A New Acquaintance (Kris)

[KRISTINE "LOTTE" DAY]

Through this world I've stumbled
so many times betrayed
trying to find an honest word to find
the truth enslaved
oh you speak to me in riddles
and you speak to me in rhymes
my body aches to breathe your breath
your words keep me alive

Kristine's face lit up when she heard his voice, and her heart began to beat a million miles an hour. Girls talked about how much they loved English accents, but she'd never heard such a sweet, soothing drawl. It sent embarrassing shivers through her body, and caused her to learn forward a little bit, her bare knees poking up out of the blankets and into the view of the webcam.

"Thank you," she said quietly, and then again, "Thank you... thanks..." The bridge of her nose went pink and she hid behind her bangs. In the back of her mind, she knew that this was wrong--and a little weird. He'd contacted her just mere hours ago and they were already speaking, and she was blushing like an idiot.

"Dog-- oh, yes," she said, turning and nudging Oskar a little. "Wake up, baby boy... vakna, vakna." The dog raised his head and perked his ears, looking over at the screen. "Yeah, he used to be a racing dog, but I rescued him a couple years ago." The dog was still tired and rested his nozzle against her cleavage, where she pet his face with a smile.

"Do you--I mean, do you have any--? I mean, do you like animals at all?" Kristine was so needlessly nervous that her accent was beginning to show through a bit.

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[ERIK DANIEL LENOIR]

Erik smiled when he saw the dog and how Kris seemed to be so attached to him. Dogs...yes I like them. If they're well behaved. Cats are a bit more my style. Or dogs that are calm like cats. Your little chap seems like he's somewhat of a calm fellow. I don't have a pet. At least not now, at the present time.

He paused for a moment and kept looking at Kris. She really was stunning. And that makeup did nothing for her. If they ever met face to face, he would take her somewhere to have a proper face makeover. One of those places that does makeup for you. She probably didn't have the money for that, she was probably poor and living from paycheck to paycheck. He began to feel a little real emotion for her, rather than just that that tingly feeling. His fatigue from a few moments ago was gone, at least for the moment. He was energised with wanting to know more about Kris.

"I liked your blog. You did an excellent job putting it together. So you live in New York City. How do you like it?" Then he knew he must ask the burning question. It was hard to ask, but it must be asked. He found himself stuttering a bit over the words. "So are you ...eh...married or ...seeing someone perhaps? Any of the chaps on your blog? He held his breath waiting for her answer. Would she think him creepy as the other girl had? Perhaps it was too soon, but he felt some immanent need to reach out to her and be accepted by her. Why? He had no idea. But obsessive fellow that he was, he couldn't leave the idea alone. If she would have said, sure come on over! He would have done just that. Of course she was not about to say that, but he hoped that soon, very soon, he could meet her face to face. The nice little "meet a new acquaintance on the internet" had become an obsession for Erik.

[KRISTINE "LOTTE" DAY]

Through this world I've stumbled
so many times betrayed
trying to find an honest word to find
the truth enslaved
oh you speak to me in riddles
and you speak to me in rhymes
my body aches to breathe your breath
your words keep me alive

Kristine nodded. "Yeah, he's real well-behaved. If it wasn't the law, I could probably walk him without a leash, because he doesn't like to chase. And he really doesn't bark much--his vocals were screwed up when he was a racer, I think..." She smiled and kissed the dog's nose, then looked back up.

"I like cats too, even though I only know one..." That was Mama Valerius's cat, Juno.

She had to think a moment when she asked him about New York. Well, she could answer honestly, or she could lie and say that it was everything she ever dreamed. Kris took a deep breath and began, "Well, um... well, it's a little too big for me. Overwhelming. I keep mostly in my neighborhood... it's easy to forget who you are and what you want." She seemed lost for a moment, looking down into her lap, sad--and then she looked up with a smiled. "I'm sure England's nothing like that. I would like to travel," she said, assuming he lived there.

Kristine was slightly taken aback when he asked her if she was involved, but giggled slightly and shook her head. It wasn't an odd question, really--Ricky had asked her the same thing, and she would have asked Dan eventually. It was just odd timing, she supposed, but she didn't seem to pick up on it. Something about his voice convinced her not to raise a fuss.

"I'm not with anyone... I've had enough of that, y'know?" She coughed a little and brushed a bit of hair behind her ear. "I prefer to keep to myself most of the time."

Now it was her turn to ask a question. "Is your webcam not working or something?"

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[ERIK DANIEL LENOIR]

He watched as she kissed her dog's nose. It was rather sweet how much she cared about her dog. It spoke to her being a caring person. "And he's quiet. Sounds ideal if you're living the city."

She thought he was living in England. He really had to tell her he was in New York if they were to meet face to face sometime. Which he really looked forward to...and yet dreaded. Meeting someone new was always frightening to him, yet once that difficult first part was over, things could get better. Or they were supposed to get better. Most of the time, after a while, all Erik's dates went sour. He wasn't sure why. But he meant to be careful this time, very careful.

