dead girl walking - er, reading

Ashes · Oct 16, 2017

It was eerily easy for the ghostly girl to feel nothing as she walked through the rows and rows of the by-now familiar aisle of books - the History section of the nonfiction books. Specifically, Ghostly History. Eerily easy for her to walk by all of them, not even stopping to touch one. She felt like throwing up, or screaming, perhaps. but not with any sort of emotion. Screaming would have been cathartic, too...
If it weren't for the fact that, instinctively, she had retreated from her dorm - maybe too shaken by her recent.. um.... incident, or maybe it had just been too small a room; she felt incredibly small. Incredibly weak. She'd gone, out of habit, into the nearest quiet place.
The library.
Also out of habit was the fact that she was pacing up and down the aisle, if incredibly slowly. She nudged her hand up towards a book, as if it might eat her - then yanked it back, a jerky movement that brought the book down with it. Dimly, she wondered how that still worked, when she was going to probably fade anyway.
It was eerily easy how her hands skimmed the pages, as per routine. The whole thing was idiotically robotic in nature.
She'd hurt Roland. Not physically - of course not. Emotionally. He was, and had always been, there for her - and then what had she done? She had gone and thrown a can at the wall and screamed at him.
And that, she knew, was a damning point. She'd... well.... Failed. Failure shook her to her core.
Ghost Mythos, read the current book's title. As if.

@Hyper

Lemme know if there's anything I need to edit/change ^^

Hyper · Oct 19, 2017

Raphael only ever had one reason to go to the library. School. Unless he was forced to use a book, or meet up for a research project, Raphael wouldn't have any other reason to go to a hall filled with nothing but books and old periodicals.

But right now he had homework. So begrudgingly, the Horseman needed to look around the library for references to use. His attention was short, unfortunately for said homework. After about a couple of hours of searching through shelves for references on conquerors of history he got really bored and decided he'd look for something that might interest him for a few minutes. He needed a break from all the historical violence.

As he turned to the next shelf, he immediately noticed the familiar girl but instead of greeting her, he hid in the next shelf. Slowly, covertly, he turned to take a peek, observing the ghost girl from one end. She seemed deep in thought, despite the book in her hand. He thought for a second or two, wondering if he should approach or not.

His final verdict was to make the approach.

Raphael made it look casual, appearing as if he was idly browsing until he was standing behind Aswan, pretending to look at the opposite shelf she was facing. Had she noticed him? He wasn't sure.

He pondered for a moment, before he decided to speak. "Aswan?" he called quietly.

herald of the end times

Ashes · Oct 24, 2017

"Aswan?"
It took a moment for the girl to notice who had said her name, although quietly. First expecting it to be Roland, she'd prepared to shut down and walk away - but that wasn't Roland's voice. She spun, as if on edge, to face the person - oh. The sharpness of her expression dulled and the speech she'd prepared crawled its way back into her head. It was Raphael - Raph, she corrected herself. She tried to smile.
"Oh. Raph. I didn't know you were there. You would have given me a heart attack, if of course I was still living." Shutting her book abruptly with a thump, her smile became wider. Not more convincing - but wider, which, she reasoned silently, should have made a marked improvement in her impression. She truly hadn't seen him - had he perhaps hid to surprise her, or was she that lost in her head these days?
She didn't know the answer. Which was new.
"Do you need assistance with homework or something of the ilk?" she asked, taking a step to the nearby study area. She'd left her bag there with all her things, including her phone. Perhaps focusing on teaching someone else but herself was for the best - and she was almost certain he had no intention to listen to her ramble on about ghostly physics. "I can help, if you'd like."

@Hyper

Hyper · Oct 25, 2017

Raphael smiled wryly at Aswan's attempt at humor. Was it an attempt a humor? He couldn't tell all that well; but the smile said it was an attempt at being equally casual, if not a little more. He pretended not to mind Aswan's distractedness from earlier and decided to roll with what was going on, following after the girl on her way to what he guessed was her chosen table.

The boy pursed his lips, trying to get a more natural smile on his face but all that he could barely get a small smile on. Regardless, he replied. "Well that would be a shame if you did! Don't wanna be Death's right hand man and send a friend of mine to the afterlife," he blurted out. It took him only after he said the words that he wondered if it was an appropriate reply at a time like this. At generally any other time really; he was talking to an already-dead person.

"You looked busy but I thought of saying hi," he immediately continued; not letting her react before he could try and recover. "I was in the middle of writing a report though. N-not that I was gonna ask for help. It's going well! I'm on a roll..." Raphael's voice squeaked before it trailed off, betraying him with his lie.

He wanted to bring up the girl's little moment but he found it might not be a smart idea to get straight to the point considering she didn't seem any more interested in it either. "Er, I guess not exactly on a roll. Looking for multiple references for a specific history topic is either easy or an utter nightmare so there's that."

herald of the end times

Ashes · Oct 25, 2017

A moment passed. Dead silence from the girl
And then her eyes crinkled up and she covered her mouth with her hand. A smile?
No - she was clearly holding back laughte - aaand there it was. A giggle led to a snicker led to a laugh and soon she was bent over, snickering and laughing, but trying to hide it. Although, let's be honest, it wasn't hidden very well, judging by the fact that everytime she looked up and seemed to calm down, she fell back into giggles again.
This went on for a minute. Legitimately, a minute of her looking up at him and catching a giggle fit again.
Finally, she sighed. "Ahh. You're too funny, Raph."
Ahem.
"In fact," she said, her tone now more friendly than before, "I'm not very busy, shockingly. I... well, I have a project in particular that's proving to be painfully pervasive. That is, the assignment is absurdly asinine, and therefore I have decided to not dwell on it ." True enough. Not totally, but true enough. "Maybe I can be of use. What is your topic?"
The perfect distraction from the problem - unrelated work. Besides, researching had always been a source of catharsis for her - though, she'd discovered recently, not about herself. She gestured to the table, walking to stand next to it - or in front of it...? As if to ask sit and study or look for books?

