Concrete Heart {Jannah x Missychan}

[Jannah]

It was a refreshing to be able to go for a walk outside again after a long winter. Spring had finally arrived in Berlin much to the relief of Max. He removed his hat, letting his short auburn hair blow in the cool wind. He knew where he was headed, to a park just on the outskirts of the western sector. Thankfully it was nearby the checkpoints so he could return home easily. Travel within the city had been more restricted in recent months, but Max still took advantage of the fact he could visit the other side. He did have comrades and classmates afterall who had family in the western sector. Surely they couldn't cut off those people, right?

Once he got past the check points Max headed to a small store on the other side. There he picked up the most recent newspaper. He examined the date. March 16th, 1961. It was close to his birthday too, but he wouldn't be having much of a celebration this year, being swamped with work. Today was a rare day off so he had decided to take advantage of that. He would sit in the park and read up on all the western news, an even rarer opportunity.

It was actually funny for Max reading about the westerners. It seemed almost alien to him, with them having such a different lifestyle. The point of view they had been taught was much different obviously. This wasn't so bad all the time, but it was certainly shocking whenever he heard things about the other half of the world. However, today's news seemed pretty uneventful. He let out a sigh and set the newspaper beside him on the park bench he was sitting on. He decided to lean back and just look up at the clouds. Despite feeling alone on days like this it was also relieving.

As Max leaned up at the clouds a dread began to fill his heart. His birthday was coming up. That meant that within a couple years he would be expected to start his mandatory military service. It was his duty to the party and the people, but Max didn't much feel like he was a fighter, had he been sent into real action. It was a minor issue though, something he could set aside on this nice day.

[MissyChan]

A cold gust hit her when she opened the door and stepped outside, though the spring was all around the winter didn't seem to let go just yet, it was only around the middle of March after all. "I'll be back in a few hours!" she said, as she closed the door behind her. Pulling the coat tighter around herself, as she walked down the alley, the weather was way too good to stay inside all day like she probably would have done since she wasn't working today.

She waved at her mother as she walked by the kitchen window, smiling reassuring to calm her down, since she could see a hint of worry in the way she smiled. Her mother seemed to worry a lot lately, and it may not be that weird after all, big things were happening in Berlin these days. With all the new restrictions and rules the city was practically divided into two areas, though you could move from one site to the other the tension between east and west had increased dramatically the last months, people had a reason to worry. Dana's dad worked in one of the departments, that was why she got to know a lot about this conflict, and she took quite some interest in it as well. Though she tried to live her life as normal as possible, it was hard not to be affect when soldiers were marching the streets and they heard about disputes everyday.

Like she usually did when the weather was good, Dana was walking towards her favorite place in the city, one of the parks. It was a beautiful place to be, especially at this time of the year, everything was coming to life and there were colors everywhere.

As she entered the park she looked around, there wasn't many people here, that was why she liked this place so much, it wasn't crowded like most the other parks in the city. Though she usually used to sit on one special bench, just in-front of the little lake, it was taken for once. She sighed a little as she walked by, looking for another place to sit down and read her book, which was what she usually did when she came here. Dana loved to read, many people might find it boring, but to her it was like walking into a whole new world each time she opened a book. When she had walked halfway around the lake she noticed another bench, someone was sitting there, but the person was all alone. Taking a quick look around, just to be sure, she walked over and sat down.

(( I know my English isn't perfect, but I'm working on that, hopefully my mistakes won't annoy you too much. Also this isn't too good, but I was at school ))

[Jannah]

Max shuffled over on the bench as far as he could once this other girl sat down beside him. He felt so out of place among the westerners even if venturing into the western sector and these parks was somewhat of a break from the pressures of his own life. He decided to attempt small talk anyway. "Lovely day today isn't it? I felt it was perfect to go for a walk." One thing he neglected to mention of course is the fact he had walked in from the east. With the increasing tensions in the city it was something that he was better off not mentioning to this stranger. Instead he just observed the park and then looked up into the clouds again.

(your English is fine to me, haha. Also, sorry for the short reply.)

[MissyChan]

(Thanks! And that's no problem!)

Dana barely took any notice of the man on the bench, when she sat down, as a content sigh left her lips. She opened the book in her lap, looking forward to a few hours of peace and silence, as she started to read. However she was disturbed by some voice nearby, flicking her eyes a few times, as she turned her head towards him. "Oh yes, the weather it wonderful, makes me think that summer is near." she said, with a pleasant smile, closing her book. She did notice that he was from the eastern part of the city, but she couldn't see the point in this conflict after all, they lived in the same city for Gods sake.

[Jannah]

This girl seemed friendly enough, but maybe it was better to not be so friendly with her. Max wasn't sure, but still he struck up conversation. "I figured it was a nice day for a walk since I have a day off today. It's quite relieving and here I am in this nice place. I come here occasionally when I can." He did genuinely enjoy this park so it was kind of hard on him to imagine that tensions were increasing. Would that make it more difficult for him to come here?

