It thus became the norm for Thorax to pull out a record to play on his new record player every evening after work, and then simply sit to one side and attentively listen to it as it played. Naturally, most of what he played were episodes from his new favorite radio drama, which he was now an avid fan of. However, before they had even gotten halfway through the following week, Thorax had already finished listening to them, which was a problem as he was still left eager for more.
“So put on another,” Spike suggested early one evening, not long after the shop had closed for the evening, as Thorax pulled the most recent finished record off the turntable, lamenting that it had finished.
“I can’t, that’s the last one for that series,” Thorax explained as he glumly slipped the record back into its sleeve and put it back with the rest. “I’ll have to buy the next set to continue.”
“Right,” Spike said, looking up from the writing notes he had been working on at the desk, across the room from where Thorax and the record player were. “About how much do those sets sell for again?”
“For a full set? About five bits altogether, generally.”
Spike thought for a moment, gazing up at the bulletin board sitting above the desk they both had been using to hang notes and reminders to themselves to glance at their notes for their funds. Their funds had become streamlined enough now that they kept two stashes of money; one for long-term savings that they could fall back on in emergencies or extraordinarily large expenses, and another for more general, day-to-day, expenses. Of the two, the long-term savings was the one that contained enough funds that there wasn’t immediate danger of it running dry too soon, but Spike also didn’t consider buying another series of radio drama episodes on record as an “emergency.”
“Can I ask you to hold off on doing that until we get our next paycheck this weekend?” he asked his changeling friend timidly, turning in his seat to glance at Thorax.
Thorax sighed, but nodded reluctantly. “Yeah, I can,” he agreed, and wandered over to the window seat to sit down, staring at the wooden panel floor of their room. He sighed once more. “I’ll…just have to be content in not immediately knowing what will happen next.”
“Aw, you just need something else to keep you occupied,” Spike suggested as he turned back to his own project. “Seeing you like this radio drama series so much and it is part of the sci-fi genre, maybe you just need something else from that same genre to keep your appetite sated.” He thought for a moment. “Sky Trek comes to mind.”
“What’s Sky Trek?”
“It’s a long-running book series. I’ve only read one or two myself, but its Twilight’s third favorite series of books to read after Daring Do and anything written by Starswirl the Bearded. Starlight Glimmer, as I recall, is an even bigger fan of the series.” Spike shook his head to clear it of memories of his old life before being cast out, turning in his seat to look at Thorax again. “It doesn’t deal quite so much with time and space like your Doctor Hooves, but basically it’s set in a future Equestria where it’s about the adventures of the crew of this high-tech airship as they travel out beyond Equestria, exploring. You know, seeking out new lands and new civilizations, going where no pony had gone before, and all that.”
Thorax considered it for a second then stood up onto his holed hooves again. “I suppose it’s worth a try,” he reasoned. “But where would I find a copy of one of these books?”
“Well, Fly Leaf sells some of the books downstairs…maybe she’ll let you borrow one from the stock to read.”
So Thorax put on his disguise and went downstairs where Fly Leaf was sweeping the empty front of the store to ask.
“Well yes, I do sell Sky Trek books,” the orange earth pony confirmed to her employee, “but only the more recent entries in the series. I would think if you were going to start reading them, you’d want to start at the beginning with the first book.”
Thorax frowned. “Where can I find the first book?”
Fly Leaf glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. “If you hurry, you might be able to try the library real quick before it closes.”
So Thorax left for the library. Because it was faster, he ducked into a nearby alley after leaving the shop to change his disguise into a pegasus so to fly there instead of going by hoof like he normally would. He arrived only minutes before the library was to close for the evening, and the attending librarians were more interested in hurrying patrons out the door than welcoming more in. But nonetheless, Thorax was able to return to the shop with the desired book in hoof. He then took it up to his and Spike’s room and sat down on the window seat again to begin reading. He did not stop for dinner that was held later, and he was still reading it as it grew late.
