Theodore had a hard time keeping an amused slightly curved lips off of his face at her stuttering. He was normally the one in that position. The way her hair fell over half of her face made her appear more shy. He pulled his gaze away from her, and to the book. If he remembered correctly, he had heard of it before. His mother hadn't liked it, when he read about werewolves, because those stories could be kind of cringey, but he had anyway, because she hadn't given him a hard no. He was glad to see her face light up, and she had read Guardians of Ga'Hoole also. He grinned, "Am I even pronouncing Ga'Hoole correctly? Do you know?"

He had always gone around with a slight fear, that he was mangling that pronunciation. His face relaxed from the laughter, as there was a slight lull in the conversation. He shrugged, "A bit of both. I also sort of came here for the air condition. We try to use the least amount that we can in our house, so it's sweltering." He didn't want to bore her with his research and writing. He palmed his forehead, "Oh yeah, I was wanting to grab a book to read once I got home. I'll do that in a moment." His foot had been edging out to take a step, but he remembered at the last moment it was rude to run off in the middle of a conversation.

"I honestly don't see too many people at the library my age. They're normally working or playing. Since this isn't a college town, they have less reason to visit a library. I was curious what you were doing here?" He nodded smiling, "I can totally relate." He paused, without expression, surprised she had been paying that much attention to him. He raised a brow with a teasing look, "Wow. Somebody paying that much attention to me. What did I do to warrant that?" He shrugged, "I haven't given them too much thought before, but I saw one recently."

For some reason he didn't feel like talking about it, or seem like some crazy owl enthusiast. Everything about the encounter had been odd. "My phone's camera is sh...ot..not very good," he changed at last moment. He had gotten into the habit of trying to mimic his brother's toughness, but he had a feeling that this girl wouldn't appreciate that. Besides, his mother would be very annoyed with him. He watched her, as she blushed at his invitation. He didn't think he had ever had a girl react like that either. He nodded accepting the refusal. He sometimes forgot how careful that girls needed to be, even though he did keep aware of how to take a declination gracefully. He grinned a little, "No need for such a reaction. No pressure. Really."

He understood, but he wasn't sure what else to do as a demonstration of trying to continue their acquaintance. He supposed, she might not really care, so the ball was in her court now. He felt like asking for her number might be a little premature, but perhaps it was for going to get a drink also. "Oh yeah," he grimaced a little after he invited her for a drink, "My name is Theodore. Probably want to at least know my name right? And yours?" He was surprised that she accepted before they had even formally introduced themselves, but his eyes lit up, and he tried to conceal a happy smile. "Yay!" he barely restrained from clapping his hands together. That wasn't a very manly reaction.

