The mall. The place where teenagers went as often as they could, generally just to hang out. Yet here was Arcenbryght Meyers there alone. Why? No reason. He had just felt like coming. It was a Saturday and he had just had to get away from Aura. Seeing the same grounds every day irritated him so he had come to the best place to waste some time; the mall. Why not? If girls could waste time there, so could guys. Why not? Was there some law against it? As little as Bryght knew about the judicial system of the United States of America, he was pretty sure that there was no law barring males from wandering through malls. So that was precisely what he was doing.

Well... Perhaps not wandering. He was looking too. Forgive him if he took pride in looking appropriate. Why could only girls like new clothes? Didn't everybody, even those who denied it, like new clothes and belongings? Of course they did! Bryght was just a bit more enthusiastic than others. People called him metrosexual for it, but he didn't really mind. If they wanted to look like brutes, that was their prerogative. He, on the other hand, preferred to look like a respectable, young specimen of the human race as often as he could. Sure, he enjoyed getting rough on the soccer field, but if the choice was to walk around covered in mud or wearing a nice, clean outfit, he'd most definitely pick the latter. And why not? Was there a problem with looking good? Whoever thought so most definitely did not have the same mindset as the Brit.

He walked throughout the mall, pausing to look in a stores window every now and then. His hands hung limply at his side as he walked for as of yet he had no bags. Bryght hated that feeling, not having anything to do with his hands. If he walked around with them in his pocket, he would feel stupid. If he walked around with them crossed against his chest, he would feel as if he were coming across as someone upset with the world. And he most definitely was not. What he was was most definitely bored. And tired. He had spent the night before writing a paper in order to be able to relax the entire Saturday and Sunday. And why not? Just because he liked getting good grades didn't mean he had to spend all of his time doing schoolwork. If he could get it done sooner rather than later, he would take the opportunity. And he had. So here he was, tired, bored, and wandering a mall all on his lonesome.

How pitiful.

But Bryght didn't truly mind. Sometimes solitude was nice. And other times... Well, not so much. But who really cared? The brunette yawned and he realized just how tired he was. He glanced around with his blue eyes for a moment, hoping for some reprieve from his exhaustion. Spotting a coffee shop, Bryght decided that a cup of coffee would most definitely wake him up. And although not wealthy, he was middle class and he could afford a cup of coffee. So, the junior headed to the coffee shop, entered it and made his way to the counter. Upon being asked how he could be helped, he asked for a coffee and as it was being prepared, he paid for it.

As he waited, he glanced around at the other patrons of the store and didn't find anyone particularly interesting. What a pity.

((Eee... That was bad. I'm so sorry!))

Charli had been at Aura Academy for a total of two weeks. In that two weeks, she had discovered the location of her dorm, her main classroom and conveniently enough, the cafeteria. However, also in that two weeks, Charli had taken a dozen wrong turns, walked into the wrong classroom, got lost reading a map trying to find her dorm and so on. Basically, Charli was hopelessly lost in America. Yes, she did miss Australia terribly, but she also loved the adventure of been in another country at another school...even if that did include her losing her way many times a day.

Today, for reasons uknown to her own logic, Charli had decided to venture out of Aura Academy and explore what New York City had to offer. Possibly not the best idea for someone with Charli's abilities to read a map and actually find the correct location, but she had to get out sooner or later. So, Charli had headed off that morning, leaving her young Border Collie dog Sebastien safely at the school, and embarked on a Saturday's adventure.

Charli had instincivley headed off to the mall for two main reasons. She knew that many other students go there on Saturdays so it would be safe to discreetly follow a group there. And also she had a fair idea of the location of the mall herself, having passed it when first arriving at Aura. So she figured, hoping her logic served her well, that she would be able to get there and back without too many difficulties.

So Charli arrived at the mall, feeling rather pleased with herself that she had arrived safely. She realised only when she got there, that she had no plan of what to do after arriving. She didn't have much cash on her so buying a number of items was out of the question. Charli decided impulsively, that the safest thing to do was to just take a seat and have a drink, so troubles in that. And so , Charli headed over to an inviting looking coffee shop and ordered a hot chocolate. Giving the money over the counter and receiving her drink, Charli turned around cautiously and made to find a table. Charli spotted the closest table and quickly sat down before her drink could spill. Upon sitting down, however, Charli pulled her chair out a little too quickly and it bumped the person sitting behind her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She blurted out an apology as he turned around to see what caused the collision.

