(Untitled)

[foraprice]

Nina's wandering through the hallways with nothing to do.

Once you get past the vampires and the acid rain, this place is pretty boring.

Nick slept in her room a few days back and she hasn't seen him since.

Feel free to snap her out of her wandering trance and chat for a bit.

Comments

[notjustnarrator]

Of course, thinking of him will cause him to appear.

And he does!

He's wandering the halls as well, although unlike Nina, he has a destination. He's on his way to the roof, since it's not that cold out today, and really, he needs something to wake him up.

... although, Nina's face kind of does that. He brightens immediately and stops in his tracks to flash a smile her way.

Yes, that smile.

[notjustnarrator]

Not for long! He plucks out a volume of his favorites - Frost - and whirls around with a triumphant smile.

"Nina, look, I --"

Blink, squint.

"-- Night Pleasures?"

[foraprice]

Nina's eyes dart back and forth before looking at Nick.

"Oh...yeah, it's um..." she pauses to think for a second.

"It's...a documentary of an explorer that lived in the Amazon!"

...

"Yeah, it describes the serenity of the jungles at night. And stuff."

[notjustnarrator]

He takes a step closer and peers at the cover.

"That does not look like someone living in the Amazon," he observes. "Nor does the title sound like a documentary."

Yoink!

That would be Nick snatching the book and making a run for it, trying to read as he goes.

[foraprice]

Nina laughs and moves on to a different section.

She can't wait to hear Nick scream when he starts reading the book.

[notjustnarrator]

Which he does!

He doesn't scream, though. Instead, he reappears within moments, holding out the book.

His face? Bright red.

"I uh. Um. H-here."

[foraprice]

Nina grins at Nick.

"Thought you'd like that one." She winks.

[notjustnarrator]

Somehow, his face darkens even more and he promptly buries himself within the original book he had in hand.

Frost is the perfect remedy to getting "throbbing pleasure" out of one's mind.

"Nina," he says after a few moments, face finally its normal color, "I found one of my favorite poems.

Want to hear? It's... um, relevant."

[foraprice]

"Sure," she says, leaning against the wall.

[notjustnarrator]

There's a dramatic clearing of the throat before Nick straightens himself and recites, voice even and soft:

"As I went down the hill along the wall
There was a gate I had leaned at for the view
And had just turned from when I first saw you
As you came up the hill. We met. But all
We did that day was mingle great and small
Footprints in summer dust as if we drew
The figure of our being less that two
But more than one as yet. Your parasol
Pointed the decimal off with one deep thrust.
And all the time we talked you seemed to see
Something down there to smile at in the dust.
(Oh, it was without prejudice to me!)
Afterward I went past what you had passed
Before we met and you what I had passed."

[foraprice]

"Meeting and Passing, Robert Frost."

"Nice choice, Nick. I haven't read poetry in a long time."

[notjustnarrator]

Nick looks impressed!

"Here, read some of these. Frost is amazing. Stopping By The Woods has got to be his best work."

Nod.

"I know some Shakespeare off the top of my head, too and a decent amount of Poe, but I don't want to get too sappy. Or too morbid, for that matter."

So he'll just sit down and stop rambling. Yep.

[foraprice]

"I've read all of Frost," she remarks, not being snobby at all!

[notjustnarrator]

"Oh."

Nick frowns a bit.

"Well sorrrrrrrry."

... and his eyes wander back to the novel Nina picked out.

He swallows, Adam's apple bobbing as the blush returns.

There may or may not be nervous chuckling.

[foraprice]

Nina laughs, snatches the book out of his hands, and puts it back in its place.

"You probably shouldn't read that."

[notjustnarrator]

Nick furrows his brows.

"I've seen worse," he protests, pouting. "Hamel showed me this thing with tentacles, once. Far worse than some petty novel, I assure you.

It had illustrations."