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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2017 23:38:45 GMT
OOC: Open to everyone! Let's get to know each other, dormie.@tag
His knuckle was millimetres (or was it centimetres?) from the door of his neighbour. Olle held a bag of crisps and a pack of cards in his other arm. He swallowed. His mouth felt dry. His heart raced. For the umpteenth time, he had second thoughts about this. This made the sixth evening in a row that he stood on the cusp of making acquaintances with his neighbour.
He knew his worries about it were misplaced. Few people'd really be so upset about being told hi and offered week-old crisps. Surely, even among delinquents there were good people. The scary tales of wanton destruction and depravity had, in his experience, been exaggerated anyway.
No, he knew his fears were wholly his own. Because of his own dumb insistence that people were going to utterly dislike him for slights so small they could only ever offend a mouse.
He rapped on the door, knocks that reverberated in the quiet little hallway. Practised the conversation in his head. He'd get it right this time, he would. Make a friend. Or at least get along well enough to sometimes study together. Maybe they could even have a club.
He rapped again, then bit his lip and withdrew his hand. He clasped his arms around the peace offering. |
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Post by Shelby Cooper on Jan 29, 2017 0:01:21 GMT
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The student sat hunched over his desk in nothing but his boxers, staring down at the notebook opened before him. His face was intensely focused on the sheet as he lightly dragged his pencil across it's surface. The sketch was finally starting to take shape into...well he wasn't quite sure yet. It was a pretty abstract piece, one that was going to need color for it to really pop. Maybe that's why he was having so much trouble. Still he would much rather do a bit of sketching than do any of that awful homework that sat crumpled up at the corner of his desk.
Eyes immediately widened a a familiar sound broke his concentration, causing him to sit up straight and turn his attention to the door. Company? Did he give anyone his dorm number yet? He quietly hoped that one of the numerous people he pissed off hadn't gotten his room number as he spoke. "Just uh...Hold on a second!" It took him a moment to get decent, desperately trying to straighten out the pants and dress shirt that were balled up and tossed onto his bed. Once he got himself dressed in his wrinkly clothes he made his way to the door, taking a moment to run his hands though his hair before swinging it open.
Brows furrowed as he looked at the boy and his bag, head tilting to the side slightly as he examined him. This definitely wasn't the kind of guy he was expecting in a place like this. But he didn't recognize him, so at least he could assume he wasn't in any danger. That meant he could give him a friendly smile, raising an arm to lean against the doorway as he spoke. "Hey there pal. Need something?"
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2017 1:57:53 GMT
OOC: There ain't no Ruler in here, no sirree. Shelby Cooper
Seconds turned to minutes. Olle hoped the minutes would not turn to hours, and with each one passing his mouth became even drier. His stomach turned, his hands felt clammy and he couldn't help but pick at the hem of his vest, crunching the bag of crisps in the process.
Please be a nice guy, please be a nice guy. From inside the room, Olle could hear some rustling, though he couldn't guess at what it was. Didn't even bother to guess. The hallway was still deserted... if he just spun 'round and fled into his room, no one'd be any the wiser. His neighbour might think someone ding-dong-ditched him. Olle could be the very pink of innocence.
He nearly jumped when the door knob was messed with, and shrank back when the door opened. The guy that answered the door... Olle knew him. He'd seen him around. Wasn't he the one throwing shoes on people from the roof? It was a bad guy! He'd knocked on a delinquent's door and he was going to have to pay the price.
Olle let out a high-pitched whine, knocked on his forehead twice, then stared straight at the other guy's neck. "I'm... I'm Olle! Your neighbour! I was sink-- shrink-- thinking it'd be nice if we could ha- have some chi- no, crisps!" He thrust out the crisps, inadvertently dropping the deck of cards to the floor.
He looked from the crisps to the cards a bit helplessly. If he hadn't kept them in their pack (still wrapped in plastic!), they'd have been all over the floor. And then what'd this guy think?
He's probably already sure I'm a loser. I'm such a loser.
