it was all a misunderstanding;; [Jackson]

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On the weekends, tourist attractions like the aquarium were pretty packed with families, both local and visiting. For a normal observer, the scene that Auden stood in would be loud, bustling with activity. For Auden, it was quiet and she would say that she preferred it that way. Not that there was any other choice for the eighteen-year-old. Though Auden would admit that she had heard enough complaining from her mother about children to leave her a bit prejudiced. It had been a long-running joke in her family that 'no one knew why Auden was so quiet as a child.'

Auden did not come to the aquarium for the people, however, she was here to see the animals. Upon her acceptance to Darwin University, Auden remebered that her first thought was about attractions such as aquariums and zoos. After all, most cities were known for having above-average versions of those attractions. Auden had held the belief that where she lived, Maine, had been lacking in that department. Marine life was fascinating to her, sometimes even moreso than terrestial life, and that was what had brought her to the aquarium. Admittedly, the downpour that had started outside shortly after she'd arrived was playing a role in keeping her there. Having not anticipated this event, Auden lacked an umbrella. Plus, she was currently wearing shorts and a tank top, and this attire would not offer any kind of thermal protection.

At the moment, Auden was looking at a display of eels. More specifically, garden eels. It was interesting, how they created little colonies, burrowing their tails in the substrate and sticking up like grass. More importantly, this behavior was useful for tricking and catching prey. To anyone else, it would probably just be something the eels did for whatever reason. For Auden, it was completely enthralling, but that was her opinion of the psychology of any animals.

So engrossed in her animal watching, she didn't notice the kid that broke away from his mother, making a run towards the tank. To be fair, the mother was holding a baby and trying to corral several other kids together; to anyone watching, it was clear that she was overwhelmed. For an average person, they may have heard the kid's footfalls as he ran; for Auden, it was still silent.

The kid slammed into the back of Auden's legs, falling down instantly. Auden was fine, though the kid started crying. And now she noticed him, since it was impossibly not to. So did the mother, who immediately went into protective mode. "I'm sorr-" Auden began, though the woman had already launched into a tirade of some sort. "Ma'am, I can't understand what you're saying, I'm deaf. Could you please slow down?" Even for an experienced lipreader, it was pretty hard to decipher what was being said, so Auden stood there, trying to look for some sort of escape.

[jackson michael peters]

It was not like Jackson to go out into major public places by himself. For instance, he would never be caught dead at an aquarium by himself. Today was an unusual day, however. Jackson had found himself here by accident. Last night Jackson had not gotten to bed. At all. Sometimes Jackson would have rare fits of homesickness and he would not be able to sleep. Nights that he would spend roaming the streets of Chicago, bars that were open very late, or the occasional twenty-four hour diner. Last night he just so happened to have walked around long enough to find himself at the aquarium.

Jack was as much of an animal fan as the next person. Who didn't have a soft spot for animals, after all? Plus there was something so much cooler about marine animals. Whales, dolphins, sharks; they were all such interesting species. The aquarium was one of the first places that Jack ever visited when he moved to Chicago. He was with friends then, of course. It was a different experience when one was alone. He quickly found that he was able to really enjoy the animals more.

As the day went on, Jackson noticed as the aquarium got more and more crowded. He had gotten there when it first opened since he had been walking around all night. He was sure that by now he had seen everything twice but he just couldn't bring himself to leave. When he got homesick like this, it was best for him to be around people and he didn't particularly feel like burdening any of his mates today.

Once more Jackson found himself at the garden eel exhibit. Such fascinating little creatures, sticking up in the sand. However this time around, Jackson found himself watching the people more than the garden eels. Watching people was more his style. He noticed a couple holding hands, pointing at the eels. He saw a young blonde woman who seemed to be very interested in the eels. That was when he saw the scene unfold in front of him.

A child who was very eager to see the exhibit went hurtling toward the blonde girl in front of the tank, knocking into her and falling down. Jackson stood with his hands in his pockets from a safe distance, observing what would happen next. He hardly ever inserted himself into public situations similar to, or worse than, this. He watched as the mother of the child rushed over to this girl and began shouting at her. "Watch where you're going, that's my son! How could you be so careless!" Jackson saw things like this a lot. Over protective parents who always got mad at strangers for things that their own children did. Jackson rolled his eyes.

There was something odd about this situation though. The girl seemed to be saying something to the woman, but the woman kept on shouting at her. The girl suddenly looked very lost, unsure of what to do. Jackson felt something then, like he needed to intervene. So intervene he did.

