this is an afterschool story ( closed )

[foodcritic]

Who: Elle foodcritic, Heung Soo unathletic, Cynbel changeably
When: IC 11/19, late afternoon
Where: Around the shopping and residential districts.
What: Making friendlies with people she hasn't seen in a few weeks!
Rating/Warning: rated c for cute.

---

( for heung soo/unathletic; )

[ceres academy is a bit of a ways from the shopping district, especially for an eight year old. and especially for an eight year old who should probably be going straight back to ludger's apartment afterwards. but knowing he'd probably be at work at that time, and also knowing she's hungry for a bit of a snack?

well, maybe it wasn't always the best thing that elle had learned how to ride the trains pretty well back in elympios. besides, if she just went there really quick and came back, nobody would know, right? right? everything is pretty safe when it's not being weird, and she may or may not have taken a few detours out of her own desire to not have to rely on ludger and milla so much. the problem with this is the fact that she can't actually remember where the food stall is that has something she likes.

instead, she finds herself in front of a stall with some pretty unfamiliar food. well, unfamiliar to her at least, and she can't help but scrunch her nose at the very red looking food. food, right? it should be.]

Ick. That looks really spicy... [how do people eat things like that? too spicy! it doesn't smell that spicy, though. it smells kind of sweet, like peppers... but it looks spicy. she should probably stay away, huh? help. please take the small child with no spice tolerance away from the giant vat of tteokbokki...]

( for cynbel/changeably; )

[elle manages to make it back to the residential district undetected and without issue... somehow. maybe it's best not to question these things, or even talk about them for fear of giving ludger, milla, or anyone else she knows from back home a small heart attack. either way, she's quick to head into the apartment she shares with ludger, throw her things down where they go...

and immediately run back out to head to the playground while there's still some light left. going to school all the time is hard! she's still not really used to it since her situation was so different back home, even if that's what the normal kids all did. so losing out of valuable playtime when there's not really anything else for her to do (it's not about saving worlds or helping ludger with jobs to pay off massive amounts of debt at this exact moment), seems silly. why waste it? she's not planning on it, so elle heads to the swings.

...but when she gets there, she spots a small, but familiar face hanging around. right, she was the one who showed him where this place was. now... what was his name again? it was pretty unique, so it doesn't take her long to remember—]

Cynbel! [she calls out, waving an arm at him with a grin. she's in a pretty good mood right now, so her sass levels are a little bit lower than their last encounter. well, for now at least. it's amazing how much can change with the passage of a few weeks and a lot more caring and familiar faces trying to distract her from her problems. they're all but absent right now; if anything, she's excited to have a playmate for a bit.]

Comments

[changeably]

[The playground is deserted when Cynbel gets there, and he spends the better part of an hour just sitting in a swing, until he hears the crunching of someone's footsteps on the path nearby. He sits up and listens, turning around fully when he hears his name. It's someone he knows, so he puts on a smile, not sure who it is from just the voice.]

Yes?

[Oh, it is someone he knows, even if it's been a while since he's seen her. He stands up, off the swing, and waves back. She was a friendly, but still obviously scared girl when she first arrived, but perhaps now he'll get a better idea of what sort of person she is, now that she's had time to settle.]

Oh, it's Miss Elle. Hello, again!

[foodcritic]

[a day like this is definitely a much better gauge on who she is compared to before. she's in a good mood, she's neutral about the overall circumstances around her—it's a pretty big and obvious change from the day she met. on that day, she'd been doing her best to swallow her feelings and worries for ludger's sake.

but now a lot more is out in the open, and other friends are around, so while her concerns still exist, she feels okay about keeping them buried until they can get back to their own world. and all of that shows, because she seems much more like an average eight-year old this way, giving cynbel a grin and a wave as she plops on the next swing.]

It's been a while, huh? [things happen so much and so fast that sometimes it's just hard to keep track of people and what they're up to.] I don't think I saw you after I showed you where this place was!

[...and she's still proud of that, yes.]

[changeably]

[After all that happened during their first meeting, he really should have expected this level of pride. It's kind of endearing, when it's at this reasonable sort of level, so he lets her remind him of that little "debt" and nods.]

Indeed, it has been! And much has happened, so I have not had the time to come here and enjoy it properly in between then and now. It's much too nice to simply run through without taking the time to enjoy it, after all.

[He leans against the metal legs of the swing set, letting it take his weight while he looks at where she's sitting. He's as relaxed as ever, but since this is only their second meeting and she did him a favor last time (technically), he tries to remember his manners.]

Have you been well since then, Miss Elle?

