Forest Tears[OPEN]

Wei snuffed, curled up into himself in the crook of the tree. Hot tears stung his eyes and built up, his becoming shiny and glassy as he tried, tried, tried not to cry, but they came unbidden and hot like fire. The tears soaked the arms of the old and patchy sweater we was wearing, his legs tucked into the the bottom hole of the oversized sweatshirt that belonged to his big brother. His tail was wrapped around the trunk of the tree, he shivered weakly as he could feel another wave of tears splash against his belly.

He hadn't been sleeping well. He hadn't actually had a good night's sleep in almost three months, the same horrible nightmare had him waking up screaming every night with a burning in his chest like he'd been drowning. He was so alone on this island, so far from home--it would take weeks for a letter from home to reach him here, and even though he had a phone, he wasn't able to call back home. Every minute was too expensive, every second was worth enough food to feed his mom and brother for a week.

The small monkey had tried to make friends, tried desperately to push back against the loneliness of being so far away, where no one knew him or liked him. He'd always felt this crippling loneliness, even when surrounded by people.

But even though he thought that he was finally getting friends, he knew that none of them would ever feel the same way he did.

To him, a friend--a true, deep, close friend--was the most intimate thing to him. That person was his most important person, above all of his other friends that person will be the most important.

But to his friends? He was always just a friend. He was something that would come secondary to everything else in their lives--especially if they had a romantic partner.

Another round of tears came, and he wiped the tears from his eyes. He was so alone.

Wei was so absorbed in his pity party he almost missed the sound of sudden movement. Almost, but not quite. He was in the trees though, so he wasn't worried about anything coming to get him or catching him. While he was situated in the branches he was perfectly safe. There was not a single beast that he knew of that would be able to outrun him when it came to fleeing away from danger.

But he just assumed it was a monster that got caught in a trap that another hunter had set up. He was lead to believe that some of the monsters that called this place home had valuable furs or horns or nails or whatever.

He tucked his head onto his knees and sniffled, wiping his nose with the sleeve of the sweatshirt. Even now he could smell the scent that had comforted him waning away being replaced with his own smell and the scent of the school.

There was nothing he wanted less than to be alone with his own scent.

Hearing a voice, his back straightened so quickly that his head slammed against the bark of the tree behind him. Wei bit down hard on his bottom lip, feeling his sharp canines break the skin of his lower lip. Once the pain passed he wiped his bottom lip with his sleeve.

He'd deal with that later.

Actually... he was pretty sure no one had ever called him "mister".

Quickly, he scrubbed the tears out of his eye and looked at them.

"A-Are..." His voice sounded thin and cracked and pathetic. "Are you two lost or some... something?"

Wei watched them from his place in the tree, his tail wrapped loosely around the branch. He chuckled when the girl swatted the boy on the back of the head, even though the laugh of someone who had just been crying sounded totally pathetic. At least having them around made him feel better. That just affirmed to him that being alone was the literal worst--he liked it best when there were people around.

"Lost in the Forbidden Forest huh?" He said, swinging effortlessly around the branch to reach Aurillia, shaking her hand and watching her closely. He didn't really want to drop down to the ground--he felt safer from the predators in the trees.

Of course he was also upside down, but he was used to that.

He swung back upright when Aurillia seemed to teleport next to him, and he watched her inquisitively. She was pretty enough, and her brother had also been fairly handsome. When she asked about whether or not he lived in the forest, Wei cracked a small smile. "No, I don't live in the forest. I'm a student at the school here."

When her brother left, Wei saw her become visibly uncomfortable. He supposed they were really uncomfortable when they were separated. Maybe it was a twin thing. Were they twins? He always thought that to be twins meant you had to have the same gender, because that was how genes worked. Was that how genes worked?

"So, what brings you and Aurix to the forest?" He ignored how differently "Aurix" sounded when he said it. It was probably the tears. And the accent. "I guess you guys don't live in the forest, otherwise you wouldn't have gotten lost, huh?

"I guess you also wouldn't look as clean and nice either, though, so maybe that was obvious..." he muttered to himself, placing a hand on his chin.

"Oh!" he said, and extended his hand to Aurillia. "My name's Wei Hu Sun. renshi ni hen hao, nice to meet you."

Wei tilted his head at the notion of the two of them freaking the professor the fuck out, as she put it. That seemed like a rude thing to say, but then again her and her brother did look like boy-girl copies of each other, so he guessed he could understand why the professor didn't want them both around. When he was in school back home he tended to have the same teachers as his older brother, who tended to call out their names wrong.

