Stroll through the Parco [Cherry x Huayan SL]

It was early in the morning when Cherry decided to go out on her morning jog. Earlier than usual for the blonde at the very least. You could never claim that she was a creature of habit, if anything spontaneity and hair brained schemes ruled her life far more than any set routine ever could. But as far as things went, exercise was one thing that Cherry tried to keep a good pattern with. It was common sense really. Working out, exercising, staying fit, it all became so much easier when you engrain the act into your day to day life. Creating set times and goals for yourself made it easier to get up and do them. She wasn't as strict as some people were with it. She didn't have things down to the exact second, but she tried her best to keep everything around the same time. On the average day she would be lazing around the house at this hour, drinking coffee and scrolling mindlessly through her phone, but today was different.

Cherry couldn't call them dreams. They felt to vivid. To real. Memories would have fit the visions she saw like a glove but the issue with that is that they were not HER memories.

Ever since her little 'uninvited guest' took up residence in her head, her dreams has taken a strange turn. It wasn't to bad. Not typically. They were nonsensical, more akin to fever fueled delusions than dreams, but Cherry learned how to cope with them. No, her issues laid with the other types of dreams that this fiend gave her. Visions of herself in the body of a shifting mass of thick black sludge, no limbs to move, no mouth to scream with, far to many eyes with which to see. She had to crawl on her stomach. With a everlasting hunger in stomach plaguing her mind. Even now, just remembering that all encompassing urge to feed was making her gut twinge. She wasn't starving, it was something more supernatural than that, like some devil had cursed her with a gnawing bottomless abyss for a stomach. Something no mere food could fill.

It bothered her. She hated those dreams and for whatever reason that dream hit her harder today. She needed to get out of he house, breath in some fresh air and feel her limbs at work.

So here she was.

It was already helping her get her mind off of things. The beauty of nature would do that to you she supposed. The park really took a life of it's own in the early morning, no crowds or rowdy dogs filling the place with noise. It was devoid of people but not devoid of life and energy. Cherry could see birds flying about, insects going about their daily life. It was beautiful. She may have to come out here more often at this time of day.

Cherry was getting ready to take a break and really get a chance to soak in the nature around her. She eyed a park bench, one that already had a lone boy sitting on it. Maybe he wouldn't mind some company?

Approaching the bench, she bent down with a smile wide enough to reach her ears. It was genuine, bright, but nevertheless a little to wide for somebody to wear when speaking to a stranger. "Hiya stranger. My name's Cherry. Do you mind if I take a seat with you?"

It was indeed rather early, making the area quiet, as most people whom did not have to go out to work would at this hour still be inside, sleep was far more attractive after all. This was exactly what Huayan wanted though, the lack of crowds and buzzing noise of people talking making for a perfect time to be outside undisturbed.

Not for any rigorous activity however, as the young man could be found sitting on the park bench in a somewhat half-hunched posture with his feet crossed at the ankles, seemingly scribbling something into a notebook he had with him. He was pretty focused on whatever it was he was doing, up until the moment someone decided to come up to him and jolt him out of it.

It would take a good couple of seconds for him to have a reaction, eventually blinking a bit as he straightened in his position a bit, folding the notebook and pen over his lap as he awkwardly glanced over at the girl.

"...hi. If you really want to..."

There was a part of him that wanted to say that he did mind, because she could technically find a different bench to go sit at rather than bother him, but he also didn't want to be needlessly rude to a person he didn't really know. She probably didn't mean anything bad by this after all.

His awkward acceptance was enough for her. She plopped down on the edge of the bench, leaving a decent gap of space between her and the scrawny boy. He struck her as the shy sort, she didn't want to come on to strongly and scare him off. Although the pest had different options on the matter.

"Don't sit next to him, fuck." The voice rumbled through her head, echoing through her skull as if it was a empty cave. Cherry has spent years of her life trying to tune him out and he, in turn, has spent years of his life trying to find ways to alter his pitch and tone to slip past her defenses. These days it was annoyingly high pitched. "He is a weirdo sitting alone at a park. At best he is a loser and at worst he may be some mass murderer" Cherry struggled not to openly roll her eyes at that. Asmodeus was always so damn negative. She guessed she couldn't expect much from a Demon, but still. Unlike him though, she wanted to get to know this young man. She also wasn't exactly worried about him being a killer. This glorious nation of their's was safe for the most part and even if he was some psycho, well, she doubted he could do alot of harm.

