xp_logs | Topaz and Matt (Saturday Morning)

Topaz's plan to spend a quiet Saturday in the library is derailed when she meets Matt. Discussion ensues.

They had Harry Potter.

They had a lot of Harry Potter. Topaz stared at the collection for a long moment, reaching out to run one finger along the books as she walked up and down in front of the shelves. After a moment she stopped to grab a copy of Prisoner of Azkaban. This place was big enough, she could probably find a place to hide and read. Not that she would really need to. Who came to the library on a Saturday?

Matt went to the library a lot. Not everyday, but a lot. It was a nice quiet place to read now that it was a little too cold to be outside without doing something to stay warm and reading was not really a good way to do that. Plus, he was working through the small braille section of the school library. Well, it was small compared to the regular library books. By his standards (ie just having a braille section), it was huge. Not having to get all his books through the mail was fantastic!

Entering the library, he immediately headed to his favourite chair and slipped his sneakers off, curling his long, lanky form up to dive back into the current Michael Crichton novel he was working on without paying any attention to whether someone else was there or not.

Topaz froze as she turned around a corner - and found herself facing someone else. A boy, curled up in a chair, with a book. Apparently she wasn't the only person who came to the library on a Saturday. She opened her mouth to say...something...apologize?...when she realized the boy hadn't seen her. Correction - if the book he was reading was anything to go by - couldn't see her. Well, that worked to her advantage if she wanted to just slip away. Or would that be rude? Of course that would be rude. But on the other hand, if he didn't know she was there, wouldn't saying something and possibly startling him be mean?

"Staring is rude," Matt stated, voice calm without facing her. Then he smiled and did turn, "Did I surprise you?" Her heart rate had gone up, so it was probable. He hadn't meant to, he'd just come in to read and relax for a while. That didn't stop him from being amused though. He recognized her heartbeat, though he didn't really know her. She was the new girl. What was her name...?

Was he a telepath? Topaz's breath escaped in a huff. "Sorry," she said, her voice jumping up just a bit. "I was just...I didn't mean..." Oh she did not do well when she was surprised. She took a deep breath, holding it for a few short moments before trying again. "You're right. I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting to see anyone else here." He didn't seem to be cross with her, at least.

"No worries," Matt replied, he had just been teasing mostly anyways, "I heard you back in the stacks, but didn't say anything," this was a library and all that. Being quiet was a rule. "Not too many come here unless they're doing homework, which never happens on a Saturday."

"Except for you," Topaz corrected, nodding at the book. "Or is that just for fun?" She paused as she realized she had no idea who this boy was. Stood to reason he didn't know her either, then. "I'm Topaz."

Uncurling, Matt sat properly, adjusting his book as necessary, "Fun," he replied, "and I'm Matt. You're the new girl," Topaz. He'd forgotten her name. "But I've been known to do homework on Saturdays. I'm a nerd like that," usually though he did it in his room unless he had to do research here.

Matt. Right. He had introduced himself on that journal, hadn't he? "New girl, yeah. Well I suppose there are worse things to be known as," she noted. She'd been known as most of them already, after all. "Nothing wrong with doing homework on a Saturday." She did. Which didn't say much. "What're you reading? If you don't mind me asking." He seemed kind enough, and very easy-going. It was calming for Topaz's usually on-edge mind, when she let down her shields to check.

"Hm? Oh! Right. You can't read braille. I always forget that," the covers of braille books were usually printed with the title and author too, but he had it open, "Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton. It was made into a movie a while back called The 13th Warrior, if you've seen it?" This was an older edition though from before the title was changed. It had come the other day through the braille library and he hadn't been sure about it at first since the first couple chapters were bone dry, but now it was getting interesting.

"I'm not much of a movie person," Topaz admitted, readjusting her posture carefully, her hands clasping behind her back. "Sounds interesting, though. A little morbid, but yeah."

"They don't actually eat the dead," Matt assured her, "Or at least, they haven't so far. They're trying to defend this other kingdom that has requested aid from this enemy that they think is supernatural." It was pretty good, "And it's told from the point of view from a foreigner who doesn't understand everything happening and has a different set of beliefs."

"Well you're only a few chapters in," Topaz said with just a hint of amusement. She tilted her head a bit; it really did sound like an interesting story. There was probably a print copy floating around somewhere in this massive place. "Who knows, maybe the big plot twist will be that they've actually all gone mad from eating dead flesh."

That would be something! Laughing, Matt nodded, "That'd be something!" He agreed. "Did you find a book?"

The corners of Topaz's lips quirked into a small smile that wavered a bit at Matt's question. "Oh...yeah." She looked down at the book in her hands. It was always so hard to tell how people were going to react to a teenager reading a children's book. But he seemed nice enough... "Just Harry Potter. Decided to be a kid for the day."

"Harry Potter is awesome!" Matt exclaimed absolutely unashamed. Everyone liked Harry Potter, right? "Which book? Have you read them before?"