Bryght was glancing around so much that he didn't notice when a girl took the seat beside where he was standing. How had he not noticed? Well... Bryght never was the most perceptive person ever. At least not off the football, or whatever it was called here, field. When playing the game he loved the most, he was extremly open to the world around him. It was just the rest of the time that he occasionally got into trouble for not paying attention. And today, he got into trouble when a girl, another student of Aura by the looks of her, bumped into him and then promptly apologized.

Shrugging with a smile, Bryght was about to say that it was no problem and return to watching the rest of the patrons of the store. But then his mind truly heard what she had said. Not her words, but rather her voice. And the fact that it was most definitely not American. But not British either. "You Australian?" the Brit asked, seemingly out of the blue.

However, before she had a chance to respond, an order for coffee was placed out on the pick-up counter and Bryght said, "hold that thought." He walked over to the counter and picked up his drink. He brought it to his mouth and as he drank, the light in his blue eyes became brightened. More awake, rather. He walked back to where he had been and smiled towards the girl. "Didn't mean to be rude but you know how it is when you need some caffeine," he added with a shrug. He then caught a whiff of her drink and smelled chocolate and so he added, "or chocolate, whatever your preference is."

He looked at her for a moment and tried to place her but found that he couldn't. If his hearing hadn't gone bad since last night, he had heard an accent that was most definitely not American. And one didn't exactly hear many of them at Aura Academy. A pit too for he found that most American's were extremly vulgar and unrefined. That's what you get from a nation of rebel-rouser's. Not that Bryght thought they shouldn't have rebelled. Had he lived in the Americas during the eighteenth century he most probably would have supported the American Revolution. But honestly, their heritage was just that; people who started a chain reaction of rebellions around the world so who could blame them for being a bit vulgar?

Charli felt herself blushing as the boy turned around. She did not see any apparent reason to begin blushing, but it was simply just her annoying nervousness that struck at the most inconvenient times. She thought she recognised him from Aura, but couldn't place a name to the face. Instead, she stood their awkwardly with her hand on the table as he smiled off the apology. Just as Charli felt an awkward silence moment dawning upon her, the boy spoke much to Charli's relief. As he noted her odd accent, she gave a rather shy smile. She tended to forgot that her voice was not like everyone else's in America even though many people pointed this out to her at Aura.

"Oh, yes.." Charli began however the boy seemed preoccupied with getting his caffeine fix. After going to the counter, he came back over with a satisfied expression after taking a sip of his drink.
"Oh, yes, can't say I'm much of a caffeine fan but I'd die without a regular hot chocolate." Charli said, with a small grin at the end of her sentence. As the boy spoke, Charli noted a vivid hint of another accent overlapping his words, which prompted her to answer the unfinished question of before. "And for the record, I am Australian. And by the sounds of it...I'd say you're British?"
As Charli spoke, she too heard the difference in her accent above voices in the coffee shop, and she wondered vaguely just how strange it was to have an Aussie accent in comparison to the harsh American ones that she was struggling to grow accustomed to.


[gah, sorry, struggling to locate my muse =P]

Bryght pointed to the seat beside her and asked, "may I sit here?" Before waiting for a response, he occupied the seat and continued his end of the conversation. After all, it was a strain on his neck to look down at her while he was standing upright and she was sitting several feet beneath him. "Actually, my preferred drink of choice is tea. But," he lowered his voice so that only she could hear, "the stuff they serve here is made filled with sugar and makes me want to vomit every time I get a whiff of it. So coffee is my drink here at Aura but tea is my true weakness. I'd give twenty dollars to have a cup of good ol' English tea." He sighed and grinned at his antics. "Sorry. I'm in the midst of tea withdrawal. Happens every year. Ends around June and then I go back home and it starts all over again. It sucks, actually."

And then, in response to her question he nodded. "And damn proud of it. There are one or two other Brits around here, but I don't think I know any other Aussies," and then as if he realized he had not yet introduced himself, he added, "I'm Bryght Meyers by the way." He decided against shaking her hand just for the fact that his hands were, at that moment, warming themselves around his cup of coffee. Even inside of the mall, it was still damn chilly. It was in the middle of the winter after all. That was one of the few things that Bryght preferred America over Britain for. They had snow while at home all they had was rain.

((Don't worry about it. I have also. But that may be because it's 3:30 in the morning... I should get some sleep...)

