Of Humble Introductions [Sienna]

[Terrence Mathews]

Books, books, books. Aaaah.

Terrence was surrounded by books, which made him a very happy person. Sadly, he knew that happiness would come to an end rather quickly, as he had found the books he needed (and *cough* wanted), so he was going to have to set off again. He paid for the paperbacks and stepped outside, plastic bag in his hand.

The clouds were hanging ominously above him. The librarian wasn't sure he liked seeing such a dreary sky. Still, he did nothing to quicken his steps - it'd be fine, right? Well, he thought so.

Until he felt a drop on his shoulder. And another. And another. He looked up; very rapidly, the weather was turning from slightly wittingly grey to absolute downpour, and it turned his mood a little sour. Adamant to get out of the rain, he strode with long steps on long legs to the nearest form of shelter - a cafe.

He stepped inside and was met with the sound of music. Terrence glanced over at the performer, but his attention was snapped back by a waitress. He ordered a drink with shaken words and sat down on a nearby sofa chair, taking the oppurtunity to look at the glimpse of red that had caught his eye the first time.

He tried his best not to gawk.

[Sienna Reid-Estrada]

Sienna, a passionate performer, had found herself in another cafe playing the piano and accompanying vocals with it. It was nice, as people legitimately listened to her, and even tried offering money to her by the end of it; Sienna wouldn't take it, but would thank them kindly for their offer anyway.

At a high alto, the redhead wasn't one to think she was as good as most others, but she didn't deny she had talent. The way her fingers traversed across the keys of the grand piano indicated that she was, indeed, practiced in using the instrument. Her voice, and the way it was not cracking even in her vibrata, was indicative of the same about her voice, too.

She was singing Invisible by Hunter Hayes, though a key higher to accommodate her vocal range, and slowed down the melody just a tad. She was on the chorus when she heard the bell of the door chime once. Her eyes moved towards the door out of curiosity, and saw a rather miserable looking man walk in. Sienna didn't turn away when he looked her way, and she smiled at his reaction. The redhead only turned away when the waitress stole his attention once more.

"So your confidence looks like quiet... and to them your quiet looks like weakness..." Sienna sang, her eyes glancing down at the keys in front of her.

[Terrence Mathews]

Terrence wasn't the most musical of characters, but he did hold appriciation for it. As long as it wasn't stupidly loud, obnoxious, or with idiotically pointless lyrics, he had the capacity to enjoy it. And he had more than enough capacity to enjoy this melody.

What he was struggling with was his own thoughts. The woman, the performer, had looked his way. He was pretty certain of this, seeing as he was ridiculously tall and had come in halfway through her performance - it made sense. But his nerves hit him and it wasn't the most fun in the world. He looked away...

...only to look at her again when she began singing, he couldn't help it. Her voice was very... beautiful, if to use such a boring word. The woman herself was looking at her instrument, and not at him, so that didn't make it too difficult.

Even at a distance, Terrence could tell that she was very pretty (another boring word). It just made him feel all the more awkward, as the waitress returned with his drink, which he thanked her for quietly. It was so... tempting, he was intrigued by the performer's concentration, her... looks, but he didn't want to keep looking at her...

...he cursed his insecure thoughts and looked at her again. It meant no harm, right? And she was busy performing, too busy to notice him... right?

[Sienna Reid-Estrada]

Blue eyes scanned the room in an attempt to see who was paying attention, and who was conveniently sipping at their drink. If she at least held a single person's attention, it satisfied her. She noted there were at least ten others who were listening intently, and that included the lanky man who had come in just a few moments ago.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed how he seemed to switch from looking at her to looking at something else, and Sienna couldn't help but be amused by the entire ordeal. He looked so flustered, but so fascinated whenever his gaze fell on her. The man piqued her interest, to say the least; so much so that she had decided to speak to him after the song was over.

At that point, their eyes met, and her lips turned upward into a smile. Since her hands were also busy, she gave a quick nod in his direction. Sienna waited eagerly to see his reaction.

[Terrence Mathews]

Had the librarian know of her intentions, what she was planning on doing... his actions now would seem like nothing. He would have been trying to make sure he could remember how to speak English, and trying to work out at least one sentence to say properly before utterly collapsing into his embarrassment and admitting defeat. But he didn't know what she was thinking - all he could guess was that he would stay until the weather improved, and then he would leave. Nothing more. Social interaction wasn't something he always looked forward to, sometimes too self-conscious to even track what was being said.

