doing research on dreams

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Doing research on dreams seemed like an odd thing to do, really. But given what Zoe had experienced last night, she was definitely thinking that she needed to uncover details. She'd barely gotten up and gone through her normal routine before dashing off to the library to start researching. She had even started tucking her sweater into the waistband of her skirt as she hurried through the door, among the first people there. She smiled at the librarian before quickly lowering her eyes and hurrying away. Zoe knew that she looked strange. The long-sleeved shirt indoors, plus a set of cloth lace black gloves that covered her hands, a choker round her neck, and her skirt, while still certain a skirt, fell nearly to her knees, with thick black leggings underneath. The only bits of flesh showing were traces of neck and her face, and Zoe had to resist the urge to try and cover those as well.

But covering herself was only barely on her mind today. No, instead, Zoe's mind was filled with thoughts about her dream. It had been so odd; she'd been floating, spinning in space, but that space was less... spacy and more filled with black and white nothingness. A voice had been calling out to her, calling her to a door, and when she'd opened it, she'd been in a land filled with color, and she thought there had been a girl there, and, well, she blushed just thinking about the next part.

"Dreams, dreams," she muttered under her breath, hurrying through the stacks. She hadn't been here long enough to really know the library, so it was mostly a matter of hoping that the organizational system made sense. There had to be a psychology section somewhere... Zoe just needed to find it, and, well, hope that it would be easy. Just where to look...

[Maelea Mareaux]

Five Finger Death Punch blared in her ears as she bobbed her head perusing the rows upon rows of books. Since spring like weather was finally deciding to show itself she was in orange shorts, tie dye knee, toe socks, black flip flops, and a beige tank top that had knives with what looked like blood splatters all over it. The music was loud enough that it leaked out of the ear buds with tiny skulls on them, so there was no real chance that she would hear anyone nearby. Certain music needed to be cranked up as high as it could go, and besides people tended to leave you alone with Five Finger Death Punch floating around you.

Turning the corner mind wandering in screaming guitars, thundering drums, and stellar vocals. Mae caught sight of movement at the corner of her and slammed on the breaks just before she wandered right into a girl. Eyes wide she gave a lopsided smile to the girl just as the song entered the chorus of Coming Downso the volume pumped up even more. Plucking out a head phone she gave a small wave. "Sorry, good song." Mae looked her over then at the books spotting one that made her smile: Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed. "Um, doin' a research paper?" She gave the girl a look gesturing at the section they were in.

If the girl was there for a paper then she could help find her some decent books to use, but if she was there for some interesting reading. Then she might've just found her soul mate. Not that she was into girls but she'd be willing to forfeit boys if it meant she found someone who got her. 

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe nearly yelped as a girl practically plowed into her. Her hands went up into a slightly defensive position and she took a step backward. She could hear the music blaring from the other girl's headphones, and as she stared through the gap in her arms, she nearly swallowed. The other girl was pretty, very close to Zoe's type, and dressed in a rather loud fashion. Zoe's first thought was actually that she wished she had a camera, since she was willing to bet that photographs of this particular girl would be most interesting.

The girl spoke, and Zoe offered a shy little smile at the explanation. She understood getting lost in something, though she wasn't usually as wrapped up in music as all that. The question and gesture caught Zoe's attention and she looked about. "What? No, I was---oh, Jack the Ripper," she said, noticing the book nearest to Maelea. "I think I already read that one," this was said in a sort of low mumble. Zoe didn't generally read books like that, but she'd been interested enough in the whole story of Jack the Ripper to do a project on him a few years ago. She swallowed and looked back at the other girl, willing herself to say something else.

"I'm, um, looking up stuff on... dreams," she managed, swallowing and licking her lips. "Because I had one, a dream, that was odd," and she finished by looking down at her feet, feeling incredibly foolish and wishing that she was at least a little more articulate than this.

[Maelea Mareaux]

At the girls very defensive reaction to nearly having her plow into her Mae's eyes went wide. The first thought that jumped into her head was abuse, and it made her half hearted smile withere away to nothing. Not wanting to jump completely onto misconceptions however she continued on with her question without mentioning the praying mantis pose. At the girl's smile she was glad she decided to keep her mouth shut.

