Summer 1 - Greetings and Welcome - Action

[kollomods]

[ It's a mild sunny day when the first group of guests make land at Norrhamn. A gentle breeze rustle the birch trees and tangle in the bunting that's hung across the buildings in celebration of this very special occasion. Aina has been busy gathering up guests over the last few hours and now the ferry is approaching the port, waves breaking gently against the bow.

Olivia is waiting on the jetty, clipboard hugged close to her body. She's excited and nervous all at once, anxious to get to meet these people that she's read so much about, the faces behind the pleading letters. This is the first day her new job becomes hands on. Hopefully she'll be good at it.

As the ferry lands and lets the guests off, Olivia raises a hand in a cheerful greeting. ]

Hello! Welcome to Norrhamn!

Comments

[burntviolet]

I'm in third year of high school, s-so... I suppose.

[ And with how time seems to stand still in this place, she supposes she won't get any older than that. That breach in mundanity is jarring, but hopefully something she'll soon get used to.

She pauses a moment to think. ]

... I never heard of th-that place. [ Sure, she knows it's a western country, most likely UK or America, but her geography knowledge is extended only to the main cities and whatever locations her favourite book stories stem from. ]

[forever_jack]

[So very young. So very, very young.]

Oh, well, yeah - plenty of time to see other places then!

And no, you wouldn't have heard of it. [Mainly because it's on another planet and 3,000 years in the future.] It's a long, long way way.

[A faint note of sadness because it's not somewhere he'll ever be going back to, even when he lives through to that time period again. Everything he loved - everyone he loved - was gone by the time he left.

He makes an effort to lighten up, though, for Hanako's benefit.]

So! Sweden, though! Or at least an island off it. You've started your travelling already!

[burntviolet]

[ That wording is vague but opens up for many possibilities. Is Jack from another planet? He looks normally human so that may not be the case. Then again, as some of those sci-fi books she's read had demonstrated, aliens don't have to look all that different from humans.

Hm. She's relying on fiction knowledge to explain a sentence. Bad.

She pushes that thought away and takes another sip of coffee. It's already getting cooler. ]

I suppose... w-well, I'm not sure I'll keep travelling i-in case I go back home...

[forever_jack]

[He's human, just not actually born on Earth - and also turned immortal, but there's no way for her to tell that just by looking. Perhaps in time they'll come to be able to confide in each other, but it's not the sort of thing he comes out with to people he's just met. At least not when they appear to be the sort of people who've no experience with time-travel or aliens or whatever. To someone from a later time period or a culture that's used to people from other planets, that might be a little different.

So he just smiles, drinking his own coffee, still keeping his distance over by the window but turned towards her now, leaning a hip against the sill.]

Nothing wrong with wanting to go home again. This must all be quite a culture shock for you. Very different from Japan! Though at least roughly the same time period as you're from, right?

It's all very early twenty-first century here, and she looks like she fits in with that, at least.

[burntviolet]

Yes. I-...It looks like that. I don't see anything off, from the little I-I've seen.

[ Hanako is tempted to raise her legs up and curl herself into a ball, but opts not to. The only focus right now is her coffee and this conversation she's having with her roomate for the first time. It's positively surprising that she hasn't run away yet. ]

Um... why have you c-come here? If I'm allowed to ask...

[forever_jack]

Well, at least there's that. [Different level of tech on top of a completely unfamiliar culture really *would* be a bit much, he suspects!

Her question is hardly unexpected but even so a discernible change comes over him, as he withdraws just a little, as she had earlier. He takes a breath, and attempts to cover it with a warm smile.]

You're allowed to ask whatever you want, sweetheart! [Because a part of the reason he's here is to make himself talk about it, with people who hopefully are happy to listen, given their own reasons for being here.]

I lost some people recently. Two lovely ladies I'd grown very close to over the last year or two. It's... hit me harder than I expected. [Looking at her with clear blue eyes, doing his best to open up and not shut it all away as he usually does.]

[burntviolet]

[ The "sweetheart" makes her nearly flatten against the back of the couch. She doesn't like being called that, but she can live with it. More importantly, listening to Jack's answer washes the awkward feelings away with a bitter wave of guilt over asking that question at all. It's like she's involuntarily barging into his business, as much as she can relate with that kind of loss.

And she can't help staring down, deep, into the remains of her coffee. ]

... I'm sorry.

[ For the loss, and for asking, but she won't add further. ]

[forever_jack]

[Okay, he can see she doesn't like the "sweetheart" and he resolves to try to reign himself in even more, if even his normal casual affectionate names are too much for her. But she's still listening and, more, she's still being really sweet about it.

In the interests of attempting to forge a real, honest relationship with this young woman who's going to be his housemate here, he finally comes away from the window and settles a hip instead on the arm of a chair, closer to her but hopefully not so close as to scare her away.]

It's hard, yeah. Getting close to people, only to have them wrenched away from you. Time and time again. [He gives her a small smile, which she might glimpse if she dares to look up at him.] But at least I'm trying, eh? I actually took the step to come here so I can try and work through this stuff, and hopefully go home a little more whole this time around, instead of falling apart at the seems!

[burntviolet]

[ Her eyes remain fixed on the coffee, but she listens, curious, and guilty about being curious. There are so many people who have suffered as much as her, some of them even worse. The children at her orphanage each had stories that someone their age should never go through. She wonders how Jack is maintaining such a cheerful stance, even after telling her a bit of his grim background.

A few beats of silence pass before she takes a sharp inhale of coffee scent. ]

I hope being here will... b-be of help to you.

[forever_jack]

[For Jack, aggressive cheerfulness is the way he hides away all his pain and suffering so that he doesn't haven't to deal with it. Faking it until he can make it, and all that.

But he's finally begun to learn that sharing the pain - actually trying to address what's happened instead of bottling it up and hoping it'll go away - can be a better way to approach things, so here he is. Trying.]

Thanks. Honestly, I think in some ways just being here, where it's quiet and peaceful and restful, with the sea and the cliffs and the fresh air... that's gotta help a bit, hasn't it?

[And look how tactful he's attempting to be? Not even asking her what made her come here! He has the feeling that if he did she might curl up tight like a hedgehog and never come out again!]

[burntviolet]

I s-suppose that's what the lot of us are h-hoping...

[ Although she strongly feels that she owes Jack her own story, she will withhold every information unless asked about it. The fear of being pitied far surpasses the trust she wants to build towards her roomate.

The coffee is now lukewarm, and her stomach is getting a bit upset from stress. She places the mug down and moves to stand up. ]

If you don't mind, I'd like t-to rest a little... thanks for the c-coffee.

[forever_jack]

Of course. [He's not exactly surprised - in fact he's quite impressed she lasted this long. He smiles warmly, and comes off the arm of the chair to take her cup and take it and his own back to the kitchen, leaving her path to the stairs to the upper floor clear.]

Well, I'm glad we got to know each other a bit! I think I'm going to go for a walk and explore a bit, so you can have the house to yourself for a while.

[burntviolet]

[ A curt nod, and then a small and polite bow.

It was... nice, to finish a conversation with someone who wasn't a friend. She doesn't remember last time it happened. ]

Thank you... I-I'll see you later.

[forever_jack]

[If she'd said that bit out loud, he'd have been simultaneously horrified, and pleased that he's at least managed to make a bit of a difference.

As it is, he just acknowledges her nod and bow with a smile and incline of his head before turning to the sink to rinse out the mugs.]

Catch you later, Hanako Ikezawa.

((OOC: Thank you! That was so sweet!))