Survival Of The Fittest

[Tenshi Marie Anastasie Fukushima-Yves continued from Cast Call]

Listening was work.

The thought hit Tenshi as she settled in a corner of the library. She put the small stack of manga she brought against the wall, took the topmost book, and covered the rest with her bag. She sank into her chair, hiding her current reading material from onlookers with the table.

But yes, anyway, listening was work (as much as work as hiding her manga hobby? Who knows, who wants to think about how much work things take?).

It probably wasn't always work, but at some point that changed. But whenever Tenshi was stuck in a rowdy classroom during a lesson, or with a particularly talky teacher, or when she was trying to talk to someone in a hallway where everyone was talking to someone, it felt tiring, like the hearing bits of her brain were being pulled in so many directions, only some of which were the right ones. And when she got home at the end of the day? It was quieter, but she still had to wear her hearing aids during the day. Her parents insisted - "what if the fire alarm went off?" was a common reason from them (Tenshi hoped that in that case, she could just see the fire, or the smoke, their house wasn't that big.)

(It was kinda big, but hardly that big.)

Yes, even listening to music was work, sometimes. Sometimes, Tenshi just wanted to take a break, you know? Surely, most music lovers felt the same - they couldn't listen to it 24/7. Right?

But right now? Tenshi was in the library. Yeah, students would come through, but they were coming through on the other side. Tenshi was just a girl trying to read her manga (not manga! she had a book sleeve in her bag, she ought to use it right now - manga? no sir, this is uhhhhh some book with a blank black cover, probably has some intriguing insights into the human condition whatever that meant) in a corner of the library. Now if you haven't noticed, staying unnoticed wasn't exactly Tenshi's usual ballpark (which she was usually just fine with), but she could pull it off, just like she could pull off dozens of butterfly and heart clips in her luxuriously fluffy hair and rows of bows on her mary-janes. Flying under the cover was just another cute look, and any sufficiently cute look was good on Tenshi.

So, why not? Why shouldn't she take off her hearing aids? Was the manga (or Very Insightful Blank Black Cover Book) going to talk to her? Was the library gonna make it hard to hear the manga by virtue of being busy or echo-y? And as for the alarm that signaled the end of lunch, that's what you had clocks for! (Tenshi was wearing a cute little watch at the moment actually, pink straps and a rose gold border on the face. She got it as a back to school gift.)

So when Tenshi took the inconspicuous book cover out of her bag, she left her hearing aids in its place. Just for now. And then she settled back into her chair, ready to read without any chance of interruption.

((Ellis Wheaton: Pregame Start))

Ellis groaned under his breath as he stepped into the library. This was not how he wanted to spend his lunch period. He had a science report due before the end of the day, and he had definitely fallen behind on it. It wasn't really his fault. He was sure he had enough time to try and work out that tongue twister monologue as Armand Nutter for a video he wanted to film soon. Plus, it wasn't like he didn't do all of the work. He was just missing a few bits of information to finish the paper.

Strolling into the library, Ellis looked around for the science section. He'd have to find a book that would help with his paper and his research. The internet was a helpful resource, but he needed more sources, and he couldn't entirely rely on the internet for his literature cited list. No, he'd have to find a book on bees somewhere here. He was sure there had to be something in here if he was to write about how bees work, whatever the hell that entailed.

Ellis walked around and soon found the corner where the relevant books should be. He began to walk down, noticing there was a girl at a nearby table reading. Ellis tried not to look at her. Holy crap she was cute. A cute Asian girl with fluffy hair who read books? Ellis couldn't imagine talking to someone like that. But even worse, he had to somehow pass her by if he was to find the relevant books.

Ellis slipped behind the girl, focusing his gaze to the shelves and not her, and stepped to the shelf a little bit to the side of her back. He scanned the shelves, looking for something that could help with his paper. He bit his lip and hummed to himself as he did. Finally, he found what he needed.

"Aw, jackpot," he muttered under his breath.

He pulled the book out. It was a book about insect biology and a quick look at the chapter list told him there was a section on bees. He turned the book back to its inside cover. It was over two decades old, but hey, he could surely cite it as relevant to his paper somehow.

Ellis turned to the side, prepared to camp down at the table and finish his report. As he did, he saw what the girl was reading. It involved some big-eyed girl cooking. He stared at the image, trying to read over the girl's shoulder. What was this about?

Kitchen Princess could be... odd, in places (Akane, anyone?). But it was nice, right now. Especially the food and cooking scenes, which Tenshi would readily admit is the real reason she picked it up (okay maybe she liked ridiculous shojou romance, tell no one). Or any cooking story, for that matter. It was kinda weird when she put it like that, it wasn't like she couldn't get those desserts and dishes in real life, so what was the point of living it vicariously in fiction?

(In fact, Tenshi had made up her mind a few pages ago to order a slice of cake - just like the on the page - from her favourite dessert cafe after school today, since she had the time.)

