Two Peters/Redgrim

Pan was really late with his history report and his teacher, Halcyon Sothfiann, assigned him to work with another student named Miller to get it done. He knew Miller very well. He was the only one who had a rather large blade for his hand. He was very tall and odd looking. Admittedly, he was the only one in the academy Pan felt who made him look attractive by comparison. He was very excited to be teamed up with him because he suspected he could tell him what happened to his best friend who disappeared a year ago and was not seen alive again.
 
Shit! Pan thought. He was late to his meeting with Miller. They were supposed to meet in the library at 5 o’clock and it was already 5:07pm. He made sure he brought along his notebook and world history book, and of course a pen were in his knapsack. He quickly took a shower and after drying himself off, he put on a blue t-shirt, blue jeans, and the sneakers he always wore. It really wasn’t a big deal, but he wanted to look good for his meeting with Miller. Damn! It was now 5:20pm. He ran to the library as fast as he could. Hopefully, Miller would be there waiting for him and he hadn’t left, thinking he wasn’t going to show.  

When he finally got to the library, Pan looked at his assignment book to learn where he was supposed to meet Miller in the expansive library. It was in a quiet reading room. He found it and saw Miller standing around looking at the empty table. It was 5:31pm. He wasn’t sure whether it was better to walk up to Miller or just go and sit at the table. He decided to walk up to him and talk to him directly. He was afraid he might startle him if he went up behind him and he wasn’t about to do that. Miller was 6’4” and quite muscular. Truly a brute who Pan didn’t think he wanted to fight quite yet. He would one day, he suspected, because in a way he suspected him of – well, he had questions he thought Miller could answer about his friend’s disappearance and death. 

“Hi Miller.” Pan greeted the bigger boy. “I’m sorry to be late, I lost track of time. So, do you know what you want to do the history report on?” As he asked the question, he walked to the table thinking they would be more comfortable if they were seated.

The library was not among Miller’s favourite locations around the school. Mostly, it just didn’t have good memories. Two out of the three times he’s visited the place, someone tried to kill him, so it didn’t hold a good track record. That said, he wasn’t prepared those previous two times. This time around, he made sure to scope out the surroundings. He went down every aisle, imprinting the faces of the library’s pursuers into his brain and mapping the place out. He kept in mind the easiest route of escape, which bookshelves were sturdy enough to climb and which were weak enough to power through.

During his walk, Miller came upon the area where his blade pierced through Margaret and halted his search. There was nothing about the spot that looked any different from any other part of the library. It was a year ago after all, the furnishing and carpet had been changed a long time ago. He could only recognize it because of his spatial awareness of the library. He took a moment to bow his head, out of respect of his pseudo-sister, regardless of how warped her mind was when they fought on that fateful day.

Miller couldn’t dwell on that forever though. No, he had a reason to be in the library. Funnily enough, it was to use it for its intended purposes. It was a nice change of pace, the worry of someone trying to kill him was much appreciated at the back of his mind instead of the forefront. Although, having to actually do schoolwork wasn’t something he looked forward to, especially when it involved group work. If he was going to pass World History though, he needed to get a grade on this assignment. Not a good grade, anything would do. Failing courses wasn’t a normal worry for him, but he had to wonder how many courses he could fail before being ousted from Foresta altogether. He didn’t have anywhere else to go, so keeping his place here was a priority.

After scoping the area, Miller came back around to the front. Given that he expected his partner to already be there, he looked a bit lost, gazing at the empty table in front of him. The agreed upon time was five, but it was most certainly past that time. He expected his partner would be the one waiting on him, not the other way around. He briefly wondered if he left. Maybe Miller took too long. No, that was impossible, Miller would have saw him leave. Then again, he had no one what his partner looked like.

While Pan by no means snuck up on Miller, his eyes still bulged a bit by his sudden appearance. That extra expansion of his eyelids caused him to shut them tightly for a second. They should really make the lights in the school more mindful to nocturnal creatures like himself, one stray ray was enough to bother him.

