Chapter 131 - A Formal Greeting (1/2)

After Blaise saved her from death by drowning, Abby found herself much more curious about what kind of man he was. She figured he must like her as a person at least a little since he had shown no hesitation facing the horrors of Mother Nature for her so she decided they should be friends.

She had always made friends easily but since coming to this world no one had been interested in deepening an acquaintanceship with her. She was the pretty little foreigner who was meant to be seen and not talked to.

He was the only one who had expressed genuine interest in her life so she figured he would make a good friend. At the very least he had proven himself to be rather dependable in a pinch.

Coaxing information out of Blaise was not unlike pulling teeth but once he became more used to it the conversation flowed almost naturally. Abby couldn't deny that hearing about life in a fictional country was intriguing.

Sure, she had lived through it for the past few months but it was different hearing things from a local's perspective. They had different thoughts, hobbies, and aspirations than people back home did.

Though there were certain things that seemed to be universal. Blaise joined up with the Warriors because he wanted to escape his hometown and his family's expectations for him.

She knew a few people back home who had joined the military to get free college because they couldn't afford it or wanted to leave their dysfunctional families behind. This didn't seem to be terribly different from that.

Abby tried to imagine what kind of person Blaise would be if he were in her world but couldn't. He was so stiff and humorless! The only people she had met like that back home were professors and they were old men.

Not everyone here was completely without a sense of humor…Katie had married a funny guy according to the novel. Maybe Blaise was weird even by the standards here. Or it was Al who was the weird one.

She hadn't spent enough time around the people in Shibatsu on a personal level to realize whether or not humor was standard or if they were a country of stiffs. People hardly ever seemed to laugh but that might be a situational thing. Who laughed in a book store or while getting clothes tailored?

Even though her new friend was on the odd side she couldn't deny that he made the trip much more tolerable. They found time to talk to each other every day and usually ate their rations side by side, the same way they used to eat lunch out in town square.

When the storms finally let up enough to allow people back on deck, they spent their time staring out at the ocean. Her experience hadn't made her too afraid of it to appreciate its' majesty. The ocean was beautiful and the fresh air was too much of a temptation to ignore.

Though the first few times she went back up there she couldn't help but tremble a little at the reminder of how she had nearly died. Her parents always warned her about riptides and currents when they went to the beach but she didn't pay it any mind at the time.

She wasn't going any deeper than her waist! What danger was there in that?