Mr. Bliss

[Rorick Skyve†]

Now that was unfortunate. Maxim needed to be sure, he had to check again before he'd be ready to declare defeat. His index finger wandered across a great number of book spines, passing the section which was labeled with a 'R', then the 'S' as well. Maybe someone had accidentally placed the object of his search at the wrong place on the shelf, somewhere before or after where it belonged. There were certainly enough halfwits capable of performing such a feat.  Then again, those would most likely not pick up a book like that in the first place.

Almost there. Tidbeck, Tidhar, Tilley, Thompson, a second Thompson, a third - Jeez, almost as bad as the Müllers in Germany - there. Tolkien. There were his works, neatly strung together, almost emitting an awe-inducing aura or more than almost, at least in his case. There they all were, The Silmarillion, The Children of Húrin, The Lord of the Rings, of course, multiple editions at that. Yes, there it was, all of the published work of that man he so admired. Well, almost.

Of course, of course the one work he had hoped to be able to borrow from the library, that one work he was looking for, The Hobbit, it was missing. Of course. Most likely occupied by some snotty brat, some 12-year old who had heard that Tolkien was 'cool' or something like that. There was no way a kid like that would be able to appreciate what they were holding in their hands, no conceivable way they would in any way feel grateful to be able to delve into the world of Tolkien's writings. No, they would probably leave it lying under their bed or so, disregard it, while others like him, Maxim, had to wait for eternities. It made him feel angry, sick almost.

Maybe there was still hope? Maybe it had been misplaced after all, a bit farther to the right...? There, after Tolkien came Turtledove. That was it, that was all of the 'T' section. No Hobbit there either. Of course not.

Frustrated and feeling like he was ready to tear any book that didn't have Tolkien's name on it to pieces, Maxim turned away from the bookshelf. It was partly his fault too, of course. He could have come here sooner. He had known for a more than sufficient amount of time that he wanted to read that particular book in question. It had stuck out like a sore thumb, of all the famous works in the fantasy genre to miss out on, he had chosen The Hobbit. Well, not exactly chosen. He had rather neglected its existence for far too long, considered it a mere children's book, based on what an old friend had told him. Too bad it had turned out the friend in question was apparently out of his mind, to dismiss it as just that. A children's book, yes, but still crafted and written by Tolkien, worth his time and his attention in every possible way.

So he had decided to get it here. He didn't want to have to buy it, even with all that money of his godmother meaning he had a nice cushion to fall on, should he have ever encountered monetary problems. It was a matter of principle. If he could get it at a place like this, without having to pay for it, then he would take this route. Try to. And fail, apparently. Because not one, not two, but apparently every single one of the available copies was currently lent out.

Infuriating, that's what it was. Walking away from the fantasy section, he started to rub his left eye with the palm of his hand. It had started to itch, even more so than the pesky problem he had come across. Barely registering what direction he was walking in, he turned the corner, exiting the corridor of bookshelves.

[Primrosette]

Brendan was happy to be alone in the library as he could have some privacy from his friends and other people that he wanted to avoid seeing. He was sitting at one of the table and he was staring down at the book that he had not picked up that long ago. The Hobbit. He honestly had no idea why he grabbed it. He more or less did it randomly. He didn't really read fantasy books. He was normally into the genres of horror and romance. But he had been in the mood for something different. Comedies weren't something that he was a bit fan of. So that was a no. He didn't really like science fiction. So that was a no as well. Drama books felt like they would be too serious for him. So he threw that option out of the window. He would have been up for a crime book. But his mood was focused on something else. So he settled for fantasy. He was strangely looking forward to reading it. It was something new for him to get into.

Maybe he would enjoyed it. Maybe he wouldn't. A lot of books had pros and cons. Some of his favourite books had flaws and he had acknowledged those in the past. So he was looking forward to the challenge of reading The Hobbit. He wasn't going to back down from it. He couldn't help but smile a little. He couldn't believe that he was getting so confident over a book. Now if only he was confident to stand up to bullies again....

