Callum Nightingale. (polyglotism) wrote in invol_rpg, @ 2013-02-11 11:07:00 |
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“Having fun?” Callum asked Moa, turning to grin at her as he slowed his bike down to a stop, dropping his feet to the ground so the bike wouldn’t tip over. To most it would probably seem a little strange that Callum had gone from Laurel to Moa, the two girls very different, but Callum hardly noticed. He’d never really had a type aside from ‘female’ and the change of pace was kind of nice. Laurel and been fun and confident and he’d loved that about her but that didn’t make Moa’s cute shyness any less appealing to him. ==== Moa couldn’t hold back a grin of her own. This thing with Callum was weird. She wasn’t used to be looked at in any way even resembling the way he did. It was nice and it made her smile. She felt different with him somehow, and although she probably should stop and think about why, she didn’t want to. “Yeah,” she said in Swedish, having learned he’d switch to match her language if she did. “I hadn’t really used the bikes before. I don’t know why.” She hesitated for a moment, unsure of why he’d even want to, but said it anyway. “Do you want to, um, sit down for a bit? We don’t have to, but. It might be nice?” ==== "Sure," Callum replied, getting off his bike and propping it up on its stand. If Moa hadn't used the bikes much maybe her legs were tired and she needed a break or maybe she just thought this was a nice place to stop. Either way he didn't mind the break. "The bikes are fun," Callum continued as he waited for Moa to take a seat before he did. "It's good to be able to explore more of the grounds." He both liked and hated that, actually. He liked that the grounds were large and gave him more to explore and that the bikes made it easier to get around but he hated the reminder that there was an end, that he couldn't keep riding and exploring for as long as he wanted, unless he wanted to go round and round in circles. A large amount of land was still small when you were used to having the whole world as your playground. ==== Moa sat down on a nearby bench, hoping that this was a good idea. Riding a bike was good because you didn’t need to talk and it was hard to try and be interesting enough for him to not find her ridiculously boring, but she felt like maybe this whole thing would be less weird if they knew each other a bit better. Or something. Dating was so much work. She wasn’t entirely sure it was worth it. She’d never been the sort of girl to worry about clothes or anything and now she was worrying about, well, not the clothes as much as if it was strange that she didn’t. Worry, that was. “It’s nice, yeah,” she said. “Makes me miss home, though. It feels weird to say that even riding a bike is different here, but it kind of is. Because of the –”, she made a vague gesture, “– nature and stuff. Everything is so different here. I mean, it always has been. You just think about it more when you do things you used to do at home all the time and it’s nice to be doing them but it also makes you think and that’s not always good because...” She paused, trying to remember how long she had been talking for. Rambling. She’d most definitely been rambling. There were very few people she was comfortable rambling with, and she couldn’t say that Callum was one of those. Yet. Maybe he would be? One day? Or maybe he wouldn’t like her for that long. People rarely did. Though he’d already exceeded her expectation on that point, she had to admit. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly, trying to interrupt that particular train of thought. “I talk too much.” ==== Callum wasn’t one for properly getting to know people, though the more he was forced to be here the less that remained true. It was hard not to get to know people when you spent a lot of time with them but it was usually getting to know people that made Callum realise he had nothing in common with them and helped with the decision to move on. Or at least helped justify that decision. “Bet it’s a lot nicer at your home,” he replied, not minding that she talked a lot. The outback was an interesting place for a short visit but it did get very boring very quickly. “You must miss it.” A lot of people seemed to miss home which wasn’t a sentiment he really understood, though the greenness of New Zealand and the snow covered peaks of Mt Hutt were more appealing than vast expanses of sand. ==== “I do,” Moa had to admit. “It’s winter right now, though, so there’s a lot of snow. Nothing like here. I really miss skating. And just like... taking walks in the snow and stuff. I’m not that good at skiing. I can do it, but I always liked skating on the lake more. I guess I’m just better at it?” She felt his eyes on her as she talked, and had to sort of give herself a push to keep talking at a normal pace. When she was nervous it was either everything or nothing, but she had to at least try to sound normal. “It’s really weird to me that even when it’s warm here it’s not green or anything. At home summer is just green. Unless it doesn’t rain for weeks, but that almost never happens.” Moa was also pretty sure that talking about the colour of trees and grass was some of the most boring topics of conversation ever. She hoped he wouldn’t mind that too much. Or that he’d come up with something better. ==== “I miss snow too,” Callum agreed. He liked other weather types too though. What he really missed was having the option to choose what kind of weather he felt like being in. “I love skiing!” he added enthusiastically. His Christmas holiday reminded him just how much he missed it sometimes and he was still disappointed that it got cut short. “At least there’s the ice rink here. We can go skating together one day.” The idea that she might not want a third date with him didn’t cross his mind, confident in his dating ability. He’d been