Chapter Text
Penny walks into the library a moment before it starts raining. It seems that for once, luck is on her side.
It goes from regular rain to a downpour in a matter of minutes. The sound of the droplets hitting the windows of the museum is so loud Penny would probably find it distracting if she was having a lesson right now. However, she is alone today, as both Jas and Vincent are down with the flu. Despite it being spring already, at least according to the calendar, the remnants of the winter chill can still be felt in the air.
The break in the routine is so strange Penny still chose to go to library instead of using that time to do literally anything else. As she sits down and looks at the pile of notebooks she brought with her, she's overcome with a feeling she can't name, but one that makes her feel rather uneasy. Will her life always feel so… directionless? One unexpected change in schedule and Penny doesn't know what to do with herself.
Instead of preparing material for the next lessons in advance like she has planned, the unwanted spiral is distracting her more than the rain outside. The words in her notebook are escaping her, neat handwriting replaced with prophecies of doom. Because she's doomed, isn't she? Utterly, inevitably, doomed, no good things coming ever coming to her, no—
"Woah! Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to bring in all the mud. I think I might've lost my umbrella while moving? You know, it was a surprising amount of boxes…"
The person who just entered and immediately started talking a million words per second resembles a pile of wet laundry rather than a human. Their black hair sticks to their face, obstructing it from view. From where Penny is sitting, she can't see much else, other than their soaked work clothes.
It takes her an embarrassing amount of time to realize the stranger is the new farmer who came to the town a few days ago. Rumors and speculation were impossible to avoid, but Penny did her best to not give in to the gossip. She remembers old Mr. Sikorski quite well, but she had no idea he even had grandchildren. She's curious, of course, who wouldn't be in a town so stagnant and boring? The newcomer deserved a fair chance to make their first impression. Penny couldn't imagine just… coming up to the farm like that, though.
"Yes, alright, thank you!" Penny tuned out the conversation between the farmer and Gunther, too busy being lost in her thoughts to listen to them. She only snapped out of it when the deep voice echoed closer.
The farmer wandered around the shelves, seemingly unaware of Penny's presence, so focused on browsing the modest book collection. If Penny was more confident, she would speak up and offer her help. A perfect icebreaker right in front of her. Unfortunately, the thought of breaking the silence and being the one to initiate makes her throat tighten. She can't.
She shouldn't be staring either, but this is harder to achieve. They didn't even notice her, so a few glances surely won't hurt. Not that there is much more to look at — they're still soaking wet and rather sad looking. The only new thing Penny notices are the glasses still stubbornly on their nose despite the multiple droplets on the lenses. Yoba, can they even see? Maybe she should really get over herself and offer her eyes.
Just as she decides that's enough staring, the stranger turns her way. They look at each other for a few awkward quiet moments and then Penny sees the prettiest smile anyone ever directed her way.
"Oh! Hi. I didn't notice you earlier. I'm Henry, but I'm sure you know this already. Have we met? If we have, I'm sorry, I can barely see right now." Henry beams at her, walking up to her table. Penny understands about half of the words said to her, stunned for no apparent reason other than meeting a new person.
"Um. No, we haven't met. I'm Penny." She hates how quiet her voice is. Henry's presence drowns everything else in the room, herself included. The instinct to make herself smaller wins, despite the fact that Henry gave her no reason to be so on edge.
"Do you mind if I sit there?" Henry points to the chair opposite Penny. She nods.
"What are you working on? I promise I won't get water on your stuff."
Penny fiddles with her notebook as she thinks about her answer. "I am preparing some notes for my work." It's not a lie, but it's not saying too much. Penny hopes Henry won't inquire further.
"Oh! I hope I am not disturbing you, then. I think I will stay there until it stops raining so hard."
"It's alright, I am taking a break now anyway." Penny thinks it sounds better than I got zero work done because I am so distracted by everything, and especially by you.
"Do you come here often? Honestly, it seems like a nice place to work and relax. I didn't expect a library here, but can't say it was a bad surprise, you know?" Henry seemingly took the "taking a break part" as permission to talk Penny's ear off. He's nice, Penny supposes, but a stranger talking at her so much makes her anxious anyway.
"That's where I work, mostly. And I, uh, like to read, too."
"Ah! Maybe you could give me some recommendations? I've been meaning to start reading again, but between selling my soul to a corporation and moving to manage a farm in the middle of nowhere, I had no time or motivation," Henry laughs. "Although I am not sure I will actually have the time now either. There's so much to learn!"
Penny nods and taps her pen against the almost empty page. She is nervous, and under any other circumstance would like to be left alone, but she's starting to enjoy the endless chatter. Listening to it, at least, because she once again isn't sure what to answer to not come off as rude or even shyer than she is. So she waits.
