Just A Shadow in a Tree Open closed

WHY MUST IT ALWAYS BE THIS WAY...? Down in the courtyard, the pale-haired girl had to dodge around the feet of every passerby as she tried to catch her runaway pen. It had been grievously bumped out of her hands when one of the people milling around had accidentally rammed into her, consequently also knocking down the small stack of books on which the writing utensil was sitting. The books were easy enough to track down, but it was a lot harder to get her hands on the pen. It was continuously being kicked around by people, probably beating it up even more. That pen didn't deserve to suffer! But not only that, it was a lot harder to keep track of such a small object which blended in with the swishing hems of robes and fell into cracks in the stone more often than she would have thought humanly possible.

She groaned to herself, feeling a large amount of exasperation. She just wanted her writing utensil back!"Hey- Sorry- Could you stop?" Every attempt she made at getting to the pen was futile. People either didn't listen or snapped at her.

She groaned, pushing her hair back with one hand and dragging her head back with it. She didn't notice much except the kid in the tree... Wait- a kid in the tree? She redirected her gaze to look directly at him
- at least, she assumed it was a him. There was a use for that... Sure, using someone for her personal gains wasn't the best, but she was drawing a blank as for what else to do. She headed over to the base of the tree, then looked up. She didn't want to attempt climbing with the books in her hand. "Hey- hey you, up in the tree. Do you mind helping me find my pen? If you can, at least. A higher vantage point would be valuable, though I suppose it would be harder to spot such a small object..." She began to have second thoughts. Not only that, but the bout of confidence she'd had whilst saying that was quickly fading. "Either way, could you at least consider helping me out? I promise, I'll be out of your hair as soon as possible."

Silently, she hoped the boy would say yes.

Mostly the students rushed through the courtyard, heading to or from classes. A few gathered to chat, friends or housemates. He watched with amusement as an older Lion tried to pick a fight with a younger Snake, though found himself disappointed when it lasted only a few moments, dispersed when a Professor passed by. Nothing too interesting happening today. No good conversations to overhear or fights to watch.

Except...

An older girl, a Snake by her robes, caught in the fray of rushing students. Her books scattered across the walkway and her chasing a small object - a pen? - as it was kicked around by the passing students. An entirely unfortunate event and of course whoever had jostled her hadn't bothered to apologize. Nor, it appeared, were any of the students sympathetic to her plight. Was there a reason the other students seemed to be ignoring her? He would have thought that a passing Badger would delight in the opportunity to show off how helpful they were but no luck for the girl. Well, until she laid eyes on him. He met her gaze, his own eyes lit with curiosity as she spoke to him.

"Hey- hey you, up in the tree. Do you mind helping me find my pen? If you can, at least. A higher vantage point would be valuable, though I suppose it would be harder to spot such a small object..."

A pen, he had guessed correctly. He glanced down at his journal, carefully tucking it and his own pen into his pocket before carefully unfolding his limbs in preparation of descending from the branches of the tree.

"Either way, could you at least consider helping me out? I promise, I'll be out of your hair as soon as possible."

"Over there," Kazuo offered with a slight smirk. He pointed to a spot not too far from the tree as the number of students seemed to be diminishing. "I think I saw it get kicked in that direction." He dropped out of the tree gracefully, looking up at the significantly taller girl. "You're tall. That's probably why you were having trouble grabbing the pen. I suppose I can help. I'm good at slipping through crowds."

He headed in the direction he had pointed to, using his small size and quickness to weave through the taller students, eyes focused on the small dark object that she had been chasing. He crouched and smoothly scooped it up just as it seemed another student might send it flying again, barely escaping getting his hand stepped on. Then he was ducking back through the crowd, pen clutched in his hand. He thrust it toward her with a grin.

"There you go."

SAPPHIRE COULDN’T HELP THE SIGH OF RELIEF WHEN THE BOY AGREED TO HELP HER. “Thank you,” she said as she pointed the supposed location out. Before she could move towards it herself, though, the other student dropped out of the tree.

“You’re tall. That’s probably why you were having trouble grabbing the pen. I suppose I could help. I’m good at slipping through crowds,” he said. The boy was right, she supposed since she did have to look down a bit. Then he headed over to where it had ended up, managing to grab the writing utensil before it got kicked again. Again, she felt relief wash over her as the boy walked back. "There you go."

