~*~

“Well just not depressing. Like be honest about it all but show how it’s made you stronger, more determined that kind of thing” she suggested.

He shouldn’t feel bad that Myrcella didn’t recognise him, she didn’t pay much attention to the news. Not as much as she should anyway and here in the OC it was kind of like living in a bubble. She would be happy to know he thought she was being professional though, she did try her best.

“Of course. Let me just double check the system to make sure I’m giving you the correct information” she requested before offering her hand, “Myrcella, pleased to meet you. I do try to make sure I know what I’m talking about”

~*~

Giving her hand a light shake, he grinned, "Thorough. I like it, Myrcella. I'll follow you if you don't mind. It creeps me out to be standing around all these people's lives like some kind of voyeur. Not my kink of choice."

He wasn't about to tell her what his kink of choice happened to be, but Cotton figured he could banter with her. She was younger which helped a lot with the flow of the conversation. Younger people tended to have a more relaxed attitude about life in general; they were easier to approach when one was trying to get to know someone new. There was also the small chance one could recruit a new fan from a younger person whereas older people were more set in their ways, less likely to pick up something new.

Cotton hoped he wasn't given a bunch of recommendations of all political figures or A-Listers. He couldn't compete with either one on an open market. His life was more B-List than A-List though he felt pleased to note he had never made it to the D-List. No one had ever pushed him down to the far end of the celebrity spectrum. Cotton had his amazing agent to thank for keeping him in the spotlight, getting him into the right parties, making sure all the right people knew his name when he shook their hands. He was a lucky guy in that sense.

~*~

“I don’t mind at all, I know what you mean. I actually don’t like being on my own in the horror section” she admitted with a grin in response. He seemed nice and Myrcella was all about encouraging reading and writing. She was sure his own book would be interesting, even if it wasn’t her usual genre of choice.

Myrcella definitely wasn’t about to recommend political A-listers or anything like that. She’d do a search within the last 6 months of all biography’s sold and then they could look at the ones closest to his own story. Reaching the computer she entered the information and printed off a list. “Okay so these are the most popular titles by sales figures - the ones in bold are the ones we have in stock so we can start with those and see which ones are the most relevant” she suggested.

~*~

As far as Cotton Weary was concerned, his autobiography belonged in the horror section, but he decided to hold that tidbit back from Myrcella. It was hardly her fault he had a shit life history to try to sell. She was only trying to help. Banter should be light with someone trying to help which was why he only grinned and followed her to the front. She typed faster than he did -not that he could actually type worth a damn so much as it was something to make note of- and whatever software she was using was faster than he'd have expected, too.

The list looked longer than he'd been expecting.

"Seems like bios are actually selling better than I thought. I figured it'd be a dead zone. I like looking for the most relevant. Do you mind going back with me to help pull them? I don't want to keep you if you have other things needing your attention."

Cotton was willing to go by himself to do the grunt work. It was almost strange to imagine pulling lives off the shelves to compare to his own with some young woman who didn't even know his story. There was a macabre element to how young she looked which wasn't lost on him. She had to be older than Tatum Riley---Cotton wouldn't think karma had it in for him bad enough to saddle him with a bookstore associate the same age as his supposed victim. He wasn't that bad of a guy surely.

~*~

Myrcella would have apologised had she known, she was simply trying to offer advice. And things with an overall positive message were selling better. “Oh no I can help you of course” she said, moving with him and the list back to the autobiographical section, “I have time don’t worry. I’d like to be of help”

Myrcella had just turned nineteen though she was often mistaken for younger, she didn’t act immaturely but she did come across as very sweet and rather innocent. And she could be sweet but also fierce when she was protecting her friends. She had no idea about Cotton’s past however so wasn’t aware of any of his thoughts.

~*~

"I appreciate it," Cotton admitted, "It's nice to have someone around who I can bounce ideas off before I wander out with a batch of books which have no relevance to me or my story."

He tried to come up with a nice way to say what he was looking for and settled for the simplest option.

