Susan was not the first girl Pia had met that had been sent here by her parents in the hopes of hammering their sexuality in line. If those parents only knew..

"Just wait a second.."

Pia darted over to another door and knocked, and after a few seconds the door was opened. A quick exchange of words later, an Pia had her keycard. Quickly she unlocked her door.
"Welcome to my humble den", she said, and opened it. Pia's room was similar to most of the other rooms. It was obviously meant to house two, as there was two beds, but only one was in use, the other serving as a sofa.

Otherwise the room was rather neat, with the exception of a rather cluttered desk and a pile of laundry.

Pia sighed with relief as she found her glasses and put them on. Her near-sightedness wasn't that bad, but she felt rather helpless without them anyway.

Susan took a quick look around the room as she entered. While there weren't any big surprises, it told her a bit more about her new friend. Most significantly, it removed any lingering doubts she may have had about leaving her spare keycard with Pia, revealing both that she was unlikely to lose it and that she didn't have a roommate who might be a problem.

"It's nice. Also a lot better organized than I could manage." While Susan's room had less obvious clutter, that was entirely due to her having more space to store stuff. While she was sure there was some rhyme or reason behind who got assigned single, double, or quadruple rooms, not to mention who got a roommate assigned, she had absolutely no idea what it might be.

As Pia got her glasses, Susan fished out the spare keycard she'd picked up when Pia had offered to hang onto it for her.

"You.. are you sure about this?", Pia said, accepting Susan's keycard. To her, it was a display of trust. While Pia had no intention of sneaking into anyone's room uninvited, she tended to take any trust people offered her very seriously.
"I am.. very flattered that you trust me with this. If you need it for.. any reason, please knock on my door. Any time."

Pia went and put the card in a drawer. Then she grabbed her bag and stuffed a couple of books and a notepad in it. She hesitated a little. There was something else she wanted to say to, preferably now before she lost her nerve.

"Susan..", she began. "I think.. well, I guess.. that we both now that not everything is.. all right in this place. So I want to thank you again for taking me in last night. I was vulnerable.. and I guess not everyone would have dared to leave their room at night, even for a few minutes. And.. it is hard to explain, but.. what happened afterwards. I really needed it.. it made me feel better than in ages."

Not sure if it was the right thing to do or not, Pia stepped over to Susan and gave her a quick kiss, just a peck on the cheek. Then she was embarrassed of herself again, and reddened a bit and stared at her feet. It was odd, but for some reason, she felt a bit awkward. Pia's tendency for shyness was not always rational, especially considering they had shared a lot more a few hours ago.
"Uh.. do pancakes in the cafeteria sound good?", she muttered, trying to recover herself again.

"You.. are you sure about this?"

Susan nodded. She hadn't known Pia for long, but she was sure that the other girl wouldn't misuse the card.

"I am.. very flattered that you trust me with this. If you need it for.. any reason, please knock on my door. Any time."

A faint blush colored Susan's cheeks; while she knew she was placing a lot of trust in the other girl, she hadn't realized just how seriously Pia took that trust. It was reassuring, though, telling her that her instincts were correct in this case. She'd never been all that good with people, and she'd been second-guessing herself even more after her encounter with Keemari not long after she'd arrived here, so this was a boost to her self confidence.

"I think.. well, I guess.. that we both now that not everything is.. all right in this place. So I want to thank you again for taking me in last night. I was vulnerable.. and I guess not everyone would have dared to leave their room at night, even for a few minutes. And.. it is hard to explain, but.. what happened afterwards. I really needed it.. it made me feel better than in ages."

Susan smiled as Pia kissed her on the cheek. "Knowing the things that happen here, I couldn't lie back and not do something." She kissed the other girl on the cheek before continuing, "I'm just glad it let me meet someone as wonderful as you. And I think I needed last night as much as you did. This place just..." She let the thought dangle; the conversation was getting way too melancholy.

There was a pause before Pia suggested they go for pancakes in the cafeteria. "Sounds like a plan. Let's go."