Eh, Food Pretty.

She closed the book, about to fish another one out of the pile hidden under her bag - wait a minute. Was that someone in the corner of her eye? She turned to see... some guy looking over at her! She might have yelped! Was he trying to be discreet?! The shock! The gall.

Tenshi fell off her chair.

Ellis kept trying to read over the girl's shoulder, but before anything could be fully taken in, the girl finished her book. That's when she noticed him looking. Ellis felt a lump in his throat. Crap, was this girl going to think he was a creep? Maybe he could quickly turn his head and pretend he was glancing past her or to a book on a distant shelf. Anything to not look like a greasy fuck.

But before he could try to salvage this moment, the girl fell out of her chair.

"Oh! Oh uh..." Ellis blurted when she fell.

Ellis gritted his teeth and pulled his arms close to his body, making him look like a red t-rex. He quickly looked around. No one seemed to notice that he shouted nor that the girl fell.

Ellis swallowed the lump in his throat and walked over, holding a hand out.

"Hey, um, are you okay?"

The unfortunate thing about falling out of your chair was that it wasn't a pleasant experience for the head. Tenshi hauled herself upright with a grumble, and, while rubbing her head, accepted the boy's hand up.

The first order of business - Tenshi swept her hair (which had been so tragically tussled by the fall, she would have to fix it ASAP) out of her face.

Well. She just remembered she still had her hearing aids off, brought on by the fact the boy was talking just a bit earlier. She didn't particularly know what exactly, though - and she wasn't paying attention, to his lips or otherwise, so she couldn't confirm much either. It was presumably an apology, if he had any decency. (But then again he had the nerve to discreetly read over Tenshi's shoulder leading to this fall in the first place, so she couldn't take the presence of his decency for granted, clearly.)

Tenshi considered telling him this - hey! She's hard-of-hearing and not wearing her hearing aids because she didn't expect to be so rudely interrupted at this hour of lunch! Such an idea didn't even need him to understand ASL to get across.

She raised a finger - first of all - then pointed to her ear, then flicked her finger away with a click of the tongue. That would get the idea across, she presumed. With a wave of the hand - but on to the next affair... - she smiled said "It's fine", and sat back down.

Fishing a mirror out of her bag (there was always one of those tiny cosmetics mirrors in her bag - this one was metallic, reflective, had little details etched onto it) and flipped it open - and better re-adjusted her tragically tussled hair.

Ellis internally gasped as the cute girl took his hand and he helped her up. This was so cool. He was helping a girl with a troubling situation, and she had the cool hair flips to follow.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Ellis stammered out.

She didn't look like she needed to go to the nurse's office, but he couldn't be sure.

But then the girl pointed to her ear and made a gesture. Oh. She was deaf. She couldn't hear him.

Ellis was wondering if he was starting to sweat a bit. But the girl told him she was fine and sat down.

"Okay, that's good," he said, before realizing that, if she could read lips, she had turned away and had no idea he had said that.

He turned back to the bookshelf, his face starting to get a bit flushed. He leaned his forehead against the shelf at level with his head and stared at a book spine until his eyes began to blur. So much for helping a girl out and being a gentleman. All it did was barely get him any thanks and a complete halt to anything that could happen. It really stung to realize he had overly fantasized about this moment, and now he felt like an idiot.

And the stinging also reminded him he was supposed to finish his paper on bees.

He glanced around the shelves for the book he was looking for. He hoped the girl hadn't been too bothered by him, and he hoped he could actually focus on his stupid essay now.

Tenshi snapped the mirror closed, having re-adjusted her luxurious mane to her satisfaction. With that, she reached over to her bag for another book.

...hm.

Her fingers danced over the two other volumes in her bag, both because she was deciding between them but also because she had a thought. This boy seemed awfully interested in her books, and he (presumably, if there was still honour in the world) was sorry about this terrible accident. Maybe... she should allow him to borrow one of these manga. He seemed at least a little interested in them.

She picked up the three books, put them on the table next to each other, and waved to the boy to get his attention. Then she waved her other hand over the manga - one of them was the Kitchen Princess one she was reading just then, the second was the first volume of the Cardcaptor Sakura manga (she'd been meaning to get to it, but a little delay wasn't going to hurt anyone), and the third was the start of this manga called Revolutionary Girl Utena that a really short girl whose name she couldn't remember had recommended (she'd already finished this one, and was going to borrow the next one in the coming week).

She gestured handing something over to the boy and held up a finger - one - then looked to see how he reacted.

Ellis found a book that looked like it would suffice for his essay. It had enough buzz words on it for his bee essay (ha ha) and surely he could up to a random page and find a source.

He tucked the book under his arm when he realized the cute girl was gesturing to him. She had laid out more graphic novels and seemed to gesture him to observe them.


“Oh?”

He grabbed one that had a girl in pink holding a card. Whatever a “cardcaptor” was, it seemed to be of interest to the girl.

