An Audience of One [Huayan]

She is singing today....

She had been had been singing all day. That strange voice that had once been a nagging sensation in his mind and gut was now a clear voice. One that at random would whisper to him in a language he did not understand and sing strange songs. When the voice had begun to make itself more noticeable, it had been a rather jarring thing that made keeping up his perfectly created mask quite the challenge. Yet, somehow he had managed to keep up the act that he was perfectly fine, finding that quiet places often helped with not making the song and words so maddening when they decided to make themselves noticeable. Alone and in silence, he could let it run its course and recover from it easily. However, on days like today where he did not have that luxury due to having to attend school and be around people? The only thing he could do is hold it together until he was able to escape to one of the empty classrooms or other quiet place to at least get the situation back under enough control that he could get through the rest of the day normally...well as normally as one could with voices in their head.

Today was a particularly bad day for the amount of noise that voice inside was causing in his head. He could not recall how he managed to get half way through the day without his whole calm and aloof act falling to pieces. The amount of headaches caused from the "fan club" being more obnoxious and annoying than usual, revenge seekers choosing today to suddenly want to get at him, and that one teacher math teacher that on a normal day he wanted too yeet out the window due the nonsensical and frustrating way he taught thinking it was a grand idea to pop a sudden test on them...plus so much, much more? It was truly a miracle to say the least.

He honestly thought he was going to lose it all and unexpected lash out at any unfortunate soul near him if he had to attend one more class. He was literally writing down an escape plan blended into his English notes so that if he did have another class after this, he could work his way out of it and if ask have a valid excuse that would not make him sound like a mad man in play. Oh yes he was ready alright, but thankful that plan would not have to be put into play today.

It was with great restraint and a bit of stealth to avoid the fan club that as soon as class let out for the lunch break that he calmly made his escape to a classroom way at the end of the hall that was always empty at this time.

Sliding into the room, he would close the door quietly before slumping against the door a bit as he closed his eyes and let out a soundless exhale. He was safe...for now and she.....she could sing all she wanted during the lunch period and hopefully calm down and let him regain his sanity again. Sighing inwardly a bit, he scanned the room of empty desks, the natural sunlight that came through the windows a welcome touch to the quiet room that was kept at a nice temperature thanks to the windows being cracked a bit to let in outside air. Pushing himself off the door, he would find a spot on the far column of desks choosing the desk near the middle and by a window as the place to settle.

Throwing off his act of being perfect and proper for just a moment, he let his bag slide off his shoulder and hit the ground with a muffled thump and rattle before just letting himself slump in the chair, his arms hanging loosely at his sides as he tilted his head back and closed his eyes, his long soft pink hair hanging like a curtain over the back of the chair.

He did not expect anyone to come in and even if someone did do such a thing, it would be easy enough to fall back into his prefect act and make this moment seem natural rather than strange for him. For now though, he just focused on taking a few deep calming breathes as he gave the voice inside his head the stage for now...

Perhaps the day was an unfortunate one overall, the misfortunes happening lining up in a strange way.

Assuming the young man in the empty classroom still paid some attention to what was happening around him, he would after some time hear the sounds of talking coming from the outside of said classroom, followed by what one could interpret as some sort of commotion as there was a clear thud sound against the door, as if something hit against it rather roughly. Things would quiet down afterwards, surprisingly enough and nothing else seemed to initially follow all that...but it was up to the one inside as to whether he would consider that worth investigating, or if he would wait a bit longer to see what would happen next, if.

She sang and sang and then....

There is silence...

Golden eye would snap open as the voice abruptly stopped singing and became quiet. There was not the usual wind down or her becoming a bearable hum in the back of his mind. No. It was as if a loud sound source had unexpectedly had its power forcefully cut off causing it to go into an unexpected, jarring, and uncomfortable silence.

