Separate Me From The L I V I N G ((TAG;;riley))

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Sophie cringed. They were so loud, they were also so loud. And the usual headache was starting to form. She was starting to quicken her pace, trying her best to keep herself in a tight little ball. No touching people, that was the rule. That was always the rule. She didn't quite know why but she always started having anxiety attacks when people she didn't trust touched her. Something about physical contact making peoples thoughts louder seemed to play a role in that.

She had her books held tight against her body, eyes turned down as she moved through east wing towards what could probably be considered her favourite place on the entire 'campas': The Library. There didn't seem to be many kids around her at the moment, thank heavens, but the voices of those who were still seemed to linger in the back of her head, adding onto the ever growing headache. Chrysanthemum was safe in her cage in her dorm. She tried thinking about that. So long as neither of her roommate left her pet out, she wouldn't have to worry.

The thoughts of her pet seemed to keep her mind at bay for a moment, the barriers being forced up as Sophie did so. They weren't working too well at the moment. She figured that it was simply because Liz was off campus in Kalispell somewhere. She could barely hear her twin at the moment, but she could feel the connection in the back of her mind, just barely hovering above the barriers being set to keep people out of her head.

She turned into the library, feeling a tad bit of comfort as she entered the ever so familiar place. A small wave of relief seemed to wash over her when she passed through the threshold. Almost immediately after the doors closed behind her did she let her barriers weaken. There were maybe a dozen or so people in here at the moment and none of them seemed to be pushing too hard on the barriers, not that most of them (if any) could do such a thing. With an almost confident stride, Sophie made her way to a small corner and placed her books and bag down. She trusted no one would touch them and even if they did, there was nothing of value in them.

Sophie slipped her hand into her bag to grab her ipod before turning towards the library as a whole to go searching. She put in her earbuds and turned the music on, the rhythms pounding in her head. Sure, it didn't do much to help with the headache that was forming but she could take care of that when she got back to her corner with this evenings choice of books. A simple asprin or seventeen should do the trick, right?

Her ears tuned out to the world and her eyes on the shelves as she neared a mystery section in the library, she was unaware of the going ons around her. She tended to zone out when she was touching the spines of the books she was gleaming. Something here had to be interesting, right? She was sure she would find something. Or at least she hoped. She really could use a good book or two to help her escape from this world right now.

((OOC:: okay... so, not my best piece of work but I just reeeeally wanted to, like, get something started. She just keeps talking and talking but she's so awkward at the same time so I'm trying to get her figured out a little more, where writing her is involved, you know? I hope this is okay, though.))

[Riley Coleson]

Life was... Normal. Despite everything happening with Hadley, Riley was still a flirt by nature. He had cut down on the partners he slept with, something the blonde should have felt incredible proud of, though the boy really doubted that was enough. But flirting? He wasn't ready to give that up yet. Nor was he ready to go off the market by being labeled as someone's property.

The thing about Riley was that he sort of saw himself as belonging a little bit to everyone. Sure, that in its own was incredible stupid, especially when there was a raging pyromaniac crushing on him, swearing revenge to every girl he touched, talked to or slept with. Then again, Riley also found her scary outburst somewhat hot, heh, ironic, huh. Well, as long as it wasn't directed towards him anyways.

And when it was, he was glad to have the enhanced durability backing him up.

Another thing that hadn't changed was that Riley was still as focused on getting good grades just like he always had been. Not a lot of people knew or believed him, but he didn't care. And now that he didn't have any clubs or sports having a meeting, and Hadley was lord knew where, it was the perfect time for him to drop off by the library and check out the local cuisine study.

His eyes and fingers traveled over the different books. He didn't pay much attention to what the back of the books said. Heck, he didn't even pay much attention to what section he was on. So much for studying, huh. And as if things couldn't get any worse, Riley's second head caught glance of something very pretty and something very female.

Scooting over, Riley leaned against the shelved, cocking an eyebrow as he looked down at the girl, slowly reaching over to pull out the earplug, noticing the name of the book section before finally offering the girl one of his most charming smiles, ''You know, if you're really looking for mystery, I suggest going out there to find it yourself instead of reading about it,'' he said with a wink before dropping his hand, ''I'm Riley. 'Tis a pleasure meeting you, O' Beautiful one,'' he said and reached out his hand, the corner of his lips turning upwards into a smirk.

