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[color=Silver]	Within the space of around five minutes, chaos seemed to ensue. The very fabrics of peace and tranquillity were brought to their knees when a unfathomable act of discouragement subjugated his perfect harmony. Chaos came in many forms. Be it the transgressions of war, conflict and disorder or the lawlessness of mankind, chaos spread like a wildfire on a hot Australian morning. Even the hardest of rules or cruellest of punishments could not cease such agitations. This time, however, it became peculiar and fell under strange manifestations. Laurence scanned ahead, only gifting the unresting creature but half a glance. It was all that was needed. For Laurence, such trivial behaviours were fun, definitely welcomed by many, but it seemed very strange how [i]his[/i] nearest tree was taken for such a task. There was no shortage of trees around, especially ones without people reading beneath them. Ideally, silence was but the best tool for a man to continue his studies, or analyse the meanings behind further cryptic languages, yet Laurence wasn't the type of person to shun or agitate those who wanted to do as they wished. It wasn't his job. Any teachers or locational staff for the accommodation would be paid to stop such strange and possibly reckless behaviour, if it could be considered that. Instead, Laurence tried to block out some of the noises of the approaching spectators, seemingly eyeing him up like a primate in a zoo-cage. How peculiar, indeed..? Laurence was never one to be uninviting, but when reading, when divulging in his passion, he could never encourage the distractions at hand. Reading was what he lived for, and it was the only thing to distract him from the cruel infestations of his family values: forced musical conscription, or whatever they would deem it as. Hideous, it felt, to be stripped of his freedom in the past for such unfathomable extents. Even now, Laurence felt like a tool, only this time he was lost out of the toolbox and awaiting to be recollected.

	Laurence let a smile slowly grow upon his face. Several unseen faces outside of the halls of his school were spying on such a strange boy, who clambered and chomped away at the heights he conquered. Asian-descent, though that was not a reason to explain nor justify his strange behaviour. Instead, Laurence saw it as entertainment, light-hearted joy that spewed the means of a happy morning. How encouraging. With that in mind, Laurence returned his gaze to the words upon the sheets before him. The first few chapters were short, very short indeed, and were built from the ground up of a strange spiritual endeavour. Speculating an imperative importance behind it, as most rereads of a book would reveal anyway, he flipped over to the next page, his eyes canning across the articulation of words that twizzled before him. As he read each word, his mouth mimicked the vocalisation in his head:[/color]

[color=1088EC][i]"Ceaseless as the night before, Roderigo stalked through the shadows of his own corridor, knowing well and truly that the spectres he'd seen were not a figment of his imagination. They had to be real. The very foundations of such a Venetian home were bound to be sprawling with the supernatural life. He did not hesitate and drew our the candlelight. The walls peeled their gawky eyes upon Roderigo, whispering the names of fallen homesteaders that may have entitled such riches to their name. Iago. Lavantio. Caesar. Augustus. Johanna. Oh they all spoke so quietly, yet the latter of the list caught his attention. Johanna was the same name as his pursuit's target. The goal must be close, yet the journey had only begun? Was this going to be a-"[/i][/color]

[color=Silver]	Suddenly, his immersion was shattered when two words curled out from behind the lips of a quaintly delicate tone, seemingly interested in what he had buried beneath his fingertips. He hadn't previously heard the roar of an engine pull up, nor the rather alluring way someone threw their helmet off, unleashed their hair and placed their protection down near him. Laurence was completely indulged into the book again, wasn't he? Though, it was likely a good thing they had. If his mind were drawn away then perhaps he'd have been there the whole morning, or afternoon, reading away until he missed all his lessons. How disappointing that would've been..? Instead, Laurence looked upwards, seeing where the strangely familiar accent of an American came from. Before him laid Elizabeth; well, he didn't know her name, but it was her nonetheless. She looked down intriguingly, questioning the book in his hand with two simply words: 'Good book?'. How difficult to summarise it so quickly? Yet, Laurence was not going to be one to awkward-ise the conversation, and instead cleared his throat and rubbed his eyes, returning to the real world that so disappointed him.[/color]

[color=1088EC][b]"Oh, uhm...well, so far it is. It's kind of hard to summarise it without a full, retrospective understanding of what's to come, but...well it's definitely a good start, I'll give it that."[/b][/color] [color=Silver]Unfortunately, that was the simplest answer he could've thought of in the moment. No simple 'yes' or 'no' like most normal individuals would do, but at least he shared the fact he was passionate about it. For some, that was the best way to introduce oneself, for others it was the opposite. Here, Laurence felt at least charmed by his own straightforwardness. Speaking of straightforward, without hesitation Laurence suddenly held out a gentle hand, gesturing for a shake towards the American princess that approached, at least in the terms of her social-aura that gave off. It wasn't an easy thing to detect, but Laurence had spent his years near enough rich fellows to know one when he saw one.[/color] [color=1088EC][b]"Laurence, Laurence Newman. Local reading-beneath-a-tree stereotype, if I couldn't describe myself any worse."[/b][/color]

[color=Silver]	With that, he gave his friendliest smile and chuckled lightly to himself, twisting his head to finally eye up what was going on around him...and above him. It was a strange spectator sport, watching spirited Okinawan kids climb and leap around trees like some unknown breed of squirrel, and to be honest Laurence did find the bewilderment of its extraordinary premise rather interesting. As the chuckle settled, he looked back up to the American girl and pointed feebly upwards.[/color]

[color=1088EC][b]"Judging by your accent, this wasn't what you had in mind when someone described British culture? To be frank, this isn't what I expected either and I was born here."[/b][/color] [color=Silver]With another light-hearted smirk, he slowly began to bring himself to his feet, shutting the book quietly and placing it inside his bag. He saw a few students getting closer, gathering around to watch the continuously inhuman child scale the wooden equivalent to Mt. Fuji.[/color] [color=1088EC][b]"Glad someone approached me, though. I was starting to get lost in my own book. Speaking of which...you look a lot like how I would imagine Johanna would...she's a character in the book, I believe. A fair skinned woman with a lot of passion behind their eyes. That's their words, not mine."[/b][/color]

[color=Silver]	It wasn't unlike Laurence to crack a little provocative joke here and there, especially one that was in good faith and for the comfort of the conversation. Even with teachers or perhaps other students he joked around with the best smile he could provide, hoping that he could come across as the boy that people could turn to if they needed a good cheering up. It at least kept him going at night knowing that someday someone would turn to him for answers. Yet...that day was yet to come. No one ever wanted his answers. Saying that: did...Laurence even have any answers? For a second, his face dribbled away and his smile vanished, staring blankly into the empty space behind the girl. Certain thoughts returned, the same ones that had been coming back ever since he moved to London to escape them. A year. No...nearly two years now? How...distracting...

	Quickly, Laurence snapped back into the reality once again and held out the gentle hand again, offering it to Elizabeth with a kind smile once more. He felt more like himself yet again, or at least what he told himself he was like. As he waited for her to either reciprocate or brutally destroy his hopes and dreams of acquainting with her, such as most of the students loved to do on a regular morning, Laurence at least gave his kind regards before hoping to leave to his lessons for the morning.[/color]

[color=1088EC][b]"I'm sorry to have to go so soon, I was surely enjoying our little chit-chat. Hope we can meet again and do this soon! You'll know me when you see me: Laurence Newman, residential helper and go-lucky smiler for all your needs!"[/b][/color] [color=Silver]And with that, he laughed the truth and irony away with a quaint wave, wandering towards Evergreen's entrance to start his day. Once again, all he could do was use the day to distract himself. Distractions were all that he seemed to be good at nowadays.[/color]

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