She took the pen gratefully, smiling in a way that was slightly nervous. "Ah, thanks for helping me. Hope you didn't get kicked or anything," she said. Mentally, she was screaming at herself for being so awkward. She shifted her books around, getting them into a more manageable hold. Having already lost her pen once, she decided to put it in her pockets this time. The only reason she hadn't put it in last time was that she didn't want to lose it. (The pockets in the robes were massive, could and she would, on occasion, pick up other small objects and they would mix together.)

Should she introduce herself? Nah, she thought. Anyways, not every interaction requires you to introduce yourself, does it?Nervously, she nodded her head in a sort of farewell and would exit the courtyard unless stopped.

As she took the pen, he watched her, tilting his head slightly in curiosity. The smile she gave him seemed awkward, as if, perhaps, she wasn't used to doing it? He gave her a slightly lopsided smirk and shrugged, shoving his hands into the pockets of his robe. He often felt awkward around the other students so perhaps he could relate a bit to the awkward smile. Not that he would ever express such a thing. Better to appear composed at all times. Calm. Polite. Friendly when he had to be.

"It seemed like it might be an interesting challenge. I thought I couldn't do worse than you and you did ask for my help so..." He watched as she shifted her books around and pocketed her pen. Why hadn't she pocketed her pen in the first place? Why carry it on top of her books? Should he ask her or would that be strange? His gaze shifted to the books she was carrying, curious. What year was she in? He glanced down, pulling his journal out of his pocket but as he searched for his own pen, she turned and began to leave. That was a bit abrupt. Perhaps she had classes to get to. He opened his journal to make note of the encounter only to realize that he didn't know her name.

"OH! Oh wait!" He called, running after her. "What's your name?"

THE THIRD YEAR HALTED, MENTALLY STATING ABOUT A THOUSAND CURSES. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to give the boy her name - no, it certainly wasn’t that. She was just frustrated that she had been wrong about the interaction not involving the statement of her name.

She turned back, facing the younger boy again. This time, he had out a journal and pen. She wasn’t quite sure what they were for, but the kid seemed like the observant type.

“Ah, sorry. That must have seemed rude. Uhm… I’m Sapph… er, well, Sapphire,” she said. With her free hand, she rubbed the back of her neck. “Er… if you don’t mind me asking, who are you?” She wasn’t sure if that was appropriate to ask in the situation, but it seemed only fair that she learned his name in exchange for hers. Gah, why am I so bad at this? she thought to herself. This was why she didn’t like interacting. She never seemed to be able to do it right. Her nerves were getting to her. Jeez, I should probably get a therapist for that, she thought, which seemed very out of place.

Should I leave? Or should I stay? Have I dragged this interaction out to much? Is my presence annoying? Am I- She stopped. No use in dragging herself down any more.

Though the swell of students seemed to have diminished, it never truly seemed to abate. Not that he minded crowds; no better place to get lost than in one. But dodging students while trying to get the attention of a specific one was mildly harder than retrieving a pen. Especially with every other student turning to look at him as he shouted after her. Perhaps he could have been a bit more discreet but he hadn’t wanted her to escape without relinquishing her name. He could have found it some other way, asking around or trying to spot her during dinner. Asking Burnett since she was a Snake like him, maybe. But that would take extra work and he wasn’t entirely sure it would be worth the effort for one brief meeting.

He skidded to a stop as she stopped, waiting for her to turn around. His pen poised over his journal, watching her. She looked a bit awkward as she responded to his question as if she had not expected him to ask. Perhaps she hadn’t. Perhaps it was strange of him to ask. If it was, he didn’t overly care.

“Ah, sorry. That must have seemed rude. Uhm… I’m Sapph… er, well, Sapphire. Er… if you don’t mind me asking, who are you?”

“Sa-” He paused, brow furrowing. “Sa-fai-yu.” He wrote the name down phonetically in his journal and if she happened to be watching him do so, she would see that it wasn’t spelled properly at all. English simply had far too many redundant letters. Once he had written down the name, he glanced up at her then gave her a slight bow, seemingly out of habit. “Thank you, Saf-san. Kazuo Shimada, first year. I suppose that must be obvious to you. What year are you?” He paused, blinking slowly as it occurred to him that he might be keeping her from classes or other obligations. “Sorry, you probably have somewhere to be. I just need your name for my journal.” He gave her a slightly sheepish smile.

