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Post by Spencer Hayes on Sept 21, 2007 21:18:19 GMT -5
Spencer liked the river. he had always liked the river, really. It was calm, peaceful and generally quite of human activity, which he liked. He could be alone, which he enjoyed. Even during the summer, he lied walking along the banks, usually by the little road, but sometimes off the road and closer to the edge of the water. Though he had seen people swim in the calm river, he himself had never done so and did not plan to. It wasn't something that appealed to him.
Today, on this rather warm Summer day, Spencer was wearing his typical clothes as he walked along the road by the river. His jeans, dark blue, were perhaps a little tighter then was typical, as was his blue shirt. Fashion never mattered to him, probably never would, and he simply liked the feeling of the fabric on his skin. It was one of his little ticks. His green messenger bag hit his right leg gently with every step and he could feel the edge of the thick physics textbook he had stashed in there. He planned to read it later, purely for enjoyment's sake.
He heard and saw the cars going by but paid them no mind. He was aware of them, unable to filter them out, but he focused instead on his footsteps, and the sound of the slowly moving water and the grass under his shoes and the quite call of birds and the sounds of the wind through the leaves. It was a trick his therapist had taught him, to focus on more desirable things in a effort to filter less desirable things out. It was not entirely effective, but it helped.
Spencer soon found a spot by the river, covered in grass, where he was a little ways off the road and had a very nice view of the water. he sat down, positioning himself carefully, easily, slowly. he was a meticulous sort of boy and overly aware of everything. It was his nature. His opened the flap of his messenger bag and extracted his book. It was heavy in his hands but he liked the weight. His eyes followed a slow curl of water, instantly and utterly focused on the little wave. It was pretty and he followed it down the river, watching it fade into the other little curls and waves. It was fascinating really.
The he heard footsteps behind him. Spencer was not a paranoid individual. he was overly trusting in fact and felt no real fear. However, he did not turn around either, not bothering to think about the person near him because it was as if they didn't matter. The majority of his attention was focused on the river anyway, an the flow and curves of the water, though he was still aware of the weight in his hands and the grass beneath him and the traffic sounds in the background.
Eventually though, perhaps with spoken words, the, as yet unidentified, person would capture his attention.
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Post by Tori Kilbourne on Sept 21, 2007 22:19:38 GMT -5
Tori didn't really know what to do with herself. She had no boundaries as to what she could do now, but she didn't actually have anything to do. Sure she could spend the day brushing up on her languages, practicing martial arts, or hacking into a computer, but she didn't really feel like it. She felt the need for fresh air and even though she could tell you the layout of the whole town she decided to explore anyway.
She was dressed casually, and normally. Dark blue jeans and a red tank top. Her blonde hair was loose and she wore plain black flats. She looked like just another girl you would see on the street, as was her intention. She didn't know anyone here yet, and she wasn't sure if she wanted this to change or not. Since she was unsure she decided to take herself out to the river. She hoped it was quiet there, although she had no clear plans of what she hoped to do there.
She stalked towards the river not taking any care to be silent. Although she had been trained to always walk quietly so as not to give her enemies a chance, but she figured that no one here was going to hurt her. She walked through the natural surroundings before finding herself in a clearing by the river, twigs cracking and snapping loudly as she went. She couldn't completely disregard her training though and as such immediately surveyed the clearing.
The only thing she really noticed was a guy. He didn't seem to have noticed her though, he seemed to be very intently staring at the river. He seemed to be about the same age, but she hadn't yet seen him around. Although she hadn't spoken to anyone yet, she had catalogued every person she had seen in her mind and knew she had not seen him. She didn't want to break his concentration and as such moved back into stealth mode. Walking silently behind him so that he could retain his privacy. She really wished she could talk to him, it would be nice to meet someone here, but he seemed to be busy.
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Post by Spencer Hayes on Sept 22, 2007 12:54:05 GMT -5
Spencer's focus was drawn away from the water and on the person behind him when he noticed that whoever it was was walking with exceptional care and almost silence, which struck him as odd. Whoever it was was making notably less noise then a typical person, even one attempting to make as little noise as possible.
Though Spencer wasn't aware of it (he didn't think much about other people and just took for granted his abilities were similar to those of more 'normal' people) the fact was the person's movements would have been silent to the vast majority of individuals on this earth. Spencer though was quite different form the majority of people and very little escaped his senses, particularly his ability to hear things. It was part of his nature, being overly sensitive in all senses. It was why he was particularly picky about his closes, why he noticed little things about people. It was little things.
