Guten Morgan, Fraulein Skylight
The alarm cut through the stillness of the room like a blade piercing packaging material, reducing the stillness to nothing but a brief moment of frenzied chaos. It was always like this on an early morning, especially far from home.
After a few moments of beeping, a hand moved over and pushed some of the buttons on top, trying to silence it. "Alright, I'm getting up!"
Eventually, the alarm stopped, and the occupant of the room slipped out from under the covers. "Wasn't expecting a time change of one hour to do such a number on me."
The speaker, a woman, wandered over to the mirror that sat on one of the walls and sighed. She looked a mess. Her nightgown had creases in it (perhaps she would iron those out after the meeting), and her purple hair was doing its best impression of a Van de Graaff generator. Her green eyes seemed to glow in the semi darkness of the room, and she walked towards the coffee machine to switch it on.
That was something she wasn't used to. For her prior business trips she'd only been away for a short period. And that meant cheaper hotels with fairly basic facilities. And some seriously uncomfortable beds.
She tore open one of the bags and removed the coffee package inside. It looked oddly like a teabag, which she found slightly amusing. Maybe they'd serve it like this more often in the UK. She slipped it onto the tray, closed it, added some water, and then pushed the start button.
As it started brewing, her mind began to wander. Truth be told she struggled to get going in the morning without a shot of caffeine, and the change in time, to her surprise, had somewhat messed with her mind. But she could scarcely have imagined even a few years back that her life would take her to the other side of the Atlantic.
Right now, Rhode Island seemed like it was a million miles away, on the other side of an ocean and with part of a continent in the way. Her work had resulted in her being reassigned to the United Kingdom, to a place called Bristol. Living there had been quite the culture shock for the young American. Everybody spoke differently, but the climate wasn't too different. Even so, she did somewhat stick out. She'd used American English in some cases, which had caused confusion (good thing she hadn't tried to put gas in that car, or else that would have been the end of her). Even her accent was a topic of discussion, with plenty of people surprised to encounter an American living in the UK. She'd lost track of how many people had said she sounded like a movie star. Despite the initial challenges (and the sleepless nights as her brain tried to work through the jetlag), she'd managed to build a circle of friends in her new home, partly connected to her job.
Mind you, her dating life hadn't entirely been plain sailing. She'd casually dated different guys at high school, then seemed to find something more serious at college. Shame the guy had stood her up out of nowhere, but maybe it was for the best. She got the sneaking suspicion he was only interested in her looks, not in who she was on the inside.
Oh well. His loss, not hers.
The machine beeped to indicate the coffee was done, and she took it out and added some milk. She usually had to add quite a lot of milk to these sorts of coffees, as they were incredibly strong compared to what she was used to.
There was suddenly a knock at the door, and she turned the chair. "Hello?"
"Goldie?" called a voice. "Good, you're up. Make sure you're down in the lobby by 7:45. Meeting starts at nine, and we have a briefing to go over before that."
"Got it!" Goldie replied, before going back to her coffee. She'd finish this off, then shower.
Hopefully her suit hadn't become too messed up in flight. There was always an element of chaos to long haul travel with suitcases. No matter how neatly you packed things some items would always end up in a weird state. Her iron would probably get a workout when she got home.
Now that her drink was done, she could go shower, as her brain was now up to full speed. She got up from the chair and opened the windows to reveal the city beyond.
Her travels had taken her to a city that many struggled to locate on a map. Dresden had once been on the wrong side of the wall, but now that Germany had reunified there were plenty of opportunities for the aspiring businessman. Or businesswoman in her case.
One of those requirements was transport. It rather went without saying that the equipment used by the old Reichsbahn was showing its age, and urgently needed replacement. This was where she came in. The new national rail carrier, Deutsche Bahn, needed new rolling stock and fast, and had been seeking potential buyers.
Luckily, VivaRail had just the thing they could use. Or at least that was the official line. That was the purpose of this meeting, to convince those in charge at DB that the stock they had in mind was just the thing for their needs.
Goldie popped into the shower, and then emerged again a few minutes later, looking less like she'd been dragged through a bush backwards. She then popped into the walk in closet to get dressed. Walk in closets. Another mark of how upmarket this hotel was. In many places she'd stayed getting dressed consisted of awkward spots wedged in next to beds.
