Innocent Sight[open]

[RHOSWEN MARA HART]

Truths and roses have thorns about them.

Within a quiet corner of the library, under neath a gleaming window sat a small huddled figure upon a chair. The light of the sun through the pains of glass just touching the top of a pale blonde head. Following the path of pale blonde hair, the curled ends met an arm covered in a black jean jacket, and in her hand was the edge of a book. Its pages looked frail in her slim fingers, which seemed to tense every now and then.

It seemed it was one of Rhoswen's good days, since she usually didn't even enter the library when her eye sight was bad. The Librarian past by Rhoswen's spot before smiling slightly and then leaving once more when Rhoswens eyes went back to the book she was making, sometimes writing something down in a notebook beside her.

After a few moments her pen shook in her hands and her head lowered to rest on the table, only for a moment as if fighting something off. This time when Rhoswen lifted her head, her hair flung behind her shoulder, showing of her faces features and the colour of her eyes.

Her hands lifted from the table to rub her eyes and to rub her temples, before she got back to work. Rhoswen looked at the book beneath her, truth is she loved reading, she already learned how to read braille but decided to read actual words and not bumps especially since her eye sight was still around.

With a sigh escaping from her lips, she pressed on through her homework study, her eyes scanning word for word.

It wasn't till much time later that the sound of a book slamming as quietly as it could and the sound of a upset and frustrated moan came from Rhoswen's corner, that the librarian even knew that her eye sight had just blurred on her and it hadn't come back this time.

Rhoswen stared at her work, trying not to cry in frustration and curse her own genetics. A small bit of wind lifted the ends of her hair before she calmed, she hated this, she hated her eyes... her hands lifted to grip her head and hide her face as a small sound came from her, the sound mixed between a whimper and coked sob.

Her shoulders shook, whether in anger or in sadness you couldn't tell from just watching her since not only her hands hide her face from view but also her hair.

It's innocence when it charms us, ignorance when it doesn't.

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

It was strange to be at the Academy as a member of the staff instead of one of the students. People treated you differently and it could be both a good and a bad thing. The best bit was Josh found that he was now practically untouchable by the alliances. He could talk to whoever he wanted and neither of them would get into any trouble because his position protected him. He had graduated, he was an adult beyond the influence of the leaders. It was a nice feeling.

Being in the library was strange, too. He'd practically lived in here as a student and so every shelf and every table was familiar to him. He noticed how they'd made small changes in the seating arrangements over the break and how they'd brought a couple more shelves in but most of it was exactly the same. Why did it feel so different? Because the books he was reading did not belong to the Academy. He no longer studied here. Instead his academic home was over at Maple Hollow University's medical school.

Still, he needed to study and since he was already here from finishing his shift in the medical wing, it seemed a waste of time to go all the way over there. The staff weren't forbidden from hanging out in the library, after all, it just wasn't often that they did.

He barely took notice of Rhoswen at first, sitting down at a table near enough to hers that he would see her if he looked up and he would hear anything that went on. He was too engrossed in his own studies to pay the girl much mind. It was only when a soft sound akin to a muffled sob escaped her that his gaze abandoned the page of the medical textbook to fix itself on the girl. Gray eyes were narrowed and brows knit together with confusion. Is she okay? He looked over at the librarian, who had also glanced over but soon returned to whatever she was doing.

Working in the medical wing and aspiring to become a doctor had slowly forced into him an almost compulsion to help people when it didn't pose any danger to him. He wouldn't always help someone out if they were being robbed for fear of getting himself into more trouble than he could handle but if someone was merely injured, it almost felt like neglect of duty not to ask if they were all right. She sounded upset though. Ugh. He was awkward when it came to tears. He didn't know how to handle them. He hesitated for a moment longer but it was her shaking shoulders that guilted him into standing up and going over to stand at the end of the table she was sitting at.

"Uh, hey," he said, the greeting somewhat awkward. What else could he say? "Is everything all right? I couldn't help but notice..." He trailed off, not bothering to explain how he'd heard her sob and saw her shake because he was sure she'd figure that out for herself. Hopefully she didn't bite his head off. He had a temper and he hated when people did that.

[Hope you don't mind me hopping in ;D]

[RHOSWEN MARA HART]

At first Rhoswen heard nothing around her but the sound of her choked tears, it wasn't until she took a breath that she heard footsteps and a male voice not to far from her. Probably at the end of the table she now occupied.