Despite his panic, Olle's lips twisted into a nervous smile. "Wh, whoops." |
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Post by Shelby Cooper on Jan 29, 2017 2:20:01 GMT
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Head tilted to the side as he watched Olle, brows knitting together as he tried to figure out what was going on. Was something wrong with him? Was he crazy? He decided to let him finish speaking before coming to a conclusion, watching him with a concerned expression. Shelby leaned forward as the stranger spoke, sticking his head out through the door frame to check the hallway. He expected to see a group of snickering students, suspecting that the guy was put up to this on some sort of dare. Instead things were dead quiet, leading him to believe this was just a nervous guy trying to meet his neighbor. In which case this was a pretty sad attempt.
Not that he was going to hold that against him. An honest effort like this should be rewarded! Expression immediately went from concerned to cheerful as he addressed his guest. "Well Olle you've got good timing! I was just thinking about getting a snack." He squatted down as he spoke, snatching the deck of cards off the ground and holding them up to examine. Olle didn't mention them, but it was assumed he also wanted to play a game while they snacked. Seemed like a decent way to pass the time. "You can call me Edge. Come on in." The 'bad guy' stood up straight as he spoke and stepped aside, gesturing for his nervous neighbor to enter.
He hadn't been staying in the dorm long, but the place was already starting to get messy. Crumpled up pieces of paper were scattered across the floor, along with an assortment of snack wrappers another other miscellaneous garbage. "Don't mind the mess. Wasn't expecting company." In reality he probably wouldn't have cleaned up even if he did know someone was coming over. But it was nice to have an excuse to avoid giving a bad first impression.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2017 2:33:39 GMT
OOC: 'naturel' (nah-tuu-rell) is the Dutch word for 'ready salted' crisps, the ones with just salt. Shelby Cooper
The one solace Olle had in this entire affair was that he'd prevented a potential assault. No doubt when the guy said he 'wanted a snack' he meant he'd beat up some hapless sod in a quiet corner of the academy to take their lunch. Olle didn't consider campus security'd prevent any such events.
The guy's strange shift in behaviour clearly indicated he was in Delinquent Mode. Olle tried his hardest not to surrender to his escape impulse. Edge? Who the hell was called Edge? Clearly it was a fake name. He was lying. He was lying to Olle. The deceit had already begun. He'd wind up making fun of Olle behind his back to their classmates, gossiping this and that about the idiot who went and brought him crisps in the evening.
His smile turned queasy, and Olle tried to push the nauseous feelings to the back of his mind even as he stepped inside. Carefully. With the floor covered head to toe (what a dumb expression) in wrappers and papers, Olle found it difficult to find any spot to stand.
Olle took exactly two steps inside, and lingered around the door opening (but not so in the way the door couldn't be closed).
He scraped his throat, then coughed.
"W, well... I'm shore... sure... sure there's... good reason for a mess, right?" He gulped. "Um, so um..." The bed was probably the place to sit down, but... would it be okay? Did the guy even want him to sit? Probably not. Probably just wanted him out of the way as soon as possible.
"I, I hope you like, um, naturel... I mean, ready salted." He fidgeted with the bag's opening, gingerly ripping it before holding the bag out to the Edgelord. |
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Post by Shelby Cooper on Jan 29, 2017 2:55:31 GMT
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Eyes followed Olle as he barely entered the room, doing his best to hide his confusion. The guy was probably just nervous, not the type to usually do things like this. But the worst thing you could do here was fail to adapt, so it was good that he was trying new things. Or maybe he really was just a little messed in the head. How else would a guy like this end up here otherwise? Either way he had to be careful not to upset him, for everyone's sake.
After an awkward moment of waiting for more than two steps to be taken Shelby slowly closed the door behind him, careful not to shut it so hard that it could startle his guest. Wouldn't want to go startling a potential psycho. Suddenly he realized that it was a little embarrassing for someone to see his room in such a state. He was so used to having someone else do all the cleaning back home that maintaining his own area never seemed to cross his mind. Smile grew nervous as he took a look around his room, doing his best to shrug the mess away. "I don't spend much time in my room anyway, so I usually just don't bother I guess." Maybe eventually he'd learn to take better care of his room. Maybe.
