Elijah Meadows

Being found studying in any capacity might’ve been the least likely activity to find Felix in the middle of, but he was knee deep in making a new name for himself after all. The person chattering loudly with the barista however, had broken his concentration. Irritated, he tapped his pen, tried again and found no footing back into the works of Mary Shelley. He turned to shoot a glare behind him. Surely they’d get the point or he’d find comfort in the knowledge that someone else was just as annoyed as he was.

“... but it’s not so much that they’re OP as much as it is that it makes things really boring when I battle on wi-fi,” Elijah was explaining eagerly to the barista who had long since stopped paying attention. “I mean, most of the Pokemon that have mega-evolved forms are the ones that trainers always focus on in the first, like the starters and, like, Alakazam and Gyarados. And I’m thinking, how am I supposed make an underdog team when my opponents are doing mega-evolutions? I could get my Linoone up to perfect IVs and usually I can hold my ground that way, but when the other guy goes and pulls out a goddamn super mutant Mewtwo, how can - ” He paused, suddenly sensing eyes on him. He turned to the person staring and grinned. “Sorry, did you have something to add? Or are you just admiring the view?”

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

“Nah, I shouldn’t bother. I thought I heard you say something in Esperanto earlier, so I thought I’d try kicking off a conversation. Must have misheard you. Sorry.”

matt-daddaryo:

gail-interrupted:

Isabella laughed for once, staring off at the horribly-themed festival game booths, remembering when she was a kid and used to actually enjoy them. But now, she couldn’t see anything other than slimeball people collecting as many five’s from their latest victim as possible. “Definitely not the inflatable ones. If it was at least furry, maybe. But either way, you’re still getting cheated, so we might as well sacrifice them.”

“Furry? Minions don’t have fur, do they?” Elijah asked, frowning thoughtfully. “They don’t look it, they’re too smooth. I suppose if they had any fur it would have to be real short and fine. Like a Doberman.” He snorted. “Listen to me, I’m theorizing about Minion hair texture. If that’s not a commentary on how exciting this festival’s been, then I don’t know what is.”

“Yeah, e-exactly. But I n-need to get over that, so I’ll, uh, g-give it a try.” He twitched a smile, not quite managing a laugh. He’d long ago decided it was easier just to go with whatever explanations people came up with. Denial only made him look guilty, and anyway, the truth was a lot worse. “I thought it was just for b-businesses and stuff.” He tugged his sleeves nervously down over his hands. He wasn’t sure what a library would provide. Reading scary stories? He couldn’t imagine many kids in Bentley sitting still long enough for that.

“Since when did the booths have to have anything with the businesses owning them? I mean, come on, half the churches in town set up stands at these things, and most of them are selling fries or soft pretzels or something like that, not, I dunno, pocket Bibles or whatever. The library could set up a booth with just about anything, and so long as they remember to deep fry it, no one will think twice about it.”

“Neither would I,” she quipped in return, dropping her finished cigarette to the mud beneath her boots. “Bentley could do with a little lightening up.”

“Thank you,” Elijah sighed. “Honestly, nice to see someone else not treating this thing all super-serious. I mean, for goodness’ sake, it’s a festival, and basically a bonus Halloween, but half the town is behaving like it’s the Second Coming.”

          Wynne lets an awkward laugh spill from her lips before saying, “That’s absolutely horrible to say, or to think – whatever. Exciting? I think it would be absolutely terrifying.” She reaches a hand absently to touch the edge of a canvas she has sitting on her table, saying, “Fire can be an awful thing in itself, and then to add in the trauma of how much physical destruction it could cause? Not exciting, not in the least.” 

“Hey, hey, easy there. It’s not like I’m advocating a town-wide arson. But come on, some of these booths?” He gestured with his thumb toward a stand selling mug-warmers decorated with glitter glue. “Tell me that you don’t believe a lovely bonfire there would be much more festive.”

“Finally, someone who understands my own point of view…” Her eyes light up, just picturing the mayhem. “It would bring some excitement to it at least, one of the lanterns coming down in flames, bringing down a few of the annoyingly commercialized booths while it’s at it.”

“You’re telling me. Maybe one of those game booths could stand to be burned down. Like the ring toss or one of the like. Everyone knows those things are rigged anyhow. And if you’re lucky enough to win it, you get, what, one of those giant inflatable Minions? Not worth a nickel.”

Kill a man. It was just a turn of phrase, but it startled him. His elbow jerked and he knocked a few of his books onto the floor. “Sounds p-pretty good.” He ducked out of sight to retrieve them, frowning a little. “Um… I d-don’t think so.” He could easily be wrong about that though. A lot of the places in town put out a tent or something. He straightened, putting the two battered paperbacks back onto the pile. “I’ll have to, uh, ask m-my boss. I’m not sure w-what it would be.”

Elijah didn’t miss the reaction Kian had to his remark, although the cause of it was lost on him. “What?” he asked. “Had a bad childhood experience with funnel cakes or something? You gotta try the ones at the Spectacle, though, funnel cake trauma or no. Trust me, they’re life changing.” He shook his head. “And if you haven’t heard about something by this point, you probably aren’t doing anything for the festival at all. Shame. This town can never have enough junk food.”