Because the person lack of the typical am out on noise was an anomaly, he actually consciously focused on this person, who he believed was walking away, but he could;n't be entirely sure. That was quite something, actually, and a tribute to the person's abilities. So he clutched the cover of his book, feeling the smooth surface beneath his fingers, and turned around his head to see who was behind him.
It was a girl. She was blond and her hair hung lose down her back, except a small strand that made it over her shoulder. She had blue jeans that were darker then Spencer's jeans by a few shades and Spencer rather liked the color. She had a red tank top that matched the color of of a pair of socks he had very closely. She had black flats on as well, but Spencer didn't take much note of that because he was rather taken by the color of her hair. He looked at her, with an unblinking stare that was rather typical of him and unnerved some people. She had stopped moving and perhaps she was shocked to realize he had heard her, but Spencer didn't know. He was rather oblivious to that so of thing and he could not read facial expressions. He just lacked that ability.
Spencer had not seen her before and when Spencer had not seen someone before, that was really true. He had an extraordinary memory and could remember every person he had layed eyes on, even people he had simply passed in the street, only seen a split second. It wasn't something he thought much about, because it was just part of who he was.
He didn't say anything, because initializing conversations was not something that really occurred to him. So he simply stared at her, observeing her with his empty, unblinking blue eyes, trying to catalog every little thing about her.
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Post by Tori Kilbourne on Sept 22, 2007 22:54:53 GMT -5
Tori was taken aback when the guy looked at her. She stopped and looked back. It was odd that he had noticed her, but not unheard of. The oddest thing though was that he seemed to be studying her, it almost seemed as if he were trying to memorize her. So she looked back memorizing him as well. Her first thought was that he may have been on of the boys from her sibling school where they trained boys to be spies instead of girls. However she knew she shouldn't assume things, he may have just been a very observant person naturally.
She kept her eyes on him taking in the fact that his clothes, all in blue hues seemed to be tighter than most guys wore theirs. He carried a green messanger bag and held a physics textbook. Obviously intelligent if he's reading a physics textbook for fun she catalogued in her mind. She walked, noticing that his eyes never moved from her and sat down close enough to him so that if a conversation happened they would be able to hear each other, but not close enough to be considered to be invading his space.
She felt a little odd with him studying her so intently. She was supposed to be the invisible one, the one who could just blend, if she didn't want to be seen she never was. Most people didn't spare her a second glance. She felt slightly self conscious and found herself squirming under his gaze.
Finally she realized he wasn't going to say anything, and if she wanted a conversation she had better start it. The only problem was she wasn't yet sure if she really wanted a conversation. However, against her better judgement she opened her mouth. "Hello" she said softly, but firmly, "I'm Tori, what's your name?" She felt odd talking to a guy. She hadn't really realized until now how unexperienced she was at making small talk. Most of her conversation up until now had been with a bunch of girls and mostly about homework, or cove ops assignments.
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Post by Spencer Hayes on Sept 23, 2007 7:01:08 GMT -5
She looked back at him and he noticed the little movement in her eyes that were probably her looking at him, cataloging everything about him as he had done to her only moments ago. It didn't bother him in the least.
She sat down near him, perhaps near enough to touch him if her watched out her arm and he reached out his. But she was firmly in her own space and he was firmly in his. He liked that, because when people were to close to him, people he didn't know very well, it made him very uncomfortable. He decided that if this girl respected his space she was a good person.
She looked at him for several moments, and he was actually glad that she had sit because it put less strain on his neck. He gripped his book a little tighter, running his fingers gently over the cover in little circles, not moving his hands only his fingers. Spencer was not bothered by the silence, because it was a natural state for him, nor did he realize the girl wanted to talk. He was not good with piking up any kind of little social cues. He also didn't notice that she was slightly uncomfortable with him staring at her.
"Hello. I'm Tori, what's your name?"
Spencer blinked several times in quick succession, almost as if he was surprised to here her speak. He wasn't. He didn't get surprised very easily. He was simply adjusting, refocusing.
Tori... that was her name. He memorized it instantly, putting it with all the little buts of memory he had of her in the last 5 minutes. Tori... he rather liked that name.
"Spencer Hayes," he told her in his blank voice. He blinked again, just once, waiting for her to ask another question, or waiting for her to return to the silence. He was not good with initiating conversations or continuing them. He wasn't good at speaking for long periods of time in general. Like his vocal cords have atrophied, and he just needed to work them out a little bit.
