Realistic or Modern Fellow Strangers

[BittyBobcat]

Tucker Quinn
The cafe, though still full of the low murmur of conversation and the clinking of various dishes, was surprisingly idle. Three or four customers sat, scattered across the various seats and tables throughout the building, and the line to the counter was nonexistent. Despite the numerous caffeinated drinks in the room, an air of sleepy calm permeated the afternoon light that shone through the windows.
Quiet moments like these were rare for Tucker, and he wasn't about to waste it. Taking a sip from his caramel latte (a rejected drink which was still labelled for one "Karen S."), he propped himself against the wall and pulled out his phone.
With the slightly bulky phone case on his fingertips (Tucker would rather have a heavy phone than a broken one), he clicked a familiar yellow-and-brown icon of a cartoonish Jack Russell terrier, opening what was probably his most used app. Aurev. A messaging app for meeting strangers.
A slight frown met his face when Tucker realized that there were no notifications from any of his previous chats, but he shrugged it off (his friends, he decided, were probably offline). And, having nothing better to do, he pressed the small, green button that lead him to meeting most of his online acquaintances.
Finding new chat partner
...
..
.
Chatroom created!
Spidey is typing...
Spidey: Hello!

( Blxrt )​

 

[Blxrt]

Jaiden Tompson

Jaiden found himself staring at the ceiling of his dimmed apartment room, resting an arm absentmindedly across his forehead. He laid in bed, his legs crossed at the ankles, a casual rest-and-relaxation pose. He was exhausted.
He reached towards the nightstand for his phone, his lithe fingers wrapping around the avocado-themed phone case. (Jaiden loved avocadoes.) Jaiden unlocked his phone with his fingerprint ID, and checked his social media for a bit. However, he soon grew bored - his attention wandered to Aurev, an app he'd never really tried. He'd only downloaded it on a dare from one of his ex-friends, and had never touched it except to make an online profile.
He tapped on the application, opening it and seeing that, unsurprisingly, he had no new messages. Just as he was going to close the app, a quiet chirp! let him know that a chatroom between him and another user had been opened. Jaiden sat up, pushing the hair from his eyes and skimmed the user's info. Spidey.

Graveyard is typing...

Graveyard: Hello.

( BittyBobcat )​

 

[BittyBobcat]

Tucker Quinn
A small smile flickered across Tucker's face.
Spidey: Nice to meet ya!
His mind wandered momentarily toward his profile. He had never added much to it. Just a short, simple bio ("I'm Spidey! I like spiders, dogs, and baking!") and a profile picture (a cute photo he found of a spider with a dewdrop on it's head). Maybe he would add more later now that it was on his mind, but that would be saved for another time.
For now, Tucker would talk with his (hopefully) new friend.
Spidey: Fair warning; I'm at work right now, so sorry if I have to leave suddenly
How are you?

( Blxrt )​

 

[Blxrt]

Jaiden Tompson

Jaiden smiled at his phone, then promptly began to type a response.

Graveyard: That's understandable. It's a pleasure to meeet you.
I'm alright, how are you?

Jaiden yawned slightly and rubbed his eyes. He was tired from late-night endeavors, but was also excited about possibly having an online friend, or even just acquaintance. It'd been a while since he'd had a truly good friendship.

( BittyBobcat )​

 

[BittyBobcat]

Tucker Quinn
Spidey: Pretty good. It's been a bit weird lately just cause it's almost Halloween, though. So much spooky stuff, it's like every house is preparing a jumpscare. Not my cup of tea
On the bright side, we do have pumpkin spice seasonal stuff, so that's nice
Tucker paused, waiting for his new acquaintance to respond. Before they could, however, his phone chirped. A banner alert dropped down from the top of the screen, informing him that his landlord had sent him (and what appeared to be everyone else in his apartment building) an email, the subject line being Halloween Party in one week!

( Blxrt )
​

 

[Blxrt]

Jaiden Tompson

Graveyard: Yeah, that sounds great. I love Halloween, so it's actually a great time for me.
I don't really care for pumpkin spice - I've actually never tried it, honestly.
What's your favourite holiday, if you don't care for Halloween much?

Jaiden looked down at his phone, hearing another quiet chirp! from its speakers. It was a notice for a Halloween party from his landlord...

