Overload

[Lexi Summers]

Lexi trudged into the Student Lounge, her arms filled to brim with books from nearly all of her classes. She was one of those students that most others found strange; in other words, she liked to learn, so she took classes that weren't required, simply because she found them interesting. People had warned her against taking too many classes, but she had ignored them. Now, however, she was starting to wish she had heeded to their words, as she was bombarded with homework, and had no time for anything else.

So she sat at a large table in the corner of the room, books of all shapes and sizes sprawled around her. Having never particurally liked quills, she took out a ballpoint pen and began writing, every once in a while flipping through her Divination book to check up on facts and figures. So involved in her work, she didn't notice her hair, which was partially obscuring her vision, not her hand, which was trembling slightly, likely from trying to write quickly. None of it mattered. All that she cared about was getting her work done on time.

[Tyler Dias]

There was always one, who stood out in a community like Lexi did. Whether it was for work, achievement or studying; this seemed to be all included for Lexi's case and she was absorbed in what no one else would tirelessly bother with.

Tyler came back from the common room in hopes of finding something or someone that filled his time. At least in a remotely interesting way.
Stopping in his tracks at the sound of pen scratching against paper and flipping pages until he realised it was silly to be so frozen and acted as undisturbed about studying as Lexi did.

He strolled over casually but felt queasy as he saw the work load, raising an eyebrow down at her until she would eventually notice his presence and existence. Waiting for her to before he would sit down or start bugging her about everything and anything.
Only for now, distraction was one thing and amusement was another, he thought and watched her for a moment longer.

It was divination material that caught his eye though, since the last time they had spoken included the subject and something about how she'd teach him and he'd learn from all her encyclopediac answers.

[Lexi Summers]

Lexi was so absorbed in her work that her hair remained over one eye, and her hand continued shaking slightly, so that her words were scrawled, rather than written, and she took no notice. So absorbed in her work, that it took much longer than she would have cared to admit to anyone to feel the boy's presence. As a Divination major, she liked to believe that she was in touch with her emotions and intuitions, and being able to feel someone's presence was directly related to that. Still, too many minutes passed before she glanced up at the face of Tyler.

She hadn't seen many people lately, as her work load was nearly impossible to keep up with. Not that she would ever admit it, of course; she allowed people to believe that she kept on top of her work, and that it didn't bother her at all. She was just starting to get accustomed with not having a social life, when, unexpectedly, someone would pop in and she would become distracted. The distraction, this time, came in the form of Tyler.

"Hey." she said brightly, grateful for an excuse to push aside her essay for the time being. He was still looking at her Divination book, but she took no notice of this. "It's been a while, hasn't it? How are you?"

[Tyler Dias]

"How am I? All right, i thought i couldn't be better. And you?"

There was a faint hint that he knew how she was due to his guess about how hard she had worked over the time they didn't see each other. Those days had lapsed and still she was focused on things many had given up on or relaxed from; there weren't even going to be exams yet and all this optimism in doing well made him fret.

He asked her curtly and sat down, not in a chair but on the floor beside where she was writing and the desk. Seeing that she pushed her essay away to speak with him, he almost grinned and reached over the top of the table to sneak the pen away though he held it in examination while she could see.
How happy he was to be her distraction, she would never know and he wasn't planning on showing it by expression either; the pen was fascinating and he twirled it around between his fingers so it spun.

"It's been awhile but you haven't really changed, and that's a good thing."

[Lexi Summers]

Lexi could tell that he knew how she was by his response, and she realized that it was probably obvious. Without looking in a mirror, she knew that her hair was probably horribly disheveled, and there were likely dark circles under her eyes. Spending a weekend in the Student Lounge, studying rather than going out, doing homework rather than playing Quidditch... it would be considered a nightmare by most students, and yet, here she was, living it. But she had always been one to work hard, and she held no doubt that he knew this about her.

He surprised her by taking a seat on the floor rather than the chairs surrounding the table, but she simply turned in her chair so that she could face him easily. He had grabbed her pen, leaving her with no way to continue her maddening rush to finish her homework, though she had to admit that she no longer had any desire to. A tremendous weight lifted off her shoulders as she grinned slightly, watching his childish fascination with her only pen.

"And judging by your fascination, you haven't changed much either." she told him in amusement, her eyes following the spinning pen.

[Tyler Dias]

There were things he knew but things he didn't know too, like how she had lived in this very room for two or three days and counting. It just wasn't a sure thing he wanted to acknowledge this information because it would make him desperate to get her out of there. Not into the sunlight but maybe just escape from suffocation; in avoidance of death by studying.

"I haven't changed much either? Just from this childish way i fiddle with things like your pen. It is rare to find one here. Now i'll take that this was the key to your writing masterpieces. The secret technique is to use this instead of a quill that requires too much care and makes your hand ache."

When she grinned, he couldn't help but chuckle in return and spun the pen more vigorously to see how it rotated at a faster pace. After awhile, he paused and simply held the pen as if he didn't allow her to resume writing like a maniac.
Now it was his turn to study and the subject was her as he scanned her appearance in a matter of fact way because the dishevelled look had grown on her and he was getting used to it. What else could you expect from work, but raccoon eyes and bed hair? if she even gone to bed. . .

[Lexi Summers]

Lexi watched as he continued to twirl the pen with his fingers, refusing to blink as it became a whirlwind of colors. Was it really moving as fast as it seemed, or was it just an effect of her tiredness? She couldn't be sure, and found she didn't care much, as the colors began to blend into one another. It was almost as if she were becoming hypnotized.