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Sophie's right hand tapped absentmindedly against her leg as she looked from book to book. None of the titles were sticking out to her, which, quite frankly, was a bit of a disappointment. She was almost certain that she had read nearly half of the books on the shelf she was staring at currently. Maybe she should just reread something. That was always an option, even if it wouldn't be as exciting the second time through. Then again, like movies, you needed to read them twice to pick on the subtleties that an author tries to incorporate.

In all honesty, she should have been able to pick up on the fact that someone was stopped in front of her, but as she came to a pause in front of 'The Hound of Baskerville', she was absolutely clueless. Her left hand hovered idly over the spine as she gently bit her lip. Should she take it? It was a pretty good after all and how she admired Sherlock.

But before she had the chance to take it, she felt someone touch her. A shiver of anxiety rushed through her and her breathe started to quicken. She could even feel her heart beginning to pound in her chest. Who was this? Why were they touching her? And more importantly, why were they touching her music. She visibly jumped back an inch, turning to face him. Her eyes met his for a moment before she turned them away. Both of her hands went out just barely in front of her, fiddling to grab the earbud and giving a small yank to get the other one out. She didn't even think about turning the ipod off, her mind racing to try and figure out what she was supposed to do.

"Uh... ummm... I-i'm perfectly fine reading my... umm... mysteries, th-thank you...” she stuttered, her eyes darting back and forth between the floor and the boy. Oh heavens, who was this person?

As he offered her his hand she unintentionally moved back a little more. People, she didn't do too well with them. She never did. So why did they always insist on trying to talk to her. She didn't offer her hand in return, refusing to touch him if she could have a say against it. Her fingers just kept fiddling with the earbuds, trying to keep them busy in a hope it'll keep her from stuttering too much. What did she do? He gave his name, so should she give him hers? Liz would know, but she was so far away. ”S-sophie...” she finally offered, looking up at him again. Her hair was coming down into her eyes, hiding them slightly. It made her felt like she could just hide like that, behind her hair. But it never worked. Such a shame.

[Riley Coleson]

The girl seemed skittish at his very presence. It reminded him of a scared little bunny, and quite frankly it was adorable. Now if there was anything Riley knew, it was when a woman felt uncomfortable. Raising his hands in defense, he himself stepped back a few steps to give the girl her room, ''Sorry, didn't mean to frighten ya,'' he chuckled.

Riley might have been a slut, a manwhore and a an aggressive asshole most of the time, but at least he didn't lack any of the gentleman gene. Especially when it came to women. The shy ones always hit him the hardest as they reminded him of his sister, and somehow, that way they managed to pull forth his softer side. He didn't exactly dislike it or anything, if anything it amused him.

Nodding slowly, he pulled his gaze towards the numerous books on the shelves, ''Well, Sophie. If you're looking for a good read, might I suggest...'' his voice trailed off as he started pulling out a few books, ''The Woman in White is a great book for those who are interested in mysteries,'' he said with a soft smile, ''I highly recommend it if you haven't read it already,'' he handed the book over to her and offered her yet another smile, still keeping his distance.

Hey, even Riley could talk to a girl without directly hitting on her every time...Okay, sometimes he could.

He preferred not to make people uncomfortable and by looking at the frightened little bunny, she clearly wouldn't feel comfortable if he started working his magic on her so soon. And hey, even Riley enjoyed talking to people on a more intellectual level, even when it didn't revolve around pulling each other's clothes off.

And to think the boy had such a bad reputation, tsk, tsk.

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Sophie's mental barriers were slowly starting to fade and the headache that had already started was getting worse. She tried her best to focus on that pain as a means to keep her grounded to the situation. It was a constant, making it something of a variable in what she was going to consider a 'double blind' experiment. Trying to keep the encounter in terms of just another one of her social experiments made it seem a little less scary, but not by much.

Her hands seemed to fumble with the earbuds as she tried stuffing them into the pocket with her ipod, her fingers easily finding the power switch on the top and flipping it off. She didn't know how long this might take and, quite frankly, she'd much rather her battery not run out. 'Remember, you wanted to put yourself into these kinds of situations. Outside your comfort zone. This is how you learn to make friends. Then again, who really needs friend? I have Liz and Chrysanthemum. I don't need anybody else...' What had started as her way to try and reassure herself that she could do this turned into herself pretty much adding even a little more fear into her head that wasn't there before. Great.