( BittyBobcat )​

 

[BittyBobcat]

Tucker Quinn
Spidey: I dunno, I like the winter-y ones a lot. Just that time of year when there's snowmen on the streets and it's the perfect weather for some hot cocoa. And there's peppermint, I love peppermint.
I mean, I like Halloween too minus the whole getting the pants scared off me bit. I can appreciate the spooky aesthetic
and also the excuse to eat candy
After typing out his response, Tucker clicked onto the email notification. He skimmed through it, not wanting to take too much time away from the conversation at hand.
The gist was essentially as the subject line stated, a Halloween party taking place on the following Friday. It would happen toward the evening in the lobby of the apartment building, and partly take place in the plaza just outside as well. Apparently, his landlord also needed some help planning.
It certainly sounded like it could be fun. And, Tucker noted to himself, if he helped party plan then perhaps he could keep the jumpscares to a minimum (or at least restricted to a certain area).

( Blxrt )​

 

[Blxrt]

Jaiden Tompson

Jaiden smiled as he read the response, then looked over at the notification for the Halloween party. The landlord said they needed volunteers to help plan. Maybe he could throw in some spooks..hmm.
Jaiden scrolled back to Aurev, typing rapidly.

Graveyard: I love candy and Halloween. It's interesting.
What do you typically do for fun? ​

 

[BittyBobcat]

Tucker Quinn
Spidey is typing...
Spidey: Hm, I don't really do mu
Tucker paused. He didn't want to send that, it'd sound sad. Quickly, he deleted the message and instead settled for something short and sweet.
Spidey: I like baking. How about you?
What do you do for fun?

( Blxrt )
​

 

[Blxrt]

Jaiden Tompson

Jaiden looked at his phone and frowned. He didn't really do much for fun in all honesty. Deciding to fib, he quickly typed.

Graveyard: I like skateboarding. That's pretty fun to me. Baking is cool - did you teach yourself or have you been to a culinary school?

Jaiden stood and walked to the kitchen part of his apartment. The mention of baking had triggered a craving for cake - he'd see if he had any boxed mixes in the pantry.

( BittyBobcat )​

 

[BittyBobcat]

Tucker Quinn
Spidey: Little bit of both. I'm in culinary school right now, but I've been baking since I was like twelve
Skateboarding sounds cool. I've never really tried it. Do you do tricks and stuff or is it just for transportation?
The ring of a bell drew Tucker's attention to the door of the cafe, where a group of new customers had just entered. Reluctantly, he drained the last of his caramel latte, and typed a quick goodbye before pocketing his phone to take their orders.
Oops, looks like I gotta go for now. Ttyl!

( Blxrt )​

 

[Blxrt]

Jaiden Tompson

Graveyard: That's cool. One of my old friends used to go to culinary school, actually. She was great.
I mostly use it for transportation. I'm horrid at tricks, haha.

Jaiden rummaged through his pantry and, to his dismay, found no such cake mix. He sighed and leaned against a countertop, skimming Spidey's latest message.

Graveyard: Oh, ok. Have a great day!

( BittyBobcat )​

 

[BittyBobcat]

Tucker Quinn
The rest of the workday passed as it usually did. One customer after another, most not very notable aside from perhaps the ones that were extremely rude (and, even them, that wasn't unusual). Though, Tucker did find himself a bit appalled when the last client of the day ordered no less than twelve expresso shots in one cup.
Nonetheless, closing time came and he rode back home as he always did. On a bright red bicycle that he stored off to the side in a parking garage (with three separate bike locks, which might've been a bit excessive, but Tucker would rather be excessive than bike-less).
Finally home, he quickly kicked off his shoes and flopped onto his bed, breathing a tired sigh toward the ceiling of his apartment. He tugged his phone out of his pocket, scrolling to check for any new alerts before clicking onto the Halloween party email.
To: Austin Bregara (listed in contacts as Landlord)
Reply to: Halloween party in one week!
I'd love to help out! I could deal with food and decorations, if you'd like. Maybe some activities too, like apple-bobbing and such.

