⋆✎˙⟡― elara gilbert / closed starter / @arynnstjohn
the library was nearly empty, the kind of silence that pressed at elara’s ears and made every page turn sound too loud. stacks of books—half history texts, half scattered journals from the archives—were spread out across the table in front of her, a disposable camera perched on top like a paperweight. she’d been here for hours, tracing maps of ley lines with a pencil, trying to make sense of the way the world kept twisting under their feet. but even she had to admit her focus was slipping.
when footsteps finally broke the hush, she glanced up, expecting the librarian—or maybe a stranger passing through. instead, it was arynn. her pencil stilled, brows lifting in faint surprise before the corner of her mouth pulled into something resembling a smile. “if you’re here to tell me i’m wasting my time, get in line,” she said quietly, gesturing at the seat across from her. “but if you’re here to help me figure out why mystic falls feels like it’s… unraveling, then—” a beat, softer now, “—i could use the company.”
