Stroll through the Parco [Cherry x Huayan SL]

The young man would hum faintly. "Perhaps it is a good thing those are the most important problems in their lives..." If you had time to spend on worrying how manly you looked, good for you? At least, that's how he'd see it anyway. He would make a noise of acknowledgment when she commented on the studies having been hard. "Did...your parents not let you choose what school to go to?" To be fair, he hasn't had much of a choice in the matter either, but it was kind of a curious matter to think about whether everyone else had it the same or not.

"Uhm." He would blink at her awkwardly. "We...didn't interact too much. It's complicated." There were several factors at play in that, the most prominent being the family situation as a whole having been relatively tense, and the fact that when he was younger he was even less of a conversationalist than he was now. That kind of made it rather difficult to form closer bonds with his parents. Maybe now he would have taken some interest, but back when it mattered...not so much. "Being a foreigner isn't exactly celebrated here in Ascanna anyway after all..." He was well aware of that much, his name being not local did earn him some unpleasant vibes at times, and not everyone really cared that he was only half-foreign. Many had no way to know in the first place.

"You don't know that." Cherry was quick to say. "Some people can be a little vain, that much is true, but I doubt looking good is the only problem in their life. Everybody struggles I think. Some more than other's. But that doesn't cancel out other forms of misfortune." Maybe their main concern really was around looking good and conforming to traditional gender roles, even then Cherry could only assume it all stemmed from some weird mental thing. A childhood trauma or something. She was never good with all that psychology junk. "Parent." She corrected with a soft sigh. "My father left my mom before I was born, never met him. As for my mom though, uh, no. No she did not." Snorting a little in amusement, Cherry awkwardly shifted around on her side of the bench and took another sip of water. "If I had it my way I would still be at my old school. But my mom wants me to be somebody big. Like a doctor or something. She thinks this school will help with that and.... Well, I guess I have to trust her judgement on the matter. I mean, she's my mom, y'know? Plus she's alot smarter than me."

The blonde nodded in understanding and didn't press any futher. She could tell a raw spot when she saw it, she wasn't about to grill the poor guy. "Maybe not by most but it is nothing to be ashamed of in my book. Race or nationality doesn't matter. The Five don't care about petty things like that. It's your character that makes you a good person."

That response would draw a light frown from him, though his gaze would focus more on the pen in his hands rather than look towards her. "If I don't...how do you?" That was a pretty bold statement coming from her, no? If supposedly he didn't know, then how come she knew whether people struggled and how much? In his opinion, it wasn't impossible for people to have so few problems it could be said they didn't truly struggle, and not all struggles had the same weight and seriousness regardless.

"I think...you should have a say in your own life. Not all parents know better. If they truly did...the world would probably be a far nicer place." Unlike her, he didn't sound amused, but neither upset or such. Nevertheless, it was clear enough that he to some extent disagreed with her claim that trusting your parents was pretty much the default to adhere to. Perhaps because from his own experience, he really couldn't say that his parents had done smart things throughout the time he had spent with them. He didn't even need to be a genius to understand that much.

That being said, the topic of his father wasn't that distressing for him, lest he would have chosen to lie to avoid the matter entirely, but if she wanted to leave the topic be, he wasn't going to argue about it. Even though he could have elaborated more, it was ultimately still easier to not have to try to find the right words. "I..." He would shake his head a bit. "That doesn't sound...entirely right. The people here base their beliefs on what the Five preach, and going by that logic, they would not be so commonly opposed to foreigners were the Five as indifferent to the matter as you say." Truth to be told, he personally didn't have much faith in the religion after the way his life had turned out, but he knew well how strict the beliefs and enforcement could be. There was no way such a prevalent distaste would happen were it to oppose the religion. It had to in some way come from it...

She gave Huayan a goofy, confident smirk, leaning closer to him like she was about to impart some sort of forbidden knowledge onto his feeble human brain. "I'm psychic~" Her self assured smirk melted into a wide grin as she sighed and pulled back away from him. "Ha. For real though, I guess I don't know for sure. But it is like I said. It is just what I think. Maybe the only problem in their life is looking good. But nobody except for them knows what harboring that burden feels like. Maybe they are insecure or maybe they just what to be popular. Personal feelings on the motives aside, I don't think it is our right to decide what problems are imporant and what aren't. As long as no one is getting hurt of course." She shrugged and again took a sip from her water. "I dunno. I guess I just like to give people the benefit of the doubt." She could practically feel the eyes of the Fiend locked inside of her roll at her comment. But if he had a comment on the matter, he kept it to himself this time.

Nodding along with him softly. Cherry mulled over his words. He was right in a way. Being a parent didn't necessarily entitle you to dictate your child's entire life. But her mother always has done so much for her, it was hard to disappoint her. Especially when her heart was in the right place. "I feel like I do. I mean, heck, I live on my own now. But I trust my mother's judgement, plus I mean, I am still a minor. Sooooooo, can't go against her to much."

"The Five are perfect beings. Humans on the other hand, not so much. We can misunderstand things or warp words to fit our agendas. I feel like the people who are so nationalistic are simply taking the words of The Five to an extreme."

