Sarah meets Hiro
This has been in the works for EVER. First time writing Hiro, yay. Anywho, takes place before Iambic develops the plot, although the next installment takes place after.
Sarah slunk into Cynicide after school, head down and back ramrod straight. The bell tinkled as she let the door slam behind her, but the sound was more like white noise than a warning signal; a stranger standing at the counter didn’t glance over his shoulder. Candy, chatting him up, didn’t even notice she was there.
‘Huh,’ she thought, ‘something’s going right for once.’ She avoided thinking things she would have thought before. After all, it’d been a pretty good day. The sun had come out of the clouds just as the final bell had rung, and the afternoon light had made the falling leaves pretty enough for her to notice.
Candy was hanging off the kid’s shoulder, grinning broadly as he tried to stutter out answers to her invasive questions and skim through a book and hold the tea and brownie Jamal had forced on him, all at once and without much success.
Rex alone looked up. “Hey, Sarah,” ze welcomed. “How was school?” She ditched her bag next to the door.
“Better than usual,” Sarah answered, observing the situation with obvious curiosity at “the new kid”. Ze stepped out from behind the counter, grabbing her nametag on the way- SARAH CHALLIS- and tossing it to her in passing as ze went to pour her a cup of tea.
Somehow that had become a ritual. She came in from school, usually looking harried and hassled as hell, hair a disaster, and ze sat her down and soothed her frayed nerves and newfound temper without even trying. There was always a kettle boiling at three o’clock. Sarah wondered for a moment about how familiar and welcoming her life had become, and so quickly, at that.
“SARAH!” Candy called excitedly, grinning over her shoulder and making the kid wince a little at the noise, “SPLENDIFIROUS TO SEE YOU.” Sarah braced for the pounce that didn’t come. Candy stayed hanging on New Customer. Huh, Sarah thought, multiple things going well at once. Don’t wake me up.
She snagged her chair at the counter, the one next to Rex’s, and plopped into it with something like contentment, wearing about her mouth something not a frown.
“New customer?” She rolled her eyes at Candy’s immediate intimacy, but addressed the question to Jamal, who was observing the deviation from the routine with a peaceful smile.
“Indeed. Sarah, may I introduce Hiro? He’s a student at the U, a foreign exchange student from Japan. Hiro, this is Sarah, a part-time employee. She attends the local high school.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you!” Hiro said politely, smiling maybe a little nervously and attempting to bow. Rex arrived with Sarah’s mug and took a seat.
She glanced sideways at hir, analytically. “Tochigi, right?” Rex shrugged. Hiro looked shocked. Sarah met his eyes and also shrugged, casually.
“Educated guess.”
He smiled, brightly, and said, “Then you must be very educated!”
Really? She took a sip of tea. The very fact that he was here connotated personal disaster, but this kid- older than her, perhaps, but clearly a kid- was sweeter than cherry pie, in a normal-and-nice way. No wonder Candy was clinging to him like a lifeline, she was probably having the time of her life. I wonder if Shell’s met him yet. It took another sip of her tea to conceal the mirth prompted by that uncharitable thought.
“So Ms. Challis,” began Hiro politely, before Candy poked him in the cheek.
“No, silly,” she sighed in mock-exasperation, “her name’s SARAH.”
“Um, Ms. Sarah?” he tried, meekly.
“Just Sarah is fine,” Sarah assured, more pleasant than usual.
“Sarah, you go to the local high school?”
“Yes.” She indicated her backpack by the door. “”I just started senior year.”
“That’s wonderful,” he smiled. “Do you enjoy it?”
She and Rex snorted in unison. Jamal grinned. “Enjoy isn’t the word I’d use for it,” said Candy, somewhat pensively. “More like, is there a word for ‘they’re all idiots and piss me off’? Isn’t that what idiosyncrasy means?”
“No, Candy,” interjected Jamal, “that is not what idiosyncrasy means.”