Silence. Since She had become active silence was a rarity in his life. Those precious moments of complete silence typically came about after She had chosen to be quiet for a day or he had mentally wrestled Her into being quiet, but even then the silences were never abrupt like this. The only times that he recalled this sort of silence occurring was when --

?!!

A commotion right outside the door caused him to sit up and become alert like a deer ready to flee danger. He could hear voices and wonder for only a split second if people were about to come in due to classes starting again, but no the timing and sounds were all wrong. So then...

He was on feet and heading towards the door at a quiet pace to keep his presence inside of the room unnoticed. Even when the thud against the door came and his pace quickened that much more because of it, unless one had extraordinary hearing no one be able to hear the movements he made.

It seemed that whatever had occurred was over after whatever collided with the door, the settling of the world after chaos making that clear enough.

While he certainly was in no mood for interactions let alone whatever shenanigans was happening outside the fact remain he could not ignore what he heard....or what said sounds implied in his mind.

"Well then. Back to the stage, dearie. Hehehe."

She...she spoke. And I could understand Her? What in the world...? No. No. Focus, Snow. Deal with that later. Right now just deal with whatever is on the other side of the door. Right...

Falling easily back into the role of the calm, aloof and emotionless beauty he was known to be. He would reach out to the knob and open the door being careful not to sling it open just in case something was on the other side of the door and would in turn fall in or upon him.

Luckily for the guy, the door wasn't actually blocked so there would be nothing to collide into him when opening it. The seeming disturbance instead appeared to be sitting on the floor next to the door, leaning against the wall. The dark-haired young man in question would turn his head towards the source of the noise the opening of the door made, his expression kind of blank at the moment. He didn't appear to react much, staying still in his position, his hands just loosely holding onto the messenger bag that was currently laid over his lap.

"..."

He certainly hadn't thought anyone would be in that room given it was typically empty, but there wasn't really anything to do about that, was there now?

The door would open as the emotionless beauty stepped out of the room slightly to give the area a brief scan before golden eyes landed on the one that was sitting off to the side.

Golden eyes would scan the other, but much like his expressionless face and relaxed body language they did not give away what he thought in the moment, but perhaps it did not matter as he was going back in the room?

Well yes and no. After that few seconds of study, he had given the other a slow blink before turning to go back into the room. However only a second or two would pass before half of his face would appear at the side of the door closest to where the other sat. The head was tilted his pink locks hanging like some strange wedding train to the side as golden eyes looked at the down at the other with a relaxed narrowed gaze.

"Can you stand?" A soft monotone voice spoken at almost a whisper volume easily cut through the quietness that had reclaimed this corner of the school.

Well, that was certainly a rather odd situation. Nevertheless, Huayan would continue to just look towards the opened door without much of a response otherwise, not really displaying surprise when the other guy appeared to make the decision to just walk back inside.

Perhaps he truly wouldn't have minded that at all, but seeing as that was ultimately not what happened, he was put in the position to have to interact instead. He would be quiet for a couple moments, but eventually give an answer...a very simple one, really.

"Yes."

...and that was it. If the pink-haired guy intended his question as a means of asking him to get up, it would appear that either he did not want to, or did not catch the implied meaning to begin with, answering it in a very straightforward manner instead. How the other would take that was up to him though.

He would remain his position, the only thing changing the slightest bit were the golden eyes that seemed to narrow a bit more with the other's direct answer. His response?

"....."

Silence would wrap around them while a slightly narrowed and unblinking golden gazed remained on the one the floor. To even begin to guess what was occurring in the pink haired man's brain would be like trying to find a single small needle in an endless field of lush tall grass and flowers.

Though what could be said was that strange male didn't seem to wish to chase the other away as he gave a slow cat like blink before saying his next words.

"As comfortable as the floor and this quiet hall is, come in and take a seat within if you like. We have no adversity to sharing this space with you." Same soft monotone delivery even if what was said was strange. Either way the offer was there and so were the unreadable golden eyes that watched the other for a while longer.

