Made in Avantine (Cornellia/Friends TG For Entry)

[Novitera]

This is a calm and easy slice of life RP for Cornellia players. There is no real point to it except to develop a character, interact and have fun. Also, it will take a slow pace. Just something you would post in in addition to Day In A Life. A place to write in casually while you do your other, more pressing RPs. The idea is that you make a character (an immigrant from your nation) who lives in a many bedroom apartment with the other player's characters. All found each other through a letting agency that pairs people who need rooms with those who have it. Why they are in Novitera is up to you. Their background, education, age, sex etc. is up to you. Most likely they came over for work. If you get tired of your character they can move out and another one of yours can move in. The idea of the RP is culture clash, slice of life, whatever.

The apartment they live in is a decent living arrangement. Inexpensive in one of the safe areas of the city. So you won't be coming up with a character who is richy rich. Since the apartment is a rare bargain, characters of lower to middle class background are welcome. Some ideas are...

-Students
-New grads
-Struggling Immigrants

Avantine

Avantine is a massive city of 16 million dotted by skyscrapers. It never snows but rains frequently with comfortable temperate summers. The place is a commercial hub and the financial center of Novitera. There are many big banks and financial firms on Gallows Street juggling investments throughout the region. Large corporations like Ishukone, Wiyrkomi and Frontier Systems have their corporate headquarters here. The nightlife scene vibrant and Noviteran laws are quite lax on drugs. Outside the city and way outside is the Welster (the state Avantine is in) countryside defined by sprawling rolling hills and forests where a number of outdoor activities are available. Welster however is not really known for its beaches.

Do not be fooled however. Beneath the sparkly glow of modernism are some crime heavy districts. There are dilapidated ghettos where street gangs reside, the downside of hypercapitalism. Noviteran organized crime groups are some of the most sophisticated and dangerous in the region. No worries because where you are, a district called Shirai, is a safe middle class area. Neighboring districts include Little Strana Mechty, the yuppy Toyama area with excellent nightlife, Stamford is a lower class area with high crime and Niwa a fashion and shopping district. Just 20 minutes walking distance from the apartment is Glen Park, a small grassy park with maintained vegetation. It is frequented during the day time by joggers, idle teenagers, dogwalkers, martial arts and yoga classes. There is a tennis and basketball court for pick-up games which residents in the area often take advantage of. Best not to go at night though for that's when the junkies come out.

Other Districts Include

Gallows Street: Big banks and financial center of Novitera

Downtown: Next to Gallows Street. Most of Avantine feels like downtown to newcomers but when an Avantinian says "Downtown", they mean the district that contains many major office buildings, the headquarters of large corporations and Soletrek Tower (tallest building in Novitera).

Kuoka: A place for tertiary firms (law, marketing, etc.).

South Hill: High rise apartments for the very wealthy. Nicknamed "Snob Hill" by Avantinians.

The apartment itself is old which is why it has many rooms (enough for each player's characters). It has been renovated to fit a modern style but you seldom see a living arrangement in Avantine that accommodates this many people. There is a kitchen, high speed internet, two bathrooms, a sizable living room and a dining area.

Avantine Factbook

[Novitera]

What am I doing? Gwen asked herself as she struggled to get her things into the house. Her beat up 1995 Sukujitsa had taken her and her belongings all the way to Avantine from her parents place in Heselory. Leaving the sunshine and beaches of Calirma was suppose to be a step in the right direction. Though now in her rain soaked hair, miles from friends or family, she could not help but feel she made a mistake. A new grad, young and hopeful. She tried well enough in school to get her a decent job helping to run high brow fashion events. A little less partying and she could have done better.

The apartment was not as bad as she expected. It was furnished though had no television. Perhaps she would buy one with her first paycheck. A deal like this was a rare find in Avantine. Although she was apprehensive about meeting the roommates. Gwen had lived with crazies before and was not looking forward to doing so again. The fresh U of Calirma graduate set her suitcases down and took a deep breath, trying to come to terms that this was a new chapter in her life. Nobody was here yet. Seems I'm the first. Gwen thought.

She picked up her belongings and made her way to her room. There were little post it notes from the landlord to indicate who lived where. It was right next to the living room and Gwen was pleased to see it had a nice view of Soletrek Tower. The tallest building in Novitera shot up like a sore thumb among the other skyscrapers. It was at least a twenty minute subway ride away but she could see it in the distance. That would have to be a day trip one weekend. She heard the view from the observation deck was breathtaking. Across the street was a convenience store which Gwen took note of. Her room was small compared to what she was acquainted with. But Avantine was a cramped city in general and a room this size in this part of town would have gone for a lot more if she had not found such a deal. It had a desk, bed, closet and dresser. All the necessities. The lights did not work unfortunately. She would have to get on her phone to find a hardware store next. Perhaps a lamp for the desk would be useful as well.

Gwen began to unpack her things. Her clothes were an assortment of work out gear, party dresses, casual clothes and two sets of formal attire. The party dresses were tight fitting. Gwen's friends always complemented her on how well they shaped to her slim figure. Swimming in high school and as a workout in college had paid off. She set up a mirror and looked at herself. Auburn hair ran down to her neck. It surrounded a face that was not stunningly gorgeous but pretty in its own way. Certainly deserving of a second glance. At this moment she wore only jeans and a low cut t-shirt that sported some trendy abstract design. A bargain purchase that was fashionable enough to wear on a coffee date.

Grabbing a windbreaker and umbrella, Gwen took the elevator down again and walked to the nearby convenience store. The wet ground and rain had her avoiding puddles. There was a nearby subway station which would serve as transportation to anywhere in the city. She made a mental note to learn the routes. There were also a fair amount of people walking about. Some lined up at a hotdog and newspaper stand. Being so enamored by the new setting, she bumped into a man. He was around her age wearing jeans and a trench coat. At first Gwen stared at him with her mouth open. He was handsome. Very handsome and tall.

"Bitch! Watch where you're going!" He yelled at her then spat on the ground by her feet. Just like that the attraction was gone. She had to keep in mind that Avantinians were a lot more rude than most Noviterans. Even the slightest infraction elicited a string of expletives.

Luckily enough the convenience store sold light bulbs. She also bought a juice drink, chips and a case of beer to take back to the apartment. They had an empty fridge and she thought it could use something. The cashier was Hostillian by the way he talked in broken Latin. A happy man who smiled and gave her a friendly greeting. Gwen paid with her debit card then went back to the apartment. Careful this time to keep out of people's way along with the puddles. Back in the apartment she stuffed the case of beer in the fridge, taking one for herself then plopped down on the couch in the living room. Using a bottle opener on her key chain to crack it open, Gwen sipped the cool liquid. It was a domestic brand called Kipling, one of her favorites. This was a wonderful opportunity to just relax. The drive here was long and she had many errands to run before getting settled.

