Just a Touch

The rest of the Library had been too bustling for Elspeth's tastes. She liked to hang out with her friends between the stacks as much as the next student, but today she actually wanted to try and get some work done so she could spend the weekend outside by the lake. She'd brought her copy of Magical Theory along with her in the hopes of reading a chapter she was supposed to have read already. But lately, Elspeth had a hard time staying focused on her reading, glazing over the same paragraph multiple times before giving up again.

There was a seat open at a table, and there was only one student there who appeared to be deeply involved in their homework. Elspeth took a look around to make sure there weren't any other open tables nearby, worried that her sitting would break the concentration of this stranger. The book they had appeared to be a bit intense, and the last thing she wanted to do was upset some student studying for an end of the year test. But, with nowhere else to sit, she gently laid her bag, book, and a small jar of warm pumpkin tea down. Trying to rustle her things as little as possible, she opened up her book to the right chapter, got out a notebook and pen, and opened up the tea allowing its aroma to waft around her a little bit. Already she had the urge to yawn, but she stifled it in her sleeve and attempted reading again.

She curled up in a ball in the seat, the top of her head just below where the head rest was with her legs crossed, knees propped up against the table's edge, and book open in her lap. Her brow furrowed as she worked to retain anything from the pages. She'd been doing perfectly fine in her classes so far this year, but found that anytime her classwork strayed from practical spellwork to theoretical she lost her ability to understand much of anything.

Oh no... she thought, realizing she'd already gone through a whole page without actually paying any attention to what she'd read. It was going to be a long session.

With @Chaya Arrow

Interacting with @Elspeth Gollens

Chaya had been watching the girl intently. She smirked a little when the other girl seemed to not pay attention to whatever she was doing. Chaya regarded her as nothing to be worried about, but instead of continuing reading, she flipped forward in her notebook and began to write fervently, her pencil scratching against the page.

After about five minutes of this, Chaya put her pencil down and picked up a different book, placing the pencil on the arm of the armchair. This time she seemed more relaxed. The volume was smaller, and overall more friendly looking.

Chaya didn't like to show emotion, but reading was one exception. She smiled at certain bits in the story, and her face went totally more serious at others. Chaya had always been drawn to books and writing. She claimed she never went anywhere without a notebook and pencil, just in case.

Her pencil was balancing precariously, and inevitably it rolled onto the floor. Chaya lent down to retrieve it, but it rolled just out of her reach. Making an incoherent 'uh' sort of noise, she got up from the armchair in pursuit of the pencil.

However the pencil was not giving her an easy time. It rolled right underneath the chair the other girl was sitting in.

Chaya wasn't one to be shy, but she'd found she wasn't the greatest at first impressions here at Hogwarts, so she hovered awkwardly near the other girl's chair.

Stupid pencil! she thought angrily.

Elspeth welcomed the readymade distraction of a pencil rolling under her chair. She would lunge at any chance she could get to not do her reading just then. Putting a hand up to show that the other student could stop where she was, Elspeth offered, "Please, no worries, I'll go ahead and grab that for you. Just a sec-"

Giving a gentle smile she then squished down to retrieve the pencil from under her seat. Bent all the way over, though, she was just barely unable to grab the pencil with her fingers. She lifted her bottom a little, trying to twist just a little further to reach it. She rolled her fingers over the top, which sent the pencil even further behind her. If she tried to reach any further in her current position, she could feel that she'd just roll over onto the floor, possibly hitting her back on the table in the process. Her arm went limp on the ground as she gave a dejected sign. "So it's gonna be like that, huh?" she said, mostly to herself and the pencil but audibly enough that the student across from her could probably hear.

She stood up and smoothed out her robes and hair, which were now rumpled and disheveled, respectively. A more powerful and adept witch could probably just Accio the pencil back over to them. But Elspeth was neither powerful nor adept, and although she'd seen her mother use that spell before she couldn't remember what the wand movement for it was, and she was in no mood to accidentally set the library on fire this weekend. So she got down on her knees and squirmed under the seat to grab the pencil like a weird mole creature.

Finally, pencil in hand, she popped back up and sat back down in her seat normally. Elspeth reached over, offering the pencil back and continuing to give her a friendly, if small, smile, "Here you go. That happens to me all the time too. I'm Elspeth!"

Normally Elspeth wasn't one for chatting with strangers. But she was desperate for any excuse to not have to go back to her reading so she wanted to milk this moment for all it was worth.

Interacting With @Chaya Arrow