New home, old troubles (open)

There was a lot on Kara's mind as she unzipped the duffel bag. Namely, where exactly she had put her Anxiolytic. She closed her eyes and thought as hard as she could. Did she leave it on the bathroom counter? No, she moved it somewhere. She remembered the TSA agent giving her crap about it at the Train station, but did she send it home or put it somewhere else?

>>"Hi. You must be new here. Do you need help unpacking?"

The voice surprised her so much that Kara immediately curled up, threw her hands in front of her face defensively, and screeched at the top of her lungs, "AAAAAAHHHH!!!!"

Then the shock wore off, and she just felt like an idiot.

She parted her hands enough so she could get a good look at the strange boy. Then she quickly decided to close her hands. Finally, slowly, and never taking her eyes off the stranger, she returned to a sitting position (though after a couple moments, she habitually crossed her legs).

She took another good long look at the boy. He didn't look especially dangerous. He actually looked kind of cute. God, now he must think she's insane. 'What were you thinking, Kara?' she thought to herself. 'Now look what you've gone and done! If he panicks and runs, it's totally your fault!' Realizing she was staring, Kara immediately averted her eyes, becoming especially interested in the door frame. The last thing she needed was to make him think she was a creeper on top of being a weirdo. She finally decided that the akward silence was a bit long, and so she mumbled a response.

"Erm...hi...uhhhh.....I'm sorry....for...erm...freaking out like that. You just...erm...surprised me...is all."

'Smooth, Kara. Real smooth.'

Then she thought for a second. Didn't he ask something else? Kara wracked her brain, trying to think of what he said. But there was nothing. She was probably screaming over his question. So she decided to call upon her silver-tongued rapier wit to help her out of this.

"What did you say again?" she stammered.

>>"Oh, I was just asking if you needed help unpacking. I'm Ted, by the way. What's your name?"

"Um...Kara. Carragail. Whichever, I guess. And..." Her voice trailed off as she glanced around at her luggage. Her duffel bag had apparently been kicked over by the local Ms. Clumsypants, though it hadn't splayed her clothes onto the floor. Her suitcase was almost halfway across the room, and was simply laying where she'd haphazardly set it. Her backpack was still on her shoulder, and she still didn't know why. She awkwardly slid it off onto the bed, and glanced around the room idly.

"And...um...kind of. I kind of...misplaced my...anxiety meds," she muttered. "And...where do we check in?"

She grabbed her backpack and set it on her lap, though she had yet to actually do anything with it. She knew her meds couldn't be in there. All there was was her laptop and headphones, maybe a few cables and speakers. No, she wasn't interested in looking there. She was more into the idea of having something solid (well, semi-solid) between her and Ted.

She glanced him over again. Still not lethal-looking

>>"I'll stick with Kara. Sounds easier to pronounce."

"Okay," she breathed, slowly leaning down to grab her duffel bag and straighten it out. She still clutched her backpack to her chest, mostly for comforts sake. Even if it was a bit of a hassle to keep it from falling onto the floor.

She glanced up at him again. He was sure taking his sweet time walking into the room. Which was odd, because he didn't seem very nervous or anything. Naturally, her brain went to the worst possibility, but she immediately busied herself with the duffel bag's stubborn zipper, trying to keep her mind off of that.

>>"I don't know exactly where to check in, it's been a while since I've had to do that. You probably already checked in if you got your room"

"No, I haven't..." She stopped. Then she completely dropped.

They give you your room when you check in.

And Kara hadn't checked in.

'Oh God...What if I'm in the wrong room?' She glanced up at the door, as if expecting the actual owner of this room to stumble in. That would certainly be a situation worth avoiding. But...wait a minute...What if Ted was that person? What if he was just sitting there waiting for her to...no no no! That's not right! He said he'd checked in long ago. But maybe...

>>"Are you expecting something? I'm not going to jump you or anything."

Ted's question completely interrupted her thoughts, so much that she almost jumped up, but didn't. "Oh, no," she stammered, "I just get....anxious...around people."

So he says he isn't threatening. Kara was still mentally deciding if she wanted to believe him or not. But it did beg the question...

"What can you do, anyway?" she blurted out.

>>"I can turn into stuffed animals. Not the most threatening power in the world, but hey...I bring the cuteness to any hide and seek game."

"Oh, ok," Kara muttered. So definitely not threatening. And it was probably a good thing that she didn't own any stuffed animals, so she didn't have to be paranoid about that. And unless Ted knew karate or something similar, which it didn't look like he did (granted, people are full of surprises, but things like that are usually easy to tell from first glance), he wasn't very much of a threat.

'Hear that, brain!?' she mentally hollered to herself. 'NOT dangerous!'

>>"What can you do?"

"Oh, me? I...light up." Then, deciding that was too vague, she added, "Like a lightbulb." She nodded slightly, as if confirming to herself that that was specific enough.

Having successfully zipped up her duffel bag, she scooped it up and placed it on the bed, trying to keep the noise down to a minimum (for no particular reason). Then she went to grab her suitcase, but quickly realized that it was way out of reach. And she didn't want to get up. It was a thing of Kara's; she hated being the first person to stand up in a room. It always made her clench up when she had to, and she'd much rather avoid mentally dealing with that for some stupid suitcase.

On the other hand, though, she really needed to go check in. So for a few long seconds, she simply sat there, caught in a stalemate, nervously eyeing Ted and itching to get up. Finally, she blurted out, "We...we should probably go find the check-in."

For a moment, she paused. We? Why had she said we?

Then the moment passed, and she pushed those thoughts aside.

>>"Sure I'll come with you. I don't have anything else to do. I think I know where to go. Shall we Kara?"

She nodded, standing up slowly and trying to subtly stretch out a cramp or two. In all honesty, Kara was still reeling slightly from Ted's joke about her power. It was so bizarre. There was no, "Oh, man, that's so weird" or, "Show me, so I can put this video on youtube and make a fortune!" It was just a simple little jest, that she even found genuinely funny. It was the last thing she expected to hear, but in a good way.

Maybe this place could be an actual home.

'Don't get ahead of yourself, Kara. You still don't know your roommate.'

In the depth of her thoughts, Kara found herself nearly falling over, having tripped on her suitcase. She quickly steadied herself, then grabbed the suitcase and placed it on the bed. Satisfied that it wouldn't go anywhere, she immediately darted back to the door (though she kept Ted outside of her 'Danger Zone').

Once she arrived, she made a quick gesture, as if to wordlessly say, "After you!"

Kara plodded along behind Ted like an obedient puppy, her gaze shifting between Ted's back, the hallway, the occasional passer-by, and the particularly intricate floorwork (which still wasn't as good as the floor in Neuschwanstein, but that's pretty hard to contend with). They mostly walked in silence, with Ted giving the occasional direction to where they were going. There was no way she'd remember this. She'd probably spend one of her summer days exploring this place and drawing a map for herself.

When she looked up again, she noticed that Ted had stopped, and was now at a very uncomfortably close distance.

She screeched to a halt, then scampered back a few feet until Ted was no longer in the Danger Zone. Then she finally stopped and listened to what he was saying.

>>"Theres a few offices right there. Here ya go... I think."

Kara followed his finger to where he was pointing. It was down a small branch, and a few closed, wooden doors dotted either side.

Kara made an audible gulp. She began walking towards the nearest door, but her progress was significantly hindered by the fact that her legs had spontaneously turned to lead.

A little closer...

A little closer......

Finally, she was less than a foot in front of the door. She went to knock, then withdrew. Then tried and failed again. Finally, she turned to Ted and asked, as if looking for confidence, "You're sure this is the right place."