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⠀&& shaking his head anyway. “ i did answer some stiff people sent me earlier today about some of their own experiences, and then got myself some more camera film, but ... the rain got worse when i left, and i found &&
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⠀ “ not today, no ... i mean, an empty library is pretty peculiar but there's nothing really ... paranormal about that. not many people go outside when it's raining. ” his own joke gets a laugh out of them, but it's &&
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what a torrent of words he offers, every stray thought given form and voice without restraint. it is an unexpectedly compelling subject to hear from someone like them — perhaps that explains the weariness etched into their features, the &.
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⠀&& shaking his head anyway. “ i did answer some stiff people sent me earlier today about some of their own experiences, and then got myself some more camera film, but ... the rain got worse when i left, and i found &&
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⠀&& “ i document almost everything here, though. either here or on my phone, but i always try to get something from either ... an investigation, i guess, for evidence, or my trips for memories. ”
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⠀“ hmmm ... ” guess the cat's out of the bag now. they pause to think for a bit still, trying to gather the words and thoughts properly. “ traveling's pretty nice. never got to do it much when i was a kid. but &&
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“hm… going outside can be pleasant, i suppose,” he muses lightly, voice threaded with quiet thought. “though i find myself more attuned to the hours when the world softens — i am rarely seen beneath the sun.”
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⠀&& always basically being in the same place my whole life. but i don't know if you believe in the paranormal like that, so ... ”
⠀a small shrug, followed by him unzipping their backpack to pull out a worn journal. &&
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⠀“ i mean– staying in is nice, for sure! it's good to get some rest. but i also miss going outside. there's so much stuff to see and write down that if i stay inside for too long i get antsy. ”
⠀especially because &&
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“hm,” he hums softly, gaze idly following the path of rainwater as it trails along the curve of their face — slipping past cheek and jaw, lingering at the delicate hollow of the neck where a pulse quietly rests beneath skin.
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⠀&& his own job kinda required him to go outside ─┈ but they don't mention that. does the stranger even believe in the paranormal? he'd hate to look like a fool and embarrass themself trying to explain their &&
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⠀&& the table ─┈ a small attempt to fill the silence but not too disruptively.
⠀“ like, a rainy day or two is fine, i can rest a bit at home, but when it starts feeling too long i get a little antsy about it. ”
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⠀“ oh, so much. feels like it's been every day this week now, i miss when the sun was out for more than like ... a minute or two. ”
⠀biting at the inside of his cheeks, looking out the window and lightly tapping on &&
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“it’s quite alright … ”
his gaze lingers on them for a quiet moment before he closes the book in his hands, a soft sigh slipping between pages already well-loved —— a novel he has returned to more times than he can count.