For a moment Cherry took a small sip from her water bottle. A big flask with neon pink coloring and stickers of Kirby and various different types of Pokémon plastered all over it. "Sorry if I interrupted you. I just needed to rest for a bit. I've been jogging for twenty minutes now." She chuckled. "Are you an artist?" She asks, pointing to his notebook.

Well, it was too late to have regrets now, but at least the girl didn't get close enough to where it'd be uncomfortable, people that didn't mind personal space were among the less pleasant to interact with. He'd stare down at the notebook in his lap for a couple moments, his expression mostly neutral with the exception of a very slight furrow of his brows, indicating that he was thinking about what was being said. He would soon enough remember to actually look in her direction though, instead of talking to the ground like he was ignoring her.

"It's okay..." He would shake his head slightly. "I can draw a bit...but I was just trying to study." Yes, definitely the most normal thing to be doing this early in the morning, but then again there was nothing saying he couldn't. As far as her inquiry went, he wasn't terrible at drawing, but he wasn't sure he'd actually consider himself an artist. If anything, he mostly just doodled a bit from time to time.

"Ahhhhh." Finally all the pieces formed together. Merging together to form one, big coherent picture. The awkwardness. The shyness. Doing school work at this hour of the day. He was a nerd. That realization made her understand him just a bit better. She had dealt with them before, always seemed kind enough even if she never really managed to befriend them truly. Then again, she never REALLY managed to truly befriend anybody now that she thought about it..... Huh.  

Regardless though, Cherry smiled again and nodded in understanding. "I see. You must be a good student, studying this early. If you want I could try to help you? I'm no egghead but I should remember some of this stuff. What grade are you in? Tenth? Ninth?" Suddenly remembering what the weight in her hands were, she extended the bottle to him slightly. "You want a drink?

She wasn't wrong to say that he was generally a good student, though as far as thinking him to be a nerd...well, he could certainly look that way, but it wasn't necessarily the answer for everything he did either. It was usually easier for him to let people think he was a nerd though, it wasn't as if he had a better answer for them on hand anyway.

He would jerk one shoulder in a sort of a shrug. "It's more efficient this way." Get the studying out of the way while he had the solitude to do so and little interruptions coming his way, then deal with the other stuff life demanded later. He wasn't a fan of cramming last minute, it was far more anxiety inducing. "I..." He would trail off for a moment, a slightly distant look in his gaze. It only belatedly hit him what she was suggesting, and while it wasn't entirely a surprise that she assumed he was younger than he really was, given his shorter stature and all that, it did briefly leave him mentally scrambling for an appropriate response to it. "Uhm, I think you probably can't help me much. Twelfth grade, actually." Well, honest answer was really the only option here. He didn't know how old she was and he didn't dare guess, but even if she were the same grade as him, he would probably pass on the offer. In fact, if she were he probably would have remembered at least seeing her in some class, so likely not then...

"Mm, not thirsty." A beat later. "Thanks." He also wasn't quite one to like taking unknown stuff from people unless he already knew them, and preferably knew what exactly they were giving him. He couldn't tell whether she just had water, or some other type of drink with her after all.

Cherry snorted in amusement at his blunt words. He was funny! Kinda! Probably wasn't trying to be but it is what it is. Her warm grin turned into an embarrassed flush of her cheeks when be revealed his actual age. "O-Oh! Sorry! I didn't know, I just kinda assumed that yo- Well uh, never mind what I assumed." He may have been pushed ahead a couple of grades, but Cherry wouldn't have been able to socially recover from the embarrassment if he was actually eighteen years old.

An awkward silence fell over them for a few moments as Cherry leaned against the back of the bench. Her eyes closed for a moment before she asks. "So, what school do you go to?"

His head would tilt slightly to the side in thought, his hands moving to absentmindedly fiddle with the pen he had on him. He didn't appear to be bothered by the girl's sudden embarrassment, his response surprisingly level-headed, not implying any sort of offense taken at her blunder. "You can say whatever is on your mind if you want. People guess a lot of things wrong about me. Is it because I'm smaller than you?" If his previous comments registered as blunt in her mind, this one would probably take the cake there. At least as far as not wasting time on beating around the bush went.

The silence didn't appear to weigh on him much either, and perhaps it was even a good thing as it gave him more space to think about the situation. "The Saint Rubia's Institute." Simple question with a simple answer.

She was still blushing but this time she let out a laugh with his response. A hand hovering over her face as she tried suppressing her amused snickering. Okay, yeah, he definietly was funny. "Alright, okay, yeah you got me. You're right. It's because you are smaller than me, but I don't mean anything by it I promise." She was tall for her age and gender and this fellow wasn't the first boy she loomed over. But something about how old he was made the whole situation a bit strange. She guessed she could just chalk it up the bad genetics on his end, or maybe he just didn't get enough milk as a child?