Rhoswen brushed her hands along her face getting rid of tears before tilting her head, her hair falling away from her face as her blue eyes settled on him if only for a moment before those blue eyes were blinking and narrowed as if trying to focus on him but failing to do so.

Rhoswen sighed and rubbed her face with her knuckles, her blue eyes looking in his direction but not on him, they were moving as if looking for him or trying to shape him out from the books around them. She looked down when she failed to make him out, a look of indifference on her face but her eyes were pained, her lip trapped between her teeth.

"I'm okay, just...frustrated." Her smile was fake as she looked in the area that Joshua. Her hands were playing with her notes absent minded, "Just wishing my good days would last longer then an hour or two. That's all." It was half the truth but she still had that fake smile upon her lips.

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

As if he wasn't already feeling enough like the awkward fish out of the water, Joshua began to regret his decision of approaching even more when he saw her wiping her tears away. It only served to remind him that she was upset about something and that he was not someone highly equipped to dealing with these situations. Tears were his permanent elephant in the room when he was with someone who was upset. Especially when he didn't know said person.

It was when she looked up that he noticed the strange but familiar quality to her eyes, the way their blue colour seemed to be filming over with white. They reminded him of Elaine, a blind Wind girl he'd known back from his sophomore year. And more than anything else, this discovery made his stomach drop because he realised that there wasn't going to be anything he could do for this girl. Shit.

Was it offensive to wonder what she was doing in a library if she couldn't see? Probably, though he certainly couldn't stop his thoughts from cropping up. Joshua was unaware that she was only partially blind and so the situation confused him.

"Oh," he said quietly, wondering what her good days entailed. Having already gotten himself into the situation, the Fire decided it would be rather rude to back out now and so he sat down in the chair nearest to him and folded his hands, leaning on his elbows for support. "I guess that... makes sense, then." God, he was so awkward. He had to say more than that. "I just figured you looked upset, wanted to see if there was anything I could do." And there isn't, so now you probably look like an asshole. Good going.

He couldn't get over the books. The part of him that yearned to know things and to understand them wanted to ask but the part of him so concerned with not looking like an absolute ass decided against it. His curiosity could be suppressed if he felt that it was in bad taste for the situation. Like now. Instead he decided to go for something a little less risky. "I'm Josh, by the way." It wasn't much but it was a start.

[haha he's so lost/unsure of what to do xD]

[RHOSWEN MARA HART]

Rhoswen smiled more naturally this time, and not b/c of the position she put him in, but the genuine thought behind it and the fact he didn't leave her as soon as she looked up at him, like most others had done as soon as they found out she was 'blind'. "Only if you can alter the genes in my eyes before I'm eighteen." She laughed quietly at her self before she sobered.

Her body twisted in her chair, facing him. "Well Josh, I am Rhoswen. But you can just call me Rhos or Wen if it is too much to pronounce." She pulled the book off the table and placed it in her lap. She seemed to quiet after a moment, as if she wasn't used to this kind of situation.

Her face softened ever so slightly and she tilted her head toward him, like an inquisitive cat. "It's okay to ask your questions. Its not the first time, I've been asked since I was fourteen." Her notes scattered slightly when some wind formed around her before it dyed down and her hands left her lap to fumble around the table for her notes.

Her eyes shifted to her left when her pen rolled in his direction, and her hand grabbed it before it went to far.

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

Feeling helpless was never a good thing. It was that kind of feeling when a friend lost a loved one and you knew that no amount of comforting or consoling words would be able to bring them back. That feeling of someone you cared for contracting a terminal illness and knowing that there was nothing you could do. He didn't like the feeling much. He was studying to become a doctor but he wasn't a magician, he couldn't wave a magic wand and cure her sight. He knew she didn't expect him to, either. The twitch of his lip was sad but he figured it would be lost on her. "I can cure a lot of things but that's not one of them." He wasn't used to feeling this bad for people. Then again, he wasn't used to getting himself into these situations. First for everything.

Josh figured that it was the sound of his voice that let the girl know where he was sitting and so did not think too much of it when she looked toward him. "Rhoswen," he repeated, making sure he had the pronunciation right. "I've never heard the name before." It was unique, he decided. He wondered where it was from but didn't know if the girl herself would be able to tell him. Not all parents told their kids who or what they were named after.

His mind was sharp, bright, and so he was already piecing things together. She was older than fourteen, not yet eighteen, and as there was no breeze in the library he picked up almost immediately on her element when a wind tossed her notes around. He slid a couple of the ones within his reach toward her, noticing the pen but being unable to do anything with that before she snatched it up with a quick grasp. He blinked, surprised, and he was beginning to think he might have to take her up on the offer to ask questions. Joshua didn't like to be nosy or too invasive because he knew he wouldn't answer many personal questions himself but his curiosity was itching to know what was up with this girl.

