Raven loves waffles more than life itself (ofevilsfire) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-07-17 18:42:00 |
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Virgil might not have had a lot of money, but he rarely let that stop him from buying books. He enjoyed reading, really. Just because most of what he read came in comic form didn’t mean that he didn’t enjoy the occasional book, and he had a bit of extra cash on him now. Working at Stark Industries paid better than all the part-time fry cook jobs he’d had before this, and he was intending to take advantage of the extra money in his pocket.
The problem was, Virgil didn’t really know what book to get. But that didn’t bother him too much. Being new in town meant that he was also on a sidequest to make a few new friends that he could hang with in his downtime, and what better way to get to know someone than hitting them up for their thoughts on literature. When he caught sight of a girl who looked pretty close to his age checking out a book, he moseyed up casual as could be.
“Hey,” Virgil said, offering her a bit of a wave. “I’m Virgil. That book any good?”
This whole blonde thing was annoying. Raven was more or less used to it as she had no other real option but deal with it until the magic wore off, she regained her balance, or a combination of the two. So while she was mostly keeping to herself anyway in order to meditate as a means of trying to rebalance herself, the teen was also had an incentive to go and get more books. Things to do and all that.
As if she ever really needed an excuse to get a new book. Or five.
Already having a selection on meditation and the books at both the Guild and Regina’s, well… she had more leeway on books she might want to get just because and so had wandered into the fiction section, after already getting a couple of history books. She’d been reading the back of a book, Missing, Presumed, when she was approached by someone.
Quirking a brow, Raven shrugged.
“Well I haven’t purchased it to read so I couldn’t tell you. Looks to be a mystery novel though.”
Really, how was she supposed to know if it was good if she hadn’t read it? People were weird.
“Oh,” Virgil said, a little embarrassed. Of course she wouldn’t know if the book was any good just by reading the back cover of the thing. But Virgil was nothing if not resilient, so he recovered from his embarrassment easily enough, and replaced the smile on his face. “Well, is there anything you do recommend? Normally, I read science books but I thought why not try to find a good fiction novel to kill some time.” It was kind of surprising exactly how much time Virgil had to kill these days without Richie or any other friends to eat it up.
There was no real reaction from Raven beyond a slight brow quirk and then shrug. She wasn’t exactly known for being the most expressive of people. And… still talking. Sure. Why not. But some people were naturally talkative and friendly, which really was the opposite of how Raven was. She could go with it easily enough so long as her patience wasn’t being tried at least.
Okay. Science books. Good fiction novel. It was easy enough to find books that could fit both. Admittedly Ed might be better at answering the question, but Raven had read a handful of fiction books that dealt with science.
“Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Deals with cryptographers from World War II, including Alan Turing, as well as hackers from the 1990s who are trying to create a secret network for people susceptible to genocide and how progress gets made from generation to generation.”
Virgil shifted a little. He was beginning to think that maybe he’d approached the wrong person to try to make friends with. She probably wasn’t the friendliest person in the bookstore. And was he imagining things, or did she seem annoyed with him?
Okay, he was probably imagining things. She hadn’t told him to go away, and had even answered his question. He knew from experience that some people just weren’t that expressive. And it would be rude of him to just take off now that he’d started a conversation.
“No kidding? My friend Richie’s great uncle was a cryptographer in WWII. His dad told us about it when we were younger. You a history buff? History was always my worst subject in school.” Was he babbling? Oh no, he was definitely babbling.
He was definitely babbling. Not that Raven could understand why. It was almost like dealing with Beast Boy. (There were a lot of people who reminded her of him, they tended to just be less annoying at least and didn’t seem to do things just to be annoying) So she just let him babble before nodding some.
“Really? That’s interesting.” As for the question, well… “As for history, yes, I am.” Why the term history buff though? It was awkward, but that was her normal mode if she was stuck talking to people she didn’t know. “It’s not everyone’s subject.”
Understatement. But what was there really to say?
“We sure thought so. We ended up writing a whole paper on cryptographers for history. But really, I was more of a science guy. They used to call me the Chemistry Kid.” Well, Virgil used to call himself the Chemistry Kid at least. “Not that I’m not still doing science.” Why was he still talking? “Now I’m over at CalTech, studying electrical engineering.” Virgil. Shut. Up. “You know, like making MP3 players.” He finally managed to stop himself, and gave Raven a bashful look. “Sorry. I’m really bad at this. It’s just that I’m new to the area and was hoping to make some new friends. It’s a lot easier when you’re in school.”
