~Copen~

Copen was leaning on the railing of the top deck, feeling the wind gently lift pieces of his honey-blond hair. The trip here had been pretty calm, despite the fact that they were a whole lot of powered teenagers stuck in a metal tin on the sea. Honestly, he was slightly surprised. The boat itself wasn’t really what he was used to. It was nice enough, but not like his father’s yacht that he’d slept on many a summer’s night. He glanced down at the people milling about below. He was quite a friendly, outgoing person, and yet, he hadn’t taken the steps to make any new friends yet. That was probably partially due to the fact that he’d stayed holed up for most of the trip so far, a little afraid of what was coming his way. He was a bit of a coward, to be honest.

But now he was ready to meet new people. He pushed himself away from the railing, and headed down the stairs. It took him around the back end of the boat, and he saw a girl with a camera walking his way. Her face was young, but she was quite tall. Copen had heard that there were some very young kids joining the academy – he didn’t entirely feel comfortable about it, 10 year-olds learning how to fight or whatever they taught here. But she wasn’t that young – not at all. Probably around a year or two younger than him, he was guessing. And although not particularly striking, she looked friendly enough; which was more than he could say about some terrible piece of work that had scowled at him in the corridor…

“Hey,” he greeted her. “What are you taking pictures of?”

He’d once been self-conscious of his strong German accent, but had eventually grown out of it. After all, it was a part of him – and he spoke perfect English otherwise (most of the time). Some people might have shied away from randomly greeting people and asking questions. He didn’t. After all, how else could he make new friends?

[@Mr Allen J]