Mae gave a small nod as the girl noticed the book then nearly lost her jaw when she said she'd already read it. Or she thought she said that it was hard to tell the girl was a mumbler. Man mumblers drove her nuts, but again she kept her mouth shut. She was very proud of herself because usually she blurted things out as soon as they popped into her head. "Yeah, Jackie the knife happy boy from over da pond. Read nearly ev'ry book I can find of him." Yeah, that didn't sound creepy at all.

Dropping her gaze she fiddled with her ipod to turn down the music since it seemed that they were going to actually have a conversation. "Well, I figgered tha' ya had a dream iffin yer lookin' for a book on 'em." She raised an eyebrow at the girl then turned halfway to head back down the isle. "Follow me." Mae spent far too much time in the library and knew it almost as well as the librarian by now. The section the girl was looking for wasn't far from criminals since they were mostly books on the psyche of the mind of serial killers.

Hazel eyes roaming over the books she plucked a rather thick tome and held it out to her. "Most of them are crap. This has view points on different dreams from different religions. Kinda heavy read but iffin yer serious bout it." With a shrug she waited for the girl to take it then hooked her thumbs in her pockets. "So...iffin ya don' mind me askin', wha' was da dream bout?"

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

"every book?" repeated Zoe, a little astounded. "I read a handful for a project I had to do on him; he was quite fascinating but---" she trailed off, biting her lip. She wasn't sure she really enjoyed digging into the lives of murderers. She was far more likely to look up famous people that were murdered instead of the other way around. Jack the Ripper had just worked well. She also couldn't help but notice that Maelea had an accent of some kind, vastly different from Zoe's own clipped English one. Zoe couldn't place it, but then again, she wasn't exactly a linguist.

at least Maelea seemed willing to help. Zoe mumbled a thanks and moved to follow the other girl as she started to lead. Zoe's mouth opened a few times as the girl considered asking a few questions, or perhaps offering explanations. Like where the accent had come from or that Zoe had only been here a few weeks, so she wasn't quite sure where everything was just yet. She did understand the library sorting system, at least enough to have gotten in the right general area. Maelea certainly seemed to know exactly where they needed to go; within a short time they were standing in front of several books about dreams.

Zoe ran her gloved hand over the various spines, feeling them underneath. Nothing immediately jumped out at her, and she began chewing her lip. "I'm more looking for a dream interpretation," she said, nearly loud enough to be considered proper conversation level. Maelea had asked about the dream and Zoe flushed, trying to look even more interested in the various books. "It was, ah, about a lot of different things..." she said, shifting nervously.

[Maelea Mareaux]

Yep, she was a freak. It was one of the many things that matched her appearance. She loved reading about serial killers, books based on serial killers, movies, TV shows, and even news reports about them. But she leaked enough about her fascination about such subjects from the girl's reaction. "Um, I like the mix of myth an' truth." She tried to just shrug it off like no big deal, and moved on to talk about dreams. The less they talked about her the better.

As they made their way to the right section she couldn't help but notice the awkward silence. She was making a great impression so far it seemed. When the girl didn't take the book she offered she slid it back into place thumbs going to the pockets turning her attention back to the books. But it strayed back to the girl and her very interesting attire. Mae wore clothes to keep people away, or to shock them, maybe get attention. But this girl was clearly hiding from something. She guessed hiding her body, but that too obvious to be the truth.

"Dream interp, huh?" Scanning down the row she glanced up at the hesitant answer, and was shocked at the blush. "Oooh, one of thooose dreams. Gotcha." Mae straightened running a hand through her unusually non-gelled hair it still managed to stick up everywhere. She eyed the books again then pointed out three different spines.

"Prolly yer best bet. D'ose three there. Written by people who really study the stuff not jus' some new agey hacks." Mae bobbed her head to a song rocking on her heels a little. "Name's Mae by the by." Cole lined eyes glance up from under her bangs figuring the girl would grab her books and hurry off soon.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

"mix of myth and truth," repeated Zoe. She might not have necessarily been completely behind the whole stalking a serial killer thing, but she could definitely get behind that sort of thing. There was something in the mixing of reality and fiction that struck a chord with Zoe, and it was somewhat reassuring to hear that as the reason for the other girl's obsession, as opposed to some freakish love of gore... not that Zoe was really one to talk.

