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Post by MICHAEL CONNER BARTON on Apr 9, 2013 0:04:17 GMT -5
--- i'll be there when you close your eyes ,. [/color][/size][/font] ( HOLD YOU TIGHT, SAY GOODNIGHT )[/center]
Michael sighed softly, dragging his fingers through his thick chocolate locks as he stared blankly down at the pages of his book. He couldn't concentrate on the tiny lettering, the words written down. His mind was elsewhere, far, far away. Mike huffed in frustration, slamming his book shut and creating quite a defined bang in the still quiet of the library. Mr. Xylander’s head jerked up sharply and he scowled over at the man, eyes narrowing in annoyance. Michael ducked his head and mouthed 'Sorry!' at the irritable librarian who shook his head and let it go, considering that Mike normally was one of his better visitors these days.
Sensing that this wasn’t going to get him anywhere, Mike pushed back the seat of his chair, stood up and cradled the book under his arm as the sunlight shown through one of the library windows. Making his way over towards the front desk, he dropped the book onto the return cart before catching a glimpse of who was behind the desk. ”Oh!” Mike had been caught completely off guard and even his magnificent, amazing brain couldn't keep up, not with Skye's sudden appearance behind the main desk. ”Hey there Skye.” Despite how awkward Michael felt and how much he wanted to bolt for the door, he planted his feet firmly where he stood. ”I keep forgetting that you help out around here now.”
He took a further look at the new alumi working in the library. It was nice to see a familiar face stick around the Hollow right after completing school. ”You look good,” he commented. He and Skye didn’t have the smoothest of relationships coming up, but the past year had been better between the two. They had gone from distrusting avoidance to civilized conversations. Perhaps Michael had just finally grown up a bit and started acting his age. He found himself in a better light around a lot more people because of it. ”Sorry about before,” he said pointing over towards the book e just discarded. ”It looked like Xylander was going to kill me there for a minute.”
Michael shoved his hands into his pocket as he offered the older girl a small smile. Small talk, he was still terrible at it. He preferred not talking most of the time, but with certain people he did his best to pull himself out of his shell. He hadn’t really made the best first impression with Skye and he felt as though he was still paying the price. ”What have you been up to recently?” he asked, fully aware that it was the polite thing to do. A part of him was genuinely interested while the other part of him felt it was his obligation to be polite and ask. He couldn’t knock himself for not trying that was for sure
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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Apr 16, 2013 18:47:10 GMT -5
Returning to the Academy immediately after graduation wasn't exactly her ideal plan. Actually, it hadn't been in the plan whatsoever, and it was more like the position had been dropped into her lap at a time when she could use the extra money, and so she'd taken it. It was a practical decision but, certainly, not one that she'd made with any kind of longing sentiment for the school she'd attended for eight years, because -- well, eight years. That was much too long to be stuck in one place, listening to the whining of some brats in ninth grade. She didn't totally hate kids. She just had better things to do with her life, and had it not been for the elemental studies aspect of the Academy, she would have probably chosen to go to a better school. Then again, had that been the case, she would probably be elsewhere right now -- maybe back at home in Ottawa. Things would be very different. Either way, here she was, having come from home rather than the constituency office for once; it had been one of her days off.
At the very least, coming from home had made this a little better, even if she was working a horribly long shift. Most of the other staff were doing crawls of the actual shelves, putting books away or else helping students with things -- one of them called Skye over the moment she stepped inside, and this was how she was left behind the counter while her co-worker left. She was a little envious of the fact that he could leave, but of course she'd just gotten there. It was just a little unfortunate that it was a job she wasn't particularly fond of. Well, it could be worse. She checked out books for a few students (younger high schoolers, by the looks of them) but mostly just sat there, manning the station, so to speak. Nobody she actually knew came by until she had been there for a while already, and she blinked but remained silent, noticing him before he did her. "Hey Michael," she greeted, the voice not... well, not friendly, but it wasn't unfriendly. She smiled. "Yeah, I work here now." "Help out" sounded so voluntary, as if she liked to hang around and help kids find books, as a community service project or something. That wasn't the case. "How are classes?" she asked, while they were kind of on the subject of work (and, by association, school). Mostly she asked to be polite; school was school.
She smiled -- again briefly, but that was typical -- at the compliment of sorts. "Thank you. You look good too." It wasn't a dishonest compliment -- he did look good -- but the randomness of it caught her off guard for some reason. "It's been a long time." She didn't bother pretending that it caused her some kind of deep pain or sorrow not to have seen him for a while -- Michael was okay, and a kind of sort of friend, or at least someone she was acquainted with well enough, but she wasn't that attached. "That's okay, he does that," she said. The librarian was highly irritable. That was okay; so was she. "What did you do to him?" Skye knew that it probably hadn't taken any kind of personal offense to bother Fabian -- it could have just as easily been something very minor. "Not too much, actually. Work. Lots of free time lately, more than I know what to do with," she admitted, resisting the urge to shrug. Her life had been dull as of late, but that was to be expected, truthfully. "What about you?"
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Post by MICHAEL CONNER BARTON on Apr 23, 2013 22:41:38 GMT -5
--- i'll be there when you close your eyes ,. [/color][/size][/font] ( HOLD YOU TIGHT, SAY GOODNIGHT )[/center]
He shrugged at the questions of classes. ”You know, same old deal. Some are harder than other, but I think I have everything under control for now.” Senior year was probably going to the biggest roadblock in his educational career. Senior year was the last chance before people got even more loaded down with the reality of more bills, less job openings, and the impending doom of aging. There were those who had to suffer through even more schooling if they wanted to achieve top-notch jobs such as lawyers, doctors, and professors but Michael was content with being a teacher. Double major in Elemental Studies and Education would get him his dream job. ”There are far worse things to complain about,” he reasoned. It was true; if school was going to get the best of him he might as well quit. ”You were lucky to get a job right out of school, even if it isn’t the most desirable.” Michael had a hunch that this wasn’t what Skye ultimately wanted to do with her life. Michael took the compliment in stride. ”Thanks,” Skye probably just felt the need to return the sentiment. ”Yeah it kind of has been. I don’t remember the last time we ran into each other,” he replied honestly. Memory was a terrible thing sometimes and Michael seemed to lack it when it came to social interactions. Strange since he engaged in so few of them. Logic would had lead him to believe it would be easier to remember so few people that had the poor fortune of crossing his path. ”Oh, Fabian?” he questioned, casting a quick look over his shoulder to make sure the coast was clear. ”He caught me mistreating one of his babies. I swear it was the books fault,” he joked. Without the added stress of school free time must have been in abundance. Michael wouldn’t quite frankly know what to do with it if he had any. ”Aside from school? Just working in my free time.” Work of course was a loose term. He tutored on the side, sometimes for free, but the jobs would beef up his resume and show he took initiative. ”Oh, and I got a new roommate.” He shuffled out his phone from his back pocket and went to open up his images. Michael titled the screen towards the woman behind the desk to show her a picture of his new roomie. The smile on his face was instant as he gazed at his younger brother. Pocketing his phone he turned his full attention to Skye. ”He’s a handful, but not in a troublesome way,” he said fondly. ”I’ve become his brother and his father while my parents are in Florida.”
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