The War of 1812 Never Happened(Open)

[Deleted]

Ok, so maybe it did happen, but you gotta admit, just because a book says it happened, doesn't mean it's true. Well, a lot of the things books say are true, but it was kind of amazing how many people picked up the multiples copies the library had of Twilight and just sat there staring at it like they were about to orgasm(or just plain old fangasm) over over albino radioactive vampires and then started jabbering on about it like it was their own personal life gone through the woodchipper. Brooke managed to get through about 20 pages before she had to be stopped from taking the worse-than-smut book to the art room so she could blow-torch it.

Anyway, Brooke wasn't here to care about 14-year-old's poor taste in literature. She was busy with her own.

The History of Ballistics.

It was actually kind of interesting. History wasn't really her thing, but at least it was less confusing than numbers, imaginary, real, and rational alike. Brooke was sitting on a comfy arm-chair, her legs over the cushy padded arm and her back against the other with the book settled in her lap. She chewed on the eraser of her pencil as she got to the chapter about crossbow mechanics.

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

Monroe was trying to keep himself awake and it was harder to do that when he was in one of the comfy chairs in the library, so instead he found himself walking around, searching through the aisles of books. Every once in a while he picked up a book on dreams, mostly because it was just funny to him to read stuff that related to his power, but he always ended up in the social sciences section or reading a biography of a musician.

He stifled a yawn as he turned the corner, seeing a girl sitting in an arm chair, looking intently at a book in her lap. "Studying in the summer? Someone's committed," he commented.

[Deleted]

The girl was speed reading, slowing down only at the parts which were interesting. Like the actual mechanics of how a trebuchet worked. Her fingers tapped on the book next to her, a sister to the one she was currently studying. Backyard Ballistics. Looking it over she realized, it was all physics really. Physics and geometry. Brooke was pretty sure she could figure it out, after all, geometry wasn't really math, just logic. And she could probably get one of her more number-inclined friends to do all the calculations for for the rest of it....otherwise Brooke might just lock herself away until she got it right. And until she got a mini-prototype going.

This was going to be awesome!

Brooke was grinning like a sadistic schoolgirl going over the technicalities of this summer project of hers. She giggled, thinking to herself of what Sean Neville would say. No doubt he'd put a stop to it next time she saw him.

"The end of knowledge is power ... the scope of all speculation is the performing of some action or thing to be done," Brooke quoted in response to the guy who spoke to her. "Thomas Hobbs wrote that, tho he didn't come up with it." She looked up at him with a wide grin, showing off her choppers. "Scientia potentia est. France Is Bacon."

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

"Okay..." Monroe trailed off, letting out a breath. "Most people don't start a conversation by quoting somebody else, but I can dig it." He stuck his hands in the pockets of his black jeans. "I agree though. Knowledge is important." Monroe himself liked to learn, just not about the typical things others did. "What are you reading anyway?" he asked her as he couldn't see the cover because the book was on her lap.

The girl was grinning as if she was the most excited person in the world and Monroe didn't judge, but she didn't seem like the type who hung around the library all the time, so he was curious about it.

[Deleted]

"Most people don't even know how t' quote, so guess that makes me special," Brooke replied in a normal, yet upbeat, tone. Of course knowledge was important. You had to know how to read and research to be able to find out how to do the most interesting things in the world. Otherwise you were just a mindless drone only doing things at the whims of the queen. Or even less than that. With knowledge, you could overthrow the queen. That's why so many regimes, like the Holy Roman Empire, kept their people dumb and ignorant. So they couldn't take away their power.

Brooke lifted her book so he could see the title. "I gots me a project for the summer," she said concisely as she dug around the chair and pulled out the other book to show. She poked her head out from behind the book with a smile of obvious intent. "Want in?" she offered if just to be polite.

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

Monroe shrugged. "I guess," he said. He just hoped she didn't walk around quoting famous people all day. Now that would get old.

He raised an eyebrow at the title of her book after tilting his head to see it.

The History of Ballistics.

Why would anybody, especially a teenage girl like herself, be reading a book about the history of ballistics? "What, you're planning on building a rocket to destroy Hammel, or what? Ten points for creativity, but it's not very realistic," he joked, but he was still curious as to what this girl was up to with her smile. "Before I agree to anything, I like to know what exactly is going down." Besides, he didn't even know the girl? What if she was off her rocker?

In all honesty, she just looked like a teenage beauty queen.

[Deleted]

Brooke didn't always quote famous people....but when she did, she made sure their reaction was "wut?"

"Noo, silly! How the hell am I going to build a rocket, I'm just a kid, ya know." Brooke rolled her eyes with a laugh at the ridiculous notion. "That's why I got this baby here." She held up the Backyard Ballistics book in her other hand. Then she smooshed them together about as much as two books could smoosh. "Put 'em together, an' you gotcher'self a easy-bake-oven-made-from-your-garage-and backyard-items-trebuchet!" Brooke was pretty excited about this. "I think I also wanna do the crossbow, but that could get dangerous real quick." She didn't even bother to think about the lack of logic in that statement.

Before I agree to anything, I like to know what exactly is going down.