And then their eyes met, and Terrence froze, despite his best intentions to act natural. He was minorly terrified by the idea that someone was paying attention to him, but still reflected a smile back over to the performer, in his own, crooked, awkward manner. She nodded in his direction and he blinked a couple of times, before glancing at his surroundings to see if there was anyone else... but, surprisingly to him, there wasn't. He felt a small blush on his cheeks (he was such a girl) and he took a sip of his drink, looking down into the liquid.

This was why he found it difficult to interact with people without feeling like he was about to fall off a building.

[Sienna Reid-Estrada]

He didn't disappoint; The man had seemed to freeze and it almost made her want to laugh. She wouldn't laugh at him, but Sienna found it incredibly cute that he seemed so flustered at a simple gaze. But to each their own, the redhead thought as she started to wrap up the song. Sienna was at the final chorus, and then she was to leave the stage.

It didn't take long, and in order to keep herself from scaring the guy off, she avoided eye contact. It was difficult, because her interest was already noted in her mind, and she wanted to speak to him; but refraining was something of a skill that Sienna had acquired over the years. The song wrapped up, she stood up, and left the piano with a thank you.

A quick detour was taken before going towards the back where this mystery person sat, and she asked the barista for an earl grey tea. She paid upfront, waiting patiently for the tea to be made and given to her. Once it was received, Sienna took her tea and walked over to the boy in question.

"Is this seat taken?" Sierra asked, head tilted toward the single unoccupied seat that sat in opposite of the couch the man sat on.

[Terrence Mathews]

Terrence wished he could say that inside him, there was a charismatic, confident, intelligent, humorous, outgoing person, waiting to break free at the right moment... but he was like this on the inside too. It was a good thing, honestly, he was being himself! It just... didn't make him anymore comfortable.

The song ended and he... would have applauded, if his hands weren't full of mug. And he wasn't still looking at his drink. He was almost too scared to look up.

He only did so when he heard footsteps. The tall man flicked his vision up at the redhead for about a millisecond before going back to his drink. He had had a minor part if him which wanted to stop being so idiotic and just talk to her (because that's what normal human beings do), but... he just couldn't. And it was very annoying.

"Is this seat taken?"

Terrence looked up and, sure enough, it was her. He froze again a little, then shook his head, giving her a small smile, "N-no. You, you can..." He hated how his voice stuttered, it was so straining and it just made things more difficult and made him sound like an idiot.

Now that she was closer, he could see her better. And she was ridiculously pretty, as much as the use of the word 'pretty' would make him cringe, if said out loud. He looked over at the instrument she had been playing only minutes ago, before flicking his sight over to her, to her eyes, "Y-your performing. It was... you're very... very t-talented." After the compliment left his mouth, his eyes went down into his drink again. If only he had the resolve to keep looking.

[Sienna Reid-Estrada]

Even upfront, he seemed to lack any confidence what-so-ever, and it could almost be considered heartbreaking. Sure, he may not have been a stud with giant arms and a built torso, but there was still things about him that were physically appealing to her. His eyes, for one, were actually quite gorgeous now that she was closer to him, and he held a sort of innocence that most men lacked these days. Sienna couldn't tell now, but she'd soon find out that he also had a brain under all the awkward small talk, and that's what she found attractive most of all.

"Thank you," Sienna offered him another smile before placing the tea on the coffee table and flattening out the back of her floral patterned skirt in order to sit. A hand extended out to grab the tea from the table, and her legs crossed before speaking up once more. "I thank the years of practice for that. Piano and Violin are one of the most important past times in my life."

The redhead took a sip of her tea, before realizing she had yet to introduce herself. She quickly swallowed the hot liquid, burning her tongue slightly (though she wouldn't complain), and said sheepishly, "Oh here I am talking about myself and I haven't even given you my name; I'm Sienna, and you are?"

Well wasn't that the most cliche introduction? Ah well, she very well couldn't change what had came from her mouth now, so what was the point of correcting it? This time, when Sienna took a sip of her tea, she made sure she was slow and careful. No need to damage her tongue any more.

[Terrence Mathews]

Terrence definitely wasn't one of a strong build. The only exercise he cared to do was walking around Pilot Ridge and Hammel, and carrying books. He wasn't a complete weakling... really. Honestly. But what he lacked in physical strength he definitely made up for in his intellectual prowess - a love of books and learning aided that along immensely.