"Well, best options will be from a crime perspective. Wrongfully convicted people would be the best. I'd prefer to avoid reading anything from the judge's side of the story or the jury. I'm the bad guy. I'd like to stick with the bad guy's side of things."

Cotton wasn't really the bad guy which was the whole point of his story. He figured Myrcella understood that much. She was a smart woman. There was kindness in her, too. She wouldn't have offered to help if she wasn't nice. It wasn't like she worked on commission in a book store. He doubted he could leave her a tip either. This wasn't the kind of place where something like that would be welcomed; Cotton wasn't in the habit of making people feel cheap or as if they were being paid off when they were just being kind.

~*~

"We'd feel terrible if that happened too" she told him, because after all their customers were trusting them to help and that is what they tried to do. Repeat custom was their best chance of survival which meant giving excellent service.

"The wronged person point of view" she nodded in understanding because he wasn't the bad guy but she knew what he meant. "Okay" she scanned the list and pulled a couple from the shelf hesitating over the third before pulling that one too. "These two sound like they'd be good" she said, it was a limited subject which could play out well for Cotton, "This one is different in that the writer was guilty but it might still be useful" she said of the third.

~*~

Sincerity was easy to fake, but hard to get past someone who was used to looking for it. Cotton would have bet his royalties for a month on Myrcella being honest in her words. She seemed the stand-up kind of girl. He wondered if she was going to be a writer some day or if this was simply a job for her until something better came along. They were strangers. It wasn't something he could ask. He could wonder about it without hurting anyone all the same. It would be hitting too close to his overturned crime to ask questions of a woman as young as her.

Looking at the selections she pulled, Cotton wasn't put off by the fact the third was written by someone who had been guilty. Prison was filled with guilty men who all had a story to tell. Not all of them had been bad guys so much as guys who'd made a bad choice at a bad time in their lives. There weren't simply career criminals behind bars; Cotton had shared a cell with a guy who'd happened to make a really bad decision on the worst day of his life. That guy had wound up hanging himself rather than face forty years in the state pen.

The world was made up of all types. It wasn't only the innocent who deserved understanding.

"These are all good. I'll start with them and I may come back for another round if I can manage to get through them fast enough to need another set to pull from though," Cotton have a wry grin, "I'm not the fastest of readers. I fall into several stereotypes courtesy of my life of supposed crime."


~*~

Myrcella wouldn’t have minded answering his questions, she liked talking about her hope for the future and her career aspirations but they weren’t something she would just offer up. She wasn’t the sort to talk about herself without a little prompting. Just like she wasn’t going to ask too many questions of him even if her interest was piqued and curiosity high. She wouldn’t want to appear rude.

She had offered the third as a different aspect because he hadn’t seemed the sort to be offended by her including it. He came across as very down to earth but then she supposed having suffered for a crime he hadn’t committed would mean he was very aware of life and its bad parts as well as good.

“Take your time” she told him, “And if you do struggle I think we have a fairly good selection of autobiographies in audiobook form. Some people find it easier to listen to a book than to read it to themselves”

~*~

A flush stole across Cotton's face as he almost blurted out to Myrcella no one had ever read to him before. He coughed to clear his throat, pulling the books closer to his chest as he nodded towards the register.

"I think I'll start here. Let's get this paid for and I'll head back to my writing lair to see what I can accomplish today."

He didn't want to be that guy who said too much. There were times when he wondered what was wrong with him. Something had to have been wrong with him from the start. Even as a child Cotton hadn't been treated the way regular kids were treated. His parents had been comfortable neglecting him. They hadn't seemed to suffer over letting him go hungry, without education, lacking clean clothes. He could have made a list of things his parents had been fine with where he was concerned yet no one he knew had ever lived with the same list of needful things without their parents feeling at least a little bad about it.

Cotton didn't think he'd get any kind of answer to that question in this bookstore however so he kept his opinion to himself, determined to check out with a ready smile and a handy bank card.

These books were a place to start. That was good enough.