fandomhigh | The Library; Wednesday [ 10/24 ]

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The Library; Wednesday [ 10/24 ]

Worrying slightly that her dependence on tea might be getting a little extreme as she chose clutching onto her cup over putting some of the books away, Adah came in to open the library with a man named Lao-tzu whispering in her ear. He took upon the image of Tata Kuvudundu, only pale, with two long strands of a mustache over his chest. Still with the six toes, whispering in ashes on the floor. What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.

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Well, at least he had a good sense of priority, that Eel. "I suppose that would have to be the difference," she wrote, "as the library has books, too, as well as comfortable chairs."

"I'm flattered to be the difference maker for you," he said and fluttered his eyelashes very extravagantly at her before using his hand to give a very stupid almost beauty pageant like wave.

Why, yes, that would be an eyeroll, also quite extravagant, but there was also a smirk threatening to break free of containment.

"Very nice," she complimented onto her paper. "Is that also something you've picked up from your modeling class?"

"Amongst other things," he said and smirked. "And thank you, I thought you'd like that, enjoyer of modeling that you are."

And then, adopting a very mock serious tone, he said, "Modeling is a very deep class, you know. So much of my intellect is poured into that class."

Despite herself, Adah's head ducked slightly in a failed attempt to hide a chuckle. She bit her lip, looking up slightly.

"Oh, yes. I'm quite sure an intellect even as expansive as yours is completely exhausted by the end of such a deep and stimulating topic. And here I am, feeling that the theoretical and realistic applications of Chinese Taoism is exhausting. I'd never be able to handle modeling; you are quite the admirable man for your dedication to the subject."

"I know, I know," he said and made a show of buffing his nails on his shirt. "I could teach you, oh young one. An apprentice, of sorts. Learn all things modeling and the wiser you will be."

After all that, he made a face at himself.

"Damn, I sound like a pretentious idiot."

Adah laughed quietly, just breaths, although the mirth was certainly not as contained as her voice, and promptly gave a very affirming series of nods. Yes. Yes, he did. But he was an amusing pretentious idiot.

"But you like me anyway," he said, dropping the fact to lean forward again, eyes bright and smile wide.

Adah felt her neck craning on its own volition to bring her closer to him, her smile, her eyes, still lightly laughing, and she lifted her hand, lightly drifting toward his cheek. It settled there, thumb making a light brushing against it as if taking the chance to verify, by giving a good look to his eyes, his smile, inspecting his features, that, yes, she did like him anyway. Quite a lot, as a matter of fact.

"That's nice," he mumbled, quiet and low, leaning into her hand just slightly. "I like you too."

He lifted his own hand, stroked two fingers down her arm, making a small circle near her elbow before wandering back up the path they'd just taken.

"I like this," Adah said softly, smiling a little as her eyes drifted down toward his fingers on her arm, than back to his eyes, his face, the place against his cheek where her thumb continued to pass along; she briefly wondered if she'd ever begrudge him for how he actually got her to talk, "better than the modeling, I think."

"You only think?" Lee replied, mouth turning up into a quick grin. "Yeah, the modeling's nice but this...better. In all the ways. And this is something that'll last, just like each time you touch me."

He'd said it before, he knew that, but saying it again seemed right and he wanted to.

Besides, Adah had grown fond of the expectant repetition of the the Eel; perhaps she could start considering it to be a certain sort of consistency. She smiled at him, glad to rank higher than modeling, and she tilted her head just a bit, thumb still idly working its soft brushes because she couldn't think of anything better to do with her hand at the moment. It helped her take into account...to really notice the contours of the shape of his face, the squareness of his jaw.

"Perhaps," she said softly, "I should be more...judicious with my touching, then. I wouldn't want to overdo it if it it'll all pile up like that."

"I think," he said just as softly, pressing into her hand a little more, "you should touch me whenever you'd like. I don't mind. I actually really like it. Things like this, they don't pile up for me. They give me all these nice memories and I can close my eyes any day and remember one moment. The next day, I can do it again and remember another. I like that."

He did say such interesting things sometimes. Adah smiled lightly, thinking for a moment. She cleared her throat a little, more words a little reluctant to come out and make an appearance. She felt a bit of uncertainty, which made her want to retreat back to the notebook, but that would mean having to move her hand. And that wasn't going to happen. "Do you....remember them often, the moments?"

"Yes," he said slowly, quietly. "Those memories are some of the better ones I've ever had. I'd rather remember those, think about those than most anything else. I did a lot of that this past weekend, you know. It was hard, seeing my father, but I could retreat inside my head for awhile, calm myself down with those moments."

Hearing something like that made her back stiffen a little as she let out a breath, a soft sigh, and the attempt of her sometimes off nervous system to shiver as a response sent faulty signals, so that her usual limp side suddenly, painfully, twitched to life, and settled back down, and she winced, annoyed at its timing for a technical error. She smiled sheepishly, a little embarrassed by the sudden tick. She wondered if it had anything to do with guilt, if it weren't for the fact that she didn't believe in feeling guilt. "Sorry," she said lightly. "But, look. You still survived. Good."

"You don't need to apologize," he said immediately, automatically. "Didn't do anything wrong. And I did survive. Better for it, too."

He smiled again, asked, "Did you think I didn't think about those moments? Or something else?"

"I don't..." Adah drew in a breath, dropping her eyes away for a moment before intently settling them back toward the Eel; the movement of her thumb slowed a bit. "...wouldn't want to assume..."

"Now, you know for sure," he said and covered her hand with his. "And now you know, if you were assuming I did think about them, that you were right. You do have a tendency, for me, at least, to stick around, make things better."

A blush across her cheeks, Adah ducked her head, unable to think of something to say to that. Of course it wasn't rare for her to not say anything, but for her to not at least have something to say was a bit rare. Though, really, the whole situation just threw her through loop after loop after loop; the disorientation didn't surprise her at all.

"We can work on getting you to like the modeling side of me," he whispered playfully, conspiratorially and stroked his fingers across the back of the hand she had on his face. "It might take some time, but I've got time and I'm not going anywhere."

"I never said I didn't," Adah smiled softly. "And, clearly, any reaction on my part that might make it seem like I disliked that side is...is clearly just jealousy." It might be noted that the longer Adah spoke, the quieter her voice got, and the more she shrunk away, just slightly, shyly, a bit nervously, possibly because she was realizing that she might actually have to hold a regular conversation here.

"My mistake then," he said, grinning and, while she seemed to pull away just slightly, he leaned a little further forward, to make up for that space, to cover that distance.

Not so fast and all that.

"What are you thinking about right now?" Maybe he wanted to know if she'd tell him about the shying away, maybe he just liked to know what she thought about, maybe he just liked to hear her talk.

"All the talking," Adah's head ducked again. "It's...a lot for me..."

The Library; Wednesday [ 10/24 ]

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