Our Story is Written by Fate's pen{p}

OOC: Rad! My first post DEFINITELY turned into a novel, even more than usual, but it won't always be this overboard :p

IC: Two days ago, Raiden McCullum set her bags down on the front porch of an ancient yet well kept house, peering through the first floor windows with hopeful curiosity. Past all of the hostas, roses, and ferns, and behind all of the white paint, was there going to be anything to do in her aunt's ancient old house besides sit around and twiddle her thumbs? Would she actually be able to survive this next week and a half in isolation? Raiden had panicked, already losing some of her initial faith, becoming certain that she would die of boredom before her parents came back to retrieve her. Turning back to her parents, she had watched as her only escape drove away, abandoning her in the country without any mode of transportation available to her.

Fast forward past the idling about, past the initial meeting with her aunt, and here she was: sitting in Aunt Maggie's expansive library, sipping tea and scanning the wide variety of volumes present on the shelves. Perhaps tomes was better word, however; some of the books were monsters, full of information as dusty and old as time itself.

Raiden wasn't one to drool over history. The class had never interested her, and biographies tended to be dull and in need of excitement. That was why she was so drawn to fantasy; between tales of impossible adventure, magical creatures, and incredible worlds, her thirst for action was sated. Real life wasn't necessarily boring, but if she could choose a different reality, she absolutely would. Unfortunately for her, however, was that Aunt Maggie happened to be a huge history geek. She had taught in a college as a professor for decades, amassing a whole library's worth of books throughout her career. The woman had read more books in her sixty some years than most had even had the opportunity to look at! Not to mention the fact that most of the literature she owned was, to reiterate, ancient. Raiden would given anything to just have a few more current choices to pick from.

Even more than that, if she could have even the slightest connection to the Internet, the teenager would be perfectly satisfied. Being out in the country as she was, there wasn't even a 4g connection, leaving her detached from the modern world entirely. Sure, her aunt was born before cell phone usage had become a common thing, but would it kill her to at least connect, like most everyone else already had?

The concern that Raiden had originally harbored was quickly instating itself as a reality. Pure boredom was beginning to settle over her. Due to poor forethought, Raiden hadn't even brought along her own books to read, simply assuming that she wasn't going to be stranded in the Dark Ages for an extended period of time. Why couldn't her parents have simply taken her along on their vacation? Never mind that it was their anniversary, and deserved some time alone together . . . .

Frustrated by the knowledge that no one was to blame for her own boredom, Raiden simply had to content herself with other activities. The first morning, she had tried to help Aunt Maggie with the gardening, which she was so dedicated to; that quickly fell through when Raiden proved herself utterly inept at the task. She then tried to sit outside and enjoy nature, but one could only spend so long outside in the summer heat. In the afternoon and evening, she volunteered to do the dishes, which she could do successfully, after figuring out where every dish belonged in the cupboards. It was only day two, and she had already discovered that the only things for her to do was do the dishes after meals, wander about the dark halls of the house, and loiter about in the library.

So that's where she was, perusing endless shelves of endless books. It was something straight out of Beauty and the Beast, though perhaps a little less expansive and extraordinary, but not by too much. Unfortunately for Raiden, no matter how much she liked to read when she wasn't screwing around on her phone, nothing here was of any interest to her. Please! Something that isn't historical. I'll take science fiction, folktales, fantasy, anything besides autobiographies about people who died ages ago!

Right after pleading with no one and nothing in particular, that's when she found it. Like an island in the middle of an ocean was fairy tale, the thinnest volume in the whole library, brightly bound and cheery. In retrospect, it was a wonder that she hadn't set eyes upon in before, since it was a multicolored butterfly amongst a swarm of drab moths.

Setting down her tea in such a rush that she nearly spilled it, Raiden pulled the book out eagerly, and drank in the first page, testing the waters. Then the second. Before she even knew that the time had passed, she found herself on the final word on the final page, still standing where she had begun, leaning against the bookshelf to prop herself up.

Rather than putting it back, Raiden kept it out, setting it on a table which sat beside one of the huge chairs found in the library. It was a lovely tale, one very reminiscent of any other fairy tale, and yet it struck her to be different. Perhaps it was due to the enchantment of reading from an original book. For that was something it had to be: slightly yellowed pages, delicately inked text which was obviously not printed, and original artwork which held so much detail attested to that fact.

And the emotion of the book . . . it wasn't something that a reader came across every day. For a fairy tale, it felt, in a word, fractured, as though there was something missing. Some might argue that the story was indeed tied up in a neat little bow, and perhaps it was. The bow, however, was definitely ragged, torn and less complete than most stories she would usually relate to this style of story telling.

The next day, the fairy tale was picked up five more times, the pages turning with hungry intent, yet also great care. Each time Raiden read it through, she began to further understand her attraction. Though the plot was indeed interesting, it was the characters which truly drew her in. The king and his mistress, along with the queen, had a sort of chemistry which deviated from what she perceived as normal, lending it a Grimm's fairy tale sort of feel. The innocence and fate of the prince was endearing, and the wings that remained on his back even when human once more was a ball and chain upon him, tugging at her sympathetic side.

