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!event: newbie shuttle

BWI Portalocity Lounge | Saturday Morning

One of the very few perks of having a meteorologist for a mother was that Amy could almost always avoid weather-related flight delays by relying on her mom for information. That was usually very convenient, but today it meant that due to anticipated late morning storms in northern Texas, Amy had been forced to fly in at ass o'clock in the morning so that she wouldn't run the risk of missing the bus to school. So it looked like she was the first person to reach the Fandom High banner in the airport lounge, and while Amy had always had hopes of one day winning a race, this wasn't quite what she had had in mind.

Armed with an overstuffed duffel bag and her favorite pair of sweatpants (they were decorated with little cartoon strips of bacon!), Amy stifled a heavy yawn and parked herself in a distant corner of the lounge where she could wait for more people to show up.

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Amy was doing a lot of looking around the room, because as it turned out there weren't a lot of awake people back home in Texas that she could text at this hour of the morning. And while talking to strangers in an airport terminal wasn't tpyically her first instinct, she figured she might as well help someone who was potentially lost and looking for the same thing Amy was.

"Hey," she said, peering in Hanna's direction. "Are you looking for the boarding school bus? Because I think it's here."

"For the school," Hanna repeated slowly, with the lilt of a German accent and a question in her voice. "I am-- not sure." She bit her lip, then wandered closer, one hand clutching her mocha-with-whipped-cream (it was delicious!) and one gripping her duffel bag closely. "I have not been in Baltimore long. This is the only bus?"

She could hide alone, in the wilderness-- or maybe in a crowd of other young people?

"As far as I know," Amy said with a shrug. "I'm not from here either. Just been sitting here for... a lot of hours now."

Sigh.

As Hanna approached, Amy seemed to perk up, sitting up straighter. "Oh man, can I just thank you for introducing the coffee smell to this area? That is doing wonders for me right now."

This prompted a surprised giggle from Hanna, and then she held out her cup to the other girl. "Would you like a sip?" She took a seat near the other girl, studying her. Pretty, very pretty, and very American, from what she could see. "My name is Hanna. Where are you from, if not near here?"

Very American, yes. With a slight southern accent, if Hanna was the discerning type.

As for the pretty factor, Amy couldn't really comment on that, but she was happy to have the vote of confidence.

"Oh, no thanks, I can't steal your hard-earned coffee," Amy assured Hanna hastily, though not without a slight smile at having been offered some. "But thank you." She continued, "I'm from Texas. It's, like, a three-hour flight, but the whole weather thing prolonged the journey." She gestured around the airport grumpily.

"You're from... somewhere in Europe. Right?" Accents were more Karma's thing, but Amy gave it a shot anyway.

"Yes, Liepzig. In Germany."

Well, her Papa had been. That was why she had that particular accent. She'd never been to Liepzig herself.

"This is my first time in America. It's very..." Huge? Bright? Colorful? "Confusing," Hanna settled on. "But perhaps that is because I have been on so many planes and trains to arrive here."

Amy's accent reminded her very slightly of Marissa. But perhaps everything would, for a while.

"I had no idea this school had international appeal," Amy said truthfully. She was actually pretty impressed. "I guess if people from so many different places have heard of it, it has to be decent, right? Or at least, they get enough donations to do a ton of marketing."

"But," she digressed, "welcome to America. The best thing I can say for this country is that you'll never lack for overpriced coffee." She nodded at Hanna's drink.

"I like it. Even if it is overpriced," Hanna said, a little awkward. "Although I like Moroccan coffee better, I think."

Should she feel bad about deceiving Amy about being a student? No. No, it was for Amy's good, if anyone asked, she would not know anything important (hopefully Sophie hadn't known enough to get into trouble). It was not malicious. It was necessary.

That pang of conscience settled, Hanna said, "Do you know much about this school? I am not sure what to expect from an American gymnazium."

"Not a lot," Amy admitted. "I know there's co-ed roommates--" Because it had made her mother all kinds of excited. "--and the classes are supposed to be 'non-traditional,' whatever that means. Other than that, no clue. Did you ever go to boarding school back home?"

Amy had not. The prospect of living with the same classmates she expected to be annoyed by during the day seemed... daunting.

"No," Hanna admitted. "Klaus College Gymnazium was a day school." Let that lie stand for now. "And my father--" She cleared her throat. "My father taught me things at home for a long time." She paused, then frowned. "Sharing a room with a boy? I..." Would that be awkward? More or less awkward than sharing a room with another girl? "...have to think about that."

"Oh, I bet the administration would switch you if you asked," Amy scrambled to clarify. "I just remember seeing it because my mom got, um, kind of worked up about it."

That was nice and vague, right?

"I've never actually shared a room with anyone before, so this should be kind of cozy and weird."

"My father and I lived in a cabin. For a while." For always. But there were no cabins in Liepzig, so... lying was complicated. "It was not so bad. But sometimes each of us would leave to be alone." She frowned. "Do you think-- are there woods near there?" It was not something she had considered before, but how could one be alone in a city?

Amy didn't know nearly enough about Liepzig to dispute that lie, so Hanna was in the clear. Honestly, Amy thought solitary life in a cabin in remote Europe sounded pretty good.

"There were definitely woods on the website," she said. "And a beach, and an IKEA on its own island pretty close by. Kind of a weird area, if you ask me." Just wait until it started raining weird things, Amy! "Do you hike?"

Hanna gave Amy a confused look of someone who either wasn't sure her English was making sense of that, or, the response of doesn't everyone? "Yes," she said slowly, uncertain. "I.. hike." After a second she added, "And snowshoe in the winter. And hunt."

And for the first time in a very long week, she was hit by homesickness for that little house near the Arctic Circle. She swallowed. "It seems very far away now."

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BWI Portalocity Lounge | Saturday Morning

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