Convened!

 On June 15, at 4pm, I'll have my oral exam! Just had the news this morning: immediately booked my train tickets. It's close enough that I won't have to stay the night, but far enough that I'll come home a little late. 

But the universe did me a favour here: with this delay (the exams were supposed to be this week), I have plenty of time to prepare my speech. I did a Mk. II version of it and am rereading it to have another mock exam with my head of service and the other guy who helps candidates prepare. Given that they have a positive opinion of it, I should be just fine. I'll just make sure it's organized enough so I go there with a quiet mind and a bit more of a certainty that yeah, I may very well be heading into the stable period of my life that I have awaited for so long. 

Perhaps even here. Perhaps... Hopoe and I stuck in each other's perimeter. She's supposed to be transferred in 2027, but may not. Lots of people have been here for years and years. My father, Gill, Cepheus, I think Cassiopeia too. I do reckon Chin is being transferred this year, and perhaps Megara too, but last time I had a chance to check, it was just Chin, and he's not one of the "main" characters of this whole ordeal. He's just a nice guy. So if he goes... it'll sting a little, but I'll get over it better than if it were, say, Cetus. Now I would miss him. 

Today is a hot day, so I decided to try something daring: wear a pareu to work. And needless to say, it has quite a bit of success. I always get told it's pretty. It's my favourite one: green, forest-like, bright but not too bright. I'll give it a wash before my festival this weekend so I can wear it another time, and one to my red as well. If I don't wear my blue this week, I'll bring it anyway. 

I haven't seen the team today. I hoped to see them at least at the mess hall, but looks like they might be busy and having lunch later. No Hopoe this morning passing through my corridors, either. Oh, June 8 isn't that far away. I sometimes feel like going up to greet the ones that are here still... but I hesitate. I just don't want to disturb.

***

While going to get my money to pay my share, I came across Tane, the guy who tattooed my patutiki. He told me back in March that I could come by the shop if I wanted, but I never quite dare: I always wonder if he's in the middle of a session or if I can just drop by and talk a little. 

This guy and I had an immediate connection. Once he got going, as he seems to be a bit like a diesel engine with social stuff, we talked for the full 4 hours it took to conceive and do my tattoo, non-stop. He told me a whole lot of stuff like we had known each other for years. The best thing is, I didn't want it to stop. And I didn't feel tired after: actually, I was all fired up. He actually added me on FB a few weeks later, so I definitely struck a chord in him too.

We walked for a bit together. He's still looking for a girlfriend he can convert to motorbiking. His ex, with whom he has a teenage son, broke up with him back during Covid. She still answers the messages at the tattoo shop (you can tell who is who based on how they write lol, his ex writes concisely and precisely, Tane on the other hand, all lowercase, very chill). I really should pass by sometime, even... with this anxiety of disturbing.

***

This evening, Esme actually showed me her own building (which has a very charming 70s chic), and then I went out to pay my share. The service was closed. I baked a little more in the sun trying to see at what time I could actually pay, and then I see a silhouette in a white shirt. And on her shoulder, very familiar tattoos. And a certain head shape.

Huh? Is this who I think it is? 

I paused. I couldn't help it.

Oh yeah.

Hopoe. 

I don't know if she passes through here every evening and we just don't happen to bump into the other. But what I know is that she probably knows I live here now, if she didn't already. The others know, but I don't know if she would've asked overtly.  

I was actually heavily tempted to go up to her and greet her, but I felt this might've not been a good idea, so I just went inside my building. She looked like she turned her head to avoid purposely looking at me, but given the sun, she might've checked in her peripheral vision. Either way, she knows I'm here. I don't want to come to the conclusion that she's keeping an eye on me or hoped seeing me here, even if... with the recent behaviour, I guess it isn't too far-fetched of an idea. I just don't want to be some crazy bitch, you know. The Kendra Hilty kind. 

Hopoe be Hopoe, I guess. Unblock me when I run to the toilet because I have literally no idea what to do when she's passing through my corridor multiple times after blocking me, then pop in unannounced around my building when she could've totally exited through the other one (given that, if she doesn't live here anymore, she has no business parking her car, if she has any, in THOSE quarters, she can and should park it in the other ones that we work at), but purposely not look at me. 39 going on 13. Bravo. But that's my Hopoe.

Well! At least she saw me in a pareu, hehe. I wonder what it did to her. From afar I couldn't be missed. It's too colourful. 

But please, Hopoe. Let me hear you. Seeing you is fine but hearing you is what I miss the most.