Octavia Blake [The 100] (okteiviakomskai) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-03-31 20:36:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !partner thread, lily evans, octavia blake |
Who: Lily Evans and Octavia Blake
What: Random meeting
Where: Library at University of California, Irvine
When: Midday
Warnings: N/A
Status: Closed, Complete
Octavia had recently transferred to the University of California. And almost none of her previous credits counted. It was frustrating as hell, but she was determined to keep her head up and deal with it. She was finally where she wanted to be, studying Psychology because it truly interested her, and she was going to make the most of it.
She had a stack of books in her hands that she wanted to look through and determine which ones were really going to benefit her. And maybe she had too many, because the top two were trying to slide off, and when she brought a hand up to try and catch them, she miscalculated and ended up dropping the whole load.
“Oh crap. I’m sorry,” she said to a young woman nearby who might have been hit by one of the tumbling books. “I got unbalanced. Are you all right?”
***
It was just another day of the week and Lily was once again in the university library trying to gather up research that she had managed to miss. She was guessing that she probably knew all these books by now, but she didn’t have them perfectly memorized, so she continued to go back into the library. The semester was starting to wind up towards midterms/spring break/finals, so at least it meant she wouldn’t be doing this for much longer once she finally got this larger project off her plate.
What was a little different this time was the woman dropping a pile of books and Lily tried to use her reflexes and managed to catch at least one of the books before it fell to the floor. Luckily her reflexes also worked with her ability to jump back and avoid smashing her feet.
“Totally okay, it happens! I managed to get one of them,” Lily held the book out to her, “But I’m totally fine. Are you okay?”
***
“Thanks.” Octavia took the offered book then bent down to try to quickly pick up the rest. She managed to get them all in a pile, but she knew she couldn’t stand up with the books in her arms. She had really over committed.
She set the books down on the floor, stood, and gave the girl an awkward smile. “I’m all right. Just...you know. It’s crunch time on a paper I have due, and I haven't even started it.”
***
Lily knelt down to join in on the gathering of the books because that stack was just too big for one person to handle and Lily was more than willing to share the load for a bit, “And I totally know how crunch time goes. At least you weren’t trying to balance coffee or anything on top of your stack. That would be far more disasterous.” And something she had seen happen quite a bit.
“Do you have a table that you’re studying at? I can help bring some of these books over there for you,” Lily offered with a smile, “I’m Lily Evans, by the way. Fellow student and gatherer of far too many books.” Her own table was covered in them.
***
“I haven’t gotten to a table yet,” Octavia told her. “I was...hoping to find one when I ran into you. Literally,” she said with a sheepish little grin. She felt kind of silly for letting that happen. She was clearly trying to carry too many books all at once.
“Thank you, for your help. You didn’t have to do that.” Especially since Octavia had practically run her over. It was nice of her to offer, though, and Octavia wasn’t going to tell her not to help. Just that she didn’t have to, because she didn’t have to.
***
The literally part made Lily laugh and she gave her an easy going shrug, “It’s not a big deal at all. You can share my table if you wanted. I’ve got a ton of books spread out on it right now, but I am more than happy to create some piles and make some room.” It would be easy enough and she did feel really bad about commandeering an entire table when it was high time for people to be working on projects.
“Come follow me,” Lily didn’t even wait for an answer as she lead the way towards her table that was off in the distance. Might as well be friendly and help someone out because she knew how much it made a difference in someone’s day, “I still haven’t caught your name.”
***
It really did make a difference. Octavia smiled and followed and was grateful for the offer. Maybe this was the start of a real friendship. That would be nice. Octavia needed friends.
“I’m Octavia,” she said. “Octavia Blake,” she set her books down as soon as Lily made space for her to do so.
***
“Lily Evans, nice to meet you Octavia. I like that name - sister of Emperor Augustus. Sorry, history was a favorite subject of mine,” she explained with a laugh as she cleared off part of the table and made room for Octavia to sit down beside her. A few of her books were delegated to the floor and she placed the new ones on the table.
“What are you studying here?”
***
Once she progressed far enough into her dreams, she would learn she was named after Augustus’ sister, but she had no basis for knowing that as yet. “Thank you. I hated it when I was young, but I kind of like it now.”
She rolled her shoulders. “Psychology. I like learning what makes people tick.”
***
“I like that it’s unique. Lily is a fairly normal name, so I can see both sides of it. And psychology, impressive. Are you learning a lot of fun stuff so far?” Lily was also curious about other people’s majors. They seemed quite interesting and psychology was something she had briefly considered, but she had gone with archaeology because she liked to get her hands dirty. History was also quite fun to learn and she loved mythology as well.
***
“A little. I’ve only just started, really. So I’ve got a long way to go,” she said. “But it’s all fascinating. Especially when you get into why people behave the way they do, why they do things like they do.” She shrugged. It was all fascinating to her.
“I hope to be able to help people through counseling one day.”
***
“I think you’ll accomplish a lot more than you think. You’ll learn way more than you ever knew was possible. College is a lot of fun and you can always hit me up if you need help with anything. Being a grad student is a little easier than being an undergrad, but I’m happy to share my wisdom,” Lily commented with a smile, “And I’m sure you’ll be able to help a lot of people. That’s a noble profession.”
***
“Thank you,” Octavia said. “I haven't had a lot of positive feedback in my life, so I really appreciate it when I get it.” She smiled an awkward little smile. “I’ll let you get back to what you were doing, though.” She said with a nod toward the table.
***
“Thanks and you can get started on your studying,” Lily commented with a smile as she settled back in her seat with a book in her hands. Her notebook was beside her and she was ready to get finished up on this project. At least now she had a study partner.