He did know, he rather liked this girl and wished she would stay fora while, because she let him keep his space, because she asked him questions, because she was abnormally quiet when she walked, because she looked at him. He, because he was Spencer, didn't connect wanting her to stay with continuing to speak. It just didn't occur to him, so it was all up to this girl.
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Post by Tori Kilbourne on Sept 23, 2007 9:45:04 GMT -5
Tori glanced at the book the boy held, and had to say she didn't quite know what to think about it. He was running his fingers over it in little circles which would seem to her to be something he did when he was nervous, and yet he didn't seem to be nervous at all. Maybe her mother was right, and she did need some experience with real people if this one guy was throwing her off.
When she said her name he blinked at her. This guy was so peculiar, and she loved it. It was so nice to meet someone who had not been trained to be suspicious and on guard at all times. She was taken aback for a moment when she heard his voice. It seemed so blank, and devoid of emotion. It reminded her of the voice of people who had gone under CIA torture and had finally been broken. She shrugged off the thought realizing that it was rediculous, people like that were never re-released into the world.
Spencer, she thought to herself. It wasn't a particularly special name, but it didn't ring any bells in her head or anything, so she figured it was alright for her to be talking to him unguardedly. "Well, if we're giving last names as well it's Tori Kilbourne" she told him breaking the silence. The silence was nice, it wasn't often you met someone who could appreciate the beauty of it like she could.
She allowed the silence to reign for awhile as she thought about what else she could say or ask. "Spencer" she said using her name by habit, it was something she had been taught from a young age to throw people off guard, "How old are you" she asked him. She was actually very curious, although curious was basically just her natural state of being.
"I'm seventeen if you were wondering." she informed him thoughtfully, "I'm sorry if I disturbed you. Especially your reading." She paused and then added, "I know how bad it can be when reading is interrupted. Especially if you're interested."
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Post by Spencer Hayes on Sept 24, 2007 18:43:34 GMT -5
"Well, if we're giving last names as well it's Tori Kilbourne"
He thought briefly about pointing out that they weren't giving out last names, it was only him until that moment. And besides that, the verb 'give' was a rather odd one to use when referring to names. Names were nouns by definition and use in the English language but they were not physical nouns. He supposed that 'give' could mean, 'to assign', which would make sense when dealing with names, but that would mean that he would give a name to her. He could not really assign his name to her, that wouldn't make much sense.
The thought process he went through to rationalize that was very quick, just a moment of silence. It was all his concrete logical and so he thought about questioning her, for clarity's sake, what she really meant, and that he was the only one to really say his last name. (He would have much preferred the word, offer, which would fit just fine). He didn't say anything, just sat there, wrinkled his brow a little as if trying to bring this girl into clearer focus.
"Spencer, How old are you"
" I am 16 years 5 moths and 2 days old," he said instantly. He was good at this type of question, direct, literal questions. He could answer them easily and though she was not expecting an answer that specific, the thought did not occur to him. He liked this girl for asking such simple questions. So many people asked questions he didn't understand and confused him and it bothered him.
"I'm seventeen if you were wondering. I'm sorry if I disturbed you. Especially your reading. I know how bad it can be when reading is interrupted. Especially if you're interested."
He was wondering how old she was, just a little bit, at the back of his mind and so it was very nice that she had told him. It was also nice that she had addressed his wondering, and used the word 'if'. It left thingsa... open. He liked that. It was just the right about of specificity. Though he didn't really rationalize it like that, he just knew he rather liked talking to her. It also didn't occur to him that he was not doing much talking. he never talked much anyway.
He waited for her to finished and then for a few moments of silence. He looked down to his book and spread his hands across the cover, feeling it slick beneath his hands. He focused on his hands for a moment, pressing them into the cover of the text book.
"You didn't disturb me," Spencer said softly, still with his empty voice, his eyes on his textbook. It was true. Disturb would indicate he was somehow disadvantaged by her presence or that her presence was not desired. Neither of those were true.
"I wasn't reading," he added after a moment. That was also true. "I believe I intended to read this book at one point today, but I was rather... distracted by the river. Then you entered my vicinity and I am speaking to you now." He finished. The thing about Spencer was that once he started talking, he could really talk. He needed to explain things throughly, it was just one of his things.
He slid his hands to the sides of the cover and gripped the textbook again, the bones in his hands popping out visibly. He was a very skinny child, visible bones came with the territory. Sometimes he got in a mood and just didn't eat... sometimes for days. He didn't feel comfortable. His therapist was working with him no that.
He looked at Tori again, though his attention was always on her and there was the slightest glimmer of hope in his eyes. He really liked this moment in time, which was not necessarily an odd thing, but it was interesting.
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