Blossoming Grapevines

Something of a Bookworm[1]

We start the story off with a quaint neighborhood, on the outskirts of Stalkite City. An aunt and her young niece, were just about to finish reading a book.

"-and Archeus slammed his foot down! Stealing the attention of both humans and monsters alike."

"Woahhh... he's never been that confident before."

Kore chuckled lightly, ruffling her niece's ivory hair. "That, my little cloud, is called character development." Shay pushes their aunt's hands away, trying to fix their messed up hair with a tight pout on their face.

"What happens next?" They stare at the book intently. They can definitely read on their own, but being read to just feels different. A good different.

"Well, he..."
Her voice trails off.

.
.
.
.

Tiny clips and clops from shoes can be heard as Shay skips on the sidewalk, their Aunt Kore following behind. The little white haired child clutches the book in their arms, and they finally stop skipping as they reach the entrance of the library. A very big entrance, might I add, usually to accommodate for more lengthy or towering individuals. This entrance was also framed with delicately carved marble, to match the building's neoclassical architecture. Although the doors seemed quite out of place, as it was made of wood, painted white and glazed to protect it— with lightly frosted stained-glass. Looking at it, this library must've been here for many many generations. And the door handle, unlike the rest of the surrounding decoratives, looked worn. Held by many who were seeking help or  whomever loved to read. Despite that, the handle was  sturdy, even after so many years.

Kore reaches for the door but Shay interrupts by pushing the door open by themselves. Their small body almost trips, but they catch themselves in time. They run over to the big, U-shaped table, where the library-assistant was sitting with their feet up on the desk. Shay reaches up to ring the little bell once, and plops the book down on the smooth wooden surface.

"Hello, I need t-to check this in- uhm." They wonder if they said that right. Kore looks on while smiling at the sight. She lets Shay return the book by themselves.

"Name?" It seems the desk person hasn't met them yet.

"Uhh-Sicilya Wonder."

The lady flipped through a book of what seemed to be records of people and numbers. "Sorry kid, looks like your name ain't in here." Oh boy. Shay then remembers it was their aunt that had checked out last they visited the library.
"Is there a Kore Wilda in there? That's my aunt." The person flips through the pages again, and finds the name.

"Im guessing your aunt is the one who checked out this book?"

"Mhm." They nodded.

"I'm gonna need her to check this back in, not some kid who can barely reach the top of this table with their hands." She chuckled. Shay pouted and gestures for her aunt, who was still standing by the doorway, to come up to them. She introduces herself to the library assistant and finally checks the book back in.

"It seems like you're eager to be here, so why don't you go and pick out a book by yourself this time?" Kore suggests, bending down a little to meet Shay's eye level.

Their light red eyes light up in response. "Really?" They don't express much emotion but she could tell they were excited about this.

"Absolutely, just try not to get lost. You're very small and the shelves are enormous. I need to go and run some errands but I'll be back here to pick you up in an hour, so you'll have plenty of time to choose a book to your liking." Kore places a smooch on Shay's forehead before standing back up.

"Run along now, darling."

With that last word, the snow white child ran off into the gigantic shelves, disappearing between them.

.
.
.

Shay

Cautiously, I walked along the many corridors of the library, as if trying not to disturb anyone. Which wasn't quite the case as this section of the library seemed almost empty except for every wall was filled with pages bound by paper or paper board, leather- even cloth. Some books were brand new. Some looked to be decades, maybe even centuries old. Although, most of them seemed to be untouched.

It feels unfair that so much knowledge, history, and love and tragedy are sitting here silently waiting for someone to read them, gathering dust while their story remains closed...

I run my fingers along the spines of the books, coming across a particularly textured one. I pull it out but manage to slip so badly that I end up pushing it to the other side instead.

"Ouch!" Oh yikes, someone had caught it with their head.

I ran off to the other side and found that the person had recovered quickly.

"Uhm. Hello. Are you ok? I am really sorry, my hand slipped..."

This person rubs their head, then stands up slowly to pick up the book they were reading— along with the one I had foolishly dropped. Smoothing back their dark hair with their fingers, their features were made visible.

"Y-yeah, it was a bit sudden, but I'm fine." They awkwardly scratch the back of their neck. They held the book out for me to retrieve, "This is what you dropped, right? I've read it before, you made a good pick!"

"Ah... Thank you..? I actually haven't read it yet." Nor had I read the summary. Upon further looking it doesn't seem to have one. Just a plain book cover. Well, not entirely plain.
Gold thread was stitched into the deep blue-dyed leather, beautiful leaf-like patterns sewn into the spine. The front cover was also painted in dazzling gold, framing the title of the book; "The dreams of Cecile".

"Would you like me to give you a summary?" The stranger offered. What an odd fellow.

I shot them a puzzled look. "Shouldn't we introduce ourselves?" I held my hand out, waiting for them to shake it. "My name is Sicilia Hayde." A few seconds after waiting for a response, immediately, I put my hand down in embarrassment to say something else in order to fill the silence. "But I'd like it if you'd call me Shay."

The stranger chuckles quietly, handing their own arm out, gesturing me to shake their hand.

"Hello, Shay. I'm Jaque Giles.
But you can call me Jack."

[A/N - Sorry if the writing is kinda weird, especially the POV... I should probably stick to writing in third person, idk what kids think lmaoo]