"Or maybe he is just a pathetic welp and your wasting my damn time talking to him." And here he was. Justas she was starting to have fun too. "He doesn't even want to talk to you." That much... May have been true. He didn't seem that excited to talk to her. On the other hand though it wasn't like he was rejecting her efforts either. Until he told her to leave, Cherry would take it as him secretly wanting some company or at the very least being indifferent to it.

The issue was though that with how quiet and to the point he was, Cherry couldn't really find a topic to latch onto. Conversations lived and died based on momentum and right now this little chat was moving about as fast as a slug trying to trek through snow. It was a miracle that he was going to the same school as her then. "Oooh!" She snatched the new topic up like a drowning man lunging to a life raft. "What a coincidence, I am transferring over there! In fact today is gonna be my first day. Hey, maybe we'll see each other in the halls?" Running a finger through her unkept hair. "I'm a little nervous honestly. The school seems alot more uh.... 'High scale' than what I am used to, if that makes sense. Do you got any tips for how to survive there?" She asked in a purposefully over dramatic way.

Okay...

He wasn't entirely certain as to what the joke was in this, having been seeing it as a more of a factual misconception, but seeing as she was laughing about it, he figured there had to be something he was missing. While he would not laugh alongside her, he did seem to at least offer an awkward attempt at a smile, although how his intent would get interpreted was up in the air.



"I can't choose my height so...I suppose it's fine either way."

She didn't seem malicious, and while he could by all means be wrong, it ultimately didn't matter that much...for even when it came to those who did mean it that way, he was better off leaving it be rather than inviting more trouble which wasn't worth it. It wasn't a matter that would upset him enough to want to fight over it.

That being said...yeah, he was unfortunately not the best at carrying a conversation through, often not seeing the need to say more than the obvious response to what the other side had said, creating unintentional awkwardness or tense moments. It could be said that for the most part he was more or less in the indifferent zone as far as the interaction went, after all he had not come here wanting to find a person to talk to, but this girl also wasn't intrusive enough to bother him at the moment. Thus, it was a relatively okay compromise right now.

He would click the pen, the faint noise filling the slight silence that settled after she blurted those questions at him. "....perhaps?" Maybe, but also maybe he wouldn't quite take notice of her. Then again, that likely wasn't true the other way around. "I...usually just keep to myself. That probably isn't the answer you're looking for though." It wasn't difficult to 'survive' if you just did what you needed to do, but he also didn't quite know what she was looking for exactly. "You seem...outgoing. I think you'll find your way to fit in." Contrary to someone like him.

"Well. You could always go the plastic surgery route. I think that could effect your height. Oooooor you could try out some heels. I know those are normally for girls but I think you would look good in them." He was pretty cute actually. She really did think that he could pull of wearing high heels, although wearing them in public probably wasn't the best idea. Thinking back on it she really shouldn't have brought it up in the first place. "Really though that is all just in case it does bother you and I don't think it does. Height doesn't matter all that much. Except for the grocery stores I guess." The mental image of the boy stretching out on his tippy toes to get some noodles on the top shelf invaded her mind and made her snicker again.

"Why thank you." She always tried to be approachable. "It's just, I mean, I dunno. It's such a good school! You know like..... Doctors and law people go there! Big shots and I am just not all about that type of life. Guess I am just a little nervous that I will stick out." She waved a hand around her body. Bringing attention to her far from 'fancy' clothes. A thick, baggy pink hoodie acting as her top with similarly loose pink sweat pants. They looked like clothes meant for lazing around the house more than going for a jog. "I mean we gotta wear uniforms? I've never wore uniforms before!" She was already dreading wearing those skirts. She never liked them.

She didn't like the idea of going to this school at all when it came right down to it. It was just another attempt by her mother to push her down a path she wasn't meant to walk. That or just kick the bird out of the nest. "Anyways, sorry I doubt you wanna hear me complain huh? Do you have a name shortie~?" She asked with a playful and gentle elbow to his side.

"Having to balance on those sounds worrying...." Interestingly enough, he did not appear to have an issue with the fact that heels were generally for women, finding himself more concerned with the fact that his balance would probably be too out of whack trying to walk in such shoes. It did not sound like a pleasant experience, and definitely not a great trade off just to gain a measly few centimeters to one's perceived height. Even with that, he would still be on the shorter side anyway. "Mn." He would shrug weakly. "I think it bothers other people more than me." Really, it wasn't something he would spend much time pondering over, were it not for people somehow managing to bring it up at random in some way or form. He was a bit short for his gender and age group, but he wasn't so short it would be completely abnormal.

