It's Not Mine

[Richard Maddox]

One Long Night. By Dimitri Law. Richard couldn't help but stare. To hold the book in his hand. With its own cover. The third in the series. It wasn't his work. Yet it was his words. It was his ideas. It was his world. But not his name. To the rest of the world, it was Dimitri. Dimitri who came up with daring adventures. With wondrous landscapes. With dangerous monsters. With compelling characters. Not Richard. His name was only known by the publishers. That was the deal he'd struck. He was content. He was alone. And yet he wondered. That singular question.

What if? What if he'd put his name there. What if it was Richard and not Dimitri? Did he really want to find out? Did he really want the attention? At the end of his spontaneous thought, his answer was the same. No. No he did not. He was fine with the shadows. Let the public believe in Dimitri. Let him take the credit. Richard would rather be left behind. Left alone to make more stories. He sighed and slide the book back into place. With the rest of the new arrivals. Whether his sigh was from defeat or relief, Richard himself did not know.

[Emma Delacroix]

She noticed him the moment she stepped into the bookstore. He wasn't hard to miss, after all. He was handsome, in a rugged kind of way. The kind of way you expected a single dad to look, or perhaps someone who'd lost their wife to cancer. And that, naturally made the blonde immediately interested.

She couldn't quite decipher his expression either, the way he stared at the book was so... No, she didn't know and yet, she recognized it. As if she'd seen it not so long ago. Where, though, she couldn't remember and quickly decided that it didn't matter.

"You know," she began as she positioned herself in front of the man, casually leaning back against the bookstores and folding her hands neatly in front of her. "The only time I've ever seen a man stare so intently at something is when a cheeseburger is placed in front of him." Yes, she didn't exactly meet a lot of cultivated men - then again, she did work at a bar.

[Richard Maddox]

There was a voice yet again. Richard glanced over with his eyes. Another woman. Once again one most could easily call beautiful. From what he could tell, she was confident. She'd stood directly in his path. Most left him alone. As he liked. Yet her sentence wasn't hostile. Only conversational. He looked back at his book. No, not his. Dimitri's book. Then he glanced back at the woman, meeting her eyes. It was a habit. Some might say his gaze could be unnerving.

"You must meet many hungry men." He said. He wasn't sure what else to say. Conversation was not his forte. He wished there were a better way for him to convey that besides speaking. "I doubt you'd find a cheeseburger in here for a man to stare at anyhow." She likely knew that obvious fact. Grease was not well placed around paper. it was why Richard kept it from his own works. Too dangerous. Too risky. He'd rather not learn from a mistake when he could prevent it altogether.

[Emma Delacroix]

The gaze she was offered was... Different. She liked it. She was far too used to people looking at her as if she was some kind of lamb walking into the lion's den. And even though she tried proving herself over and over again, the predators kept coming. She didn't look away, though. In fact, the way he looked at her only made her gaze steadier.

Then, she chuckled. "You could say that," she answered truthfully. She saw no point in lying. Looking around, the blonde shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know," she began, almost thoughtfully before she looked back at him. "I've seen cheeseburgers in stranger places." Then blue eyes dropped to the book in his hands; only for a second and only briefly. She didn't recognize it, so it held no interest to her.

[Richard Maddox]

She held his gaze. Her body language didn't change either. From what he could see, she didn't mind it. Odd. Yet interesting. Suddenly Richard's attention was shifting more towards reality. It wasn't something that normally happened. He much preferred the worlds in his head. He was in control there. He was comfortable there. He also didn't need to talk. Which he did now, as the woman continued with the conversation. Even more odd, she chuckled.

Humor wasn't something Richard got associated with. It was curious enough that the emotion spread across his features. But only for a moment. "You must see a lot of strange things then." He answered. His gaze then dropped down to the book in his hands. Not his book. Not Dimitri's either. It was another one that had intrigued him. For research more than anything. It made him realize. "I suspect you came here for a book rather than a stranger."

[Emma Delacroix]

"You bet," she replied with a cheeky grin. Again, she saw no point in being anything but honest. Then, she wasn't known for lying, but he didn't know that. She found an odd sense of comfort in that, as she always did. Then, it wasn't as if the blonde enjoyed letting people get to know her. She always kept them on an arm's reach. The topic shifted then and the blonde shrugged. "Most people claim I don't strike them as the kind of person who would read." They weren't wrong.

She wasn't here to read either - or here looking for a book. She was still in the process of getting to know the town and well, sitting home alone in her small apartment while waiting for her shift to start had seemed far too depressing. So, exploring the town was the only thing left.

[Richard Maddox]

A cheeky grin. He was unused to seeing it. It was something one of his characters got to see. Not him. Yet here he was on the receiving end. He wasn't sure what to think. But he felt she was being honest. Even if she wasn't, he wouldn't care. She was likely to forget him soon after. The conversation would be swift to go. For now it continued on. She claimed she wasn't one to read. He observed her, his gaze finally leaving her eyes. It soon returned back, and held for a while.

"You strike me as the type of person not to care what others think." From her posture and way of speaking, it was what Richard drew. She seemed in control. Far more in control of reality than he was. Most people were, in comparison to him. Richard didn't care much for it anyhow. "You're exploring?"

