psl; [the healing process]

[animalqueen]

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ELLE GRAYSON is generally a normal one, with enough variety sprinkled in throughout the week to prevent it from becoming a deadly dull routine. She lives in a flat in London, a charming little one bedroom and two bath, not particularly large, but cozy. It’s a strange fusion of modern and old fashioned, a dichotomy that reflects her own personality quite well.

Every morning, she wakes up and makes a cup of strong coffee. (Black, no sugar.) Her cat, a grey, long-haired, grumpy looking thing, lazes on her bed for longer than she does, only trotting out when he’s ready to be fed. His name is Paladin Leeroy. Sometimes she just calls him Lee.

When coffee and breakfast are a thing of the past, Elle usually hears chirping on her balcony, a structure small but laden with potted plants. She will open the doors, and sometimes, if she’s in a particularly energized mood, will announce, “Your Queen has arrived! Court will now be held,” and the little sparrows will chirp at her, and line up in a row. She’ll feed them birdseed, or bread, if she’s run out. Later, Leeroy will bound out, but she always tells him to leave the birds alone until they’re done eating. He listens. They always fly away before he gets a chance to do any real harm.

Lately, she’s been working part-time at an advertising agency, writing and tweaking copy that slides across her desk. It isn’t the most fulfilling job, but it pays the bills, and that’s what matters. Her real work is her own writing; freelancing for various websites, and poking and prodding at the idea for a book, slowly trying to force life into the narrative. Sometimes inspiration strikes her, and she sits and writes for hours at a time, until her eyes begin to strain, and she has to stop. Other times, she grows tired and can’t seem to string words together at all, and her word document looks a bit like this:

And then stuff happened. Everyone died tragically but it was fine, because it was thematically appropriate to the narrative.

ugh ugh you suck

That always gets deleted at the end, of course.

Crammed in the corner of the living area is an upright piano, white and well-used. Sheet music sits scattered on its stand, and an acoustic guitar rests on the floor next to it. There’s a television, of course, a flat-screen that looks larger than it actually is in her apartment. Connected to it is a Playstation 2, a blu ray player, and little else. On the shelves above, there are books — so many books. Mostly horror and old classics; copies of Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice look particularly worn.

The shelf next to it is stocked with board games. Tabletop and family ones, alike. One in particular is even out of its spot, instead spread out on the little glass coffee table. It looks as if a campaign hasn’t been started yet, though someone’s been flipping through the manual quite recently. Maybe quite frequently.

Her bedroom is small, but the bed is large and roomy. There are pictures of friends and family on the bookshelves in here, and a few on her nightstand. Beyond that, she keeps this part of the flat a little messier than the rest.

GENERALLY, SHE LIVES A RELATIVELY NORMAL LIFE, quiet and cozy. Sometimes living by herself is a bit lonely, and the time difference means that she cannot call her mom and step-dad any time she likes just to hear their voices. But like all things, these emotions pass like any other. Perhaps the only real oddity in her life are the strange surprises she sometimes finds on her balcony. There were a family of raccoons once. A possum. A falcon, who looked lost and confused when she opened the door, turning its head at her, blinking. There were even rats, but they only sniffed the air in her direction, and did little else.

Elle Grayson is just a normal 26 year-old, with a magnetism or two that might be considered abnormal. Perhaps that’s the extent of the oddities in her life. Perhaps this is all she could ever really wish for.

Perhaps she’ll be proven wrong, sooner rather than later.

----------

D I R E C T O R Y;

➤ a reunion
➤ a cat
➤ a novel
➤ an outing
➤ a resolution
➤ a sickness
➤ a home
➤ a boyfriend
➤ a horror

Comments

[coalheart]

When I need to.

[He's had a lot of time to at least get the basics. To study from afar. To apply it when the situation called for reading.

Otherwise...]

I've never read a book.

[animalqueen]

[She almost knocks over her little pile of books all over again upon hearing that admission.]

What? Never?

[She looks at him in disbelief; sure, he wasn't human, so maybe he didn't indulge himself in human things, but- It's just such an alien concept to her, especially since he admitted that he can read.

Then Elle shakes her head, huffing out a half-scoff in an "Haha, oh, we're going to fix that" sort of way.]

Well, then I'm going to be the one to introduce you to your first book.

[coalheart]

... Why?

[He doesn't get it. At all.

He gets that humans read in their spare time, piles of paper with their symbols. But he prefers the skies, the migration with a group, the view from above, the clouds. What does paper offer him?]

[animalqueen]

To... further your understanding of the human experience?

[Which, admittedly, why would he care about that? He didn't seem all that curious. So instead:]

Or to escape reality. You can use books to learn, but you can also use them to feel... you know? Happiness, anger, sorrow. To experience things outside of the scope of yourself.

[coalheart]

".... Outside the scope of yourself."

[He repeats those words because... It's a fascinating thing when said to him. Corvus has heard all kinds of words exchanged among human kind, of every subject imaginable including the contemplation of ones existence. But it always sounded empty and meaningless when heard from the outside, which is the view he always took when it came to people. A stranger from the stars, looking through the window glass.

Elle is a clumsy human, she talks too much, asks too many questions. Animals gravitate towards her even though she's not one of them. She could have thrown him out and injured him further, but she didn't. She gave him something to eat.

His tail swishes again.]

You can read to me.

[animalqueen]

Really?