He felt slightly awed, possibly overwhelmed even, at her talent. Piano, and violin? On top of the fact that she could sing? It was something that many would be jealous of. "It... it sh-shows." Her devotion to her passions, that was. He sent her another smile, forcing himself to actually look at her.

Sienna. Sienna was a colour, if he remembered correctly. It was also a very beautiful name. Suited her. Suddenly, Terrence held a minor distaste for his own name - it sounded common, boring in comparison. "I'm... I'm Terrence. It's... very nice to meet you, Sienna." He said, repeating her name so he would remember it, thought it wasn't like he'd have much difficulty doing so.

The tall man himself was not the best when it came to normal speech. He always seemed to manage to mess up his syllables, or struggle to remember the correct words. And because he was well aware of this, and even expected it, it made it all the more likely to actually happen. "Do you..." he already knew where that sentence was going, and he knew he could just change it and save himself the embarrassment, but his mind had blanked, and he didn't know what else to say, "...come h-here often?"

He was going to be infamous for accidentally dropping that line. He meant it no way of snarky flirting, just curiousity and the fact that he had no idea what else to ask. But he wanted to keep up this conversation, as much as he was torturing himself with the difficulty of it. Hopefully, he wouldn't scare himself into silence, or offend her with a slip of his jittering tongue. He was very capable of doing so, even if he most definitely did not want to do anything of the sort.

[Sienna Reid-Estrada]

"Yes, I do." Sienna couldn't help but giggle at the cliche line that he used, but she went along with it because despite his nervousness, he seemed to be making an effort to actually maintain a conversation. That much the redhead appreciated, and so she continued the conversation with a smile to display her appreciation. "But I can see you don't, because I've never seen you around here before, Terrence."

Another sip of her tea, and silence engulfed the two. Sienna really wished he would speak up and find his voice; she wasn't going to mock him or embarrass him, but he still was stuttering every other word. Never in her 22 years had she met someone as uncomfortable in the presence as Terrence, but in her mind that presented a challenge. Could she get him to lighten up? Maybe, but she definitely found that she wanted to try.

"Okay, so I counter your cliche with one of my own; What do you do for a living, Terrence?"

[Terrence Mathews]

So... she did come here a lot? And, no, he hadn't been around there before - the closest he had come was walking past. It was a place where you were probably expected to do some form of social interaction. As was clear, social interaction was not exactly one of Terrence's strong points. But saying that he either hated people or couldn't cope to be around them sounded too... negative. He didn't want to sound negative. He nodded, "Its nice in here," (he hated using the word 'nice') "Sh-shame I missed it before." He was... lying, slightly. This wasn't his kind of atmosphere, he wasn't one for hearing too much noise. He'd probably gotten a bias towards it because Sienna performed there and she seemed really nice.

That was the exact reason why he stuttered and fell over his words - a fear of judgement. Worried to speak his mind, sit comfortably, breath normally. You'd be paranoid too, if you thought everyone you met probably thought you were a waste of space (which was never true, but somedays, Terrence couldn't even stand up against himself). So he was nervous. He was shaky, and scared like a little white mouse. But he only felt like he was protecting himself, in doing so.

He smiled at the performer - cliches. Oh delightful. But they were orientated into making the conversation roll, so he appreciated their use, in a weird way. "I-I'm a librarian, up at Hammel." Being around books all the time was one of his favourite things. Just thinking about them... helped his conscience. Terrence was amazed that he hadn't accidentally summoned anything. And he was minorly glad. He didn't know what Sienna though of meta-powers.

"What about... you?" He offered, sipping his drink and relaxing a little more into his element. "Don't supposed you just break into people's houses and play their pianos." He murmured -okay, he was supposed to be more in his element, not bordering on creepy! That was weird... nnnmmmpphhh.

[Sienna Reid-Estrada]

"Librarian?" Sienna asked with increased interest; She was an English major working at her Masters, which was almost finished come the end of the term, and she wanted to become an English teacher in the future. Her favorite past time, aside from playing, was reading and writing. "So you're a book lover too. Is that what's in the bag?"

Her speech had become significantly less formal, but there was still that air of intelligence that breached the space surrounding them. The redhead was very much excited for what was to become of this conversation, and leaned forward in her chair. "I'm an English major in UVM. I'm about to receive my Master's after this term is done."