”I-it's fine. I... I was in my own l-little world.” She didn't quite know if she trusted the way the apology sounded, not with the little chuckle that could be heard in his words. Was she somehow amusing to him? Or was it just the situation as a whole? Or maybe he just wasn't sorry, he was just trying to be polite. I suppose she appreciated the sensibility but it didn't do much for anything else going on in her head.

As he started to pick out books, though, Soph became immediately interested. ”The Woman in White?” She asked, hesitantly taking the book from him. ”What's it about?” Her intellectual side was piqued, her curiosity for a book never read seeming to be just the distraction she needed. Though how long exactly would this temporary comfortably last? Probably no more than a few moments at best.

[Riley Coleson]

Looking at her from the corner of his eye, Riley nodded slowly. ''Hey, don't worry about it, it happens to all of us,'' he said with a comforting tone added to his voice. Shy people, especially girls always piqued his interest. He didn't know why but something about them always brought out his sensitive side. It was probably because people like that reminded him so much about his sister, and this girl in particular. His sister too, was nothing but a frightened little bunny in the midst of a gang of hungry lions.

Besides, it was actually kind of cute. And it ticked at his more protective side, though this wasn't something he'd ever admit to.

Grinning, Riley leaned his side against the shelves and crossed one foot over the other, ''Where would the fun in reading be if I told you,'' he said with a wink. And now that it seemed like he had her attention, he'd be damned to let it slip through his fingers, ''Take a risk every once in a while, Sophie. Sure, you might fall on your head and get a few cuts and bruises along the way-,'' he began and pushed himself from the shelves, walking backwards towards the seating areas, ''-But who knows what kind of mysteries you're missing out on by holding back?''

And with that, Riley turned his back against her and continued to walk away. Very slowly at that, but hey. If she truly had no interest whatsoever, wouldn't it just be a waste of his time to stick around? And if she did have no interest, maybe his words would leave an impact to their next meeting?

Or maybe he was simply over thinking the entire thing and missing out on an opportunity. ''Haven't you ever wondered what's on the other side of the fence?'', he asked over his shoulder.

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She gently bit the inside of her cheek as she turned her eyes towards the cover of the book. The binding wasn't too worn so it was clear that it was well taken care of. That or not many people bothered to read it. She flipped it in her hands, trying to get a good feel for it, thoughts racing with what it could be about. She remembered watching a show once that talked about a 'Woman in White'. It was supposed to be a legend of sorts. Could this book be anything like that? Or was it something completely different?

What he said seemed to ring true to her. There wouldn't be any fun in reading it if she was told. After a moment of just looking it over, she brought it close to her chest, hugging it to her body. She thought of it as her security blanket of sorts for the time being. It was the best thing she had and what looked like the beginnings of a smile started to taint her lips. She was about to say something but he started to continue speaking.

Sophie's head tilted ever so slightly to the left as she took in his words. Risks. But taking risks always meant that there could be damage done in the process. And it was much harder to account for the variables in her experiment if she simply took risks all the time. But that didn't seem to stop her curiosity from being grabbed all the more. Speaking from the socialistic stand point, though this may be a double blind, it was very likely that she could learn a thing or two if she delved deeper into what could possibly be a rather unique personal experience.

As he started to move away, she tightened her grip on the book. The fact that he simply turned from her to leave confused her. Usually, she had to be much colder to a person before they got the hint. So why couldn't she just accept that he got it and left for that reason?

It was simply... She was too interested now. Biting her cheek a little harder now, she looked from him and then in the direction of where she had left her things. They would be safe, yes? Of course. She couldn't seem to get her voice to work at the moment but she continued to stare in his direction. Closing her eyes, she forced all her focus into sending him a single thought. ”Wait!”

With that, she opened her eyes back up and started to follow after him, almost like a lost little puppy. She let her teeth loosen their grip on the inside of her cheek as she cleared her throat. Soon, her voice was starting to work. ”C-could you show me?” she asked, coming up right behind him and slowing to simply follow, the book still pressed against her chest. ”What's on the other side?”