The next part of the conversation lost Charli as her new acquaintance was suddenly seated opposite her. She heard the request and even though he was sitting before her response was given, she didn't mind in the slightest. After all, Charli wasn't one to complain with meeting new people, it didn't happen all that often for her.
Charli grinned at his explanation for tea cravings. She actually find listening to his accent was rather intriguing as she rarely heard any accents but those back in Australia, which to her were just natural.
"Can't say I've ever had an English tea. This is my first time out of Australia." Charli replied with a grin. "Oh, you're lucky to go back to England each year. I would love to travel to Europe.."
Charli cut herself off before beginning to ramble about her dreams to travel, something she often found herself doing.

'I imagine I'm one of a kind over here!" Charli said with a small laugh, "I've only met Americans so far - excluding you from that now of course."
"Oh, I'm Charli. Short for Charlotte, that is. Charlotte Peyton." Charli introduced herself in a ramble as she shook the Bryght's polite hand.
As she took another sip of her hot chocolate, Charli felt a grateful warmth flow through her.
"I guess you're used to the cold over here." She said thoughtfully. "Back in Australia, this weather only occurs in the mountains." She added with a slight shiver as she saw rain pattering on the windows.


[yeah, you probably should sleep. I have no excuse...it's only 7:40pm over here in Aus!]

((This'll be my last response for the evening and it'll be worse, if possible, than my previous one. I've been caught up in starting a new site. It's my first time ever starting one from complete scratch and I have to say, save for the clashing colors and the little problem with coding that I'll fix in the morning, it's coming out pretty well so far! Yay me!))

The junior's blue eyes nearly popped out of his head when he heard that the girl had never had proper English tea. "You poor thing," he said in a joking manner. "Hopefully my mum'll send me her usual gift of it come Christmas and I'll share some with you, if you ask nicely." Even if he had just met the girl, it wasn't a false offer; no person should go without drinking proper tea at least once in their life. "And if it's any condolences, Europe's not all that nice. France is filled with people who never shave or take showers and Germany's filled with people who sound as if they're shouting all the time. And that's merely the professors at the University's which my father drags me to. Imagine the rest of the populace."

Bryght smiled and raised his drink to his lips once more before responding. "Well, I'm glad to give you a reprieve from the horridly dry accents of the Americans. And it's a pleasure to meet you Charli. I'd tell you what Bryght is short for, but honestly it's too damn embaressing," he said with a wry grin. "And as for the cold... Eh. It's just as cold at home, just a bit more wet. And we hardly ever get snow so I guess that's a good thing about being here."

He paused, realizing that it sounded like he didn't like being there so he hurriedly added, "not that I'm saying there are reasons I don't like it here. It's great here at Aura."

(( ooh, thats fine! good luck with your site!! ))

Charli laughed at the offer of some English tea, not certain whether she should be taking it seriously, so she took it in an appreciative manner anyway.
"Well I guess my life can't be denied English tea forever," She said with a grin.
At his description of France and Germany, Charli gave another laugh. She could speak both these languages fluently along with many other European languages, but she had never even come close to going to them, except with the connection of her mother being French, but even still they had never travelled back there.
"Hah, sounds like you have a very high opinion of Europe then." Charli said jokingly. She had many dry opinions on many European countries but refused to believe them until she had been there herself.

"Well I guess I can only speculate on what 'Bryght' is short for," Charli said after she too took another sip of her hot chocolate. "Ah, yes, I can imagine weather similarities from here and England." Charli said thoughtfully, "Australia is just one of a kind, literally, boiling summers and unpredictable winters. I must say that coming here is a great way to experience different cultures, and of course weather.."

Bryght grinned and just said, "of course not. Life without English tea is... Well, life. God! Why are we so obsessed with tea?" The question was rhetorical, of course, and he said it with a laugh. He was laughing at himself and his homeland. "It's not even real English tea. Us Brits are renowned for our tea when really it's all from Asia and Africa." Ahh... How pitiful. He had realized this in the past, of course. He had even had this very same conversation before. But really, how much could one talk about English tea? Not a whole hell lot.

As to his view on the nations of Europe, Bryght just shrugged. "Oh... Well, if I were actually able to enjoy the countries, I probably would love them. But every time my family goes on a 'vacation' there, it turns into touring universities and going to boring museum openings. You know that you've been to one museum too many when the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in France turns into Guernica at the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid. Don't try and imagine it. It's not a pretty thought." Most guys at Aura wouldn't admit that they knew what culture is. But then again, most guys at Aura were brutish Americans.