[foodcritic]

[it's the little things in life that she has to take pride in. she's still just a kid, after all... and with very few people knowing of the bigger acts of pride she's capable of, this is the best she can do—especially when she's putting those things out of her mind.

it's good to hear that cynbel's doing okay. or at least, okay enough that he can still find some time to enjoy himself despite whatever weirdness is usually going on around them. she's largely managed to avoid traumatic experiences, so she's a lot better than she could be.]

Yep, I've been right as rain! He probably doesn't always look like it, but Ludger's really good at taking care of people. [because honestly, he looks like a slightly incompetent twenty year old to plenty. he was basically a NEET up until just before she met him, so it's not really inaccurate.]

[changeably]

[He smiles, please that she's been well, but it's replaced with a look of slight confusion relatively quickly.]

Ludger?

[His ears twitch at the sound of the name, but he doesn't recognize it. He frowns in thought, trying to remember, but he's fairly sure he's never met the guy. He'll just have to take a guess.]

Is that the name of the one who is caring for you, then?

[It must be, or else she's made other friends. And since there are so few actual children, or even child-looking people, around, it must be an adult.]

[foodcritic]

Yep, Ludger's my partner!

[she offers a wide grin at that. there are a lot of things that are complicated about her situation with ludger—in nearly every way imaginable. that had even been a big reason for her melancholic state the first time the two of them had met. but right now, none of that is present in her expression.

for a kid, elle can be pretty good at biting back her negative feelings, especially for the sake of the greater good. she understands that it's something she needs to do right now, so without complaint, she lets it be. having had a few weeks to come to terms with the current situation helps. and honestly? well, she cares about ludger a lot, so she's really happy in her way to be able to spend time with him again.

so of course there's something genuinely happy about that proclamation. they are partners, after all. even if it's hard to explain how that works.]

We're a team.

[changeably]

[Partners? Cynbel takes a second to process that, trying to fit it into his experiences, somehow. Romantic partners are right out, since this is an adult, which leaves... Work, perhaps? That seems to be the simplest explanation, and it makes sense that they work together, if Ludger is caring for her.]

I take it you know one another from your home world, then?

[That's just his guess, and it doesn't matter much, since Elle seems genuinely happy to have him around. He smiles again for her.]

To have a friend from home here with you sounds like a lovely thing, so I am pleased for you.

[foodcritic]

Mm! Ludger and I have known each other for a while now. It's pretty convenient, huh? He was here already when I got here... I didn't even have to go looking. Some other people we know are around now too.

[she seems wholly pleased with this--even if there are a few issues that it definitely raises, they're not the sorts of things elle is going to bring up, especially not right now. she can't even do that with people she knows better than cynbel.

she may be a kid, but she still understands the weight of the burdens she carries. it's easier for her to just keep them entirely to herself whenever possible. still, even though she may know that much, she does still lack certain types of tact and awareness. it doesn't really occur to her immediately that talking about people from home may make him feel upset or lonely; maybe it's because he doesn't seem bothered by it at all. still, there are things to be asked.

she's not totally inconsiderate, after all.] What about you, Cynbel? Have you met anyone you know from home here?

[changeably]

Oh, that does sound terribly convenient! Perhaps whichever person that brought the both of you here brought him first, to make it simpler.

[Ouch. It just like young kids to have the grace and lack of tact to ask that sort of question and not realize the damage it can do, but Cynbel takes the little hit in stride. He doesn't look immediately upset by the question, at least, even if he's now missing his family back home significantly more than he was five seconds ago.]

But unfortunately, Miss Elle, I'm the only representative from my home here, as far as I'm aware! I'm afraid I'm all on my own, but I manage well enough, so I don't mind!

[He grins, wide and cheerful-looking, but he doesn't mean for it to go that large. It ends up letting his sharp, needle-like teeth show, and that doesn't help his image at all.]

[foodcritic]

Oh...

[elle doesn't seem too bothered by the show of teeth, maybe because she already knows that cynbel is a nice person—fairy, whatever—so even if it can look kind of scary, she remains unfazed. if anything, her expression is falling a bit from that belatedly. elle may not have necessarily picked up on what she initially had asked being inconsiderate, but hearing cynbel say that he's alone here makes her realize it a bit more.

he must be kind of lonely then, right? to not have anyone from home when she's got ludger, milla, jude, and leia seems kind of unfair.]

I wonder how they pick those things...[she muses aloud almost idly, looking upwards at the sky while she considers it. how can some people have to be here and go through this alone while others get all their friends and family?] Those CERES guys seem like real jerks about it.