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 Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 5:01 pm
Aphelion needed to interview someone for a school project. That was fine and all, but it needed to be someone he didn’t know. Aphe was not particularly shy, but interacting with strangers was always kind of a gamble.. Despite being comfortable with himself and his appearance, sometimes it was just tiring to hear people make comments about his extra eyes. Or his tiny, useless wings. He knew they were there. Why did they need to keep pointing it out?
Pushing those thoughts aside, the freshling set out on a mission to find someone to interview. They weren’t allowed to use anyone in the class, or he would’ve just asked a classmate. After some searching he happened upon a junior that seemed to just be sitting under one of the many trees on the grounds… Maybe they’d be willing to help? It was about school stuff…
He shuffled over, then cleared his throat quietly. “Excuse me. I need to interview someone for a class project, would it be okay if I asked you some questions?” He’d always spoken rather.. Grown-up for his age, he hoped this worked in his advantage this time.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 5:02 pm
Leif was just enjoying a nice, somewhat sunny (as sunny as it could get in Below) day with a gentle breeze under one of his favorite trees on the grounds. Kadali was busy doing… something, but he’d already told her he’d wait for her there. He was honestly about to fall asleep when a voice roused him from drifting off.
Blinking a few times in surprise, it took him a moment to get his eyes to focus on the freshling standing next to him. Oh! Four-- oh.. Another blink, then a slow nod as he registered the question. An interview for a project? That… couldn’t be too bad. “O-oh..! Uh, s-sure. I don’t mind.” He smiled a little, then shifted himself to sit upright and make space in case the freshling wanted to sit down.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 5:03 pm
For a moment Aphelion braced himself for the (sometimes inevitable) yelp of surprise and/or horror, but… it never came. Though the staring did give him enough time to realize that the junior in question was also Hallowed. Multiple pupils… vaguely he wondered if that affected his vision, but… well, he supposed he could ask if he really wanted to. It wasn’t school related though. “Thank you.” He nodded in return, then carefully folded his legs under him so that he could sit as well.
He then opened up his notebook, got out his pencil, and looked up at the junior. “I am Aphelion. What is your name? And how long have you been attending school here at the Academy?”
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 5:06 pm
This kid was… a little disconcerting… but Leif couldn’t really explain why. Was it the eyes after all? No… it was the stare. The intense, almost soul piercing stare this kid seemed to possess. Leif found himself frequently glancing off to look at a nearby group of kids that were playing some kind of game- hopefully the kid… Aphelion? Wouldn’t take offense.
“That’s a nice name.. I’m Leif. Uhh…” He paused, thinking.. “A-About seven years almost… Yeah, that sounds right.” He nodded. If this was just going to be school things he figured that’d be fine.. He just hoped that Aphelion didn’t want to talk mutations..
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 5:07 pm
Aphelion carefully wrote down Leif’s answers, trying not to show that he noticed the way Leif kept looking off to the side. It wasn’t really… aggravating, but it was kind of annoying. Was Alice the only person not related to him that could maintain eye contact? If so that was a painfully small amount of people, it being just… one. And his brothers and father. He hadn’t tried maintaining eye contact with Claus in a while, perhaps he should test that out again..
“Did you move from far away? What is your favorite part of the school? And least favorite.” He decided he’d just keep his eyes on his paper and save Leif the awkwardness. At least that’s what he’d tell himself he was doing.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 5:08 pm
Had he noticed…? Oh no, he noticed. Leif felt a little wave of guilt rise up in his stomach. He was just a freshling and already he’d learned to keep his head down if someone started avoiding eye contact… Leif had been - no, he was still in the habit of avoiding eye contact with other people. It wasn’t right..
“Huh? Oh… uh, no, not really. Um… I was adopted, so th-that’s why I came late.” He shrugged a little, figuring that inquiring about someone’s time at an orphanage wouldn’t be part of Aphelion’s project. “F-favorite thing? Um…” He hadn’t thought about that before… “...People are uh… generally nice here.. In comparison to the orphanage, I mean. It's just… nicer here.” He shrugged once more, then frowned a bit as he thought about the other question. “There’s… a lot of people so… I guess it makes it hard to stop bad behavior sometimes…”
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 5:09 pm
As before, Aphelion carefully wrote down Leif’s answers, not really thinking much on it. Adoptions weren’t that rare, were they? Well… he supposed maybe for Hallowed kids they were. Still, as far as mutations went Leif’s was pretty subtle. “I see. What is your suggestion for alleviating the behavior problems that occasionally arise?” He glanced up briefly at the older student- actually locking eyes with him for a moment. He expected Leif to look away again, but this time he actually held his gaze.
Interesting… Maybe Leif really had been distracted by the game going on. Or maybe he’d gotten over the eyes. Aphelion’s wings flapped a little as he readjusted their position. “...Do they bother you?” He tilted his head slightly. There wasn’t any point in just dodging the topic silently. He wanted to know.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 5:10 pm
“S-suggestions?” Oh. That had been a bit more than Leif was expecting. He had to think about that one… The Imp went silent for a few moments as he considered… the bad behavior was mostly just… bullying that wasn’t always caught. “I… guess teaching more emotional empathy would be a good place to start…?” He really had no idea. His brain decided to halt abruptly as soon as Aphelion locked gazes with him.
Okay. It really wasn’t the eyes, it was the intensity of his stare.. But the eyes certainly didn’t help. He cleared his throat, taking a moment to comprehend the question. “Does what-- oh.” He bit his lip, then shook his head slowly. “No, uh, you just h-have a very intense st-stare… uh, and I don’t really… uh, do eye-contact… Most of the time.” He hoped that was what Aphelion was referring to and… not his own eyes.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 5:12 pm
More emotional empathy… Aphelion was not sure that was something that could be taught, but he wrote down the suggestion anyway - briefly breaking his stare with Leif in order to do so. His ears perked at the response - he wasn’t used to eye contact and… He had a very intense stare? He supposed he did, he’d heard people say that about his father before but Aphelion was not entirely sure how to remedy that. Alice never minded…
“Oh. I am sorry, I do not know how to fix that.” He admitted plainly. Aphelion looked back to Leif, then down at his paper… He supposed this was enough. “I think I am done. Thank you for your time.” He closed his book, then pushed himself up and dusted off his shorts. “It was nice to meet you.” He nodded, then turned to shuffle off without another word. He’d gotten what he needed, so why stick around?
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 5:13 pm
That… wasn’t how he expected that to go. Had he made it worse? Aphelion didn’t look hurt, but Leif wasn’t entirely sure he’d be able to tell - the kid came off as rather hard to read in the first place… “Oh, uh, it’s okay, really.” He started to try and mend what he’d done, but Aphelion was already packing up and heading off. Oh boy..
“N--nice to meet you too..!” He managed to call after him, and judging from the way one of his ears swiveled back, he’d at least heard it. Well… that was better than nothing. Maybe Leif needed more emotional empathy. Ugh...
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