forum "You DO like me!" "I don't think 'like' is the right word." "You tolerate me." "Maybe." one on one

Started January 29, 2021 by @cryptic-glitch

tune

"Okay, then." She followed him, looking around at the park.

Lin wandered idly, seeming to have zoned out a bit. At one point, he stopped in front of a tree and just started staring at it thoughtfully.

"A tree? Lin? Are you alright?" She watched him concernedly.

"Hmm?" Lin glanced over to Orion and shrugged a bit before looking back at the tree. "It's a nice tree."

"I mean, yeah, it's a nice tree. Is that all, though? You just seemed. . .entranced. By a tree."

He shrugged again and kept walking, humming softly to himself. "Sometimes I like to stop and look at things that catch my attention. Even if it's something silly like a tree."

She exhaled. "Oh, good. I thought you were, like. . . hurt or something."

"Nah, I'm fine. I just get distracted by certain things even if I don't really know why they're distracting me." Lin kept walking, occasionally pausing to look at an unusual leaf or a squirrel climbing a tree. He usually started moving again after a few seconds, though.

"Okay. Just worried about you." She squeezed his hand.

Lin hummed softly, linking his fingers with Orion's as he walked. At one point, he crouched on the path, watching a caterpillar slowly creep by.

"Name the caterpillar," she said.

"Name it?" Lin repeated, looking up at Orion for a moment before looking back down at the caterpillar. "Hm… it feels like a Charlie. Charlie the caterpillar."

"Alright then. You wanna go swing on the swings?"

"Sure!" Lin got to his feet and followed Orion over to the swings. "I never got to do anything like this as a kid."

She sat down on one and pushed herself backward. "You've never been on a swing before?"

Lin shook his head a bit. "Nope. We never had any at my house, and by the time I came to America, I was at an age that you no longer go out to where swings are."

"Really? Swings were my favorite when I was little." She let herself swing forward.

"Hm." Lin watched Orion for a bit before pushing off the ground, starting to slowly swing back and forth. He smiled, seeming content enough with it anyway.

"Fun?" she asked, amused by Lin's childish behavior.

"Yeah, it's… interesting, I guess." Lin pushed off the ground again, going a bit higher this time.

"Interesting? They're the best. I used to twist the chain up so then I'd spin around."

"Really?" Lin decided to try it himself, spinning himself in a circle to twist up the chain before letting go to let himself spin.

"See, it's fun." She did the same, curling her feet in.

"Makes me kinda dizzy." Lin laughed softly, deciding to swing normally instead.

"That's the best part. Dizzy is one of my favorite feelings."