[indent] [/indent][h3][hr][color=PaleTurquoise]Merja “Mer” Aaltonen[/color] & [color=7ea7d8]Phillip Leonhart[/color][/h3][hr][sup][i]Evergreen Hallway || Friday Afternoon[/i][/sup][indent] [/indent][hr] It took Mer about a minute and a half to pack up her stuff and head towards where she saw the fedora-wearing boy disappear. Frankly, it was rather amusing that the time and place she’d first see him again was after school at some random corner rather than between classes during school in the main hallway. She wasn’t about to complain, though, just smile about the coincidences as she walked over. Turning the corner, she expected to see some sort of confrontation happening because that’s what Alex would probably do if he saw Hakuro again, Ava or not. Instead, she found herself staring at a very familiar boy, and it took her a moment to place him. Another moment and she realized that he was looking at her, and she swallowed, then smiled and waved hesitantly. [color=PaleTurquoise]“Hi Phillip!”[/color] she said, walking over. When he didn’t immediately respond, she jumped at filling the silence. [color=PaleTurquoise]“It’s Mer, from the library? Nice to see you again, and I hope your day’s going well. But, by the way, did you happen to see Alex and Ava pass by? Or a boy in a fedora?”[/color] [hr] He’d seen enough stupid people for one day. Mikhail’s sudden disappearance did just go right above his head the moment Phillip had that thought. As he turned around the corner, he pondered to what he needed to do for the next upcoming days. Assignment 2 for ENSC? Well, he already laid the groundwork. All it takes now is a file to compile them all. Not so difficult, he could do it tomorrow or the day after. While he circulated the thought, he turned the corner, to be suddenly greeted by someone. Someone he didn’t know? She definitely wasn’t among his social circle. But her rather joyous smile and nervous wave, and the fact that she uttered his name like she was his childhood friend, made him have second revisions. That height, and her distinguished sky blue irises. It was a recall to his misfortune the other day at the library. But hey, at least she wasn’t a part of it. [color=7ea7d8]”Hello.”[/color] He waved back, though much less enthusiastic and more curious. His fame seemed to carry on a little further than he had anticipated. [color=7ea7d8]”Yeah, I remember you, thanks.”[/color] And she asked about Alex and Ava. She probably didn’t realize that he didn’t know those two. But the guy with a fedora? A sight to be witnessed at Evergreen. Though unfortunately… [color=7ea7d8]”Sorry, I don’t seem to recall Alex and Ava in my list of acquaintances. I probably know the fedora kid, but I don’t know where he is as well.”[/color] [hr] [color=PaleTurquoise]“Oh, sorry, um.”[/color] She floundered for a second, mentally questioning herself about how she could forget something so simple. Of course Phillip didn’t know Ava, and of course she shouldn’t have expected him to remember who Alex was. [color=PaleTurquoise]“Um, Alex, he was there at the library? I think he introduced himself before you arrived, but he’s the boy who left with me. He, um, isn’t angry all the time, though, and I hope he didn’t upset you or anything. He just got pretty… worked up that day.”[/color] She smiled apologetically. [color=PaleTurquoise]“And alright. Huh. This is a pretty long hallway...”[/color] Trailing off as she leaned to one side, she looked down the empty hall, a frown on her face. Maybe if the Asian boy ran? But for Phillip to miss him, he’d have to be a pretty quiet runner, and as Phillip had said, he didn’t tend to blend in. Still, nothing else made sense, and Mer dropped her frown. [color=PaleTurquoise]“Well, I guess I missed them,”[/color] she said, sighing. [color=PaleTurquoise]“Back to studying it is.”[/color] She paused, glancing at what Phillip was carrying. Then, after a moment of consideration as she pressed her lips together, Mer decided she’d go out on a limb today. After all, Phillip seemed like a reasonable person, if not nice, and being near him and his accomplishments would probably encourage her to focus. [color=PaleTurquoise]“Um, by the way, are you headed to the library? I usually go there after school, so do you want to study together?”[/color] she asked, then backpedaled. [color=PaleTurquoise]“Well, not together together, but near each other. Having people around me tends to encourage me to stay focused,”[/color] she said, smiling sheepishly. [hr] Hmm. Strange or not. He didn’t see that guy either. Oh well, who knows where they are. Mer then proceeded to ask Phillip on a study together. Feels kind of odd to be studying with someone he only knew for like a glance. But she was nice when she asked, so it’s a little difficult to reject. After all, he wasn’t in anything urgent, just dicking around in Evergreen recently. [color=7ea7d8]”Hmm, if you insist…”[/color] Maybe he could finish that assignment for good, then he could have the entire week for himself. And so they departed towards the library together. On the way, Phillip’s curiosity continued to grow as he walked alongside the Finnish girl. [color=7ea7d8]”Say...how do you get acquainted with that guy Mikhail? Did he pressure you for whatever he’s doing?”[/color] [hr] Mer perked up at the yes, beaming. Fear of rejection was one of the many reasons why she didn’t ask people to study together, but it seemed that Phillip really was a nice person. [color=PaleTurquoise]“Great,”[/color] she said, hoping she didn’t sound too delighted. It’d been so long since she made a friend she’d almost doubted if she could. At Phillip’s question as they walked, Mer furrowed her brows. She knew that he didn’t get the best impression of Mikhail in the library, and she didn’t want to upset him, but she didn’t want to make Mikhail seem like a bad person either. As someone with a strong personality, Mikhail had made a poor first impression in the library, and Mer knew how hard it was for people to look past that. Frankly, she’d been nervous talking to Alex at first too, and she’d been correct in giving him the benefit of the doubt. [color=PaleTurquoise]“Oh, he, um, he—he didn’t pressure me,”[/color] Mer said, stumbling over her words, then realizing that her stumbling wasn’t helping her case and stumbling even more as a result. Taking a breath to think over her words, she tried again. [color=PaleTurquoise]“I met Mikhail that day in the library too. He’s in my chemistry class, so I guess he thought I could help him.”