After a few minutes she was finally ready to go, and stepped out towards the door. She'd selected her usual business attire for this meeting, consisting of black polished shoes, a pair of black stockings, a dark blue knee length skirt, a beige blouse, and a dark blue business jacket. This, she felt, set the right balance between formality and practicality.
She picked up her hairband from a nearby dresser and quickly tied her hair back into her signature ponytail. It'd do no good to have her hair flopping all over the place.
She grabbed her room key and placed it in her pocket before grabbing her files and slipping them into her briefcase. Once they were safely in place, she stepped out of the room and closed the door, before walking the short distance to the elevator.
It was a short downward ride to the lobby, and the doors slid open with a ding. The elevators in Germany seemed to think they were streetcars with all the bells. There was also a further set of steps to reach the lobby, and so she started towards these.
She was partway down them when suddenly-
"LOOK OUT!"
Before Goldie could react she suddenly bumped into something, and grabbed the nearby hand rail to stop herself from falling. She looked about, trying to figure out what had just happened.
"Is everybody OK?" she asked.
"I don't think he is," said a nearby voice.
Goldie stepped closer to what had been indicated to her. On the bottom of the lobby floor, a man was frantically reaching around for something. He seemed to be a similar age to her, and had blue skin and darker blue hair, as well as an unusually full beard and moustache for somebody his age. He was dressed for the season too, with a cold winter jacket and heavy pants coupled with boots. He also seemed to have a camera bag over his shoulder.
Goldie then spotted a pair of glasses on the floor, and walked over to pick them up. "Were you looking for these?" she asked, handing them to him.
The man nodded. "Thanks." He popped them on his face and stood up. "Can't see without them. You know, I don't know what hap-"
He abruptly stopped speaking as he looked at her, seemingly in a trance.
"Are you OK?" Goldie asked.
The man shook his head. "Sorry, just a bit dazed. I should really look where I'm going."
"Argyle?!" called a voice. "We've got to go! The Kriekslok's due through in fifteen minutes!"
"On my way!" Argyle replied. He then looked back. "Sorry for all the bother, ma'am." He then headed off in the other direction.
Goldie blinked in slight confusion. As she walked over to her colleagues, she called to him. "Hey, wait! You left you-"
But the man was well out of earshot. Goldie slipped the item into her briefcase to return it to him later.
She stopped where her fellows were, and they looked at her. "Who was that guy?" said one.
"No clue," Goldie admitted. "I literally just walked into him. What an unusual man."
Another worker looked over. "I think somebody has a crush," he said, jokingly.
"Shush, you," Goldie replied. It was just one interaction.
And what the heck was a Kriegslok anyway?
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This was a good start to this story!
I really find it fascinating how it was written out.
However, there's actually 2 "F's" in Van de Graaff
11961110
Thank you. Seeing as so many of my stories kick off with dramatic setpieces I thought a quieter, more introspective start was a better fit. My own experiences of travel, as noted above, heavily influenced the above.
The style is also something of an experiment, as given not a huge amount happens (it's a person getting ready for work when you break it down into its core parts) I decided to take a trip inside the character's mind.
Fixed. When writing this I must have mixed it up with the band, which only has one F.
great chapter mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter
Dad's Army My British Buddy talks about how British people interacted with American servicemen during WW2. For many of them, this was the first time they'd ever met an American, and as such found them quite exotic
11961179
Glad you liked.
11961180
As that episode nicely articulates not all interactions went smoothly. It Ain't Half Hot Mum has a similar scenario in the episode The Stars Look Down, where the concert party get drafted into a racist war movie.
11961138
It kinda reminds me of some of my own traveling experiences too. Infact, even though, I'm American, I've been told by other people that I sound like I got an accent.
Well, I think it was a really nice pacing here.
It can happen.
Whenever the day comes I date someone/start a relationship, I'd only date that girl if she likes me for how and I and I like her back. Dating someone over the looks is just ridiculous imo.
I'm guessing it's a coworker/work friend of hers?
I wonder what he dropped?
A German steam engine Goldie.
11961247
Regionally accents vary dramatically within nations. I have certainly observed this rattling around the South.
Thanks.
Funnily enough, I lived not far from where the inventor of the generator was born.
11961259
1. Likewise.
2. You are correct.
3. You'll find out in the next chapter.
4. As previously established she's not a railbuff-yet.
11961307
Yeah, I can kinda tell.
Not a problem.
Wow!
11961363
Indeed. He was born in Alabama.