Echoes From The Past

The park was such a lovely place! Despite being in the middle of the city, Lei Ling could breathe without choking on pollution. While there are some scents that annoyed her unacclimatized nose, she could handle it after experiencing much worse, and the city she had been in wasn't even half as big as this one! Well, maybe a village would be a better term, but the thought still stands! Well anyway, after familiarizing herself with the streets, she began exploring and found the park a couple of weeks ago, and since then, she had been keen on jogging around. She had to remain in shape after all. There was no particular reason aside from keeping her body working right, but it was more because it was already a habit before coming to the island. While on her jog, she spotted a performer dancing gracefully. It was hard not to notice. The performer was in the way of her usual route, so Lei Ling thought it wouldn't hurt to stop by and watch. The dance looked sort of familiar. Or at least, the way the dancer carried herself as she turned. Lei Ling continued on her route, passing by other joggers and a couple of people that she dodged around. When she was nearing the performer, she slowed down gradually until she was just walking. She was only lightly panting as she hadn't yet shifted to her third gear, but there was a good amount of sweat. Hands on her waist, Lei Ling watched the dancer from a respectable distance to avoid getting thwacked in the face whenever the performer spun around. She had to say though, the way the performer danced reminded her of some big-shot back in China. While Lei Ling wasn't that into celebrities, her friends were crazy about them, and she assimilated the basics. Reminiscing had to be shoved off however when she herself was shoved to the ground by a falling body. Lei Ling had no time to react in any other way than to try to catch the girl. After all, the alternative was to jump away and let the performer eat dirt, which was not something Ling would have considered even if she had time to think about it. However, her attempt wasn't that great, and she herself was pushed towards the grass on her hind. She was fine however, having such a well-worked body made her hardy. She was more concerned for the other girl. No, it's completely fine, really. Sorry, I couldn't really catch you in time." Lei Ling picked herself up and offered a helping hand for the performer. "Aside from the falling down, you were really graceful with your dance."

"Ah hahaha, there's no need to be so modest and formal. It's a pleasure to meet you, Varvara. I'm Lei Ling Shengxiao by the way." She offered her hand again for a firm handshake. She had to say, she liked the girl already. It was nice to see someone talented be modest. Most people would just take what they have and demand praise for it, which was just a bit too self-centered for her taste. "Where did you learn how to dance? Because they did a really good job in teaching you. You really seemed into the whole thing." Lei Ling wouldn't say that she was much of a dancer herself. She left that to her other sisters who were more interested in it.

Such steadiness and gentleness in the handshake wasn't noticed, but Lei Ling had a feeling that she was that type when they collided. Well, the steadiness came before the fall, and the gentleness was from the way she reacted after the fall, if one chose to be precise. The zodiac aspect nodded surely to Varvara's hunch. "Mhm! I'm from China. Names do a lot to give away where you're from," she added with a chuckle. Not Varvara's though. It didn't sound like any name she'd heard before, but that could be a quirk of the language charm she was given. Strangely though, it rang a bell. Then it hit her when Varvara answered where she learned to dance. "No wonder your dancing looked so familiar!" Lei Ling unknowingly clasped Varvara's hand between her own. "You're a pretty famous dancer! I have friends that are big fans, and they always tried dancing like you." With a wide grin, she let go of the dancer again. "They would never believe me if I said I met you in person." Lei Ling herself wasn't such a big fan, it wasn't a big interest of hers, but she was feeling excited all the same.

Lei Ling had a wide smile on her face and a bit of a blush. "Well, I'm nothing special, but I have to admit that getting praise from someone like you is a little weird. It's usually the other way around with these situations, hahaha..." She noticed the sudden change of expression on Varvara's face, and it was worrying to her. Lei Ling was worried that she might have said something to upset her new acquaintance, and she had her answer, somewhat, when she said something about her death and murder. This made Lei Ling's eyes shoot open. This was complete news to her. Now she was sure her friends would never believe her. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know! I never really followed celebrities all that much. I never knew something like that happened." Well, now what? She couldn't just go and ask about the details, could she? But just as hard to think of something else.

Lei Ling was a little worried at Varvara's state, but she didn't want to make a big deal out of it if it only made it worse. Now was probably the time to divert her attention towards something else other than death. "Well, I'm sure you have your reasons for that. Though the dragon in our family would probably ask if whether or not you'd want to dance professionally again. They were big on the whole... cans and cannots don't matter, its the want to do something. Bleh," she feigned disgust and chuckled. "They get a little under my skin with talk like that, but their words did keep me practicing martial arts for a while."