“Oh, um… you collect these?” He stammered.

Tenshi blinked slowly. Collect? (Also wow, this guy really needed to get his act together. Talking to girls is only nerve wracking if you're that much of a loser. Was he?)

She felt she needed to be a bit more direct, quite unfortunately.

"Do you want to borrow one?" she asked, glancing at the book this guy took into his hands. She spoke slowly - handling each word like one of those melt-on-your-tongue-but-awfully-sharp-for-the-delicate-ridge-of-the-mouth rock candies (she wasn't the only one who thought that, right?), which was why she didn't talk much without her hearing aids. It was just so awkward. Tenshi barely had the patience for this one guy's awkwardness. But good lord he was trying, like a puppy learning to walk.

The girl was asking if he wanted to borrow one. Holy shit, this was awesome. Ellis smiled and nodded.

"Oh, yes, I'd love to," he blurted. "I love this stuff."

He looked back down at the book he was holding. Again, no clue what a "cardcaptor" was, but it was something to get him to bond with this girl and maybe start something awesome. I mean, isn't that the kinda meet cute you'd want to tell your grandkids about? Grandma and Grandpa met when they noticed their shared interests in books and the rest is history.

Obviously, it was too early to go into the fantasy, but Ellis figured it was a good start.

"So, what should I expect from this one?" he asked.

Tenshi sat there for a moment, slowly blinking. What should... respect? From this? What an weird question to ask about some magical girl manga (everybody knew there was no getting around the lack of respect!). Sometimes she wished she had a photographic memory. No idiot, it's a video...graphic memory, videographic memory (that's totally a word, it sure sounds like the same sort of neuroscience bullshit word as "photographic memory"). But yeah, she wanted to replay what this guy just said. Slow down the footage, maybe. That sure would make lip reading easier.

As she leaned in she basically instinctively she signed - AGAIN--SLOW. But wait, she wasn't sure if this guy even knew sign language. But hey, she already took a buttload of chances with him, right?

She then made that gesture to her ear again, just in case he'd just gotten too comfortable with trusting lip reading to carry him through.

The girl was pointing to her ear. Ellis didn't get it. Did she not hear him? Crap, was he talking too quietly again? He had been told to speak up a bit growing up, and unless he had a squirrel puppet on his hand, he wasn't really talking loudly. Still, he figured she must have been distracted or something.

"What can I expect from it!?!" he said a few decibels louder.

He hoped he hadn't pissed off the librarian with that. But surely the girl heard it then.

Tenshi flinched back.

So. He was a guy who didn't know sign language. He said "expect", not respect. Good to know.

She blinked, slowly.

Then, she sighed, and reached over into her bag. After feeling around for a moment, she raised up her hearing aids (small things, fit right in the ear) for the boy to see. She was used to putting in her hearing aids at this point, but that didn't mean she could (or should, the doctor would probably be mortified if she did) do it quickly enough to not totally halt the conversation (or whatever conversation they had going on, anyway).

Instinctively, she swept her hair over her ears when she was done.

((Spike Havighurst continued from elsewhere))

Okay, enough is enough. A loud crash: first strike. A semi-loud conversation: Second strike. Some idiot guy raising their voice? Third one.

Spike's thoughts exited the world of Karl Marx and he could no longer further ignore the troublemakers behind the bookshelves. Spike finished his algebra fifteen minutes ago, so he decided to use the spare time of his break to continue reading Capital. Unfortunately, that was impossible with the library's noise level. Spike looked around and saw other people who were trying to read or learn, but no librarian. No one to tell the noisy people to either be quiet or to fuck off.

Well, someone has to take action.

After all, he couldn't be the only person being distracted by the crash and the loud conversation behind the corner. But unsurprisingly no one seemed to care, or had the courage to stand up - they probably were afraid of appearing rude. But, no. That wasn't rude. A library's a library and the people in here who want to learn have the rights to learn. If the boy wants to be loud, he can just go to the cafeteria, you can be as loud as you want there. Fact, that's the reason why Spike was using his break time here and not in the cafeteria.

As an act of solidarity for the other people who were trying to learn, Spike stood up and slowly walked to where the noise came from. Spike's head popped out of a corner. He raised one of eyebrows and asked in a whisper:

"What the fuck is going on here?"

Ellis remained frozen in place, sweat building on the back of his neck as soon as the girl reached into her bag and pulled out hearing aids. Oh, that's what she meant. He really didn't think the girl could be deaf, especially since they had been talking well before.

"Oh, sorry, um, my bad," Ellis told the girl. "I didn't..."

"I asked what I can expect from the book," he repeated to the girl.

Before he could get an answer, another person showed up. They seemed more upset, reacting with naughty language rather than calmly asking what was going on. It caught Ellis off guard a bit, so he stammered a bit and looked between the boy and the girl.

"Oh, sorry," Ellis stammered. "We were just talking, and we miscommunicated. No biggie he he."