1964-07-30 - Random Book Reading
Summary: In which Kellan and Quinn run into one another again and end up talking ghost stories.
Related: None
Theme Song: None
quinn kellan 


Kellan has been reading all manner of books over the summer in prep for taking college classes in the fall on a quest to figure out what he wants to be when he grows up. And so he's wandering idly through the bookstore on a warm afternoon, dressed in a pair of comfortable jeans and a t-shirt, seeking more reading material to satisfy his voracious appetite — and it truly is voracious when one can read four books at once.


Not everyone can read four books at once, but Quinn does enjoy reading, even if she'd probably never admit it unless someone catches her with a book. Which seems to be happening rather frequently these days. She turns the corner around one row of the books, which brings her right into Kellan's pathway, yet another theme she seems to be creating at least with him.


Kellan strolls on down between the stacks and stacks of books, his hands in his pockets and his attention more on the books than where he is going, so he almost misses Quinn's approach except for the fact that he almost crashes into her. "Whoah, hey.. oh.. Hey!" There's a moment of confusion, then recognition, and then a grin takes over his expression. "Quinn, right? How's it going?"


There's a startled look, both at nearly running into someone, then realization that it is, yet again, the same person she bumped into the last time. "Oh! Yeah…" She pauses, wracking her brain for the name before she fishes it out, "Kellan, yeah?"


"Seems like we're making a habit of this, or at least a coincidence. It takes three times for a trend, right?" Kellan grins and nods when she gets his name right and says, "Yeah." He then glances around and asks "Looking for something in particular? This place is a maze."


"It does seem to be becoming a habit." Quinn admits, looking momentarily guilty for no apparent reason before she shakes her head, "Nothing in particular, no. Just looking to see if anything catches my eye. You?"


"Still on my quest to figure out what I want to get my degree in," Kellan grins. "I know I don't need to decide right now, but I'm actually having fun reading a whole bunch of different stuff" He grins and then shifts out of the way so that another patron can get past him. "Want some company wandering the aisles?"


Quinn glances up briefly as the other person moves past, shifting to the side as well out of the way, "Sure…although I don't know how interesting my wandering is going to be. It's fairly aimless." She warns him, but doesn't seem like she'll stop him, just starts to move down the aisle, "What've you found so far?"


"So is mine," Kellan says with a grin and follows her along down the aisle. "Nothing that's jumped out at me yet," he says, arms devoid of books at this point. He kind of wanders along behind her, occasionally pausing to look at something on a shelf and then continuing on, but not quite selecting anything yet.


"Yeah…I know the feeling." Quinn replies, offering a quick grin before she pauses in front of one of the shelves, looking over the spines of the books, "Maybe we're going about this entirely wrong."


"Well, I wouldn't want to do it wrong," Kellan says with a little bit of a laugh and looks at her curiously. "How should we be going about it?" He waits to see if she has a suggestion, moving over against the shelf so that others can pass by.


Quinn shifts a bit closer to the shelf, but she doesn't check for any passer-bys againt this time, arms crossing over her chest, the fingers of one hand rubbing thoughtfully beneath her chin, "Perhaps what we should do is just…grab one book from ever…fourth shelf."


"We could, though that seems.. a little random. Not that I mind a little random," Kellan says as he glances down the aisle. "Sure, let's do it." He grins over at her and then begins counting the shelves until he plucks a volume from it and continues on his way. One, two, three, four and then he selects another book.


"Maybe random is good." Quinn decides, grinning at him as she starts to count the shelves from where she's standing, pulling one from the fourth one without looking, and starts to count again, "This way, we're not over thinking it."


"Who knows what we're going to end up with," Kellan chuckles, not seeming to mind the randomness. He also doesn't give a second thought to the poor shelvers who are going to have to put them all back when they're done. Sometimes, there are some things that just escape him. He takes another book, and another until he has four in his arms and says "Want to go grab a place to sit and see what we got?"


"Yes." Quinn replies, grabbing a fifth book, since one of hers ended up being a rather slim book of some undetermined sort. She shifts the pile, turning around towards him, "We've probably ended up with basket weaving and knitting."


Kellan laughs and says, "Guess we'll find out." He makes his way over to where there are some places to sit, some overturned crates and he plops himself down to go through the stack that is in his lap, turning each one over and reading the covers and the back covers. "What'd you get" he asks her curiously.


Quinn follows along with him to the crates, although she settles herself down on the floor and uses one of the crates as a table. "Let's see…" She flips through the books, then holds up one, "Chess?"


Kellan grins and asks, "Do you play?" Then he sorts through one of his and turns it over, "Growing your own herb garden." He shows her the cover, then sets it down at the bottom of his pile and picks up the next one to look it over, "Or maybe Macrame?"