Hyper · Nov 13, 2017

There was silence for that one moment, and Raphael was admittedly worried if his rather offhanded joke might have offended her after all. But the result was quicker than he could expect: the way Aswan's eyes had crinkled, before she bent forward, her shoulders evidently shaking from the laughter she had tried to supress. More than once too.

Raphael's expression relaxed, taking on a more natural smile when she met Aswan who seemed about have calmed from her fit of giggles, which also seemed to evident by his stance relaxing ever so slightly. "Wish I could say that about this paper too," he told her, "but someone would lose his mind if he hears I'm trying to ignore homework for no reason."

Raphael nodded towards the shelves, or rather, the other end of the shelves to be more correct, in response to the ghost girl's question. "I left some of the books I picked up on my table. I'm supposed to profile a conqueror in history but it's hard to find the right one who has enough consistent records to make a decent paper with a library like this place," he explained.

herald of the end times

Ashes · Nov 18, 2017

"Usually, I would agree that your work ethic... leaves a bit to be desired, but since I'm putting off my project as well, I have no right to say so." She, too, relaxed her stance and sighed. "Perhaps I can help you with your project, so as to get it done in time." Aswan started to walk towards the other end of the bookcase, where Raphael had left his books, and tilted her head towards the books beside her on the bookshelf, reading their titles. Ghostly research, yes - but there she'd seen some history books, too, and some books were never hard to come by in this spot. Even ghosts had history after all.
"Well, of course your sources wouldn't be consistent with every result or book or website - research, really, is up to interpretation. What you're reading are merely another person's notes and observations, right? Different perspectives, different opinions." She pulled out a random book, and began reading a passage inside.
"Ghosts in the realm of the living are found near their places of death, or where the source of their trauma originated." She put the book back, and shook her head. "That isn't necessarily consistent with other sources, or my own experiences. You need to specify a bit, what you're looking for."
A smile.
"If you look for the common points instead of focusing on what differs in the records, you'll have a much easier time."

Hyper · Dec 13, 2017

Raphael chuckled sheepishly, a little embarrassed about his "work ethic" -- not that he actually had one. If he did, it was possibly one of the worst. "I'm not actually in any rush to finish. I am in a bit of rush to get started though," he pointed out.

The horseman pondered on Aswan's words. She wasn't wrong, really, and he wouldn't say he wasn't already aware of that fact. His problem was more of finding one with enough consistent details that aren't the ones known in the mainstream -- which he was sure a lot of people in class would already cover On the other hand...

"I suppose you're right," he said, though not entirely convinced. He turned to the ghost girl with a wry smile, trying to gauge her expression. Did she look like she was really okay? "If that is the case then, do you have anyone to suggest? I considered less known conquerors but that's where I ended up having problems."

herald of the end times

Ashes · Jan 5, 2018

"Well, that is a start I suppose," Aswan sighed, chuckling. "You need to be one-hundred percent focused on your work to achieve most things. Not only starting it, either, but finishing it also needs to be on top of your priorities."
At least the conversation wasn't on her anymore - and frankly, diving back into her work didn't bother Aswan in the slightest. It meant she could ignore what she had done only a few days prior and focus on something else. In fact, one of her favorite (and rather ironic, considering what she was distracting herself from) subjects - the past. History. She knew a handful of well-known conquerors, but she did know a few lesser-known conquerors, mostly rooted in Egyptian mythos or ancient Egyptian history. Such was the nature of her name, after all - Aswan, a city in Egypt.
"I know many Ancient Egyptian conquerors - such as Piye, for one - but I doubt information about that particular conqueror would be readily available, haha. Moving on, there are some that you may not know - for instance Sargon of Akkad, the very first emperor to ever live - how interesting is that! Being the first emperor! - Oh, and you may have known Genghis Khan, but do you know of his descendant, -"And here she stopped herself, because she realized she was letting herself ramble on and on. If she didn't control what she was saying, then she might say something else about history. As it was, he was peering at her expression, though with a wry smile. "Um. Sorry. I would go on, but there are so many of them to name, haha. I could research them with you, to help you, instead of rambling."

@Hyper

Hyper · Jan 23, 2018

Raphael had no response to Aswan calling him out on his focus because honestly, he had nothing to rebutt with. He never really cared all that much to studies or any of his projects, which often led him to cramming as he neared the deadline. All he could offer was an awkward chuckle, coupled with his sheepish smile. The conversation moved on, much to the horseman's relief, and while unknown to him, to Aswan's as well. Raphael hadn't seemed to notice his own silence once she had begun to discuss on her knowledge, attentive on what she had to say. It was a second or two after Aswan had cut herself off did he realize it but he played it off as nothing. "Actually, that first emperor seems like a really good topic to go off from," he told her, smiling -- though unlike his usual, he almost seemed apologetic. "I didn't mind the ramble--if that's what that was, but if it'll be easier we could just try and narrow things down to what part of history I could dive into?"

herald of the end times

Search

dead girl walking - er, reading

Ashes

WELP THIS JUST GOT INTERESTING.

Hyper

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Ashes

WELP THIS JUST GOT INTERESTING.

Hyper

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Ashes

WELP THIS JUST GOT INTERESTING.

Hyper

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Ashes

WELP THIS JUST GOT INTERESTING.

Hyper

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Ashes

WELP THIS JUST GOT INTERESTING.

Hyper

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