The Grey Sky (Open)

[Alexis Blackwater]

The sky was threatening to either rain or snow or maybe something in between for that matter. Anyone who looked up at it could probably infer this. Far in the distance, thunder rumbled. The streets were deserted given that many were moving indoors to avoid the coming rain. However, a few stranglers came here and there trying to get quickly indoors in order to avoid getting drenched. However, one seemed to be walking down the street rather coolly as though this notion had not reached her in the least.

Alexis shifted the weight of her almost overly large backpack as she walked down the street. Her head was down, and her brown normally straight hair was being taken up by the fingers of the wind that happily played with said hair and twisted it in every which way direction. Every few seconds or so, the brown haired girl would reach up and try and settle a few restless strands of hair but to no avail. The wind appeared to be having too much fun and was refusing to give it up any time soon.

After a few more meters, the young girl seemed to slid up a long sleeve and stared down at her watch. The hands on the clock red four, yet she was unsure if this was even correct time. After a moment, Alex shook her head, pulled her sleeve back down, and then started walking a little faster. If she wanted to get to the library before whatever came down, she'd have to speed herself up. Walking just a bit faster, Alexis seemed to find her thoughts receding to something else. Well.... if she didn't get there in time... she could always just... No... not out in public... someone could see...and that...that would be bad.

Suddenly feeling a few droplets of... snow? rain? Eh... something in between... Alexis found herself running solidly now as she made her way down the street. Turning quickly, she finally made her way into the library. All but bursting through the doors, the young girl caught her breath and then allowed herself to look around. The library was enormous, and the rows of shelves almost appeared like a labyrinth of sorts. Despite this almost ominous feel to it, Alexis walked straight towards the rows of shelves and seemed to disappear in them.

Her eyes scrolled through the books that were there, yet she said nothing as she looked at them and simply allowed her senses to take the entire place in. It felt.... safe... there in the library and away from the hectic areas of school. She didn't feel so crammed and afraid. She liked it. Walking down a 'hall' full of fiction novels, Alexis finally stopped and found herself staring up at a large book on the top shelf. For one reason or another, it had struck her curiosity, and the brown haired girl found herself stepping on her tip toes and still unable to reach the book.

Looking around for someone or something to help her up to the book, Alexis finally caught sight of a chair at the end of the bookshelf. Taking the chair and then pulling it down the 'hall' before finally stepping on it and reaching up to the book, Lexi found herself still too short. Irritated but unable to accurately show it, Alexis seemed to frown rather quietly and stepped on her tip toes even on the chair. However, suddenly the weight seemed to shift, and Alexis found that she had completely forgotten about her backpack. It had left her extremely precarious to say the least of things, and...and....

Alexis didn't quite remember what happened after that. One minute, she was reaching for the book, and the next she was sitting on the floor with several books coming down on her. Cringing quietly and whimpering just as quietly, the brown haired girl slowly began to force herself up again. Wondering if anyone had seen or heard what had happened, Lexis looked around a tad afraid.

[Iona Gethen]

The winter morning was a brisk one with a roaring wind as a fog rose from the Thames River and settled lightly over London in a whole, the white haze giving only a visibility of twenty feet away. It was oddly quiet today, even the sounds of the city itself didn’t seem to stretch out so much this day, as the citizens kept things quelled as they were inside, hiding in the sanctuary of their homes from the oncoming rainfall.

The wind beat against Iona's back as she hurried past St Helen's hospital. She had just left her university, the University of London, and was heading to the local library, to research information on her essay. It was due in a couple of days, and she hadn't even started it. Technically, she didn't have to do it. Her trainer, Alana, had made sure of it. Iona had to try and find a way of splitting her time training and her time studying equaly.

She still couldn't find her way around London properly, she'd only been here a year, and she really needed to get to the library. Trying to recall the way in her head, she managed to drop all of her things. Swearing in Welsh, she tried to gather them all up but in the end just gave up, knelt down and stuffed everything into the large shoulder bag she had fortunately decided to bring today.

Standing back up, she sighed, closing her eyes and tucking a stray strand of black hair behind her ear. Her grey eyes opened, then flickered upwards, and as the fog was begining to clear, she could see the clouds. Normally, the English overcast was the same colour as her eyes, a startling grey colour. But today, they were nearly black, laden with water, or snow, or.. something between. The brunnette girl hurried on, eager to escape the rain.

But, of course, fate was not on her side. The heavens opened and down it came. It wasn't rain, nor snow. It was something in between. Soaked to the bone, Iona hurried even faster towards the library, somehwere in the back of her mind remembering the way. She had visited it numerous times in during the year. A grin appeared on her face as she saw the building, and she broke into a run towards it.

Panting as she reached the inside, pushing the doors open, she chuckled sarcastically to herself. Walking inside, she gave a brief nod of aknowledgement towards the Librarian and continued towards the section of which she needed. There was hundreds of books, lining the walls and piled upon tables. Suddenly, she heard a crash, and she poked her head around one massive bookself.