Silence indeed. Perhaps that was just how it would be, as the young man seemed far more interested in shifting his stare to stare down than returning the other's watching.

When the other spoke again, at first the only indication that the words were heard was a slight furrow of his brows. Part of him didn't really want to get up, but at the same time if he just stayed there, the chances someone would come by sooner or later and disturb him to ask why he was there were relatively high. That unfortunate risk factor would be what would eventually tip the scales as far as decision-making went. One person was better than potentially multiple curious passerbys.

"Right..."

Still, he didn't appear to be in the most chatty mood, despite the fact that he would in the end get up and carefully brush past the guy to settle by a desk in the back corner of the room. This certainly made for a strange interaction, but the fact that he was still here was a silver lining perhaps?

Silence, a short response, and an entrance.

He would watch the other quietly only responding with his action of righting himself up as the other came into the room. As the other settled, he closed the door quietly. He would pause only long enough to see where the other had decide to settle before he moved from the door and head back to the desk he had chosen earlier.

He would settle quietly in his chair again before leaning forward to rest his head against his folded arms. He would close his eyes for a moment, indeed appearing as if he could care less that the other was there with him at all. Perhaps he was not going to try to engage with the other at all and nap until the bell rang instead?

As if!

He was extremely aware that he was not alone. A suffering he brought upon himself yes, but at least the discomfort was not as stressful or as intense as it typically was when he had deal with most people in the world.

Golden eyes reopened staring ahead for a moment before he shifted in his spot just enough that he could easily mess with his bag. He never did break the silence as he seemed to be quite fine busying himself with quietly fidgeting with the somewhat differently designed zippers and charm on his bag,

How much time passed like this where the two simply sat in silence and in each other present was a mystery. What was known is that somewhere along the line, the pink haired male had pulled out his thermostat and looked like he was about to pull out something else too when he paused staring at whatever was in the mysterious depths of his bag.

He would stare long enough to make one curious as to what he saw perhaps, but not long enough for someone to formulate a question and ask him anything about the stare. For you see, for whatever reason he picked up his things and moved to a desk on the same row as the other the space between them exactly one desk. He would pause only briefly to look over his shoulder at the other with an unreadable gaze before he looked away to busy himself with the thermostat? Well if sound could be used as sight, it did imply he had opened the container and was filling something up with liquid.

As to what he had filled, well that was revealed soon enough as he turned to place a simple, yet elegantly deigned cup with a handle on the empty desk between them turning the cup so the handle was slightly more towards the other.

He would glance over at the other his eyes looking the guy up and down in what appeared to be a very subtle unsure fashion despite how calm and blank he appeared to be.

In the end the gaze would not last long as he started to turn away from the other, keeping the guy in his peripheral vision rather than looking directly at him to speak.

"An offering tea if you so wish take it....I have food too if you wish to have some." The words were spoken even softer than before, but still were somehow crystal clear. Though that strangeness was probably less strange than the offer he had made out of the blue before he did indeed pull a compact and well kept black lunch bag. The only decorations upon it being the white cat that sat in the bottom corner of the bag drawn in a minimal and simple way, but still was appealing to the eye. The other decoration was a small tear drop charm on the zipper itself colored turquoise.

Settling the bag on the table with the tea he would open the bag and after a brief glance would choose the clear container of cucumbers slices from the corner of the bag before shifting in his seat so there was good space between them. Though rather than turn his back to the other, he would sit sideways so that even if his focus was on freeing the small fork from the lid's compartment at the moment, he was still aware and could see the other with him...

One could perhaps argue that the extended strange silence they fell into ought to be uncomfortable, and to some extent it did feel a little off. As far as Huayan was concerned however, it was not enough to make him want to break it and seek to engage. He had to admit, this situation was weird even for his standards, he was used to people prodding him and expecting a conversation, especially if they themselves have been the ones to ask him to stay around. Someone doing that only to seemingly ignore him afterwards did not fit into what he had observed as normal behavior. Not that he was a very normal person himself, but still...