Zoe nearly sighed with relief when Maelea didn't pressure her about the dream. She would have explained it, mind, if pressured, but she wasn't exactly thrilled about the prospect of discussing her awakening sexuality with strangers, even pretty ones that shared her morbid fascination with life and the mixture of art and reality. Zoe leaned forward and studied the spines of the books Maelea indicated, nodding and pulling two down for further research. The books proved a little heavier than expected, and Zoe's hands slipped, not helped by the gloves. One book fell near Maelea's feet, though Zoe managed to catch the other one.

"Um, the book is," she mumbled, pointing at Maelea's feet and blushing. She shuffled, not wanting to just bend down in front of Maelea. "Um, I'm Zoe, by the way," she figured that offering a name might help, or at least make her seem friendlier.

[Maelea Mareaux]

Myth, truth, stabbing prostitutes in alleys whatever got her out of having to discuss how much of a freak she really was. Someday she'd find someone who liked blood, gore, death, and all the other darker morbid things in life like she did. Or she'd die completely alone except for her darling spiders who'd end up eating her body slowly, and building nests in her rotting corpse.

On that happy note she swallowed shifting away from the girl a little scanning the books. She hadn't put the ear-bud back in her ear just in case she decided to talk to her again. Malea had all sorts of questions, but the girl just seemed so tense. The sound of a book thumping right next to her foot made her jump almost letting out a very girlie shriek. Heart racing she stared down at the book like it was a snake ready to bite her. "Friggin' A that scared the bejeebees outta me!" Laughing nervously she bent to pick up the book not even noticing that the girl was blushing again.

After straightening she held out the book with a smile brightening her features. "Maelea, or you can call me Mae or Lea or MJ. My middle name is Jeanette so some people call me MJ." She shrugged not remembering who was that last person she actually told that to. In truth she hadn't had someone call her MJ since before her powers came about. Her family had called her MJ. "So, um, haven't seen you round befer, ya been here long?" Lame, she was so lame! Mae shuffled her feet yanking down a book at random to try and hide her embarrassment.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe watched Maelea get the book, well, more like she glanced at Maelea and then looked down at her own book, feeling completely embarrassed at the whole situation. She shuffled her feet, mumbling a thank you when Maelea finally offered her the book. There was a smile too, which Zoe at least tried to return, her own lips quavering as if the effort alone took a lot out of her. She still looked like a doe about to bolt for the woods at the first loud noise.

"Maelea," she repeated. It was unusual, certainly not anything that Zoe had heard before but: "That's a very pretty name," she complimented, her voice again dipping low, her eyes soon following suit. This made her look at Maelea's brightly colored shoes. Zoe was tempted to make a compliment about those, but she wasn't great at the whole producing words for strangers thing, so she mostly just ended up staring and thinking about it.

Which probably worked out alright, seeing as Maelea asked a question. Zoe jerked her head up to look at the other girl, momentarily flushing with the embarrassment of having all but caught staring at shoes. "I just got here a little while ago," she managed, again her voice barely above a whisper. "I actually didn't, um, get my power until very recently. I'm a late bloomer," she lowered her head, practically hiding behind a book now. That part was almost embarrassing to say, especially given its possible other meanings and connotations.

[Maelea Mareaux]

This girl gave a whole new meaning to shy, sheepish and quiet. A part of her just wanted to hug her to see if she would explode or something. Mae thought she was a tad shy but this, this was shy. Course what did she expect from a girl who hung out in a library, though then again she hung out in a library But she was more like hiding from people and their accusing looks. The freak who talked to eight legged bugs, ugh if she heard spiders called bugs one more time.

"Uh, thanks, Zoe." Rocking on her heels again she wondered what had made this girl so hesitant. Sure some people just weren't outgoing but it was almost like an abused dog or something.

The answer was a little surprising since she'd never heard of someone getting their power so late. But then again with as shy and reclusive as this girl was she also wasn't completely shocked either. When the girls eyes dropped Mae couldn't help it and bent over to look up at her. "Hey, girlie I'm up here."

She gave a curt wave giving her a reassuring smile quirking her eyebrows up. "I don' bite. I promise."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe actually yelped when Maelea bent over; yelped and dropped the book, which then landed with a loud thud which then made Zoe yelp again. She ended up flushing with embarrassment, her hands flying to her mouth as if she could somehow cram the words back inside. A librarian finally stuck his head around the corner, staring at the two girls. Zoe mouthed her apologies at him, which might have worked better if her hand hadn't been covering her mouth. Maelea had asserted that she didn't bite, so there was at least that.