[New Edom]

Eunice Shobal stood and stared up at the buildings, big as mountains, and thought it was really strange that she had never seen the mountains in the north of her own country but was now in this alien place looking up at the huge buildings that almost blocked out the sky in this far away land. And then she was bumped into by someone who swore at her in vulgar Latin. She'd been here briefly before to scout out the campus, but it was still something that shocked her.

Cold. Cold and rainy. She shivered; even with her sweater, rain jacket, scarft, woollen skirt, stockings and shoes she was cold; she wished she had a better hat on. She felt suddenly intensely homesick.

"Hey sis, lend a hand will you, make sure all the stuff is put in the right rooms," called her brother Arvil from the street. He was a handsome enough you man, both of them had good background. He had slightly wavy short dark hair, olive tanned skin, wore a tan jacket and sweater, slacks and low boots. He was ordering the moving people around. They were mostly Dengalis ordered around by a Hostillian who had a bizarrely Avantine Latin accent.

"Alright, alright, I thought this was summer" Eunice complained, then smiled at the moving men graciously. She couldn't help it, raised that way. Not going to be a homebody like Ma though.

The apartment seemed fearfully small. After their sprawling bungalow and outbuildings back home in Fineberg, which now seemed flat, hot, open and spacious comapred to here...two little bedrooms. Two bathrooms, one with a bath so cramped you'd be scrunched in it; a sitting room and dining room. Not much, though it was all very modern. They didn't have many things. "Put that box in the living room please," she said, "And be careful with it. No, those go into that bedroom there..."

"Are you sure you're going to be fine with me moving in with you?" Eunice asked for the tenth time. She was a dark haired young woman, with a prominent but pretty nose, a bit small up top for the average Baran man but curvy enough in the bottom. She put an arm around him and rested her head against his shoulder. "You must have been living pretty free and easy..."

"Look, I'm here to study and do well same as you, eh?" he said, chucking her under the chin. "I usually keep my head down and get my work done, it's pretty demanding." At Avantine U he had made a few friends, but he was not as outgoing as their older brother Shadrach, who was in the Army back home. They were the first of their family to attend foreign universities. he at U Avantine, she at Soletrek. Arvil had heard a few troubling things about it, but it was supposed to be a good school. For his own part, he had a few friends, mostly focused on his studies intensely and played a little intramural football. He was a rather serious young man.

Eunice was thus far planning on Business Administration, a bit of economics and politics, enough to get a good civil service office job enough that she'd have some decent experience...probably before an inevitable office driven marriage like her mother. The thought of her own career, her own adventures moved around her thoughts like phantoms as she stood looking at the rain streaked windows of the strange city outside.

[Hostillia]

Avantine,
United Federation

Avantine was a huge city, and a busy one at that, so busy in fact that people were constantly rushing here and there, all about in some mad rush to their next appointment, to that critical lunch meeting, to the socially significant brunch, to that hated minimum wage job that paid the barely paid the bills, to pick up children from daycare, off to class, and any number of other important business the people of this metropolis attended to on a daily basis. In fact, people were so busy with their own matters that no one even seemed to notice the older gentlemen who was shuffling around, staring blankly at street signs, wandering with his head up to the clouds gazing at buildings which sparkled in the sunlight, occasionally stopping to peer suspiciously into a subway station, and generally taking life much more slowly than perhaps any other person in the entirety of this overcrowded hub of humanity.

He was dressed very oddly, loose fabric that had a natural grey tinge to it, as if it had never been dyed, and stare as one might they were not likely to recognize the material, nor would they find a tag, nor even a designer logo, the simple garb- which didn’t have a single pocket to be found, he had made by his own two hands and brought with him from the old country. On his feet he wore simple moccasins made of leather that had been formed to the shape of his feet specifically and were padded with a layer of cotton, making them supremely comfortable for very long walk on tough terrain, not that the sidewalks of Avantine qualified for difficult terrain, unless one counted the practical minefield of puddles that were all around that he would carefully step over as people surged around him from every direction. Protecting him more effectively from the rain was his straw hat that sat on his head, guarded from the wind by a sturdy leather chinstrap which rubbed against him and left a red mark under his chin, but it was the price one paid for not having to chase their hat down the street. On his back he carried a very large, intricately handmade basket which carried all of his wordly possessions, including in the very bottom of it a small tin can that held all the money he possessed- he didn’t trust those odd plastic cards.

“Excuse me sir,” he said pleasantly and politely to a man passing by, who dodged his hand as if it was going to transmit some horrible plague and kept walking with little more than what sounded like a rude short phrase in a language the he didn’t begin to understand or recognize the man frowned a little bit at the odd behavior before his naturally contented smile returned to his face and he tried again, only to get a similar response. He shrugged away the matter, obviously everyone was merely more busy than he was, and he walked into the building where he was fairly certain his apartment was. It wasn’t. In fact, he discovered after finally finding someone who was willing to read the little strip of paper with the address he was after, he was told he was actually in Little Strana Mechy. He had to walk another nearly forty minutes, though he was in absolutely no rush, before he arrived at his actual destination, walking up ten flights of stairs with the full basket firmly on his back before opening the door to his new home.

He stared around the tiny little place and saw a young girl sitting on the couch with a bottle of some beverage or another, he offered her a smile- unlike other people in his village he actually still had the majority of his teeth before taking off his shoes and leaving them by the door before proceeding to walk back the small hallway, staring at the different doors before finding a small note that had the scribblings he had learned were used to identify him, and stepping in. It wasn’t a big room, but there was plenty of space, he stretched and pulled his basket off and set it in his room. He reached in and began to remove the contents- a few more similarly styled paris of clothes, a few little cans of tuna (he had taken a liking to the fish and it wasn’t too expensive), a spoon, he took the tin can which contained his wealth and stuffed it under his mattress, before removing his most costly possession, a heavy winter coat produced here in Novitera, unfortunately he didn’t know how to make a sufficient enough coat with the materials available and had to begrudgingly save up for the coat, but it would be useful in his new job he was assured. After he had put the coat in the closet, he reached into a special compartment of his basket, one that could not be opened easily or quickly to prevent theft, and pulled out a little white piece of wood that had been carved into the shape of a tiger, bringing it to his lips, he kissed it and set it on his desk before bowing down and mumbling a quick prayer.

With his things unpacked, and his room idol in place, he walked back into the sitting room to find the girl still there, he gave her his toothy smile again but was really more interested in the window, which he went over to stare out of at the majesty of this new adventure. He looked out to all the high towers and smiled, he would soon be there, living the Noviteran dream, he could already see himself, at a big corner office with huge windows, he’d be able to see the whole city from up there, and better still he’d be earning more money than he had since he came to this country. After a moment of quiet contemplation he came to sit on the ground across from the girl, crossing his legs. He was an older man, sixties perhaps, the hair on his head along with his short beard were both still more black than grey, though the grey was certainly advancing, his face was not free of wrinkles but people were generally more distracted by the pox scars from some long ago disease, but his eyes were alive and interested which fended off the assumption that he was a dull peasant here to beg. His teeth, or the ones he had, were crooked though due to a lack of orthodontics in the Middle Kingdom, but he actually found all of the straight teeth he’d seen here a little unnatural looking and unnerving- that many people should not have such straight teeth.