That's never going to happen, Brendan. You're too afraid to do that and you know it. So just give up on trying to be the hero.

The Hero...? Brendan let out a quiet sigh and he rubbed his hand over his face. He needed to stop thinking like that. He would only make himself feel worse about him. He just needed to concentrate on reading. Reading books always made him feel happier. Even books that were terrible made him feel good afterwards. And reading other books always managed to inspire him to come up with ideas for his stories. Which he was currently trying to work on at home. Maybe he could ask Penny for advice when he got home?

Brendan nodded to himself as it was a good plan for him to do. "Alright, let's get started on reading you. I'm really curious to see how you will go." Brendan was talking to himself as he assumed that no one was in the library and he opened up to the first page of The Hobbit.

[Rorick Skyve†]

Had he really not been thorough in his search? Seemed like it. According to the info desk lady, there was still one copy available within the library, not lent out. Maybe he had been sloppy during his initial search and his ensuing anger over it had caused him to become even less thorough after. Possible. Not likely, but possible.

It was far more likely that some neglectful jackass had put the copy in question back on the wrong shelf, into the wrong section, left it lying around somewhere, one of those. Wasn't too much of a stretch. There were tons of books lying around in some of the reading corners, didn't help that the personnel in the library apparently had better things to do than putting those back where they belonged. Maxim huffed, more annoyed than angered.

At least there was hope now. There was one copy of that damned book somewhere in there and he was going to find it. Seek and you shall find. Almost sounded like something out of the bible. Then again, he hadn't read it and wasn't ever going to, so just an assumption, really.

Rubbing the underside of his eye with two fingers, Maxim began looking around. He'd check the reading corners first, seemed like the most promising approach. At least the place wasn't too crowded on this day. Some isolated gents here and there, a mother and her son cheerfully yacking about in the children's corner. Fairly unlikely that someone had taken the book over there.

He approached the table section. Only two people there, some middle-aged woman with a grotesquely painted face and someone - oh, it was Brendan. Always sitting at the desk behind his in math class. Only thing he ever found to be noticeable about him, really. That and his sort of good looks. Could probably even be considered attractive. Not important.

Seeing as how the two of them had only ever exchanged a couple of words, he saw no reason for him to greet his classmate, especially with him still searching that goddamn book. He scanned the tables, went over the few scattered copies lying around. Huh, The Prince by Machiavelli. His grandfather had told him about it, something to consider putting on his list.  Not today though.

Nothing, no Hobbit on those tables. Finding this damn thing seemed to be just as tricky as finding an actual hobbit in a cave or wherever those critters lived. He sighed. An all seeing eye would have come in handy right about now.
"Ganz, ganz toll." It was no habit of his to mutter to himself, but when he did, he was usually pretty pissed off.

[Primrosette]

Brendan didn't even get the chance to actually stand reading as someone was searching around the tables for something and it was too much of a distraction. He closed the book and he slowly looked up to see who was disturbing him from reading. Oh. It was Maxim from his math class. Brendan hadn't spoken to him that much. But he would like to. Brendan wanted to get out of his comfort zone more. He really needed to make more friends. But would Maxim like to talk to him? He couldn't really force Maxim to talk to him. It wasn't really in his nature to do so. Brendan wasn't that social with others. Even though he wanted to try. He should at least give it a shot. Brendan could at least try to greet him, now that he had noticed Maxim. Although, Maxim looked like he was upset about something. That wasn't good.

Brendan suddenly bolted up from his chair and he was starting to stutter nervously. "A-A-Are you alright, M-Maxim...?" His voice was weak and feeble. He feel his face heating up with embarrassment and he quickly sat back down.

He wanted to go and hide in a hole somewhere. Why did he act like that? Was it because of Maxim's expression? Possibly. But he had just done something awkwardly. In a library of all places. What was wrong with him? Was it because he was nervous? Talking to people made him nervous in general. He always didn't know how to say things the right way to others.

