Sweet Solitude

It was nice that the school had a library. Had the school not had a library, Gregory would have been sure to leave immediately. Only he knew if he did there would be nowhere for him to go.

Brushing his long bangs from his face he pulled his hair into a small ponytail, the bangs falling out quickly, back into his face. Blast this between long a short hair. It was infuriating, as was this school. Gregory entered the library with purpose, long fingers gracing the spines of books gently. He wasn't searching for one in particular, just looking to see what the school had.

Lazily he pulled one down and propped it open, absently reading the words on the page. Nothing interesting. With that he snapped it shut firmly and quietly and then slipped it back onto the shelf. Then he began moving along the shelves again, looking for more to read.

Another boy sat not too far away, in the middle of the isle. In his hands was a thick blue book, with gold letters down the spine spelling out; 'Eragon'. The blond boy seemed intent on the book, his hands rapidly flipping through the pages, as if trying to get to a certain point in the book. So intent, that he didn't notice the other person making their way through, or that he was in their way. He wore his uniform, and a winter badge adorned the black jacket.

Blond bangs hung in front of his blue eyes, and swayed when Chip paused at a page. His hand hovered over the book, brows knit together in concentration. Both of which hidden from the other's view. Yet, Chip's hand shook subtly. He had been practicing on expanding his power. To the point where he wanted to try summoning something from a book. Perhaps to smart with something small. Like Brisingr!

Or was that too ambitious?

Reading fairy tales was a pass time not observed by Gregory. He believed in the pursuit of knowledge through books. Otherwise they held no purpose but paper between covers with pointless words. The shelves of the books he was looking at were solely for something factual that he needed to know. More like wanted to know, because new things fascinated Gregory. Not that anyone was aloud to know this. To the outside world he was an ace student and no one's friend.

Shuffling slightly down the isle Greg's foot caught on something and he almost tripped over the boy sitting below him. Huffing he took a step back and put his hands on his hips. "Why are you sitting there? You do know people walk down these isles, yes? For now I'm going to ignore your ineptitude and ask kindly that you leave and find somewhere more reasonable to sit." Greg stated, waiting for Chip to move before resuming his search.

Chip did not move from his spot on the floor. However, with the other boy nearly tripping over him, his concentration was broken. Unfortunately a side effect of summoning something, then being interrupted, is an explosion. Chip knew this. His only hint was the smoke gathering at the center of the book, and at the subtle sign, the boy snapped the book shut. Blue eyes widening as the book began to glow, he slammed the book on the ground and held two hands on top of the blue book. Slowly the glow died away, and Chip let out the breath he had been holding.

Slowly, he looked over at the boy who interrupted him in the first place. A childish pout appeared on his face, and blue eyes stared up from his spot on the ground. With a wave of his hand, the book that had once been about to explode, barreled itself toward the offending student with a surprising amount of force. The Winter student huffed, crossing his arms. "Ineptitude?" Chip repeated grumpily. "You couldn't even see someone sitting right before you." The blond put his hand up in the air, and another book came flying around the corner and into his hand. Bring it back down, he took a moment to observe the cover before continuing in a whiny voice. "Now I have to start all over again!"

People were not supposed to sit in the isles. The isles were made for people to walk up and down to find the books they were looking to. In order for order and precision to be kept, one had to follow the basic laws of a place. And, though not written down or told to them, sitting in the middle of the isle was against a rule of flow. Gregory did not care if that meant the boys power had been interrupted and a book had almost exploded. In fact he was utterly unaware of this, so he went on to scold the boy who was sitting there.

Before he was able to go on, however, the boy threw the book at him! Gasping he threw up his hands to block the book which bounced off his hands. He fumbled to catch the book before it fell noisily to the ground. Not that this boy wasn't already making too much noise. Going back to disgruntled Gregory he huffed at what the boy said. "I did not see you sitting in the middle of the isle because I was using the isle for what it was for. I was looking for a book to study, not for incompetent people sitting in the middle of the isle." He explained as if Chip was an idiot. Which he was.