His enthusiasm was shocking - but encouraging. "Prisoner of Azkaban. My favorite. Yes, I've read them before," she added, rather uselessly at this point.

"Good," Matt replied vehemently, "That ones good. I think I like Deathly Hallows best. Or maybe The Half Blood Prince," he was not a Dumbledore fan.

"I was a little disappointed that she went with the 'and they all live happily ever after' storyline," Topaz admitted. "Understandable, of course, it is a children's story. Sorta. But Deathly Hallows was good overall."

"I deny the epilogue, it sucked," Matt agreed. "My whole thing is that people like Dumbledore and think he's a good guy. He's not. He knowingly allowed Harry to be abused by the Dursley's and then manipulated Harry to achieve his own goals. That's not what a good person or good teacher does to his students."

Finally, someone who agreed about the epilogue. Topaz tilted her head, turning Matt's words over in her mind. "I never really thought about Dumbledore like that before - or thought about him at all, really. He didn't even really become significant until Order of the Phoenix, and when that happened they acted like he'd been important all along, and he just wasn't." She leaned against a table, wrinkling her brow in thought.

"But he was though," Matt disagreed, "He was the puppet master calling the shots about Harry. He had all this authority to hide behind though so no one really knew except maybe Snape who was also being used by Dumbledore and MacGonagall at the very end. Plus, the adults listened to the other adults, not the kids. There was that disconnect because clearly the kids had over active imaginations or whatever it is adults tell themselves." Matt had experienced that first hand and it led to his first arrest.

"Okay, that's true," Topaz ceded to that point easily. "I more meant that he wasn't significant in that he wasn't an active member of Harry's life before Order. It was supposed to be significant in that book that Dumbledore wouldn't talk to or even look at Harry, but really it wasn't that much of a change from the four books before it. He was always a character that operated in the background - the puppet master - and then suddenly he was forced to the foreground and we were meant to think he was there all along. And isn't that the way it always is with kids? We're young and stupid. Supposedly."

"Supposedly," Matt agreed dryly. "I guess I always saw Dumbledore as a key character and not a background one. Anyways," he ran a hand through his unruly hair. "What do you do other than read and argue Harry Potter?"

"It depends on your point of view, I s'pose," Topaz replied. "A lot of people would agree with you, I think." She paused for a moment at Matt's question. "Nothing, really. Not much of a hobby person." School, home, homework, magic studies. That had been her life. "You?"
"What? No stamp collecting?" Matt teased, who collected stamps anymore?! "I do gymnastics and I'm learning parkour. Read. Listen to music, watch TV. I guess the usual," well, listen to the TV. There were shows that had video description which he liked the most.

"Stamps, no." Topaz was faintly amused by this point, and doing her best not to show it. "My father had a coin collection that I used to help him with, though." Which had been lost - along with everything else - when their flat had been all but blown up. "Parkour?"

"It's...." how did he explain parkour? He did it and liked it, but was terrible at explaining it, "Sorta like gymnastics means practical? It's a more efficient way to get around, especially up and down different levels, but without going and finding stairs..." yeah, he was bad at this. "You kinda need to see it to understand, I guess?"

Topaz pressed her lips together for a moment. "Sounds...interesting?" If she was understanding right. "Possibly dangerous, but interesting."

There was a dangerous aspect, but Matt was careful and more than that, this was why he practiced and learned before trying harder things. "It's fun," he replied, "You play any sports?"

Oh now that was amusing. Topaz looked down at herself for a moment. "I'm barely five feet tall," she told him dryly. "There isn't a sport in any country that's safe for me. I almost cracked my head open playing cricket when I was eleven." Alice had fussed over her for days after that... "Books are safer."

"So?" Matt asked reasonably. Granted, he had topped 6ft a while back, but short girls played sports! "I've never played cricket, but I will take your word on how dangerous it is. Short little girls usually do really well in gymnastics though. And no balls fly at your head. I'm actually too big for gymnastics, if I was going to compete or something. Those guys are like 5'5" and I've not been that short since my freshman year of high school or so. I can't compete though regardless, so it doesn't matter. I just do it for fun." He loved it.

"It's always just seemed safer not to try." A risk taker, she was not. "I've never tried gymnastics before. No balls flying at my head does sound appealing, though..."

"You should try it," Matt agreed. "C'mon," he placed his bookmark back in his book and stood, offering his hand. "It's easy!" Well, easy to him, because he had been doing it most of his life. It was refreshing not to have someone say 'but you're blind, how can you do gymnastics' when he informed them of what he liked. Clearly, if he did it, he could do it.

"I...what?" Topaz blinked, staring at Matt's offered hand, absolutely bewildered. "Where are we going?"

"The gym," Matt replied. It was obvious?

Well this could end a couple of a different ways, Topaz thought wryly. "All right," she said uncertainly, hesitating for a moment before placing her hand in Matt's.