You're in my world now, not your world (Tanner.)

[Odion Martins]

So if there was nothing left to do, there was one thing he could rely on. Odion made his way through the halls in a pair of jeans and a purple v-neck t-shirt. His black dress shoes were sure to draw attention away from the fact that he was playing with a tattered deck of cards upon entering the library. They were in his hands, and he flipped through them like a favourite old book of his.

The cards. So many memories, some bad, but mostly good. Like so many of his possessions, the cards were stolen. A small book shop in London. They were on a rack outside of the store. No one would miss them. He thought that maybe it was the place where he first saw them, that made him return again and again to Hammel's library to play with them.

His usual spot was empty. A big rectangular table right by the window. There were a few good memories here as well. Like building his tallest card tower, or meeting his best friend (aside from Rhett) Avi. Along with the bad - like meeting vile Verill, and that bird slut Craven.

He placed the deck face up, and studied them. Those faces he knew so well. The square jaw of the king, who's eyes never changed no matter how you looked at him. He didn't seem that strong though, hiding behind his suit. In one swift motion he flipped one card and the rest followed suit, face down, kissing the table.

Odion sighed and laid out the cards in a long line. The cards seemed to get thinner between his fingers each time he took them out to play. Perhaps it was time for a new deck. As if reading his mind, the bottom layer of the card castle he was trying to make tilted to the side, and in the next second, collapsed completely to the table. Odi frowned, collecting the cards in a hurry, sending a dozen or so flying to the floor.

He got up from his spot to pick them up, chastising himself for being so clumsy.

[Tanner Larson]

There was nothing particularly noteworthy about this trip to the library for Tanner: after all, he spent an awful lot of time in this building, as he was passionate about his studies and longed to do well in every class. He had always been the intellectual type: he studied hard, got good grades, and tried his best to participate in class (which was hard for a shy boy like Tanner). This intellectualism and academic success came at the expense of other facets of his life, most notably the more social aspects. True, he was starting to make more friends, but he was still an introvert who was much more comfortable by himself than with others. Because of all this, the library was the perfect place for a kid like him: he could have his solitude and a quiet place to study, as well.

But apparently, the fates had something a little bit different in mind for the blonde this time.

He was walking down one of the aisles between the study tables, eyes wandering the room in an attempt to find an empty table. It was fairly crowded that day - he supposed midterms were coming up, as that was always when every other Hammel student decided that the library was the place to be (which had the adverse effect of making him not want to be there, as it became fairly unproductive when there were so many other people there) - and it wasn't likely that he was going to find a table to himself. He supposed that it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to have to share a table. Actually, this time last month he would have just turned around and left to go back to his own room. But a few weeks ago, he had decided to sit down next to a girl already at one of the tables, and they became fast friends. So maybe sharing a table wasn't the worst thing in the world?

It was during this thought process that Tanner tripped over Odion, who was crouched down to pick up his cards, and went crashing down to the floor.

Trying his best to ignore all of the snickering - and there was a lot of it - he shifted to a sitting position from his rather unceremonious position on the floor, and gazed, horrified, at the other boy. "Uh... sorry," was all he could muster. This was absolutely humiliating; he should have just gone home when he had the chance.

[Odion Martins]

Collecting nearly all of his cards, some moron didn’t notice him and tripped over him, kneeing the ginger in the ribs, the cards in his hand falling to the floor as Tanner did. Odion glared at the boy sitting on the floor, drawing attention to not only himself, but Odion once more. As if his cards flying all over the place hadn’t been bad enough, why not do it again?

“It’s fine,” Odion said, even though it wasn’t, picking up his cards again. Once that was finished, he glanced at the blonde and noticed how mortified he looked for tripping over Odion. Well, didn’t the ginger say he wanted to be more invisible at this school? Maybe that had been accomplished, in some strange ironic way.

Tanner, the studious boy in all of Odi’s classes, while he sat their uselessly trying to get the damn things over with, lest he get kicked out altogether. Tanner, the kid who didn’t say much of anything, so now on the floor next to him, apologizing for his clumsiness when Odi probably shouldn’t have been scrambling on the floor to begin with. There were a couple of books strewn about the floor, the kid was probably trying to study and was now the laughing stock.

Odion collected the books that had dropped, and handed them over to Tanner. A small kindness that wasn’t natural for the ginger, and he felt awkward helping him at all. “Don’t do it again,” he said, the statement coming out as more of a threat. He stood and went back to his table, sitting by himself once more, fingering the card as he stared out the window. Odion was sitting by himself in an overcrowded library. That was saying something no words could.

