grey morning — open .

[EDMUND.]

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 2.5px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]In the village, Eddie wandered down the grey brick streets where he approached the library at a silently determined pace. Upon arriving, he rubbed his hands together to warm them up — despite the summertime providing a sunshine intense enough to melt most of the snow away, the wind chill at high altitudes could sometimes be one to make itself known to even the most experienced of Flintlockers. Eddie wasn’t often seen taking a break from his duties to wander through the great expanse of the library but, if it wasn’t for himself, he’d gladly take on the job.

Today, he was in search of anything that could be used as a good enough bedtime story for the twins. They were coming to an age where they would no longer settle unless he or Blake waited around for them to drift off to sleep, and Eddie had exhausted the current small selection of bedtime stories he had back up in their bedroom.

Wandering slowly up and down the aisles, Eddie’s brows knitted together thoughtfully. In a library of this size, he was struggling to come across where any children’s books would be kept. He’d continue to search carefully regardless, taking his time to flick through books along the way whilst he made the most of his brief break in his working day.

[MIA]

[align=center][div style="width: 400px; text-align: justify; font-size: 12px; font-family: times new roman; letter-spacing: .6px;"]it wasn't a rare sighting to see mia in the library. ever since she was a young girl she loved to ready, often growing infatuated with the idea of all of the different characters that could be found in books. she often found it to be an easy escape from being herself, living vicariously through the different roles.

she held a few different books in her arms, carefully pulling out another to read the back of it. her focus got pulled away when she heard another person enter the library. she didn't think anything of it at first, preferring to keep to herself when she were in her until she noticed who it was.

"looking to expand on your vocabulary more, edmund?" mia walked closer to where he was looking, eyes scanning over the children's book he held in his hands. "i think that may be a bit too advanced for your reading level." one of her eyebrows raised ever so slightly and the corners of her lips began to twitch upwards as she teased him.

[EDMUND.]

[align=center][div style="width: 450px; text-align: justify; font-family: andale mono; font-size: 6.5pt; letter-spacing: 2.5px; word-spacing: 1px; line-height: 14px; color: #484a4d"]Seeing Mia walk over towards Eddie brought about a feeling he was unable to describe. Invigorating, maybe. He always knew that a conversation with Mia would always leave him with a small smile lingering stupidly on his lips. A look he’d come to hide in front of others in favour of a more stoic, solemn appearance, but Mia often earned the satisfaction of knowing that she’d made Edmund Stirling crack a smile.

She wasn’t Maxine, but something about Mia’s mischievous allure made Eddie forget about the woman that he had been so hung up on, even if only for a short while. With her playful words, Eddie offered her a bashful smile as he raised his brows with slight surprise. Touché. He hadn’t seen it coming, but her joke was well received as Eddie huffed with a short breath of laughter before lifting the children’s book up slightly. ❝ I was just thinking that, but thought I’d borrow it anyways for all the pretty pictures. ❞ He returned in soft spoken jest, soon lowering his hand again.

❝ Lottie likes new stories for bedtime. Tommy likes to know that someone’s there sitting with them as they fall asleep. ❞ Eddie chose to elaborate, looking down at the title of the book before he looked back towards Mia again. ❝ I’m not much of a story teller, though. I don’t have the voice for it; not like you. ❞ Mia had a storytelling voice that anyone would be honoured to have read them to sleep. Lottie had already seemingly taken a liking to Mia, gazing towards her in awe whenever Mia was around. It was a sign that Eddie liked to see. If he wasn’t as pessimistic, he’d say that the feelings he had for Mia back when they were still teenagers was slowly returning.

But again, as always, he would tread lightly. Carefully. He knew better than to rush into love. Love was a blindness that a man like him should avoid. He had enough bad experiences to know that as fact.