It got to the point that he had to put put with totally different teachers--he started actually answering to his brother's name, which made doing chores around the house particularly difficult.

<font color=ffcd05>"I'm... I'm a high school student."</font> He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. He'd given a lot of thought to college, but then again there wasn't anything in school he was particularly good at. Well, he was good at gym, but that really wasn't a boasting point. Generally just showing up to gym was enough to not fail.

As they shook hands again, he couldn't help but notice how soft her hand was compared to his. Despite being 15, his hands were rough with callouses from how aggressively he had to swing through trees and hold on to branches, speaking nothing of how many splinters he's had throughout his short life.

It was a weird feeling, having a calloused hand and touching someone else who was relatively callous-free.


<font color=ffcd05>"So, you're looking for an artifact? Or something?"</font> Wei tiled his head, trying to remember if he had seen anything artifact-y on his way to wherever in the forest this was. Unfortunately he'd been so distraught, running with eyes full of tears he couldn't actually remember if he'd seen anything that might be what the twins were looking for. And even if he had, he wasn't totally sure he'd be able to trace his way back to where he saw the thing. It was unfortunate--he liked scavenger hunts. <font color=ffcd05>"D'you know what it looks like? Maybe I saw it."</font>

When she mentioned their housing situation, he nodded. They absolutely couldn't be separated? He turned his head towards the trees that Aurix had vanished behind. That explained why she got uncomfortable when her brother left. It must have been weird to be separated when you weren't supposed to be. But she seemed to be doing okay so far, so apparently the separations weren't lethal.

<font color=ffcd05>"I don't have a roommate,"</font> he said. <font color=ffcd05>"I was deemed not sound enough for a roommate."</font> Realizing that that must sound terrible, he hastened to add, <font color=ffcd05>"It's just because I tend to have a lot of nightmares. Also I like to jump out of my window instead of use the stairs, but I mean, why would you use the stairs if you can get to the ground floor safely in a quarter of the time with twice the excitement by using the window? It's just more economic!"</font>

The housing council didn't see it that way though. Apparently jumping out of windows at this school is frowned upon.

Wei's ears twitched. <font color=ffcd05>"Your brother's been gone awhile. You don't think he got lost--sorry--MORE lost, do you?"</font>

Well, if they tended to finish each others sentences he could see how that would be freaky. He'd be freaked out too, actually.

A shudder went down his spine just at the thought.

<font color=ffcd05>"Uh, it's hard... for me at least,"</font> He said. <font color=ffcd05>"English is my second language so it's hard to read things sometimes. Some teachers aren't very accomodating."</font>

When she asked about a girlfriend, Wei gave a half smile and looked away. <font color=ffcd05>"N... no, no girlfriend. I'm actually... not that into girls?"</font> It would be more accurate to say that he didn't think he was into anyone. He hadn't met a single person on the island that made his heart race or his skin tingle... but he hadn't met anyone like that period, so who knows.

Maybe there was something wrong with him.

Theory of Magic? Octavius? Oh. Ohhhh... <font color=ffcd05>"Professor Octain,"</font> he said, resisting the urge to click his tongue in distain at the thought. He didn't like him, on top of not being particularly fond of his methods. Or his message, actually. Or his creepy appearance. Or--

Okay, it was easier to say he just didn't like Octain. <font color=ffcd05>"I'm taking Theory of Magic too,"</font> He said. <font color=ffcd05>"But I take it in the afternoon."</font>

Aurix appear then, and Wei could see Aurillia relax. Or, he could imagine her relaxing rather, because she was above him and to actually see her he had to crane his neck back until the top of his head was almost touching the tree.

<font color=ffcd05>"Oh, yeah, I'll join you. I'm starving. And a sucker for banana bread. Win-win."</font> He moved to catch the bread, hopping from the tree in the same motion to join Aurix on the ground. He'd never had a nickname before. Did that make him friends with the twins? Ooh. The implications were interesting--two friends with one stone. Or... did he have one friend who had two bodies?

He sat on the ground, feeling twins and grass against his skin. Nature was so comforting. <font color=ffcd05>"How's to going looking for an apartment?"</font> He asked. Since he was in High School he wasn't allowed to live off-campus yet, but he was considering moving out once he gradutated if he'd found something to do with himself by then.

Otherwise he'd just go back to China.

<font color=ffcd05>"I was considering moving out when I graduated and livin' alone for college."</font>