Setting the book down on the shelf next to him, Gregory crossed his arms. "Preferably you would start over whatever it is you are doing in a more reasonable spot. In case someone else runs into you." Greg stated simply, looking down at Chip as if trying to intimidate him into moving. If there had been more muscle on Greg's bones he would have possibly passed for intimidating, but he was skinny, wearing glasses, and his hair was pulled back. He was even wearing a loose fitting sweater than made him look just a bit like a girl. He was far from intimidating.

"The best place to do something weird to a book like you appear to have previously been doing is the gym or those places designated for training." Gregory continued, impatiently waiting for Chip to do something. He felt a headache coming on and he had to close his eyes to suppress the ache and his power. It often showed itself when he was agitated and he had gotten pretty skilled at controlling it.

The young looking teen yawned at the student, his grumpy face was replaced with one of utmost boredom. It was as if Chip wanted to spite Gregory and his cross attitude. Obviously, Chip did not give a hoot about why Greg was irritated. 'If anything,' He thought to himself. 'I should be upset. He's the one who can't use his peripheral vision.' He finished his thought with another yawn. His hand letting go of his new book, which he left floating in the air, to rub his head. His blond hair fell back into place once he removed his hand.

The other boy's glare did nothing but want to make Chip laugh. He supposed Greg's posture was to be threatening to the point to where he would listen. Instead, it had an opposite effect. Chip never felt more rooted to the ground then in that moment. "But I'm comfy. Right. Here." The boy responded immaturely, figuring that using childish logic would rile up Gregory even more. Legs sprawled out, he laid himself in the middle of the isle, taking care to take up as much room as possible. Chip propped his head up with his arms so he could look at the boy's reaction. Hell. This was getting better then training. Perhaps he'd stop to take up messing with Greg.

Normally Chip wasn't like this. Yet the boy's first sentence made his ire grow like a fire.

"Ma~" He let out yet another yawn, stretching his legs out as he did so. "Besides, if I went to the training room, there aren't a lot of books around me. I work better with books around me." Chip's blue eyes closed, mocking as if he was about to fall asleep right then and there.

Being angry was something Gregory knew he shouldn't be. But sometimes people just irked him. That was why he knew he was going to have to avoid people as best he could. His temper easily got the best of him, even if he didn't want it to. And another student acting as childish this and sitting in the middle of the isle of the library was not helping him any. He tried to take a deep breath but it wasn't helping very much. Gregory could see just fine through his eyes, he was just busy trying to look for a book. Multitasking was easy and Greg could do it, but he didn't think he needed to in a library where no one sat in the isles.

Intimidating was indeed what Greg wanted to come across as, but he knew that he didn't look it. He only looked intimidating when he took form of the skeleton, the big intimidating one, but that took too much energy and power and he almost always blacked out afterwards. Gritting his teeth he forced back the power that fought to overtake him. "I don't see how sitting in the middle of an isle on a hard floor is comfortable." Though that was partially because Gregory was rather bony he still didn't appreciate Chip's attitude. So much so that his right arm flickered into bone and he had to catch himself from falling over on the bookshelf next to him.

And then Chip said something so utterly stupid Greg's anger overtook his fatigue. "Then check some out and bring them with you!" He shouted, transforming entirely into a skeleton, eight feet tall and thin, resembling slender man in some ways. With that burst of power Gregory collapsed into a sitting position on the ground, his but hitting the ground so hard it would have many anyone else's tailbone ache. But with his power, Greg's bones were much stronger. As soon as he hit the ground the skeleton was gone. Groaning Greg put his face in his hands and shook his head gently, trying to relieve the pain of the headache. Taking a deep breath he looked back up, anger and irritation still clearly in his face. "Looks like I'll be joining you." He growled before taking a book off the shelf next to him and propping it open. He no longer had the energy to stand. His legs would shake badly if he even tried.

