Stuck in the past (Terrence)

[Deleted]

The library was a quiet place. Kiara liked it for that reason, along with the fact that her friends didn’t tend to go there. She often would go there when they complained that she should revive her social life. By heading to the library, they didn’t find her at the dorm, which in turn made them assume that she had taken their advice seriously. Nothing was less true. The blonde didn’t even claim a seat at one of the tables where others were reading. Instead she always went to sit between the same book racks.

That was where Kiara found herself today as well. Her back against the wall with bend legs and her laptop against them. This way no one could look over her shoulder while she googled pictures involving Jackson and Gabe. It seemed to be the only way to figure out how they were doing. The books surrounding her were ones about religions. There were two reasons why she had picked out that location. One, not a lot of people came there. And two, Gabriel the archangel played a role in a lot of those books. For some weird reason that thought, linking it to baby Gabe, comforted her.

Whenever someone passed by, Ki would look up. During the last couple of weeks it had been a rare occurrence for someone to step between the racks where she was seated. Someone, however, actually found himself roaming there… but the young woman did her best to ignore him, while tugging the handbag that stood next to her closer to her hip. Just in case he intended to steal it, you know.

[Terrence Mathews]

Terrence was a fan of learning, and he was proud of it. He enjoyed developing his knowledge of the world for multiple reasons. It meant that he could have a large knowledge of many things and comprehend them with great understanding, which made him feel good about himself in general. It meant he had things to talk about with people (when he did such a thing) and it wouldn't be a conversation of little words, but one of great developments and interest, that he could look back on at a later date and smile at. And it meant he knew what to say and what not to say in certain situations, which he definitely needed to know, which was why he was now walking through the doors of the public library of Pilot Ridge. Sure, the library he worked in had books on the subject that he wanted to research today, but a larger library like this one gave him more choice and detail in what he wanted to learn. He sent a greeting nod and a small smile to the lady at the front desk and then went straight over to the religion section of the library.

Now, there wasn't exactly a particular reason why he wanted to research religion, but when he was younger, he tried to avoid social interactions as much as possible, and any knowledge he had gathered in Religious Studies had been stored in his mind for the amount of time that he needed it, and then everything but the basics he had forgotten. He knew quite a lot about Christianity, since his brother had decided to become quite a strong believer of the religion, but Terrence himself was an atheist. He didn't really think into it too much, but that was just the way he felt.

He had looked into the matter anyway and had decided that he would look into Hinduism. He had next to no understanding about the religion and its way, so he wanted to know how to... interact with someone who followed Hinduism. He was that worried that he would say something wrong or offensive.

He got to the shelves of books, but when he stepped into the aisle, there was a girl sat on the floor on her laptop. He recognized her face a bit, but he disregarded the thought, or the possibility of asking "Have we met?", since she was probably deep in some work process, and he didn't want to cause any problems for her. He knew how annoying that could be.

He pulled out his phone and unlocked it, going onto the gallery and looking at the picture of the book that he wanted to get. He memorized its appearance, its name and the author, and then looked across the shelves. He knew that it would be quicker and easier if he had asked someone to help him, as they would more likely than not know where the book was and he could be on his way in a matter of minutes, but he didn't want to distract or disturb anyone. He could imagine the facial expressions, the loud sighs of exasperation that mocked his ignorance and the unenthusiatic attitude that the "helper" would own, and that wasn't something he wanted to involve himself in.

After a few minutes of scanning surnames, he realised that the book was top high up even for him and his awkwardly tall height to reach. There was a ladder, or the idea of asking someone, but he remembered one other option. He wouldn't usually even think of it, but... he could. There wasn't anyone nearby, except the girl on the floor, who wasn't looking at him anyway, (he checked every half a minute) so... summoning was an option. He looked at the picture on his phone again, and then visualized the whole book in his head. He looked along the top line of book, careful to move gently because any sharp movements would make... problems. He felt a connection with an object, like a magnetic attraction, and began to pull it out gradually. However, his plan collapsed when he heard footsteps nearby and a scrunch of paper. For some reason, these made him jump and, in turn, made the book come flying off of the shelf and into his nose. He made the quietest grunt of pain, trying very hard not to draw attention to himself, as he felt a little blood drip down. He felt in his pockets and couldn't find a tissue and sighed internally. This was embarrassing.