But just as quickly as it had begun, the twirling stopped, and forced her to blink a few times to clear her vision. He held the pen stationary in his hands, and Lexi looked up at his face, a simple movement to ensure that nothing else could hypnotize her with their motions.

"Yeah, I suppose. I've never taken to quills, to be honest... Why bother carrying with you a large feather and a bottle of ink when you can have it all in a small muggle pen? It's stupid, really." she said bluntly, shrugging. His eyes had leapt up from her pen to her face, and she could feel him studying her appearance. Subconsciously, she patted down her hair, in futile attempts to make it lie flat after too many hours without brushing it.

She took the time when he was silently studying her to wonder why he had come into the room in the first place. No one else was around at this time of day, for there were probably parties occuring, and the prospect of just getting outside was inviting. He didn't have any books with him, so he hadn't planned on doing homework... Confused but determined not to let it show, she silently held out her hand, a simple gesture that clearly asked for the pen back.

[Tyler Dias]

His study had become some sort of gaping exclamation while the fascination of the pen had redirected itself onto her. It wasn't a trance and neither was it alike the hypnosis she seemed to have undergone when he was twirling the pen. He had taken notice of this when he looked at her face and her eyes had begun to blurr before she was abruptly shaken awake.

"It only looks good, i think. And it's some tradition but not practical. Although, you could take it as a symbol for wizardry to use quills and which is something that differentiates us from muggles. Regardless of blood. . ."
At the idea of blood purity, he quietened and averted the view to her face by a swift movement of his eyes though he knew not why he did it. While she patted her hair down, he had this urge to ruffle it back to the messed state that it was but with great will, restrained himself.

He handed the pen to her, half way as he reached it toward her open hand but thought better and eyed her sceptically.
"You're not going to start writing are you? You need a break, Einstein."

[Lexi Summers]

A symbol of wizardry to use quills? And here she was, thinking that the Professors only liked them to use them as a cruel, unusual type of torture. And it was, in a way, for it took ages to write, and the ink had to have time to dry or it would smear... And besides, hadn't muggles decades ago used quills to write? The entire concept didn't make much sense, but she wasn't in much of a mood to argue.

To her surprise, he almost handed her the pen, but soon tightened his grip and stopped. At his question, she shrugged, thinking it over. She, of course, had been planning on continuing to write, for how else would she be able to finish all of her work? Though, if she admitted to it, he would definately keep the pen out of her reach. But, just the same, if she lied, he would likely see through it in an instant, for he seemed like the type of person who could easily do just that. Besides, it wasn't too hard to see that Lexi had a frantic, almost mind-boggling desire to finish her work.

"I need to get this done." she insisted, not quite answering the question, her palm still exposed as her arm remained outstretched towards the pen.

[Tyler Dias]

"Oh fine...now what am i going to do? Bother you in more ways than one."
He handed her the pen without taking his eyes off her face and broke into grinning uncontrollably. There wasn't anything else he could really do while she worked anyway, and reading or writing was not a fancy at this time so he wasn't going to consider it unless it meant helping. Though she would never need any advice or console.

What he said earlier only made sense in one way but it hadn't hit him that muggles had used quills in the past so it equated to the theory being 'a nothing'.
It was torturess but for the sake of certain prices and feathers, people he knew did take pride in using quills just because it was different and unique to the muggle pen.
Whatever it was that meant they had to use it, was to be discarded now for he was going to copy her and use a muggle pen whenever he could get his hands on one of his own.

"Why do you need to get this done now though? You could just spare some time for me. Do i need to beg or do something for you that isn't the likes of 'shutting up' or 'staying put'?"

[Lexi Summers]

Lexi had pulled her Divination essay-- Reasons why the popularity of crytstal balls faded in the 17th century-- towards her again, and her pen tip had nearly met the parchment when he asked the question. Why did she need to get this done now? Sure, she did have a lot of work, but didn't she always? A master at managing her time, she always made sure that she had all of her work done before it was due for whichever class. Could she not spare a few hours for Tyler, who was likely only to bug her until she became too distracted anyway?

"Fine." she said, breaking out into a smile. Wordlessly, she rolled up her half-completed essay placed it carefully in her bag, along with the few books it could hold. The rest remained scattered on the table, but she didn't really care much about them, for who else was likely to take them? No one, that's who.

"You've got..." She paused, checking her watch, then smiled back up at him. "4 hours."

[Tyler Dias]

Tyler looked at her with blinking amazement, slightly jaw-dropped by her offer of four hours which was longer than enough. It was going to bring about wonders for what to do in that time since he hadn't exactly prepared an activity, chatter or idea for meeting her; it was just aimless disturbance.

"4 hours!? That's ages! You sure you have that much time to spare for me? Though of course, i am grateful, but looking at that pile. . ."
He briefly glimpsed the face of her watch then looked at her incredulous with her time planning because he trusted it but didn't understand how she was able to limit herself and manage everything all at once without slacking off.
Leaning backwards after he gestured towards her bag and the essays, parchment and books on the table, he shook his head in disbelief and let out a small sigh.

"Anyhow, what'd you think i should do that'd really be a big difference to you studying? In the sense that it would make you relax a bit. Maybe, just because i couldn't half entertain on something that could last for 4 hours and which is something i don't even know of."