p dir="ltr"Chapter 1: First Meeting/p
p dir="ltr"The year was /The sun had gone down two hours ago and the stars were starting to come out. Everyone in Old corona already in the safety of their homes along with their loved ones. All except you. In the forest, located near the village, there you were hidden in a black cloak with a lantern in hand, slowly making your way to a large stump with a small blue ribbon tied to /To anyone else it would appear to be an ordinary tree stump, but you knew better. That tree stump was really the entrance to an underground bunker you found and converted into a lab fit for an alchemist. This lab is the only place where you feel free to be who you are without hurting anyone. As you made your way towards the stump, the sound of someone crying caught your attention and caused you to stop dead in your tracks. Your first instinct was to run to your lab and lock the entrance, because when you hear a sound after dark in the forest, you run. br /Yet, you couldn't help the shame that flooded you for even thinking of leaving someone alone in the dark forest and while they're crying no less. So you began to walk towards the sound. You ended up finding a boy your age in what seemed to be a large brown cloak with goggles on his head and gloves that seemed too big for him. He looked so hurt... You wanted to help him. There have been times where you were hurting to the point of tears and you wished that someone had done something to help or console you. You know what it's like to feel alone and so you made up your mind and walked right up behind him. "Hey." You spoke as you placed a hand on his shoulder. His reaction was both surprising and reasonable. When you placed your hand on his shoulder, a small gasp escaped his lips before a very high pitched scream filled the air as he jumped away from you. He turned his head to look at you so fast that you were worried that he got whiplash. You tilted your head slightly to the left in curiosity. br /em'/ememWhy is he so scared of me?'/embr /Then you realized that what you were wearing didn't exactly scream, 'Hey! Don't be afraid! I'm a good guy and I'm totally NOT threatening at all'br /You were currently sporting a pair of black (now muddy) boots, slightly baggy dark brown pants, a black waistcoat held closed with a brown belt, large brown cuffs with blue gems (almost like gauntlets) covered your wrists. Then there was your black cloak that covered most of your body, while your hood was covering most of your face, but with the light from your lantern, the goggles on your face must've given a threatening or frightening appearance. br /You didn't want him to be afraid of you, so you quickly reassured him that you weren't going to hurt /"No, no, no, no!... I'm not going to hurt you! I promise!" br /As soon as you said that, you pulled down your hood and pulled your goggles over your head. Hopefully this made you seem less threatening, since no one would be scared of a 9 year /You could see him give a sigh of relief before he cleared his throat and wiped his eyes. br /"What are you doing out here?" br /emReasonable question, but.../embr /"I could ask you the same question. It's not safe here at night, you could get hurt."br /emYou're/em ema curious person./embr /In response, he gives you a sheepish smile followed by a little laugh. br /"Hehe, well... I was... just... um... *sigh* let's just say that I messed up big time and I needed to be alone for awhile." br /He ran fingers through his hair after he spoke. You frowned and made a face that only forms when you're trying to solve an 'Whatever happened caused him to end up in tears. Usually what brings out strong emotions isn't the cause or action, it's the effect and reaction.'/embr /Maybe he just needs a friend...br /But we should probably learn each others names first. I move towards him and sit down beside him, threw an arm over his shoulder and gave him a small /"Well. I know that we've only just met, but I just want you to know that if you need to talk... I'm a great listener... My name is y/n, if you were curious." br /He nodded his head and smiled. The both of you say in a comfortable silence for a few moments before you spoke /"Just so you know, I'm not asking you to tell me what happened or what's wrong... I'm just offering to listen, because for some reason... people always feel a little bit better after talking to someone. But I am curious as to what your name is though, if you don't mind me asking that is. If you don't want to, you don't have to. I don't want to push you."br /After those words left your lips he looked at you with, well... you weren't quite sure what it was and you could be wrong. But it seemed as if his eyes held a mix of surprise, awe, gratitude and something else that you just couldn't put your finger on. Then a small chuckle escaped his lips as he offered his right hand to me and said, br /"Varian, my name is Varian."/p