( Blxrt )​

 

[Blxrt]

Jaiden Tompson

Jaiden walked back into his bedroom before going to his notifications and tapping on the email from his landlord. It read about decorations, snacks, and entertainment necessary for the Halloween party. He smiled to himself - maybe he could contribute decorations? He'd always had a thing for decorating, despite having horrid taste when it came to colours, but how hard could a Halloween colour scheme be? Orange and black would be the basics, of course. Unless...

He shushed his thoughts as he responded to his landlord's email.

To: Austin Bregara (Landlord)
Re: Halloween party in one week!
CC: None

I'd be interested in helping plan the party. I could do music and/or decorations, if that'd be ok. How many other people are helping plan the party so far???

EMAIL SENT.

Jaiden pocketed his phone, tugging on a light sweater over his T-shirt and jeans. Maybe I'll go skateboarding. That way I won't feel like such a liar, he thought, remembering what he'd told Spidey. He grabbed his old garage-sale skateboard from the tiny closet by the doorway, and exited his apartment. On the way out he locked the door, making sure to tuck his keys carefully into his jacket pocket. Break-ins weren't common in his apartment complex, but one could never be too safe.

He made his way down the nearly abandoned street on his skateboard, swerving like a madman. He had his earbuds plugged in and was listening to:


It was a beautiful day to be alive.

( BittyBobcat )​

 

[BittyBobcat]

Tucker Quinn
With his email managed, Tucker turned his thoughts elsewhere. What was there to do now? He didn't have any homework. At least, not for the moment. His apartment was fairly clean (aside from the cobweb in the ceiling corner, but he would feel mean taking down Mary's web). It looked like Tucker actual had free time (something that had become a bit of a foreign concept to him in recent years).
Well, he had been wanting to try out a new macaron recipe for a while...
A small smile flickering across his face, Tucker rolled off his bed and began to hunt for ingredients. He muttered quietly to himself, a checklist forming in his mind. "Powdered sugar, eggs, vanilla, regular sugar, butter..." No butter. That was alright, the grocery store was only a five minute's walk away.
After giving the kitchen a last once-over to see if he was missing anything else, he changed out of his work outfit and threw on some jeans and his favorite honey-yellow hoodie. Would it rain soon? He checked the weather forecast while he searched for his keys and wallet. 37% chance... Tucker grabbed an umbrella on his way out, just in case.
He locked the door and (after jiggling the handle a bit to check that he hadn't done so incorrectly), Tucker set off at a brisk pace. Unfortunately, right before he was about to finish crossing the street, he found that he was paying a bit too much attention to looking for cars and far too little attention to where his feet were going.
The tip of his shoe caught on the curb, and Tucker was sent hurtling toward the ground... or at least, he should've been sent that way. Instead he found that he had fallen directly onto an innocent skateboarder.

( Blxrt )​

 

[Blxrt]

Jaiden Tompson

Jaiden was engrossed in his music. He'd found another playlist to listen to, and was actually getting the hang of his balance - less swerving. He grinned to himself underneath his face mask and thought: This isn't so bad. Maybe I actually should start skateboarding for fun. It isn't half bad. However, it seemed he'd jinxed himself - just as he was turning the corner near the crosswalk, he was knocked off his skateboard. His earbuds fell out and he landed rather ungracefully on his backside, groaning slightly. Looking around for the source of impact, Jaiden spotted another male, who had evidently not been paying attention. "Hey, you should watch where you're going," he said, although not angry.

( BittyBobcat )​

 

[BittyBobcat]

Tucker Quinn
"Ah, sorry!" Tucker blurted, scrambling awkwardly to his feet. "I tripped on the curb, sorry! Oh, gosh, are you alright? I'm so, so sorry about that!" He held out a hand to help the other man up. "You're- You're right, I should probably be l-l-looking where I was going. Sorry, I'm not usually like this." Tucker's mouth moved faster than his brain could catch up to what he was actually saying as he grew uncomfortably aware of a panicked blush building up on his face.
As his eyes met the gaze of this stranger, a spark of recognition shot through his head. "D-Do I know you?" Then, in a flash, it came to him. "Oh, you're from the apartment next door, aren't you? Oh dear, I just ran into my own neighbor. Sorry! You're probably getting tired of me apologizing, sorry-" Tucker froze, realizing the irony of the statement.
At least his neighbor didn't sound mad. Then again, maybe he was and was just too polite to show it.

( Blxrt )​