Cayla doesn't say, Then you must be new, but she does say,
"Well . . . that doesn't really work so well here. People in Milliways pay more attention. Usually."
She pauses, then adds delicately,
"But, um, they tend not to care so much about the stuff that might freak people out on your world. I mean, I definitely don't go around telling total strangers back home that I have a girlfriend, you know?"
"I've noticed," Kim admits wryly, but that last bit makes her half-laugh. There's an enormous gay scene in London, and in a past life she explored every grubby or sequinned inch of it, bringing home a different boy every single night in a desperate, urgent need to believe it was okay, it was FINE, she was just GAY and all she had to do was find the right boy and everything would be okay.
She smiles. It's the first time she's heard the nickname from anyone other than Sherry, which makes it a little easier to gauge (because she'd like anything that Sherry called her). She can feel now, instinctively, that it fits. She can start using it for real soon. Maybe after she graduates or when she starts college. Make all the big changes at once.
"Pleased to meet you, Kim," she answers cheerfully. "Have you been coming here long?"
Kim startles a little, not expecting to be noticed, but then smiles only a little diffidently.
"I don't know," she admits. "I haven't really started it yet."
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She smiles wryly.
"I try not to sneak up on people, but sometimes I do anyway."
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"No, no, it's fine," Kim says, with a little smile. "I just ... wasn't expecting to be noticed, I suppose."
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"Well . . . that doesn't really work so well here. People in Milliways pay more attention. Usually."
She pauses, then adds delicately,
"But, um, they tend not to care so much about the stuff that might freak people out on your world. I mean, I definitely don't go around telling total strangers back home that I have a girlfriend, you know?"
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"I've noticed," Kim admits wryly, but that last bit makes her half-laugh. There's an enormous gay scene in London, and in a past life she explored every grubby or sequinned inch of it, bringing home a different boy every single night in a desperate, urgent need to believe it was okay, it was FINE, she was just GAY and all she had to do was find the right boy and everything would be okay.
...Yeah, that worked out.
"Old habits die hard."
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"I'm" - there is a half-second pause in which she makes an abrupt decision - "Cal."
. . . then she makes a face, because she knows that was a weird place for such a noticeable pause, and explains,
"Uh, I'm trying out a new nickname." Where better for it than Milliways?
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Kim raises her eyebrows slightly, then smiles.
"Kim," she says, raising her glass a little. "Pleased to meet you, Cal."
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"Pleased to meet you, Kim," she answers cheerfully. "Have you been coming here long?"
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Kim shakes her head.
"Just once or twice," she says, before pausing for a moment. "So I'm not exactly ... used to it yet."
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