asking for directions

Raphael stepped out of the high school buiding, breathing in the refreshing cool air of Manta Carlos once again once he'd passed the doors. He didn't think air could get any cleaner since they moved out of Sweden; his morning classes had gone pleasantly and after meeting a few of his classmates and their interesting selves, it assured him that he and his dad would be safer here than outside.

Pulling out his notes, he started scan it, studying his schedule and a hastily scrawled map of the school he'd managed to make before his first classes. Although now that he looked at it, it seemed to make less sense than he'd first imagined it could have. After twisting the scrap of paper around and over, he eventually gave up, sighing in defeat, slightly pouting once he'd accepted that he couldn't decipher the map at all. Great job, Raph. Crumpling the paper in one hand, he stuffed it back to his shoulder bag, looking around to see if he could work the layout of the school grounds through recall.

From an outsider perspective, he probably looked listless, and confused walking back and forth through the courtyard before he decided he should probably just ask around to save him the trouble. "Excuse me, hi!" he greeted, effectively blocking the way of a lone student who didn't seem to have any other business to attend to. He was beaming from ear to ear, looking to befriend this poor random stranger, "Yeah, hi there. I'm pretty new here and I was wondering if you could help me around?"

Raphael didn't seem phased by the sharpness in her tone--though not for the lack of noticing, of course. He could pick up the sound of her voice a mile away but while he had the preference for people who were just as sunny as he was, there was something about these not-so-social people that made him want to poke and prod at them until they crack. But he was going to bide his time with this one for a bit.

His smile didn't father against her smirk, "Well, see I don't really have one specific place-- my class wouldn't be until an hour later so I have time to get lost BUT! I was also aiming to map out the rest of my classes which is really more than just one place so I wouldn't need to get lost at all. So I was wondering if I could get some help with that, if you have the time?"

Raphael had to literally smother the uncharacteristic squeak from his throat--no matter how delighted he was, he wasn't about to break into a giggling fit in the middle of the courtyard. It wasn't really quite out of character, if he were to be more honest. He listened to her words, but found something rather peculiar about how she put it but before he could say anything about it, she turned back to him, almost startling him. "Raphael Niccolo! Wonderful to meet you too!" he grinned, as bright as his sunny disposition could get him. "So are you by chance new here too? I just transferred in a few days ago; this entire school is like a city compared to my hold high school. I wouldn't be surprised if people got lost here at least once in their lives!"

Raphael let out a thoughtful whistle as he followed after Aswan to the doors. "Two weeks huh? You look like someone who been here more than that. Catching up on classes?" he guessed. He'd known a few in his class that were taking up extra classes, which was strange for him but that was probably be cause he essentially just transferred into the school and all things were already covered in his permanent record.

He was almost a little disappointed that he couldn't just ask to have her map since she didn't seem to be using it anymore but that probably just means he could hang around her for a little while longer! Lucky him! "Oh! Class, class, hold on." Raphael floundered for a moment, trying to get his copy of his schedule out from his notebooks. "Lessee... I should have Physics up next," he wrinkled his nose. He hated sciences.

Raphael liked her smile this time, it looked more genuine, even though it wasn't all the way a happy one. That was good though! This was good. "It's nice hearing people who'd wanna work hard for something they like!" he mused aloud, following Aswan's steps as they walked down the hall. He looked towards Aswan with a thoughtful expression on his face, "My pops always told me that. But doesn't that tire you out though? Studying all night and day... you do get to take a break once in a while, don't you? Even if you do want to strive for greatness and everything, that still really sounds like a tight schedule if you don't."