volume 1

[askedtobe]

[ Peter has no idea how he ended up here, on a couch, listening to a bunch of middle aged women and a few other assorted people talk about Pride and Prejudice. He lost count of how many times he was nearly force fed a cookie by some woman claiming that he's too skinny, and this is starting to feel like all those dreams about showing up to class

Comments

[intuitivelyapt]

[Out of nowhere Sylar is all up in Peter's business, sitting next to him with his arm slung around the other's shoulders. He leans in to whisper.]

Well, this was obviously your suggestion.

[And then he decides it's time to be a real man and answer for Peter.]

He thought it was maudlin and boring, like anyone with any taste does. As if reading Jane Austen wasn't horrible enough in high school.

[askedtobe]

[ Peter's only a little bit surprised when Sylar pops up next to him. Considering he'd been expecting that to happen. But he rolls his eyes and briefly glowers at the other man.

But he's a hell of a lot more surprised when Sylar goes ahead and says that. ]

--Wait, I never said it was boring. [ Look, he doesn't want to get pitchforked by old ladies. ]

[intuitivelyapt]

[He raises his eyebrows and gives Peter a knowing look.]

But you thought it. Come on, I know you better than that. Did you even read the damn thing?

[askedtobe]

[ Which really doesn't help Peter feel any more comfortable about any of this. ]

I read part of it.

[waterfell]

[A book club is exactly the sort of place Mizuno Ami would feel at home. They can talk about the academics forever - the history, the era, the social conventions. It's all very interesting. Though she'd admit it even less these days, she's still enough of a closet romantic to even enjoy the storyline.

She takes in Peter's shock at a glance, and makes a move to save him - admittedly, mostly to draw attention to herself. He can still thank her later.]

It's an excellent representation of its time. Jane Austen captured the class system of her era's society perfectly.

[Her English is book-perfect, and comfortable after a few years living abroad, but accented.]

Her heroines are also staunchly strong-minded and independent women, whether they fall in love or not. They don't sacrifice themselves for it. It's admirable.

[askedtobe]

[ He has every intention of thanking this girl later. Considering she just saved his ass, and she did it incredibly well. He couldn't have asked for a better person to fill in his silence.

Nodding along while she talks, Peter's happy to pretend that's exactly how he feels, he's totally in complete agreement. Yup. Definitely. ]

... I agree. [ He even goes ahead and throws that one out there, just for the sake of it. He might as well.. expend some effort into sounding a little bit intelligent. And in thanks, he throws in a discreet smile towards the younger woman, hoping she notices. ]

[waterfell]

[She's so very tempted to play with him, to tease him, to ask him some tiny little question for details that will expose him. It's a perverse reaction simply because she's tickled he handled it that gracefully. She squelches the urge.

She has her reward in that tiny smile, in that private smile as though they're allies against the people who'd embarrass him after all.]

They don't wait for love. If they're interested, they take it for themselves. Especially at that time, that's unusual.

[Or the girl who finds it hard to believe in sweeter tales of love might find this refreshing, and might be projecting, just a little bit.]

[askedtobe]

[ If she did, well, Peter would just have to suck it up and deal with it. And he probably wouldn't do it very well.

But thankfully she doesn't. Which gets the woman another appreciative glance. And in a dream that could have gone oh so uncomfortably wrong, he's thankful for having an ally that knows what they're talking about. He's thankful for having an ally at all, considering how hard it is to find real ones. Because even if he can see where the book would have value... yeah, he's just clueless. ]

Any girl would find it inspiring. [ As long as he's got something to go off of, he's capable of tossing bits of vaguely intelligent commentary out there. Accompanied with the occasional flipping of a page, Peter's hoping that maybe he'll survive this with a modicum of dignity after all. ]

homg peter lol

[digitalariel]

[Quorra shifts uncomfortably from her perch across from Peter, clearly not at ease among so many people just yet. Her hand surrepticiously goes to cover up the already concealed mark on her arm.

[She watches the other with unconcealed interest.]

Which book are we talking about?

LOL his dreams are a special place

[askedtobe]

[ Well at least somebody apart from him looked plainly uncomfortable in this situation. Peter figured that they should go off and form their own club, but until then, he might as well find a way to get out of the answering the question that he'd been asked.

So he goes ahead and answers hers. ]

Uh.. Pride and Prejudice. [ He lifts his own book from his lap to show the cover. ]

that is absolutely wonderful~

[digitalariel]

Oh, I haven't read that one yet. [She stiles a giggle at the cover of the book, all women in swishy dresses and roses and whatnot. Real masculine, Peter.]

isn't it just, lmao

[askedtobe]

[ Peter has to repress to urge to sigh dramatically. Look, he didn't pick the book. Or the one with the ridiculous cover. ] I got a little ways into it. [ As in.. 4 pages. ]

[guiltapalooza]

[Willow has some serious pity for the poor guy. She's rescued Xander and even Buffy from similar situations often enough that she jumps in readily, pretending to be so socially clueless that she has no idea she's rudely interrupting.]