He only hoped she didn't get upset with him. He didn't care too much about people's opinions but illnesses and afflictions were a sensitive matter. "How exactly did you... do that?" He nodded to the pen but remembered that she wouldn't be able to see the gesture. It had been a long time since Elaine had left the Academy, he was out of practice. "With the pen, I mean." It was fascinating, almost. Her reflexes impressed him but also confounded him. He couldn't imagine knowing where a pen might land if he couldn't see it. Then again, Josh had never had vision problems in his life before. Apparently the other senses sharpened. Maybe she heard it?

[RHOSWEN MARA HART]

Rhoswen smiled at him gently, and laughed quietly at his comment about her name. She was silent for a moment as she fixed her work and put the pen inside the book she was reading before resting her elbow on top of the table and using the palm of her hand to hold her chin.

Her blue eyes although slowly turning white held the emotion of happiness. "My parents went to Ireland ten years before I was born and went to a local flower shop, my mother's favorite flower was a white rose and when she spotted the name on a flowers name card. She grew curious about what it meant, so she asked the shop owner." Rhos sighed softly and shook her head, "She was planning on children and naming one Rose but since Rhoswen was her favorite flower and she had a good name for a girl. She went for that instead." Rhos laughed quietly once more before becoming silent.

It was his question with the pen that her smile faded a bit. "My hearing is now becoming sharper since I'm losing my eyesight." She pulled the pen back out and put it on the table. "I can tell direction by the sound the table makes." She rolled it in the direction she lost it the first time. This time rolling it back toward her instead of picking it up, she leaned over the table and put the pen in front of him and smiled.

"The pen rolling across the table makes a different sound depending on the direction the pen travels." She explained and then motioned him to the pen. "The varnish levels make the sound different."

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

Mention of Ireland caught his interest, the Fire graduate having a fondness for the country. He'd only ever visited it once when he was much younger but the memories had stuck with him and he'd always liked the accent. The meaning of his own name wasn't quite as interesting but that didn't bother him. Joshua was rather plain, much more common than Rhoswen or Nell or Lark's names were. It was ordinary but he had no issues with it. It had never been used against him for the purpose of teasing.

He felt a stirring of discomfort in his gut when her smile faltered, hoping that the question wasn't too invasive. He wouldn't have asked at all if she hadn't invited him to do so. He didn't like asking things that he knew he would not want to answer himself. When he'd first broken his wrist and been forced to wear the cast while it was healing he had gotten a lot of questions about it. What had happened? Did it hurt? Was he getting the cast off soon? Could he still write with the hand? The latter was probably the easiest of the questions to answer. He was left handed, his writing was fine, but the others made him uncomfortable. Talking about injuries made him feel vulnerable. He hoped that wasn't the reason her smile had faded.

She answered the question either way and he wondered how that felt. His hearing and sight both worked as they should but neither was particularly enhanced. He was not jealous. He had to admit that he would rather have both than one being better than the other. "That's impressive," he said honestly, knowing that he wouldn't have been able to do the same. Perhaps if he closed his eyes and focused hard he could accomplish what she had but not out of simple reflex. He watched her with interest as she explained further. "Makes sense. Does that work with a lot of things, then?" Different surfaces made different sounds. He theorized that it would be harder to detect movement on carpet as opposed to a wooden surface due to the muted sounds but he could not say for sure.

Losing her eyesight, she said. Not when she lost it. His gray gaze found the book again and he wondered how bad it was. She didn't have glasses but he doubted they did a whole lot against blindness. They were only meant for vision impairment. Not that he knew much about them. He'd never worn them himself and he wanted to be a physician, not an optometrist. "And, well, it's probably more different in a noisy area. Right?" It made sense to him. The more sounds around, the less easy one could be concentrated on. He felt nosy as he asked the questions and hoped for the millionth time that he wasn't bothering her. He normally wouldn't have cared but a disability wasn't a laughing matter.

He almost wanted to ask her what she was reading, start some friendly conversation to lighten the mood, but then he reminded himself that it might do more harm than good. Damn.

[RHOSWEN MARA HART]

Rhoswen seemed not to care at that moment that she was losing something others would deem important. She tilted her head in thought at his first question. "Some times. It's easier when I'm out side. I let the natural barriers that block wind tell me whats coming or how fast I'm getting close to it. But that's on, the days were I can't see at all. Nothing but blurs, on those days."