A girl was on the floor, books surrounding her, scattered here and there. A giggle fluttered past her lips and Iona wasn't sure if it went into earshot of the girl. A smirk toyed at her lips, as she watched the girl and she tilted her head, trying hard to contain her smirk.

[Alexis Blackwater]

Despite how quiet it had been, the giggle had reached Alexis's ears, and in a half second, her head had darted around looking for the source of it but not really wanting to see it, anyways. Please please please.... her mind was throwing out words and appeals despite the fact that she wasn't even sure exactly who or what she was appealing to. However, she didn't catch sight of anything around her other than a mess of books now littered on the floor. Something in Alexis squirmed. Her muscles tightened a little, and finally she decided that she wouldn't worry about whoever it was and instead set the books back as quickly as possible. Hopefully, it had just been her imagination, and no one was really there.

Starting to pick up the books with two shaky hands, the brown haired girl found her eyes skimming over the covers as she lifted each book up. However, out of sheer nervousness, Alexis's hand twitched, and once more the sound of books hitting the floor could be heard. The young girl cringed and resisted the urge to whimper again. This... this just wasn't her day... yes that was probably it.

Kneeling down and picking up a book once more, she held the book closer to her this time before looking and addressing the large bookshelf that had allowed all the books to fall. Her eyes scrolled over everything and anything, yet she couldn't accurately decipher where everything was supposed to go. The idea of asking a librarian came and went through the young girl's mind as she realized that talking to such people was probably the worst thing she could do for herself. What if they were angry at her? What if the yelled at her in this public place... or what if what.... her mind was flooding with thoughts again, and the hairs on the back of Alexis's neck began to prick. Whether this was from worry or something else, Alexis was unsure of. However, her head whipped around again, and she looked for the source of the feeling.

"H-h-hello?" she asked unsure if anyone was even going to answer her at that point or not. "Is... is anyone there?"

[Iona Gethen]

Playing with the thin pages of the book she had been holding, Iona moved out into view. It wasn't her fault, but when people fell, it was an automatic response to laugh. "Did you have a nice trip? 'Mind and send us a postcard next time, ey?" She grinned, her words thick with a Welsh accent. She let a giggle roll of of her tongue, quirking an eyebrow at the girl.

She looked a good few years younger than Iona, around five, maybe. Iona was nineteen after all. The girl looked around fourteen or fifteen. And then, the girl fell again. Iona was trying extremely hard not to let the smirk take control of her facial features. In the end, it become dominent and she chuckled lightly.

Out of politeness, which she normally did not show often, she bent down and started picking up books, putting them into piles and starting to put them onto shelves, starting at the top. She was quite a bit taller than the younger girl, and relished at the thought. Iona barely towered over anybody and she was quite happy that she could at least do it to someone.

Putting the books back on the shelf at random, not entirely caring about what order they were supposed to go in as the Librarian would most likely come and fix it later, she turned to the girl. Lounging against the bookcase, she tilted her head at the girl, still holding the book she had orginally picked up for her essay. "I'm Iona. Iona Gethen. Would you mind telling me why you pulled out all of those books onto the ground? They never did anything to hurt you, did they? I always found them to be perfectly innocent," Iona teased the girl, who was clearly embarassed.

[Alexis Blackwater]

The first thing that passed through Alexis's mind was simple and would have been effective in most instances: run. However, somehow, she fond herself glued in place even when the older girl was addressing her. W-why....why was this happening now? Alexis found her eyes move towards the mouth of the girl instead of meeting her in the eyes.

The way she talked... it.... was hard to understand at first, yet after a moment, it slowly came to Alexis's understanding that the girl was criticizing her. Red flushed on her cheeks, and for a moment, she wished that she hadn't been seen at all. However, if wishes were fishes, Alexis would have too much to eat.

When the other girl began to set up the books and things again, Alexis found her breath slowly escape her. So... so she was going to help? Maybe... er...um... hopefully....After a moment, the other girl had stopped. However, Alexis continued to try and sort the books as fluidly as she could.

"I'm Iona. Iona Gethen. Would you mind telling me why you pulled out all of those books onto the ground? They never did anything to hurt you, did they? I always found them to be perfectly innocent." In that moment, Alexis wanted to cry. Her stomach was twitching, and he whole form seemed to cringe a little at the girl's words. Alexis tried her best to avoid eye contact and focused more heavily on the book she was setting on the shelf.

"I...I....I...." Alexis found herself mumbling at best as her mind gushed with words that her mouth would not say. Darn it all. Why couldn't she just...just......She couldn't even think straight at that moment. All she wanted to do was run... Why couldn't she run again? Oh ya... her feet were more or less frozen in place from the sheer nervousness that was coursing through her. Why did she have to suddenly be thrown in the spotlight? It wasn't fair... wasn't fair at all....

"A-A-A-Alexis.....Alexis Bl-Blackwater...." she finally managed to mumble a response that was even slightly coherent. Her form shook, yet her fingers had tightened so much on the book that her knuckles had turned white. She wasn't about to let another book hit the floor if she could help it. However, this also left her form frozen then and there unable to put the book up.