SAPPHIRE WASN'T MUCH DETERRED BY THE SLIGHT AWKWARDNESS OF THE YOUNGER BOY. She was actually a bit relieved. It made her feel a bit less out of place. So the kid's name is Kazuo Shimada? I don't think I've ever encountered him, though I guess that makes sense. I really need to interact more, don't I? She went on a small tangent with her thoughts, but she quickly got back to the present.

"Ah, I'm a third year. Although I probably have less experience with people than most first years, I'd bet." She gave a sheepish laugh. So he was journalling? Interesting. "Ah, this is actually my free period. I was going to head to the library - it's calming there - but then, of course, I lost my pen. I don't have anywhere I really need to be." It was a shame that school hours didn't give her much time to herself. She would have loved to draw some, which was why she had put her sketchbook on top of her book stack. "I also had to turn in these books, another reason I wanted to go to the library."

She also had a bit of a sheepish expression across her features. She glanced towards the journal, where her name was spelt a bit off. She decided not to mention it, since that would probably seem rude. "I do intend to head to the library, but if you don't mind me asking -" That was the second time she'd said that. Agh, redundancy annoyed her. "- Why do you have a journal? Ah, that was phrased badly. Sorry." She stopped talking. She needed to work on that. Or perhaps what she needed to work on was being less immensely self-conscious, but that was an insignificant detail.

She didn’t immediately run off when he offered the escape. She could have claimed to be busy if she’d wanted to. Interesting. Kazuo contemplated what her motivations might be, considering her words as she spoke and weighing them against his limited knowledge of her and his steadily growing knowledge of the social behaviours of people. Less experience with people, she said. That indicated a possible introverted nature. Further confirmed when she spoke of the library. Not that he disagreed with her. He, too, found the library calming.

“Oh, that’s good, then,” Kazuo replied to her explanation of having a free period. “I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble with the professors simply to ask your name. I don’t think they’d be very understanding of that excuse.” He drew his expression into a stern one and took on a serious tone, like a teacher might. “Miss Sapphire, letting a first year distract you is no excuse for tardiness!” It wasn’t a perfect imitation, his accent made the attempt more comical, especially with the way he couldn’t help but to draw out the syllables of her name but he wasn’t particularly self-conscious of it, giving her a grin and a wink.

He glanced down at the journal thoughtfully, wondering what he should tell her. It would probably seem strange to her, the reason he carried the journal around with him. The notes he wrote in it. He didn’t mind if she thought it was strange but he had some concern about whether or not it would lead to others finding out about it. And if others found out about it, would his journals become targets for theft? Was he being overly paranoid?

“It’s my… notes. On people. And events.” He replied cautiously, unsure of how much to reveal. “I like to study people. Sociology and psychology. I can walk with you if you would prefer to head to the library.” He offered, unsure of whether or not she would ask for more of an explanation.

THE GIRL COULDN'T HELP LAUGHING AT THE TEACHER IMITATION. "That would be quite unfortunate," she said. The kid - Kazuo - was actually kind of funny. She would certainly not be let off the hook, even if she got mostly good grades.

Kazuo seemed to be pondering something, maybe regarding her final question. Oh no, did I say something wrong? Was I not supposed to ask? Is that an intrusion of privacy? She had disappeared into her thoughts, barely picking up on what the younger boy had said. She shook her head, snapping herself out of it. "Hm, that seems neat. I do something similar on occasion, though I usually just end up drawing people." She gave a slightly nervous laugh, grip on the books tightening. "Although, the process does seem quite interesting. To write it down? That is an idea that has never occurred to me," she said. Did that seem like she was undermining him?

And there she went again, beginning to overthink things. It was quite troublesome - for her, at least. "Ah, if you wouldn't mind. What exactly do you note?" she would begin, starting to head out. Or perhaps not, since that would depend entirely on whether or not Kazuo followed her. At least she knew she couldn't exactly screw up listening, it being her strong suit.