“Hello, my name is Alang,” he spoke to her in something resembling Noviteran Latin, though it was heavily accented with an unplaceable accent, he was relying partially on his knowledge of Latin that wasn’t uncommon to be learned in his village, but he had learned very quickly that the two languages were entirely incompatible, between the bastardization that the Noviterans had done and the bastardization that he had learned they were mutually incomprehensible- go to Novitera, they said, they speak Latin they said. Fortunately he was a quick learner when he had to be and now he sounded a little bit better than someone just off the boat, which was fair enough in his mind. “It looks like we are to be sharing the same stove.”

[Novitera]

Servants?, Gwen asked herself at these apparent foreigners entering. The two olive skinned youths that entered moved in using servants. That was something Gwen had not seen before. Are they rich? If so, why are they living here? Perhaps it was wise to hire movers. The two, similar looking newcomers did have a lot of things. Foreigners by the sounds of their accents. She could not make out where they were from. Gwen herself had taken very little, deciding it would be easier to buy that which she needed. They all seemed to busy and did not even notice her sitting there drinking a beer. She decided to wait until they noticed her. Next came an old man who looked frail and downright strange in his attire. It was impolite to stare but she could not help gazing at his shoes and completely alien fabric.

Gwen smiled back although inside she was disappointed. An old man would probably find late night parties in the apartment objectionable. There was also his strangeness which unsettled her. Especially the way he sat on the floor. His broken Latin revealed a foreign background. It seemed that this apartment would be an eclectic one which both excited and frightened her. Doing the most polite thing she knew to do when meeting a stranger, Gwen set the beer down and stood up. She extended a hand for Alang to shake. "I'm Gwendoline but you can just call me Gwen. Would you like a beer? I just bought a case. You can sit on the couch by the way." She offered. "Would Roman Latin be easier by the way?" Gwen asked, wanting to communicate better. "Would Roman Latin be easier for you?" She repeated, this time in the baseline Roman Latin she learned in college. Gwen realized she was rambling and forced herself not to speak anymore. A behavior that always happened when she was nervous.

[Hostillia]

"A very great pleasure to meet you Gu-lin-da-lin..." he paused for a moment before trying again, "Gun-lan-dian-an," that wasn't quite it either, fortunately she seemed to throw him a life line by offering a shorter name which he appreciated a fair bit, he doubted he'd ever be able to say that odd designation she had just offered him. "Very good, then I will call you that as you ask, Geen." He was confident that was right. Another name mastered, he could add it to his list of Noviteran names he cold pronounce, Ear-reek, Hahvay, Pawker, Lu-ku-us, and now Geen. "In my village they call me Gusu," it meant 'old man' but he had never minded the title, it seemed based on the oddly colored folk who had come in shortly before him that he was still an old man even here. Odd, he wasn't sure how they were affording this place- maybe they had landed jobs as affluent as his own, and at such young ages! Very impressive. While he was still pondering her occupation she crossed the room and jutted her arm out at him, a very strange thing to do he thought. He peered out at the appendage for a moment, trying to see if he could see her hand well enough to offer her a palm reading, which he guessed she was probably after- and then the memory came back to him, men, around Gallows Street where he had just secured his job, they were wagging hands at each other all the time, just on the street! Now if only he could remember how to do this right... he reached out slowly, grabbing her hand firmly, before waving it horizontally, he wasn't quite sure how long this was supposed to go on, but he decided a longer wave probably indicated a friendlier person so he kept at it. "Oh I appreciate the offer," he responded when she offered him a beer, "but I saw when I came in that there is a sink in the kitchen, it will be more than sufficient for my needs, thank you," he said as he released her hand. "The couch..." the word was odd to him, but using context clues he concluded that she was probably referring to the odd thing she had been sitting on, "oh, no, no thank you- they're very uncomfortable, I grew up sitting on the ground, we didn't have... how do you say? Conchs in my village." Her switch to Roman Latin was certainly something he could follow better, it was a bastardization closer, but he shook his head at her offer, "I don't think the people I work with will be as accommodating as you Geen, I came to your country, it's only fair that I learn your language," he responded still in his broken Noviteran Latin.

[Allamunnic States]

As he stepped off of the bus, Erik Thursunn hefted a large blue backpack from the floor up onto his shoulders. It was the sort of heavy-framed pack that a person might carry all of their worldly possessions in while on an expedition, and, to be fair, what Erik was doing was just this side of that. As a result, the pack was very heavy, containing all the possessions, including his clothes and toiletries and some other odds and ends, that he would need to live in Avantine for the next six months to a year during his study abroad period. The linguist-in-training had managed to get a scholarship to Avantine University, and was rather excited for the upcoming term.

When he stepped into the rainy street, he was thankful that he had remembered to pull his rain coat out of his pack before getting off the bus, as well as wearing long sleeves and pants to go with his water-proof hiking boots. He splashed through a puddle as he hopped onto the sidewalk, looking at the numbers on the buildings for the one corresponding to the apartment he would be residing in for the next half-year or so. Moving through the rain, he thanked Thur that at least it was not a thunderstorm.

At least the rain felt like home. Erik was from Corvik, a reasonably-sized city in the Bluwaald Mountains of the Allamunnic States, a chilly and wet region often blanketed by snow in the late fall through early spring, and rained on frequently for much of the fall and spring, with summer being the only relatively dry season (although it rained plenty then, too). The crowds, less so, as even though Allamunnic cities tended to be dense and somewhat crowded, they never felt quite this... bustling.

Scanning the building numbers, his longish, somewhat wavy hair got darker than its natural muddy brown thanks to the rain, and water streaked down his face, getting into his brown eyes and streaking through a short, neatly-trimmed dark beard. He shook it off as he spotted the right building and began trudging towards the door. He moved quickly, powered by reasonably long, strong legs that matched his large, well-built, if not grotesquely-muscular, frame. He dodged a few pedestrians as he moved, and he did his best to ignore the dirty looks and occasional mutter that they shot at him.

He ducked past a few Dengali laborers, wondering which poor bastard had brought all the stuff they were carrying into the same building and all but galloped up the stairs, searching for the apartment number. There was muffled Latin all around him, driving home the foreignness of the place. Like most Allamunnae, he spoke Latin fairly fluently. However, the vocabulary and some of the other quirks of it were legacies of the long period of Roman hegemony in Allamunnika, and although it ended up being similar enough to be mutually-intelligible with Noviteran Latin, there were still odd words and turns of phrase he did not recognize sprinkled about.

