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kolfandom: Kingdom
cast: Loni and Val
31_days: light to your lips like daffodils
"That pre-test isn't going to take itself, Loni."
It was rude, but Loni did not turn from the library's sunniest window. She did not care for a silly pre-test, not when she had studied all she could, hundreds of numbers spilling from her overfed brain, sequences and formulas pooling somewhere on the industrial carpeting beneath her stiff, plastic chair. If any more knowledge tried to cram itself into her aching skull, Loni worried something important might fall out, like Brad's phone number or the counts on the Holbein stitches for the latest piece she was working on in her mother's shop.
To someone like Loni, who knew college was not for them, math classes seemed the worst wastes of time, particularly when a family of squirrels were scolding one another from the great oaks outside, fighting over a bounty she knew very well would be shared come winter. Or the plumpest, most cheerful little hummingbird that was flirting around the bushes outside, tasting what passed for brightly colored flowers on the mainland.
A hand raised itself to the Nānū blossom hooked firmly behind her ear. She'd love to take that bird to Maui, show it what a real flower tasted like... perhaps then it might find itself a connoisseur of blossoms rather than guzzling down whatever it found in easy reach. Stroking the white petals, Loni pictured the hummingbird in Maui, sampling only the best of the Gardenias, the bold green feathers at home with the lush colors of the island.
Val's cough intruded upon her vision. "Daydreaming isn't going to help you pass Trig."
"I don't see why it couldn't help," Loni smiled distantly, slowly pulling her eyes away from the window. She was not surprised to see worry had stamped itself around the edges of Val's eyes, wrinkling the bridge of his nose, pinching his lips into a thin, troubled frown. How she longed to erase these things from Val's face, but she knew it wasn't to be. He always seemed to fret about something, and she would rather those lines be for her and about something silly rather than the growing daemon presence in Sunset City or how dangerous their after school activities frequently were.
There is too much darkness in town these days, Loni sighed, looking at the window once more, longing to join that fat hummingbird outside.
"Val, when was the last time you walked in the garden outside the library?" The words had bubbled out from her lips before she put thought to them.
She saw Val out of the corner of her eye; he did not seem bothered by her dodging of his question, but it wasn't as if she hadn't been doing it the whole of study hall anyway. He set his notes down, trusty highlighter neatly placed above the topmost edge. "Why would I do that?"
"Jane told me once that it is a good idea to study in all sorts of environments. And aren't you tired of this stuffy room? We are turkeys baking here, stuffed to the brim with these silly formulas and facts. I think tomorrow we should spread out a picnic blanket, curl up with our books, and study beneath that dazzling sunshine!"
Val's fingers drummed against the surface of the wooden table. He considered her for two heartbeats before reaching up to rub his temple. "Do you think it would make you actually study?"
"Of course." Loni lied, the flash of her teeth as brilliant as the gardenia in her hair.
cast: Loni and Val
31_days: light to your lips like daffodils
"That pre-test isn't going to take itself, Loni."
It was rude, but Loni did not turn from the library's sunniest window. She did not care for a silly pre-test, not when she had studied all she could, hundreds of numbers spilling from her overfed brain, sequences and formulas pooling somewhere on the industrial carpeting beneath her stiff, plastic chair. If any more knowledge tried to cram itself into her aching skull, Loni worried something important might fall out, like Brad's phone number or the counts on the Holbein stitches for the latest piece she was working on in her mother's shop.
To someone like Loni, who knew college was not for them, math classes seemed the worst wastes of time, particularly when a family of squirrels were scolding one another from the great oaks outside, fighting over a bounty she knew very well would be shared come winter. Or the plumpest, most cheerful little hummingbird that was flirting around the bushes outside, tasting what passed for brightly colored flowers on the mainland.
A hand raised itself to the Nānū blossom hooked firmly behind her ear. She'd love to take that bird to Maui, show it what a real flower tasted like... perhaps then it might find itself a connoisseur of blossoms rather than guzzling down whatever it found in easy reach. Stroking the white petals, Loni pictured the hummingbird in Maui, sampling only the best of the Gardenias, the bold green feathers at home with the lush colors of the island.
Val's cough intruded upon her vision. "Daydreaming isn't going to help you pass Trig."
"I don't see why it couldn't help," Loni smiled distantly, slowly pulling her eyes away from the window. She was not surprised to see worry had stamped itself around the edges of Val's eyes, wrinkling the bridge of his nose, pinching his lips into a thin, troubled frown. How she longed to erase these things from Val's face, but she knew it wasn't to be. He always seemed to fret about something, and she would rather those lines be for her and about something silly rather than the growing daemon presence in Sunset City or how dangerous their after school activities frequently were.
There is too much darkness in town these days, Loni sighed, looking at the window once more, longing to join that fat hummingbird outside.
"Val, when was the last time you walked in the garden outside the library?" The words had bubbled out from her lips before she put thought to them.
She saw Val out of the corner of her eye; he did not seem bothered by her dodging of his question, but it wasn't as if she hadn't been doing it the whole of study hall anyway. He set his notes down, trusty highlighter neatly placed above the topmost edge. "Why would I do that?"
"Jane told me once that it is a good idea to study in all sorts of environments. And aren't you tired of this stuffy room? We are turkeys baking here, stuffed to the brim with these silly formulas and facts. I think tomorrow we should spread out a picnic blanket, curl up with our books, and study beneath that dazzling sunshine!"
Val's fingers drummed against the surface of the wooden table. He considered her for two heartbeats before reaching up to rub his temple. "Do you think it would make you actually study?"
"Of course." Loni lied, the flash of her teeth as brilliant as the gardenia in her hair.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-13 06:40 am (UTC)Also I loved this story, especially the imagery of Loni, the hummingbirds, and flowers. The three seemed to blend together into almost one image of nature and natural being. Loni's non-interest in schoolwork then becomes something not associated with laziness because of it.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-13 05:45 pm (UTC)I vote YES for Guardian picnic fun-times. <3