p dir="ltr"The year was /The sun had gone down two hours ago and the stars were starting to come out. Everyone in Old corona already in the safety of their homes along with their loved ones. All except you. In the forest, located near the village, there you were hidden in a black cloak with a lantern in hand, slowly making your way to a large stump with a small blue ribbon tied to /To anyone else it would appear to be an ordinary tree stump, but you knew better. That tree stump was really the entrance to an underground bunker you found and converted into a lab fit for an alchemist. This lab is the only place where you feel free to be who you are without hurting anyone. As you made your way towards the stump, the sound of someone crying caught your attention and caused you to stop dead in your tracks. Your first instinct was to run to your lab and lock the entrance, because when you hear a sound after dark in the forest, you run. br /Yet, you couldn't help the shame that flooded you for even thinking of leaving someone alone in the dark forest and while they're crying no less. So you began to walk towards the sound. You ended up finding a boy your age in what seemed to be a large brown cloak with goggles on his head and gloves that seemed too big for him. He looked so hurt... You wanted to help him. There have been times where you were hurting to the point of tears and you wished that someone had done something to help or console you. You know what it's like to feel alone and so you made up your mind and walked right up behind him. "Hey." You spoke as you placed a hand on his shoulder. His reaction was both surprising and reasonable. When you placed your hand on his shoulder, a small gasp escaped his lips before a very high pitched scream filled the air as he jumped away from you. He turned his head to look at you so fast that you were worried that he got whiplash. You tilted your head slightly to the left in curiosity. br /em'/ememWhy is he so scared of me?'/embr /Then you realized that what you were wearing didn't exactly scream, 'Hey! Don't be afraid! I'm a good guy and I'm totally NOT threatening at all'br /You were currently sporting a pair of black (now muddy) boots, slightly baggy dark brown pants, a black waistcoat held closed with a brown belt, large brown cuffs with blue gems (almost like gauntlets) covered your wrists. Then there was your black cloak that covered most of your body, while your hood was covering most of your face, but with the light from your lantern, the goggles on your face must've given a threatening or frightening appearance. br /You didn't want him to be afraid of you, so you quickly reassured him that you weren't going to hurt /"No, no, no, no!... I'm not going to hurt you! I promise!" br /As soon as you said that, you pulled down your hood and pulled your goggles over your head. Hopefully this made you seem less threatening, since no one would be scared of a 9 year /You could see him give a sigh of relief before he cleared his throat and wiped his eyes. br /"What are you doing out here?" br /emReasonable question, but.../embr /"I could ask you the same question. It's not safe here at night, you could get hurt."br /emYou're/em ema curious person./embr /In response, he gives you a sheepish smile followed by a little laugh. br /"Hehe, well... I was... just... um... *sigh* let's just say that I messed up big time and I needed to be alone for awhile." br /He ran fingers through his hair after he spoke. You frowned and made a face that only forms when you're trying to solve an 'Whatever happened caused him to end up in tears. Usually what brings out strong emotions isn't the cause or action, it's the effect and reaction.'/embr /Maybe he just needs a friend...br /But we should probably learn each others names first. I move towards him and sit down beside him, threw an arm over his shoulder and gave him a small /"Well. I know that we've only just met, but I just want you to know that if you need to talk... I'm a great listener... My name is y/n, if you were curious." br /He nodded his head and smiled. The both of you say in a comfortable silence for a few moments before you spoke /"Just so you know, I'm not asking you to tell me what happened or what's wrong... I'm just offering to listen, because for some reason... people always feel a little bit better after talking to someone. But I am curious as to what your name is though, if you don't mind me asking that is. If you don't want to, you don't have to. I don't want to push you."br /After those words left your lips he looked at you with, well... you weren't quite sure what it was and you could be wrong. But it seemed as if his eyes held a mix of surprise, awe, gratitude and something else that you just couldn't put your finger on. Then a small chuckle escaped his lips as he offered his right hand to me and said, br /"Varian, my name is Varian."/p