Finding the number of the apartment he had the rental agreement for, he strode forward just in time to see two of the Dengali movers set something down. Oh, looks like that accounts for at least one of my roomies, he thought, dryly amused. As he poked his head into the apartment, he also saw an older man who looked to be Han, if Erik was any judge, and a young woman who spoke in the fluid Latin of a native or at least longtime speaker. She was a fairly-slender looking young lady, not at all bad to look at, Erik thought, as he watched the interaction between what he presumed were two more of his roommates.

He also noticed a somewhat darker-complected young woman, maybe a few years younger than he, looking out the rain-spattered window, talking to a man who was somewhat similar to her in appearance. Siblings or cousins, maybe? He thought from their complexion they might be Edomite or Deadoran, perhaps even Othmani, although he doubted the last of those.

Baaltr's blood, how many of us are going to be living here? he wondered, silently. He stepped the rest of the way into the apartment and waved to the other occupants of the room, smiling reassuringly (well, that was what he was going for, anyway; he probably looked more nervous than reassuring).

"Hello, people," he said, a nervous shake in his baritone. "I am called-- my name is Erik Thursunn," he explained, his word choice not quite overly formal, but clearly that of a nonnative speaker. Hopefully, his accent, typical of the Bluwaalds with its clipped vowels, would not make him too difficult to understand. "I believe I am to be living here for a while. Are we all to be roommates?" he asked, setting his backpack down gently, leaning them stably against the wall.

[Novitera]

"Gwen." Gwen corrected again with a nervous smile. "Very well. I'll call you Gusu. Oh this is so great! We are already calling each other by nicknames. In college my friends called me Blabber because I talk a lot." She realized she was rambling again nervously. The man had the most awkward handshake she had ever experienced. As if he had never done it before. Gwen had heard many other cultures do not shake hands. Which ones, she had no idea. "Oh, they did not have couches at your hometown? Wow! You'll have to tell me what it was like. Where are you from? This couch is kind of crap anyways. Maybe we can save up and buy a new one for the house later. I'm sure the landlord won't mind."

On the thought of speaking Roman Latin. "Oh, no! Lots of Noviterans take classes in baseline Latin so you might be able to get away with it. But yeah, I see your point. Learning the native language is a good idea. I have some learning to do myself. I'm not from Avantine you see. Grew up north in Calirma. Avantinians, they talk so fast! They do everything fast! Especially walking! You can have a beer anyways. I don't mind." There again, talking her mouth off. She had to remember not to do that at her job to the clientele. They could be an impatient lot from what her supervisor had told her.

Another newcomer entered the apartment and foreign again by the way he spoke Latin. Gwen walked over to him to be polite and extended a hand in greeting. "Hey Erik, I'm Gwen. Yeah, we are roommates. My, this house is so diverse! Do you want a beer? I bought a case. They're in the fridge. Go ahead. Oh my gosh, you're so big! Where do you work out? I need a gym membership. Do you play football? My older brother played in high school. He was a linebacker. U of Calirma plays U of Soletrek next week. We should all go it would be so fun!" She noticed she was rambling again and talking to Erik with wide, enthusiastic eyes to compensate for her nervousness. That was a the way she behaved with anybody new. From what she heard from friends it turned a lot of guys off that they set her up with. Smoking marijuana before dates had helped to mellow her out. Gwen found she enjoyed the habit and did so for recreation since trying it for the first time. The pipe she used was sitting on her desk right now. How the habit would come across to her other roommates was something she wondered about. It did tend to stink up the place temporarily.

[Allamunnic States]

Erik did not quite actually lean back when Gwen approached, talking enthusiastically, but he was slightly taken aback. Either she's just that bubbly, or that's how she deals with nervousness, he thought, thinking he recognized the behavior a little bit from some of his friends back during his undergraduate.

It took him a moment to fully process everything she had said, it had all come out so quickly. After a moment to allow for comprehension, he realized she had been remarking on his build. He nodded back and shook her hand, still slightly bewildered, chuckling and smiling somewhat awkwardly as he did.

"It is nice to meet you. And yes, I did. I was a linebacker at Farrangur University in Corvik during my undergraduate study. We are not very good at gridiron, but we are not bad, either." He gestured at his frame, just a hair over six feet in his boots, perhaps about 220 pounds. "But I was not big or fast enough to play professionally, so I am attending graduate school instead," he said with another chuckle. "That sounds like it would be fun, certainly," he agreed.

His eyes did not light up at the offer of a beer, either, but one could be forgiven for thinking they had. "Thank you for offering. I will accept your offer, if that is not much trouble," he answered cheerfully, smiling back. He scanned the room for a moment and saw the refrigerator, walking over to it and opening the door. He saw the case that Gwen had left there, and glanced back at her. "May I take one?" He waited until she nodded a confirmation before bending down to grab a bottle out of the case.

He walked over to the sink before opening it, since he was unsure if it might bubble up when opened. He also had a bottle opener on his key chain, and he quickly popped the cap off of the bottle, dropping the cap in his pocket. Thankfully, it did not bubble up, so his mess-prevention measure was unnecessary.

He put the can to his lips and took a pull from it. He was mildly taken aback, although not particularly surprised (or disappointed) to find that Kipling was somewhat lighter-flavored than what he was accustomed to. Still, it was good, and he walked back over toward Gwen. "Good stuff. Did you buy it at the convenience store across the way?" he asked, approval in his voice.

He nodded toward the Han man and introduced himself, before asking him what his name was.

[Hostillia]

“Babler,” the man responded with the twinkle of humor in his eye, “in my village we have a boy who talks all the time, so we call him Fugu, which means brook in my language- you see, we have a little brook that is always making news running straight through the center of our village,” it seemed that calling this girl ‘fugu’ or perhaps Blabber would not be unfair, she did seem very chatty, but it wasn’t offensive, actually, it was quite endearing.Young people trying to make their way in the world, reminded him of his youth actually. “Oh, I’m from Hostillia, specifically the Fengshan Province, we don’t have couches there.” Suddenly she was back on the topic of couches and how their current one wasn’t satisfactory and how they needed to purchase a new one, he just smiled at her while she spoke, failing to grasp why you would want a couch at all when the floor was included in the rent.

“Oh yes, I noticed,” Gusu responded enthusiastically, “they are such a quick people here, people seem to always be in such a rush- I wonder what they have to get to in such a hurry all of the time. At first I thought I had taken a wrong turn and found myself in the middle of a very confusing but well choreographed race,” he said laughing, before he could respond to the beer offer, a curiously tall person introduced himself, he had an accent as well, but the man had not become adept enough to identify what was a domestic accent and what was a foreign accent, they really sounded fairly similar to him. He waved a greeting to the new man and responded, “yes, we will all be sharing a stove,” he pulled himself off the ground to approach the new man, he was very tall, and very foreign looking, though Gusu imagined he could easily be a local. However, the man had very little opprotunity to actually speak anything to him as Geen was very quick to speak an entire long speal about things he did not understand, instead of forcing his way into a conversation of which he was largely ignorant of in regards to topic, he elected to hang back, gaze out the window before being approached, “it is a grand pleasure to meet you Air-reek, my name is Alang, though people call me Gusu.”

