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+--- Thread: [G] [O] 742.02.13 | An Innocent Read (/showthread.php?tid=4835)
742.02.13 | An Innocent Read - Ferra - 13.Feb.21
This was wrong, Ferra knew it deep in her heart, and yet she was still there, skulking about the library like some common villainous whore, clutching the book as she looked for a quiet corner to read in. She'd heard some of the other girls in class talking about this book and she was so curious that she'd been having bizarre and upsetting dreams and maybe, just maybe if she read the thing she could move on with her life.
Shakily, she sat down and stared at the book, taking a deep breath to steel her nerves. She would read this dirty book, about kissing and boys and stupid drivel like that, and she would surely find it awful, and that would be that. At least, that was Ferra's goal. After one more nervous look around she curled up in the large plush chair in the quiet corner she'd found, knees up to hide the cover of the book from any prying eyes, and she flipped it open to start.
The main "hero" was some terrible rich lordling and that set a sour tone for the book for her. Clearly this was all lies, he was too rich to care about some kitchen worker, his charming attitude was probably all lies. He certainly wasn't going to fight his family for a servant girl. But still she kept reading, and somehow found herself just completely absorbed in how he kept holding her, kept kissing her, and then suddenly they were removing clothes and Ferra bit her lip.
She was completely oblivious to the outside world, so when she heard someone clear their throat she almost jumped out of the chair entirely, slamming the book shut as she tried to cover it with her hand. "Nothing! I'm not doing anything!"
RE: 742.02.13 | An Innocent Read - Kalea - 14.Feb.21
Kalea was hiding from F’drel’s latest attempt to get her to study with some teacher or another. Kalea didn’t know who, didn’t care. She wasn’t interested. So while she’d gone to the library like she was supposed to, she’d been quick to hide herself away from sight. She was here, that had to be good enough, right? She really didn’t want to be bogged down learning more about numbers or words or politics or whatever it was her latest teacher decided she needed to know. Kalea hated lessons!
It was while she was hidden away between a couple of shelves, with an overlarge and boring book propped up in front of her to hide her face, that Kalea saw Ferra make her way through the library, looking remarkably guilty. Which wasn’t really odd, but still managed to catch Kalea’s attention, and she shifted the book to better hide herself as she watched her older sister curiously. She blinked when Ferra simply curled up in a big chair with a book and started to read, and she probably would have left her to it without any further attention, but Ferra was pulling some interesting faces – and she even blushed! Kalea was invested now, and a smirk formed mischievously across her lips.
Now, Kalea didn’t mean to sneak over to Ferra – she wasn’t trying to be sneaky – so she was surprised when she had to clear her throat to get her sister’s attention. She burst into peals of laughter at the response she received from the simple sound, and her eyebrows arched upwards and her lips twisted back into that mischievous smile she was favouring that day. “Is that so?” she asked slyly, before darting forward and scrabbling against her sister to steal the book, dancing backwards when she finally won. “What are you reading?” Kalea asked with great curiosity, keeping Ferra in her gaze but looking at the book as she flipped it open.
RE: 742.02.13 | An Innocent Read - Ferra - 14.Feb.21
Oh no. Oh no! This was possibly one of the worst people who could have stumbled on her! Ferra tried to keep the book but her sister managed to wrestle it out of her hands and quickly dart away. Fuck! Oh no. OH NO. Now she was cursing, even if she hadn't done it aloud (or had she? Ferra paled at the thought). Her mind scrambled to look for some sort of explanation for what she was doing. "I... it's for a class."
She cringed even as the lie left her mouth and leapt forward to just tackle her sister in desperation and try to wrestle the book back. "Give it back! Stop being so nosy!" Ferra tried to keep her voice down in the library, but it was difficult to keep the panic from her voice. She was going to die. This was how she was going to die; of embarrassment in a library. She couldn't even blame her sister for it, this was clearly all her fault for being curious and sticking her nose where it didn't belong.
Somewhere in the library was a cough and Ferra became acutely aware that they might not be alone and that someone else could come at any moment and she hissed at her sister, hands still desperately trying to cling to the book, hoping Kalea hadn't gotten a chance to see anything too scandalous when she took her peek. "Please give it back, we're going to get in trouble. And don't tell anyone about this or... uh... I'll tell Fen you did something."
More lies, what was she doing? It was all this book's fault, clearly. Even if she did get it back she would probably just put it back on the shelf and never touch it again. She was supposed to be setting a good example, not fighting with her sister in the library!
