//------------------------------//
// I 
// Story: Smoke & Records 
// by Paper_Pen 
//------------------------------//

Smokey Eyes and Paper Pen sat on a couch in the former's apartment, chatting idly as they sipped on tea and warmed up from a cold day of enjoying the fresh winter's snow beginning to blanket Manehattan. Any other winter the stallion would have been content to stay inside half-alive under as many hoodies or warm blankets he could find, though Smokey had wrenched him from his comfortable darkness, her damned smile just pierced his outer shell like a spear. Truthfully he had to admit even to his cold dead heart that this made him happy, being near Smokey made him feel something he couldn't perfectly define, a kind of high her place was just full of.

"I still can't get over that waitress today, she thought you were a total freak!" Smokey giggled.

"Well I don't usually drink hot cocoa, how was I supposed to know most ponies don't have it with bourbon?" Pen reasoned.

"It's a cafe, not a bar!"

"I still swear I got thrown out of there a few years ago." Pen attested, "And I only get thrown out of places when I'm drinking with Note!"

"You and Note…" she giggled, "It's gonna catch up with ya' one day, y'know!"

"That's alright, I just need to get successful enough to afford a good lawyer." Pen joked, slamming back the rest of his tea in much the same way he would a shot. Suddenly his vision was obscured by a flash of brown as something flew into his face, Smokey's giggling quickly making it obvious she was behind the attack. 

Pen readjusted his glasses and took a good look at the 'something', it was a plush toy of Daring Do, and a well worn one at that. It was something of a contrast in her apartment, being the only object that would actually mean much at just a glance to most ponies. Smokey didn't have any pictures up and the appliances in her well stocked kitchen were formed in an array of different colors, aesthetic just wasn't important to a blind pony like her. 

"You're into Daring Do?" Pen casually asked, giving the toy back to her.

"Oh, of course!" She smiled and let her ears perk up, "I loved the books as a foal, my dad was super into adventure novels and he would read to me every night. I was suuuper scared of the Ghoul Queen from book seven so-" She held the plush up in her hooves, "Had her ever since! Have you ever read through the original series? I'd love to just nerd out about it-"

"Oh buck yeah!" Pen smiled, "I analysed the books for a paper back in school, I even got to meet A.K. Yearling a couple of years ago!"

"Seriously?!" Smokey's clouded grey eyes seemed almost starstruck, "Did you get to have a book signed or something?!"

"Well it was less of a fan meetup and more of a 'she almost sued me for copyright infringement' thing" Pen admitted, "But she was absolutely the nicest pony to have threatened me with legal action!"

"There's been enough to rank them?"

"Daring Do for copyright violation, Rainbow Dash for spreading false rumors, Raven Inkwell for identity theft, I'm probably still banned from Ornithia for that whole 'impersonating a world leader' thing but-" Pen paused, "Legal trouble aside- I loved her books!"

"You should probably just be a lawyer…" Smokey scooted closer to Pen, an action he almost shied away from before her hoof began to gently feel through his long mane. "I just wish I could listen to them again."

Texture, especially softness, meant something special to the mare, it was how she saw beauty. Her favorite things were warm blankets just out of the dryer and perfectly cooked pastries, silken dresses and cold ocean water at the beach. Pen's mane was a rather recent addition to that nebulous list of things she could just like without explanation, it was a blanket of softness that somehow always smelt like fruity shampoo. 

"Why can't you?" Pen asked, "Don't they sell audiobooks?"

"Well they did…" Smokey groaned, her tone rolling her eyes for her, "The company that had the rights to print the records went under and now nopony else can, I tried to get one second hoof but total flank-face collectors scalped the price up."

"Damned collector's markets, same thing happened to My Alchemical Friendship's first album…" Pen sympathized. Of course, he had a bootleg copy of 'I Brought You My Magic, You Brought Me Your Love', and he couldn't help but wonder if the same seedy sort that sold him that record would happen to carry audiobooks. After all Smokey's birthday was coming up, what better gift than a book?