There's this girl you see...

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Hitomi Forsyth

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It's a basic run of the mill day for Arius LaVari, she had done her dog obedience training for the day and now she was headed to work. A store called Meijer, it was a big store and there were so many people she was easily forgotten in the sea of faces; which was one of the reasons she liked the work, she doesn't much talk to her co-workers, only the customers who trail through her line she worked 10 am to 5 pm today, it was just an average day with her at work place and 5 o' clock rolled around quickly. Arius clocks out and goes wandering through the store to pick up some groceries for her dinner that night, of course she hadn't changed out of her uniform so people kept stopping her to ask her where things were. She told them, because that's what a good employee would do. When she finally managed to get up to the front of the store she bumped into a man and gasped. "I am so sorry! I-I wasn't...watching where I was going!" She looked up her oddly bright green eyes sparkling with worry that she had disrupted the customer.

(It's a short post but it's designed to get interaction going...hope you don't mind I'll surely do more once our characters start interacting.)
 
He can still remember when he first saw Arius. It was late in the evening when he entered the grocery store closest to his apartment to buy his weekly grocery items. Wheeling the cart slowly into the store he was going over his 'long' shopping list, that included ten or twelve items, mainly food stuff. For an international student like him shopping was an adventure, a challenge to see how much he could buy and still stay within the budget.

As he meandered through the produce section, he noticed a twenty-something girl hit him. She had blonde curly hairs and her big, beautiful eyes sparkled as she gasped a 'Sorry' at him. "It's alright, I guess I was the one not paying attention." He said looking at the girl, quickly recognizing that the she was among the store staff. "Excuse me," he asked, "If it is not too late for you, can you please help me with a few things I need to buy. I'm a student here at the Buffalo University, and new in the city. This store is pretty big and I can't seem to find a few items that I need." With a smile on his face he waited for the girl to answer.
 
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Arius was still red faced even as the man asked for her help, she ran a hand through her light brown curls, asssuming he had mistaken her for a blonde because of the lightness of her curly hair, and everyone else seemed to think she was blonde as well; she was seriously regretting having bleached it to dye it that pretty dark purple so long ago, her hair still hadn't gone back to dark brown. She was a bit nervous and didn't particularly want to deal with helping another person but she decides 'what the hell' she'd do it anyway so with a polite bow she says, "Okay, I can help you. Want to tell me what you're looking for? The store isn't all that big honestly so most of the employees know where everything is unless they're new." She seemed slightly surprised to hear that he went to Buffalo University; she herself hadn't even tried going there, she only wanted to work with dogs, all she needed for that was the dog obedience lessons.

There was something odd about Arius though that surely the stranger would have noticed, she didn't really smile at him; even though she had smiled when she agreed to help, it wasn't an actual smile and that much was obvious. "I'm not technically on the clock right now..." She muttered it and peeked around him at the list, she immediately recognized some of the things but still thought it would be better if she didn't show the fact she was being so nosy, so instead she let her mind wander while waiting for him to clarify with what he needed; she'd be able to find it and maybe go home to make her own dinner.
 
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He felt a little relieved when she agreed to help him, but the fake smile plastered on her face did give him an impression as if he committed a grave crime by forcing her stay back. A little vary but still captivated by the presence of this girl he quietly said "Well, I'm looking for some onions, coriander, butter, milk, pepper. And one more thing, some salmon. I actually want to cook fish tonight. Do you have Salmon in the store?"

The black haired man had made an uncharacteristic effort to look smart this evening, just to mix up with fashionable population of the city. His usually messy hair was looking relatively neat, a clean shaven face hopefully looking welcoming. He wore a collared T-shirt. Apparently comfort just had to come first. And of course, his trousers were plain black, his shoes also black, though smart loafers.
 
Arius nods a little at the questions. "I can take you to these things and we sell Salmon." She wrinkles her nose up a little at the thought of fish being cooked, it was one of the few smells she hated that she occasionally could smell in the apartment building she lived in. She sighs a little and waves at him. "Come on follow me..." Quickly and with light feet she went around the store pointing out the things he needed though she stopped long enough to let him pick his own onions and pepper, the store in which she worked had fresh produce at least, and everything was fairly cheap. As she led him about the store fairly quietly she was picking up her own things to make dinner for herself as well.