He would look her over curiously, absentmindedly twirling the pen a bit. "I think...if someone like me can attend, you probably overestimate the amount of true big shots you would end up seeing there." Of course, those existed too...but one didn't have to be a literal genius to be able to get accepted, surely. "Are you...worried you aren't smart enough?" She had said she didn't consider herself to be as on top of studies as some others, but surely it wasn't so bad she'd stick out because of that? "Hmm..." He'd look down at his lap for a few moments. "I don't really mind the uniforms...saves me the trouble of choosing what to wear every morning." It was the kind of routine he could appreciate, to be honest.

Ah well...

He would blink back up at her, doing his best to not jump from the sudden touch, shaking his head slightly. "It's okay." In a way, having her carry the talking made it easier on him. "Um, it's Huayan..." An obviously foreigner sounding name, which was a somewhat unusual occurence.

"Oooooh by the Five! Don't I know it!? When I was younger my mother used to take me to all of these fancy parties. I would have to wear these stuffy dresses and high heels, I always hated them. I just thought a boy might fare better with the strain." She was happy those days were mostly behind them. But with everything, she couldn't help but feel like her gain resulted in her mother's loss. She never liked attending those parties. Everybody there was always so fake, they weren't people. They were walking, talking personae. Vestiges of real people wearing masks to fit in. She hated seeing her mother act like them, but, maybe she wasn't seeing things like how she saw them. Perhaps her mother had a different perspective on things that she just failed to grasp.

Well, she guessed it didn't matter now anyways.

Stifling a sigh. Cherry tried her hand at rejecting those thoughts. She was being rude. She was talking with a new person, he deserved her full attention. "I guess so. I just wanted to be careful. Some guys can get really defensive when you put their masculinity into question." Not that he was a pillar of raw muscles and traditional manliness though. Honestly between herself and him, Cherry had to imagine that she would deal with the strain of high heels better than he could. "Well, I mean I wouldn't put it in those EXACT terms." She pouted. "......But yeah. Pretty much." School was always hard for her. It requires a sort of forethought and discipline that was different than the grit she used to push past her physical limits. There was something primal and gratifying seeing herself run farther and lift heavier weights than she could months before. Studying always felt like a futile climb upwards. A fruitless battle against an endless tide of information and concepts she could not hope to grasp.

"Fair, but I like to express myself." She smiled slightly before humming in interest. "Hu-Yan? Hu-ayan? Did I get that right? Is that chinese?"

Uh-huh...

Well, he knew nothing of parties like that, and just thinking about attending such an event sounded like a nightmare, to be honest. "I don't think I'm clumsy but..." It was a hazard regardless. "Your story sure doesn't support them being a good tool for height increase. It's used to show off instead..." He didn't really think wearing high heels made a person prettier, but clearly that was in some way or form the intent.

His face scrunched a little in thought. "Those things aren't what make a person a man to begin with...but I suppose they're easy to use as jokes or insults." If that was what pleased them, as illogical as it ultimately was. "They accepted you. That probably means they don't think you're too stupid for the school." Not that he knew whether they actually tested every applicant or not, but in the latter case, it would then mean getting in wasn't even about intelligence level to begin with.

"Mn...my father was from somewhere in that area." He never really asked for specific details though. It probably didn't quite matter, and it wasn't something people here were eager to talk about either way.

Cherry stammered for a reply, only to falter and shrug. "Honestly.... Yeah. Heels are more useful for just making you look good more than anything. I don't really think they do anything for me though, I'm not exactly feminine heh. As for what makes a person a man? I do agree with you there. I guess I was just trying to explain myself y'know? Alot of guys put alot of stake on stuff that isn't really imporant at all." If anything him not caring about what other people thought about how he dressed was pretty manly in itself! Or uh, something like that. She thought so anyways. "It wasn't easy trust me. I had alot of cramming to do to get my grades up, it was NOT fun." At least her mother seemed happy that she got enrolled in. She could take some pride in that.

Pumping her fist up in the air at the correct guess. She looked at Huayan with a keener eye. Soaking up his appearance with a bit more of a critical look for details. "Yeah I can kinda see it now! Gosh this is so cool, I never met a Chinese person before! What is it like? I mean, did your dad ever tell you about his life back there?"