Bryght didn't respond to her speculation about his name. Few people at Aura Academy knew his first name. The only people who knew it, in fact, were those who were in his classes on the first day and had actually paid attention to the roll call before he told all of the teacher's that his name was Bryght rather than Arcenbryght. However, he did say, "yeah... Well, I also wouldn't like boiling weather. I mean, I definitely prefer gloomy, rainy days to sunny bright ones." And yes, he was mocking her.

Charli smiled at his rhetorical question. Of course, Brits were renowned in Australia for always drinking tea. The reason for this was one that remained a mystery, but it made her laugh anyway.
"Well who am I as an Australia to critisize your stolen British tea. We did, after all, steal your language and turn it into slang." Charli added with a grin.

"Hm. I can see why university lectures would turn you off a place." Charli replied to Bryght's view on Europe. "As for museums, I would love to visit the Louvre a thousand times over. But that is coming from a girl who the most extravegant museum I've been to is the Melbourne Museum and the greatest icon there is Phar Lap." Charli realised too late that she had rambled. She was suddenly aware that Bryght may not even know who or what Phar Lap is, so she quickly added in hope to redeem herself, "Not that Phar Lap isn't one incredible race horse."

Charli smirked at his mocking response to the weather. "Oh, don't get me wrong, gloomy weather is always a welcoming sight." She said sarcastically. "If you ever have the chance to experience an Australian summer, you'll understand that flies are God's worst creation and ruin just about every aspect of summer down under!" She said with a laugh.

Bryght chuckled softly at Charlotte's words. Would it be wrong of him to correct her when she was trying to make a point. A wrong point, but a point. Why yes, he most definitely could. He inhaled and said, "well... You see... Your country is really made up of the remains of one of our penal colonies so in actuality, you didn't steal anything. Well, at least, nothing except what had caused your ancestors to end up on the lovely continent of Australia anyway."

The Brit laughed softly again at her words. "Well, that is a pity. Not that race horses aren't thrilling, I'm sure," he added the last word dryly. "You know, to rectify that, you should probably ask the school to go on a field trip. I mean, I know I'd simply love to see the rest of our classmates moaning and groaning while the two of us enjoyed the culture." After a moment, he added, "you know, I don't think I've ever been to an American museum."

He just shook his head and sighed. "Silly girl. England has flies too. Trust me. We don't have any love of them either. But sunshine... Well, at least it doesn't elude you Australians. We're lucky if we get a week of straight sunlight. Damned depressing, honestly."

"Ah, that is true," Charli laughed at her own contradiction. "It's just lovely knowing that my home country was built on the foundation of Britian's criminal." She added with a grin. Charli took another sip of her hot chocolate which was cooling down slightly now. She had not realised in the time they had been talking she had been absently taking sips which resulted in her cup been near empty.

"Ahh, a culturally enriched excursion.." Charli said with a smile, "that would be quite a sight to see America's museums, and our fellow classmates hating every second of it!" Charli had been planning to visit some of the museums around here, it was just the means of transport and financial issues that held her back from seeing the sights of New York. But that was the least of her worries, she still had to find her way around the school before heading out too much!

"Of course there would be flies in England, but you see, the only perception I have is what was on the Australian news. And that normally consisted of snow storms and flooding.." Charli mused, thinking back to Australia as she did so often. However, even from those perceptions she gained of England, she did not think at all that it would be a depressing place to live, but that was possibly due to her fixation of British accents.

((I'm really sorry for not responding earlier. It's a bit harder for me to roleplay as Bryght than most of my other characters for some reason. I am trying though, because I do like playing him. ))

"Well," Bryght said with a grin, "we do have the best criminals so you wouldn't want to be a nation descended from the worst criminals, now would you do? I don't know who that would be... Maybe those lousy Americans? I hear they're all quite deranged." The last part he said in a jovial manner, in jest. He didn't mind Americans. Hell, he had been going to school with them for more than two years already. No, he just didn't mind putting them down. Not anymore than he minded putting down Britain. But at the moment, he looked like a staunch defender of his nation and that was alright with him. After all, when it comes to your own country and a rabble rousing nation built from your country's colonies, you'd better pick your own or else.

He laughed at her words about museums and just shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe one of them would decided to animate the dinosaur bones at the Museum of Natural History. That would be amusing..." just thinking about it made Bryght laugh. The sad thing was that if they ever went there, some trouble maker would definitely do exactly what he had just said. "Oh the poor places that accept us when the administration takes us off campus."

"Oh, come on. It's not quite so bad," Bryght said as he started to tap his hand against the table top. "We get sunny days too." He paused and added, "it's a good summer if we get a full week of sun."