And thus it begins...

[sei_what]

Who: Sei sei_what and Chao timeinback
Location: Zah Garden
Week: 57
Time: After class.
What: Sei is people-watching, getting to know her schoolmates from a distance. Poor Chao happens to pique her interest.
Rating: PG probably at most

Comments

[timeinback]

The day after it rained always seemed like the best time to take a walk. Whether it was that freshly showered air or the way nature seemed to be a lot more joy, it always seemed the best moment for Chao to indulge herself in a bit of a brisk walk through the garden.

Maybe it was pure coincidence or just Sei's luck, but Chao had chosen to wear something a little more fashionable than usual today. Nothing that would normally turned many heads, just a little more form fitting jeans and a nice looking purple shirt underneath her robe. Alma and Kairi had mentioned it helping her feel a little better and the Chao had to admit they were right. Of course, any sort of appeal might have been put in a bit of a damper as her head was focused on a small booklet. Nothing too important, just some notes on Professor Yuuko's philosophy class, but there was no shame in using the walk to her fullest.

She didn't even notice Sei's focus on her, finding the rest of the scenery and her notes far more relaxing.

Silly kids. Why you make this so easy for her?

[sei_what]

Ah, now this was a particularly interesting sight. There were plenty of people here that appeared to be from Japan, but this sight was a little different. Not Japan, China maybe?

Sei's mind pondered that for a second, while the urge rose within her to get up and find out. Smoothly, she stood, straightening out her robe as she turned and strode quickly on an intercept line, her relatively long legs able to match the, as she was coming to find, shorter girl's pace easily.

Short and... cute. Not bad, not bad at all. Just the type to usually be flustered.

"Walking so fast while your attention is focused on something is bound to lead to you tripping on something," she called when she was close enough, trying to sound like someone befitting her age and not nearly as amused by her own thought process as she was.

Maybe if they'd know there was a shark in the pool, they'd be more careful

[timeinback]

Chao gave a small jump at hearing her older schoolmate's voice. Her eyes blinking their way back to focus on the outside world and eventually up at Sei in slight wonderment. How long had she been walking right next to her?

"Eh?" she uttered under confused breath but was just as quickly replaced by a small guilty smile. She closed the book and glanced at the ground head of them. "Ah, Of course You're right. Sorry about that."

That wouldn't stop the particularly adventurous ones, I'm sure.

[sei_what]

And she'd managed to startle her.

Things were off to a truly magnificent start, at least as far as Sei was concerned.

She smiled back, a sort of gentle, 'no harm no foul' look. "Don't worry too much about it," and her mind landed on the 'troll' section of the wheel, "wouldn't want you to hurt yourself. Or worse, scar that cute face." And she winked, playful as always.

...Now I see Sei in a Jaws movie poster

[timeinback]

Chao's cheeks burned a little darker at Sei's comment, her smiling growing wider almost as if it could have the sudden urge to be self-conscious. Compliments always baffled Chao, no matter who it came from. The more direct ones just made her even more aware just how unexperienced she was in anything necessarily flirtatious.

"I-I don't think I could fall hard enough to warrant a scar, but thanks for the concern." She beamed.

Now with a better look at the 6th year, Chao couldn't really place her face to anywhere before. Was she a new student or just never really vocal before now? It wasn't like the school study body was that large.

Bahaha. She's got the grin for it.

[sei_what]

"You never know," Sei pondered, thoughtfully, looking up the path ahead of them. "If you hit a tree, even at a walking pace..."

She looked back to Chao, the grin ever-present.

"Besides, even if you didn't scar it, I doubt you'd want to show up to class with a big ugly bandage on your chin or nose," and to illustrate her point, she reached up and swiped a thumb across her own chin.

Then, smoothly, she changed topics in that utterly unbalancing way she had, leaning down a bit to put herself closer to Chao's eye level. "So, does the cute, distracted girl have a name?"

Hopefully she wouldn't have stupid sequels.

[timeinback]

"Ah, I guess that's true." Chao admitted and gave Sei a tender laugh at the 6th year's example. It was still felt very awkward, but Sei definitely knew how to keep it from being the in the way too much.

Having the higher year girl's face draw closer to Chao's own however, that brought the awkwardness back to the front. Her smile was nervous, her cheeks growing even more flush and the feeling of self-consciousness grew stronger for the poor fifth year. "I-um, Chao. Chaolin Lingshen. Fifth year. Y-Yours?"