"Ma'am," Jackson quickly strode over to stand in front of the blonde girl to face this crazy mother and her crying child. "Forgive my interference but I do believe that this was not this young woman's fault," as he spoke, he clearly took the mother by surprise. "I understand accidents happen but this girl was minding her own business, I assure you," he spoke fast. Kindly, but urgent enough to mean business. "Now if you don't mind, we're going to be on our way." Before the mother could again speak, he swiftly turned around to the girl and placed his arm around her shoulder, leaving the scene along with her.

Jackson smiled smugly in spite of himself. That wasn't something he normally did, but it felt good. "We told her, huh?" He looked down at the girl as he led her away, his arm still around her shoulder protectively. He wasn't sure why he had so suddenly taken this girl under his wing, but for the moment he was not questioning or thinking about it.

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The woman continued on with her rant, and Auden stood there. Okay... she'll stop eventually right? Auden thought to herself, the confidence that she was equipped to handle any situation as well as anyone else slowly deteriorating. She had expected some hiccups from moving away from Bangor, a city with a population of roughly thirty-three thousand people, to Chicago, a city with a little bit over a million people. Regardless, Auden presumed that she would no longer be known as 'the deaf girl' with the move, and that eighteen years was enough to seamlessly blend in with everyone else. Well, she was smart, but Auden couldn't always be right.

Not entirely sure how to de-escalate the situation, Auden stood there, hoping the mother's attention would focus anywhere else. From what she knew of cities, the chance of someone else helping her out was highly unlikely. Of course, surprises can happen anywhere, at any time. And what happened next was definitely a surprise.

A man approached the woman, saying something that Auden barely caught. She could tell it was meant to placate the woman's anger, and then he took hold of Auden. Not what was she expecting, that was a definite. He led her a little bit away from the woman and her children, and spoke to her. Now, Auden was fully aware of his presence, so she caught everything he said. He smiled at her, so she assumed that, at the very least, he might not be trying to abduct her.

"Ha, yeah, I'm not sure why she had to get so angry though. I mean, yeah, mothers are biologically wired to protect their children, but still. It would have helped if she had listened to me. Or at the very least tried to listen to me," Auden spoke to him, turning so she had a good view of his face. "Thank you for that, I just moved here from Maine. It's very different here, I may be experiencing a bit of culture shock."

She grinned back at him, "I'm Auden, by the way. And who are you?"

[jackson michael peters]

With his arm around the girl's shoulder, Jackson walked aimlessly with her. Even he wasn't sure where he was headed off to anymore. He wondered for a moment if he had stopped leading and she had. When had he stopped paying attention? The events of the last five minutes had taken his mind completely off track. Maybe he was getting a little tired...

Jackson let out a chuckle as the girl finally spoke. "Big city mums are a bit bizarre, way more over protective than your average mom," he explained. He had grew up in the city of London to know enough about city folk. "They can also be a little high strung," he added with a slight wince. Some of the mothers in the city were atrociously hung up on appearances, even when it came to their children. Whose son was better at soccer, whose daughter had the best smile; they were all very much the same.

A grin spread wider across his face when she thanked him. "It's no problem. I'm an expert on big city moms," he winked.

Jackson finally stopped walking when they came to a stingray exhibit. It was a little crowded and the voices were echoing in the room. "Hello, Auden," he smiled at her as he offered her his hand to shake. "I'm Jackson."

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Auden continued to walk with the man, she guessed that he was older than her and being eighteen she often felt that everyone older was a woman or man while thinking of herself as a girl. She nodded as he spoke about big city 'mums' and wondered for a moment if he was not from here. She couldn't tell if he had any sort of accent, because well, she couldn't hear anything at all, but the word choice was interesting. What he said made sense, even if Auden had not experienced it until now. Where she was from, most mothers accepted the fact that their children would have some negative experiences as well as positive ones. However, the mention of the high strung reminded her of her own mother's lecture on the city.

"It's kind of understandable that they're high strung, my mom gave me a huge lecture before I transferred to a university here," she mentioned. "My parents are insanely laid back too, so it came as a surprise to me when that happened. She thinks I was too 'vulnerable' to live here on my own. After that experience, I have to wonder if she's right."

He stopped when they were in a stingray exhibit, which made Auden grin a little. Stingrays happened to be one of her favorite fish, though admittedly she didn't know offhand any animals she didn't like, and she'd come across an informal name for them in a book once.

He introduced himself and she smiled at him, "It's a pleasure to meet you. And completely off-topic, but did you know stingrays are sometimes affectionately called pancake sharks by biologists? Informally of course, but it's because they're cartilaginous fishes and well, flat. Animal facts are my specialty, I'm a zoology major."