The Fuck Deck

 I was with Martin on a cruise ship. It felt like a big party boat with a lot of young adults. I remember signs pointing to places like "party room" and "the fuck deck". Martin was being a bit slow, so I explored a bit with Joen, going on a miniature indoors ferris wheel and some other silly things. I kind of wanted to make new friends, though, and maybe meet a girl, so I started chatting around.

I saw some people that I recognised from secondary school, or possibly the military. Old acquaintances with immigrant backgrounds. The one name I did recognise, apparently I'd gotten wrong all these years (I'd said Fissnick, but apparently it was Fisnek), but after correcting myself and ordering a drink, I was all right with the group. They went on ahead into another room while I was going to pay.

My purse was filled with a jumble of different currencies, but none of them seemed enough to pay for the drink in one go. I started paying with Japanese yen, when my pounds weren't enough. It wasn't enough either so I found an envelope in my bag that I thought might hold more. It didn't and I looked up helplessly at the bartender.

"It's all right, I'll remember that you owe ¥50,000", he said with a smile. It didn't feel much at the time, more like a relief. I took the drink and realised Martin was there. He was wearing a kind of high-tech hazard suit and I realised I did too. It was part of some kind of game we were playing. I was keen to go see my new-found friends and maybe a girl, but he wanted to go on the mini ferris wheel and do some other stuff that we apparently did the last time we were on this cruise together.

I told him I'd already done that with Joen and headed into the party room with the adjoining fuck deck. My new friends were sitting with a whole group of girls and one of them showed immediate interest and asked if I wanted to go smoking with her. I said I used to smoke cigar but not in a long time. Seemed like we were going smoking. 

Monster Truck VR

 I was in Småland, coming back to Sweden after all my international work. I felt like a Big Fish. We went to a fair for games and tech and I found myself looking at some VR goggles (just like I had done the night before at the Den lounge douzo party).

In no time a man was gearing me up in layer after layer of VR accessories, until I was completely encased in a power armour-like exo skeleton. I hardly felt it was there. He lead me to what looked like a monster truck and almost lead me to the wrong side, looking embarrassed as I remarked "ah, so it's a British truck" in my best RP accent.

"Yes! Are you British?"

"No, I'm Swedish, I just lived there for a while", I continued, still in English, as I got in. The VR kicked in and I didn't notice my suit at all anymore as I saw the last of the guy and closed the door. Ahead was a landscape of broken down  vehicles. I started driving (after fiddling with the pedals), spinning around rapidly, maxing out the steering wheel spin and enjoyed the suit's simulation of g-force.

It was a lot of fun and I (with some effort)started running over the husks of the old cars. Somehow I found my way out of the yard and to where people were. I was starting to have trouble turning. The steering wheel didn't reset, so it was impossible to know what was straight. I ran into some things, including a kid, that I wasn't supposed to and the suit shook. I was frustrated, driving around what looked like Arabian houses and bazaars. 

Were I an Eagle

 I was a were-eagle. How I found out I don't remember, but I was flying over Arild, seeing my eagle kin maneuver with the winds around the seaside and following their lead. It didn't take many flaps to lift my high, to soar majestically.

I communicated with dad, somehow, and told him that I was now a were-eagle. He could come out of his house/boat to see me, if he should like. As he came out and I landed on a boat next to him he gave off a gasp. Then he pointed out that he thought I'd look fully like an eagle.

It was not until then that I realised that my chest and face were still human and as I saw this, my wings started to feel more like arms, too. I turned around to Jesper and he said something along the lines of "yeah, I don't buy into it". I replied along the lines of "yeah, well I don't buy into you".

I tried to fly off, to regain my grace, but without proper wings I only stumbled a few meters of the ground from desperately flapping my arms. 

Then I found out that Jespers dad had died (probably through a flashback to a news article of the passing of his dad, along with emotional music) and suddenly I was the only male role model he had. He was a teenage boy and walked off snivelling.

Perhaps I needed to choose between my own eagle's splendor or being there for him.

The Dating Debate

 My friends, family and all my USJ colleagues had come together for a grand meeting at Spargodt. There were festivities and drinks and I was the host of the party. They were all there to get to know Roha and somehow it turned into some sort of evaluation of her.

The next morning we all gathered in a big, square, empty room an my dad started talking about how we'd all gathered to determine if it was appropriate for me and Roha to date each other, but he quickly interrupted himself by pouring some luxury orange juice and mixing it with beer, exclaiming "jättengod!". 

I was about to take the word and get to speaking, just to say that that wasn't at all the reason we were there and that me and Roha were just friends, but she started talking instead. She said how we'd had quite a bit of wine yesterday and looked at me for support, though I didn't remember having anything of the sort, then went on to talking about all the people in the room that she'd spoken to, though what she really wanted to point out was that her BEST FRIEND WAS A TRAITOR BECAUSE SHE BROUGHT ROHA'S BIKE TO THE PLACE BUT THEN REFUSED IT TO BRING IT INSIDE AND UNLOCK IT EVEN THOUGH ROHA DIDN'T KNOW WHERE THE KEY WAS and it went on like that for a bit. I couldn't help thinking how immature she was, but I let her go on, just to see what she'd say herself about the dating situation.

She then started talking about the practical matters of where she could move into the house if it came to that, indicating the small room between the stairs and the kitchen on the bottom floor. 

I looked at her a bit closer and she didn't look Japanese anymore. More like Arabic. And she had a unibrow. It wasn't very pretty at all. But she was my friend and that's all that mattered, I decided to myself. We'd take it easy and keep hanging out, just as we had been.