Brooke smiled before looking around as if the spies were watching then leaned in closer to say in a hushed voice. "Ok, but ya gotta promise not t' tell anybody else without lettin' me interview 'em first! Ya never know if they could be one of them." Brooke was a little off her rocker today, but was mostly just trolling. Because that was far more interesting than saying things just straight out, especially when you took into consideration the strange looks from people. After all, who would really take all the stuff she was saying seriously? Now that was stupid! Not that she wasn't going to try to build the thing anyway, but the girl knew she probably wouldn't get very far.

Brooke gave her potential collaborator a stern look. "Ya promise? I'll let ya be my minion number 1 if we're golden."

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

"And why...do you need a crossbow?" Monroe asked cautiously yet curiously. She seemed to be on a mission, a dangerous one and he wasn't really sure why. Plus, it seemed top secret. "And do you mean you're not going to build a rocket, or you couldn't without the books?" He gestured to the two thick volumes in her hands.

Tell people? "Why would I tell anybody? Unless of course you're planning to destroy Hammel with an explosion, in which case, I think Dr. Neville would shut you down." Although he doubted she was capable of anything that extreme. "You don't know me too well, but I'm not exactly one to go around blabbering."

[Deleted]

Brooke looked at him incredulously, her mouth hanging open in clear shock. "Why wouldn't you need a crossbow!?" Because crossbows were awesome! Especially when they were rapid-self loading. That would definitely be her weapon of choice as a ranger, or a rogue, or even if she was just a plain ol' boring fighter...

"Yes," she replied, answering nothing.

"Indubitably, my dear sir. Dr. Neville is always watching, he has eyes everywhere." Brooke leaned in closer putting a sush-ing finger to her lips then looking around suspiciously at the library-goes not paying attention to them. Brooke opened the Backyard Ballistics book to the diagram of the trebuchet composed of things one can find easily in their own backyard. "Soooo....I got my eye on this baby!"

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

Monroe had to admit, he did like her enthusiasm about the crossbow, but he still didn't understand where she was going with all of this. Her answer to his question didn't help either, because he hadn't asked a yes or no question.

"You know, I may be tired as all hell, but I'm not so sure you're making any sense," he told her, as he watched her eyes dart around the library as if somebody was watching and then she flew open the book and pointed at a diagram. He leaned over her, scrutinizing the picture. "And...why do you need this? Or should I quit asking questions? Because it doesn't seem as if you like to answer them."

[Deleted]

If anyone actually knew Brooke, then they'd realize that half the time she didn't even know where she was going with things, at least not until she got there, at which point she would declare herself a genius for having instinctively steered herself in such an epic direction. As of right now, Brooke was sure she knew where she was going, but didn't really know where the destination was....which probably didn't matter because she was likely to be intercepted by the dear old doctor before she got too far.

"Yup! I'm about as senseless as Hellen Keller," she replied as if that were the normal thing. While Brooke was usually pretty easily self-entertained, talking and explaining her plans to this guy could probably be considered the highlight of her day. Her smile widened to the crazy point. "I see you're catching on! I knew you could do it! Now! About the plans for siege. I think if we approach from the north, we can probably take the keep without much opposition. I'll wear the headband, you hold the flag. And we'll launch ourselves into victory!"

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

Monroe sighed at the girl as she continued to go on. She wasn't going to answer his questions. She'd pretty much just said that, but he was so confused by her plans. "Siege? What are we taking over? The Alamo?" It sounded like a battle plan and Monroe wasn't entirely sure of whether or not this girl was serious or really trying to pull his leg, so he just played along.

[Deleted]

The Alamo? "Ooo! We can do that too! Quick! I need a pen! No need for paper, cuz I got..." Dramatic pause as she reached behind her again, "my handy-dandy..." another dramatic pause, "notebook!" She brought out a small notepad. "Now where's the pen?" Brooke looked around until she found one the tiny library pencils on the nearby table. She flipped the pages of the notebook filled with nonsensical notes of whom she should be battling against, notes on new epic ideas, points and damage, a pic of a sorcerer, and other various things. With beautifully prosed chicken-scratch, she jotted down, "The Alamo" right underneath "The White House", "The Spanish Inquisition", "Bob Dole", and "Dr. Sean Neville's Office."

After putting it away, Brooke looked back to her loyal sidekick. "Now where were we? Right! Habadacus!" She bounced up in her comfy chair, facing him like a normal person. "So the plan is, we build the thing in the woods all Robinson Crusoe style, then, when they least expect it, we launch an all out attack on the docity doc! Ya get me, Watson?"

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

Monroe had been joking, so when she took his suggestion to heart, needless to say, he was shocked. "I didn't mean..." But he trailed off. Was it really worth it? The girl was so set on this crazy goal that she didn't seem to pay any mind to other things.

He leaned over her a bit, trying to get what was going on in her head from the notes in her notebook, but it honestly just made him even more confused. "What thing are we building?" Great, now he'd included himself in her plans by saying 'we'.

[Deleted]

Nope, not worth it. Brooke was on a rampage and there weren't likely to be any survivors by the time she was done, no siree! Besides, Minion #1 here was proving himself to be a very capable associate.

"Now. The thing is not just a thing but a trebuchet." Brooke instructed her accomplice. "Trebuchet. Catapult. Most famously used in the Middle Ages for sieges." She gave Monroe a grin as she re-opened the book and traced her finger around the diagram. "If it's a trebuchet, then we definitely gotta use the flaming ammunition." Brooke tee-hee-hee'd at her idea, absolutely positive that it was an epically good one.