But even more embarrassing was having to pinch his nose and turn to the girl on the floor, and in an odd voice, ask: "Excuse me, but do you have a tissue?" He could feel himself blushing from the attention he would be drawing, but he tried to ignore it and cover it up with a small, awkward grin.

[Deleted]

Kiara actually was observing him, every now and then through her eyelashes, only because it was a strange occurrence for someone to explore between those shelves. In turn it made her slightly suspicious, and even more so because others weren’t around. While the guy did look genuinely interested in finding a specific book, she just couldn’t be too careful. It made her kind of feel a tad bit tense, unable to stop the pessimistic thoughts which began to fill her mind. Normally the girl had one of the most optimistic personalities around, but as of late too many unpleasant situations had hit her. She pretty much failed to see the silver lining nowadays. Like now. And it kind of became worse when the young man seemed to be gazing over every half a minute or so. In turn it made her shift uncomfortably, sitting up a tad bit straighter.

Despite subtly focusing on him, sometimes checking it he hadn’t stepped closer, Ki did seem to have missed something. All of the sudden he became more active in his movements, no longer standing still and gazing up at the shelf. Even before Terrence spoke up, the blonde was gazing over, less subtle. A frown had even appeared when blood dripped down, making her tense feelings fade like snow in the sun. She actually began to pity him.

Nevertheless, the second Terrence spoke up, it still caught her off guard. “Oh!” Ki was so quick to reach over to her bag that for a second she forgot the laptop on her lap. With her slightly leaning over, the electronic device threatened to slip down. A blush mirrored his as the girl cursed under her breath, grateful for her fast reflexes as legs spread out and she carefully placed it on the ground next to her before returning her focus to the purse. Within seconds, Ki snatched out some paper tissues. She did feel kind of rushed, mainly because she had already ruined some time with the laptop, and it made her feel bad to be this slow – even more so when she struggled to tug one out of the plastic bag.

Eventually the curly one succeeded and quickly reached it up at him. The second Terrence took it from her, Kiara rose and took a second out, holding it out as well, just in case he could use that one too. “Are… you okay?” Blue eyes inspected his face, before they fell down to the book that had been the cause of his bleeding nose. Squatting down, she picked it up and momentarily read the title. A second later the girl was looking at the guy again.

‘Vishnu wasn’t on your side, huh?” Sheepishly, Ki gazed down at the object again. How had it ended up on his face anyway? He hadn’t even touched it.

[Terrence Mathews]

He didn't know what to think at first. Beforehand, he had stood there, and he had noticed her uncomfortable shuffles, which was why he wanted to get the book and be out of her way as soon as possible. She didn't look like the kind of person who would lash out at you for being in their personal space, but you could never be too careful. You could never judge a book by it's cover. Anyway, in that moment, he stood there, blushing like a tomato, holding his nose like his life depended on it. It was a good thing that he didn't have a problem with blood like he did public speaking; that would've made the situation a whole lot worse.

It made him smile a little more at the way she reacted when he spoke. They had made eye contact and everything and even so, she still jumped with surprise, much like he would've if the roles were reversed. It made him flinch slightly when the laptop fell, and he leaned forward a bit to stop it from falling too far, but she caught it before he could do anything. He watched her struggle over the bag that held the tissues and waited patiently. She was being nice to him and the least he could do was be polite. He took the tissue quickly and held it under his nose to catch the blood, so it didn't fall on the floor. He didn't want the owners of the library to be annoyed at him for getting blood on the carpet. He thanked the girl with a nod of her head and watched her rise up from the ground.