[/color] She shrugged, then looked at Phillip, frowning. [color=PaleTurquoise]“Did you decide to help him though? Trying to make an antidote—I don’t think he’d be able to manage that alone.”[/color] [hr] He probably did… Ayyyy. He had already emphasized it enough, but that Russian kid really needed some help. Not scheme-wise, however. That ‘plan’ of his whether you can actually call it that, was so horribly constructed that he didn’t know if the greatest mind of this era could even salvage it. [color=7ea7d8]”No”[/color] Phillip replied bluntly to her question, initially unaware of the frown she wore on her face that he may have gotten it worse. But he soon realized that attitude. [color=7ea7d8]”I just find it too poorly thought out. Even if I can afford to look past his victim mentality, I did not find an ounce of groundedness in whatever he’s trying to do.”[/color] He tried to sound like he had a reason instead. Well he did have reasons. It’s just that the mentioning of Mikhail and his craziness seemed to have triggered some wires on his head to respond crudely to whatever he says. [color=7ea7d8]”I could list out a hundred thing he hadn’t considered, but I think you probably could figure it out.”[/color] He probably should turn back before he got too worked up on that guy. [color=7ea7d8]”Anyway, no more about that guy, if you don’t mind.”[/color] Phillip quickly switched topics. [hr] Mer nodded slowly as she listened to Phillip. His reasoning made sense, and she couldn’t fault him for his decision, however badly she felt for Mikhail. After all, Mikhail had outlined a rather ambitious plan, and frankly Mer doubted if he even had access to anyone who could help them, much less be able to approach them and ask. Maybe it was for the best that Mikhail was getting rejected early since he’d be able to change tracks before he got too invested. Considering his strong personality, Mer figured he’d be able to bounce back. He’d been through worse and lived, and that attested to his resilience. [color=PaleTurquoise]“Alright,”[/color] she said quickly when Phillip closed the conversation on Mikhail. They walked in silence for a few seconds after, and she racked her brain for something to say. Asking about his homework was an option, but that was liable to be a dead end if he started talking about concepts she didn’t understand. So, ideally she’d ask about something non-intrusive and easy to keep up with. [color=PaleTurquoise]“You, um, won competitions, right? How are those? Are you thinking to enter more?”[/color] she asked. [hr] Competitions. Well, that was his prime indeed. A truly fun times. Funnily enough at the time he didn’t really think that his achievement would have given him that much of a reputation. He thought he just won something cool, and nothing else. A silver medal, at the time he felt like a sportsman, participating in the Olympics and winning those medals for his country. Well, it is that, just less muscles and more brains. [color=7ea7d8]”Yeah, I did win those. If you’ve heard Physics Olympiad before. If not, then it’s just the Olympics, but for academics instead of sports.”[/color] He explained. [color=7ea7d8]”I got second place, apparently a huge deal for the country. The press coverage was a little claustrophobic I would say, but at least I got a nice medal.”[/color] But from that point on was the time he was plunged into a series of ‘press it until it deflates’ moments. Once people knew him, they continued to ask him many things out of him. Things that got transparent in the misconceptions of geniuses in a commoner’s eye. Things that now made him turn against the things he once loved. He sighed as he was to answer her next questions. [color=7ea7d8]”Well, no plans on that. That was for high-schoolers. I don’t know much about adult competitions, but in honesty...I’m kind of just looking at a more normal life after that.”[/color] He just didn’t know the fire deep within him. [hr] [color=PaleTurquoise]“No, but that sounds really cool,”[/color] Mer said, eyes wide as Phillip spoke. He seemed to be rather familiar with explaining the subject, and Mer picked up trace amounts of exasperation around the topic, which told her she’d do well in not asking too many surface questions about it. Save the simple questions for later when she could look them up and all that. [color=PaleTurquoise]“That’s understandable. You’ve already done a lot,”[/color] Mer said when Phillip cited his desire for normalcy. To be honest, she couldn’t imagine how someone so smart could lead a normal life since they could do so much so easily, but she supposed she was thinking too much of it. She was looking at the situation through her own lens: the lens of someone normal, of someone who struggled with school. She couldn’t imagine pushing herself to compete in intellectual Olympics, and she probably wasn’t imagining the situation in its entirety either. As they sat down at the library, pulling out their materials, Mer felt relieved that she could finally let the silence sit. Though she’d enjoyed talking to Phillip, trying to keep the awkwardness from settling in as they walked had taken a chunk out of her energy reserves, and she still had work to get through. [color=PaleTurquoise]“Good luck,”[/color] she said as she picked up her pen. [color=PaleTurquoise]“Hopefully we get everything done.”[/color]