Chip only opened his eyes once Gregory began to speak again after a moment of silence. It was obvious, even with his eyes closed, that he was trying to keep himself from yelling at Chip. The boy smirked, mouth open as he was about to argue that he couldn't check out the entire library. He doubted that the librarians would allow him to do that. Despite his power, he supposed that they would want him to keep some books for students who needed them. But the thought of carrying around a cloud of floating books sounded awesome.

However, his day dreaming was halted by the large, and tall skeleton that stood before him. Blue eyes widened in shock and he hurried to scramble back, pushing himself onto his feet, just before Greg returned to normal, falling to the ground and sitting in the isle like Chip once was. They both fell quiet, Chip's body unconsciously going into a defensive stance due to the sudden frightening sight. A few books floated above the blond's head. A defensive state. He had learned to be quick on his feet since the Mongolian trip. That was quite the adventure that he would rather not go on again.

Slowly, the blond relaxed, shoulders slumping. "That was your power, wasn't it?" It wasn't a real question. Not that he expected it to be answered. It was obvious it was. Although, it confused him what exactly it was. Could he turn into a giant skeleton? Or appear as one? The change was so fast, he couldn't be sure.

People that played around just to annoy Greg annoyed Greg. Plenty of things annoyed Gregory, but he knew he needed to control it or he was going to scare the living daylights out of just about everybody he met. He didn't want that. He could be calm and civil. Plus, the headaches the power gave him were massive and he couldn't control it well enough to prevent them. Greg would have been even more furious if Chip had mentioned checking out the whole library. Why would he need every book in the library? That was pointless! Still, Gregory had yelled before Chip had had the chance to say anything.

And then it had all happened. After falling down it felt as if it had only been a split second. It had likely been more like half a minute, but Gregory was never able to tell how long he had been a skeleton. He often lost track of time and his headaches took over. Looking up he decided he hadn't joined Chip and felt just the slightest bit stupid for having said something like that. But he still grabbed the book off the shelf and ignored the ones floating around Chip. Most people reacted similarly, but Chip's reaction had been a little more tame. Screaming was often associated with the ones Gregory got.

Huffing when Chip asked the question, Gregory didn't look up but instead nodded. "Yes. I take on all physical properties of a skeleton. The power enjoys that one the most, for whatever reason." He responded without looking up. He often referred to his power as if it was its own being. "And that's yours." He stated simply, gesturing shakily toward Chip's floating books.

The blond's eyes watched the boy point up in the air, following his direction he saw his books hovering silently. As if ready to defend him at a moments notice. Quickly, he dismissed them, and they flew back into their original and correct spots on the shelves. However, the book that he had summoned before, replacing his first book, dropped into his hands. Shifting it around, he took a few hesitant steps toward Greg with narrowed eyes. Chip crouched to the boy's level. Which wasn't too much, Chip was kind of short. Not ironic to his name.

"So you pretty much turn into bones." He put it bluntly, hands on his knees as he studied the other boy. "You know, you kinda do look...boney." A cheeky smile crossed his face. This guy had him acting like a child. Not that he minded of course. Giving people a hard time was fun every now and again. Even when they turned into eight foot tall giant skeletons. That was just a bonus.

A laugh escaped him, and he waved off any negative vibe he got from Greg. "I'm kidding." The boy slipped into a sitting stance, an interested look crossed his face, and eyes narrowed as he leaned forward as if he was about to tell a secret. "You know-" Chip started, a grin on his face. "If humans lived on a planet with stronger gravity, we would be shorter, and have denser bones." A random fact of knowledge, from a random book about skeletons.

At this moment, in a subconscious part of the Winter student's brain, he was pulling up a list of books about skeletons, and bones in general. At this moment, he was becoming more and more knowledgeable in the subject.

The books were a little weird to Gregory, but he figured he would be seeing many weird things at Beata and had already trained himself not to react to them. Chip's power was probably something semi useful. Like summoning or whatever. Being able to call something over at will was definitely more useful than a skeleton. But Greg would have to learn more about his power before he deemed it useless. Ignoring Chip's movement he read absently from the book before him. His head hurt too much to concentrate on the words before his eyes. It would have to wait before he really concentrated. But he kind of wanted Chip to go away.

