Just worried.

[Elric Vlarintos]

Piper seemed to ponder his question for a moment. A sinking feeling welled up inside of him and he suddenly became very concerned. It had never occurred to him that he might intimidate people around him, though Piper had always acted normal around him and Boogies never seemed to be intimidated by humans.

"I don't think you're scary at all or I wouldn't be comfortable being around you. Perhaps work on just saying Hello to people without a bad one liner, ok?"

That made Elric feel a little better, and it was when she gestured to her hand that Elric realized she had been holding it. When did that happen and why hadn't he noticed that sooner? Elric cursed his pale complexion in his mind as he felt his cheeks turn a little red. "That makes sense. And I'll try and be better about opening conversations."

Elric put his free hand up to his face in hopes that it might hide his blushing while he got it under control. Piper's joke helped him in that direction. "And maybe don't hide in you room so much...I promise I don't pick up any of the more lively books anymore."

"Ah, yes... Snappy. Well, so long as you promise it's safe for me to walk around the halls without worrying about my toes, I guess I will."

[Piper Wren]

Piper noticed that Elric suddenly went very red in the face when he realised she had been holding his hand, she hadn't meant to for that long! She had just forgotten and it seemed like a good example to point out that she wasn't intimidated by him...well it had seemed to be at the time anyway. Obviously it wasn't the best idea after all, Piper quickly dropped Elric's hand as if it were red hot, cursing herself as her own cheeks coloured although unlike Elric, Piper only went dark pink rather than scarlet and almost sunburnt. The poor girl was now a little embaressed herself and awkwardly put her hands behind her back.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-I thought you knew...erm...sorry."

Her gaze flicked down to the floor, Piper hadn't intended to embaress Elric, at least he knew that she wasn't afraid of him, right? When she looked up again she saw that Elric had covered his hand with his face to hide his blush...Piper privately wondered if he went redder than she did in these kinds of situations, after all despite them both being fair, Elric was the paler of the two. Although thankfully for the both of them, Elric's comment was a welcome distraction.

"Ah, yes... Snappy. Well, so long as you promise it's safe for me to walk around the halls without worrying about my toes, I guess I will."

A small chuckle escaped her lips, it didn't seem like she was ever going to live that one down, she had been surprised that Elric hadn't laughed when he found her sitting on the top of a bookcase...with a snapping book snarling at her from the bottom. Especially after being there for two hours and not having a clue how to get rid of the wretched thing.

"You can be sure of that promise, I'm never going near the bound up books again...maybe you want to go outside and get some air? It might.."

Piper gestured roughly around her own face as an example.

"Erm, you know."

[Elric Vlarintos]

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-I thought you knew...erm...sorry."

That barely sounded intelligible, but Elric was speaking the common language of apologies at that particular moment and understood exactly what Piper was trying to say. If you asked him to explain it later he wouldn't know where to start, but at least he knew at that particular moment. "I should be the one- you don't need... I was just..." the stuttering were rather bad.

Listening to Elric speak at that moment was akin to listening to someone fall down a set of stairs.

When Piper spoke once again it did give Elric a bit of relief. "You can be sure of that promise, I'm never going near the bound up books again...maybe you want to go outside and get some air? It might.. Erm, you know." Elric knew and understood just fine. He nodded with agreement.

"Maybe stepping outside and getting some fresh air would do me some good." He missed the days when he'd be covered in soot after working; it was harder to tell if he was blushing or just hot from working the forge in those days. Now it was not so easy.