[Hittanryan]

On the street below, a slightly aged Forza sedan was pulling up, a bit of rust showing in the wheel wells. A car just happened to be pulling away from the curb, and the vehicle quickly pulled up next to the car ahead of it and tried to parallel park. Perhaps in the driver's haste to claim the spot, he didn't pay as much attention to the fine details of parking, since he bumped the curb. Cranking the steering wheel back, the vehicle eventually got straightened out.

A young man emerged from the car, wearing some sturdy-looking sneakers, long khaki shorts, and a dark grey Blitz outer shell to keep the rain off. He had dark hair cut only somewhat short and parted to one side, with an unlined, reasonably sculpted face. Though athletic at first glance, his exact build was a bit hard to read. He was maybe a little above average height and seemed almost on the slim side. There was definition in his muscles however that revealed a wiry strength, and he seemed to move with a certain confidence. When he opened the trunk of his car, he seemed to have little trouble grabbing three boxes full of textbooks and other assorted items, nor was he worn out from carrying the items up the stairs, though he was a bit winded after he left each load outside the door.

Everything seemed reasonably well-organized in boxes or even a few duffel bags, with exception of a pile of clothes on the passenger's seat. 'I got the message without her having to dump them out the window,' he thought bitterly, glancing over at the slightly soiled and wet apparel sitting next to him. It didn't occur to him that he had been the one to make the error of trying to talk to her instead of simply getting the last of his worldly possessions out of her apartment as fast as possible. In retrospect he probably should've known this wouldn't last the semester, too.

Once he got all his things to the door, he grabbed a load of stuff and fumbled with the keys a moment before opening the door and walking in on his new roommates having a bit of a chat. He immediately noticed a couple of cute girls, a bull of a man, and an elderly gentlemen who looked rather out of place despite the cosmopolitan setting. "Whoa, bit of a full house. Hey everyone," he said, hauling several boxes in and setting them down.

Approaching Erik, Gwen, and Gusu, he quickly offered a handshake, bow, or just mirrored whatever the other did first to each of his new roommates. "I'm Noah Anderson, nice to meet you. Hey, let me just grab the rest of my stuff and I'll join you."

He made a few trips in and out, bringing an armful with him into his space each time. Eventually he got to the clothes which had landed in the rain-soaked Avantine sidewalk. "Uh, by the way, where's the washer and dryer? Let's just say someone decided to uh...help," he said, looking down at them a bit sheepishly.

[New Edom]

The two Edomites had just finished paying their Dengali hirelings, exchanging bows with them and tipping them. Arvil knew how much to tip in Avantine and always gave a bit extra; he also preferred hiring services that used immigrants as they were less obviously discourteous.

"I'm terribly sorry," said Arvil in his excellent well elocuted classically trained Latin--slightly Baran accented, "We should introduce ourselves. I did not quite understand how these arrangements would work. I am Arvil Shobal, from the town of Ishpoteth, which is in Bara Province in New Edom. This is my younger sister Eunice. We are here studying at university, I am studying engineering at U. Avantine, my sister has just enrolled in Economics at Soletrek."

"How do you all do? So nice to meet everyone" said Eunice brightly, immediately hiding her homesickness and loneliness. The thought of sharing this place with a bunch of weird foreigners was profoundly distressing, how would they get along? She was at least with her brother though, the idea of sharing a dormitory with a bunch of strange women was worse.

"I hope you have all had a nice journey here," Arvil said. This was almost making his stomach ache; he was by nature a retiring sort of young man, who liked to focus on work, but it was unthinkable to not be sociable. "I was living at the dorm until recently but I made these arrangements as my sister was coming. Family must stick together of course. I should like to recommend that we perhaps find a way to organize our cupboards and other spaces in a manner that will not confuse what belongs wo who." he added with a smile.

Realizing that Gwen was casually drinking liquor out of a bottle, Eunice was terribly embarrassed; she had never seen such a thing before. It was as odd as for a Noivteran seeing some licking fruit in a grocery store or defecating on a public street would have been.

[Novitera]

Earlier Erik and Alang

"Oh my gosh that is so great! Doesn't matter if your team wasn't good. Just to make it to the collegiate level...wow! I did swimming but I was not good enough for college. I love football though. Everybody does! You'll fit right in." Gwen remarked to him fascinated. Football was competitive in three countries she knew of. The Allamunnic States being one of them. She was happy that Erik accepted the alcoholic drink. It was a sign of normalcy to her in him. In Noviteran culture it was polite to offer a beverage but not impolite to refuse. "Yeah, the convenience store across the street. Yeah, it's a small store but open 24/7. We'll have to go to the supermarket for groceries. The clerk there is Hostillian like you Gusu!" Gwen remarked.

Earlier Noah

Gwen introduced herself to this other foreigner who looked a bit more in place than Alang and the two olive skinned siblings. He did seem to be having a poor day however with his clothes being a mess. Gwen guessed that he had tripped and fallen on the street. She was sort of envious of the confidence of all she had met so far. There seemed to be an aura of it around Erik and Noah. As for Alang, she placed his attitude as more of a serene calm and satisfaction with his situation rather than confidence. "Oh right! The washer dryer on the basement floor. You need a key to get into the room. I was kind of disappointed when I saw them. The machines charge money for loads. You can pay with coins or card. It's not too bad though." Gwen explained.

Current

So many new people. It made Gwen even more nervous and excited. The girl (Eunice) seemed to be a bit standoffish to her which made Gwen all the more insecure. It made her wonder if there was something about her appearance that was off. Maybe her hair was ruffled but she remembered fixing it upon unpacking her things. "This is so great! Everyone is from somewhere else. I'm Noviteran but Heselory and Avantine are quite different cities so I'm sort of new as well. Good for you guys going to those schools. U of Avantine is known as something of a nerd school. But Eunice, you'll like U of Soletrek. I went to U of Calirma and was there once for a football game when we played each other. Oh my gosh! That means we're rivals then! Calirma and Soletrek always butt heads when it comes to sports. Soletrek also throws some wild parties. You'll have a lot of fun there." She said to try to get in Eunice's good graces while completely forgetting she was talking too much again. It did occur to her that her hands were shaking so she put them in her pockets. "You guys are from the Bara Province...that is so interesting. I've heard about what was going on there. It was on the news especially since Novitera deployed troops. My friend from high school who's in the Army said their patrols were getting ambushed. That is sooo scary!"

At Arvil's suggestion they organize the cupboards Gwen immediately had a suggestion. "Oh the cupboards and fridge! Ok...umm...the way we did it last time I roomed with others is we just left a marker out and you write your initials on what is yours. There's nothing there right now anyways. I suppose we all have to get groceries. I bought a case of beer. Everyone is welcome to it but as long as somebody else gets the next one!" She said with a wide forced grin.