It was a little suspicious the way he offered the chips to him, calling them some weird word before correcting himself. Or at least attempting to correct himself. Hopefully whatever he said meant chips and he wasn't about to go eating anything weird. A hand reached into the bag and pulled out a chip, holding it to his nose and giving it a sniff. It seemed like a normal potato chip at least. "If whatever you said means chips then yeah. Who doesn't?" Shelby relaxed a bit as he popped the chip into his mouth, the familiar flavor immediately putting his worries to rest. In fact he was ashamed of how suspicious he was of this guy who was probably just trying to be friends. "Why don't you have a seat? Maybe you can tell me a bit about yourself?" A hand waved toward the bed as he positioned his desk chair to face it and sat down. If he knew the guy wasn't in here for anything terrifying like murdering his family he could finally squelch his unreasonable concerns.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2017 3:05:59 GMT
OOC: 000 words, huh. Shelby Cooper
Olle'd insulted Edge. He was sure of that fact. Just had to say something about the mess. It wasn't even that bad. His home had been worse. Much worse. By comparison this was a sanctuary of cleanliness, but all the same Olle did not like stepping on mess. Like papers and candy wraps. He'd die before he would. If he would, he'd probably just have a breakdown.
And he wasn't going to have a breakdown. Olle gulped again. The last thing he was going to have was a breakdown. This was do or die. Now was the time to reach out and grasp his dreams. Some people dreamed of being sociable and amazing, but he was going to wake up and work hard at it.
Just do it!
"Y, yeah, I guess you... you call them chips, huh." This guy sounded American, too, by his pronunciation and enunciation.
He tip-toed around the room, careful not to step in anything. Smoothed out the bed, throwing a wistful glance at the pillow he also wanted to straighten out... but Olle resisted and gingerly sat down.
He pulled his legs close, held out the bag of crisps towards Edge again.
"About me? I... I think you'd..." be sorely disappointed. Olle shook his head. Dropped the bag in his lap and pinched his cheeks. No! This was... this was the perfect time.
Took a deep breath. Blew it out. Balled his fists.
His voice steadied and he looked up at Edge's lips as he said, "Well, I'm here because I uploaded my classmates's porn collection onto the potus's computer."
That was surely going to get any Delinquent Modes turned off, ready to make place for awe, right? It was impressive, right? Everyone'd egged him on but then ran off when he'd actually done it.
The memory caused Olle's newfound confidence to sidle away and he let out a high-pitched moan. |
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Post by Shelby Cooper on Jan 29, 2017 3:37:58 GMT
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Head bobbed slowly in agreement, accepting 'chips' as a familiar term. He then watched Olle carefully maneuver the room, eyes focusing on his feet that were being placed down with the utmost caution. You would think he was walking a minefield with the way he was moving. The more he thought about it the worse he felt for the guy. It was like he was literally trying to walk on rice paper. He shuddered to think what would happen if he accidentally rustled one of those wrappers, especially if he was as crazy as he suspected. Though his inner prankster was tempted to try and startle the guy he knew that holding that urge back was the right choice.
Shelby kept his smile up as Olle sat himself down on the bed, looking pretty uncomfortable by the way he was sitting. But at least he was still kind enough to hold the chips out, allowing the vandal helped himself. It would be rude not to right? He watched with curiosity in his eyes and potato in his mouth as his guest hesitated to give an answer. Was it really so bad that he didn't want to share it? The answer he eventually received caused him to immediately burst into laughter, nearly inhaling the chips in his mouth.
