#please give this man a guide who WON'T swindle him ty

[ta1is]

❛ yw look like you've got somethin’ ta say, bro. ❜

@yukikorogashi || meme

He always felt like a fish out of water over here. Somehow, Jayce had imagined repeated exposure would've made the whole setting more palatable—less . . . distracting in every sense of the word—but as he followed one stride behind the polite girl's heel, he almost began to wonder if he'd need to start holding her hand to avoid getting lost. His head swiveled this way and that, perking when a vendor called out to him, flinching as someone careless came close to knocking him off his feet as they hurried past (he'd uttered a quiet, “Excuse you” that [probably thankfully] went unheard), keeping that pair of braided pigtails in his periphery when he could—

Once or twice, Jayce opened his mouth to address his guide, no more than a stunted syllable crumbling through before something else snatched his attention away. And it was only when she slowed just enough to let him walk in-step with her that she posed a question proving she had a knack for drowning everything else out. “No. No, I—” He craned his neck to look down an alley, regretted it promptly after the fact. “I guess— Well, what isn't there to say?” His fingers smoothed out the twisted strap of his book bag, and that same hand ventured down to hold the latch firmly closed.

“Are you sure you know where you're going?” he prompted, leaning in more so she could hear him over the bustle. “I feel like we've been on this street for hours.”