Trees of Wood and Other Differences

It was a cold day outside. Too cold. Nova's skin was used to being warm all the time on her seasonless planet. Nevertheless, she wore a tight fitting singlet top and black shorts. Just what she was used to, save for the rubbery 'flip-flops' she wore on her feet. She looked, to others, as if she was in summer. In actual fact, she felt colder than the others that day. At least there was no wind.

Nova had arrived at the Academy that morning after a briefing at the Starlight Observation Station. Now she was - mostly - familiar with basic human customs and modern terms. So, with her new backpack filled with two other sets of summery clothes and some toiletries, she entered the school grounds.

The girl had never seen anything like it. It was so grand, it looked thousands of times more architecturally advanced than the mere treehouses she had been used to. What's more, there was a large lake - sure, it was frozen over, but other than that perfectly fine - and an overabundance of trees.

Nova was very familiar with trees. Or rather, organisms resembling trees. These new things looked so much worse. First of all, they were brown, which was a horrible colour to begin with, not to mention their roughness and odd structure. Still, she felt the urge to try it out. So, with her backpack still on her back, she found ridges on the tree to help her grip it beforescaling it with ease. She landed herself in a sitting position on a lower hanging, thicker straight branch. She was correct. It really wasn't as comfortable.

Had it not been for the backpack, all a passerby would have seen was the voluminous blue hair draping around Nova's back. Instead, it was clear that there was indeed someone sitting up in the tree. She stayed sitting there for a while, taking in the surroundings and people going about their daily lives. Would anyone notice her up there?​

Hearing a voice behind her, Nova turned her head curiously, her overabundance of pastel blue hair flying over her shoulder like a large wave. It came to rest in front of her, so she flicked it back over her shoulder and smoothed it out to appear semi-presentable to whoever was addressing her.

It was an elder male. She was not experienced in age detection of humans, but he was clearly a little older than her. He also had very little hair compared to her, and it was a grey shade. So few humans had hair as thick as hers, especially not males. Males on Nova's home planet possessed hair of the same length and volume as her own.

Just slightly shocked that someone had approached her so quickly, Nova tilted her head to the side. He was quite polite, she had to admit, but telling her to get out of the tree? It was strange to say the very least. Still, she leant backwards, gripping a higher tree branch behind her, and swung her legs off of the one she sat on. From that position, Nova simply dropped down from the tree and landed softly on solid ground. She was still getting used to the feeling of no water being there.

"May I-" she started, before correcting herself and using the 'modern' language she had tried to pick up in the past year. "Sorry. Why would you say that?" She asked this in a friendly tone of voice, trying not to show her frustration at never fully grasping modern English.

"My name is Nova," she introduced herself with a smile. "And you are...?" She looked at him more closely. He was attractive, as far as human (or human-like) beings went. She didn't regret coming down from the tree anymore.


@Griffin​

Hearing a loud crash behind her, Nova turned to see the branch she had sat on fallen to the ground.

"Earth trees fall down?" She muttered to herself. Weird, she thought. She had never seen a tree fall down before, as her planet's equivalent had a much longer lifespan. A frown was present across her face for a moment before her pure gratitude towards Victor for his warning outweighed it.

"Thankyou," she said, clearly taken aback. "I apologise- I'm sorry for being so oblivious to it." Her first instinct was to hug the boy in thanks, but had learnt that the majority of humans do not actually hug on first encounters. She had been learning their customs for a while and was still attempting to replace the old with the new.

Nova instead took his hand when he offered it and shook it up and down. She knew this to be a handshake, something nobody on her home planet regularly used. Whilst they did this, Nova glanced up at his face, before looking away once more.

"Nice to meet you, Victor, she replied. "I'm clueless. I only just recently arrived today." She mentally slapped herself. She was getting her language mixed up, which wasn't the way she liked to meet someone. Definitely not someone as cute as Victor.
​

Nova felt like an idiot. She had not realised the tree was about to snap, even though a passerby noticed it without even checking it specifically.

"What do you mean old?" She inquired. "How old are Earth trees before they do that? And does the academy not have anything to strengthen the trees so they do not perish?" She wondered at the dangers of the human trees. Countless people surely fell from them and hurt themselves, especially because no water was present to cushion their fall. Maybe that was the reason so few people sat in trees.

Nova lacked most knowledge of human society. She had learnt about it, and made it one of the things she researched most. Her large, obvious movements didn't appear to be reciprocated by Victor. Truth was, she was less energised than usual, but still had enough to try her hardest to be socially acceptable. Things were different where she came from.

"My apologies for the questions. Um, I'm really new here," she said, her word choices switching partway through. Victor took enough notice of her to save her from a falling tree, so she hoped he would also answer her questions. His whole demeanour was interesting to her, likely due to the fact that he was one of the only people she had met on Earth to not gasp at the sight of her.

"School starting?" Nova paused. She had forgotten about that aspect of coming to Manta Carlos. She was a little nervous about it and the differences to her old school, but wasn't too worried. "Not really. I mean, it is why I arrived here, but I'm not looking forward to it. How about you?"

@Griffin​

"Yeah, wow, okay," Nova nodded her head slowly, taking in everything Victor had said. She was much more reassured that she had not sounded stupid once Victor began referencing the history of a tree.

"I skimmed a History book or two about Manta Carlos on the way here. 600 years ago, pirate settlers, right?" She asked. Mentally 'hi-fiving' herself for her modern-sounding word choices, she came to the realisation that Victor's flustered state made her feel better about herself. Wow, was she truly so insecure? Nova mentally scrunched the thought up and soaked it in water.

"Hundreds of years and I happen to sit there in the exact moment one breaks?" Yes Nova, she thought to herself. Her words were falling into place perfectly, something that had been impossible at any other time.

"But anyway, where I come from trees last thousands of years. I have never seen one snap in my entire life. None of them have any rings either. How could a tree coincidentally grow a ring of wood after exactly one year?" The last sentence she spoke was a sentence too much. She had almost reverted to her old speech. Nova didn't mean to come off as harsh at all. Victor had saved her from a falling tree and she had to admit that he was cute. It was just that she did not know what to think of him. There was the heroic cute male she had encountered whilst in the tree, and the nerdy awkward one that was revealed after a small chat. She desperately wanted to know who Victor really was.

"You learnt yourself? Using books?" She inquired. Every piece of information had to become from somewhere.

"Hmm." Was all she answered to his last response. Another side to the male adolescent arose, this one self-assured and overconfident. Nova would've told him more about the variations between her old school and human school, but Victor's strange answers to questions and quick personality changes worried her. Was it merely timidity, was it a serious problem, or had he not figured himself out yet? Nova hoped the first possibility would be true. He was attractive, but she wouldn't allow herself to be attracted to somebody with switching personalities.​