...on second thought, the guy doing what he did eventually and just coming over to make a random offer was kind of more awkward than the silence had been. There was no way around it, he was honestly rather confused at this point, enough for it to also be relatively evident on his face at the moment. People were puzzling as was, and trying to interpret behavior that he had no familiarity with made it even more complex.

He would draw a bit backwards in the chair, sitting with his back firmly against the seat's backrest, a somewhat obvious stiffness in the way he held himself. "...what do you actually want from me?" None of this was making sense.

To the pink haired young man that had invited the other in, the thought that what he was doing not being normal was one that did not even cross his mind.

Snow was well known around the school to be aloof, enigmatic, emotionless, and cold hearted. A heartless and ruthless beauty that would not bat an eyelash at a young lady collapsing before him in tears due to him refusing to accept or return her love after she had confessed this to him before a group of friends that were waiting with baited breath for the bells of good news to ring. How upset they always were when that never occurred. Why did he never apologize for the tears and anger he caused when he did decide to open his mouth and respond to something said to him? How could he beat down a person in self defense and walk away without even offering to help said offender to nurse's office for clean up and bandaging? Why? Why? Why? Always why. And the answer to that? Hmph, as if he would answer with how preoccupied was currently.

No. The only things not normal her were for him to choose to engage with another willing, let alone invite said person into a space he had deemed his sanctuary of silence and calm. Was he friends with the one he had invited in? Hardly.

The young man he shared the space with was a familiar face to him due to the fact that he shared some classes with him...and that he would always favor sitting at a desk next to or close by the dark haired male. You could be sure the gossipers and theory/conspiracy makers were having a blast with that oddity. The Ice Queen ... Pardon?

Yes. That right. Ice Queen. Have a problem with that? No? Good then let's continue on, then.

The Ice Queen favoring to be around a particular person when he wouldn't even so much as spare a glance or the time of day to others? Surely something was going on there! Something juicy, right?

Well sorry to disappoint you my dear, but there was nothing at all here to see or learn. The whispers and quieted yapping were utterly nonsensical and imaginary made up by the minds of the delusional and secretly information hungry "normal" folk of teenage or young adult age here. Anyone could easily have asked him for his reasons for doing what he did and would have gotten a clear answer. Not that even that would appease those deeper down the rabbit hole of their minds of course.

Regardless, his reasoning was simple. While he didn't understand why it happened, that young man was the only person that She would fall silent before and take to observing without commentary or snickering. That alone was enough to unintentionally get the company of this pinked haired stranger who had never spoke to to the dark haired young man despite going out of his way to make sure that whatever class they were in together, he would place settle himself within close proximity of the guy.

In fact, this very thing was what had caused Snow to try to engage with the other in the first place. If it had been any other person, the begin would have played out as it did and he may have asked if the one on the floor could stand right then and then there before retreating back into the room and locking the door so said person could not pursue him or demand answers for why he just acted like he cared for two seconds before leaving them to hang dry when they responded back with a yes. Short, to the point, done.
Normal behavior for him with normal results, but that hadn't here.

Fortunately or perhaps unfortunately, the dark haired young man had unknowingly won this man's time, attention, and curiosity. He wanted to know what it was about this one that made Her shut up and his world to be calm just from being near him. It was strange to him, even more so because he had zero connection with this guy except recognizing him class. He probably would have even started the conversation with some question about this had he or his mind did anything in a logical and normal sense.

Instead, the results currently shown had occurred. This might have stayed as just a peculiar event, easily written off that both did not wish to engage further due to not wanting to be bother. However, leave it to Snow's mind and burning curiosity to toss all plans of that right out of the window.

Come. Let us observes what happens when awkwardness, lack of understanding, and peculiar actions all mix together. Oh! Won't you look at that. The darked haired one is already pointing out the pink elephant in room. Yes, yes. Let's watch now.

