` it’s a little—it’s a little strong, i think. could have toned it down on haunted victorian author a bit, fix up a few typos and make it not so ramble-y. `
his anxiety is the furthest thing subtle, if the nervous rubbing of the back of his neck is anything to go off of. it’s not often that he shares his personal writings with others; his father was the only person who had skimmed over the pages upon pages of recollections and prose, and even then, jeff had only extended the offer to read them because he was basically his therapist, and if anyone should get a glimpse into that crowded head of his, it was him. jeff isn’t sure what prompted him to let poppy see what were his otherwise secret and personal enough to make him want to burn them stories—regardless of the choices that led them here, they’re here, and jeff finds himself quietly and internally pacing over the idea of being intimate like this, which might have been thought of as silly, considering everything they’d both been through.
` it’s not, uh…bad, though? ` less looking for validation and more just making sure there’s no potential offense to be taken from his words. just…asking.
she’s entranced by words on the page, doe eyes studying everything down to the curvature of the letters, the littlest idiosyncrasies of his hand - writing, his word choice. she sees herself spilled on these pages like overturned ink. it makes her realize just how much attention jeff really paid. if he had not spoken, she’d’ve spent the next several hours just reading it, finishing it, then reading it again. even now, it takes her a moment to process his words. eyes flicker up, brows furrow momentarily in her brief attempt to understand what she’s hearing.
❝ oh, uh, ❞ brief pause. a moment to collect her thoughts. composure. she grabs for her bearings and finally, manages a bright grin. ❝ i like it --- i like it a lot. typos are certainly there but, i like the writing. i like the way you write a lot. ❞
so many ways to say the same thing over and over again. yes, he gets it, poppy, you like his writing. say something else. ❝ i think the ... victorian haunted author suits you well. ❞
