Park

Leia

"Well, it wouldn't be a stranger.  It would be another art club member, but I understand what you mean.  I think I'd rather paint you than a total stranger, after all."  Natsumi grunts and seems to have some trouble getting you into the tree.  She clutches her chest afterward, then waves at you nonchalantly.  "Haha, guess I'm still not fully healed, huh?  But don't worry about that, check out that beautiful sunset!"

She's right.  It's very pretty.  Enough to make you forget you're sitting in a tree (admittedly not very high up) with someone you've barely known a week.  Who is rubbing your head.  Until the sun sinks below the trees and it gets dark and the only light's a distant streetlight and you realize you're now up in a dimly lit tree, bumping shoulders with a not-quite-stranger.  She turns to you with a big smile.  "...So!  What d'ya want to do now?"

"Huh? Did you get hurt? You shouldn't climb trees if you're hurt..."

Leia wants to comment about the head rubbing, but she decides not to... She thinks to herself that Natsumi had a rough saturday too. Maybe that's how she copes. Leia gazes at the sun and smiles.

"Nothing. I had my first day of work yesterday... Now I just want to do nothing... I'm fine right here in this tree, looking at the orange sky turning darker and darker."

"Oh... It's okay. At first I didn't even notice it... I was always concentrated on... other things. That pretty much made me used to it. It'd feel abnormal if you stopped now, you know what I mean?

You stopping that will be my cue to know if something's wrong.

And hell, we're just two person looking at the sun go down. It's not like we were around a campfire and you did that when we're like 10 people camping."

Leia feels like that meant she was ashamed of Natsumi and tries to correct herself, obviously panicking, yet again.

"I... I mean... To be frank... I'd probably be too cocococoncentrated on people sharing stories to notice you playing wi... with my hair..."

"I remember I took the sandcastle battle very seriously...

Don't remember what was in my head when we first met though."

Dewey awkwardly stands there for a moment not sure what to do next before finally deciding to just start talking.
"...So, how are the fish biting?"

One way or another, Axorez didn't realize *that* much time had passed.

I just head home. Feeling rather hungry, too, so I'd take a bath and then cook up something.

Axorez

Move to home thread.

Leia

"You're not strange? Don't worry, we can fix that easily enough. A few more late-night tree sessions should do the trick."

Natsumi's smile fades and the petting stops. She looks serious. Her voice deepens as she continues. "But seriously, I know you're kind of new around here. If you don't want everyone to think you're some kind of weirdo, then you really shouldn't hang around with me so much. Especially not in places like this. Because you're sitting in a tree at night while the second strangest girl at school's rubbing your head, and people can see, and people will talk." The smile, cheerful tone, and petting all return at once. "I understand if you don't want that sort of reputation. We can save the petting for private, if you prefer."