Shade in the Shadows

SAMUEL i am the ocean, crawling madly at your moon. and with one wanton whoop — Sam noticed Amalia as soon as she entered the row he was on. He was wrapped up in his book but he was still finetuned to notice figures from his upbringing; Amalia had always lingered on the edges there. One of Evie's friends, therefore guilty by association in his mind, someone to be anxious around. He watched her carefully, hoping she would just leave. Guildmates, maybe, but he was still waiting for her to push him over and call him a loser. When she spoke to him he raised his eyebrows in clear mute surprise, lowered the book to his knees. "Um...hello. Is..is there something I can help you with?" Often, when people he didn't speak to much approached him in the Atheneum, it was because they wanted help finding something - after all, it was his domain too. — i melt into a sycophantic soup, & all that's left to do, is giggle, fawn, and swoon.