“I’m very sorry to hear that!” exclaimed Hiro, looking genuinely saddened. Sarah gave him a very strange look until he blushed, stuttered, and clarified, “I mean, that you don’t like school.”
“It is not exactly your problem, so don’t worry about it. I’m sure you have had plenty of issues adjusting to life here. It is by no means an easy transition.” Jamal smiled at the pleasantries, at the novelty of small talk with Sarah.
“I wish I could help,” said Hiro with an apologetic smile.
“Actually…” Sarah trailed off pensively. Jamal shot her a cautious and cautionary look. Hiro brightened.
“Anything I can do to help!” he offered.
“Part of the problem is that Sarah’s bored,” said Rex. “No one’s nearly as good as she is at science.”
“And there are limited facilities at school, even when I am allowed to do my own projects,” Sarah picked up his line of thought. “But access to the labs at the U… I could analyze DNA strands. I could play with superfluid. Much more advanced lines of inquiry would be available to me, and research would be easier and faster.”
“Access to super-advanced-mad-scientist-labs?” Candy turned the thought over in her head, considering possibilities. An extremely appealing image popped up of Sarah in a white lab coat, hair tied in a fancy bun, wearing narrow little reading glasses and looking through a microscope. “Adorable!” she exclaimed.
Hiro turned the thought over in his head, considering possibilities. The labs were highly protected, top security… especially the ones with important experiments. “Well…” he trailed off, reluctant to say no, “I can ask my physics professor, but it is unlikely he will say yes. The labs are generally off-limits even to college students.”
And unlike before, Sarah’s smile was not mirthless. It had glee. “Give him this,” she ordered, and paced over to her backpack. Out came a large, professional white binder, looking intimidating and important as hell. “My latest research, done without any high-tech equipment. It’s a major synthesis of the current information available on the causes of albinism, along with all my research on the subject and a more-or-less groundbreaking theory.”
“Oh,” commented Hiro, and he took the binder like it was the Torah.
Jamal knew he’d be back a week from Wednesday, holding a set of keys and a somewhat bewildered expression.
Sarah slunk into Cynicide after school, head down and back ramrod straight. The bell tinkled as she let the door slam behind her, but the sound was more like white noise than a warning signal; a stranger standing at the counter didn’t glance over his shoulder. Candy, chatting him up, didn’t even notice she was there.
‘Huh,’ she thought, ‘something’s going right for once.’ She avoided thinking things she would have thought before. After all, it’d been a pretty good day. The sun had come out of the clouds just as the final bell had rung, and the afternoon light had made the falling leaves pretty enough for her to notice.
Candy was hanging off the kid’s shoulder, grinning broadly as he tried to stutter out answers to her invasive questions and skim through a book and hold the tea and brownie Jamal had forced on him, all at once and without much success.
Rex alone looked up. “Hey, Sarah,” ze welcomed. “How was school?” She ditched her bag next to the door.
“Better than usual,” Sarah answered, observing the situation with obvious curiosity at “the new kid”. Ze stepped out from behind the counter, grabbing her nametag on the way- SARAH CHALLIS- and tossing it to her in passing as ze went to pour her a cup of tea.
Somehow that had become a ritual. She came in from school, usually looking harried and hassled as hell, hair a disaster, and ze sat her down and soothed her frayed nerves and newfound temper without even trying. There was always a kettle boiling at three o’clock. Sarah wondered for a moment about how familiar and welcoming her life had become, and so quickly, at that.
“SARAH!” Candy called excitedly, grinning over her shoulder and making the kid wince a little at the noise, “SPLENDIFIROUS TO SEE YOU.” Sarah braced for the pounce that didn’t come. Candy stayed hanging on New Customer. Huh, Sarah thought, multiple things going well at once. Don’t wake me up.
She snagged her chair at the counter, the one next to Rex’s, and plopped into it with something like contentment, wearing about her mouth something not a frown.
