Private Finished Lie-lac

With a sense of caution in his steps, Carmin was walking through the courtyard eyeing up the few empty benches. There were more people around than he'd counted on, making it much harder to pick out a spot. He didn't want one that was anywhere near another one with people sitting there, but there weren't really any of those. He wasn't usually so picky, but today was a different case than the usual. He wasn't just going to read, today he was going to draw. The tough part was that he wasn't all that good at it and needed to make sure that absolutely nobody came anywhere near him while it was happening.

Before long, Carmin had given up on the benches altogether. Instead he opted for sitting under a nice tree, on the ground. It wasn't exactly ideal, but he couldn't feel it anyway so comfort wasn't a thing that mattered to him. He eyed up a tree not so far in front of him, then took out a sketchbook and a pencil from is pack. He then began drawing the tree, starting with the trunk. He drew a line, then erased it. He continued this same pattern many times, but never became satisfied with the result. The trunk was more or less just two thick black lines and then some small lines in between, but it wasn't overly easy to tell. Carmin was quickly adding drawing to the list of things he couldn't do. At least nobody was around when he made this discovery.

@Keen

Carmin was too busy mocking his inability to draw in his head to notice Junchi approach him. When the oricenta asked him the question, his sketchbook slammed shut and he looked up, far more surprised than he should’ve been. What he saw was a kid with leaves for hair, similar to his own, but a different type and colour.

Without Carmin even noticing, an extra pansy sprouted on the top of his wrist. Feeling that his location had been compromised, Carmin stood up, planning to head out after clearing a misconception up with this kid. “Look, I know it looks like I’m a kid, but I’m not some friend for you to make, I’m actually eighteen.” He was getting better at telling people that now. But it was still an annoying thing to have to explain to everyone.

Junchi's response completely blindsided Carmin. He was more or less trying to get away from this kid before, but with those few words, his attitude got rearranged. His eyes opened wide as he quickly came to understand that they weren't all that different. Carmin stared at them for several seconds before actually working out any words to say. "I'm... really sorry to hear that..."

Carmin began to nervously rub the back of his neck while he spoke. "I, uh, know what that's like..." He wasn't exactly sure how to react to a situation like this but he figured he could start with an introduction. "I'm Carmin, by the way." It was clear now that Carmin had stopped trying to run away from him.

Carmin was already aware he was an awkward bean, but it always stung a little when people pointed it out. Still, he tried to shake it off given the circumstances.

"I wouldn't say I don't like kids... It's just complicated, you know?" He figured Junchi of all people would be capable of understanding what he was about to explain, so for a change, he actually tried to explain it "I just feel like it's weird for me to be around kids. They usually only approach me because, well, I look like one... It's like I'm tricking them without even wanting to. Then there's the fact that kid's brains tend to get influenced by those around them and I just don't want them to start..." Carmin was about to say acting like him, but decided to cut himself short. He kind of actually wanted to make friends with this guy. "Misbehaving because of something dumb I said or did..."

Carmin thought about that for a minute. He seemed to confirm in his head that Junchi was in fact a sixteen year old just from the fact that they were giving him advice like that.

"You're probably right about that..." At first it may have seemed that the advice got right to him, but of course Carmin didn't take the advice properly. "I should probably be nicer when I try to get away. Maybe I should come up with excuses or something. I just have trouble talking, even with kids, it's always just awkward."