the bible didn't mention us, not even once

[backward]

Though her mother always insisted on tucking her into bed, it was Tony who would sneak into her room after dark and read to her, the sound of his voice often the only way to lull her to sleep. When she was at her youngest, he read from Grimm's fairy tales, barring none of the gory details, but she didn't mind. They were more interesting that way.

Comments

[iparkedmycar]

There's something incredibly dangerous about a girl like Effy Stonem. The last time Cooper saw her, everything tasted of weed and wood-smoke and she'd been alarmingly fucking beautiful. Today, he's sober and they're indoors, which doesn't make her any less alarming.

He reminds himself of Alexis.

"What'd you get?" he asks, leaning his weight back against the back of a chair.

[backward]

"French existentialist philosophy," Effy responds, waving the cover into his line of sight. "In other words, just some light reading," she jokes. Tony would think so, even after his accident, and that's precisely what makes him so amazing. But as much as she misses him, the simple fact that she's joking at all should attest to her good mood. He's still more Sid than Tony, but Effy can't help think that her brother would take a liking to Coop for that very reason, and today, that's enough for her.

"Ever read it?" She asks.

[iparkedmycar]

"No," says Cooper, shaking his head. He's pretty smart, a fact he goes to great lengths to hide, but he's not French existenialism smart. He reaches out and takes the book from her there, flipping it over to read the back. Both eyebrows raise.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure I'm going to stick to graphic novels and shit."

[backward]

"Yeah?" Both eyebrows raised, she lets him snatch the book up without a fight, equally surprised and pleased he had the nerve to do so. Most would consider it impolite; she's glad to meet anyone who doesn't really give a fuck. "I just started this one series about a school with zombie headmaster. Likes to feed on the children and that. That was before here, though; the shelf hasn't coughed it up yet."

[giftless]

"Oh, so it's in a good mood today?" Edmund asked hopefully. Sidling up to the bookshelf himself, he had heard the girl's statement in the relative quiet of the rec room. Sick of school work but not in the mood to go tramping through the jungle, he had instead turned to the shelf with high hopes. "I haven't asked it for anything in a while. Afraid I might be out of luck."

[backward]

"You can borrow some of mine." The idea of her having good fortune of any kind is laughable to Effy, especially considering how everything she touches of late seems to turn to shit, but there isn't any harm in playing along. In contrast to weeks since she arrived on Tabula Rasa, Effy is in a relatively good mood. She may still be a prisoner on this island, but she's freer than she's been in a while - no mother or father, no friends or acquaintances. No one who knows her or of her. It's about time she started taking advantage of that.

"What're you looking for?"

[giftless]

He smiled at the girl's offer, which immediately warmed her to him a little. "A good detective novel, if I can," Ed answered, glancing over the spines. "If not, anything that's not American or has anything to do with Communism and politics. I think my brain might explode from school soon."

[backward]

"Communism and politics," she repeats, a low murmur to herself as she leans in to scan the titles. Little could lure Effy back into a classroom, but if she were to attend class again, it would likely be for art or skill or science. Not for history. "What's the point of learning something that didn't even happen in this universe? Can't do you much good."

[neverlanded]

"Get something good?"

Wendy didn't care if she was being nosy. Politeness was all good and well, having its purpose and place but this wasn't one of them. Besides it wasn't horribly rude to start with. Talking about the bookshelf was mostly harmless given it either went well or terribly.

"It has been giving me rubbish lately," she continued absently pulling a book off the shelf and then shoving it back on.

[backward]

"I got what I was looking for." Good or not - and it never was a personal favorite, but it will do - Effy is more interested in the sentimental value of the novel than its actual content. Whether it's good or not isn't the issue.

"What's rubbish?" She wonders, certain their opinions will vary but interested all the same. Sometimes (and on Tabula Rasa especially) the people are more interesting reads than any book.

[neverlanded]

That was largely what Wendy would qualify as being good. The bookshelf wasn't one to keenly give up what a person was looking for, no matter how much they thought on it. It was enough to drive her up the wall from time to time.

Not that she was going to dwell on that. "Oh nothing really. Books about vampires and rewrites of Wuthering Heights. Things that probably never should have been written in the first place," she shrugged not caring if it was a harsh blanket statement. It was more than a bit true.

[backward]

"That sounds pathetic," remarks Effy, clearly in no hurry to disagree. It strikes her as sad, really, that someone in some far off world once set out to become a writer and ended up rewriting shit versions of the classics and vampire novels. She has to wonder what the suicide rate among young aspiring writers is.

Or maybe they do it for the money and don't care what the world thinks of them. Maybe they're laughing all the way to the bank. She shakes both thoughts away; they don't matter.

"I'm Effy," she says, finally, with something between a smile and a smirk.