[ic] Motivation, oh yes.

[lacroix_styles]

Around nine that Friday morning a stack of papers resided on the table next to the chair that was Hector's usual spot to sit and read the morning paper. The sheets rested atop the thick book that was the subject of those twenty pages, and a bright green sticky note smashed onto the top page. Thick, messy lettering was scrawled over the note;

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[hector_styles]

By Friday, Hector had forgotten completely about that request for a book report because he was certain that Lacroix wouldn’t be bothered to do it. So, naturally, he was quite surprised when he noticed that paper on the end table in the living room, so much so that he really didn’t believe it could actually be a book report at first. Had Lacroix just compiled a random assortment of text to make it look like he’d written a paper? The young man did seem to have a little bit of an immature, light-hearted streak about him, so that scenario would not have surprised Hector. He flipped through, skimming the pages, to discern the subject matter of the writing.

Surprisingly, all of the written pages were about mage sight: its uses, all of its many effects, and so on. Lacroix’s sheer stubbornness left Hector with a tiny, amused -- and a little proud, too --smile, and he settled down onto one of his coffin couches to give the piece a proper read-through.

No, he certainly had no desire to play video games, and was not obliged to -- after all, he’d said perhaps he would play them if Lacroix wrote a book report. But this level of unexpected effort still deserved some sort of reward anyway. He decided abruptly that it would be fitting to go out with Lacroix and finance a video game shopping binge to make up for the fact that Hector would not be playing with him.

Lacroix deserved that much at least, because it was not often that Hector experienced pleasant surprises like this one.