able to overlook the fact that he and Laurel weren’t even dating and consider that a relationship, not much was good at convincing him otherwise once he’d decided he liked someone. “Australia’s a weird country,” he said, feeling the need to engage in the traditional New Zealand is better than Australia war. He might not spend much time there but he was always a Kiwi at heart, even if his accent rarely showed that. He smiled at Moa again, noticing how nervous she was, and moved closer, placing his hand lightly on her thigh, hoping to assure her that she didn’t need to be nervous around him. He already liked her, she didn’t have to try hard to impress her. ==== “I fall down a lot. It feels like it shouldn’t be easier to not fall down on ice than snow but somehow it is. They don’t have the ice all the time, though.” This was one of the things that made no sense to Moa. How was it less work to make a new ice twice a week than keeping it all the time? All she knew was that she could only skate during hockey practice – which was the main reason she hadn’t dropped it along with swimming and everything else that didn’t seem to matter anymore. “They only make it for hockey practice, which kind of sucks. Unless you really like hockey, I guess? I’d like to be able to do skating both with and without a stick.” It did make her feel a little better when he moved closer, because it had to mean he didn’t exactly hate being there with her, right? She smiled a little as she leaned in towards him, suddenly remembering the less stressful things about this whole date... thing. Like being reminded that someone liked you, which was something she really needed right now. A few moments to remember the things that didn’t hurt was good. “Maybe it’s less weird in the... not desert? It’s the only thing I’ve seen of Australia so it’s not much to go on, really.” ==== “I think the extra length of the skis makes it hard for some people,”he mused. The small surface area of the blade didn’t make ice skating easy either but from his time on ski fields he’d noticed a lot of people struggled with the extra meter or so and then many also seemed to have difficulty getting themselves back up once they’d fallen down, a good deal of upper arm strength needed. “We could always go straight after hockey practice,” he continued. Surely they didn’t get rid of the ice that quickly and would let them have some time to skate. “The rest is just like a less good New Zealand,” Callum answered, though Australia wasn’t a country he’d travelled to either. It was a little too close to home to be exciting enough for him to choose over all the other places in the world but he had planned on getting there eventually. Just by choice and with the ability to leave. ==== “I never thought of that,” Moa had to admit. The length of skis and whether it meant you fell down less? No. She couldn’t say that she’d ever gone down that road before. She didn’t have all that many thoughts about skis either way. “But I guess it could be true?” She found herself relaxing a little, as she nodded along to his suggestion. “Tuesdays and Saturdays,” she said. “That’s when we have practice.” ==== “This Tuesday,” he decided, Saturday seeming like a little far to plan in advance when he wasn’t good at staying interested in someone for long, no matter how much he liked them. He liked to think he’d still like Moa by Saturday but it seemed safer to go for the closer option. Plus while he did like her it made no sense to wait to spend time with her. “And then the dance on Friday?” he asked hopefully. He had been confident that she’d say yes to accompanying him to the dance, she seemed to like hanging out with him and this date wasn’t going badly, but actually asking and the prospect of getting turned down always made him a little nervous. In an exciting way. He liked that nervous feeling, the uncertainty, all made better when a girl said yes. Or heartbreaking if they said no but he would rather focus on the good outcome. ==== Moa had hoped that maybe he would ask her to the dance. Maybe. She didn’t really like dances and stuff, she hadn’t even been to the prom they’d had when she graduated. But actually having a date for something would be nice, although she worried about people seeing them and wondering... She knew she wasn’t Laurel. If Laurel had an exact opposite it would be... well, Lucy. And Moa was a lot less than Lucy. In so many ways. And that fact alone was enough to make her nervous. But she had a date. To a dance. For the first time. It was so strange that she almost forgot to say yes. She nodded, eventually, smiling a little. “That’d be nice,” she said. “Both of those. But I’m a lot better at skating than dancing. Just so you know.” ==== "Good," he replied, leaning forward to kiss her lightly. "I get the impression you're very good at skating, your dancing will be fine." He smiled at her and slid his hand off her thigh, reaching for her hand instead, lacing his fingers through hers. "Want to continue our ride?" He asked, cocking his head towards their bikes. ==== As they went back towards the bikes, hand in hand, Moa once again thought about how unlikely her life was. Not just the forcefield and the desert and all that, but having friends, going on proper dates, all that. It was so very strange. She still wasn’t sure she was doing it for the right reasons, but Callum was nice, he didn’t mind when she talked too much and he always talked to her in Swedish, mimicking her northern accent and everything. It wasn’t like talking to Erik at all because he’d been from the city, but it made her less homesick, and for a little while the ache for the boy she called her brother was duller. And she could like Callum. If anything he was more than she deserved. Moa kissed him again before getting on her bike. It felt, if not exactly right, so close enough. Yes, this was good. It would be good, in the end. |