"Great!", Pia said, smiling. "I am starving!"

Soon they were on their way. Pia really was starving. Which was good sign. When Pia was feeling bad, stressed out or scared, her sleep patterns and her appetite were usually the first causalities. How many times since she had realized she was trapped here had she listlessly picked at a box of yoghurt destined to end up in the garbage, half eaten? Now she had had a good nights sleep, and a solid meal would make everything perfect.

Also, she got to start the day with Susan. Pia hoped to get to know her better.
"So..", she began, a bit unsure about how to start things off, but deciding the obvious would be the better choice. "Where are you from? I'd guess the States, by your language."

"Well, I was born in Hong Kong, actually. My family moved to north Jersey when I was about four, though, so I'm pretty much American by upbringing." Despite what my father or grandparents might want. Or what some of my classmates thought or said. The issue had been a sore point for her in the past, but she'd largely got over it after becoming a U.S. citizen and especially after coming here. No need to bring it up now. She was sure Pia had her own subjects she'd rather not bring up, too. "How about you?" Susan thought her friend was from somewhere in Europe, but she couldn't guess much more specifically than that.

"Oh, I am from Scandinavia. Norway, to be more specific. I lived there all my life until I came here. I was born in Oslo, the capital, but moved with my parents to Bergen in the west a couple of years ago. It is, quite literally, the rainiest city in the world. Maybe that influenced my decision to study at sunny Shokushu too."

Pia darted a step ahead to open a door, holding it open for Susan. Pia liked the way Susan moved. She had certain grace to her, Pia guessed she was good at keeping herself active. Pia liked the long hair too. And her back. And her legs.. Pia snapped back.

"Do you run a lot? You seemed pretty fit.. uh.. I mean, you seem very fit and all".

"I used to run track in high school. More of a sprinter than a distance runner, though. I also played volleyball and practiced karate and judo. Been thinking about joining the teams here, actually." Her reasons for wanting to join were mainly safety in numbers; monsters weren't likely to attack more than one or two students at a time. Still, she wasn't going to bring that up just now; even though they both knew by now that the other also knew about the monsters, as long as they didn't openly acknowledge it, they could pretend everything was normal.

While Pia was clearly in good shape, she also clearly wasn't an athletic type like Susan. "So, what about you? What are your hobbies?"

"Oh, wow.. that is a lot."
Pia was clearly impressed and pleased by Susan's athletic interests. Pia had a tendency to neglect her physical training in favour of studying and indoor activities, even more so here. She particularly liked that Susan did martial arts. Pia thought she detected a bit of physical confidence in her movements, maybe that was why.

"Uh.. I guess you could say I am a bit of a bookworm, really. I guess I spend too much time indoors with my books." Pia felt a bit self-concious, like she was a bit too much of a nerd.
"I do enjoy taking my roller blades for a spin, though. And swimming. The latter was a big part of my motivation for going here, as you can guess. Tropical island and all. I used to think that volleyball was kind of fun, but I wasn't particularly good, and haven't done any of it for many years."

The truth was that Pia had enjoyed volleyball in junior high, but she, being rather self-concious about her body, was sure everyone was laughing at her butt or bouncing boobs. That some of the looks she got might be ones of envy had escaped her.

"Bet you look awesome when you do martial arts. I kinda like the way it looks when people do katas, the combination of power and precision, if you know what I mean."

In fact, Pia could imagine herself, chased by a creature, jumping behind Susan, who did a matrix move and kicked monster ass. Not likely, Pia knew, but a pleasant fantasy image nonetheless.

"Oh, wow.. that is a lot."

Susan smiled at that; back in high school, Linda had often joked about how many activities Susan was involved in, suggesting that she'd had to cut sleep from her schedule.

"Uh.. I guess you could say I am a bit of a bookworm, really. I guess I spend too much time indoors with my books."

"It's only too much time if you'd rather be doing something else." While Pia was naturally light-skinned, she didn't look like she spent almost all of her time indoors. She confirmed this pretty quickly, saying that she liked rollerblading and swimming.