"I'm not in England any more. I haven't been there for some years. I'm an American citizen now, dual citizenship really. And I live in New York City too. What a nice coincidence. I thought, when I first found your blog that you could be anywhere. But how fortunate that you are here." He paused a moment. "Yes, New York is big and impersonal. But I like that. You can be anonymous in the midst of a myriad of people."

He was happy when Kris said that she wasn't dating anyone at the present time. She said she was happier being alone. Or maybe she didn't really say that. If he read between the lines, she really was saying the opposite, or so he thought.

"My webcam? It's ....not...working at the moment. I will have to fix it." He didn't really want her to see him, but eventually he would have to. He was getting so tired now that he was afraid he would say something stupid to Kris. Better to get some sleep. He didn't want to wreck this relationship before it had a chance.

"Kris, I'm really becoming weary. I need some sleep. May I speak with you tomorrow? I must go now. Good night, Kris. Happy dreams."
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[KRISTINE "LOTTE" DAY]

Through this world I've stumbled
so many times betrayed
trying to find an honest word to find
the truth enslaved
oh you speak to me in riddles
and you speak to me in rhymes
my body aches to breathe your breath
your words keep me alive

Kristine's brows rose when he mentioned that he was living in New York, and she swore she felt like her heart was going to burst out of her chest. Oskar moved away from her to go curl up again, too tired to deal with his person's strange sleeping patterns. She tried to hide the smile, but it didn't really work, and she grinned down at the blank black screen that served instead of his face.

"Yeah, my friend Osric lives here in New York, too. I haven't met too many people here..." She listened closely to what he said about how impersonal the city was--he seemed to like the feeling of being able to disappear. She did, too, sometimes, because sometimes she wanted to forget who she was and what she wanted. She understood why he said the things he did. "I've been friends with him for awhile, though, so..."

Kristine foolishly believed him when he told her that his webcam was broken, and just nodded. "I hope you get it fixed soon," she said quietly, resting her cheek on her fist and giving the screen a little smile.

Goodnight? He was saying goodnight already... she glanced at the time. Well, it was super late, and she needed more than two hours of sleep, so she nodded a little bit. "Yeah, um, we can chat for awhile later today. I mean, I have work after two or so, but I've got nothing to do til then... unless you have work..."

She would have to wait til tomorrow to ask him all of the questions she wanted to--how old he was, what his job was, where he came from. She found herself acutely interested in him--phantom119. Dan. Kristine leaned forward and smiled. "I'll see you later, then... goodnight," she said, paused a moment, and then hung up on the call. The light that had filled her bedroom disappeared and she was in blackness again.

There was no way she could sleep. She sat up quickly and went to go make some cocoa, puzzling out the nature of this rapid-fire relationship. She cleared her head and thought more rationally--she didn't know him. She shouldn't tell him so much about herself. But for some reason when he spoke she was just... entranced, and forgot all of the rules.

Her heart still hadn't slowed down.

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[ERIK DANIEL LENOIR]

Erik turned off the computer then. He really wanted to stay up all night and into the next day or however long it took. But he had already stayed up 2 days without any real sleep and he feared he would be hallucinating soon. It had happened before. And he didn't care to say anything stupid and outrageous that could ruin everything.

He dressed for bed, lay down and pulled the covers over him. He turned out the lamp and glanced at the alarm clock with digital glowing numbers. 5:57 am. He had stayed up nearly all night with Kris. And then he closed his eyes. But even though his body was screaming for sleep, his mind was going over and over everything she had said. The best news was the she lived in New York. But he wanted to get to know her more over the iinternet before he met her face to face. He had to make her trust him. Trust was all important. Then she would be putty in his hands.

Erik had everything going for him, money, prestige, a good job. A job with no set time to be anywhere. That was what he liked. Oh of course sometimes there were meetings he had to attend at the firm as a consultant. But they weren't often. He could do what he damn well pleased and when he was pleased to do it. Yes, he had to accomplish certain things, but he enjoyed them and took them at his own pace. Now they were working on a small but elegant building that would house a prestigious collection of art pieces. Erik's unusual architectural style was perfect for this. He knew he had to spend some hours on the plans today, as there was a deadline to present the first set of plans.

Finally, he fell asleep, and in his dreams, Kris's smiling face and bits of her videos he had watched kept flitting through his unconscious. He slept long and hard. The next thing he knew, there was a knock on his bedroom door. "Mr Dan, are you in there?" It was Bunny. She had a key to his place. But Erik was so paranoid that he had had a chip put in the key and one in his door lock. No one could duplicate the key for that reason. And if there ever was a reason to keep Bunny out of his home, the chip could be easily reprogrammed from his computer.

He woke up suddenly at her knock and voice. He had a raging headache. "Bunny, I have a headache. Will you make me some breakfast and plenty of coffee." He still loved English tea, but had found that American coffee had a good effect on headaches. It was rather comforting in the morning. "Yes, Mr Dan, right away." She went to make breakfast...which was ridiculous. It was 2:00 pm and the day was half gone.

He dressed and came out looking like a bedraggled cat. He had a little red stubble on the left side of his face but nothing on the right. Bunny had asked him about that once and he had glared at her and said nothing. She never asked again.