Max continued pondering that question as he picked up his newspaper and started skimming the front page. It spoke surprisingly very little about his country and mostly went on about American and Soviet relations. Of course that was the big thing everybody was talking about over here. These things mattered little to Max as long as he had food in his belly and a place to live. His heart had little room for politics even if it was such a big part of life. Some of his classmates had already talked about joining the party as if it was their duty. Max just wanted to enjoy the last of his youth years before worrying about such things.

"Sometimes I think this political stuff is pretty silly." Max blurted out, still skimming the front page of the newspaper. "It's a big part of life, but on days like today it seems almost irrelevant."

[MissyChan]

(( Sorry I've taken forever with this... School and stuff takes up all of my time ))

Dana looked over at the boy, examining him closer, he seemed okay. Though his clothing bear the stamp of hard work, he was obviously not part of the upper class, but didn't look like he'd cause her any trouble. Due to this conclusion, she might be a little naive, she figured it wouldn't hurt any to keep the conversation going.

"I agree, it's a beautiful day, one of the better." she said, smiling friendly as she watched him, "this is one of the most peaceful places I know about, I always came here to read my book, since this place usually isn't too crowded... I really don't get why people don't come here, but chose one of the other parks instead, this is a great place." she continued, being quite honest though he was a complete stranger. She knew her father would scold her for talking to someone from the other part of the city, because of his position such things might harm his reputation, but she didn't care too much after all.

She regarded him as he read his paper, sighing a little "what is there today? Anything interesting for once, or just articles designed to upset people even more? she asked, a resigned expression flashed across her face when she spoke the words. She couldn't help but to agree with him either, "it's all quite strange, though there is important to keep track of what's going on around the globe, the papers seem to exaggerate it big times... And it's not really any part of out life after all, not directly, for most of us though..."

[Jannah]

Max seemed pleased that this girl was attempting to make conversation with him. She was no doubt from the western sector. Besides, not many people from the eastern sector ventured into the west these days. It was mostly just to visit family on the other side. Max was lucky and had all his family on one side. Some of his friends weren't so lucky though so ventured over here. However, Max enjoyed it once in awhile too.

"It's pretty relieving winter is over. I love spring, everything begins to bloom again. Max responded examining the blossoming trees around him in the park. He was impressed. This park was well-kept. "So you come here quite often I'm guessing? You live here in the western sector?" Max asked, being curious about this girl. He looked over at her and she seemed quite attractive and around his age.

Max wasn't too surprised as the girl mentioned the exaggeration of the world events. He suspected everything would be, given the recent tensions. "Of course it's exaggerated. Nobody wants others to know the truth about everybody else." Max just laughed, but then he realized he made it quite obvious he's from the other side. What would this girl think? He didn't want this nice conversation to end so soon. It wasn't often he got an opportunity to talk to the westerners.

[MissyChan]

Tilting her head a little, as she regarded at him, with a little pleasant smile. "Mhm..." she agreed, as she looked down at the grass, it was starting to grow again. "It gives hope for better times, don't you think?!" the question escaped her without thinking, she wouldn't usually ask any personal questions to a stranger, but like usually she didn't though of that before she spoke.

Dana had come to realize, quite some time ago, that he was from the other side. But, though she probably should, she didn't really care about such things. She'd never seen the problem with people from the other side, there was no difference between them after all, they lived in the same city God damn it. But when she tried to explain this to people, especially her father, they would laugh of her and tell her to stay away from such people. It was like they though every people from the other side was dangerous, well except family of course, and she'd never got this point. "Exactly... They should print more happy news, to cheer people up, I think." she said.

[Jannah]

"I do hope things get better, yes." Max responded and thought about all the tension between the two halves of the city. It seemed like almost another world to him here in the western sector. The tension just added to that. His own leaders had been suppressing those trying to leave, to immigrate to the west. At least that is what he heard.

"Apparently many people are trying to leave. The Party doesn't like that..." Max began to speak again, being surprised he could even feel comfortable discussing these issues with this stranger. "I'm not sure how I feel about it, however. Back home we're all guaranteed a job. I heard that here you have poor and unemployed people roaming the streets." Max wasn't sure how much of that was actually true so naturally grew curious. He felt it was a silly thing to ask, but he was intuitive.

"I agree, there should be happy things." Max moved away from the topic at hand and begun to think of all the things they could be discussing instead. He just wasn't sure what to bring up first. "Hmm...so what do you like to do besides reading?" He realized all he really knew about this intriguing stranger was that she lived in the western sector and that she enjoyed reading in the park.

[MissyChan]

Dana nodded, as she agreed with him on this one, sighing a little. "But it's not that easy, it seems... The conflict have roots a lot deeper that this..." she mumbled, looking at him with a thoughful look on her face, as she smiled a little. "Yes, I've noticed that the restriction at the cheek points are ranking up... It's hard for people whom have family on the other side..." she said, she had though rather a lot about this, but not ever had anyone to discuss it with.

As he switched to another topic she shrugged, "Well, there isn't really much to do for us young people right now, you know... I usually try to to creative things, like playing the piano or paint, but most of my time is spent with books." she confessed, feeling a little stupid when she though of her life like this, she didn't have much of a social life after all. Mostly, when she didn't help her parents out which she did every day, reading was her favorite thing in the world.

(Sorry if this isn't too good, and sorry for the late reply.)