Rhoswen knew now that she had confused him, "I have days when my eye sight is 20/20, other days were i can only see in black, white and gray like an animal, but no colour. And then I have some days, like today, were I only see in black and white for two hours before my vision blurs, like mixing paint together."

Her hands motioned to a small mark on her homework pages where the writing got messy a little bit. She nodded to him sharply, "I hate large crowds, it gives me headaches focusing so hard on me and my surroundings. With all the noises and the smells." She shuddered, "its not too bad when I am having good days were i can see normally, its bad days were i get irritable."

Rhoswen blushed slightly and looked down at her book. "Charles Dickens Great Expectations, my favorite next to a Christmas Carol. Its for and English essay."
Rhoswen looked at him pleasantly even though it felt like she had never spoken so much before to one person. "Do you have a favorite?" Her fingers tapped the book as an example.

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

Her abilities were not something that Joshua could even fathom. As he was a Fire elemental, the ability to use his element as a tool to aid in anything other than destruction or temperature control was not something that was possible. Elaine had been able to see with her wind, he recalled. Not sight in the way that he saw things but a sort of understanding of the objects around her thanks to her wind-sight. He wondered if Rhoswen's experiences were at all similar but he didn't know enough about the specifics of either to know how to ask.

"It sounds a useful skill to have, in your case." Was that a rude thing to say? He did not think so. If she got upset with him then it was not likely he would feel all that bad about it. Joshua didn't have a whole lot of guilt to spare, especially not when he knew he wasn't trying to incite a certain emotion from another person. "So it changes." Strange. He frowned, brows knitting together as he tried to put himself in her shoes without success. So much as closing his eyes made him lose his perspective on the world around him. He knew where he was but he also knew he would be unable to find his way out of the library without tripping over or bumping into every object within his path. "It certainly doesn't sound like something that's easy to deal with." It was admirable that she could cope with it. He didn't know what he'd do in her place.

He could sympathise with her distaste toward crowds, though it was undoubtedly for a different reason. He simply wasn't much of a people person and liked the company of a single friend or two as opposed to a large group of people. He supposed that frustration in a large crowd of people would be taken up to eleven if he had to filter out a bunch of meaningless background noises just to focus on a conversation. "I can only imagine. I guess that's why the library's such a nice place to hang around, huh?" Apart from the taunting irony of all the books surrounding her that she wouldn't be able to read on what she'd referred to as a 'bad day'.

Josh blinked in surprise when she mentioned the very book he was wondering about. She must have been thinking about it herself, he figured, as she had no way of knowing that he'd been curious about it without being able to read minds. Her senses were sharper than his with the exception of sight but though he didn't know her, he was certain she wasn't omniscient or psychic. She couldn't read his mind. "Ah, a classic," he mused, lip twitching into a smile. Books were definitely a more comfortable subject than prying into personal medical issues. "If it's a favourite you'll no doubt do well on the essay." He had never been passionate about English despite his love of reading but he had certainly been good at it. Academics were where Josh excelled. "Not a single favourite, per say. I like a whole lot of books. I have a whole shelf full of favourites. Mostly non-fiction." That shelf full of favourites was in his bedroom. Where did he keep the other books in his collection? In the library. His library. He had converted most of the third floor of the mansion into a large home for his equally massive book hoard. "I read a lot of things relating to history and medicine." History was a favourite subject and medicine was his passion. He didn't clarify, figuring it spoke for itself. Feeling a little more comfortable with the question since she'd revealed that she did read on her good days, he asked, "Do you read a whole lot?"

[RHOSWEN MARA HART]

Rhoswen tried to hide the grimance from her face at his comment about coping with it. She her self didn't think she was but she didn't want to come across as depressed to others even if she felt so. Athough at his second comment about the libaray, she smiled softly. "Books have always been my escape, they have a tendancy to do so."

She ran a hand threw her hair and then rested her head on that very same palm, she listened to him talk about his book prefernces and her shoulders rose slightly as she pulled her chair closer to the table to rest better against it. "Do you have a favourite decade in history?" She asked him, intent on listening to him, closing her eyes to give them a little break from looking at blurs. She tilted her head in thought, "Yes, regularly. I know how to read braile but i figured that since my sight isn't completely gone, I should use it to do what I love."