[She brightens a little, pleasantly surprised. She expected him to show no interest, and the fact that he does makes her begin sorting through all her books in front of her, and she even glances behind her to her shelves.]

Sure, I can do that. I'll be your audiobook.

[She looks back at the black cat.]

What genre? Fantasy, sci-fi? Mystery? Horror? One of my faves. [She pauses, squinting.] Probably not romance for you, though.

[coalheart]

[He's not really sure why he's doing this. But reading does pass the time and perhaps it will help him focus on his recovery without dwelling on the cause of his injuries.]

Any of that sounds fine.

If there are scenes that are too explicit and will cause you to make a scene yourself, you are allowed to skip over those.

[well.............. at least he's being considerate in his twisted way again]

[animalqueen]

[She blinks at that very... odd consideration of his. At least it's his own way of being thoughtful? She can only assume that much.

Flatly:] Cor, I read books about serial killers and children that go crazy and start killing each other on an island. I read about space monsters that live in the sea, and zombies that'll eat your insides like spaghetti. Nothing here I've read is too explicit and will cause me to... "make a scene".

[What did that even mean, anyway?]

But anyway, I want to read something that you'll enjoy. I guess... what do you want to feel? Excitement? Contemplation? Fear? There are a lot of avenues, here.

[coalheart]

I meant scenes about copulation, but I suppose it was a bit much for you to realize that.

[fucking ruined AGAIN]

[animalqueen]

[






wat.

She sputters:]

I don't have books with scenes-- with explicit scenes like that in them! [Spoiler: She lies. She has a few trashy romance novels, but she didn't even consider reading those to him. God. Her cheeks turn red.]

Christ.

[coalheart]

You just made a scene.

[thank you captain obvious corvus]

[animalqueen]

No, I did not. You just made things weird.

[She shakes her head, casting her gaze to the floor. SORTING THROUGH THESE BOOKS AGAIN.]

Fine, I'll just close my eyes and pick something-

[And she does. Her fingers grasp the spine of a book, and she holds up...

The Great Gatsby.]

[coalheart]

Oh.

[Is all he has to say about Elle telling him he was being creepy again. Well... He did warn her.

Her randomized choice seems agreeable though. He's seen that title before, in stores and the like. It's come up more than once.]

I've seen that. While flying around.

[animalqueen]

[Almost immediately, Elle can tell what she's picked up by just the back cover alone.]

The art of the front cover is pretty much in all the big bookstores. It's a classic. Drama, romance, tragedy. Futility in life. A desire for things you can't have.

[She lifts herself up from the floor, book in hand.]

But I'm not reading to you on the floor. Let's get on the couch.

[coalheart]

[The black cat stalks towards the couch as instructed and climbs up, circling around once to get a good footing and a comfortable laying down position.]

How long will you read?

[animalqueen]

[She sits down, shifting her weight to face him slightly, pulling her legs up and curling into the corner.]

As long as you want me to. Or at least until you get bored, or tired. Though it's not that long of a book.

[Honestly, they could probably finish it in one day, but that's assuming he wants to just sit there and listen for that long.]

Ready?

[coalheart]

As I'll ever be.

[That seems to be the appropriate response. He stares at the book intently, waiting for her to begin.]

If I happen to fall asleep, which may be likely, you can stop.

[animalqueen]

You really know how to make a girl feel special, don't you?

[Eye roll. But she just brushes it off, and decides to start. Opening up the book, she begins.]

"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.
'Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,' he told me, 'just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.'"

[She reads with ease, her focus solely on the words before her. She's read it countless times before (first in school, then for pleasure after that), but reading it now to someone else is a different sort of experience. It makes her conscious of setting the tone, and the inflection in her voice when reciting dialogue.

All-in-all, there's a calmness in how she reads to him, a serenity in the undercurrent in how she paints the scene with her words.]

~*~*~*~*~*
[It's only when they're part way through the book when Elle lowers the novel to see if Corvus is still with her. She peers at him, half-expecting him to have fallen asleep maybe 3 chapters ago.]

[coalheart]

[His eyes were still open.

Corvus had been silent the whole time, allowing Elle's voice to lull him into a sense of calm. In his own way, he's trying to understand the story and not just listen to the voice of the girl. He's not sure if he really gets it or if he ever will, but the events made sense and so did the consequences of the actions of Daisy and Mr. Gatsby. Like a ring of fate that could not be avoided once you were set on its tracks.

It's hard to tell that Corvus is having any contemplative thoughts as a cat though. His tail just moves back and forth and he's not a fidgety cat.]

[animalqueen]

[Okay. He's still awake. Points for him.

Still, she wants to be considerate. She offers:]

Need a break?

[coalheart]

[His head moves up to look up at her.]

I've been resting the whole time.

[Corvus...]

But if you wish to stop, I have no reason to argue.

[animalqueen]

[Corvus....... well, she'll concede his point there.] Good point. But no, I'm still good. Just making sure you weren't dying of boredom over there, over Gatsby's undying yearning for Daisy.

[coalheart]

I've been listening.

[His tail rests on the cushion.]

She doesn't sound like she'd make for a good mate.

[animalqueen]

[She raises a brow at his word choice, but doesn't comment on it. Instead, she asks:]

Why do you think that?

[coalheart]

Her attentions always seem to be somewhere else.

I don't think I like any of these people.

[Corvus....]