Beyond The Gray Sky

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver thought about that for all of a second before replying, "not until I was about halfway through. But no, not on picking them up." They'd reached the cozy chairs already, and Silver settled back into one, arranging his long limbs as comfortably as possible, the stack of books resting against one thigh. "There are some textbooks that are like pulling teeth," he supplied at last, having given it a bit more thought.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle settled in a chair next to Silver, resting her book on her lap but not opening it. She traced the cover, running her fingers along the indented words. "I suppose that's true, but there's something redeeming in even the most tedious of them. I guess I'm just a sucker for knowledge." She looked down at her book and felt like a nerd for arguing the worthiness of textbooks and out of all the books in the library, she was holding an atlas.

[Silver Blackwood]

"Well, yeah," Silver agreed, as though her disclaimer hadn't actually needed said. "I didn't mean that they didn't have anything interesting in them, but a lot of the people that write textbooks..." Silver paused, trying to think of a way to word what he meant. "They just know how to...present things in a boring way? Does that make sense?" He hoped so, but he couldn't be certain without seeing the words to go over them.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle nodded in complete agreement. She was caught up passionately in their conversation like she hadn't been for months. "Of course it makes sense. All our textbooks were written by great witches and wizards. But what made them great? Whatever the subject matter of course, not their literary skills. But just because someone is a world renounced alchemist, doesn't mean they can string two words together." Annabelle took a breath, pausing to catch her train of thought and hoped she hadn't rambled on too much like she did on occasion. She bit at her lower lip, sucking it between her teeth as usual while nervous or in deep thought, and then releasing it. "I guess all I'm trying to say is that the wizarding world needs some good writers. Although I doubt I could do a better job, but I'm sure someone could."

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver was half grinning at Anna's short speech, the occasional nod of his head telling her that he agreed with all her points. When she paused, the motion of her teeth against her lip caught his eye, and after a moment of weakness he realized he was watching and brought his gaze back up to her eyes again, releasing a breath he hadn't realized he'd held. He blinked as he tried to recall the thread of conversation, then, somehow managing it, nodded again. "I'm doing my best to become one of those writers," he said. He almost mentioned his brother's assurances that he'd write the Great American Wizarding novel, but decided that would sound too much like bragging and let it go.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle tilted her head to the side looking him over as if a writer would look any different than anyone else. "Really?" She asked out of curiosity, wondering if he was any good. Her lips curved up into a partial smirk and her eyes twinkled as she asked teasingly. "You obviously don't write textbooks, so what type of stuff do you write?"

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver couldn't help chuckling at the obvious tease, though his gaze dropped reflexively at the shift in attention toward him. "About everything except textboks, I guess," he said, gesturing toward his journal with a glance. "Short stories, prose, a lot of bad poetry," he said, falling back on the usual self-deprecating humor. "Whatever hits me."

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle couldn't help following his gaze and assumed the journal must contain whatever he was currently writing. "It can't be that bad, you haven't burned the evidence yet. Do you ever let other people read it? You know, to get an unbiased opinion?" She tried to sound uninterested, but didn't succeed in hiding the hope for an invitation from her voice.

[Silver Blackwood]

"Oh, uh..." Anna's assurance that it couldn't be bad had come immediately before what sounded suspiciously like her angling to see. Which he might have shied away from, if not for the phrase that followed; unbiased opinion. He showed someone his work every once in a while, though the occasions were few and far between, but it had always been someone he knew very well, like Dare, or someone he'd secretly hoped to impress, like Dru. If Anna was offering an unbiased opinion, it might well be the first. "Um, sure," he managed at last. "I mean, do you want to read it?" Had she asked, or had it only been a generalized suggestion?

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle was confused by his reply at first, but caught on once he'd returned the question of his own. "I'd love to see what you have." She said as soon as he offered. As an afterthought, she wondered if she'd sounded over eager for him to respond in such a manner, and immediately hoped he hadn't taken offense. "I'm sorry, that's terribly bold of me. You hardly know me and all, so I understand if you wouldn't want me to, I just get excited over reading new things."

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver felt terribly awkward at her disclaimer, like maybe she'd decided she didn't want to see his writing after all. "No, I mean, you said about the unbiased opinion, but you don't have to look." But she'd said she'd love to, hadn't she? Silver was just confused, so he picked up his book, flipped at random to the first in a few pages of poetry, haikus actually, and offered her the book without another word, hoping things wouldn't get any worse.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"I want to." She said lightly, noticing the change in his stature. Anna realized her apology must be the reason for the uncomfortable vibe in the air. She took the book, hoping that they could get back to a decent conversation.

Anna slowly read each of the poems, taking in the choice of words and the visions conjured in each Haiku. They were good, and very descriptive for the length. She tucked a stray hair behind her ear before reaching down and flipping to a new page. This one verbally painted an abstract picture of a couple in the night. Annabelle nibbled on her lip as her mind processed a picture of the couple dancing. As her mind continued to digest the words, the image of the couple in her mind changed. Her cheeks began to flush and she lightly breathed "Wow."

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver told himself not to watch her read. It was nerve-wracking watching someone read his writing, knowing that in their minds they couldn't help judging it, and, through what he'd written, judging him as well. But he wasn't entirely certain what he'd given her to read, other than that it had looked like haikus. So he'd lifted his gaze from his hands and watched her, watched the concentration on her face that gave nothing away, really. Watched the motion of her fingers tucking back her hair, the thoughtful motion of her teeth against her lip. And then she'd blushed, and breathed that one word.

One all-too-brief moment passed where he thought he'd slipped into dreams, where a girl had actually fallen for him because of his poetry. It was impossible, of course, he knew it. Unless...what had he given her to read? Silver realized he had all manner of intensely private thoughts in his journal. But...wow? He didn't know how to react. "So...you liked it?" he asked.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle looked up, and blinked, bringing herself back to the library and the words he spoke. She opened her mouth to give her opinion, but closed it for lack of words. She knew that he was waiting for a reply, and that waiting was probably torture to him as a writer, so she tried again. "It's.....It's......I like it, It's good. I like that you create a scene, but you let the reader paint the details. I don't know if that makes any sense to you." She looked back down at the poem and pointed to a line, holding the book at an angle that he would be able to see too. "Like this line, Her hand alights on her companion, Is her hand gloved? What does the companion look like? Is her hand on his shoulder? His arm? Each person can imagine whatever their mind tells them. It's more personal I think." She looked up into his eyes to see if he followed her.

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver nearly blanched at realizing what it was she'd read. Yes, it was one of his more personal poems, though, thank God, not as bad as it could have been. "That one I wrote...for myself," he admitted, though he wrote all of it for himself, didn't he? Silver took a deep breath and tried to backpedal. "I already knew what I saw, so I only needed to write enough to remind myself. But, I mean, if you like it...I hadn't thought of it being personal for anyone else." Silver looked down at the journal, though he already had the poem memorized. "I think I like it better knowing it can mean something to someone else." He lifted his gaze to Anna's, curiously. "What did you see when you read it?" he asked.