First time for everything

[General Goose]

Despite what Rena thought, Harun had no intention of making her feel so self-conscious, and he had no idea he was doing so. Harun had a habit of sometimes chuckling spontaneously at the smallest of things, a trait which, when he noticed it, admittedly annoyed him somewhat. Despite their differences in hobbies and interests; Harun liked Rena. She seemed like a nice enough girl, if a bit more awkward than what he was used to.

"I've been to Seattle, once. And Chicago, and a couple national parks. How about you?"

In contrast to that, Harun felt quite bad at how much he'd travelled. In his younger days (and to a lesser extent, his teenage years), he'd spent a lot of time in Turkey, Germany and England (all countries he had familial ties to or had lived in in the past), becoming very familiar with the countries and the people there. Until he was 12, the constant travelling and exposure to non-English speakers meant he spoke with a strange accent that was a weird mixture between British, German, Turkish and American. Now he heard a somewhat more regular accent, but he still wouldn't describe it as exclusively American.

Hoping not to cause her too much anguish (Harun wanted to be very careful around Rena, in case he made her travels seem small and petty in comparison....which they were, but that was hardly the point), he meekly blurted out "Oh, Berlin, London, Turkey....never been Chicago, but I wanna go. What's it like there?"

[Casey the Undead†]

"Oh, Berlin, London, Turkey....never been Chicago, but I wanna go. What's it like there?"

Oh, no big deal or anything.

Rena was confused. Of all the places he'd been, places she'd only ever dreamed of stepping foot in, and he wanted to know about Chicago? She sat there, slightly dumbfounded for a moment, not fully understanding what someone who's traveled the world could find so interesting about Chicago.

After a second, she spoke. "It's fine. I mean, it's pretty and stuff. A little dirty. And crowded. But cool...nice... architecture?" It wasn't supposed to be a question, but Rena's voice lifted at the end anyways. She had no intention of telling Harun that she went to Chicago when she was nine, and had almost no memory of it at all. That would have made her look even stupider. She swallowed slightly.

"What's London like? Must be awesome."

[General Goose]

Judging by the look on her face, Rena was a bit confused at his interest in Chicago. He didn't blame her; Harun was a bit of a weird kid (as Rena had probably worked out by now), and for most of his peers seeing three other countries would more than make up for not visiting Chicago. But to be fair, St. Paul was the only American city he'd been in for longer than an hour. And St. Paul was little more than a glorified town; just a business district and some suburbs and stuff. It was a nice enough place but Harun always felt he was missing out on the real America, the ones tourists came to see. Of all the cities, Harun had NO idea why his parents had decided to pick St. Paul when first coming to America.

"What's London like? Must be awesome."

"Yeah, it's good, I guess. Nice architecture, lots of things to do...." Harun decided against telling her that in his time in London, he'd seen all sides of the city; clean, prosperous areas ripe for tourism to the slums and gritty council estates. It was a nice city, and a hell of a lot more interesting than St. Paul was, but he didn't really fancy living there.

Hoping to get that befuddled look off of Rena's face, he opened his mouth again "Bet you're a bit....curious why I'm jealous of you seeing Chicago when I've been abroad so many times again. The thing is....St. Paul is the only city in America I've seen properly. And, let's be honest, compared to pretty much every other city in this country, St. Paul is kinda boring. I ain't really seen the 'interesting' aspects of America, if you know what I mean."

Harun glanced at the clock midway through his tiny little monologue. About....ten....no, five-ish minutes left in break. Damn.

[Casey the Undead†]

Rena smiled as he explained his dislike of St. Paul. She couldn't disagree with him there. Of all the places in the world, it seemed like her parents had picked the most boring.

"I know what you mean." Rena chuckled lightly. "I've always wanted to get out of here. Maybe go somewhere new. Chicago's not bad."

Neither is London. She decided against saying this out loud.

Her eyes caught Harun's glancing at a clock.

"Crap! I'm gonna be late." Of course, they'd gotten so caught up she'd completely forgotten about the time. "I really have to go...but, catch you around?"

Why had she sounded so nervous at that question? Of course they'd see each other. It wasn't like he was going to avoid her after this.

Right?

[General Goose]

"Crap! I'm gonna be late. I really have to go...but, catch you around?"

"Yeah, see you around." With that, Harun gave Rena a quick, friendly smile, before putting his bag on and heading towards the library door, making sure he had all his stuff and had logged out from the computer.

Rena was a nice enough girl. She was a bit oversensitive, but she was kind and well-meaning, and kind of cute in a way. Shame he'd only really gotten to know her just at the end of the final school year.

Well, now all he had to worry about was the senior trip. And that would probably go fine.

(Harun continued in the main game. Apologies for the short post, but needed to round it up.)

[Casey the Undead†]

Rena smiled. All in all, it had been a good day. She'd made a new friend, after all, even if it was at the end of the year. A distant thought, deep down in her brain, told her that most likely she wouldn't talk to Harun again before the school year ended. But she pushed the thought away, telling herself that she would talk to him again. She would make sure of it.

She decided that when she got home she was going to download that song, Nebel. And maybe Zwitter too, even if it was about hermaphrodites. Maybe she'd listen to more of that band when she got there too.

Harun was a nice kid. A little different, and not her usual crowd, but nice, nonetheless. She was grinning ear to ear as she left the library, heading out into the hallways and back into the busy day.

She was so happy, she hadn't even realized that she'd forgotten to check out that library book.

(Rena Peters continued in Main Game.)