"I-I-I mean.... H-Hi...?"  
 

[Rorick Skyve†]

Just as he was about to storm off to continue his frustrating search, Maxim heard his name being called. Or rather, whispered, given how quiet the voice was.

"Hm?" He turned around to see Brendan, looking like he was about to suffer a stroke or something of the sort, given the look on his face. Now that was interesting. He barely knew a thing about the boy, except that he had that habit of stuttering and getting flustered quite easily in class. A nervous wreck, something like that. All the more surprising that this guy openly addressed him out here in the public like that, wouldn't have thought he'd be the type.

"Hello." Had he really made it that obvious that he was upset? Damn, if even someone this timid could pick up on that, then he really wasn't doing a good job of not drawing attention to himself. That was regrettable. Even so, he'd at least have the courtesy to assure Brendan that his concern was unfounded, for politeness' sake and all.

"Don't worry, it's all fine. I'm not-"

Just then, as his gaze wandered around the boy's face, Maxim noticed something lying on the table in front of him. Well, not just something, a book; not much of a surprise in a place like this. No, it wasn't just the fact that it was a mere book that caught his attention, but rather, its title. Well, wasn't that convenient?

Maxim looked back at Brendan's face. He really was a nervous mess and to be honest, it was enough to unnerve him a little. He wasn't sure if it was necessarily pity he felt for the boy, but it made him feel something, that much was for sure. Either way, the guy had the book he was looking for, which was both a pleasant surprise and bad news. If he was unlucky, Brendan would occupy it for another few days or so. Unless of course, he somehow persuaded him to give it up to him instead.

"Just, no need to worry for you, alright?" Maxim cleared his throat. "Well, anyway: Mind if I sit down here?" He placed one hand on top of the back of the chair next to Brendan, trying to sound as casual as he could. He could just straight up ask Brendan for the book, of course, but that didn't seem promising. Maybe a little bit persuading was all it took.

[Primrosette]

Brendan blinked. Then he blinked again. Maxim wanted to sit with him...? He never thought that Maxim would. To be honest., he thought that Maxim would leave on his merry way. To go and look for whatever he was looking for. Unless Brendan had what he wanted. That would be very awkward then. However, if he could try to strike up a conversation. Then he could get to know Maxim more. Maybe even become friends with him. Brendan hoped that Maxim wouldn't think he was too strange because of how he was. He needed to be calm. Just talk normally.

"O-Oh, uh.... I-I don't mind if you do. Not r-really...." Brendan was speaking a bit less nervously and his hands gripped onto The Hobbit book that was in front of him. "...Y-You looked really upset about something. So.... So...."

Brendan bit his lip. He wanted to sound less like he was scared of talking to Maxim. But it was kind of difficult for him to do so. He really needed to get out of his comfort zone more. And have more confidence in himself.

"....I just wanted to c-check on you.... To make sure that you are a-alright...."

[Rorick Skyve†]

"I'm fine." Maxim tried to sound firm, but not in any way threatening or even annoyed. It was best not to antagonize this one, given what he had in mind.

Brendan's performance was a pitiful one, really. Unless Maxim had some intimidating quality to himself that he had never discovered until now, the other boy's reaction was rather peculiar, to put it simply. Not like he had given Brendan any reason to become nervous. And he had to be honest with himself, had he not been in such an annoyed state after searching for that damn book for ages, he probably would have found this display of shyness sort of oddly charming. Well, almost. The other part of him found it rather bothersome, but either way, he had to somehow obtain that thing Brendan was currently holding.

Maxim slowly sat down, fixing his gaze on Brendan's face the entire time. Yes, he couldn't deny it, he did sort of feel bad. He had probably disturbed the guy's attempt at reading the thing, but oh well. He had to be sure of his priorities. Respecting the other boy's personal space was not one of them at the moment.

"I was just looking around a bit, nothing specific, just looking for a good read." He glanced towards The Hobbit for a split second, then back at Brendan, chewing on his bottom lip. "What are you here for? Doing some research?"