Henry doesn't prod for an answer despite technically asking a question. He sits in silence for approximately 40 seconds before he jumps in the chair. It startles Penny and she jumps too. There is now a bold blue line across the otherwise empty page.
"Right, learning! That's why I came here today. I wanted to see if there are perhaps any books on raising farm animals. It'll be a while before I have any on my grandpa's fa— Well, it's my farm now. But I want to prepare myself, you know? The last time I saw a cow up close was… uh…"
"Do you want me to help you find some books?" That's something Penny can do. She knows the library inside and out, she's seen these shelves more than the inside of her own house, probably. She'd be in her element, and that would certainly be a better first impression than sitting quietly and not knowing how to hold a conversation.
"You don't have to trouble yourself if you have work to do, but I would really appreciate it if you do. You look like the expert here."
Penny blushes and looks down into her notebook to hide her face. "I just happen to know my way around the shelves. You know, I have to research different topics for my lessons."
She gets up and leads Henry to one of the shelves. As she scans the spines, Henry says, "Lessons? Are you a teacher? Tutor? You must know many things, wow."
"Technically a teacher. I teach the local kids because there's no school around, and the school bus from the city doesn't reach here." Penny wishes she didn't feel the intense need to downplay her role and her work. The kids always refer to her as teacher, everyone in town would call her that with no hesitation. So why? "If I can leave, I think I would like to teach at a school."
"Oh! That's surely a lot of work. I am sure the kids will be grateful once they grow up and realize. The bus thing, though? Ugh."
"Our bus doesn't work either. It broke down years ago and nobody bothered to replace or fix it. I don't know if the town has the money to do so, but…"
"Yeah, I did notice on my way here. That's really unfortunate! So everyone without a car is what, stuck here?"
"Pretty much."
"Huh."
As they talk, Penny picks out a few books and places them in Henry's hands. The conversation is… surprisingly easy, even with Henry talking so much. That's just how the new farmer is. Probably.
Penny has the sad realization there are multiple people who would match Henry's stream of consciousness style of talking much better than she does. There's Sam, obviously, who can probably talk about anything ever if he's distracted enough. Henry doesn't strike her as a science-y type, but he looks interested in anything the other person wants to present to him, so maybe Maru could rope him into talking about her experiments and whatnot. Henry's sentences are not as pretty as Elliott's, but they're similarly long-winded and she can see both of them talking for hours. Everyone around is more interesting than her, has more to say. Once Henry meets more people, he probably won't talk to Penny outside of being a decent neighbor.
Why does it bother me so much? Penny knows exactly why. She was always the second option, someone you go for when your friend is absent from school that day. Someone you sit next to only if all the other seats are taken. She didn't have many friends growing up, none of the fleeting friendships from high school survived, she doesn't have many friends now. There's an opportunity to make a new friend right in front of her, but she knows it will slip away purely because of who she is.
"That's… a lot of books. Do they even have any other genres that don't focus on you know, the keeping a farm running stuff?" Henry laughs and puts the pile of books on a nearby table.
"Of course they do." Penny realizes it wasn't a genuine question two seconds too late. "I mean, um. I think I've read most of the fiction section already. There really are a lot of books on farming."
"I think that's more than I need. I don't even think I'll read them all in full… I have so much cleaning to do. I don't think I've ever seen so many weeds in one place. I don't even want to walk into the greenhouse, but the shed completely collapsed on itself. If you were a farmer with a broken shed, you would keep your tools in the greenhouse, no?"
"Uh… Maybe?" Penny chuckles, taken aback by the seemingly random rant about sheds and tools. She envies people who can jump from one topic to another so smoothly. "You seem very dedicated to the farm."
Henry sighs. It's the first time since he entered the library that his face shifts from an easy smile. "A bit too late, I'm afraid. I am not very—" he pauses. Right, spilling your guts in front of someone you've met twenty minutes ago probably isn't a good thing. "I never really visited as a child. I knew my grandpa had a farm, but it didn't quite register until I got the letter, you know? He trusted me enough to take care of it despite everything and it's my responsibility now."
Penny nods, cataloguing the "despite everything" in her mind for later. "I am glad you're here to take care of it, though. I would really hate to see the farm fall into ruin completely."
"Did you know my grandfather?"
"I remember he was kind and hardworking. Nice to everyone. I didn't know he had grandchildren, though."
Henry snickers again. "No worries. I… I am glad, I think. That people seem to have fond memories of grandpa."
They look at each other in silence for a little bit before Henry speaks, "It stopped raining! I think I should go back now and let you work in peace."
"I— Yeah. It sounds like you have a lot to do."
"Thank you for the help. Come by one day, okay? So you can see and judge the mess for yourself."
"I will."
Henry leaves the library, forcing Penny to go back to her notes. She flips the page so she can have a blank canvas to work on. Strangely, she ends up doodling a little umbrella in the corner.