"I've also got everything mapped out. We live in an awesome area. There's a NoviMart just a ten minute walk from here for our groceries. Restaurants and shops everywhere. That convenience store across the street where the nice Hostillian man is a clerk. Glenn Park is close by as well. I read online not to go there at night though because it gets dangerous and creepy. Subway station is just across the street too which is good for me because my work is all the way in the Kuoka District and I have to go Downtown sometimes. No point in driving to anywhere else Avantine unless you think you are that lucky to find parking and willing to pay top dollar for it. Toyoma is close by too and I heard the nightlife there is excellent! We should all go tonight! This one bar I read about will have drink specials tonight and there's a dance floor." She said hoping that would get their interest.

[Deadora]

Doeryk Hune blinked the water from his eyes as he stared up at the apartment block, then back down to the scrap of paper that he'd scribbled the address on. It was the right place. Relief washed through him like water in the desert. A deal on an apartment and an arranged job interview was all he'd received from the refugee officer. With a civil war raging in New Edom, there was no time for a runaway Deadoran it seemed.

He scrambled up the steps, a lean black-haired man two inches shy of six feet, and thoroughly soaked. He was wearing a light jacket, long shorts, and a pair of sturdy looking sandals. His jaw and chin were narrow and dusted with shadow. Narrow lips seemed perpetually perturbed, but his eyes were bright beneath his dark brow. A scar ran from his temple to the bridge of his nose, running under his eye and over the cheekbone as if a white hot wire had been laid against his skin. Anyone who happened to examine the nape of his neck might have seen the beginnings of further scarring.

Inside, he tried to shake as much of the water off him as possible before proceeding further, shooting a nasty look at two departing Dengali men as he went up the stairs. All he had were the clothes on his back, and some money (Kyrens and Dollars both) stuffed into his pocket, most of it given to him by Doeryk's father before his frantic final departure.

Apparently he was the last, or among the latest, to arrive. At first count he noted two women, four men. A few appeared to be foreign, though he wasn't sure how to feel about that yet. In fact, standing there in the doorway, still dripping on the floor despite his efforts, Doeryk had no idea what to say or do.

[New Edom]

Gwen

Gwen was very friendly and had helpful suggestions. Eunice seized upon that--she had a yearning for some kind of female friendship, and she and Gwen seemed to be the only two women sharing space there. "Oh how thoughtful, a pen market, what a good idea," she said with a smile. "And we could also share meals from time to time, perhaps take turns cooking or pitching in with them. I'm not a bad cook, though I'm better at baking, so much easier to follow the receipes...and my goodness, you're better than a tour guide. I've never shopped at a supermarket before, I have just seen them in movies..." There was a sense of nervousness to her now, she was trying to remember what her brother had warned her about. And wild parties? She had an image from a movie she'd seen in secret, shocking, brazen drunken behaviour and people screaming like animals. It had disturbed her. But the campus looked so pretty, the people seemed busy and focused when she had toured there...

Arvil said, "Yes, we're from Bara Province. My brother is involved with the fighting there, he's a Captain in the 9th Marine Infantry. It's a good regiment, though it's a newer one. He seems happy enough there. Father preferred that I should learn engineering instead." He smiled a bit at her saying it was a nerd school, U Avantine. "When I had first arrived here I said in response to hearing it was a nerd school, 'what, the National Edomite Rail Directorate'?" Eunice smiled politely with the look of someone who'd heard the joke a dozen times. Anyway I'm specializing in industrial engineering, which is still a growing industry in my country. I shall probably get a job with the government after I graduate. Would anyone like an Ikram?" he asked, offering a package of cigarettes round the room.

Arvil had noticed the scruffy ruffian and was shocked to find that they'd be living with such a person. The Hostillian was one thing--eccentric and from a weird culture from what he knew of such people. The loud giant Erik was like having a horse in a house--a bit too much. But he offered the cigarettes regardless. Different people, different customs...

[Allamunnic States]

"It is a pleasure to meet you as well," Erik replied to Alang. He turned and took in the flurry of activity that accompanied Eunice and Arvil turning around and introducing themselves, as well as Noah's entry into the room. Erik mingled a little bit with all the room's occupants, making sure he had all their names and that they had his.

He also helped Noah bring in the last of his boxes, not wanting to seem unhelpful to his new roommates.

While Gwen chattered about how everyone loved football, he thought he would clarify something with a joke. "I can wear my Corvik purple and Farrangur maroon stuff and not get hit by anyone here, correct?" he asked with a chuckle. Like most players at the higher collegiate level in the Allamunnic States, he had been allowed to keep his jerseys upon graduation, as well as being presented with a framed one for posterity. Additionally, he had planned to continue to demonstrate his AGL loyalty, even in a foreign country, and had brought a Corvik Huskaarls jersey with him (bearing a number 90 on it and the name "Ostmaark").

The topic of the cupboards and fridge organization came up, and Erik was inclined to agree with Gwen, once he managed to sort out what she had said from the near-stream of consciousness suggestions and chatter. She also confirmed that he had not misread the sign he had seen stepping into the building; the laundry room was, in point of fact, downstairs. He hoped there was an elevator, because shunting the wash up and down the stairs all the time would get annoying quickly.

"I'd be up for helping with the grocery shopping," Erik offered. He actually kind of enjoyed grocery shopping. It was a weird thing to enjoy, he thought, but he did not tend to question it too much. "Same for going out. Even if we don't actually go anywhere, scoping out some of the neighborhood and surroundings might be fun," he added.

Just when he thought they were finishing up that process, another presumed occupant appeared at the door.

Spotting Doeryk, Erik waved to him. "Hello there," he said in his accented, deliberate Latin, "anything we can help you with?" He took a step towards the door, again trying to smile reassuringly. "Please, come in," he said.

[Hittanryan]

Noah eventually stopped shuffling his stuff in the door, leaving most of it in boxes in his room to be unpacked maybe over the next few days. Not really in any hurry, he would prefer to see how he fit into his space before really getting everything set. He came back in time to meet Arvil and Eunice. Initially approaching them for a handshake, he stopped when they bowed and he returned the gesture and introduced himself. Noah seemed to perk up when he heard Eunice was going to the same school. "Hey, Soletrek U, I'm starting there too! You're going into Econ, huh? What classes you taking?"

Gwen went right on talking however, finally reaching a stopping point. 'Toyoma is close by too and I heard the nightlife there is excellent! We should all go tonight! This one bar I read about will have drink specials tonight and there's a dance floor."

"Yeah let's head down there tonight. We oughta do something for housewarming, right?" Noah said while grabbing a beer from the sparse fridge, stopping and frowning a moment. "If we go out though, we should probably head to the store before we go. Can't have beer for dinner and breakfast. I'll start a list..." he said. He pulled out a Hub-5 Smartphone and pulled up a notepad app, jotting down some of the essentials: milk, bread, eggs.