"I do apologize if I seem a little tired or grumpy, you're about the 6th person to ask for my help while I searched for my own dinner ingredients." She wanders through the store her light brown curls bouncing as she walked around, she looked really plain wearing a pair of black pants with a simple red polo and black shoes, she was after all in her work uniform and everyone seemed to wear red around the store, it made the employees easy to find though. "Oh. I'm Arius LaVari, I just now realized I hadn't introduced myself." She turns around and offers her hand to the black haired man with a more truthful smile.
 
"Very pleased to meet you, Arius. That's quite a unique name you got there." His eyes sparked with interest as he extended his hand. "Umair Mahmood." For an instant he couldn't look away. He held on to her hand an little too long, the contact was pleasant. "I've never heard that name before, I like it," he smiled. It was true, it was a unique name and of all of the people he had met, he had never met someone named Arius. It seemed to fit the girl.

"Ahh!! Please don't apologize, I think I'm the one to apologize here. If I had known that your were off your shift, I would have never stopped you. And thank you so much for helping me out here. You know, for someone new in the city, like me, it gets very difficult sometimes to adjust to the new location. You know what I mean?" - Never taking his eyes from her, he continued talking as if he had know her from a long time.

He was aware of the fact that making friends in a new location can be very intimidating. Others have established their social structure without you, and you're the outsider. Above all, less outgoing people like him have an even harder time. And certainly, in an age of online dating where everybody's interest is clearer if not outright spelled out in their profile, the grocery store is going to be a lesser choice. He laughed in his head.
 
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Arius politely dipped her head as she took his hand, she had noticed that he kept her hand for too long, but it didn't seem to bother Arius; who was still not smiling truthfully but her expression did soften some. "Thank you, I get that quite a lot actually, about my name. It's unique and mine so I'm fond of it. I've never heard Umair before either...Where are you from?" She tilts her head to the side curiously, actually showing a little bit of interest in him.

Arius laughed softly when the man named Umair panicked and told her not to apologize, "I apologized because I felt I was coming off as rude, I've lived here my whole life, so I don't really understand the adjusting phase. I just go with the flow normally." She smiled, a more truthful smile then before, she was a good person, when she spoke to someone she maintained eye contact with them; it was probably one of the reasons she had been able to get her job, her gaze never left Umair's, it was a curious thing, because even when she walked she made sure to look over her shoulder at him.

Arius was in her uniform, which actually hid a rather adorable body underneath all the baggy shirt and pants, but it as uniform, it was meant to look stuffy though she was carrying a plastic bag with her that seemed to have a set of spare clothes in it when she spoke again it was in reference to what he was seeking out. "The salmon is over this way and milk is in a cooler at the back, after that I think you're all done, then it's a simple trek up to the check out...speaking of..." Arius plucked up a small thing of hamburger and a packet of cheese, she would have to make herself a burger for dinner or something. "Oh! That's right one more thing, do you live in an apartment or a house or on campus? I meant to ask that before hand."
 
"I'm from India." He replied, though his lips no longer smiled, his eyes were still on Arius, and her eyes looking straight into his. Umair was a nice person to be around. The atmosphere around him was always happy even if he never was. "I didn't join the college until yesterday. And I'm still adjusting to the new place. Oh! And I'm living in an apartment nearby. Campus accommodation is slightly expensive, plus living off campus will give me a chance to experience the city more closely." He replied. "So, where do you live? If you don't mind my asking." he quietly inquired, and without waiting for Arius to answer, added "I guess not too far? Well my apartment is about two blocks from here. It's small but its home." smiling at her.

There was something about this girl; he didn't know what it was. Whatever it was, he was glad that he was going to be able to see her again soon. Even though it meant coming to the grocery store daily, but who cares. Her kindness, her smile; those were things that he yearned to see again. Though strangely somewhere in his head he kept trying to convince himself it was useless thinking about her, she is born and brought up in western society and he is from the third world. He knew he had been kidding himself for looking for something to shake up his ordinary, routine life.
 
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Arius blinks a little and giggles slightly, "India? That's amazing! I've heard the situation is not great there...but...I feel like it would be a nice place to visit, India culture is beautiful I think. I also love Japan, I would like to visit; if not live there one day..." Her gaze wanders off and she seems to fall away from the world as she thinks about the two different countries; one of which he was from and the other which she loved, that was the best indicator of how to get a wonderful conversation going with her, because now she had a bit of a bounce to her step as she led him up to the Check Out line.

