[EVENT] Pins and Needles [Jura]

Every call was punctured with a small laugh as people came up to him and asked him the same questions--what was he doing, why was he running, could they have more cards to trade--it was honestly going pretty well all things considered. He just wished that he was having as much fun as he had been having before Solis walked into the cafeteria.

Wei had tried, tried to make the conscious choice to just ignore him, but everything inside of him rejected that idea. He couldn't completely ignore a potential voter, even though Solis didn't really seem like the type to get involved in school politics. He seemed like the type who didn't care about how the place was run, one of those people who were convinced their vote didn't matter in the grand scheme of things and that no matter what the ending would always be the same.

The nerve!

Wait, wait.

No.

Taking a deep breath--it couldn't go the same way twice, could it?--he walked over to Solis and handed him a pack of cards, sealed in the littlest manila envelope ever. They didn't make them that small--Wei had to cut up a bunch of manila folders and fold them with his fingers, gluing down the bits as he went. It had taken days to get this set up.

On the envelope was the same cute illustration of a monkey that adorned his button, once again sporting the simple slogan of 'vote Wei'.

Wei held out his hand expectantly, the little envelope resting on his fingers. It almost seemed like there were two little monkey faces regarding Solis at once, two little faces judging his poor attitude and form against someone who literally had only been trying to help. At least, that's what the little Chinese boy thought. He couldn't speak for the guy who was sitting there and giving him the longest most intense death glare Wei had ever seen.

Do your worst, he thought viciously to himself, not bothering to speak his words aloud. The cafeteria was too loud and hectic for anyone to really hear him unless they were close enough to have a conversation with him. Solis and Wei were fairly close, but somehow he thought trying to talk to the guy would be a waste of air. And calories. I played football with a Gorilla once, you're not that scary.

When he took the envelope without a word--other than that insufferable death glare, which he sort of counted as words with his eyes--Wei was thrown for a loop. He'd been expecting snark. Insults. But there was nothing but a sour look.

That seemed like so many levels above their earlier interaction that Wei was actually dumbfounded.

Did... did this mean they were friends?

Oh yeah. Definitely friends.

Wei gave Solis a big smile before running around with renewed energy, handing out the rest of his cards and returning to Solis' table, sliding into the now vacant seat beside him.

The monkey boy said nothing, but continued to smile his biggest, most charismatic smile.

Oh, Wei had felt the violent aura. But at this point he just considered it part of Solis' package so to speak. You got a guy who was all in his own little world and spoke to people like they were nothing--if he spoke to them at all--and around that little ball of absolute sunshine and fun there was a nice little invisible miasma of evil intent that kept people away. And the little monkey was not immune to that.

It was simple that he'd encountered it several times already today, and at that point the look had lost a lot of its vinegar and sting. It seemed more like a "proceed with caution" rather than a "do not enter", and Wei was nothing if not cautious.

Aw yeah. Cautious was his middle name.

Well, actually his middle name was nothing because Chinese people didn't really believe in the concept of a middle name but his point was--

He knew all about caution.

Right now though, he was just electing to throw that to the wind.

"Soooooo..." he began, bringing up his feet to rest on the lip of his chair, sitting in the seat in the same way one would expect him to sit crouching in a tree. "I couldn't help but notice you didn't have any biting commentary that time."

"You are thick-skulled and stubborn. Anything I said would not have been as effective as it would have on a normal person."

Even though that was mean, it wasn't anything close to the same level of bitter contention that Solis had showed him in the courtyard. No, compared to that it was almost like he was saying that Wei was nothing more than a minor annoyance, but one what wasn't bad enough to warrant the full brunt of his anger. That was really all he needed to hear. 'Yep,' Wei thought, his grin still perfectly placed on his still slightly childish face. 'We're basically best friends now.'

When Solis stood up after finishing his meal, Wei was prepared to pack up the last of his paraphernalia and at least try to nap before he met up with some people from his combat class to study, but to his surprise, Solis came right back, sitting in the chair right next to him, looking straight at him.

Solis was in his presence, with nothing to keep him there, no reason to stay, and no mean words to throw. Just glaring silence. Wei's smile only got bigger, if it was even possible.

"So... does this mean we're friends now?"

The monkey boy leaned against the table, watching Solis the same way someone would watch an interesting science experiment. He didn't seem to like to talk too much, so Wei took it upon himself to decode the body language of Solis, who seemed to only say what he was actually thinking when he was sure that it would hurt someone's feelings. The weak sauce he passed off as insults were so much less damaging than the first one that he couldn't believe that they were words that he was saying in earnest.

There has to be some kind of code there to crack. Some meaning behind the insults. If he could find that meaning then he could maybe get a few steps closer to understanding how Solis ticked.

And then he would admit that they were friends, instead of trying to seem aloof and disinterested and cool.

"Nothing huh? Even though you have no food? And there's other seats opening up now?" Wei asked, kicking his feet under the table with a self satisfied grin. "Even though you didn't throw away my envelope like you threw out my button?" At least... he assumed Solis had thrown out his button. That's what he'd said he'd do anyway.