It's an Interesting Bus Ride

** Big Thanks to pistachio **

** And since I'm thanking people, thanks to you as well **

Thank God my city actually has good public transit. I have heard horror stories from people on the interent about their public transit systems being unreliable, of never knowing when the next bus is going to come and having to wait hours on end for one of the two bus routes in town. Luckily, my city has extensive bus routes, that come at regular 10 minute intervals. That's not especially relevant, I just felt like flexing. The buses are reliable in my city, but they are also always full. It was so full that the Alma girl ended up sitting on my lap. Normally I would have stood up and let her sit, like the gentleman that I am, but as the seat next to me filled up, she plopped down onto my lap like she'd done it a hundred times before. There was something oddly...familiar about the sensation. I had never had anyone sit on my lap before, least of all this girl that I had just only met today, but something about having her sit on my lap felt right in ways that I cannot fully describe. Maybe it was how familiar she was acting with me that made me feel familiar with this situation. Not the strangest possible explanation. She still felt tense, and she was sitting bolt upright. Wanting to calm her down, I gently pull her toward my chest and stroked her hair to get her to relax and calm down. It seems to work, somewhat. She noticably relaxes, but there is still a tension, a sort of taughtness to her, like she is waiting for everything to go wrong all at once.

I reached up and rubbed her shoulders in a probably misguided attempt to massage away that tension. She didn't seem to mind all that much, but she also didn't seem to relax either. Temporarily giving up on making her relax, at least while on the bus, I started to plan how to make her trust me. Her trust will be absolutely essential in getting the truth of this. I am sure that I have said this before, but it bears repeating. I had to find some way to make her seeme as a person, not just a master/owner. That was potentially very difficult, because even if I treat her kindly, she could just see me as a kind master, rather than a kind person. Treating her with any sort of neglect or cruelty is out of the question. I suppose I could avoid giving her orders, but then...what am I going to talk to her about? I am not a very social person, most of my social interactions are with over email with co-workers, where I am asking them to do something, having them ask me to do something, or giving a regular status update. I do talk to my friends, but I have known them for so long that talking to them comes so much more naturally, and I will not be able to transfer that skill into talking with literally anyone else. Believe me, I've tried. Maybe I could invite her to go somewhere with me? That way we will have a shared task, and build a sense of camaraderie through that. Where to invite her though? The movies? I don't know what kind of movie she likes, so that may just end up as me forcing my likes on her. That would make her see me as more of a master I would think. It would probably be best if we were doing something for her, to make her more comfortable, and make her believe that I see her as worth the time and effort to do...whatever we decide to do. Shopping! I didn't buy any clothes when I...bought...her, so she will definitely need clothes. Wait, shit. Do I have enough closet space to share with her? I should probably check that, and if not, I can probably move some of mystuff into storage. That could actually work out in my favour. If she sees me making way for her, that means I do not see her as an inferior, and she will not see me as a master. I am so wrapped in thought that I almost miss my stop. I jumped out of my seat, knocking the girl out of my lap. Luckily, I managed to grab her and pull her close before she hits the ground.

I kept holding her close as we exited the bus, and all the way until we entered my apartment, where I left her in the front room as I quickly dashed inside and made sure the place was presentable. Luckily I don't make much of a mess normally, so I was able to quickly clean up what messes I did find. I returned to the front room, and invited her to look throguh the rest of my apartment with a bow and a flourish. She hesitantly steps in, and then looks around. I recognize the look on her face. It was the same look that I had on my face, when I had started my first day in a new job, and my trainer had to leave 30 seconds starting to meet with me. The kind of awkward, "What exactly am I supposed to do now?" look.

"Hey, have I asked your name yet?" I asked.

She flinched a little when I spoke, and then smiled a little nervously. "The distributor should have given you my information," she said.

I do remember giving him an email address, but it was for a spam email that I never check since I figured that they would just bombard me with ads. Even if I hadn't though --

"I want to hear you say it," I said, trying to put as much warmth and gentleness into my voice as possible, making as sure as possible that she would not think of this as any sort of rebuke. I realized that my hand had been reaching up to her shoulder in a gesture intended to be comforting, but I **** it to fall, not entirely sure that such a gesture would have been helpful or wanted.

"My name is Amaryllis," she said.