Snow had just poked a cucumber with the small fork and had placed it in his mouth when the words reached his ears.

"Hm?" A quiet sound he made with his throat as he chewed escaped him. His golden color eyes would look over at the other with a blank gaze for a second as he chewed and processed what was said. Then like a lighting bolt realization hit him as he finished chewing on that cucumber and swallowing it as he gave the other a few blinks before looking at the cucumbers slices in the container.

"Oh...yes. I suppose an explanation is warranted here," he would begin as he poked another cucumber with the fork. "What do I want from you indeed. I have questions, I suppose so let's start there. First off, I want to know what happened out there and if you are okay. As for this offering of food and tea, mmm..." He paused to raise the skewered cucumber to eye level to examine it as he thought a moment longer before speaking. "I wanted to sit closer so I would not have to speak any louder than necessary when engaging with you. I also happened to remember I need to eat before the next class and got hungry on my way over here. However, it is rude to eat and drink in someone's presence without first offering them a way to partake in the event also if they so choose." He looked up at the other with his face an emotionless mask, but his eye holding a hint of curiosity that only a keen observer could catch. "What did you think I wanted from you?" He would become quiet and eat the cucumber slice his eyes going back to the container as he began to sort the slices in the order he wanted to the eat them in or something along those lines. Though it clear by how he kept his head slightly tilted towards the other that he was listening and not ignoring him despite his strange behaviors, words and lack of eye contact.

Yes, Huayan did technically recognize the guy. His memory wasn't bad at all, he mostly was aware of the people he shared classes with and such, and this guy did often sit close by. However, they have never really interacted, and he wasn't the best at judging people from afar. Hearing what others thought of a person was hardly helpful as well, because he could only imagine what kind of things people said about him that weren't entirely true, for example. Social situations he wasn't familiar with were likely to make him tense in some way or form by default, though how obvious it was to the other side varied depending on how well he managed to pretend or play it off, assuming he cared to try to in the first place. It wasn't always in a negative sense either...just kind of a tendency he couldn't entirely get rid of.

"..."

The slight confusion remained in place still as he watched the other, his gaze flitting about a bit as if he wasn't sure what point to settle on. "I don't offer my food to people just because they are near..." Really, that straight up did not cross his mind. It was his stuff, why should he unless there was some specific motive behind doing so? He didn't think it was rude to not offer, but then again it wouldn't be the first time he completely missed what was apparently a normal way to behave. In any case, he would shake his head a little, dismissing that line of thought for now. "..I'm fine though. It's...not that important. I don't want to give people more reason to get on my case..." By making it a big deal and bringing attention to it, he would only risk making it more tiresome to deal with. It was fine as it was, there were limits to what could happen, and he understood his position well enough to know that it wasn't necessary for him change the status quo right now.

"I...didn't think anything. I just didn't understand what your actions meant."

Snow was aware of what was said about this young man before him; however, it was not information he used to cast instant judgement upon the guy. Opinions and guesses were not facts. Even if they were truths, such information was always unstable and unreliable apt to shift into new truths once ran through his own system of judgement.

He had noticed the tension when he had come near, but just as quickly had tossed the notification into the "no worries" bucket the moment the guy didn't do anything beyond asking his question.

As for the answer, he had provided the other, well....

It would appear to be causing confusion and maybe discomfort in the other? He couldn't exactly read what the eye darting was all about, but that also didn't matter when other things front and center. So as usual, his mind tossed it into some random filing cabinet upstairs and moved on to focus on the more important thing at the moment: the cucumber slices of course.

