"Oh. We could have done it at the police station we were at."

"Oh well. I guess knowing I have a place to stay is going to be... helpful."

Then the train shows up, and the woman steps on while motioning for Bonnie to follow her. "I'm Lina, by the way!"

Did she... not give the police people her name at all? Guess she didn't. To be fair, they didn't have a shared language, so there's that.

"I'm Bonnie! It's short for 'Benedetta', but nobody calls me that."

Does the train have information screens? Maps with lights?

They have information maps, but not screens. There's a dot showing which station they're on on maps placed above the seats, but it's hard to see how it works; it's clearly not an LED.

Nice! She looks around, then remembers that the nice person is still next to her - was her name Lily? Hopdammit, she got distracted and forgot already.

"How many other people are going to be at the dorm?"

"25 with you, and that's the standard basically; handling classes and everything else gets a real handful, but I like always having something to do!"

25 is a bit more than what she's used to but she's heard Germans tend to respect rules more...

Well. Except she's not in Austria, is she?

She... she can just take it slowly. There are no emergencies, so she can think about the fact that she probably won't see her mum ever again later.

"I... think I'd like to read a bit, if that's fine. How long do we have until we get off?"

"Just 2 more stops, now, so pay attention! And you can read all the bits you want!" 

Oh, not worth grabbing the book then.

She'll wait. Patiently. She can be patient if she really tries. Mostly.

Bonnie doesn't need to be particularly patient because the 2 stops come quick! Lina takes big, deliberate steps towards the doors on the opposite side of where they came in, ready as the doors out open.

She gets behind Li... Li... Lina! Ok, remember, Lina - like "linea" (line), but without the "e".

Ready to hop off!

Making their way past a few blocks of skyscrapers, they come to a nondescript building reaching into the sky. Lina walks in, revealing a small library and charming cafe on the first floor, before quickly finding a larger than normal elevator that makes its way down lightning quick.

Oooooh, library and café? Nice!

Large elevators: a thing she didn't know she wanted more of. Why are they so cramped on Earth?

"We're up!" she says, stepping in and waiting for Bonnie to follow her into the elevator. There are 3 rows of buttons, reaching up almost 40 floors. It turns out Lina plans to take the elevator close to the top.

"I don't think I've ever been in such a tall building! Can't wait to see the view from up there!"

"Well, I mean, I've been to the top of the cupola in San Pietro but that's different, it's a church, people don't live in there."

"But you wouldn't know about it, as it's on Earth..."

"Do you have religion on this planet? Churches?"

This... is going to prove interesting no matter what the answer is.

"Not these days? I've never wrapped my head around how... people think about spirits and omnipotent world-makers being real things you have to keep in mind." The elevator is quick, too. Bonnie can't say much more until the elevator finally reaches its destinaion. It's a hallway, and looking both left and right Bonnie can see lots of doors, in bright and inviting colors like she saw on the subway map.