Sepia Vision [open]

[james fitzgerald redd]

The first week of classes had come and gone, and James had survived, thankfully. She pinned down her brother's daily routine, as far as hygiene and "cosmetic" care, was able to navigate through the school with (some) ease, and even managed to catch up with her own schoolwork. Luckily, her schedule at Mille-Fueille wasn't horribly draining either. At least not yet.

James decided to spend the afternoon in the main common room and maybe read up on psychology class. She found a comfortable spot in an empty alcove, propping up her back and cast with several cushions. However, she found her attention wandering and concentration thus completely shot. After an hour of staring at the same page, she tossed the textbook onto the floor with an irritated sigh.

She, honestly, didn't want to be here. The classes were a joke, the administration was unorganized as hell (besides, who in their right mind decided to hire people fresh out of college, or at least in that age range, to be teachers? Did any of them even have teaching degrees?), and people here were so up-in-the-clouds. This was so ridiculous. She would much rather be at Harvard than here. Or even at home. She could give anything to be at home right now.

James sighed again, rubbing her temples. Goddamnit, she was homesick.

[ellyllon mary arthur]

[/i] She wondered, annoyed at her short stature.
Breathing heavy when she finally closed the chiffon over the window, she turned and looked back at her desk. Papers were sprawled across the wooden surface; her laptop was glaring with a bright white screen, black, double spaced markings waiting for her to write more.

She sighed. Ellyllon had been working on homework for the past few hours and making little progress. Her assigned essay, which was supposed to be eight pages long but she had only suffered through two, was giving her a migraine. The girl covered her eyes with hands, groaning. She had never been one to slack on her studies, but this week had been a particularly difficult one. Ellyllon had become increasingly disinterested in her work the longer she tried to understand it. Uncovering her eyes, she slacked against the wall, thinking. She had to do something to refresh her mind and let herself start anew with this essay; and the other homework her teachers had assigned her.

Ellyllon walked back to the desk, and, ignoring her laptop and the essay on it, she opened one of the filing drawers. Inside it was sheet music arranged by skill and length of practice that had been given to Ellyllon by her music teacher. She had been instructed to practice during the year away at school, and Ellyllon was so exuberant about piano that these lessons didn't seem to be chores as much as they were therapy sessions. She had hated piano as a little girl but had come to enjoy it and the passion, the energy and the ability it required. Ellyllon played piano whenever she needed a break from the stress her parents, school, or even Edward caused her.

After taking out a few sheets from the front of the file, Ellyllon straightened and closed the drawer. She patted down the front of her jumperskirt, smoothing out any wrinkles from her remarkably thin waist. Her bag was on the ground near her desk; she scooped it up, careful not to bend any of her music as she did so. She straightened the ribbon on her bonnet, brushing out her long, silky hair with her fingers as she stood. Before walking out the door, the girl grabbed the parasol leaning against the wall, letting it hang next to her off-white bag at the base of her forearm.
On a whim, Ellyllon decided to get some coffee before going to the music room. The dining hall was further away than the main common, so the girl stopped by there before continuing upstairs.
When she walked into the main commons, the girl jumped in surprise, nearly dropping her music and bag upon the stone floor below her. Her shoes squeaked as she came to an abrupt stop in the doorway of the common room, barely missing ta textbook as it on the floor in front of her. It stopped just an inch from her pink feet; she looked down, her heart beating quickly.

Ellyllon's eyes went to the boy sitting in the chair, looking obviously distraught. He was undeniably handsome; her heart pumped a little faster looking at him, but the girl knew that Edward still had her under lock and key. Still, this boy was not hard on the eyes by any means.
Ellyllon bent down carefully, her movements tentative. She took the textbook in her hands, her sheet music hidden under it. Blushing, the girl stood up, her biceps trembling under the weight of the book. The girl really did have little strength except in her legs, due to her inclination for running but not for lifting.