He took the second tissue and balled it up in his hand, just in case he actually needed it. He took this moment to actually look at her properly, and that... really didn't help his confidence. His posture scrunched up a little and tried to act friendly, "No, no... um, I'm perfectly f-fine. J-just a bit of b-blood is all." His timidness had kicked in quite strongly; she was very pretty and he was... well, he was Terrence. Did much more need to be said? He looked away sheepishly for a few moments and turned back when she made a reference to the Hindu God. The comment made him chuckle a little. She seemed intelligent, and Terrence liked intelligent people. They usually understood him better, for some reason. From the little experience he had had with others, the smarter ones were usually the ones who knew how he worked.

He looked up at where the book had fallen from. The fact that it fell from such a height onto his face wouldn't be something easy to explain. If someone had accidentally pushed it out, they would be apologizing by now, and if it was imbalanced, it would've fallen out before then. It didn't look like the section of the library they were currently in was the most popular; it wouldn't have surprised him if someone said that no-one had taken the book out (that the girl was currently holding) anytime recently.

He didn't know what to say. He hated lying, so he didn't want to bring up how the book might've possibly fallen on his face. (other than the obvious, which he knew, but she didn't.) Of course, he could've easily just said something along the lines of "I guess my summoning just went a bit astray! Never mind!" and walk off with a beaming smile, but that wasn't how those kind of scenarios worked out in his mind. He was always worried that anyone he told would call him a freak, or at least think he was one.

He wanted to talk to the girl, but still nothing came to mind. He felt a bit of blood on his hand and switched tissues, folding the one he had just removed so he could hold it without covering his hand in blood. He scratched his head in awkwardness, "So... um... h-hello." He grinned a little and blushed again. This was hopeless. He felt a tugging on his foot and looked down; one of his shoelaces had become loose and was now pulling itself upwards. He cringed, wanting to kneel down and fix it, but he knew he couldn't with his nose bleeding, so he tried to stop it snaking around in the air, but to no avail. Hopefully, she wouldn't notice.

(Outfit)

[Deleted]

The book had indeed fallen from quite a height. Kiara usually approached taller guys whenever she needed one from the top shelf, but even they had to find a step most of the times. Terrence didn’t come across as exceptionally tall, plus she hadn’t seen him reach for it either. Normally many possible options would be spinning through her mind already. The only difference now was that her attention was drawn to the nose bleed. A hand had already moved to the small plastic bag again, just in case a third paper tissue had to be offered.

The awkward silence that settled down upon them didn’t really make her feel at ease, nor the fact that she was just standing there, dumbly observing him while he switched the tissues. When he spoke up again, the blonde snapped back to reality. His voice still sounded a little bit off, but at least it did not sound as weird anymore as it had done before. Nevertheless, Ki did offer a little smile and replied in a way of which she knew it would make sense. “Hi.” And then a little nervous laugh followed.

When Terrence gazed down, and this should have been expected, blue eyes followed his and did settle down on the tugging shoelace. Immediately a frown appeared… but Kiara did not judge him. Instead curiosity struck and more questions began to pop up at the surface. “I… think it might be trying to tell you something?” She smiled some, hoping it would make her less tense. The cringe on his face had not gone by unnoticed, but Ki could understand that reaction. If her own power had been more obvious and out in the open, she would have a constant fear as well. Then again, she wasn’t even sure what this guy’s power was. The dots which she did connect, however, told her it must have something to do with the book as well.

Tugging the third tissue out, she offered it, along with the plastic bag, to Terrence. The used ones could be stuffed in there; it would keep his hands from getting too much blood on them. When the girl retrieved her hand, it came to settle upon her sternum. “Kiara”, she spoke up quietly. You know, in case he wanted to converse… If not, he surely wouldn’t give her his name. And she kind of didn’t want to make any assumptions about him being gifted either… even though the question that followed might give away her suspicions.

“What went wrong? With the book.”