Sienna was curious to see how he would react to that statement; she was told she didn't look very much older than twenty, which wasn't far off of her current age of 22. It was a feat to see a girl with six years of college education where majority of the men and women her age weren't even finished with their four.

"So I'm curious, Terrence. How old do you think I am after everything I've told you?"

[Terrence Mathews]

Terrence smiled into his drink at the repetition of his profession, and nodded, "I-I practically lived in libraries when I w-was in school." That couldn't be a truer statement. And something that made him cringe a little, and worry what she was thinking. Well, that was until she said her next words.

Too. She didn't just say 'So you're a book lover?', she also said the word too. Terrence was in a minor state of shocked happy confusion. She seemed amazing, and he'd known her for less than an hour. He looked down at the bag he'd brought in with him, and then up at her (he actually looked at her), before nodding again, smile still on his face, "Yes, I j-just... bought them." Well done, you now seem as intelligent as a lemon.

English Major? Master's? Sienna was... very intelligent. More than a lemon... but that fact definitely perked his interest, if the book thing hadn't done enough to do that. He sat a little more comfortably, even in the presence who seemed so young, but... so intellectually superior. He was impressed. "Congratulations." He said, feeling a little awkward as the word left his mouth. But he didn't know what else to say. His brain was betraying him, as it usually did, but not to the point where he was mute, which he was glad of. If anything, his speech had become more relaxed, which he was glad of.

She was testing him. His smile snuck up his cheek more as he looked at her, trying to determine an answer. "The average college graduate is around 24 years old, depending." He was mumbling facts from his ridiculous memory - he looked at the floor, "B-but... you seem a little younger than that," his vision flicked up again. "I'm not sure..." he tilted his head in thought, "Twenty... three?"

Educated guess.

[Sienna Reid-Estrada]

"Two. Twenty-two. I turn twenty-three in September," Most people found that astounding, and she usually played off of that to keep herself motivated, because when she looked in the mirror, she truly didn't see anything too amazing about herself. Her hair was too red, her skin was too freckled, and her grades were mediocre at best. But of course, nobody would know that because she would never let anyone know that.

She gave Terrence a prolonged glance in order to figure out about how old he could be, but she was coming up short. He looked incredibly young, but as a librarian, one had to have a masters degree and then if he was working at a school, he probably hadn't been there for a short while. But he didn't look past 23, if she could guess.

"I'm pulling at a blank right now, Terrence," The redhead laughed sheepishly, putting the cup of tea up to her lips. "You look so young, but you don't seem like you're new to being a librarian, so how old are you, exactly?"

[Terrence Mathews]

Twenty-two. He was close. But that was even younger. She must have been working quite hard to be having a master's at that age. I mean, he had completed his own master's... when he was twenty-four. The idea that she was even mildly unintelligent was not one that had come into his thoughts in the slightest. And her... she was undeniably pretty (he needed another word that wasn't 'pretty'!) That red hair... it was... envious. She was envious. Terrence felt like she was, in younger terms, quite 'out-of-his-league'. With his stupidly awkward height, and demeanour, his inability to... act like a regular human being, as well as the fact that he wasn't exactly 'attractive'... yeah.

He had had the occasional misinterpretation that he was late-teens, though. The librarian guessed he could understand, with his... self concious actions, and such, he didn't act as grown up as someone would expect a man in his mid-twenties to do. He couldn't change, though, and he was glad he didn't, really. It would make him even worse, and he knew he wouldn't be able to cope one day. So he stayed his own, stiff self and was content with that fact. Well, he didn't necessarily like himself for his timidness, but he respected himself for the fact that he was able to be himself. He was rambling internally. He looked up.

He laughed with Sienna as she did, albeit a little awkwardly at the sound of his own name. He didn't know what it was... and he couldn't tell if he didn't like it or he did, but it made him feel weird. His name was too commonly odd. "Twenty-Six. I turned it in March." He drank a bit more of his tea, which was almost finished, "And I've... I've only been a librarian since September-time. Start of the academic year." And he loved every moment. He couldn't forget that part.

But she had an English master's... so... "...um, what are you planning on doing... once you graduate?" English was quite wide. She could have a lot of things on her mind, and Terrence was genuinely interested, because she seemed like an interesting person, and he liked interesting people. When they weren't been loud and overly expressive of their interestingness.