It was strange to connect with someone so different from herself on such a level as that one. There were few people that understood quite what Siobhan meant when she told them that she had anxiety and panic attacks, and usually they didn’t understand the gravity of it all. It wasn’t that she wanted to be antisocial or that she wanted to stay home from everything (mostly), but sometimes it just wasn’t physically possible for her to do some things.


She smiled at the man who seemed to know exactly what she meant, though. On the surface, they seemed to have nothing in common, but the truth was that there were few people that she had felt that connected to.

She accepted the cup of water from him and dipped her tea bag in, watching as it coloured the water as she swirled it around. Tea was always good to steady nerves.

>>"It is... not easy, navigating a big city like that, huh"

”Yeah, New York is a little scary,” she admitted with a chuckle. Normally she didn’t share fears like that with people, especially not ones that she had just met. ”I’ve been here for more than a year and it’s still a little overwhelming. At least in Dublin people could pronounce my name.”

That was just a joke, but it was something that didn’t make many situations any easier. It was always nerve wracking to walk into a class and know that she would have to speak up to correct the pronunciation of her name. Still, New York had been somewhat good to her.

”Are you from New York or did you move here too?” she asked, not wanting to go off on a tangent and talk exclusively about herself.

They both had their cups of tea, and Javier settled down on his own chair, keeping an ear out for the park. There was music still, and some cheering. If he had to guess, he would have ventured that the proposal was going well.

>>”Yeah, New York is a little scary. I’ve been here for more than a year and it’s still a little overwhelming. At least in Dublin people could pronounce my name.”

Irish, then. Not surprising, given the accent, but Javier never ventured to guess. Too many chances to get it wrong and be offensive, and not many to come off as a polite person. So he usually did not comment or ask, unless the person was willing to offer information on where they were from.

"Yeah, they are not doing that great with mine either." Javier chuckled. Sure, people in the Hispanic neighborhoods had no problems, but as for the rest... he had heard some colorful attempts in his life. He could imagine hers would be even worse.

>>”Are you from New York or did you move here too?”

"I'm from here." Javier admitted "Went to... college, for a while, but then I came back. It's not a bad place, if you grew up here. Depends on the neighborhood, of course, the tourist areas are the worst... Are you studying here?"