After taking a moment to force the food down the right pipe he let out a joyous laugh, his expression suddenly becoming truly joyful. "You're kidding me! The president? Seriously!?" It took him a moment to collect himself to speak properly, wiping a tear from his eye as he finally managed to take in a deep breath. "That's the best shit I've ever heard, man." It never even occurred to him that the story could be false, the sheer ridiculousness of it being too amazing to randomly think up. With one last cough he was finally fully composed, head shaking slowly as he looked at the hacker with an amused smile. "You're crazy man. I love it. All I did was spray paint some buildings and run from the cops. Your story blows me out of the water." The story finally put all of his worries to rest, allowing him to finally be genuine without worry. Sure this guy was insane, but it was in a good way.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2017 3:47:27 GMT
OOC: I got muh street cred yo. Shelby Cooper
Years upon years of fine decorum and social behaviour theories went out the window as Olle ingratiated himself to a hoodlum with the worst kind of street cred. His muscles relaxed as he blew out the tension, though his mind was still working on overdrive.
I've got him interested. He won't hate me. Yet. Not immediately. But it was bound to happen later! A conundrum he'd solve when it came. Problems never came alone. Best not invite them in unnecessarily.
"Yeah, the president. I kinda wish I'd seen the look on his face... or his wife's face, for that matter! Most of it was pretty... kinky stuff." Not that he'd had much of an interest in it. Honestly, it all looked pretty lame. Did people really need to be that loud? He'd never do anything with a girl if that was the case.
As he expected, it did earn him some good points with the guy. Edge laughed (always a good sign) and rained down compliments. It was honestly good to hear, after the debacle that landed him here. 'How could you?!' and 'Are you retarded?!' were replaced by 'best shit ever'. The response he should've heard.
"Well, it's not a countest. Contest. Not a contest!" He took a single crisp himself, plopped it into his mouth. Olle was keenly aware of how obnoxiously loud each bite was. "I'm sure there's people around here who've done, well... crazier stuff. But uh, I guess you're into that, huh."
All caution thrown to the wind, Olle continued, "Honestly, I kinda regret doing it now. Didn't want to wind up, well, here, in this mess." He gestured around... and realised what he was saying. "I mean figgurately! Figuratively! Seriously, um, I didn't mean to insult your uh... idea of cleanliness."
Though Olle could proudly say his room was the very epitome of clean, save for the pile of dirty laundry in the corner. |
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Post by Shelby Cooper on Jan 29, 2017 4:18:54 GMT
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Shelby chuckled as the discussion went on, occasionally popping a chip into his mouth as he listened with great interest. He could only imagine what kind of reaction that kind of prank would get, especially if it was as kinky as he suspected. There was some real messed up stuff out there, so there was no telling what was seen. "Good thing it's not or I'd be in dead last!" Honestly he never saw what he did as being exceptionally crazy. Sure it was exciting and risky, but it wasn't like all of the terrible things he heard about some of the other students. It wasn't as if anyone was hurt by what either of these two did.
At this point the energetic student was having too good of a time to worry about proper wording. So long as the point was made he couldn't care less about proper English. The fact that the guy knew languages to confuse at all was impressive. Eyes grew somber as the conversation took a more serious turn, though his joyful smile didn't falter for a moment. "No kidding." It was never fun to think about it, but he would give anything to have things go back to normal. Things may have been boring at times, but at least he had the freedom to do as he pleased.
Head shook slowly as he looked around the room, fully accepting of it's current state in that moment. "Don't worry about it, man. I know what you mean. Honestly I think a lot of people wish they could take things back. I'd bet there's a lot of us who never thought things would turn out like this." With one final heavy sigh to push out the sadness Shelby turned back to Olle, putting on a brighter expression and giving him a wink. "No use worrying about it though, right? Soon enough we'll have served out time and have some good stories to tell. Am I right?" There was still plenty of potential for good times to be had in this place. Rebelling against this place was going to serve as a most satisfying victory.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2017 4:27:49 GMT
OOC: 'Pesten' (pess-tuhn) is 'mau mau', but really just uno. Dutch naming. ;D Shelby Cooper
Olle chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. Wasn't like he had intended to steer the conversation in a more sombre and serious direction, but by the time he'd realised the words were already out. Back home, he was known as a... flap-out? Was that a word? Olle wasn't sure. He was sure he wouldn't ask.