Zoe looked over at the other girl, removing her mouth to mouth apologies, then, remembering that she still had the librarian, she looked back over at him, also mouthing another apology. she then bent down, fumbling to pick up the book she dropped. By this time the librarian had already gone away, shaking his head and wondering about the crazy kids these days with their crazy book dropping and stuff.

The book kept sliding out of Zoe's hands though, mostly because she was now nervous in addition to wearing gloves and such.

[Maelea Mareaux]

The yelp made her jerk back almost falling over in the process. Eyes huge her jaw was actually hanging open in shock. Jumping again when the girl let out yet another yelp. The girl was acting like she had PTSD or something."What? Wha' in tarnation was tha' for?" She cracked out the words suddenly afraid to move in case she made the girl yell again.

Mae looked over at the librarian and held up her hands as if to say 'I ain't gotta clue.' Which she didn't, so it was a ligit look. Gawking at the girl flounder around trying to talk she didn't know if she should just run away or what. Finally she inched closer then knelt on the ground as Zoe was desperately trying to pick up the book. She took the book and held it up to her. "Hey, are you ok? I mean, I wasn' tryin' to hurt ya or anythin'..." Concern lined her features as she gazed up at the girl.

(sorry so short...)

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe blushed and actually had to fight back tears that she could feel developing. Maelea had been nothing but nice to her, yet here she was, jumping and yelping like, well, like the scared little girl she so often was. She did move her hands away from the book while Maelea moved to pick it up, then lightly took it, mumbling a "thank you" that was about as audible as a mouse's squeak.

"Yes, yes, I'm okay," she managed, her voice shaky. She ran her hands over the book, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to--I'm not--not great with meeting new people. Sorry," she flushed and stood. "You've been very nice though, um, Maelea," she said, flushing and looking down. She was tempted to tell the other girl she was pretty too, but she wasn't sure how well that would go over. Not every girl would appreciate getting a comment like that. Maelea was though, and Zoe found herself thinking that.

"Um," she tried, swallowing hard, "did---why are you here? I mean in the library?" she flushed, looking around. "I think you might've said something, but, um, I forgot," she whispered the last few words, turning red and lowering her head to cover her face with the book.

[Maelea Mareaux]

Was it just her or were those fearful eyes getting glassy with tears? No, surely not. She was seeing things, but still it made her all the more worried about the girl. Mae shifted back to rest on her heels at the girl took the book, but ended up leaning forward again trying to hear her talk. "Are you talkin'? Cuz if you are I can' hear ya." Almost raising a hand to cup around her ear she shook her head in amazement at how utterly shy Zoe was.

Standing slowly she made sure to give the sheepish girl plenty of personal space and try to look as non-threatening as possible. Something she wasn't very good at honestly her innocent look was more learing under her bangs eyes even more intense with the black eye liner. But she could at least try. Dang, this girl blushed like a school girl in all the story books. "Tsh, don' fret yourself a second over it. Jus' don' wanna scare ya none."

Mae shrugged smiling at her as she wrapped her arms around her waist where she hoped would be the least scary pose. "I like to read." It was a simple short answer, but it was the truth. "I come 'ere ta get away from people, or well, most people. Plus I like the smell of books."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Don't fret; Zoe took a deep breath, wishing that it were that easy. The deep breath did help, mind; it made Zoe's heart slow a little, her pulse rate getting a little closer to normal. Maelea just kept being so nice, and she was so pretty too, with that rich accent and such. though Zoe supposed that her own accent had a nice ring to it too, if it came to that. "I'll try not to be scared," mumbled Zoe, wishing, again, that it were that easy.

The answer was easy and simple and made Zoe feel like her question was kind of stupid. Who was to say that someone couldn't come to the library just because she liked to read? Lots of people did. Getting away from people and toward books made sense too. Zoe rubbed at the one she held, looking about. "There is something nice about a quiet place like this,' she admitted, her voice still soft, but at least audible at this rate.

"I like to read too,' she tried, forcing her voice up, "though, um, mostly poetry and books about art. You, um, liked to read about serial killers?" and yes, she very nearly squeaked when she said that. she felt like hiding again, but knowing Maelea, the other girl would just go and hunt her, which would make Zoe yelp and hide yet again, likely running into spiders (though technically Zoe doesn't know about that yet; give her time).