Returning with his bottle in one hand and his thumb working his phone in the other, Noah turned down the cigarette from Arvil. "Just tobacco? No thanks. Engineering, huh? They're gonna put you through your paces over at AU."

Eventually he found one of the odd man out in what was by and large a group of students: Gusu. He walked over, extended a handshake but saw he didn't go for it, so bowed lightly. Seemed like greetings varied wildly in this city. Maybe it was like this in Puerto Rojas, with the Old District? "Nice to meet you sir. I hope living in the big city with a bunch of rowdy uni students won't bother you too much. What do you do?"

[Deadora]

The first to notice him was one of the males, another foreigner if the accented Latin was anything to go by. Doeryk sized him up with narrowed eyes, trying to determine whether he was a threat or a rival. It was too soon to tell, with any of them the Nadirii realized as he glanced over the man's shoulder at the small group gathered in the kitchen. But the words and the wave were welcoming enough, and he was starting to shiver despite himself.

"Hile," Doeryk said in his thickly accented Deadoran Latin, sometimes called 'Dark Latin'. He smiled sheepishly and held his arms out to either side as if gesturing at his sodden self, even as he stared intensely into Erik's eyes. "Do you have a towel, by chance?" In spite of his accent, his Latin was fluent, hinting at an educated background.

[Allamunnic States]

"I certainly do!" Erik replied, strolling over to his backpack. He opened the top of it up and pulled out an off-white towel, neatly rolled up, and walked back over to Doeryk, offering the towel to him. If Doeryk used it anywhere near his face, he would find out that Erik liked to use fabric softener on his towels when he could, apparently a lavender-scented one. "We got a lovely day to move in, did we not?" he asked, sarcasm and dry humor clear in his voice and words.

At Arvil's offer of a cigarette, Erik gave him a small shake of the head. "No, but thank you for the offer," he said, still trying to keep the reassuring smile up. Inwardly, he hoped that there would not be smoking inside the apartment. The habit had not really caught on in much of the Federation, and the smell of cigarettes had always bothered Erik.

"Hitting the grocery store does sound like a good idea," he called over to the kitchen, offering his opinion. "Noah, can you make sure we have coffee written down on there, too?"

[Novitera]

"Uh...you might get shouted at but that's bound to happen anyways in Avantine from what I've seen." Gwen answered Erik remembering the handsome man that yelled at her in the street when she got here.

"Oh, I don't really know how to cook." Gwen confessed embarrassingly. "But I'll help. My work schedule is pretty tight anyways so I really only have room for dinners. I'll have to go out for lunch and breakfast probably. But the supermarket should have everything you need. Avantine also has a lot of smaller stores selling foreign specialty imports. I...I don't know if there's an Edomite one. If any city in Novitera would its Avantine!" She remarked happily. Eunice was the only other girl so far and Gwen was desperate that Eunice like her.

It seemed like everyone was getting along well enough. This pleased Gwen. She had lived in a sorority house where there was all kinds of drama. It was irritating enough where she decided to move out. But to move out of here would mean moving somewhere less desirable with her starting salary. Her eyes lit up at the offer of an Ikram. "Oh, an Ikram. My dad smoked Ikrams for 15 years then quit. No thanks. I've pledged to never smoke when I'm sober. Only the green stuff if you know what I mean....marijuana." She said trying to make a joke and announced the punchline when she realized it was not that funny. "It helps me mellow out. I get really nervous sometimes. The doctor gave me pills for it but I found getting stoned works just as well. I use to have anxiety attacks but I've not had one in a year! Last time was when I was taking a test in my junior year of college. Another was...oh, well never mind." Gwen said when she realized Avril was probably not interested in hearing about her history with being a neurotic mess. It did turn people away in the past.

She introduced herself quickly to Doeryk with a handshake and greeting noticing the scar on his face. It was unnerving. Gwen tried to hold eye contact instead although that had always been difficult for her as well. "I'm going to go to my room for a moment." She declared to then rushed to her room quite strangely.

Closing the door, Gwen unpacked her small glass pipe in bubble wrap, lighter and the plastic baggie of marijuana from her purse. She loaded the pipe up then proceeded to smoke. The first drag always made her cough profusely but it was a home run trot after that. Finished, Gwen returned seemingly more relaxed than before. A smell wafting from her room combined with her reddened eyes made it quite obvious what she had been up to. "So...I'm hungry. Does anybody want to go to the supermarket?" She asked, talking at a significantly slower pace than before.

[New Edom]

"I will go to the supermarket with you," said Eunice. Can't cook...what's wrong with her?[ she wondered, putting on her raincoat and hat. "But you must be my guide, for I have not been to one before." She had seen one in a couple of movies set in foreign countries, but she was a bit baffled as to how you chose what to buy, it seemed like the characters just...knew where to go, what to reach for, how much it cost without being told. Intimidating, but she'd have to face it sometime.

Meanwhile, Arvil said, "I have interviews to prepare for, I shall talk to you all later. it has been delightful to meet all of you." With a bow, he went into his room and shut the door and with a sigh of relief took his laptop out of a locked case under the bed and opened it and booted it up so he could look over his preparation for his interviews for what he hoped would be his career path for the following year. A message from their brother Shadrach and from their parents; he went to check on them in his email folder.

[Allamunnic States]

Erik nodded. "That is fine, provided I do not get punched for it," he said with a laugh. "And I would be quite happy to go to the grocery market, as well. There are some things I need to pick up for personal use, too," he explained.

He kept the reassuring smile as he looked to Eunice. "I actually rather like cooking," he said, trying to be friendly. "Would you be willing to trade recipes and such?" he asked, trying to make conversation.

When Gwen disappeared for a bit, he lingered, talking to the other roommates, trying to find out more about them, even as Arvil exited the room. He was a little taken aback, soon after, to smell a familiar scent wafting from the direction of what he assumed was Gwen's room. Oh fuck, he thought. Looks like smoking indoors is a thing here, his thoughts ringing with dismay. If that was the case, the apartment might end up quite smelly quite quickly. He may have to look into spending as much time as possible outside of it.

In the meantime, he took his backpack over to what a sticky note told him was his room, pulling out his clothes and hanging them in the tiny little closet, including a somewhat heavier coat (his own canvas overcoat).

Sure enough, when she emerged with an obvious case of the munchies, Erik's assumption was confirmed. He did not object to cannabis use (on the contrary, he liked a bowl himself every now and then, and it was legal in the States, as well), he simply did not like the scents of smoke, almost regardless of what they were from.

"Let's go, then," he answered, when Gwen suggested actually going to the market. He grabbed his coat off of the bed and held it in the crook of his arm while he waited for the others.

[Hittanryan]

Noah hadn't come in the door too long ago, he still had to unpack almost everything. He didn't even have the sheets on his bed. Oh well. People were going out to do stuff. He'd take care of himself later. Erik then requested coffee. "Coffee..." he echoed, his finger working the touch screen on his phone. "Got it. Wonder what kinda cereal they got here..." he said, distracted.