He did learn that his nearest dorm mate, the guy just opposite, was maybe not even all that much of a bad guy. He visibly relaxed even more, leaning back on the bed, crisps still on his lap. His gaze wandered around the room. Like his, it was spartan in decoration. It was messier, which gave it a more lived-in feel, but it also gave Olle a sense of dread.
He didn't like mess. At all. That part at least, Edge fit to a 't' insofar as delinquency went.
"I know, right? They kept saying if I kept, well, not listening they'd send me off, but..." His voice trailed, and for a moment his smile faltered. Deep down, Olle'd wanted to believe his mother wasn't serious. He wanted to believe she'd really wanted him there, as much as he wanted her around in his life. But when push came to shove, well...
No such thing as empty threats.
He shook his head, forced the smile back on. Now was a time for happiness and smiles. No one made friends with sombre stories and depressing revelations.
"I'm not much of a storyteller. I want to wind up writing, but... I don't have much confidence." He chuckled again. "Seriously, I don't feel very at home here. Most people are so... rowdy, I'm more of a bookworm, I guess."
He paused. Hesitated.
"D'you know card games? We could do... what do you call it... pesten? You get a hand of seven, then try to get rid of them by matching colours. Uno? Is that what you call it?" He wasn't sure now. |
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Post by Shelby Cooper on Jan 29, 2017 4:51:48 GMT
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Even the students who were guilty of doing some messed up stuff probably had some pretty sad to stories to tell. At least his wasn't too bad compared to all that. Even if it was it wasn't going to do anyone any good to dwell on it. The most important thing to do was to stay strong and refuse to be broken. The more weighed down he was by pointless stuff like that the harder time he was going to have.
It was obvious that it was a tough subject for Olle, leading to a dismissive wave of the hand in response. "Don't sweat it, bud. You're gonna go back home stronger than ever." There wasn't a doubt in his mind that everyone who put their all into whatever they worked for would make it to the end a winner. There wasn't anything that couldn't be accomplished with enough heart and effort. Hopefully he could convince his new friend that was the case. He seemed a bit on the soft side from what he could see.
From the moment he saw Olle it was clear the guy didn't fit in. It was a good thing he realized this instead of trying to blend in. "I dunno, I think it's good not to fit in. Stick to what you like and forget the rest." This guy seemed pretty smart, actually. Shelby would have to keep that in mind in case his grades started dropping too much. It was always good to have a smart buddy to call on. "You know what? If anyone gives you any trouble you let me know and I'll back you up." It was sad to say but if a lot of the other students got a hold on him things could get bad real fast. Sure Shelby wasn't the strongest or most intimating guy, but he was pretty good at talking his way out of rough spots. Worst case scenario he could just punch the guy in the face and outrun them to draw the heat off Olle.
Shelby looked at the cards still in his hand, having completely forgotten about them before. "Oh yeah. I used to play that back in the day." It had been a long time, but he remembered the rules well enough. "Scoot over and we'll play on the bed." Standing up from his seat he moved to set himself down at the foot of the bed, dropping the deck down between them. "So you wanna be a writer, huh?" Never thought he would run into an aspirating author in this place. Eventually he was going to have to stop being surprised by these things. "What kinda stuff do you like to write? Sci-fi? Fantasy? Mystery?" He may not have had too much of an interest in reading, but he couldn't deny that a lot of great stories started out as books. If only he had the patience to sit down and read them himself.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2017 3:29:34 GMT
OOC: I shuffled an actual deck of cards and left the score card in, haha... Olle holds King of Hearts, 2 of Spades, 6 of Spades, 8 of Clubs, Ace of Clubs, 8 of Hearts, King of Spades. Make up whatever for Shelbs, though! Shelby Cooper
Olle wasn't so sure that he was going to go home stronger than ever: he very much doubted even this school could convince him to take up weight training. Or sports. Or whatever those popular and cool people did to let them run around for an hour, hopelessly chasing a ball just to pass it off again.
Seriously, sports made no sense.