I think it's a true example of Austen's thematic propensity toward ineffectual parents, especially within the context of greater social status.

[Before the woman can answer, she barrels on--] Anyway, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I was just told that he has a phone call at the reception desk. I really need to make sure that he gets it.

[It's hard to argue with Willow's brand of unstoppable earnestness, and she turns that look from the woman to Peter, again without waiting. She hopes he'll play along with her lies; either that or tell her off for ruining his perfectly enjoyable book club meeting, but Willow doesn't find that one as likely for some mysterious reason.] Come on, dear, we should go.

[askedtobe]

[ Peter is seriously, more than happy to play along with her lies. But it takes him at least a second to catch up with her because, man, that was impressive. It would've been enough for her to just answer for him, but to have an easy out from this entire book club thing? More than he could have asked for. ]

Yeah. Could be about that proposal.. don't want it dropped.

[ He nods firmly, not having the slightest clue what exact lie he's even making up, but who cares, because he's already standing up. Waiting for his savior, he offers a casual wave to the rest of the participants, and an apologetic smile. ] Sorry we coudn't stay.

[guiltapalooza]

[She matches his apologetic smile, and once they're out of the room and in the library hallway, drops it.] I'm old hat at excuses, [she explains,] and you looked like a deer in headlights, there. A deer trying to be stoic, but still.

[It's true; Willow has had to come up with excuses to get out of things on the fly quite a lot. But she's not usually this forward, and her smile turns awkward, as if silently asking for forgiveness from him for intruding so much.]

[askedtobe]

[ Peter doesn't think she needs to ask forgiveness for anything. She could have intruded more and he still wouldn't have minded. Especially since his own way out of the situation would have been a fumbled mess. ]

Thanks. Couple more seconds and I would've been found out. [ He breathes a sigh of relief, setting down the book on the nearest shelf, forgetting about it almost instantly. He smiles back at her, trying to shake off the awkwardness of the entire situation. ] I appreciate it.

[auncyenhalig]

[ darn you, Peter, for not having Pride and Prejudice carved into your subconscious. four chairs down is a curious woman in pink tuning out the discussion to read the book -- it's a romance! -- and coming up with only words that keep flitting around on the page and changing and drifting into nonsense. this is what happens when you try to read in dreams.

finally she simply flips through all the pages rapidly, trying to find at least one juicy passage that makes sense. or a picture. does this book come with pictures? the cover was a little boring --

hold the presses! now it's not. Aerith smiles, pleased to find something of interest. and if Peter's copy of Pride and Prejudice now sports a cover similar to this one, and a teasing fade-to-black between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy on page 212 (of marked interest to readers, if the well-creased binding is any judge)?

perhaps the flower girl misunderstood what kind of romance this was. ]

[askedtobe]

I don't know, uh... [ It might have been carved into his subconscious at one point in time, but it's been long since forgotten, along with a variety of other supposedly useless facts like his high school locker combination.

The curious woman in pink gets a glance or two as he tries to think of something to say just because... well, she's in the group, and Peter's better at staring at everyone than he is at talking. Except when he looks back down, the fact that the cover on his book just changed sparks his interest. He's pretty sure it didn't look like that a second ago, and he's back to flipping a moment later....

Which provides him with interesting results, to say the least. His eyes widening, he almost, almost, starts to laugh and has to cough to cover it up with a poorly timed cough. Yeah, cheesy romance novels aren't really his cup of tea either. ]

[auncyenhalig]

[ Midgar does have its fine literature (or at least an epic by the name of LOVELESS), but it does not have the finest education system. when your main exposure to books is your adoptive mother's old romance novels and whatever gardening books you can get your mitts on in a city where "nothing grows" ... you pick up cheesy romance.

Aerith does look up at Peter's awkward almost-laugh and cough, giggling at his expression. he seems rather misplaced with the middle-aged ladies; at least she's got the right set of chromosomes. ]

Miss Gainsborough?

[ obviously she should cover up her own laughter more, but she spends only a second or two on looking sheepish before going ahead to answer, one finger holding her place on an entertaining argument in the middle of the book. ]I like it. Elizabeth seems like a very nice heroine. She has her own mind, you know? Something every girl needs. Mister Darcy ... he's really snobbish at first! I'm not sure if I like him. But he's not a bad guy, he just grew up with that outlook. That must be

[askedtobe]

[ All he can really do is sigh, and try to avoid making eye contact with anyone so obviously expecting an answer from him too. He's well aware that he doesn't exactly fit in with the crowd. If only he could just disappear into one of the couches... man, his abilities sure would've been useful in this sort of a situation.

Looking back up when the women starts to talk, he listens in. At least she actually manages an answer, though, which is better then what Peter could've done. His would've probably been as awful as it was back in highschool, especially since he didn't read it back then, either.

But he does nod along to what she's saying. It makes sense, and he agrees with her, even if he doesn't have knowledge of the actual book to back it up with. ]