Spike, deciding to call it a night, put away what he was working on and, studying the changeling with an amused expression, approached him. He knew Thorax was an avid reader, but this was the first time the changeling had been reading the same work for so long in one stretch without interruption. “Good book?” he asked.
“Mm-hmm,” Thorax hummed distractedly, his pupiless eyes glued to the pages of the book.
Spike folded his arms as he continued to watch the changeling read. “You know, I’m starting to think you’re a bit of a sci-fi nut, Thorax,” he observed.
“Mm,” Thorax hummed again, turning the page in his book.
“Anyway, I’m calling it a night, so can I have the window seat back so I can go to bed?”
Thorax didn’t immediately respond and continued to read.
“Thorax?”
Thorax glanced up slightly from the book, as if his eyes were reluctant to look away from the book. “Hmm?”
“Window seat. Bedtime.”
“Oh right, sorry.” Continuing to hold the book before him with his cyan magic, Thorax got up from the window seat and trotted over to his sleeping nest instead.
The window seat thusly freed, Spike clambered up onto it and pulled out his blanket so to transform it into his usual makeshift bed. Arranging his pillow into a comfortable position, he proceeded to lie down, but paused as he glanced over at Thorax sitting in his makeshift nest of blankets and other fabrics, continuing to read like nothing had changed. “Thorax, time for bed,” he reminded.
“Just a few more minutes,” Thorax promised without looking up, again turning the page.
Spike frowned slightly. “Don’t stay up too late,” he advised. “We still need to get up on time for work in the morning.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Spike gazed at the changeling for a long moment, not certain he was even listening, but the little dragon finally shrugged, trusting Thorax would insure he got to sleep on his own and snuggled down the night himself. He slept well, deeply, and comfortably for the full night before waking up again as the sun rose again the following morning, as had become the custom since taking up residence here. Sitting back up, he stretched then turned to see if Thorax was up. He was, but he was also still sitting in the exact same position reading his book as Spike remembered him being when he went to sleep the previous night. The only changes was that Thorax was now much further into the book than he was last night, looking to be only about a dozen pages away from the end, and there were now notable bags under the changeling’s blue eyes…which left Spike briefly wondering how one could get such bags under their eyes when their face was lined with chitin like Thorax’s was.
More importantly though, Spike was quick to realize that Thorax clearly wasn’t as well-slept as he should be. “Thorax,” Spike stated in a firm tone as he frowned at the changeling.
Thorax, as usual, was only half-listening. “Just a few more minutes,” he repeated, turning a page.
“…it’s morning now, Thorax.”
“Not for another few hours.”
“No, it’s morning now.” And to demonstrate it, Spike pulled open the curtains to their window, letting the early morning sunlight stream in.
Thorax winced as the sunlight glared into his eyes, but that still didn’t stop him from continuing to read. “Mm,” he murmured.
Spike’s eyes narrowed at the changeling as he started to suspect what happened. “Thorax, did you get any sleep last night?”
“Just a few more minutes.”
“Thorax!”
The changeling jumped and blinked owlishly at Spike. “What?”
“You stayed up all night reading that book?” the little dragon accused.
Thorax blinked, then glanced around their room as if it was the first time he had done so in several hours. “Huh, I guess I did,” he admitted. “I’m almost done though, so I’ll get some sleep then.”
“No, no, Thorax, it’s time to get up,” Spike repeated, dragging his claws across his face in frustration. “Now. If you try to sleep now, you’ll be late for your shift.”
“Mm.”
Spike groaned as it was clear the changeling wasn’t listening, and decided instead to proceed with getting ready for the day. He hoped that doing so would alert the changeling that it was time to set the book aside and get on with the day, although Spike was more worried about how useful the sleep-deprived changeling was going to be today. He was likely to be dead on his hooves the whole day considering he hadn’t slept a wink. Unfortunately, as Spike emerged from the room’s attached restroom after freshening up, he found Thorax still hadn’t moved and was still reading his book.
