ELEVEN
As far as she can tell—which isn't really far, to be honest—her name is basically just a merging of "elf" and "nein."
So… her name is "Eleven-no."
She kind of hopes that's not true, that her fading knowledge and limited resources of German are responsible for this mix-up, but when yet another recess finds her huddled at the base of her favorite tree without anybody paying any mind, she's kind of inclined to agree with her name.
Well, the "no" part—the rejection part.
If only she had thought of asking Papa what her name means.
Maybe Carol knows? Wherever she is….
Seriously, though. If Papa named her "Eleven-no," she's going to have to invent a way to contact the afterlife and demand to know what he was thinking, because why would he do that (also she doesn't trust the supernatural methods floating around, which is why she'd have to invent something reliable).
Or, she supposes it could've been Mama who named her, but that was ages and ages ago.
Great. Way to make herself sad all over again.
Now what's she supposed to do?
She can't leave the yard for a while longer, so that leaves her with the book she brought, unless she wants to venture over to the monkey bars—where Ken is surrounded by a ton of kids wishing him goodbye.
The Ersatz Elevator it is, then.
A few more chapters and she'll be finished.
Violet, Klaus, Sunny—now those are good names. Like Carol.
Except, she could do without all the miserableness that follows the Baudelaires around like a bloodhound on a scent trail.
But she's not sure why she keeps reading such a sad series. It constantly reminds her of stuff she doesn't want to think about, and then she can't help but compare and contrast their situations, and then she's left even more upset—case in point, the names thing.
Still, she promised herself that when she finished this book she'd try her hand, or her brain, really, at His Dark Materials. That one looks harder, so she's really looking forward to it.
Looking forward to the little things...
Taking a deep breath, she finds her place in the book and starts reading.
The sooner she finishes the sooner she gets to tackle a new challenge.
And isn't that the most exciting thing ever!
a/n: Some more Elfnein angst with a splash of nerdiness because that's the easiest to write.
Anyway... please, I beg you, review.
Do you like what you read, are the characters plausible, is there a particular scenario you'd like to see, does anything seem awkward - anything! Except, please don't ask me to update soon, because I already update once a day and that's a lot for me. I'm glad you all are interested and would like to see more, especially considering the short chapters, but I can't update more frequently. I go to school and the commute home is awful, classwork is awful, and sometimes my anxiety is awful, too. So, this story? I've put in a lot of effort into it - waaaay more planning and energy than I've spent on any of my Madoka Magica projects; I enjoy writing it, but anything over 500 words... just... crosses that threshold between being fun and being tedious, and then it loses its sense of anticipation for me. I'm excited to share the chapters I've written, and that motivates me to write even more, but if I condensed it all and then tried to write longer, I'd actually be more reluctant to write.
So, basically, I'm saying: please be kind to your author. I really, really appreciate everyone who already reviews, though! It motivates me to continue posting, at least for the few who have shown interest.