Olle learned one thing about Edge at least: he was sure fond of talking for a delinquent, and seemed an OK guy. Not that Olle was a good judge of that; he knew himself well enough to know he'd follow any shady dealer with a come-hither look and a smooth gab.
Still... it was probably a good thing to have an ally. A good neighbour. Someone who could help out if he needed it, but...
He probably's just saying that to be nice. Won't really help. No one did before. People just weren't like that.
Olle's smile never faltered, though. Plastered onto his face, more like.
He scooted over to make place for Shelby, picking up the cards when they were dropped. Carefully (and clumsily) tore off the plastic covering, then skillfully started shuffling cards.
If it was tricks, it was the one thing Olle felt a little confident in.
Until he scattered a few cards to the bed, hastily returning them to the pack. He resumed shuffling slower.
"I don't think I have a good way with words," Olle confessed, "so I'm far away from the writers I admire. Some day, I'll publish something, but... uh, well, I write all sorts of stuff... this and that."
He carefully counted out seven cards for each of them, picked up his cards and arranged them in his hand.
Sheepishly, he showed the score card. "Whoops." Olle picked up another card from the deck, then revealed the Queen of Clubs to start with.
"So uh, Edge... your accent... America, right?"
He wasn't sure which of them should start. |
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Post by Shelby Cooper on Jan 30, 2017 19:10:42 GMT
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Shelby waited quietly as his awkward guest opened up the deck of cards, eyes wandering across the room. The guy was already uncomfortable enough, didn't want to make him even more so by staring at him the whole time. No matter how much Olle seemed to relax he always seemed to be pretty uneasy. It was difficult to tell if he was forcing that smile or he just wasn't good at expressing his emotions. Either way it was hard not to feel for the guy. He was going to need to do a lot of growing if he was going to make it here on his own. Maybe he was being overly optimistic, but Shelby was pretty sure he would do alright for himself in the end.
Once the cards were dealt he would scoop them up and shuffle through them, nodding along as Olle spoke. A writer who didn't have a good way with words? Wasn't that a bit of a paradox? "I'm no writer, but it seems like you're on the right track. Keep writing whatever you want and you'll do fine." No matter what it was, practice was the only surefire way to improve in an area. "I remember when I first started doing street art. It was terrible. But now?" He paused, looking up from his cards with a smirk. "Well, you'll see soon enough." He didn't care how much trouble he got into, he was going to find a way to finish his masterpiece here.
Once the card was revealed Shelby immediately pulled a 2 of clubs from his hand and played it. "You got it. Washington if you want to get specific." Eyes narrowed into a squint as he looked at Olle, tilting his head to the side slightly. "You're...some kind of European, right?" That was about as close as he could get to identifying his origins. There were just too many options to go through.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2017 2:32:34 GMT
OOC: Playing cards are hard. Shelby Cooper
Clubs. Not entirely the suit he had wanted to start with, but as with everything, there was a way to deal. He wondered for a moment whether the rules were the same internationally: he was used to an 8 allowing you to skip the opponent's turn, so... Could he really get rid of three cards so easily?
He'd take the chance of being called out, and easily accepted the penalty of two cards: Olle added the Jack of Diamonds and the 3 of Clubs to his hand, then threw down 8 of Clubs, 8 of Hearts, King of Hearts. That was still minus one card, all-in-all!
The boy'd vaguely followed the talk about being bad at art, and thought nothing of Edge's ominous prediction.
"Well... it's not Texas." Olle chuckled weakly. "My country's the one that introduced apartheid into the world, even though it's small." Tiny, more like, compared to other worldly powers. With an unnecessarily large mouth, a propensity for purporting itself as a meaningful country and a history more shameful than the plague.
It was home, though. Nothing beat home. Olle sighed. He wished he were still home. He knew how everything worked, and could make it work for him, too. Here, he had to figure out everything anew. Had to deal with everything all over. It was frustrating.
"People usually guess I'm British, even though I sound nothing like 'em." Even so, he used the Received Pronunciation; the mistake was human. "I was kiiiinda worried everyone here'd be some kind of thug, or whatever, but you seem like a cool guy." |
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