"Way to dumb it down." He muttered sarcastically. Flipping the page and pretending to read he tried to pretend Chip wasn't as close as he was. Close proximity to people made him hot and he blushed and he didn't like close people because he enjoyed their touch too much. Scoffing he finally looked directly into Chip's eyes. "That's not from the power." Gregory's past was a little touchy and that included the lack of nourishment from his parents.

Joke or not, Gregory didn't appreciate Chip's comment. He preferred jokes to not be at anyone else's expense, even if the joker was unaware of the touchy subjects. He looked back at the book he had open and tried to ignore Chip. What he said next was a stupid fact Gregory had learned years ago. "Yes, and if the Earth had more oxygen spiders would be bigger." He muttered in a monotone voice. It was a pointless fact that would likely never come true.

After learning that his ability was weird and not normal, Gregory had read all he could about skeletons. Anything Chip said next was likely something he already knew. Skeletons were his area of expertise just because of his power.

Bigger spiders? A shiver ran down his spine. That would be terrifying. In fact, he heard that in the earlier days, there was a mission to fight a large spider. He hadn't gone on that one, Chip wasn't a huge fan of spiders. He would probably freeze up if he saw something as big as they faced. Rumor said that it was like, two stories tall. No thanks.

As Greg shared another fact, Chip pulled up another, the discomfort on his face due to spiders disappeared. Replaced was a look of wonder. "Ancient Egyptians developed the world's first functional prosthetic bone." There was a pause, before he continued with yet another fact. "Bones are broken down and remade constantly, just like skin. In fact, all of the bones are slowly replaced until they are new bone once every 7 years." The blond's mouth stayed open, ready to supply the already knowledgeable boy with even more facts.

Spiders weren't actually that scary. Sure, they were creepy, but Gregory personally thought that they weren't really scary. They ate flies and bugs and some were poisonous. If they were bigger it would make it a little more dangerous, but it wouldn't be too big of a deal. Then they couldn't hide in the walls as well, which was totally fine with Gregory. As long as they were in the open he'd be able to see them and know to avoid or kill them. Gregory was at least glad Chip seemed to know to drop a subject when Greg spoke to him in the manner he had. His skinniness was not a subject he enjoyed discussing.

Looking at the book his pretend reading was interrupted when Chip gave another random fact that Gregory already knew. Trying to ignore him again he sighed exasperatedly when Chip continued on with another fact. "Will you shut up? Or at least doing something else. I know all of this already. You would think once I figured out what my power was I would look into it as much as possible." He muttered, looking up at Chip again, annoyance clearly burning in his eyes.

The blond froze, blue eyes looking hurt for a short moment, before he looked away. Chip's cheeks puffed out, eyes narrowed. He fell silent. Only glancing between the book and Greg ever minute or so. He didn't have to be so blunt about it, a simple warning would suffice. Needless to say, Chip was rather upset with the way Gregory snapped at him. Fingers twiddling with the hem of his shirt, the blond's eyes finally rested on the other student's book.

With a blink of his eyelids, Gregory's book snapped shut, and began to float just out of reach of the other boy. Any time he went to grab for it, it would float out of his reach. Or, at least, that was what Chip was hoping for. However, Chip made no movement to indicate any change in emotion. The Winter student was content to play with the other student. This time, he earned his taunting. It was always good not to make Chip upset.

It was finally quiet after Gregory told Chip to be quiet. There were no annoying, random facts about bones and skeletons that he already knew, and there was no stupid things being said. It was perfectly quiet and allowed Greg to read without being interrupted. Although he knew that Chip was still there, and that was annoying, he was at least quiet. That much was all that mattered.

Only his book was out of his hand in a split second and Greg's eyes snapped up to look directly at Chip, who didn't look any different than he had a few minutes earlier. "Don't be such a child." He growled, grabbing for his book only for it to be moved out of reach. Brilliant. His head still hurt so instead of trying to grab it again he simply just grabbed another book off the shelf next to him. He would have to check that one out after Chip left so he could finish it, but he didn't mind changing books.