taxonomites | 007 || [Location:Taxon Library/Accidental Visual] || Seven For Avalon

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007 || [Location:Taxon Library/Accidental Visual] || Seven For Avalon

Corwin has definitely learned his lesson in “be careful what you wish for,” and instead of wandering the city aimlessly and complaining about how dull it is here (or hacking at trees), he’s managed to find something to occupy himself with.

He has always enjoyed the company of books—something about being surrounded with so many words had a calming effect that nothing else could even come close to matching. He spent a good deal of time simply wandering through the shelves and taking in the smell of them. It had been a long time since he’d been near so many. Too much to do…

It took a lot longer than it might have before he finally made his decision, sliding an obviously old, rather thick, and doubtless dry piece of literature off the shelf it sat on and retreated to a chair to sit and read it, cigarette in hand that he rapidly forgot about, lost as he was in the world of words.

And all of it for the enjoyment of the tablet. Evidently, it didn’t like him today.

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Corwin almost couldn't help looking at the volume that she'd pulled off the shelf or any of the rest of them in her pile and he was at least a little impressed by the choices. He may not have been all that fond of kids, but she's managed to garner a little bit of respect for her choice in reading material, at least.

"Heavy stuff for a kid."

Gathering up the pile again, Alexis managed to shrug without the books toppling out of her arms again. "They're on the AP syllabus," she answered, as if that explained everything. For some people, it probably did. "And we never have the chance to go through everything I'm interested in in-class, so I thought I'd get to the rest of it now that I have time to keep up."

"Not many kids who'd do schoolwork when they didn't have to." Because there was so much else to do around here. At least books were something a litle more healthy than hacking at trees or fighting off zombies.

"I do." It was a simple statement, spoken without pride or awareness of its oddity. The polar opposite of her father, in fact. Maybe that was how she'd learned it. "If I'm lucky enough to get home, I don't want to be behind in school. Or with my violin or fencing lessons."

"Fencing" had him paying a lot more attention than even the books had. This girl was getting more and more interesting and he wasn't sure that he was particularly alright with that. "Sounds like you have wuite the interesting life."

Alexis smiled tentatively, offering Corwin back his chair. "Not really. My dad's a writer, so I get to see all the stuff he researches." Like how to escape being ducttaped to a chair. "If what he researches looks interesting, I try it."

"That's one way to do it," Corwin shrugged and put his chair back in place, returning to it and idly turning a few more pages in his book, thoughts obviously elsewhere.

Then, out of nowhere--

"How's your fencing?"

She had turned back to her books, trying to decide if she was being overambitious or not ambitious enough, when the question came out of nowhere. Alexis turned back, perplexed. "My instructor says my footwork is good, but that I get too carried away." That was, all things considered, not surprising. Her grandmother had a tendency to get carried away, and so did her dad. It was probably genetic. "Why?"

That brought a smile to his face--of course she would. The young often tended to get carried away. Who knew how many times Benedict had had to say that to his siblings as he trained them? With some, probably, more than others. Random came rather rapidly to mind.

So he ignored the incredulous "why" and went back to the first statement. Why, exactly, he was even thinking this...

"I could fix that." No, it certainly wouldn't last very long around him. He'd been fencing to survive for longer than her entire family had been alive, and that was always the best motivator.

Her brow furrowed in a confused frown at Corwin's response. She had gone to the library for books, not for a fencing instructor, but if he was offering (and Alexis was pretty certain there weren't that many ways to interpret 'I could fix that'), why shouldn't she say yes. It wasn't like she could keep up with fencing from a book.

"You could?" She tilted her head, confusion turning to curiosity. "You know how to fence?"

"Don't sound so surprised. It's not entirely uncommon, believe it or not." So maybe it was and that was a lie, but it didn't exactly matter. He was, perhaps, not the easiest or greatest teacher, but he was experienced and offering and that was what counted.

"It was pretty uncommon back home," Alexis couldn't help pointing out, but a hopeful smile was lighting up her face. "Would you really teach me?

"What is the world coming to." Admittedly, it wasn't required on a lot of Earths for survival as it had been in his, but still. There was a finesse to these things and it was saddening in a way that it was being lost slowly to the deterioration of time.

"I would," he relented, not really sure why. "Though I have to warn you, it's been a while since I've done it in any formal setting."

That wasn't really a question. Nor was it something she could really answer. It was more like the sort of thing her dad (or her grandma) would say when things changed. So she shrugged. "I'm assigning myself homework out of the library, Mr. Corwin. I don't think 'formal' matters."

"You say that now," he countered with one of those "looks" that kids knew rather intimately. "Wait until we're actually sparring and I miss." Or got overexcited and forgot to pull back. He could do some serious damage without realizing it if he wasn't careful.

Given that Alexis was used to being the responsible one, getting the look instead of giving it was change, and she bit back on a giggle. "I think that's why they invented padding." And blunted foils, but that part was obvious.

Right?

"Padding doesn't neccesarily prevent bruises." Especially if there was force behind the blow, and he was especially good at that. "But, I guess if you're willing to risk it, it's your own fault if you don't get yourself out of the way."

Alexis smiled widely, not realizing just how easily she wore the unconscious overconfidence of youth. "I wouldn't have taken up fencing if I were afraid of bruises," she pointed out. She hesitated for a moment, as if suddenly afraid of sounding overeager. "When would be best for you?"

That snort may have been just a little bit un-gentlemanly, but it got his point across--the vaguest hints of amusement and surprise that he'd managed to walk right into that one. He shrugged the whole thing off, though, with a gruff "point taken," and paused for a moment to pretend to think. It wasn't as if his schedule were exactly filled with so many things to do that he had to fight to find stray bits of time that he could throw together into something resembling a decent lesson time. He just wanted to appear that way. Make this seem like more a favor than it really was.

"Afternoons are mostly free."

Her smile becomes positively gleeful at the grudging agreement, and Alexis all but bounces at the assent. So she's a little ~~over~~ enthusiastic. She's in high school; she's allowed to be.

"Afternoons work." She extends a hand to him for a handshake. "Thank you, Mr. Corwin."

Honestly, how can anyone stay grumpy in the face of that much obvious glee?

Incredulous or not, all the obvious excitement earn is a raised eyebrow and a too-neutral expression that said he had years of practice wearing it. He's seen what "youthful enthusiasm" can lead to, after all, and none of it was very pretty.

He does at least, shake her hand and then his head.

"Don't be late."

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007 || [Location:Taxon Library/Accidental Visual] || Seven For Avalon

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