She walked forward apprehensively, her steps quiet upon the cold floor. She stopped just in front of the boy, her expression concerned but hidden with nervousness. It was hard for her to meet new people, especially boys.
"Are you alright?" Ellyllon inquired, her voice very soft. She held the textbook out the the boy. Ellyllon noticed, her concern deepening and her face flushing, that the boy had been rubbing his temples. Perhaps he had a headache?
"I-I have Advil in my bag, if you need it," The girl breathed, ready to do anything to make this boy feel better. She didn't like seeing anyone in pain; it hurt her just as much as it might hurt the other person. Ellyllon was
a sucker for being empathetic to the point of silliness.[/ul]

[james fitzgerald redd]

James blinked and looked up, lowering her hand. The book she had carelessly thrown aside was before her again, a female student having approached her. "Oh, I'm all right," she replied, flashing a warm smile. "Just having trouble concentrating, that's all. Psychology isn't exactly a grand interest of mine."

It was true in both cases, significantly so for her brother. Just looking at the textbook was nearly enough to cause her to sneer, however, she instead noted the trembling in the girls' hands and arms, which either told of a lack of upper body strength or simple nervousness. James glanced up at the younger girl's face again, and her expression seemed to hint towards the latter. "Thank you for your concern. I apologize if I startled you," she said, keeping a friendly expression and resisting every and all urge to gag at the flowery language that just came from her mouth. Who even spoke like this anymore? Well, her brother did, it was particularly noticeable towards the first few days home from break.

James extended a hand, her thumb and middle finger sporting silver, engraved bands, to relieve the girl of that awful textbook. In doing so, she also seemed to grab hold of something else that she didn't notice until a page fluttered to the floor. Her notebook was sitting next to her in the alcove so it obviously wasn't hers. She flipped her book over, several pages of what appeared to be music pinned to the cover by her fingers. "Oh, sorry," she said quickly, setting the textbook aside. Leaning over briefly, she plucked up the page that had fallen to the ground and returned it to the stack, which she held out to the female student with an apologetic smile. "These are probably yours. Do you play music?"

[ellyllon mary arthur]

[/i] sure that she had her music with her just a second ago! Oh, how could she loose it, practice was so important to her--
With a light, blissful feeling of relief, the girl looked back to James to discover her sheet music was with him. She must have left it under the book when handing it to him; Ellyllon was probably much too focused upon James' features; it was a terrible habit of hers. She couldn't help her attraction to beauty. The boy wasn't exactly to her tastes; she preferred sharper, masculine features. James had a strangely feminine quality to his face; and while it made him nothing less than pretty, the boy did not completely appeal to her. Ellyllon felt if she could get over her initial reaction to James' features she would prefer to see what was beneath the skin rather than obsess over what the boy looked like on the outside.

She grinned, her features shy. With a slightly trembling hand she reached out to take her sheet music, grasping it and pulling the sheets from James' soft, feminine hands.
"It's perfectly alright," said Ellyllon, a hint of bashful laughter painting her words. She took the music and held it under her arm, another hand going to push back some stray hairs which hand fallen in front of her eyes.
"Oh...well, yes, I do," she said, blushing. Not many people were this inquisitive of her, but she felt at ease speaking with James, more at ease than she felt with any other boys; except for Edward.
"I play the piano. It is one of my favorite things to do when I am avoiding schoolwork," she giggled, her voice sweet, innocent. "Do you play any instruments?" The girl asked curiously. She could not help but talk to James; it was unforgivably easy to do so.[/ul]

[james fitzgerald redd]

"Ah, I play the piano as well," James replied. "Not much else. I dabbled a little bit in guitar, but it wasn't doing well for my hands." Which was true. Those poor calluses that were necessary were something that her brother simply couldn't have. It was enough to make her eyes roll. "How long have you been playing?"

Like with a lot of others, she noticed that she was under a rather probing eye, which caused the hairs on the nape of her neck to rise. What was with everyone and staring? She looked near enough like her brother it would have been fine, and yet she was running across a bunch of unfamiliar students.

Speaking of.

"Oh, I'm James Redd, by the way," she said with a smile and a nod. "I don't think we're acquainted." At least, she hoped not.