Finding another slice of cucumber to poke, he'd pop it into his mouth and munch on it as he listened to the other. Blinking a bit, he would pause in his eating as he looked up at the other. "No offer to share?" he would begin his tone and expression the same, but subtle his body language and the way he poked the cucumbers in the container implied he was fully engaged or at least curious enough continue to indulge in the engagement. "I thought that sharing or offering to share with others was normal. I see it done quite frequently when I look around. Huh...A wrong presumption then?" A high possibility since while he did see many of his peers do this sharing thing and even saw it done by the adults around him, he did not exactly have all the data to formulate how true that was. After all, such actions could be based on relationships and other factors he did not have access to...or even cared to gain access to be frank. Either way, he did not pose the question due to some doubt in himself, but rather because he wanted to hear the other's opinion on the matter.

However, the question on if the other share or dodge the inquiry would certainly be one to cross the mind with the guarded way the other chose to word himself when it came to the next topic.

Golden eyes would study the other for a moment and then nodding, the pink haired male would drop his gaze to the cucumbers once more. "I see. Well, at least you are fine so that is good." And that was it. No prying or further pushing. Just a respectful acknowledgement, a follow-up, and then a moment of silence to enjoy the wonderful cucumber slices. They really were delicious! Er...back on topic, yes?

"Fair and reasonable enough." After all, it wasn't like he was exactly clear or easy to understand with any of his actions, words or behavior, now was he?

The words would earn the guy a sharp but brief shrug of the young man's shoulders. "I don't know." A matter of fact, but true answer. He didn't. He had only voiced his own opinion, he felt no innate interest in handing his own food or forbid drink off to someone else just because. Perhaps were it someone he did consider a closer companion and it was an established practice between them...but otherwise, why? The idea of someone reaching to take from his food didn't provide any comfort, really. If other people did that and it was considered normal...well, it was what it was, but it really didn't make too much sense to him.

In any case, past that he would remain mostly silent, the other's responses not really prompting him to speak on the subject matters any further, outside of a faint noise of acknowledgment at most, as he shifted his arms to loosely fold them over his stomach and just awkwardly sit there in silence as the other had his indepth interaction with the cucumbers.

The pink haired male would pause in his eating, golden eyes staring at the other for a few moments as he took in and processed the information. The stare was not so long as to cause concern or questioning, but it was enough to see that some of the intense curiosity in his eyes lower to a low flame. It was a subtle change only the keen eye or people's sensitive to energies could catch onto. His face remained emotionless and his body relaxed as he gave a few nods in return before turning his focus once more to the fascinating world of cucumber slices.

Now, a normal person would probably find themselves feeling rather awkward or unsure of what to do when one was enjoying cucumber slices and the other with them was silently watching them. However, Snow was not normal and if the other found him strange and confusing before, well the pink haired young man seemed to be on a mission to one up himself without even trying or thinking on it.

He was sitting there not bothered by the stare as he chewed on the slice of cucumber. His eyes remain lowered and focused on the food, one hand of elegant painted black nails...no wait that was purple no? At least when the light hit the well cared for nails a purple sheen could be seen. That aside distraction aside, let's continue on.  

The small male would do his best not to wiggle in his seat or hum as he hovered his fork over the container, he held in elegant way. His eyes were scanning for another delicious victim when without warning, he would freeze for a second staring at the slices intently as if something was on them. Then blinking once or twice, he would unfreeze, swallowing his food as he looked up at the other.

"Oh," he would begin as he began to move. In a smooth effortless movement, the hand that held the fork would lower and come to a rest on his lap in a loose fist that kept a good grip on the fork that was now pointed downward and to the side so that the prongs pointed at no one. A normal rule of society? More than like no. Evidence that this might've been a strange habit of his would be displayed by the action that came after that fist came to a rest on his leg.

Keeping a solid grip on the container to keep it from tumbling to its demise, he would extend it towards the other before speaking again. "Would like some?"

Yeah. Definitely a Snow thing instead of society's. Though why did he choose this young man to do this around? Why let such strange behavior leak out around complete strange rather keep to his role and mask like he always did? A mystery to toss into the bucket of many that surround the pinked haired beauty.