xp_logs | Jono and Paige

Jono literally runs into one of the new arrivals, and he doesn't even blow her up on accident. It's a library miracle.

Jono wasn't sold on the mansion yet. They had very graciously let him stay in a room by himself so that he didn't have to worry about killing anyone. Which he supposed was a bonus, even if it did give him a perfectly valid excuse to never go out and attempt to socialize with the people around him.

The real highlight of the mansion so far had been the library. Most of his books were either left with Gayle or had been left in his friends' flats. 'Something to remember me by,' he'd told them. He does miss them. His friends and his books.

He felt like he couldn't sit still to read, not even after he'd found one of his favorites among the stacks. Jono paced as he read, nose buried in the familiar text.

The library was Paige's favorite place in the mansion. It would be the perfect place to study once she started class, with plenty of natural light, places to sit, and reference books in easy reach. There were also plenty of books for pleasure reading, but Paige's schedule since moving hadn't left a lot of room for her to do any free reading. It was all watching over Jay or trying to work on her powers now, but Paige didn't mind so much. She had never been one to shy away from hard work.

Giant school bag at her side, Paige walked the aisles of shelves, looking for a free table to do her homework.

Jono knocked into another person, warm and solid and now decidedly off balance. He reached out to grab them by the arm, hoping to keep them steady. He tried to quickly apologize as his book tumbled to the ground, but of course, no sound came out. As soon as he was sure that the blonde was okay he quickly used a closed hand to make a circle against his chest repeatedly, signing, 'sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry-'

"Oof." Paige was almost knocked off balance, before a steadying hand grabbed her.

"Sorry, must not have been looking where I was going," she said, looking up at the person she had slammed into. Paige paused for a moment, unsure of why the guy was drawing circles in the air, before it hit her. "Oh, you're deaf! Hold on!" Grabbing a notebook and pen (never left home without them) from her bag, Paige quickly wrote out Sorry, wasn't looking where I was going before handing it over to him with an apologetic smile.

Heat rose to Jono's cheeks at the sheer ease with which this girl adapted to help him communicate. He took her notebook and wrote as neatly as he could. Not deaf. I don't have a jaw. In addition to the written message Jono drew a very rough approximation of what his face probably looked like, a big 'X' over where his jaw should be.

He handed the notebook back and bent down to pick up the copy of A Wizard of Earthsea he had dropped. He tucked it under his arm and pulled out his own notebook and pen. I'm Jono. He wrote.

Paige took the notebook back and read what Jono had written. “Oh, I shouldn’t have assumed about your hearing.” She tucked her notebook back into her bag now that they didn’t need it.

“I’m Paige.” She held out her hand and smiled. “Hope I didn’t hit you too hard. Oh hey, is your book any good? I’ve heard a lot of good things about Ursula K. Le Guin. Haven’t read her yet. It’s been a lot of textbooks and research papers for me recently.” Even between her bachelor’s and starting her grad program, Paige did a lot to keep up with current research.

Jono took her hand and gently shook it. He took pen to paper once more and wrote, as neatly as possible. It's one of my favorites. She's one of the best authors in the world. I'd put her right beside Tolkein for high fantasy.

Paige watched as Jono carefully wrote out his response. She could tell he was putting in extra effort to make it look nice. As he wrote, his hair flopped into his eyes in a way that Paige thought was kind of cute.

When Jono finished writing, Paige read his comment and smiled. “I’ll have to put it on my TBR list, then, and I’ll let you get back to it. You haven’t seen an open table anywhere in here have you?”

Jono's brow furrowed and he raised his pointer finger in the air before gently taking Paige by the shoulders and turning her to face the other side of the room. He released her as soon as she was facing the right direction and pointed over her shoulder towards an open table.

“Thanks! You’ve been a big help. Enjoy your book!” Paige waved over her shoulder as she went to grab the table. Maybe she should see if there were any books on sign language while she was here.

Jono stared after her, blush still high on his cheekbones as Paige walked away. Maybe the mansion wasn't so bad after all....he'd have to try to find out where her accent came from. He liked the way it sounded, especially when she was being nice to him.