“New customer?” She rolled her eyes at Candy’s immediate intimacy, but addressed the question to Jamal, who was observing the deviation from the routine with a peaceful smile.
“Indeed. Sarah, may I introduce Hiro? He’s a student at the U, a foreign exchange student from Japan. Hiro, this is Sarah, a part-time employee. She attends the local high school.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you!” Hiro said politely, smiling maybe a little nervously and attempting to bow. Rex arrived with Sarah’s mug and took a seat.
She glanced sideways at hir, analytically. “Tochigi, right?” Rex shrugged. Hiro looked shocked. Sarah met his eyes and also shrugged, casually.
“Educated guess.”
He smiled, brightly, and said, “Then you must be very educated!”
Really? She took a sip of tea. The very fact that he was here connotated personal disaster, but this kid- older than her, perhaps, but clearly a kid- was sweeter than cherry pie, in a normal-and-nice way. No wonder Candy was clinging to him like a lifeline, she was probably having the time of her life. I wonder if Shell’s met him yet. It took another sip of her tea to conceal the mirth prompted by that uncharitable thought.
“So Ms. Challis,” began Hiro politely, before Candy poked him in the cheek.
“No, silly,” she sighed in mock-exasperation, “her name’s SARAH.”
“Um, Ms. Sarah?” he tried, meekly.
“Just Sarah is fine,” Sarah assured, more pleasant than usual.
“Sarah, you go to the local high school?”
“Yes.” She indicated her backpack by the door. “”I just started senior year.”
“That’s wonderful,” he smiled. “Do you enjoy it?”
She and Rex snorted in unison. Jamal grinned. “Enjoy isn’t the word I’d use for it,” said Candy, somewhat pensively. “More like, is there a word for ‘they’re all idiots and piss me off’? Isn’t that what idiosyncrasy means?”
“No, Candy,” interjected Jamal, “that is not what idiosyncrasy means.”
“I’m very sorry to hear that!” exclaimed Hiro, looking genuinely saddened. Sarah gave him a very strange look until he blushed, stuttered, and clarified, “I mean, that you don’t like school.”
“It is not exactly your problem, so don’t worry about it. I’m sure you have had plenty of issues adjusting to life here. It is by no means an easy transition.” Jamal smiled at the pleasantries, at the novelty of small talk with Sarah.
“I wish I could help,” said Hiro with an apologetic smile.
“Actually…” Sarah trailed off pensively. Jamal shot her a cautious and cautionary look. Hiro brightened.
“Anything I can do to help!” he offered.
“Part of the problem is that Sarah’s bored,” said Rex. “No one’s nearly as good as she is at science.”
“And there are limited facilities at school, even when I am allowed to do my own projects,” Sarah picked up his line of thought. “But access to the labs at the U… I could analyze DNA strands. I could play with superfluid. Much more advanced lines of inquiry would be available to me, and research would be easier and faster.”
“Access to super-advanced-mad-scientist-labs?” Candy turned the thought over in her head, considering possibilities. An extremely appealing image popped up of Sarah in a white lab coat, hair tied in a fancy bun, wearing narrow little reading glasses and looking through a microscope. “Adorable!” she exclaimed.
Hiro turned the thought over in his head, considering possibilities. The labs were highly protected, top security… especially the ones with important experiments. “Well…” he trailed off, reluctant to say no, “I can ask my physics professor, but it is unlikely he will say yes. The labs are generally off-limits even to college students.”
And unlike before, Sarah’s smile was not mirthless. It had glee. “Give him this,” she ordered, and paced over to her backpack. Out came a large, professional white binder, looking intimidating and important as hell. “My latest research, done without any high-tech equipment. It’s a major synthesis of the current information available on the causes of albinism, along with all my research on the subject and a more-or-less groundbreaking theory.”
“Oh,” commented Hiro, and he took the binder like it was the Torah.
Jamal knew he’d be back a week from Wednesday, holding a set of keys and a somewhat bewildered expression.