The Book Girl and The Scribe

[tohko_amano]

Characters: Enoch and Tohko [Closed]
Setting: Every seven days, starting on the ninth, in November, in the music room.
Format: Prose.
Summary: Enoch lives up to his promise and gives Tohko weekly accounts of his life in Heaven and beyond. Tohko, wanting to give something back, gives him an account of her life and some other stories.
Warnings: Nothing that I can think of for now..

It was time. Seven days had finally passed, and Tohko had managed to write up her life for Enoch. It was the first time she had written something outside of school, but it had been..fun, on some level. She assumed that they were going to meet in the same spot as last week and quickly ran up to the music room, her notebook and pen in hand.

However, Enoch wasn't there yet, so Tohko hopped up on one of the tables and sat there, scribbling down a small story that she was planning to give to Enoch next week. While she was a beginner at this, it was..fun.

Comments

[warriorscribe]

"It's good that you've learned, at least." A hint of a smile emerged. "I'm surprised that your stories prepared you to speak with an immortal man, but never warned about the danger of manipulation."

[tohko_amano]

Tohko gave a small smile and chuckled nervously.

"Well..most stories show how wrong it is to manipulate a person for terrible reasons, like killing others or hurting others. They don't usually show you the consequences of manipulating people for good reasons...and we had no idea that the murder-mystery would turn out to be one until it was too late. Besides, I'm still not quite used to speaking with you! If I was, I wouldn't have thrown a polar bear into my last prompt!" The last part was added as a bit of a joke, an attempt to lighten the air a bit.

[warriorscribe]

"Other than the person you've manipulated feeling used or as if they can't trust you?"

Enoch sighed quietly. "Some people are willing to let things like that be, especially if everything goes well. But manipulation of any kind can feel like betrayal of trust."

[tohko_amano]

Tohko sighed. "That's true...I was pretty foolish back in those days. I guess I didn't look at the right story or remember it in time. Maybe I'm still pretty foolish. But..that's why I'm planning on apologizing to Konoha when I meet him again. Even if I was trying to help him, it was wrong of me to manipulate him. People aren't puppets."

She sighed again and turned to Enoch's piece of paper. She read it once, copied it into her notebook, and then re-read the copy and ate it. She then smiled a little.

[warriorscribe]

Enoch nodded along at her words, and watched as she ate the story's copy. He smiled expectantly. It was clear she liked it, at least.

[tohko_amano]

"This is delicious, Enoch! It tastes like a creamy, sweet, light pudding with a filling biscuit on the side! It kind of reminds me of something you'd find in a children's book." She gushed. However..she then remembered what happened to Armaros. "Hmm..the biscuit has a bit of a bitter aftertaste though.."

[warriorscribe]

The last part clearly caught Enoch off guard. "So...a story's taste can be influenced by connected stories?"

[tohko_amano]

Tohko nodded. "Connecting stories do slightly alter the flavor of the stories it connects to. If you eat the middle book in a series, it'll taste differently if you eat the whole series from beginning to end. However, memories also help affect the taste of some stories, for both the reader and the writer. For instance, if I ate a story about a man who lived with bears and was in love, that would have about an ounce of nostalgia in it.

As for how it affects the writer, if the writer is remembering something due to the prompts, the taste will be affected. For example, The Journey of a Feather. My prompts made you think of your friend, and because of that, the story tasted salty, even though it was delicious."

[warriorscribe]

Enoch nodded as he listened to Tohko's explanation. There was a long, heavy pause before he spoke again.

"You may want to bring some water, then, next time. My story isn't filled with happiness, I'm afraid."

[tohko_amano]

Tohko nodded and smiled. "Don't worry. I'll be alright..it's not like my own story hasn't had really salty paragraphs in it. Besides...no matter how a salty, spicy, bitter, or sour a story is, I'll eat it up if you give it to me. Besides, sometimes, the best stories are the ones that are coated with salt and make you cry."

[warriorscribe]

Enoch couldn't help but relax a little with her enthusiasm. "All right."

[tohko_amano]

Tohko's smile widened a little bit at his reaction. "Thanks. Although..make sure you don't wear yourself out emotionally while you're writing, alright? It'd be terrible if you got sick by tasting too many spices."

[warriorscribe]

"In this tower, it may well be inevitable. I'll be all right."

[tohko_amano]

Tohko sighed. "Alright then. Hopefully you will be." While Tohko was the one who started this whole writing exchange, she didn't want to depress Enoch. After all, he was her friend.