“Thorax,” Spike growled in a warning tone.
“Just a few more minutes,” Thorax promised distractedly, turning the page again.
Spike threw his claws into the air. “Fine!” he said in defeat. “But I’m not defending you when Fly Leaf gets after you.”
“That’s nice,” was Thorax’s only response as Spike headed out the bedroom door.
Nice to hear a lil humor from you, once in a while, mate~
Well...this kinda went where I thought it would go. I thought Thorax would get obsessed and go overboard with the radio dramas but...not with sci-fi books. Heh, at least it shows that these two can still enjoy the simple things despite being fugitives.
Okay... that's not an addiction quite yet (not a pattern), but aside from that criteria, he's met all the necessary diagnostic criteria.
Second easiest way to track a subject; addictions. I'm curious to see where you go with this, but overall this chapter felt a little lacklustre, to me at least. A few duds are to be expected though, I'm not dumping the story over that.
Thorax, why must you remind me of myself when I'm reading a Star Wars book?
Ha, I've been in Thorax's position before. Can't help it if the story is that good.
7957142 I think this chapter is here to show that these two are still allowed to be normal and do normal things even in their horrible situation of being fugitives. That's why less stuff is happening right now, its the slice of life stuff.
And then Fly will wonder why Thorax isn't coming so she investigates.
But instead of finding Thorax she will find an Changeling reading a book...
hrmm does thoraxes disgue work with a tired buggy
7957291 My complaint isn't with the slice-of-life, it was just that the chapter itself, among all the others in the story, seemed to be a little lacking. I quite enjoy the two having a chance to be normal, at least to the extent allowed by their circumstances, but I personally felt that this chapter fell flat.
7957478 The question is does she know that Thorton/Thorax is a changeling? After the Crystal Guards came to town and her winking, one would assume that she is aware of their identities.
Liked and followed. Thanks for the fun read :3 Look forward to moar.
7957838 Eh, understandable. I get your point. I liked it though.
7957887 There's no problem with differing opinions. We'll just have to agree to disagree, but to mutually enjoy the story.
7957891 There ya go. I wish more people saw it that way on this site...and the internet in general.
7957893 Couldn't agree more.
so... do they take picture of their lives?
7957128
You know, now that you've mentioned it and I'm looking through the upcoming chapters that are in the buffer, the matter of the radio dramas does sort of fall to the wayside at present...it's probably because that one chapter ended up not going as I originally planned and it took away a chance to bring it up again...hmm...maybe I should go back and do some quick edits over the weekend...
7957764
Hold onto that thought.
7957834
Sounds like I've developed a bad habit then. I'll keep an concentrated eye out for that error and try and change that.
7957291 7957838
Actually, I do have to agree with An Alternate Universe here; on it's own, this chapter does fall a little flat...one of my major motivations for considering possibly combining it with the next chapter, and now that the subject's been brought back up again, I'm again questioning myself on that choice to split them...probably should've combined them anyway, but oh well, too late now, I'm committed. Hopefully the next chapter will make up for it, regardless.
7958020 Sounds good to me.
7958020 I can live with that decision.
Edit: not that it's really my choice.
Welp, if Thorax goes to work tired, I have a feeling bad things will happen.
And to think, this was caused by books! Clearly books are bad for you. :P
It actually makes a lot of sense, though. Thorax probably didn't grow up with these kinds of recreational activities available to him - as a result, he has no idea how to pace himself or balance recreation with the necessity of work.
(It's also pretty sad when you think... this Thorax would get along amazingly fantastically with Twilight Sparkle, if she weren't busy being a pony racist. :C )
7958976
When the subject first started to come up about Thorax being an avid reader, I had considered adding a line that said along the same thing, pointing out that Thorax and Twilight had something in common with a similar love of books--if Twilight wasn't being so quick to condemn the changeling as merely an enemy by association, they could easily be friends. But it felt it like it only existed to take a quick jab at Twilight because of the context, and I felt it wasn't the right time or place for it then so I dropped it. It might still get pointed out at some point later in the story...we'll see.