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

On the subject of books, at least, Joshua could relate. Though most wouldn't know it to look at the tall, intimidating and confident Fire elemental, he had been bullied a lot in his childhood. Tall and muscled had been short and scrawny, confident had been reserved. Instead of coming out of his shell and trying to make friends he had retreated further into himself and thrown himself into academics. His reading level had been incredibly advanced for his age and the other subjects were also boosted. He'd eventually gone on to skip the seventh grade as a result of his diligence.

He'd also hit a growth spurt and came into his own in terms of confidence and personality, but the books had remained.

He would not express this to her, however. He did not talk about himself on such a personal level, did not mention his past in any way if it could be avoided. He had long since moved on from those days and didn't like to relive them. "They're good for that," he agreed instead, his words revealing nothing.

He shook his head and then, remembering her disability, said, "They all have their good and their bad points. I mostly enjoy the different perspectives on single events. Opinions change drastically depending on which side writes the account." No one wanted to be the bad guys, after all, and so everyone would try their best to paint themselves in a better light. Winning wars didn't always make people right, either. There were a lot of gray areas in history and a lot of it was up for interpretation. He liked the mystery of it all. "Recent history is certainly more reliable. Better documented." A lot of historical events were no doubt lost to time, to fires, to various other disasters.

I guess it's good she knows how to read Braille, then, if she's losing her sight. He thought this but did not say it out loud. They had discussed the awkward subject enough and he could tell it was making her uncomfortable. "The library is a favourite place of mine. I'm not a student here any more, I work in the medical wing, but I still enjoy doing my studying here. It's convenient." He could get to the Academy before work and stay after work and it minimized the amount of travelling he had to do. It was especially useful when his schedule conflicted with Annabel's and his baby sister needed a ride home. He'd just stay behind and hang around the library or the Biology department until she got out of class.

[RHOSWEN MARA HART]

Rhoswen listened to the tenor of his voice, her eyes closed from now on probably because her eye sight being blurs might cause her headaches while looking around her. She nodded at his comment about current history being more documented.

She tilted her head curiously, brushing some hair out of her face at the same time, "Do you enjoy your work in the medical wing?" She asked him, even if her eyes didn't tell you she was intrigued, her voice gave it away.

Rhoswen smiled slightly, "History might not be my favorite course but I do like it. My favorite era is well, "she blushed slightly, the pink coloring her cheeks. "Renaissance." She grinned sheepishly at him.

ooc: Sorry its soo short.

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

The question was one that was easy to answer. A quiet person, Josh would normally have given a nod and then perhaps a word on why he enjoyed it so much but instead he paid mind to her condition and started with a, "Yes, of course. I wouldn't have taken on the job if it wasn't something I enjoyed." It was one of the best jobs he'd had thus far. Volunteering in the hospital had been fun but it hadn't been a true job. Working as a medical aide's assistant in the retirement home had been a decent use of his time but it hadn't been very adventurous. The job in the tattoo parlour? He had long since blocked it from memory. But this? This was what he loved. "I'm studying to become a doctor so I take all the hands-on experience I can get."

He did not miss the blush as she admitted her favourite history period, wondering why she would find this embarrassing. He loved most points in history and saw no shame in enjoying them. "Ah, that was a good time for artists. Do you like art as well, then?" He was curious. Michaelangelo's famous David had been a product of that time frame, after all. Josh had never been much into art himself but there were a lot of paintings around the large Dale mansion for decoration and he'd been to a few art galleries and museums in his lifetime, most notably the ones he'd visited when in Spain with Nell.

Though recent history was easier to study up on thanks to all of the documented accounts of it, Josh enjoyed all of it. It was fascinating to know how things changed. "I do have a fondness for the Middle Ages, myself. To think of how differently people lived back then, the sorts of filth that some had to put up with, the outbreak of diseases... they were different times. I'm glad I wasn't born in them." A chuckle brushed past his lips. He was perfectly content to be born into modern society with its advancements in medical care and technology. It felt like a safer place.

[Short posts are fine, just mind the word count! <3]

[RHOSWEN MARA HART]

Rhoswen nodded mutely but the smile on her lips was bright, "yes, the art from that era has always been breathtaking if not they were always pretty in my eyes." She didn't even frown this time, she was still smiles as she spoke about it.

She listened to him speak about the middle ages and she found herself agreeing to what he said before grinning slightly. "And what about the fashion?" She asked him.

Rhoswen didn't like admitting that she would love to dress up as a lady at some point, the clothes were always so pretty when dealing the patterns and fabriques those of the upper class would wear. "Would you be able to wear those big puffy pants or the heavy armor?" Her grin was now a smile as she waited to here his answer.