On one hand, he knew he wasn't going to hurt this girl, but going off with a stranger might not be the best for her. Hadn't she heard of spiked drinks? He realized that he had really put her in an awkward position. He wondered why he didn't have more common sense. "Coffee's always good," he nodded in agreement. He would get something iced, because it was way to hot for such foolishness. "Wait a moment. Let me grab a book." He hurried through the fantasy isle, skimming, and grabbed one he thought would be good. He checked out, and soon they were on their way.

~~~~~

He realized he had a whole walk through the hot sun to make him want a drink more than ever, and he had to distract himself from the uncomfortableness, and concentrate on the conversation. He felt sweat beginning to trickle down his back, and bead at his hairline. "I'm a rising senior and I've been going to State of Virginia University, and I'm majoring in English. What about you?" While he didn't dislike the outdoors, he could do without them at certain times of the year. He looked up in surprise at the familiar sound of an icecream truck. "Do you want to get ice cream or coffee first?"

He was quite thirsty, and ice cream made him more thirsty. "My mom was always suspicious of ice cream trucks. I normally watched them go by safely inside the house, while other children ran out with money." He was searching his brain for another conversational topic, and finally decided to be lazy, "I know this is super general, but what do you normally do with your time. I like art, and writing," he added as an afterthought, "and reading," forgetting to group that with the rest. "Also what family do you have?"

He tensed at the thought, wishing he hadn't brought it up. He didn't like going into his family history, especially with strangers. It wasn't something he wanted to pull out of his closet, yet it was a normal conversation of topic, and quite important to getting to know someone. "I don't have any pets. Do you? I'd really like a dog, but I don't think I could afford one. I've been considering a cat." He realized he was missing a more obvious question, "What ice cream do you plan on getting, and what drink? What made you decide coffee over soda?" He didn't mind, but he wanted to get into her thought process. Was it a little creepy?

He realized now if he had been by himself, he would have gotten soda. It would be a lot cheaper, than expensive Starbucks, and he could always do better when he saved a little money. It would have been guarateed to be cool. He also probably could have gotten it sooner. However, he was worried that questioning along this line would make it seem like he was questioning her choice. He noticed that there was a line of children at the icecream truck. It would be a little while, and they would have to wait out in the sun. At least once he got a hold of the ice cream he could cool down a few degrees. He should have invited her to go swimming rather than a drink, he was coming to think.

Nascha smiled, supressing what would hhave been a giggle. "I think everyone sort of pronounces it a little differently." she said. "I'm not even sure if I am pronouncing it right, so I wouldn't worry about it." She sort of glanced around a little, still wondering what it was exactly that made him come over to her. She was still a little worried that he had noticed her staring, and was hoping that he didn't think she was some sort of creep.

"Oh," she said quietly in response to his comment about his air conditioning. "I'm sorry. I don't know if I could handle that." She didn't want to make the assumption that he and his family were poor, and she definitely didn't want to offend him by saying anything of the sort. "My family's pretty hotblooded, so we sort of have to keep the A.C. up or it's not a pretty sight." she let out a friendly giggle, and listened as he said he was planning on grabbing a book too.

He said that he didn't see too many people around his age at the library, and Nascha nodded in agreement. "I don't either, usually. Sometimes I see someone but not often at all. I usually come to study or just find a good book that I don't already have at home." His teasing look and comment granted a warm blush to flow over her cheeks, and she tried to hide it with a smile.

"Oh I'm just...observant." she said a tad nervously, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "My mom's always told me to be careful of staring, but sometimes I can't help it. I notice things quickly and then I just...keep noticing." she laughed, a little embarassed by this confession. She hoped he wouldn't find it creepy.

She smiled as he talked about the quality of his phone's camera, and was greatly amused by his censoring. Why did he feel the need? It wasn't like she was sheltered or had never spoken a curse before. "Tried to snap a picture?" she asked, asuming that he had. "Owls are a bit rare to see outside of enclosures. I would consider it a good omen." She paused. "My father is Native American, and he always told me owls were bad luck. But I think they are beautiful creatures."

She was happy to see that he didn't seem offended by her declination at first, and that spoke volumes to her. He introduced himself as Theodore, and she was happy to finally hear a name to go with the face. "Nascha," she said, holding out her hand to shake. She reconsidered her previous answer, and decided it was worth a shot. Perhaps they could be friends. She was glad to see he was happy.

She waited for him as he looked for a book, and walked up to the front desk with him, both of them checking out a new read.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nascha was beginning to feel the burning heat on her shoulders as they walked, but tried to ignore it by creating conversation. Her entire face lit up upon hearing his answer to her question, and she turned to him. "Oh my gosh, really?! I go there too! I'm a rising sophomore. Art Education is my major, planning on being a middle-high school Art teacher." She sort of had a slight skip in her step now, knowing that she would be seeing him more often. So far he didn't seem like a bad guy at all, and she wasn't catching any bad vibes.

"Ice cream probably," she said in response to his question. "It's pretty hot, we could probably use something to help us cool off a little before we get drinks." She tilted her head at his ice cream truck story. She could understand, but it was odd. She'd always loved to get ice cream. Her parents would always watch out of course, but she'd never run into any problems before.

He asked her what she typically liked to do with her time, and she let out a soft self depricating laugh. "Well I read a lot," she answered. "I also draw quite a bit. Mostly read though, I can never seem to get my nose out of a good book. What do you like to do?"

She listened to his hobbies, and nodded, remembering the writing from the previous night when she had come to him as an owl. She said nothing of this though. "Writing is cool! I've never tried it myself, other than essays and stuff for school. But that's easy because you have all the information you need already." She sort of tensed a little, caution blaring through her mind as he asked about her family.

It wasn't a huge deal, but she didn't exactly like giving out personal information about her family straight away, much less to a stranger. "Well my father is Native American, and my mother is American. I have an older brother, his name is Kapueo. I'm pretty close with all of my family, but I like to spend time by myself." She hoped that was enough information to satisfy him, without givingg too much away. "What about you?"

"The only pet we have is a parakeet." she said. "My father wanted a dog but my mom is allergic so we get stuck with birds. Cats aren't ideal either." She smiled. "Nothing wrong with that though."

He asked her what ice cream she was planning on getting, and she shrugged. "I'll have to see what they have first, but I usually always go to vanilla." He asked her about the drinks. "I just figured you couldn't go wrong with a good cup of coffee, but I wouldn't mind grabbing a soda if you'd like."

"So, have you lived here your whole life?" she asked, wanting to keep some sort of conversation going while they waited in line.