[Terrence Mathews]

Terrence laughed with her nervously. And then frowned when she mentioned his shoelace. He sighed inwardly, he could just imagine her thoughts, probably labeling him as a freak. "Yeah, huh. I'll fix it soon." Bet she wanted to get out of there as quickly as possibly. He hated it sometimes, having a power. It made him weird, awkward, crazy even. That's what his peers had called him that day, when he'd finally somehow grown the courage to speak in front of his whole class, and then a book flew at his foot. They applauded then, when he finished speaking, but afterwards... had been near torture. He had finally gotten away from the bullies, but the kids there obviously had a problem with him having something they didn't. He couldn't look at himself the same after then, or anyone else around that area.

His untied shoelace was really nagging him; he hated it when things were out of place, and his body did too, obviously. Her voice caught him off guard, lost in his own thoughts, apparently. So his brain went into auto-pilot, "Wow, Kiara's a beautiful name..." he stopped for a moment, almost working sluggishly. He shook his head sharply and coughed, "Um, Terrence." Stupid. "I'm... I'm Terrence." He grinned a little, even though he felt like he was acting like the dopiest person in existence.

He took the bag and the tissue. He pulled his current tissue away, dabbing gently to test the waters. Apparently, it had stopped. But, he still used the other tissue to wipe his nose of any excess blood and balled the other tissues up in the cleaner one, handing the bag back, since he didn't need anymore.

"The book? Um..." Well, there was no point trying to lie or come up with some excuse, it was obvious. With the shoelace, the mysterious book that fell without being touched... he took a breath, "Well, ah, y'see, I was... summoning, summoning that book. A-a-and I thought I heard something, so I jerked my eyesight away. And that pulled it out quite harshly." He shook his head, "I'm sorry, I-I..." his eyes fell on the book, still in her hands. "...yeah."

[Deleted]

Given any other situation, Kiara might have simply handed the book over before excusing herself again to return to the self-pity party. Right now, however, curiosity had been stirred and she struggled to figure out what the shoelace had to do with the book flying from the shelf. Unlike what Terrence might be fearing, she did not judge him and instead opted to throw her name out. His reaction to that was very much appreciated. It seemed to have been blurred out without a second though, and that made it more genuine. The young man wasn’t just stating it to be flirty. In fact, he seemed to regret his own sudden outburst… which made it even sweeter. “Terrence…”Ki repeated it for a split seconds, mainly to lock it in her memories. It wasn’t the most difficult name to remember. “Nice to meet you.”

The blonde took the bag back and shoved it in the pocket of her pants for now. That was when he began to answer her question and blue eyes drifted over again in interest. Terrence came across as ashamed of his ability while Kiara began to grow jealous. In turn she reacted in such way that he might not have expected. “That is so cool!” Her smile was bright – one that the girl didn’t plan to appear. With a little sheepish chuckle, her gaze fell to the book as well as a thumb absentmindedly ran over the cover. Slowly she held the item out to him, trying to limit the enthusiastic reaction. “You probably could have used mine more.”

After Terrence took the book, arms ended up being folded against her chest. He probably wondered what her power was now, so Kiara just told him, just like she had simply stated her name. “Probability manipulator.” A tiny smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “Sorry for not having paid enough attention to interfere…” With that out, the girl wasn’t too sure what to add. Terrence had the book, so he was probably going to leave now. Then again, the distraction was a nice change…

“It’s… kind of rare for someone to wander between these racks…” Was she really trying to drag the conversation out?

[Terrence Mathews]

Terrence felt pretty... humiliated at his absent-minded state, and what he had said. It wasn't a lie, oh no, it was far from it, but he still didn't mean to say it. It was something that should've stayed in his head, but didn't. He looked at the floor, feeling his cheeks flush slightly. He was acting like a timid 12-year-old. He looked up at the sound of his name, from instinct. He grinned warmly in reply to Kiara's words, "Nice to meet you too."

