Lenny Pierce
January 27, 2023 8:36 PM
Hi, Yarielis! by Lenny Pierce
Lenny was on a mission. He was going to make friends with Yarielis. They'd worked together in the Challenges last year and done . . . not particularly fabulous, but they'd gotten through it, and hadn't been last, so he felt it counted for good bonding. Plus Yarielis was friends with Cole, so that was another good reason to think the other third year was worth knowing.She'd been shy and withdrawn in the group setting though, and he didn't know much more about her than what Cole had said: she liked Quidditch and Legos, neither of which were things Lenny knew a whole lot about, but she'd suggested skeeball for their arcade, and he liked that and thought maybe that was his in.
So he headed over to the Crotalus table, to meet Yarielis on home ground where hopefully they wouldn't be as closed down and defensive as during the challenges. Ah, there! Lenny headed over and stood on the other side of the table from her, putting his hand on the empty chair opposite hers.
"Hi," he said, smiling in a way he hoped was non-threateningly. "Mind if I join you?"
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Lenny Pierce
Hi, Yarielis!
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Yaniel Ayala Velez
January 27, 2023 9:24 PM
...me? by Yaniel Ayala Velez
Yarielis checked over both shoulders. But no, unsurprisingly enough, no one had snuck into the Crotalus' personal space undetected. Lenny was not looking at or talking to someone else.That was fine. Yarielis could just smile and be polite, like always. Yarielis had a lot of practice being what other people wanted. Even when confronted with someone as... Non-box-fitting as Lenny.
"Yes!" Yarielis invited, with all the forceful enthusiasm of someone who wanted company, then realised he'd asked if Yarielis minded, not whether he could sit. "I mean no. I- you can. Sit. Um, please do. Sorry."
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Yaniel Ayala Velez
...me?
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Lenny Pierce
January 28, 2023 6:32 AM
Yup, you! by Lenny Pierce
Lenny smiled reassuringly as he sat down across from her, acting like her garbled invitation was entirely normal and not probably a product of nerves.“Thanks. Just thought I’d come visit. It was fun working with you in the Challenges last year. You didn’t talk much though, which is totally fine, I get some people are a little nervous around others.” It wasn’t something he experienced personally, but he was aware it happened and made it hard for people to get to know others.
“So I thought maybe you’d prefer to hang out more one on one? Maybe go to MARS and play some air hockey and skeeball?”
First, though, he was hungry for breakfast though, so he pulled a few pieces of fruit onto his plate and poured himself some pumpkin juice.
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Lenny Pierce
Yup, you!
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Yaniel Ayala Velez
January 28, 2023 7:16 AM
Oh. Um. Yay. by Yaniel Ayala Velez
Lenny was offering to go play skeeball. Because he remembered Yarielis' contribution to their group project. Because groups were hard. Because he was the kind of nice person who did stuff like that."Sure. That sounds great," Yarielis said, smile only slightly freezing in place. Because that was what normal people said when asked to do something. Because Lenny was Cole's- was important to Cole. Because hopefully it would be one of those things that everyone said sounded nice and then never actually got around to doing.
"It's really nice of you to ask," Yarielis added.
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Yaniel Ayala Velez
Oh. Um. Yay.
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Lenny Pierce
January 28, 2023 9:50 AM
Definitely yay! by Lenny Pierce
“Cool!” Lenny exclaimed happily when Yarielis agreed. “Wanna go right after breakfast, or do you have other plans this fine Saturday?”
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Lenny Pierce
Definitely yay!
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Yaniel Ayala Velez
January 28, 2023 5:09 PM
Definitely... by Yaniel Ayala Velez
Yarielis had thankfully just taken a bite of toast and eggs when Lenny asked his question. Even more thankfully, it did not get spat across the table in shock. Instead the Crotalus pretended to keep chewing, gesturing to the fact that it wasn't possible to answer right now. Was loads of homework a reasonable excuse? Or was that rude? And would Lenny keep persisting? What if Yarielis said 'no' and he popped again tomorrow, making himself at home at Crotalus table? People were already staring. It wasn't normal for him to be here, and now he was sitting having breakfast like they were friends and blithely just being Lenny, which was like a magnet for every eye in the room."No plans," Yarielis admitted, when no better excuse came to mind and it was impossible to pretend to keep chewing. The bright happy facade it was usually possible to keep in place until people went away was dimming, with each response getting smaller and more deflated. Rather than coaxing Yarielis out, the longer Lenny sat there, the further the Crotalus retreated.
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Yaniel Ayala Velez
Definitely...
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Lenny Pierce
January 28, 2023 8:04 PM
Are you sure? by Lenny Pierce
Yarielis . . . did not seem as entirely enthused as she had a little bit ago, but she denied having plans so he didn't call it off yet. If she didn't seem to be having fun once they got started at the MARS arcade, they could quit early, he decided. Still, he thought it best to ask, with some concern, "Is everything okay?"
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Lenny Pierce
Are you sure?
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Yaniel Ayala Velez
January 29, 2023 2:36 PM
Totally? by Yaniel Ayala Velez
Everything was fine. Yarielis had said so. Was Lenny impervious to all social rules, not just the ones around appearance? This was the second time he had called out Yarielis' feelings directly. The first had been bearable because it had been something long since passed, and he had been sympathetic rather than mad about it but now-Yarielis meant to say 'I'm fine' and fix whatever broken facial expression was making Lenny doubt this.
"You know that every time you do that, people stare at you," Yarielis hissed instead.
OOC: I assume Lenny does things habitually like twiddle his earrings/touch his air/exist. Feel free to pick one or for him to have no idea what he has just done.
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Yaniel Ayala Velez
Totally?
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Lenny Pierce
January 29, 2023 4:27 PM
What? by Lenny Pierce
Lenny blinked in surprise. He had no idea what he’d just done. Asked if Yarielis was okay? Twirled his hair? Put granola on his plate? Not that it particularly mattered. Stares weren’t something he tried to avoid. But it seemed to bother Yarielis.“Is that what’s wrong?”
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Lenny Pierce
What?
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Yaniel Ayala Velez
January 29, 2023 7:26 PM
Nothing by Yaniel Ayala Velez
What was the right answer to that? There wasn't one, obviously. Which was why Yarielis was not supposed to have said that, and shouldn't be trying to interact with Lenny. There was no way for it not to go wrong."Sorry, that wasn't polite," Yarielis mumbled to the tableware, glowing a bright, furious red - whether due to that misstep or because, if Lenny wasn't going to be embarrassed for himself, someone else had to do it for him.
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Yaniel Ayala Velez
Nothing
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Lenny Pierce
January 29, 2023 7:59 PM
No, that was something by Lenny Pierce
Yarielis apologized but didn’t answer the question, which suggested, yes, that was the problem.“No, it’s fine, don’t apologize,” Lenny insisted seriously. “I’d rather you be honest than polite. The stares bother you?”
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Lenny Pierce
No, that was something
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