"Um." He would almost lean away from her as a kneejerk reaction, but luckily managed to stay mostly still, giving her a slightly unsure glance instead. "But...if you needed to choose who to help first, you'd have to be able to say whose problems are worse and should be prioritized. It may be true that you can't know how the person themselves feels but...putting everyone's problems on the same level isn't fully fair either, especially for those that do have it far worse." It was a complicated subject, but in the end it remained true that not all problems were the same and looking at them as if they were could be as much of a detriment as it could seem like a good thing. Giving people the benefit of the doubt was not a bad thing...as long as it wasn't super obvious they didn't actually deserve it.

His brows would scrunch into a thoughtful frown. "Then...what if you eventually decide that you don't want to do any of the things she hoped you would?" She didn't give the imperssion of someone who actually wanted to be a doctor or any such big shot. Then again, she could always change her mind.

Now the whole religion topic though, that one was making him a little bit unsettled, to be honest. "..." He didn't really agree with her take on that, but what could he hope to say? To argue with someone who seemed to have that type of belief where the Five could do no wrong, it would not matter what he said...and he would only risk getting himself in trouble were he to accidentally not word himself tactfully enough...which in and of itself wasn't a strength of his to begin with.

"I think we are misunderstanding each other here." Cherry said. "In a way, some problems are larger than others. Obviously somebody who has their arm cut off will need more help and attention than somebody who sliced open their thumb. A homeless man will need more attention than somebody who doesn't have enough money to buy steak. But emotionally? You can't really tell how that is effecting them emotionally. People react to pain differently. The person who has their thumb cut open could be in more distress than the armless person. Now would that make them overdramatic?" Cherry smirked. "Aboslutely. But that is still how they feel and as long as they aren't demanding they get help before the other guy, there is nothing necessarily wrong with feeling that way."

At his reply Cherry, as she usually tended to. Smiled at it. But the corners of her lips failed to reach to high. "Who's to say I haven't already reached that point?" Sighing she leaned back. "I dunno. I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it."

Well, they certainly had different things on mind. He would frown lightly. "Not all problems are visible...and those who suffer the most often speak the least. The overdramatic people don't pose as much of a concern...that is, if they aren't painting their issue in a bad light by being unreasonable." Yes, the people with arguably lesser problems did often enough draw more attention to themselves than those who truly needed help...whether it was reasonable or not...that wasn't a simple yes or no, was it?

That aside, he would shake his head a little. "What do you want to be?" Did she have anything in mind?

This conversation had taken on a life of it's own, one far more vibrant than Cherry had intended it to be. She expected a quick chat with what she assumed to be a shy boy, but now it was something more. A discussion felt like the right word to label this as. A little more serious than some small talk, but not heated enough to be a debate. Speaking of a debate. Cherry only gave a small nod at his reply. She wasn't hear to give a morality lecture. They differed in opinion on this subject. That was fine. Alot of people did. The blonde only imagined that futher discussion about it would just cause them to go around and around in circles.

The next topic was something she could get behind at the very least. Something fresher. More optimistic. "I want to be a police officer. I think it would be a good way to help people!" Sure there was paper work involved with it, dull moments mixed with dangerous one's. But there was no better job when it came to keeping the peace and making this city a even better one to live in. Cherry was more than willing to take on the burden a badge can bring if it meant she could make a difference. "And what about yourself?"

To be fair, he wasn't looking to get into some heated argument either, not as long as she wasn't saying anything actually disrespectful or such. It wasn't his thing to be aggressive unless he absolutely had to go out of his way to try, as even though he wasn't necessarily as shy as he appeared to be at first impression, his demeanor really did nothing to help him in debates that required being more pushy.

Huh...

"I guess...that means you'd like to be a hero of sorts?" Given her reasoning was helping people, that sure sounded like it was going in that direction. That being said, he would shift in his seat somewhat awkwardly, one hand coming up to fiddle with a stray strand of his hair by his ear. "I'm not sure...I don't do well with too much social demand though...so perhaps some sort of research field or just somewhere I can mostly work on my own." He didn't have a solid idea in mind to be honest, as he wasn't even sure what kind of job would truly be a good fit for him.

Cherry rolled her eyes in amusement. "I wouldn't put it in such dramatic terms. But uh, yeah. I guess you could say that. I just, really wanna make a difference y'know what I mean?" She wasn't qualified to be a doctor like her mother and other service jobs just didn't hold the same amount of activity or energy that being a cop would bring. She toyed around with the thought of being a firewoman for some time, but she eventually decided against it in favor for being apart of the police. She wasn't even sure why herself. She guessed she would be able to help out more people more often as a member of the force. Regardless of the actual reason though, Cherry was averting her focus back to the man before her. "You do strike me as the scientist type. I can totally see it now, you all hunched over a desk, white lab coat on looking at all of those skinny little glass tubes. Do you know what those are called?"

"Mm..." He wasn't trying to be dramatic with his wording, but so be it. "Sounds...valiant. Though, are you ready to live with being the one to sentence people to possibly unpleasant punishments...?" Even if the cop wasn't the one meting out the punishment, they had to go about their days with the knowledge that the people they caught and arrested would receive such, and who was to say everyone would be treated fairly according to what they did?

He would hum quietly, offering her an awkward half-smile. "I believe they're just called test tubes...? Though there are different subtypes..." He wasn't bad at biology and chemistry, so such a career was certainly possible, but he honestly wasn't sure just yet. "Science is an interesting field...I suppose." In a way.