"Well, we all have things we'd like to do but aren't good at," Susan said in response to Pia's comments about volleyball. "I never had the time to learn to rollerblade. Not beyond being able to stay balanced, anyway."

"Bet you look awesome when you do martial arts. I kinda like the way it looks when people do katas, the combination of power and precision, if you know what I mean."

"I... guess." She sounded skeptical, as if she couldn't quite accept the possibility that her martial arts would look that impressive to anyone. "I'm nowhere near any of my teachers, though." After a brief pause in thought, she added, "Not sure how impressive it really looked to the last few to comment on it. They seemed a bit... ditzy at times, and they may have been lying somewhat to manipulate me." No need to mention that 'they' had been a group of fairies who'd managed to trick her to have their way with her.

That the last comment hinted at a monstrous encounter passed by Pia with a mile.
"Oh, I am sure you are good. But I don't know much about martial arts, so I guess I am the ditzy one here", she said with a laugh. "The only martial arts I have ever tried is hide-fu and run away-jutsu."

Pia walked a bit more confident now than she usually did, a bit more energy and bounce in her steps. It really was a good morning, and she was looking forward to breakfast. In fact, her belly started growling as they drew nearer the cafeteria.

Susan laughed at Pia's 'martial arts'; a surprisingly gentle laugh without even a hint of malice behind it. "Don't knock 'em. Those two can be very useful martial arts to know. Seriously, though, I'm probably better than I made it sound. I'm my own worst critic at times." After a brief moment, she added, "And by 'ditzy,' I didn't mean 'didn't know much about some particular topic.' Everyone has some of those. That group... Well, I'd honestly be surprised if one of them wasn't easily distracted by shiny things, and the others didn't seem much better, really." The conversation was moving towards dangerous territory, but there wasn't anything Susan could do except hope Pia didn't ask too much about the subject. There was only so much she could do to keep certain details vague.

Pia's stomach growled, providing an opportunity to shift the topic. "Sounds like you're as hungry as I am. Good thing our long journey is almost over," she said with a grin.

(Sorry about the late reply )

"Yeah, I guess there are some like that everywhere.."
Pia really missed the mark on Susan's last comment. Most monsters Pia had encountered did not really did fit the description distracted by shiny objects, so Pia assumed Susan was talking about a group of students. A lot of the students seemed to be more concerned with the lack of potential boyfriends, current fashion, opportunities to sneak of to party and hanging out at the beach than anything, so Pia just assumed it was one of those cliques. She kind of envied their carefree existence, but felt she had little in common with them.

"Yeah, I am about ready for a solid breakfast right now", Pia said as they entered the building of the cafeteria. They had come just before the morning rush, luckily.

"The morning is beautiful. How about grabbing some food and taking a table outside?"

Susan almost breathed a sigh of relief as it became clear that Pia hadn't realized she'd been talking about a monster; she didn't want to spoil the mood just yet. Eventually, they'd have to deal with the subject; if nothing else, Susan was sure that sharing information would help others avoid some of the monsters.

"The morning is beautiful. How about grabbing some food and taking a table outside?"

Even though it shouldn't have, the suggestion took Susan by surprise. She'd often eaten lunch or dinner outside when the weather was nice, but she'd avoided doing so for breakfast because there was almost never anyone else out there that early, so she'd all but forgotten the option was available. After a couple of seconds, she was able to answer.

"Oh, yeah... Sounds like a good idea. Sorry, brief moment of ditziness on my part there," she said with a sheepish grin.

"Good! Let us do that!"

"What will you be having?"
Manoeuvring through the queues was pretty easy, as the breakfast traffic jam usually occurred a little closer to the first classes of the day. Pia stacked up a few pancakes, supplemented by a large glass of orange juice, and made sure she got whatever Susan wanted too.
She made few light-hearted comments along the way, about nothing in particular. There was a couple of things she was curious about, that she wanted to ask, but here was not the place.