When it finally occurred to her that he had answered her question about where she lived she blinked slightly seeming shocked. "Two blocks from here...? As in...the Sunny Lane Apartments?" She named the building easily, like she knew it well herself and that shocked look wouldn't leave her face, she couldn't even pick up her jaw which had dropped. "If that's the case...that's extremely funny...and we may as well walk home together..." Now he would understand why she had been so shocked, from the sounds of it she lived in a small apartment too, and there were only a few two blocks away, one was to the left while the other was to the right. One was named Sunny Lane, while the other had been named Birch Pines Apartments, there was a fifty/fifty chance he lived in her apartment building. Those pretty eyes of hers didn't move, only disappeared from sight when she blinked her eyes shut.
 
He looked up at her in shock. "What did you just say?" Was she joking? Did she actually just meant she and I literally share the same apartment building? "However strange it may sound, yes the building is called Sunny Lane Apartments." He said scratching the back of his neck. His eyes studied her carefully as he looked at her in awe while shuffling his legs towards the checkout line; He was stunned but excited, constantly questioning himself She lived in the same building I did, and if I ever ran into her in the hallways she'd talk to me like a real person instead of some stranger she met some day.

As much as he'd told himself he wanted to know everything about Arius- every thought, opinion, mole and scar. Although part of him had retreated in fear, what if she doesn't want to interact with him post this strange encounter?
 
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Arius giggled a little as she wandered up to the line. "That's great! Let's check out and walk home together then! I live in 3-C, or third floor third apartment, you?" She smiled over her shoulder at him as she scanned her few items at a self scan before bagging them and paying then stepping aside and waiting. "If you have an issue figuring out how to use this we can always take you to a regular line, or I can help you with this." She tilts her head a little and politely waits for Umair's answer. She actually felt sort of happy, it had been awhile since anyone had picked her out in a crowd, her nerves were beginning to get the better of her though and somewhere she couldn't help but be worried about what would happen if he knocked on her door when she was in one of her moods...she didn't want to explain that part of herself to him; she never wanted to show that half of herself to anybody; for now though she shakes it off.

"Umair, um...just, if you decide to visit me and I don't answer I'm probably resting from my shift at work, so don't be alarmed or anything." She smiles at him as she warns him of this, a necessary warning if she were to interact with him more after this strange strange meeting. Especially when she considered that he was new to her country, a foreigner. Her mind drifts off as she goes to thinking about her favorite country ever and how badly she wanted to visit it, it made her giggle in the line and head forward offering her help to Umair by staying near the self scan machine.
 
Umair looked at Arius, smiling broadly, and shaking his head as if he couldn't believe the chain of events that'd just occurred, the quick succession of bliss. "Oh my God! You and I live on the same floor. You should pop in some time." It was a nice feeling, definitely; having to know someone in a new country. He couldn't help but notice she was nice, smart, and the perfect girl next door. "Oh! don't worry, I won't be knocking on your door all the time, now that I know what your shift timings are." Umair laughed before paying at the checkout counter.

As they both walked out of the store, there was a prolonged silence, followed by a flurry of questions. "So, do you live alone or with parents? Or someone else?" He said as he looked at her almost studying her face, searching something in her eyes. He tried to sound as nice as possible, not trying to invade her personal space or sound too desperate.
 
The same floor huh...that might be bad, she hoped that he was at the far end of the hall; or else he might hear that... "The same floor? wow so you're the one I was told had moved in, that's amazing." She starts walking at a fairly quick pace, her feet were hurting at this point and all she wanted was rest, which meant getting home with her groceries before they got too hot and were unhealthy to eat. "Oh...Hmm...I live alone. I have for awhile now." She smiled at him hoping he was able to keep up, since he did have a little more in the way of groceries than she did.