He was... much more than shocked at her reaction. He was surprised, confused, happy. He looked at the floor again (his shoes looked nice today) and shook his head slightly, she sounded genuine, looked so too, but his subconscious still had a hard time believing her. The book came into his line of vision and, once offered, he slowly took it back. The tugging on his shoe became more prominent, and all of his inner thoughts couldn't ignore it anymore. He knelt down, placing the book next to him, and began tying his shoelace up again.

...she was a Meta too? Well... it was easily understandable and almost expected, a lot of the people living in Pilot Ridge were Meta but... it made him feel more comfortable all the same. He was curious to know what her power was, and how it could've helped him, and like she had read his mind, she relayed her knowledge onto him. A probability manipulator? He hadn't met too many of those.The ability was intriguing though... all of them were! He finished his knotting and stood up fully again, book in hand, as she apologized. He shrugged his shoulders, "It's al-lright. I sh-should have been more c-careful in the f-first place." He tried his best to look her in the face or the eyes, or to at least radiate some kind of friendly warmth, "It must be c-cool, manipulating probability. It must feel like y-you're... changing f-fate," That sounded childish, "...or something like that..." He trailed off, not sure if his analogy of Kiara's power would ring true in her ears.

It was... rare? He wasn't sure how to reply to that, the comment came with a few connotations applied. How did she know that? Did she sit there everyday? Why would it be rare? Is religion not a popular subject to revise? ...he didn't know which to ask though. This was one of the time when he wished he'd manned up as a kid and actually gone out there and talked to people, so he wouldn't be so socially awkward now. He wanted to smile and seem relaxed... but she was pretty. He thought about her statement for a few seconds longer, then finally replied, "T-that's a s-shame." He wasn't sure where he was going with this at all, "Religion is p-p-pretty inter-resting."

He was so confused. He was interested in this girl, woman, Kiara, and who she was, and why she sat between the racks about religion, and but he was also scared to death and feeling painfully shy and nervous. He stood frozen on the spot. How could he talk to someone when his body was too frightened to even form words?

And where had all this shyness suddenly come from?

[Deleted]

The stuttering was kind of cute. Kiara was not sure if she was to blame or if it was just normal for him to stumble over words like that. He seemed to be doing quite well earlier in the encounter, so perhaps the development of this social interaction caused him to be overwhelmed by inexperience? Either way, Terrence thought that her ability was cool and she actually was quite used to hearing that. The thing was… the blonde did not cherish it too much. “Yeah, sort of. It’s not always that great though. But I guess you can say it has been changing my fate.” A soft chuckle followed, but it wasn’t exactly the most cheerful one. More than once had it backfired and this tended to happen unintentionally. She didn’t really want to correct the guy either, knowing it might not do his nerves any good.

As for the comment about not a lot of people venturing between those racks… Yeah, Kiara sat there multiple times a week. Of course Terrence interpreted it differently and it actually drew a genuine smile upon her lips. “Is it part of your studies?” He seemed to be around the age of students. Not a lot of people would claim that religion was pretty interesting, so her guess was that either it had something to do with that or he had been raised in a religious household. Kiara didn’t think it was a shame though. It gave her some peace and hardly any interruptions. The fact that not a lot of people could be spotted throughout the day also meant that not too many shared this guy’s opinion.

“I think I might have seen you before around here. Like, in the library I mean.” Slightly pursing her lips, Ki shut herself up for a second. Did that sound like a cheap pickup line? She was serious though. He sort of had a familiar face and she couldn’t put her finger on it. Either way, hopefully that remark did not come across as creepy and random. “Just… without getting hit by books.” It was another attempt to lighten the mood, but Kiara was not too sure if it would help him feel more comfortable. So, she opted to throw in another option.

“I, um, don’t mean to keep you from things though. To distract you…” If he wanted to go, he could. A hand aimlessly motioned at the book he had taken from the rack before arms soon folded against her upper body.