[DragonSlayer53: So this is Earth? A place with no dust…]
[DragonSlayer53: Life here must be peaceful.]
"You might say that," Frost replied.
Professor Graka watched Frost with the eyes of an alcoholic hawk as he walked in. The older man looked just as terrible as he did the day before, but it wasn't far inferior to his usual appearance. When Frost sat down, he gave a nod of approval. The feeling of being singled out and tracked by a professor was something he would rather not get used to.
[Checkpointer20: This place is nostalgic somehow.]
[GreatGadfly30: Universities in my time were not nearly as grand.]
"Frost," Lana greeted him as she entered from the other side of the row. "Jesus. You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Mm." Frost pulled his laptop out and unfolded it, noting a small cut across the side of her cheek. "Something like that."
"All of that calligraphy getting to you?" She jested. "Should I massage your wrists?"
"I'll be just fine, thanks." He punched in the login without sparing her a glance. So she didn't believe me last time? Frost wasn't sure what to make of that. Maybe this woman was more competent than he'd previously thought.
"Tsch." Lana slid her chair out loudly and sat down. "You're really no fun. Why do I even sit here?"
"Quit asking me stupid questions," Frost growled.
"Fine," Lana conceded. "I'll ask you an interesting one. What did professor booze-breath say to you last time?" She nodded her head towards the oblivious Graka, who was busy shuffling his notes.
"I think he chewed a mint that day or something," Frost said immediately. "But the talk was… Listen, it's what you expect."
"So you're… What is it that the kids say? Fried?" She asked.
"I think you're looking for cooked. And yeah, I'm basically cooked." Frost sighed.
"Maybe not?" She shrugged. "You're here, aren't you? And surprisingly awake, if I might say so. You even combed your hair today."
"I was told that Scandinavians were kind people," Frost said dryly. She was right, though. The Void energy had a strange way of keeping him alert. The implications of this in his day to day life were… Astounding. The money saved on energy drinks alone would be ridiculous. He quickly got lost in thought about it.
"I've been corrupted in my time here," Lana replied. "Talking to you has made me cynical."
"You sure it wasn't tuition fees?" Frost countered.
"Hmmm." She dropped her head. "Yeah. That too." Recovering from the slump quickly and looking as if she'd just remembered something important, Lana drew a magazine from her side-bag and slid it across the table. "The university isn't without its perks, though." She noted this as the magazine slid to a stop right in front of Frost with perfect precision.
"And this is?" Asked a skeptical Frost.
"The university fashion magazine!" Said Lana excitedly, like a child showing off a new toy.
"We have one of those?" Frost purposely acted dumb. Krista had shown these to him many a time. He basically used it like a catalog for girls, none of which would ever look in his direction. Poor guy.
The girl on the front of this particular volume was none other than Lana wearing a skimpy swimsuit that showed off her slim-fit build. She was the type of woman that most men would admire from afar, content knowing they'd never have a chance. Not to Frost, though. To him, an annoyance was an annoyance regardless of what it looked like.
"The standard for models has lowered," he said.
Lana stared at him, and then turned away looking a little defeated. "Well. You really know how to make a girl feel good, don't you?"
Frost chuckled. "You haven't seen the start of it," he flirted.
"I walked into that," she admitted.
[Checkpointer20: Run away, Lana! This one prefers dead girls!]
"Not funny," Frost said under his breath.
"Hey," Lana said, not hearing him at all, "What do you think his whole deal is, anyway? He looks rough these days…"
Frost looked where she was looking, his eyes fixed on Graka now. "I don't know. I saw him coming out of my dormitory yesterday. He smelled like cheap perfume."
Both of them were silent for a moment after Frost dropped this revelation that he'd previously been too tired to consider. When the words set in, they both turned to each other slowly and locked eyes. Lana had a shit-eating grin on her face.
"You don't think…" She said.
"Surely not," Frost said.
"It totally is," Lana squealed, excited by the drama.
"Conjecture," Frost said.
"Hmmpf." Lana crossed her arms. "You really are no fun."
Frost shrugged. "I never claimed to be."
