Three Bells: [WRITTEN] - New Horizons in Lit Appreciation

[simplestgift]

They have everything Shakespeare ever wrote in the library.  Everything!  It's a fountain of gold.  I could spend days here.  I'd sleep here if they'd let me.  I don't think I've ever been happier.  And there's no theatre group here?  None?  Do people here not realize what they have?  What kind of a world is this?

In case anyone asks, I'll be in the library for the rest of my life.

[Or really just the rest of the day.   At some point he'll have to come up for air and grab something to eat at the 7th Heaven, where he'll be buried in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  It'll be dark before he goes home, carrying only a single book.]

Comments

[written]

[simplestgift]

Good to know. Her curfew's at 11:30, you say?

[written]

[herotypical]

Oh. Archie -- I just threw the curfew out there to ping Dawn's delicate social radar. Big sister obligation to embarrass her and all that.

[written]

[simplestgift]

Oh, well. I suppose some things don't change over the years.

[written]

[herotypical]

So does that make you an older or a younger sibling?

[written]

[simplestgift]

Younger.

[written]

[herotypical]

Guess this means I should stop spilling my older sib secrets.

[written]

[simplestgift]

Trust me: we know them already, as many times as you repeatedly exercise them upon us.

[written]

[herotypical]

Come one -- younger siblings are way, way more bratty.

[written]

[simplestgift]

Perhaps some things have changed, then. I remember my brothers being fairly merciless. At any rate, up until a few weeks ago, I spent all day knee-deep in powder monkeys, so you could say they had their revenge tenfold.

[written]

[herotypical]

You don't mean literal monkeys, right?

[written]

[simplestgift]

[If only you could hear him laughing.]

Some of them tried to be, but in the end, unfortunately, they remained boys. They ran powder to the guns.

[written]

[herotypical]

Boys? What were they doing in the navy? Isn't that supposed to be illegal?

[written]

[simplestgift]

Goodness, no! I've been on a ship since I was eleven. It's a bad idea to start much later than that if you want to be an officer. It's a bit like an apprenticeship, that way--the boys do odd jobs and learn the ins and outs as they go.

[written]

[herotypical]

That's...young.

[written]

[simplestgift]

They don't exactly hand out commissions like candy. Getting a head start can make all the difference. Is something wrong?

[written]

[herotypical]

How do you choose -- that young?

[written]

[simplestgift]

Choose?

[written]

[herotypical]

That's a young age to choose a life. I mean...do you even get a choice in it?

[written]

[simplestgift]

Not always.

[written]

[herotypical]

Eleven.

[ a great pause. ] Though, I guess I didn't get much choice either. Or any at all.

[written]

[simplestgift]

I'm sorry, Buffy. The world shouldn't do cruel things to children, but it does. Or rather, people do. Your Watchers, for example. None of that was any better in my time than in yours, I imagine.

[written]

[herotypical]

It was happening in your time, too. Slayers with no say in the matter. Well -- your time in my world.

[written]

[simplestgift]

If it makes you feel better, I believe I wanted it. My father wanted it, and therefore, so did I. So I wasn't exactly dragged screaming and crying to the Justinian. I was thrilled.

[written]

[herotypical]

What about school?

[written]

[simplestgift]

It was my school, after I joined. Trust me, it takes years and years of learning and schooling. As midshipmen, we were given classes to learn calculus. Everything was in preparation for the examination for lieutenant. Even then, some men never passed.