Gwen suddenly got wound up again, just kept talking. He thought he caught something about 'anxiety disorder' in there, and that she stopped taking the pills she was given. Wasn't that a bad idea? But she said weed helped, so who was he to judge? Best not to say anything. Then as quickly as she started, she disappeared into her room. He then realized he hadn't introduced himself to the newcomer. After Erik got him a towel, Noah offered a handshake to Doeryk. "Hey, I'm Noah. We're just heading out to the supermarket to stock the fridge if you'd like to drop your stuff off and come with."

A few minutes later, Noah caught whiff of a distinctive aroma. Was this light conversation enough to trigger Gwen's anxiety? Did she need it that bad? No, better not judge. Eventually she emerged, eyes bloodshot and noticeably more mellow. "Wow, that was quick, just a couple hits and you slow right down," he joked to Gwen with a wink. Pulling out his phone, he brought the list up. "All right, guess we'd better stock up for the munchies. Chips, pretzels, nuts, cookies, and...blueberries. I know, last one seems weird, but trust me on this one."

Grabbing his shell, he found himself walking alongside Eunice. "So you've never been to a supermarket before? That's wild. Maybe it's just where I'm from, but that's probably where I got almost all my food—well, sometimes we'd get stuff at the farmer's market once a week. But I respect what you did, you know? Moving to a big city like this if you're not used to it takes guts," he said with a smile.

[New Edom]

"Oh are you a chef?" said Eunice curiously. She tended to assume men who liked to cook were. "Yes, I'd be glad to. I have some family recipes in my little recipe box, not much really fancy you know, shawarma, fatayer, falafel, hummous, tabouleh, that kind of thing, just ordinary things mostly..."

"We must not have too many snacks; snack foods all the time make people sleepy and fat," Eunice said firmly. What did men know about grocery shopping? Like boys they were. "Blueberries are good. Of course if you wish to buy snack foods, it is your money, but I'm buying chickpeas, onions, tomatoes, parsley, mint, honey, pitas, sesame oil, sesame paste, garlic, cucumbers, and some decent good meat--do they sell capybara here do you think, or at least chicken or lamb?" she began to head out when Gwen did, remembering to take her keys. To brave the cold.

Noah was still talking to her. A nice name. He seemed well educated; the habit some men of this country had of dressing like ruffians while acting like gentlemen was really confusing. "I suppose it did...doesn't it take courage to move across an ocean?" she said with a smile. "I know where Adiron is, it's so far! But it's funny, I've met more people from Adiron in Padan than Noviterans..."

Arvil put on his headphones. People just wouldn't shut up out there, they were probably all trying to get to know one another. He could see his father's jovial fierce face puzzled as to why he wasn't enjoying the crush of 200 people at a family gathering. He had loved his private dorm room--he had three times gotten cancellations and no roomates, and had loved it. No more. He would be trapped here, then start work and immediatley on graduation his family would foist his marriage to Josefina on him and he'd be stuck with her then too. He sighed, clsoed his eyes, let the volume of the music swell around him and began to focus on how to develop efficient factory systems.

[Novitera]

"Oh yeah...it helps." Gwen said sheepishly to Noah then turned away.

"No, no cabybara meat. But there's usually an excellent seafood selection and they should have everything else." Gwen answered Eunice then led the way out the door.

They took the elevator down the 10 stories and out into the street. It had stopped raining but there were still overcast skies which complemented Avantine's gloomy feel. The efficient storm drains took away most of the water that led to a water treatment plant. Although there were still puddles about which one had to dodge. As usual the streets were crowded as people moved about their day. While there were many out walking everyone seemed to be lost in their own little world. Concerned only about themselves and where they were going. Gwen, being new to the city herself did not know exactly where they were going and was leading the way using GPS on her Hub-5 smartphone. They passed a number of smaller boutique shops selling jewelry, furniture, apparel and a barbershop. There were a few inexpensive restaurants that would serve as great takeout. A Jocky Burger fast food restaurant had bright signs and their comic drawn cowboy mascot glowing over the entrance. Next came the chain coffee shops. They must have passed two Cafe Vita's on the way. Each of them were only a block apart. Other establishments on the way included a hardware store, gas station, electronics store, a billiards bar, marijuana dispensary which Gwen eyed for future reference and at first what Gwen thought was a small arcade. The neon lights attracted her gaze and she looked in to find a number of slot machines and some people already sitting in front of them wasting their money. "Gambling is for suckers Gwen." Her father had always said.

There was a Paladin Cinemas that advertised Novitera's latest hits such as Star Warrior and Maelstrom. A few bank branches were found as well with people lining up at the ATMs outside. Advertisements were also found on pieces of building wall not a window. There were posters and digital signage marketing a variety of consumer products from cosmetics, jewelry and electronics. In the distance billboards sat atop buildings. Two police cruisers followed by an ambulance sped by on the street with sirens blaring headed towards the Stamford District.

One man stood on the street giving a sermon with a raised wooden cross in his right hand. He wore cheap business suit and trench coat. His hair looked like it had been drenched from the rain. "Noviterans! I urge you to turn away from sin! The Lord will strike down the masters of greed on Gallows Street! He will strike down the merchants of debauchery in San Crispiano!" The man was largely ignored by passerbys with a few giving him a middle finger. Two beat APD police officers were standing beside him in their dark blue uniforms with matching baseball caps, bullet proof vests and armed with pistols on their hips. A closer look at their gaze and posture revealed that they were not there to abate the preacher's nuisance but protect him.

When they finally arrived the group passed through automatic sliding doors. Plastic baskets and a few shopping carts were available upon entrance. Gwen grabbed a basket to use. A young teenager was standing there, hands behind his back wearing a matching apron and visor hat that read "NoviMart" with the store logo. "Welcome to NoviMart!" He said happily and smiled at the group as they entered. The supermarket was arrayed in a fashion designed by marketing experts which they believed maximized sales (forcing shoppers to traverse the entire supermarket to find the essentials). At the very front were the checkout counters. Ten of them that had people lining up plus a number of self-checkout machines. The supermarket was large with aisles upon aisles of grocery and home products. On the very left was the vegetables, artificially cooled and sprayed down with machinery. There was an aisle for cleaning products, bath products, over the counter pharmaceuticals, a liquor aisle, canned goods, sauces and cooking materials, a bakery section, deli, a freezer section, candies and cookies, nonalcoholic beverages, a dairy aisle, a foreign aisle and many more. In the very back was the fresh meat and seafood. Much it sat on cooled shelves already prepackaged into portions. Eunice would be happy to see there was lamb but it was considerably more expensive in Novitera. One counter had shellfish like clams, muscles, oysters, crabs and lobster displayed behind a glass where one could ask the clerk behind for how much they wanted. At certain points in the store there were store clerks behind tables offering samples. What surprised Gwen the most that inside the NoviMart was yet another, smaller Cafe Vita stand in addition to the two they passed to get here.