Graka coughed and cleared his throat, stepping up to the podium proper. "Alright! Another thirty seconds and we'll begin!" He filed through his papers until he'd chosen one he was content with, and then pressed a button on his controller to start rolling out the giant screen and turn on the project.
An audible sigh throughout the class at that. The class was a giant half circle with ascending rows of desks that were all one piece, only breaking for two aisles to descend and access each row. This particular class only had one-hundred students right now, but could have easily fit two-hundred. Frost and Lana sat right in the middle.
"I'm starving," Frost noted. "This is going to be rough."
"Same." Lana reclined back and got as comfortable as she could in the ridiculously stiff seats. Her face was plastered with a deep thought that she eventually decided on. "Lunch after this? What do you say?"
Frost chuckled just a little. "Ah… What the hell."
"I was born in Sweden," Lana explained. "But I was educated in both English and Swedish from a very young age." She was going on with a clearly well-rehearsed lore drop.
[Checkpointer20: How did you let yourself get roped into this?]
[MasterOfTheFlute: Temporary pleasure is a waste of time.]
[GreatGadfly30: On that we agree.]
A feeling, Frost thought, something like gravity that pulls me towards this woman. Not attraction. Something else. Something deeper, more meaningful.
"Mm." Frost sipped on his coffee. "Why come here, then? No universities in the UK? Germany? Even Sweden itself?"
"I wanted to go somewhere my parents wouldn't bother to come visit me," she said, slightly sad.
"Oh… It's like that, is it?"
The cafe was bustling around them. Frost never bothered to come here for that very reason. It was too loud to read, too loud to write, hell it was damn near too loud to talk. But the tea was good, maybe even great when considering the fact that it was made by university students. The breakfast sandwich, too, was well made and superior to most of the places he'd been on campus. Whether it was worth a twenty minute wait was a different question, however.
"I always thought I could be a model," Lana said. She was drinking black coffee, a decision that Frost definitely did not agree with. "They wanted me to be a proper woman," she finished.
"Whatever the hell that means," Frost chimed.
"A housewife, I think." She set the cup down and greedily bit into a BLT. "It's not like I'm opposed to that lifestyle or anything. Staying home and only having to do menial tasks like laundry and dishes would be stress free compared to the life I'm living now. But–"
"But that's not living," Frost finished. "It's not freedom."
"You get it. Anyways, I can't go home. Not now– Not until I've gotten rid of the rules." She sat back, confident that he understood her now. "And you? What brings you here?"
Frost gave a hmmm to buy himself time, mimicking Lana's posture. "I made a promise to someone important to me to see university through."
Lana perked up in surprise. "You're here because of a promise? This person…"
"She's dead," Frost said. It felt strange to admit it out loud. "And my parents are gone, too." He threw his hands up. "Not looking for pity. Just, uh, figured I'd get that out of the way."
"Well. You're certainly making me feel better about my problems, if nothing else," she joked. "I'm sure wherever she is, she'd be proud of you for continuing on."
"You think?" Frost looked up at the ceiling, wondering if there was something up there. "Yeah. I hope so."
Lana smiled, bit into her BLT again and chased it down with more coffee. They fell into awkward silence. It was clear that a lot of questions remained unanswered between the two of them. Frost's callused hands. Lana's callused hands. The others she'd asked about before. Frost wasn't sure how to break into it, or if he should.
"I think I've got to get going. Thanks for the lunch," Frost said. It was best to get moving quickly. She wasn't someone he wanted to deal with long term, so it was prudent to make sure she knew that here and now, and to make his departure before he divulged any more unnecessary details. He'd even kind of told her about Vera… Why? Had his heart grown three sizes in the mines? Ridiculous…
"No worries at all, I've been skipping study time myself," Lana said with a knowing smile.
"We've all been there," Frost said with a fake smile. "See you around."
"See you."
He turned his back to the girl and walked for the door. In that last exchange he had a faint sense of unease. Was it all in his head? Surely not. When had he ever been wrong on his hunch about a person? Frost was pretty good at reading people, or so he thought. He shook his head, wrote it off, and left the cafe.