Chapter Text
The day should be perfect, a calm stillness. Veritas’ eyes lazily glide along the page of his book, fist holding up his face, the thick bind of papers sitting on his lap, as he lounges against the oak tree in the center of the courtyard, just a small patch of grass, surrounded by cement paths. His finger drags along the bottom of the words, feeling the groove of each type-written letter as he reads, feeling the way the paper is slightly rough but not uncomfortable to touch. It’s a grounding, comfortable sense that keeps Veritas focused on his book. It’s not a story, they’re not nearly as interesting as real life. The way that the human mind works is far more entertaining than any romance or action story could be.
However, the mood quickly sours. He hears multiple sounds coming from the same direction, the digital sound of music and the overlapping of talking, before settling in front of him. He pokes his chin up, just slightly over his knees, to see a group of girls, five, all eyes glued to the small screens in their hands. They don’t acknowledge him, nor each other. The noise pollution is a suffocating warmth that quickly overwhelms Veritas. It shouts for his attention and quickly distracts him, losing where he was on his page.
He attempts to reconnect with the sentence, however the words are swimming on his page, refusing to cooperate. He sighs, defeated, before sitting up slightly straighter to have a proper look at the girls. They sit in a row, oddly straight as they face towards him that makes him want to shift, uncomfortable. However, no attention is on him, all five heads bowed down to look into the laps, backs like shrimps. On their screens are people’s faces, all talking at them, trying to grab their attention desperately like their hands grip the girl's chins.
Then, the cycle begins. One girl gets slightly annoyed at not being able to hear her video, so she turns her volume up. Now, the video volumes are out of balance, so the next girl holds the button on the side of her phone. It’s amusing. The way they don’t even spare a glance at each other as they continue this battle that no one will win. In the end, the shouting will cancel each other out, making it impossible to understand any of them.Not only are the devices loud, but they’re also overlapping, making it impossible for Veritas to at least pick a device to pick up on to listen into, which leaves him in a state of overstimulation and, in a sense, distress. However, once the bell rings, an unusually comforting sound, the five get up, without a word, and walk in the same direction, in a line, and back into the building. The courtyard is silent again, and Veritas slumps against the tree, letting out a sigh of relief as he goes back to his ink.