[sei_what]

A look crossed her features, thoughtful, amused, and she leaned back to tap at her chin. "Lingshen?" She pronounced it a little awkwardly, her tongue used to Japanese. "Ah, so then you are Chinese?" She phrased it delicately, like a question instead of a statement to prove her initial reaction was correct: she wasn't entirely sure.

"I'm Sei. Sei Satou," and that was a bit awkwardly said because she still wasn't used to the Western way of introducing oneself, given name first. "Sixth year."

[timeinback]

"Half." Chao corrected, though the pleasant smile on her face made it clear she wasn't offended. "My mother was a European."

Saying those words made Chao a little surprised at herself. No more than a few months ago, Chao probably wouldn't even dare get close to answering it. Ever since she was rescued by Setsuna though...

Well, wasn't important right now. She stowed those thoughts away for later and gave a low nod of her head at Sei in respectful greeting. From the name alone, Sei was obviously Japanese. The stress with the pronunciation only drove the assumption home. "Nice to meet you. Did you come all the way from Nippon?"

She knew a few languages; English, Mandarin, Celtic, Latin, but never really bothered to learn Japanese. She only called it by its real name because to her it felt silly using a western name for some place that heavily populated.

[sei_what]

Sei chuckled. "I suppose we're similar there. I'm only three-quarters Japanese." ... and winked. It would be silly not to. "Though I suppose that's fairly obvious." She stood up fully to highlight she was, after all, tall and blond, neither of which were common traits for her nationality.

"And yes I did. All the way from Tokyo. Seems like a different planet compared to here," she grinned, a nice, easy, friendly look.

[timeinback]

Chao giggled and winked back. "Just a bit, but I think it suits you well."

with remarks about a new world, Chao took time to look at garden and much more, the school grounds around them. Nowadays, she just considered it something of a home. North England always seemed to be wet and pretty cold, but was that any different than Xi'an? "I..guess it would seem like that, wouldn't it?"

Chao scratched the back of her head and looked at her feet a little sheepishly. "It's been a while since I've lived outside the school."

[sei_what]

"Why thank you," and Sei sounded sincere. Well, what Chao said did seem like a compliment after all. Of course, that gratitude belied a more interested reaction, and the starting up of her mental engine once again.

"Ah, it's just a cultural difference, really," she glanced to the forest, or what she could see of it. "Maybe some geographic. This place seems so well hidden. It's so much harder to hide anything in such a populous place as Japan."

Sei could only chuckle. "Well, you're not missing much in any case." And with that speed and finesse Sei's mind was known for suddenly switching trains of thought, "This castle shields us from all those uncertainties of the outside world. Enjoy it while it lasts."

[timeinback]

"Japan is much smaller than England isn't it?" Not that she wanted to be see as stupid, but the comparison between the two large islands wasn't exactly common knowledge. "I used to live in the main land, so living on any island is always a little different for me."

"Oh it certainly does." Chao admitted to the next subject. Her smile was far more calm and pleasant, if not a little masking at what she was thinking. "I think the magical world has just as many uncertainties, they're just different and eccentric compared to what the other world is used to."

[sei_what]

She rocked back onto her heels, a thoughtful look on her face. "Mnn not exactly. Actual size-wise Japan's bigger. But... it's very mountainous in the middle, so there's only a little bit of it you can actually build on. Explains the difference in population density."

Sei stopped moving entirely, looking to the sky, shoving her hands in her pockets. "I mean from both of them. Yes, the magical world has its share of strife and troubles, but how often do you ever hear of it here? We rarely hear about the muggle world anyway, but it affects our world whether we want it to or not. The place itself is like a haven within a magical haven. Some day, I suppose, we'll be left without it." Without knowing it, her tone was getting quieter, her eyes a little unfocused as she concentrated on something not visible. She was thinking far too much again. Though the what she was thinking about wasn't necessarily apparent.

[timeinback]

"Ooh." Chao remarked thoughtfully. It was probably a little silly to ask that question, but it wasn't like she really had the chance or reason to put the two islands together to compare and contrast. Besides, it was a light topic to discuss.

"That's all part of growing up." Chao shrugged. "The school and our parents can only teach us so much before we have to simply learn from experience." She felt it best to leave out her own opinions in the lack of sad news regarding the magical world.

[sei_what]

"Ah, true enough," Sei replied, after a moment. It seemed as though it needed not that long for her to think about it, but for it to pierce the thick veil of already too many thoughts going about her mind.

"Gotta grow up sometime," she sighed, looked back down from wherever in the air she had been staring, and smiled at Chao. "Ah, well. That's not something to worry too much about now, right? We're still young, still in school. The 'real world' is... is still a step or two away. So we should enjoy it while we still can, right?"