Eventually though they arrive at the apartments and quickly she travels up the two flights of steps to the third floor and goes into her apartment without closing the door; it was empty all except for a decent sized flat screen TV, a Gaming console, and a small sofa. There was a hall though and in the hall one could only assume the hall led to a bathroom and the curly haired woman's bedroom. Arius walked over to her fridge and put the ground beef and cheese in her fridge before going and falling on her couch shuddering. "Come on in if you'd like...Just stay in the front room with me if you don't mind. The bathroom is the first door on the left, first door on the right is my bedroom, stay out please." Arius was sitting there with a deep sigh and slowly began to relax her body smiling a bit as she waited for him to either take or reject her invitation. "I do know that your apartment isn't that far but you can put your stuff in my fridge if you'd like to visit."
 
Upon entering her apartment, he noticed it was fairly clean with all the basic amenities. He quietly stood beside her as she kept the groceries in the refrigerator.

"Hmm.. so you live alone.." He said, if nothing but to distract his contemplative gaze. His eyes darted downward at her as she sat on the couch, and he gave a short, drawn-out sigh. "I do have refrigerator in my apartment so I guess I won't be disturbing you every now and then just to keep trivial things in your refrigerator. And by the way, I live with a class mate of mine and he from South Korea." He wondered why a girl like Arius living alone? Back in India kids don't leave their parents, not untill they get married or move out to find work. She appeared too young to be living on her own. He was at least expecting a roommate of hers. But then he realized since she is from a different culture and maybe kids here feel more comfortable living alone.

"So, what are you going to prepare for dinner?" - He asked quietly standing there.
 
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"First sit down, you're standing there is making me feel like I need to stand up; and I don't want to." She pats the cushion next to her scooting over to the side so he can sit if he so chooses. "You might think it a bit strange that I live alone but I'm 21 on the verge of being 22 in just a few months, in America that's what parents prefer; they can't wait to be rid of their kids." Arius shrugs like it doesn't bother her but sighs as she stands up and cringes slightly, she wanders down the hall in the back of the apartment and turns to the left peering into the bathroom; it was a mess and Arius went slightly wide eyed before shutting the door quickly. "I-I'll be back in a second!" She ran water in the bathroom, left it on as she scrubbed away at something dried and brown on her sink, she'd forgotten to clean up last time, now she was glad she had wandered into her restroom.

When she comes back out she quickly jerks her long sleeves down over her arms, being sure to pull the cloth to cover her arms. "Sorry about that...I had to clean something up really quickly." She eyed him making sure he was sitting down before sitting down again herself, folding her hands into her lap. "Sorry if you're uncomfortable Umair and I forgot to answer your question before I poofed for a bit. Haha! That aside, dinner will be a simple cheeseburger for me, I couldn't get the ingredients for what I had originally intended on making. Lasagna; which lasts me a few days worth of meals, that's the problem with living alone, you only cook for one and I like cooking." She giggled a bit as she answered Umair finally rubbing the back of her hand a little nervously; she obviously wasn't used to having anyone in her space from the way she kept fidgeting and not holding completely still.
 
"Sure." He said with a slight eye roll before he sat down on the couch beside her. She looked way younger than her age, he wondered if she really is 21? She was looking like she is still in her late teens. "Well, I might be wrong in thinking but I have a firm belief that most parents love their kids and don't want to part away from them. Sometimes we all fall prey to our circumstances." Before Umair could realize Arius left the couch and went straight to her bathroom. By the time he caught up to her, Umair noticed she pulled her sleeves down fairly quickly by jerking her hands. Something about her facial expression and body language suggested to him she was trying to hide something.

"A cheese burger sounds incredibly awesome. By the way, what is a Lasagna?" He asked slowly, a little worried not to sound too stupid. He never heard it before. May be it is something fairly common here, he wondered. Waiting for her answer, his eyes drifted back to Arius's arms.
 
Arius blinked a little when he asked about Lasagna but she took a deep breath and laughed, glad for the quick subject change. "It's a pasta dish of sorts, it has meat and cheese and noodles, there's usually sausage mixed into the meat and like three different kinds of cheese in it. I make a more healthy one; at least slightly more so. I put a few layers of vegetables in it making a veggie one that can keep me fed for about a week. You'll have to come over and try it sometime." Arius relaxed on her couch patting the space next to her once again though she kept her arms folded because she had noticed him staring, this was the main reason she didn't like having people in her little apartment, she didn't always clean up the messes she made.