It was almost amusing the way he kept babbling. Embarrassing for him, but amusing. And it wasn’t like Raven was known for being talkative, so not really having to contribute to the conversation that had randomly happened was always an added bonus for her. Even if she wasn’t sure why he approached her.
Ah. There it was. New to the area.
“Cool.” Really, Ed would know more the science stuff but oh well. “It’s fine. Though I wouldn’t know about that.” Then again, Raven had always been the quiet girl in the background at school if she wasn’t being targeted for being different. Add in the threat that was her father before everything changed, it wasn’t like she had wanted to make friends as that would lead to questions. Well, part of her had, loneliness and all, but it had always been safer not making them.
“I haven’t declared a major yet.” She probably should look into that, but for now it was getting through her general education and hoping something stuck out. It was weird not having that goal as she’d always had a goal when trying to graduate early to get out of the hell of high school and the hell of her father’s house.
“Well, I can’t recommend science enough,” Virgil said. “But it’s really up to what you want. You get a lot of people telling you there’s no jobs in some degrees, but I think it’s important to focus on things that you like doing, y’know? Not thinking about a future paycheque that may or may not show up.”
“Fair enough.” And it was. There were plenty of different ‘suggestions’ people had when it came to school. Some who didn’t see the point, some who felt you had to go into a field where you would get a good paycheck, then those who felt it was best to focus on what you liked. For Raven that was hard because she had her abilities and eternal guilt and a need to help those and actually liking being able to help people and just figuring how the how of it.
Virgil smiled. He was more at ease now than when he’d first approached her, mostly because she hadn’t told him to buzz off, though he still wasn’t sure if she really wanted him to be bothering her when she’d just been trying to buy some books.
“Well, I guess I’ll let you get back to looking at books,” Virgil said. “I’m definitely gonna check out that Cryptonomicon book you mentioned. Can I give you my number? And then if you ever wanted to hang or show a brother around town you can.”
That...probably should have been something Raven saw coming. But as she wasn’t used to people actually wanting to get to know her, it still managed to confuse her when it happen. So she just nodded some.
“Um… sure.” Apparently making friends was important and she had a feeling Zee would appreciate her at least making more of an effort? But she could at least help show someone around town when she wasn’t working.
“Great!” Virgil said, grinning widely and patting his pockets for a piece of paper and a pen. Then he remembered that he didn’t carry a pen around with him. Who needed to when he had a phone to write all his notes in? “Uh, I guess you can just put it directly into your phone. And you could invite other people too. Make it a par-tay.” She seemed like the type of person who might be more comfortable in a hangout if someone she knew was around. Besides, he didn’t want her to think he was asking her out on a date or something.
Nodding, Raven shifted the books she’d already decided on and put her number in. And oh good, he was saying she could bring someone else along so that at least meant it would be less awkward. In theory. But given Ed liked science, she figured he’d be a good buffer for that as well. “...That’s a strange way to say party, but my…” Best friend, boyfriend? It was hard to say, even though they had actually said that yes, they were boyfriend and girlfriend, it still was strange to say as she was a private person and it made her flustered, “Boyfriend is really into science so I’ll bring him along.” With that, Raven headed the phone back to Virgil. “Anything else?”
“It’s a lot more fun to say though. You oughtta give it a try sometime. You’ll never go back.” He grinned to show that he was mostly joking. “But that sounds great! I’ll promise to try to stop us from geeking out too hard.” Frieda had always seemed bored when he and Richie had gone off on scientific tangents. It was a wonder she kept hanging out with them sometimes. “No, nothing else. I mean, not unless you wanted to grab a coffee,” Virgil said, nodding toward the bookstore coffee shop. “I hear they got bangin’ cinnamon buns here.”
“Right….” Some things would never make sense to her. Like strange lingo and the like. But it was also reminiscent of Beast Boy and Cyborg, so it was familiar. She just still didn’t get the point. Oh well. People would be people and that was it. A flicker of a smirk happened at the mention of trying to keep them from geeking out too much about science. She’d put up with it, or just walk and read at the same time. Whichever really. “No thanks. I’m good.” She spent too much time at coffee shops. She went sometimes but really, no need to go to one if she wasn’t meeting up with Ahsoka or whatever.
“Oh, alright,” Virgil said, a little disappointed but not too surprised by it. “Well, if you change your mind, I’ll probably be there for a little bit. It was nice meeting you.”
There was only so much socializing Raven could handle, especially with someone she only just met so she nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.” And with that, she went back to what she’d been doing in the first place, choosing books to go through in a week’s time.