"I do play." Quinn replies with a nod, tossing it to the side before she checks the next book, laughing, "No, how about this…" She holds it up, "How to Sew Doll Dresses. Were we in the hobby section?"


"I have only played a couple of times. I think Kaleb is better than I am at that game," Kellan says as he flips over another of his books and says, "I think we were in the crafts and garden section or something. How to install a deck." He holds out the book, very orange and brown, with instructions on how to pout together various decks and tree houses. "You know, I kind of always wanted a tree house."


"Then build yourself one?" Quinn suggests, reaching out to take the book from him, flipping through it, "This book will evidently tell you how to build one." She then passes the book back before she picks up another one of her books, "And when you build it, we can paint it."


Kellan laughs and says, "That would kind of require a tree. I don't think that Kaleb will let me put a tree on the balcony.. and I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to get one big enough to put an actual treehouse in." He takes the book back when she passes it back to him. He looks at her a little sidelong and then grins, shaking his head. "What else have you got?"


"No tree…no treehouse, or dolls." Quinn shoves the rejects over to the side before she checks the last of her books, drumming her fingers on them before she picks up the slender book, "I think this got put in the wrong place. Ghost stories."


"Okay, that one sounds interesting." He looks at his last book and says, "Quilting." With a slight shake of his head, he chuckles and says, "I think you have the winner." He takes the other books and sets them off to one side. "Ghost stories is it."


"Which is sad…" Quinn hands him the book, tossing the other one on the pile, which seems to be actually on knitting. She then moves to one of the crates next to him, "So what's the first ghost story?"


Kellan flips open the book and he starts to read the first story. He doesn't have a bad voice for reading and is able to keep a steady cadence, not stumbling over the words. He grins over at her and continues to read until he's finished the story, then passes the book over toward her to see if she wants to read the next one.


Quinn accepts the book when he passes it to her, but she doesn't open it, instead she tucks her finger into the place he left off, "A long time ago, in what is now Fukushima, there was a man and wife." She glances over at him, checking to see if he's actually listening before she continues, "One night a yurei appeared to them, a ghost…and at first it was in the garden, knocking on it and calling to the wife. Now, the wife was a sort of…blunt woman, and called back to the ghost…who are you."


Kellan tilts his head when she takes up the book but doesn't open it and instead begins to tell another story that isn't in the book. He folds his arms and rests his elbows on his knees, attention focused over on her. He's listening even if his gaze wanders around the room a little bit. His eyes, however, always drift back over toward her as he listens to her tell the tale.


"There's no answer, other than the ghost once again calling out the name of the wife." Quinn keeps her focus on him, leaning closer so that she can lower her voice, "The wife had an ofuda, which is a talisman on a slip of paper, pulling it out from beneath the futon to throw at the ghost, causing it to vanish."

She pauses, waiting a moment before she continues, "But that wasn't it…the ghost returned night after night, for four straight nights. Ever time calling out the name of the wife. Every time they tried to drive her away. Eventually they went to one of the local shrines, bringing in a priest to try and help…but it continued on for four more nights. On that eighth day, the ghost was in the bedroom with them, tickling the wife's feet, calling out her name."


Kellan lifts his brows as she leans in closer and he grins a little as he continues to listen to the story without interrupting her, just paying attention as the tale continues to unravel.


"That was it…they couldn't handle it any more, so moved." Quinn ends the story, straightening back up, "They never learned who the ghost was, and never saw it again after leaving the house."


Kellan's brows knit together when the story suddenly ends and he says, "That was it? They just.. moved? Huh." He looks a little puzzled, as though he was expecting something more after all of that. But then he chuckles and says, "I guess I'd move too if there was some crazy ghost tickling me."


"Well, it's very Japanese." Quinn confesses, shaking her head, "A ghost is tied to a person, or a place…an unfinished business. Usually you can send them on their way by finishing the unfinished. But the ghost was only interested in the wife, only calling the wife's name." She offers the book back towards him, "Suggestion is that the wife was perhaps the one with a secret lover….and that she was trying her best to deny it."


"Huh," Kellan says when she explains the story and then he grins. He takes the book when she passes it over toward him and then he sets it with the others. Then, dusting off his hands on his jeans, he pulls himself up and says, "I need to be heading back and have a couple more stops to make. But you should come by sometime. I can introduce you to the guys." He pulls out his wallet and fishes out some business card with some salesman's information on it. He crosses it out and gives her the number to the apartment.


"Sure." Quinn replies, accepting the card from him with the number to the apartment, then she turns to vanish back into the aisles of books to continue her searching.


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