"Anyway, do you like video games?" She smiled sweetly as she gestured at her console on the floor. "I have a ton of two player games but no one to play with! Of course if you don't like video games that's fine too. Oh and you don't have to stick around if you don't want to. I just thought you'd like to have someone to talk to since you're new and all. Oh but don't think that's the only reason I'm talking to you!" She squeaked a bit as she turned bright red staring at Umair with a rather shy look of nervousness now, she really wasn't used to people being in her apartment but she wouldn't mind dealing with it.
 
He listened to her as she explained him the process of preparing Lasagna - walking him through the intricacies of her own style of preparing a more healthy version of it. "That sounds great. I guess I need to visit you often just to check your refrigerator for any traces of Lasagna." There is one thing that Umair noticed about Arius, the girl gets really excited when she is talking about something that interests her. Although he felt a little stupid for his lack of knowledge about various cuisines. She was so polite and wonderful that he had started to feel comfortable in her company.

"Wow!! You like video games. Well, I don't want to sound too stupid again but I used to love them when I was much younger. As I grew up I got engaged in too many things and there was simply no time for playing games. But I do love playing them. I use to play a few on PS3 and Xbox. Strangely I never had a gaming console of my own. I used to go to gaming parlors to play them. And for every hour we have to shell out some money. That was perhaps the worst part." Going back to his childhood memories, he remembered how he used to borrow money to play his favorite video game a couple of hours. "And trust me I'm pretty excited to partner you for a game. So when are we playing? And what all games do you have?"
 
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"Great! I really love Assassin's Creed, do you know what that is? It's single player unless both people have a copy but otherwise it's amazing and fun, it's even fun to watch someone else play; I won't make you watch me play!" She giggled a bit and wiggled in her seat excitedly. "As for two player games I have, let's see. I have Lego games, like Lego Star Wars and Lego Lord of the Rings! If you know what those are, otherwise... hmm...I've got a game called Castle Crashers; it's funny! More serious Co-op though, I have Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6, do you know them? I really love them! Zombies everywhere it's awesome!" She giggled a bit and clapped her hands together looking for all the world like a little girl who had just gotten a brand new toy.

"Oh another system I have is a 3DS, I have Pokemon X and Pokemon Y! I also have Animal Crossing New Leaf Town...I have Fire Emblem and also Rune Factory 4 and Harvest Moon: Tale of Two Towns! Other than RPGs I like a lot of building up and farming world games." Arius is smiling now at least though after a little while though she seems to blink and squeak as she launched to her feet and rushed into her kitchen; where now that one was looking there was a cute puppy in a cage wagging it's tail and giving that adorable head tilt puppy dog eyed look. The little dog looked like a German Shepard puppy and it was waggling in it's cage hyperly. "I've got to take her outside, do you want to take your things to your own apartment while I do this? We can talk more about games or what have you after wards!"
 
Arius looked elated as she started rambling about her interests in video games, explaining and listing her favorite games to him. Umair was not expecting such an avid interests in video games from a girl aged 21, when most girls are interested in fashion and dating. "I used to be a fan of Resident evil franchise. That game blends action and survival horror with intertwining stories as the C-virus breaks out across the world. I guess video games takes you on an adventure, tells a story, and can make you feel something. It's also competitive, goal-oriented, and flexible." Umair said as he recalled he too was interested in video games when he was in his teens, but as he grew he lost interest in them. Both reading and playing video-games takes you away to an imaginary world, whether it's fiction or not, in which you feel like participating and perhaps people find the virtual world more appealing than the real world. He guessed it right, Arius was creating a bubble by engaging herself in video games. The concept of a mental bubble is that a person, creates boundaries about which things are important, and which are not. He or she will leave what's believed to be worth the attention inside, and the rest outside. Those boundaries conform the "bubble".

"I think playing a video game is far better than watching a movie because instead of taking a back seat and watching as the story unfolds, video games takes you through the eyes of the protagonist/main cast and experience the ordeal with input from the player. Trust me there is a huge difference in making the choice yourself than watching someone else do it." He said. "Well, you don't have to wait too long, I'm going to knock on your door this weekend to play some of these two player games."

As Arius explained she needed to take her dog out, he stood there listening. He tried to remain still, and did not want to disturb her any more. "Oh Sure, I should get going, I'm super hungry and my partner will kill me if I wont give him something to eat. But I will definitely be back this weekend. By the way you got a cute puppy dog there." He soon left for his apartment.
 
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