Miller’s head shuttered a bit at the boy’s greeting. The ends of his lips flickered a bit, trying for a brief smile, but his general anti-social tendencies held him back a bit. “Hello” he stated neutrally. He nodded at Pan’s apology for being late, not seeing it as anything to hold him over for considering that he just arrived at their location a mere three minutes ago.

Following Pan’s lead, Miller approached the empty table as well. He grabbed a chair, though he briefly inspected it before taking a seat. There wasn’t any comfortable way for him to position his blade arm, believe it or not it wasn’t designed for casual practicality. As a solution to this, he allowed it to dangle by his side, like it had gone completely numb.

When Pan asked about his subject for the history report, Miller’s mind went blank. The report was the last thing on his mind since… well since it was assigned. “… The one that was talked about in class. Two… The War of Two Peters” he answered, his expression perfectly illustrating his difficulties remembering. His head rose again, clarity being in his eyes. “Yes, that one.”

“If it’s a war between two people, it should be pretty easy to write” Miller added logically.

Pan watched Miller carefully. He thought it was odd that he would inspect an empty chair so carefully before he sat on it. He understood looking at it, sure. But he overdid it. What did he think was in the chair? Did he think someone put something in it? Pan wasn’t near the chair so he didn’t think Miller was worried about him. But it did make him realize that Miller would watch out for anything against him. But why was he so paranoid? Maybe because other people might be after him and – he didn’t have any evidence of anything substantial yet. Well, he did. A photograph of an interesting mark that Pan was convinced might have been made by a certain blade that a certain person had – attached to himself. 

“The War of Two Peters?” Pan wasn’t thrilled with the idea. “The war lasted nineteen years! Couldn’t we write a report about a shorter war? Also, there are all kinds of allies of the Peters and that guy who thought it was a good idea to attack one for his crown because he thought he was too busy fighting the war. I will admit there’s enough information for a pretty good paper though. Nothing about Napoleon Bonaparte? Or the fall of that French royal couple. Um, that wench who said 'Let them eat cake?' No? Mary Antronet.” He made a face. He knew he was close to her name, but also knew that wasn’t quite it. "Um. What was that name again? I’m so bad with names, especially foreign ones!”

Redgrim

As the Pan boy spoke, Miller’s face remained blank. His rambling speech made him feel like he was back in class again, and, just like in class, it all went through one ear and out the other. He sat u straight and looked to the boy like he was listening, but his eyes blankly blinked. When the boy posed him with the question of who said what, Miller absently looked over his shoulders, again, like he was in a classroom expecting someone else to answer the question for him. When he realized that there was no one else to pick up his slack, his countenance became mystified. “It was… uh…” His brain went into panic mode. Quick, say something smart, he thought. “Mary Theresa” he added with feigned confidence. He was only half certain about where the name Theresa came from. He recognized the name and that was about the extent of his knowledge.

The boy’s other concern was why the War of Peters of all things. Miller wasn’t exactly certain why he gravitated to that subject of all things, and given Pan’s concerns of the complexity of the conflict he was having some regrets. The major thing was that the name felt familiar to him. Before his time at Foresta, the only source of education he had was his creator. The man wasn’t keen on providing him with the traditional American education system. Anything that Miller learned about history came down to two subjects, the history of gifted folk and wars. There might have been something significant about the War of Two Peters, but Miller couldn’t quite remember it. There was a significant amount of time between when he was on good speaking terms with his creator and his stay at Foresta after all.

“Well” he began without having a good sense about what he was going to say. “It’s a good topic. With there being more than two people and it lasting that long, it will be easier to meet the word count. If it lasted nineteen years, there must have been a lot of battles. Those could easily fill a report.” When it came to Miller’s history reports, they didn’t look that much different from his combat tactics reports. He was by no means a tactical savant, but as the saying went ‘write what you know.’

Miller’s eyes widened for a second, like something just struck his mind. He looked to Pan with a gentle gaze. “Oh, and, uh, thank you for agreeing to be my partner” he stated neutrally. He thought it might be a necessary gesture, a sort of pre-apology for the mark he was going to receive on the assignment. A lot of students seemed to prioritize grades; Miller was not one of them. He presumed that was the reason that most students didn’t want to be paired up with him, outside of the other obvious reasons.

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