[Tanner Larson]

This was absolutely humiliating. There he was, on the floor, his books strewn about, with several other kids laughing at his clumsiness. He could have just melted into the floor then and there. For a moment, this boy - whom he did not recognize - looked like he was about to punch Tanner in the face. The blonde probably would have just taken it, gotten up, and ducked out of the library as quickly as possible. But no, suddenly the other's demeanor seemed to change, and he went ahead and picked up Tanner's books for him. Well, that was nice, but the boy - who was breathing shallowly, eyes widened in terror - could not manage to calm himself down, even as he reached out with shaky hands to take his books. "Thanks," he said simply, having no clue as to how else to respond to the boy's threat. After taking a moment to gather his thoughts and what was left of his dignity, he stood, dusting off his shorts, and headed as quickly as possible away from that area.

For a while, he roamed among the stacks, looking for a place to sit down and get his studying done. There was nowhere to be found - the place was packed. It was like everybody received some invitation or something. Moving back towards the seating area, he walked around some of the tables with as little awkwardness as he could manage; again, there was no luck, as all of the tables were full. This was terrible; he didn't want to go study in his room, he liked the library. Eventually he found an empty seat over by the corner and, beaming with pride, walked right up to it and sat down.

Right across from the boy he'd just tripped over.

"Oh, um... heh," he mumbled as he let his backpack slide off his shoulder. "Is... is this seat taken?" Of course, he was already sitting in it, but...

[Odion Martins]

There wasn’t a ‘you’re welcome’ spoken as Tanner finally stood up timidly. Odion watched him for a few more seconds as the other boy collected himself. He flicked the cards between his hands, keeping time with them as he waited for the blonde to make a different move. He couldn’t just stand there forever while everyone gawked at him. Odi did mentally thank him, at least everyone’s eyes were off him again, and he could blend back into the shadows.

Lucky for Tanner, everyone seemed to go back to their business, so by the time the boy was making his second round, the only eyes on him were Odi’s. It wasn’t like he had done much with the time, except find the blonde’s tense shoulders and eager eyes looking for an open spot somewhere in the library highly amusing. He didn’t hide the fact he had been staring the whole time.

“Be my guest,” Odion said in his English accent, looking down at his cards again, “you seem to make yourself at home wherever you go. The floor, occupied tables...” His voice trailed off into an insult. His dark blue eyes looked up at the other boy again. He was just in a bad mood because he couldn’t even show off his cards tricks. Of course it wasn’t he who was rusty, but the damn cards. He sighed, scratching the back of his neck with one of the cards, deciding that if they were to be tablemates, he might want to turn the charm on.

“I should thank you actually, I was the idiot on the floor collecting his cards,” he offered as a sort of conversation starter. Why was this so hard? This being nice thing? Odion frowned, looking back down at his cards. Maybe he simply wasn’t made to be nice. Some people had it, some people did it. He’d take his cold heart over having it trampled on any day of the week.

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner wasn't expecting any sort of positive reaction, but he certainly wasn't expecting what he got, either. He figured the other would just give a perfunctory nod of his head or something and let him sit there without another word. It wasn't like he was obligated to say anything at all. The boy's words, not to mention what he took as a glare, practically sent chills up the blonde's spine. "Uh, thanks..." he said awkwardly, having no idea how to respond to such a comment. It wasn't like he intentionally tripped over the redhead. What, did he crave the attention that came with making a completely and utter fool of himself in front of everyone currently at the library? Quite the contrary, the very idea horrified him. He wouldn't wish such a face upon his worst of enemies, let alone himself.

But then suddenly this kid was thanking him. Was he bipolar or something? Tanner had heard of such things, but never had he met anyone who could change his attitude so quickly and casually. Maybe that was his power... The blonde simply shrugged, but then decided that this boy was probably going out on a limb (and perhaps reluctantly) trying to start a conversation with him, so he replied verbally at length. "I seem to attract attention wherever I go," he replied with an awkward sort of half-smile. "Do you... like playing with cards? A silly question - of course he did, seeing as how he was clearly playing with them now - but he figured perhaps it was, too, a conversation starter, albeit a subpar one. "I'm Tanner, by the way." Maybe that was better.

[Odion Martins]

Odion surveyed the boy, a quiver of a smile on his lips. This boy could be fun to toy with, but it would have to be subtle. It would be more entertaining than his cards at any rate in the state they were in. Until he got a new set of course.

"I don't doubt that," the ginger said without flinching as a compliment left his lips. Being charming was something that came second nature to him, something he kept to himself unless it would be to his advantage. In this case, it would be worth seeing the reaction on the other's face.

Odion glanced at the playing cards. "I know a few tricks," he said, shuffling through them. "Lovely, I'm Odion," he said. He would've offered his hand, but it didn't seem worth putting down the cards for such a formal gesture. Tanner had intruded on his space, and niceties were out of the question now.

"Want to see something?" He asked then, fanning out the cards to Tanner. Odion took a glance at the books he had rescued. "Unless you're busy of course."