A new life!

The dreaded people, change and unfamiliarity

All set and ready to feel more peace in his life, Ellis has finally finished unpacking and getting to work of removing some of the debris outside to start their small farm. Ensuring all their seeds are watered properly, they proceed to change the song they've had on loop all morning and begin to head into town.

Fiddling with their lanyard decorated with informative pins and skulls, she kept her head down and made very quick work on attempting to meet everyone. Repeating his simple greeting over and over in his head 'Hi, I'm Ellis the new farmer, nice to meet you.'

Those words felt impossible even though they repeated them over and over in his mind, stuttering them out after a gentle tap on the shoulder's of all the townsfolk in his line of sight. Anxiety and overstimulation growing larger and larger, yet all seemed to temporarily subside upon meeting a goofy skater boy and the rebellious goth girl. Like a sense of comfort, knowing they aren't so different or alone in not exactly fitting in but that good feeling didn't last as Ellis scurries away.

"That has to be everyone...surely...I can't handle more people..."

He mumbles as she speed walks through town with his head down, everything is becoming one huge blur of discomfort. Too bright, too loud, too much. Shutting themselves out from the world in their new house, Ellis remained very much under the radar for the following weeks to come. Making sure to greet anybody else they missed (which wasn't much) if they saw them but not actively going out of their way to socialise, until the dreaded day.

Spring 24th.

Mayor Lewis had sent a letter a few days prior asking for Ellis to attend a flower dance as he was disappointed he never turned up to the egg festival 9 days prior, and feeling guilty for upsetting someone, Ellis forced themselves to get out and attend. Bundled up in a hoodie despite the decent weather, head down and anxious as ever following the directions of the letter, Ellis slowly drags themselves through Cindersap forest until coming to the very unstable bridge.

"Surely that's not safe..."

Ellis grabs a stick from the ground and prods at the bridge which wobbles slightly to the touch. With a troubled face, they debate just turning back until they hear Mayor Lewis speaking in the distance and decide to just make a dash across the bridge so it wouldn't snap under them. They're still alive and kicking, no fall, no snap, just the sound of townsfolk chattering and an erratic heartbeat. It's already overwhelming, he needs a place to get away...but he hasn't even been there 5 minutes, he feels guilty thinking to run back home.

Rushing behind the trees and wooded areas and leaning behind a tree, Ellis let's out the biggest sigh of relief in their life.
'People are so confusing. Nobody understands why my brain is different to theirs..sometimes I just feel like I'm an alien in a human disguise...'
She thinks to herself, but her thoughts are quickly interrupted by Mayor Lewis ushering townsfolk to get ready to dance...as well as a raven haired guy quietly approaching her.

"You're that new farmer Sam and Abi told me about...I saw you when I was trying to find a place for a smoke break."
The emo talks bluntly which contradicts his curious words. Ellis jumps and faces him quickly.

"Oh uhm...yeah I-I thought I met everyone...who are you?"

"Sebastian. But what are you doing here? Mayor Lewis says everyone has to do that stupid dance..."

Ellis fidgets anxiously, their head still being down as they think of a response. Sebastian can sense his panic and discomfort and stops questioning him, instead trying to be a little less harsh to them and changing the subject.

"That's a nice hoodie you got."
Sebastian gestures to the oversized red skull hoodie Ellis was hiding themselves in, his voice still cold but his annoyed face slightly softened.

"Thanks...I uhm...I'm here because I'm not good with people."

Ellis' fidgeting only quickens as she responds in a whisper, Sebastian just nods, he knows far too well how difficult it is to be around people.

"People fucking suck."
Ellis glances at him, a little shocked at his response but it does get a smile from them. Sebastian grabs a hidden loose cig from his pocket and his lighter, he offers it to Ellis who promptly refuses.

"Don't smoke? People with our ideology usually do smoke. Odd."
Sebastian shrugs and lights it for himself as Ellis responds with a little more confidence in his voice.

"It's for...personal stuff...why are you sticking with me anyways?"

"I don't want to do that damn flower dance. This tight blue suit, the fact I had to sneak a loose cig here, the fact I have to dance...I guess I'm using this as an excuse not to go back."

Ellis chuckles as Sebastian takes a drag from his cigarette.

"I guess we can both hide away here..."

Ellis slowly gets out their phone to put another song on, after secretly having earbuds in this whole time. Sebastian glances over as he blows smoke from his mouth curiously to find the song they choose.

"Never thought anybody else would be into any...vocaloid stuff."
His tone is slightly expressive now, showing his peaking interest as Ellis nods.

"Yeah, I've loved vocaloid for years...wanna listen with me...? I'd like to see someone with similar music interests..."
Ellis nervously takes out their earbuds and to their surprise Sebastian nods.

"I thought people would make fun of me for being into this stuff."
Sebastian looks away sheepishly as Ellis slowly sits down and sets their phone down between the pair of them.

"And people made fun of me regardless, vocaloid and even utauloid are just amazing, varied voice banks, covers and original songs...it's an interest that stuck."

Sebastian takes the hint as he glances at Ellis and sits down after another drag on his cigarette. The pair forgetting the world around them as they indulged in their similar music interest. Songs that varied from emo and depressing to upbeat and catchy, vocaloid to avenged sevenfold, these two were getting along like they knew each other for years until an angry voice bursts their bubble.

"Sebastian! You missed our dance, the Mayor's pissed at us!"
Abi notices Ellis who looks at her like a child who was caught misbehaving.

"Oops..."