[Emma Delacroix]

She snapped her fingers at that. "See, this isn't so hard," she congratulated him. The grin hadn't left her face. Not even for a second. This, was what Emma enjoyed. Meeting people she could talk to, on a deeper level than simply asking them what kind of drink they wanted or listening to some kind of sad sob story about how their significant others were cheating on them. She realized then, that her life was a cliche. How ironic.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I've yet to see much of this town," she continued. This was a safe topic. Nothing personal about it. This was enjoyable. "And bookstores often hide the most interesting people." People who sought solitude, whether it was to think or to run away to a different world. They usually hid around places with books filled with magical stories and adventures.

[Richard Maddox]

Still grinning, even a snap. Richard wasn't sure how to feel about that. Discomforted? Glad? It was the most he'd ever gotten out of someone. It didn't seem fake either. As far as he knew anyhow. She was enjoying this. She was enjoying talking to him Whether it was to mock him or not, Richard didn't know. yet as she continued, he had no choice but to reply in turn. Ignoring her wouldn't be a good idea. Even so, he was finding himself intrigued by this woman. She was different.

The town. It was easy for him to see how much they contrasted. Richard had seen many places. It came with seeking inspiration. Yet she would do much better fitting into the crowd. Richard only faded from it. "I believe you." He'd found her hadn't he? She was already interesting by continuing their conversation for so long. "You should explore more. There's much. If you don't mind noise."

[Emma Delacroix]

His words finally broke the smile the blonde carried and confusion laced her gaze. Just for a split second; He believed her. It wasn't something she was used to hearing and it almost felt alien, even coming from a stranger. Though, she quickly gathered herself and offered him a casual shrug in return. "I don't mind the noise, but I prefer the simplicity of silence even more." Which, she supposed, was ironic given her career choice. But beggars can't be choosers.

"Is that your way of telling me to get out of your way?" she began, but continued before he could answer. "Or is that your way of asking me out?" Perhaps a little too forward, but she always enjoyed the element of surprise. Always keeping people guessing, even if that meant teasing a complete stranger.

[Richard Maddox]

The smile broke. Something had changed. There was confusion in her eyes now. Confusion from his words. The fact he could change someone's emotion so quickly was startling to him. He didn't think he held that kind of power in reality. Yet soon it was gone. He watched the look fade from her eyes. She shrugged, and her stance returned. She preferred silence. Something they seemed to have in common. "I suggest the lake. Or the library." He answered even without a question. "The park only at later times." Too many went there during the day. Richard liked to avoid the crowd there.

Two questions. One slightly correct. The other surprising. Enough so that it showed. His face morphed into a slight frown. Asking her out? The concept was almost foreign to him. He wasn't someone who got romance. That was something in stories. that was something for other people. Normal people. People who fit better in society. "No." He answered. "It was advice. It's yours to do with as you please."

[Emma Delacroix]

"You're quite well-known around this place," she noted, though more so to herself than to him, but she figured it worked well either way. It was a compliment of sorts. She'd always appreciated knowledge that could be backed up and even without proof, she could tell this guy knew exactly what he was talking about. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind, though."

Emma thrived on the fact that she'd managed to catch the man off guard and it probably showed too. Then, she took on a mock pout at his rejection, but the smile still played around at the corner of her eyes. She couldn't be mad. In fact, she enjoyed the fact that he didn't automatically jump at the offer. She liked a challenge. "No? Aw, that's too bad," she said, the mock pout still coloring her expression. "I've never been particularly good at taking advice into consideration," she warned him, a smile now splaying over her plump lips.

[Richard Maddox]

A heart beat passed where his stopped. Then it continued and he understood. She wasn't talking about Dimitri. She seemed to be almost complimenting him. Again he was shocked. The woman was surprising him the more he interacted. He was almost enjoying himself. She even claimed she'd heed his advice. Whether or not she did, Richard didn't care. He only nodded. She seemed the type to do as she pleased as well. Richard held no power over her actions. He could only make her react to him.

She pouted. It was even more foreign to him than the grin. Yet her eyes still held that. The grin within them. She was happy with his answer. Or at least not mad. At least he wouldn't have to deal with that. But he did have to deal with another smile. It removed the fake pout and matched her eyes now. Yet he wasn't sure what she was using it for. He shrugged. "Do or don't. The choice is yours. I'm only a stranger to you."

[Emma Delacroix]

"Yet," she reminded him with a finger dancing in the air before falling still to her side. "Isn't that how all stories begin, with a meeting between two strangers?" She assumed he enjoyed books. He seemed the type. And really, few people came to places like these for the same reasons she had. Therefore, the blonde figured the best way to socialize was to use what she assumed, he knew best, books. 

Though, it was rather silly, assuming such things, but then, she'd never met someone who hung around places like this, not having interest in the world books offered. She might not have read a lot of them, but even the simplest of minds knew what many of them revolved around. She was no stranger to assuming or putting two and two together.

[Richard Maddox]

She held up a finger. She made a point. A point with the beginning of stories. A point that made Richard do something he rarely ever did. He smiled. It was small. It was hardly noticeable. It was gone in the same instant it appeared. Yet it had been there. And it had surprised Richard as much as this woman was. "You're right." He conceded. "For the most part." he added.

She dropped the hand. Richard contemplated her. This was the longest he had gone conversing with someone. The only comparison he could drawn from memory was from university. His parents would rush. His publishers would speak for him. Only his professor had truly listened. Him and her. Why she hadn't walked away yet was a mystery Richard had yet to solve. Ever more curious. Which again made him realize. "I don't know your name."