And, if the artist had anything to say about it, the prince was nonetheless handsome. It was only a picture, but just like words, images held power.

Her seventh time through the book, on her fourth day at Aunt Maggie's, Raiden paused on a picture of Alabaster longer than she normally would. He had just been changed from dragon into hybrid, improved but still bearing a cross upon his back. Whether she harbored feelings out of boredom or loneliness or some other force, she was falling in love with a fictional character like a complete dork! She sighed, glanced up to the sky. The sun had set about ten minutes ago, and she had decided to come outside, attempting to read by the light of the moon and stars above alone.

A star streaked across the sky, tumbling and falling in all its brilliant, fiery glory. What's that chant, for making wishes? Star light, star bright- wait, no, that's for something else. Oh, whatever! I wish that Alabaster were real, or I could just stop making goo-goo eyes at some drawing.

Raiden glanced up, starting at the sound of another's voice. "Oh! Sorry." Why was she apologizing, exactly? For causing a disturbance, or for being so lost in her own world that she became frightened when she walked in? Not everything was her fault, however, something that the girl had failed to comprehend, for one reason or another. It was a horrible habit to be caught in, apologizing. "Yeah, I'm okay," she said in response as she calmed her nerves. Raiden's gaze went from Aunt Maggie out to the sky. "And yeah, I'm pretty sure it was a wishing star. Sure looked like one." Even if it happened to not be one, Raiden's wish was sent out into the stars, to be bounced about like a ball in the playful eternity of the heavens. Truth be told, however, she wasn't certain if her wish was one of integrity or not. She felt slightly foolish for even beginning to wish such a silly, immature thing.

"Good night," Raiden called out hollowly in response, the words coming off of her lips as more a force of habit than anything. Ever since that initial scare from Aunt Maggie's unexpected entrance, she had quickly and cleanly slipped back into her own little world of imagination. Even without her phone, her attention span around others was extremely short.

As though she didn't need another fright tonight, a small voice called out to her. Raiden dismissed it at first, certain that she was hearing things, as she sometimes did when deep in thought. The stars were bright and her mind was elsewhere; nonetheless, she glanced about, trying to locate a possible source of the noise. She didn't think to look down at the book, which remained opened on the same page she had left it at.

Raiden jumped as yet another sound cut through the air. It wasn't a voice this time, wasn't even a human noise. Muscles tense, the girl got to her feet, casting a glance about the room. Was there someone hiding in her room? Or, even worse, something? They were in the country, after all, so perhaps some small animal had found a way inside. She shuddered at the thought, rather disgusted. Pets were one thing, but a wild animal hiding, unseen, was another entirely.

Wait. The book. How'd it get onto the floor? Curiously, pushing her sense of caution aside, Raiden leaned over and scooped the fallen object up. The pages weren't bent, which was a relief, yet she smoothed them out anyway. "Why'd you fall, little book?" she murmured absentmindedly.

With a small yip which mimicked the sound made by a tiny dog, Raiden jumped back, the book slipping from her hands as though it were as slippery as soap. It thumped back to the ground, this time landing face up. By the grace of some unnamed force, the pages didn't flutter at all in the fall, the same picture remaining open. Said picture was also moving. "What?" Raiden breathed, too unnerved to make a sound any louder than a whisper. "Now I'm imagining things."

When the book was back in her hands, Raiden was careful to hold it a bit more delicately, as though it might burn her if she gripped too hard. "Umm . . . . Perhaps one hundred times is a bit extravagant," she said slowly. Why she was trying to bring reason into such an unreasonable situation was beyond even her, but the words slipped from her mouth before she could contain them. "Am I actually seeing this? Is this real?" Maybe if she pinched herself, she would discover if she was actually dreaming or not. Situation the book in a single hand, Raiden pinched her arm with her empty hand. She didn't verbalize her pain, slight as it was, but it was clear that she felt something, a clouded expression of confusion descending upon her face.

Despite herself, Raiden blushed, bashful of her behavior but glad to be appreciated. "Well, your story is very good, in my personal opinion." Here she was, ranting and raving like a lunatic, and right in front of Alabaster! Yes, he was a fictional character, and yes, she might well be insane, but she had been alive long enough to learn that one should jump upon every opportunity, no matter how out of the realm of sanity it might be. Even if this happened to just be a dream, it would later be a good one to write down and giggle over later.

But then it hit her, as fiery and bright as that shooting star she had witnessed falling not even a few minutes ago. "Wait! Could it be that . . . . ! No way. Preposterous." Raiden went from a moment of eureka! down to the uncertain mumblings of the depraved. "I made a wish that this could all be real, but I never actually dreamed that it would be. Not like this, at least."

"Is there actual magic in this book? Besides the elements of fantasy? Fascinating." Raiden considered the book with a renewed sense of dreamlike wonder. "Incredible," she reiterated. "Is this going to be a permanent state, or does it have an expiration date?"

Raiden nodded slowly. Experimentally, she stuck out a finger, and brushed the page's surface, gently and hesitantly. The surface of the image wavered, as though she had touched the surface of a still lake instead of paper. "Woah," she cried, wondering what other mysteries this night could uncover.

OOC: Sure :3