RE: 742.02.13 | An Innocent Read - Kalea - 15.Feb.21
“A class?” Kalea asked innocently, looking up from the page she’d had opened. Her cheeks were stained red from the rather detailed sentences she’d read before her sister spoke, and she lifted both eyebrows. “I didn’t know Candidate class was so… detailed.” She said, picking up on her sister’s lie and waving the book slightly. She gave a yelp when Ferra suddenly launched at her, falling backwards onto her rear with a grunt. “Ouch!” Kalea gasped, tears springing to her eyes. She resisted the urge to hit her sister as Ferra took the book and scrambled away. “That hurt!” Kalea sniffled.
“I didn’t do anything!” Kalea glared, her voice indignant and slightly loud. “I’ll tell Fen about the book if you do!” She said, scrambling to her feet and putting her hands on her hips, staring angrily at her sister. “I’ll tell him you pushed me over, too!” Her butt was sore and she was still trying not to cry, from the pain and from her sister threatening to tell on her when she hadn’t done anything wrong. It was so unfair! She had only wanted to see what Ferra was reading! It wasn’t like she put the naughty book in her sister’s hands! Why did she have to be so mean?!
RE: 742.02.13 | An Innocent Read - Ferra - 15.Feb.21
Kalea's cry of pain made Ferra instantly regret everything about her day. She shouldn't have bothered with the book to begin with and she shouldn't have hurt her sister. "Oh no, Kalea... wait." She winced at how loud her sister was being and held up a finger to her lips as she tried to shush her. "Hush! We're in the library. We have to be quiet."
She carefully set the book down on a side table before going to pull Kalea into a firm hug. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. You just startled me and I was stupid because I was reading something I shouldn't have and please don't tell anyone. I didn't mean any of it." Her sister was right to be upset with her, that book had turned her into a monster! First it was making her think about things and then it made her attack her sister like some sort of terrible ruffian. "It was a terrible book, you shouldn't read it and neither should I. Look at what it made me do to you! i'm so, so sorry. How much did I hurt you?"
Ferra was so distraught over accidentally hurting her sister that she couldn't even worry about being caught by anyone else. If they were then that would just be what she deserved for being a monstrous beast of a sister when she was supposed to be trying to set a good example.
RE: 742.02.13 | An Innocent Read - Kalea - 18.Feb.21
“Don’t ‘hush’ me!” Kalea said indignantly, totally ignoring her sister’s complete sentence. “I don’t ‘hush’ you!” Her voice was loud, but not quite yelling. Not quite. It was getting close, though, and her indignation was clear. The sudden hug she was pulled into had Kalea stamping her foot – somehow not hitting her sister’s toes – and she pushed at Ferra with a glare, pouting.
“Get off me!” She said angrily, shoving at Ferra until she had her personal bubble of space back. Her bottom lip was trembling but Kalea refused to cry, which meant she was petulantly clinging to her anger. “You’re blaming the book?” Kalea hissed, her eyes wide with shock. “You picked it up! No one made you!” Her voice pitched up, loud and outraged. She ignored Ferra’s questions, and her apologies, stamping her foot in outrage.
RE: 742.02.13 | An Innocent Read - Ferra - 18.Feb.21
"Yes I know it's my own fault and I shouldn't have done it in the first place!" The hissed words came tumbling out in rapid succession as Ferra began to panic. Her voice was even softer as she tried apologizing again, "Kalea... I'm sorry. I didn't mean it..." She stumbled back away from her sister, her pulse starting to hammer in her ears as she looked around for some place to escape to. And then everything went quiet as she spotted the book she'd just discarded and snatched it back up. Couldn't just leave evidence lying around after all.
Ferra had to get away, everything was cold and numb as she just slowly backed away from her enraged sister, her own face becoming almost slack and disinterested as her mind switched gears. Get through this, get somewhere quiet and alone, and then figure this out. That was all she had to do. As soon as Kalea so much as glanced away she was around a bookshelf, walking briskly to another to move behind, winding her way evasively through the maze of shelves until she spotted the exit. Only there was a person there blocking her path.
She quickly turned around, moving further into the library until she found a different quiet corner with a little desk. That would do. Ferra took another cautious look around to make sure no one could see her before crawling under the desk, hugging her knees to her chest as she sniffled and started to cry.