7957834
So I was sitting down and going through editing all of the still-forthcoming chapters that I have presently completed but not yet posted in the story to fix this insure/ensure problem you mentioned, but in so doing, I learned something about these two words. To ensure I was getting each usage of each word correct, I pulled up their listed definitions for both on Dictionary.com for my reference, and noticed the definitions for both words were not only all but the same...it even implied they could be interchangeable. Surprised, I did a bit more digging, and it turns out using the two words interchangeably is considered acceptable usage by some--but not all...though it seems the difference is growing less and less extreme for most the more time goes by. It depends who you ask, basically. Oxford Dictionary all but accepts it, Dictionary.com considers them NOT the same word and should not be used as such, and Writer's Digest advised against it personally, but otherwise granted it varied on who you asked; all reputable sources of knowledge on language.
In short, it boils down to how much one wants to be a grammar nazi about it apparently, which probably explains why my particular habit about it escaped my attention for so long. (Though being an English major,) I generally favor the opinion that the English language is dynamic rather than static, thus prone to change, so I tend to personally overlook slip-ups in grammar unless it's an extremely critical error (or more likely I can make a fun pun about it in playful jest) on the grounds that so long as the intended meaning is still clear, that's what matters. Because I never noticed enough of a distinction in how the words are used in other instances, it then never connected I might be using it wrong...and nobody else ever noticed to point it out to me until you came along.
Amusingly, I also learned that "insure" originally entered the language as merely a variant spelling of "ensure" and originally WAS interchangeable--it wasn't until later in history that it gained the financial-related meaning it's recognized for now setting it apart...which certainly doesn't help the matter.
Regardless, I decided that shouldn't mean I turn a blind eye to the fact that the two words can be used to mean different things, so I'm still taking your advice to crack down on this habit of...we'll say using the words questionably...so to train myself to recognize the significance when and where needed, and will endeavor to catch and correct future uses of the two words accordingly. I only bring it all up because I thought you might take interest.
7961289
Right off the bat, I'm getting an A-Team vibe off of that...which is an idea that has merit in of itself, admittedly.
I'm still not convinced Daring Do changes anything at all in her books, because it seems to me that you just need to read them and then anypony can be up to speed with her real life affairs and ready to participate on demand if needed...as has been demonstrated repeatedly in the show now. What gets me is that not only has her readers not made this connection, it seems her enemies aren't even aware she has written the books, especially with such startling accuracy.
dude i know that feel of all night reading
The reading is real. I do it all the time Heck I remember when i got my hands on a certain book about a young wizard, i spent all night reading to finish it in one go,and faked being sick so I could stay home from school to catch up on sleep afterwards.
I wonder what the Equestrian equivalent for the Vulcan hand sign is?
Thorax is as obsessed with that book as I am with my notebook XD
The irony of this is that I am in the same position that thorax is, but I know I need to get out of bed. Sleep is for the weak.
Corrections offered without malice.
sated
whet is to sharpen; appetizers don't fill, they appetize.
I just read this old chapter again and realized something! This line here over Spike telling Thorax to read Sky Trek:
This was a hint to Trixie's fandom of the series, wasn't it?! No wonder they're friends!
I think your projecting on thorax a bit. I also don't think twilight would like that kind of literature. But not my story, so whatever
All night reading? You mean like what I'm doing now? Well I pity Thorax. I'm anxious to see Leaf's reaction, but Calculus doesn't go kindly with all night reading. I'll break while I'm not totally addicted now.
He is so not listening!
Been there on a school night but just couldn't put the book down. Still have that problem but with more than just school now and my classes are in the afternoon so I can afford to sleep in.
8202260
Never heard the saying "whet your appetite"?